"If he ain't lost in the galleries," suggested Nick; and Madge replied:
"No; we won't give it up. If you are dry, Handsome, suppose you go to the camp and get somethingfor us all. I wouldn't mind having something myself."
"I'll do it," said Handsome, rising. "Wait here."
He was off like a shot, for now he felt that he knew the route sufficiently well through the caverns to find his way without difficulty; as, indeed, he did. And he had a lantern to light his path.
Nick sat quietly until Handsome was well out of hearing, and then, purposely, he leaned very hard against the rock behind him—so hard that it moved, and he nearly fell upon his back inside the opening.
With a well-simulated cry of surprise, he leaped to his feet, and stood staring, and Madge did the same.
"A secret hidin' place!" cried out the supposed old man—and he pushed the rock farther in, thus making the opening even larger.
Then he stooped forward toward it.
"Hello in there!" he called lustily, for he wished to warn Patsy of what was taking place, and at the same time to instruct him what to do. "Come out of that, you—Pat! There are two of us here, and one is Madge herself. Come out of that!"
"You fool!" exclaimed Madge.
"Come out of that!" repeated the detective, pretending not to hear her. "Come out of that, or we'll come in after you!"
There was no reply, and Nick turned to her.
"Come along," he said. "We'll go inside and find him."
She had a revolver in her hand, and now she stepped quickly forward, for there was nothing of the coward about Black Madge. There was not a thing on earth that she feared.
She stepped forward so quickly that she had passed inside the barrier of rock before Nick—as he intended she should—and then, as he stepped after her, he seized her quickly from behind—seized both her arms, and pulled them behind her with a suddenness that made her drop her weapon to the rocky floor.
As he pulled her backward, she tried to cry out, but he had anticipated that, and already he had grasped her so that he could press one of his hands for an instant over her mouth, and at the same moment he called out:
"Quick, Patsy! On your life! There isn't an instant to spare!"
And Patsy was ready and fully prepared.
He had approached them through the darkness at the first note of warning from Nick, and was in reality only a few feet distant when they entered the rocky passage; so that when the detective seized upon Madge and pulled her backward, Patsy was ready to leap forward and to give his aid.
When Nick's hand was pressed over her mouth to stop the cry that rose to her lips, Patsy was there toseize her, also; and he did it; and, although she struggled fiercely, she was quickly overpowered, and a gag was thrust into her mouth.
Then they tied her, hand and foot, with cords with which Nick had provided himself, and together they carried her far back into the recess behind the rock.
"There is a big room here," said Patsy. "And it is stocked with provisions, and a stream of pure water trickles through it. One could live here a month without going out."
"Good!" said the detective. "Carry her in there. Then when we have made her safe, we will wait for Handsome, and serve him in the same manner. And after that, I have got a plan which will work the whole thing out to a finish."
Madge was glaring at him venomously all this time, for she could not speak. But her eyes were terrible to see in their utter ferocity.
She knew now what the game was that had been played against her. She knew now that the man she had supposed to be old Bill Turner was all the time no other than Nick Carter himself.
She could have bitten her tongue out with rage and chagrin. She fairly writhed in the ecstasy of her impotent anger.
But they laid her gently upon the rocky floor, where there were some blankets over leaves—it was evident that Bill Turner had used this place as a retreat ofhis own, and had provided it for that purpose, like a schoolboy who finds a cave and makes a cache—and then Nick spoke to her.
"You see, Madge," he said, "it is all up with you and your gang; or very nearly so. We are going out now to capture Handsome, and bring him here to keep you company. After that I will show you a trick that will make you green with envy, and that will finish up this hobo business of yours once and forever. Come on, Patsy."
They left her there and returned to the entrance.
"Now," said the detective, "there is only one way to make Handsome fall into the trap. We must leave this entrance open for him to discover when he returns. He will first miss us. Then he will see the hole behind the rock. Then he will step forward to look inside. Then no doubt he will call out. I will stand here and remain silent; and then Handsome will do one of two things—he will either come inside to search for Madge and me, or he will set up a yell for the others to come to him."
"Suppose he brings some of the men back with him?" asked Patsy.
"We have got to chance that."
"Well, what are we to do when he steps inside this hole—for he will do that?"
