Night-Hawk, The Mounted Detective — page 20: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ae : 6. | tt = OS ee ~ \ ‘ ’ t — = — Re eh eee > oom en pe, i er SN —_— —— eto ~~ —y 20 ~~ el The captain said: ‘‘There’s but one road to the village?”’ ‘* Bat one route from here to the main road, but after you pass a few hundred yards you come to a point; one road runs down by the siver, the other goes direct to the village. The direct road is the shortest, but it is possible your man may go by the river.”’ ‘* Have you a riile, Byron?’’ The tavern-keeper did not make an imme- diate reply. ‘* What’s the matter?’ ‘lf anything should happen the gun might be traced to me.”’ ‘*'l'he pun shal] be returned.” ‘Yes, but the bullet may be fitted to it here; no, no, that will nct do!” One of the men said: “We do not want your rifle, it would be of mo use to-night.’’ “So be it!’ responded the captain, and the three men started out in the darkness. In about an hour the men returned. Byron sat in the bar-room waiting for them; the man’s face was pale, his eyes glared, and he was evidently extremely nervous, and, when the fellows 1e-entered his place, he demanded in a tremulous tone: ‘‘ Did you overtake him?’’ é pal age f ‘‘ Did you see him at all?”’ , ‘No, and we couldn't fipd evena footprint, and there 1s a heavy dew and tracks would be easily discernible. ’’ ‘‘T didn’t think you would find him. 1 tell you, boys, Night-Hawk is the devil himself!’’ ‘* He is raising the devil with us.” “Tuke my advice and get away from this section of country for a season.’’ } ‘‘ Permit ourselves to be chased ont by one man?’’ ‘Yes: better than to have all hands captured and sent up.’”’ : ‘This advice don’t come well from you, Byron, old man!” | ‘* Why not?” ) ‘It looks bad. Night-Hawk got his infor- mation here!”’ ‘*] could not help that. the man.”’ ‘* But it looks bad for your advice to come on top of that fact.’’ ‘‘ 1’ve nothing more to say.’”’ ‘* But we have something to say. pose to hold you responsible.” ‘* You threaten me?’ sé Yes.’”’ ‘ Be careful! You fellows know I’ve never made a dollar out of you except in my bar busi- ness. I never asked your confidence, but I’ve never betrayed it; still, 1 do not mean to be bulldozed. ’’ : ‘Yeu ain’t straight.’”’ ‘*1’m not one of your gang.” ‘That don’t make any difference, old man; your time has come!”’ | ‘* What do you mean? ‘You are ihe man who has been giving in- tormation against us.”’ ‘“* it’s false!’’ ‘‘That man never could have ‘ got on to’ everything unless he had received your help; and now you confess al] you know, or to-night is your last on earth!’’ . he man spoke in a fierce, meaning tone. ‘Do you mean what you say?”’ ‘** Yes, I do.’’ ‘‘ Listen to me. 1am an innocent man, and 1 have furnished you all the information I pos- sess. This thing has been no gain to me, and 1 would‘rather you fellows had not come here.”’ “© That’s won’t do; own up.”’ ‘*1’ve nothing to own up.”’ ‘* Yes, you have.”’ ‘¢ Tell me what l’ve to own up?” ‘* Where is the detective?’ ‘* Where is the detective?” sé Y es.”’ ‘* How do 1 know?” ‘ ‘‘You do know. He never left this house. There is but. one chance for you to save you life: we’ll down you if we never make another stroke, so own up and save your life.” ‘The detective is not here.’’ ° He never left this house.’’ ‘Then search it: if you find him here I’ve nothing to say.’’ ‘You have things fixed, no doubt, and we will not find him without your aid.”’ ‘7 can not aid you, for | know nothing @boutl it. Ido not even know thst the man who was hene is the detective.” : . ‘ 1 never recognized We pro- 7? i ——— —— ——_—_—- ~ ~ ~ ~ ~—— NIGHT-HAWK, ‘‘ We know.”’ ‘And you must find him. I know nothing about him. I never exchanged a word with him knowingly in my life.’”’ . ‘What do you say, boys?’’ demanded the captain, turning toward the other two men. ‘‘Do-you mean mischief?’’ he asked, in a husky voice. ‘‘ Unless you confess, yes.’ ‘‘ l’ve nothing to contess.”’ The men moved toward him, when the owner of the place leaped back bebind his bar, and ex- claimed: +h eae ‘* Now, come on!’’ | The men had not expected resistance, and, besides, they had not really intended to kill him; they suspected him, and were seeking to scare him into’ a confession. A rather dramatic scene was presented. ‘“ 1 am ready for you fellows; come on!” said Byron. The men all laughed. ‘¢ We did not mean you any harm, old man.” “ You didn’t, eh? well, I’ve no thanks for you. And now let me tell you something: you myven came here and accused me of treachery; if 1 had been treacherous, 1 would have made a big stake. J’ve certain information you fellows don’t dream of, and 1 could have used it had ] been against you.” ‘ You have certain information?”’ ‘Yes, 1 have.”’ ) ‘¢ What information have you?”’ ‘‘l know all about the machine-shop, and I’ve all the pcints dead to rights.” CHAPTER XXXI1. THERE was a listener to the whole of the above conversation. Tom Hawk, indeed, had not left the place. Fe had passed from the house, but had taken advantage of the dilapidated condition of the building to secure a hiding-place. The detective calculated that there would be an exchange of confidences, not after the manner as subsequently transpired, but he was looking for information, and he was getting it. The detective had set out not only to chase off the gang but to secure them, and at the moment when the svene we have described was trans- piring, be was right under the floor of the room where it occurred. He had crawled under, where only dogs and cats had preceded him, at the risk of being suffocated with foul odors, but it was a matter of business, and he took the 1isks, and also the still greater risk of being discovered, and the latter meant death, as he would most certaihly have been at the mercy of the robbers. When Byron made his startling declaration the three robbers 1ecoiled in astonishment, and later on exchanged amazed glances. 3 ‘““Yes.’”’ said the tavern-keeper, ‘‘1 could have led Night-Hawk straight to your little laboratory while all hands were at work.’’ ‘* Byron, you lie.”’ ‘‘No, 1 don’t lie!” ‘* What do you know?” ‘« The whole business. ’’ ‘¢There’s nothing to know.” ‘There ain’t, eb? Well, 1’ve got it good that you are only raiding to raise funds to finish for a flood, and 1 know where all your machinery is; l’ve got the whole thing down fine.” ‘* You have?”’ ‘* Yes, ] have.” ‘“ Where is this fancy shop you are speaking of, old man?”’ ‘¢? know where it is, safe enough.” “We give ycu permission to tell all you know.”’ ** Will you?”’ sé Yes.’’ The man uttered some statements in a hur- ried manner, but he located the machine-shop he had heen talking about and named a great number of the men who were engaged in the underground enterprise. 3 The three men were astounded; the gang had a regular organization; men were admitted only after the swealing of the most fearful oaths and the passing thrcugh of the most terrible ordeals, and here was a man who had never been sworn, who had never passed through one of the or deals, who had, as the slang goes, the “ whole business. ”’ | ‘You see I’ve got it all good.”” So had our hero hiding under the bar-room of the kind, and it was to be the crowning tri- umph of his professional career to ** cateh on er to the secret. ‘* Old man, you have sign«d your own dealh- warrant!’ said the captain in a selemn voice; ‘“rou don’t know what you have said!” ‘“T am not bound by an oath. I am only proving that 1 have not been giving anything away. | te There is but one way for you to save your ife.”’ ‘‘ My life isin no danger.”’ ‘Twenty men are sworn to down you, and ycu can not escape unless you—”’ The man hesitated. ‘* Unless 1 do what?” ‘‘ Name the man who betrayed all the facts to you.”’ ‘Sit was not a man who betrayed the facts to me.”’ ‘“Tt could not have been 4 woman, for ne woman had them.”’ ‘‘It was not a woman,’’ ‘* Who was it?”’ ‘“‘That’s my secret. : ‘* And that secret will cost you your life!’” ‘‘Don’t threaten me. I| am a different.man from what ]’ve been rated by you fellows. 1 owe you nothing.’’ | The four men stood facing each other, pre- senting a most striking tableau, when a really startling incident occurred. A smothered cough was heard; it was not uttered by any one in the room, and yet it sounded as though the cough had been right in their midst. The men gazed into each other’s faces, and then fierce glances were lowered upon Byron, and the captain, in a husky voice, demanded: “ Will you deny it now? Where is he?” ‘¢} do not know anything more about it than you do.”’ ‘* Old man, just one word in your ear. Noth- ing on earth ean save you unless you squeal,” ‘Tye nothing to say.” ‘* You can save yourself,”” ‘‘)’ve nothing to say.’’ The three tobkers were beaten; they dured not make an assault upon the tavern-Keeper at that moment. The mysterious cough bad come as a warning to them. They were fully con- vinced that Byron and the detective were in with each other, and that the latter was set to give them dead away. They were dead set back. | The truth was, hcwever, that Byron was as much alarmed by hearing the mysterious cough as were the men, and after a moment he said, in a low whisper: ‘‘You men are going dead against your- selves.’’ | ‘* How so?”’ ‘* By suspecting me.”’ ‘“ We have the thing dead on yeu.”’ ‘‘ Some one has been listening to our talk.” ‘Certainly; you knew that.”’ ‘‘] swear I did not!”’ ‘‘ What’s your game now?” ‘‘My game is to save you fellows.’’ ‘‘ Save us, eh?”’ cé Yes.”’ ‘How?’ ~- . ‘‘T am with you to find out who is sneaking around here.”’ | ‘‘ Do you mean what you say?” ‘*} do, as I live!’’ ‘: Bah! it’s some ‘snap’ you want to get us into, old man.’ | ‘* As I live, no!’’ ‘‘ What do you suspect?” The man spoke very low; indeed, his commu- nication was more pantomime than utterance. - The captain and his men approached closer to him, when he raised his pistols and sald: ‘“No, no; don’t come close; you can’t heel me.’” ' ‘“ What is it you want?” ‘7 want you men to swear 1’m innocent.” “* And then—”’ ‘* And I will let you into a suspicion.” ‘“ We swear.” | ‘* Give me your weapons.”’ ‘‘ Hello! that’s your game, eh?”’ ‘‘In your own interests.’’ “It won’t work!’’ ‘Remember, then, it is not my fault if ycur ‘gig’ goes up.’ . ‘“ What’s your game?” ‘Only to see that you do not back-cap me, and then I’m with ycu!”’ One of the men laid his weapon on the bar, got it all good, and he had suspected something |and the others followed this example. ; . \ > eve n — 2 nl” Ae te a ee ee ee