"You stand over there in that niche," replied Nick."When he steps inside the very nature of the place will bring his back toward me. I will tap him on the back of the head with my fist and knock him into your arms. You are to grab him with your arms around him, and hold him so that he cannot get at a weapon, and until I can get my fingers on him. That is all. Now, ready and wait."
They had some time to wait; longer than Nick expected, and he began to fear that Handsome would bring some of the men back with him; but at last they saw the glimmer of his light as he approached, and Nick knew by the sounds he heard that Handsome was returning alone.
Presently he appeared. He was calling out softly, for he could not understand why he had not been answered—and the light he carried prevented him from seeing the hole behind the rock until it was directly in front of him.
And then he came to a sudden stop, and gazed at it in astonishment.
"Gee!" Nick heard him exclaim. "Dogged if they haven't found a hole here. And they have gone into it, too. I wonder if that old cuss knew about it all the time?"
He remained in doubt for a moment what to do; and then, as Nick had predicted, he stepped softly forward, and, holding his light aloft, peered through the opening.
But Nick had chosen his place of concealment well, and Handsome could not see him.
Then Handsome called out:
"Madge! Bill! Where the devil are you?"
There was no reply, and he waited a moment before he called again. Then he repeated:
"Madge! Madge!"
When no reply came to this second call, he stood for some time in doubt, as if he thought of calling assistance to him before he entered that dark and unknown place; and once Nick thought he half turned, as if he had decided to summon some of the others.
But he evidently thought better of this, for he turned about resolutely again, and boldly stepped into the opening. Two such steps brought him exactly into the position where the detective wanted him, and as soon as he had achieved it, Nick struck him with his fist.
With a half-articulated cry, Handsome pitched forward and fell into the grasp of Patsy, who was ready for him; and then, when he would have struggled, other arms—Nick's—seized him from behind, and another blow fell upon him, striking him behind the ear, and rendering him half dazed for the moment.
And then Nick, knowing that Patsy could hold him, turned about and closed the rock door of the retreat; and before Handsome had recovered his senses sufficiently to offer any resistance, the two detectives had bound him so securely that he could not move.
"Take his feet," ordered Nick, then. "We will carry him back into that chamber, to keep Madge company."
While they were doing that, Handsome managed to recover his powers of speech—for, now that the rock door was closed, Nick did not think it necessary to gag the man—and his powers of speech in this particular instance were something frightful to listen to.
He was still swearing when they dropped him, none too gently, upon the floor of the cavern not far from Madge; and then Patsy lighted two bracket lamps with which the place was provided, while Nick smilingly removed the gag from Madge's mouth.
And where Handsome had worn out his vocabulary of curses, Madge took it up, and completed it in masterly style, and there was really nothing for either of the detectives to say for a long time. But her breath was gone after a while, and she lapsed into sullen silence, closing her remarks with the request:
"At least give me something to drink out of that bottle that Handsome went after."
Nick could really do nothing less, and he complied; and the liquor seemed to restore some of her accustomed coolness, for she looked at Nick with an ugly gleam in her black eyes, and said:
"You are Nick Carter again, aren't you?"
"Again?" replied Nick, laughing. "I was always Nick Carter. I was so interested in that last interview I had with you, Madge, that I couldn't stay away; and now, when you condemned my assistant to death, you hastened the reckoning. That is all."
"I'll condemn you to death yet—and watch you die, too!" was her retort.
Handsome had also recovered from his paroxysm of rage by this time, for he was one who had the gift of knowing when he was beaten, and the logic to accept a situation when he knew that it could not be avoided.
"I reckon you've got the drop on us, Carter," he said. "You've played the game mighty well, too. There is one thing about it that I would like to know, though, if you will tell me. Will you?"
"What is it?" asked the detective.
"I want to know if you have been old Bill Turner from the beginning. I want to know if it was you whose acquaintance I made in the first place, the time I was pulled out of the hole in the rocks, or if it was old Bill himself."
"That was the old man himself," replied Nick, smiling.
"And the second time I met him; was that him—or you?"
"That was the old man, also."
"Well, all that I can say is that you have played the part so devilish well that I find it hard to believe even now that you are not what you appear to be."
"You're a fool!" said Madge spitefully.
"Oh, I admit the impeachment, Madge. There isn't any doubt of it. I'm a fool, all right."
"And you are up against it rather hard just now, Handsome; you and Madge," said Nick.
"I know that, too. I'm no fool as far as that is concerned. What are you going to do about the rest of the gang?"
"I'm going to capture the whole bunch," was Nick's rather astonishing reply.
"I don't see how you are going to do it," retorted Handsome. "There is a cold hundred of them, all told—and every entrance to the cave is guarded. You attended to that yourself."
"Certainly, I did; because I foresaw this very moment."
"Well, all that I can say is that you can see a cussed sight farther into a stone fence than I can."
"I'll show you how it is done, if you are interested," replied the detective. "But, first, I am afraid that I will have to ask you to step out here a moment, into the other part of the cave, always remembering that if you make any kind of a break, down you go with a cracked skull;" and Nick leaned forward and loosened the cords around his ankles.
"Oh, I know when my hands are in the air, Carter. If I make any breaks it will be because I think I see a chance of winning. What do you want?"
He rose stiffly to his feet as he asked the question; and Nick looked him in the eye as he replied:
"I want you to remember, in the first place, that I am more than twice or three times as strong as you are, and that if you offer to give me any trouble I shall hurt you; and hurt you so badly, too, that you won't get over it right away. I am going to take you into the other part of this cavern, toward the door where we entered. I am going to free your hands, and then I shall ask you to put on these old togs that Turner has left here for a change of clothing in case he got wet—for I want these that I am wearing for Patsy. After you have made the change I shall tie you up again, and then you will see—what you will see. But, remember, if you refuse to obey me on the instant that I give an order, down you go, and I will take the clothing off your senseless body, instead of letting you do it, and keep well. Now, are you ready?"
"Yes."
Nick took him into the adjoining part of the cave, and held the light on him while he made the necessary change; for Nick had found some extra clothing of Turner's in the cave; and when that was done he tied Handsome up again, more securely than ever, and placed him on the floor again.
"Now, Patsy," he said, "you and I will make a change. You will play the part of old Turner, and Iwill play the part of Handsome. It is necessary for what we have to do."
Nick first dressed himself in the outer clothes that Handsome had removed; and then he sent Patsy into the other part of the cave to put on the clothing he had taken off—the suit that he had worn as old Turner; and, while Patsy was making the change, he was himself busily engaged in removing the white beard and hair that he had been wearing.
It will not be necessary to describe in detail this operation; it is sufficient to say that the two detectives worked steadily for a long time; and that when at last they were through with what they were doing, Nick had assumed the personality of Handsome, and Patsy was transformed into what Nick had been—old Bill Turner.
When everything was in readiness, he saw to it once more that the bonds which held his two prisoners were sufficiently secure, and that there was no possibility of their escaping; and he went so far as to fasten them to the opposite walls, so that they could not crawl within reach of each other, and make use of their teeth; and then he turned to Patsy, who was now, to all outward appearance, old Bill Turner.
"Come along, Bill," he said, exactly imitating the voice of Handsome—so that Handsome grinned in spite of himself. "We have got a lot to do yet, and it will be daylight before we know it."
They passed outside then, into the corridor of the cavern, and when Nick had shut the big rock in place over the entrance, he wedged the small stone under it, so that it could not be moved from the inside.
"There," he said. "Even if they should get loose, which is not at all likely, they could not get out. And if they yell themselves hoarse, nobody could hear them. Come on. We've got a lot of work cut out for us."
"What is there to do first?" asked Patsy.
"The first thing is to return to the cabins in the valley, and find out what time it is. Oh, there is a watch in those clothes. Look at it. What time is it?"
"Half-past two," replied Patsy, imitating the broken voice of the old man to perfection.
"That's good, Patsy. I refer to your imitation. You will not have to use it much—possibly not at all; but it is as well to be perfect in your part all the same. I think we will have time enough for what we have to do if we hurry."
He led the way rapidly then, back to the valley, where some of the searchers had already returned, and he found them grouped around the exit, when they issued from the cave.
But when they attempted to address him, believing him to be Handsome, he returned no reply, for he had seen Handsome ignore them utterly many times; butit was Cremation Mike who stepped forward in front of them as they approached the cabin in which Madge was supposed to live.
"Any luck?" he demanded surlily.
"No," replied Nick, stopping for a moment.
"Look here, Handsome, if that fellow is gone for good, do you suppose that Madge will do what she said she would?"
"What was that, Mike?"
"Hang me in his place?"
"I shouldn't wonder if she did."
"Say, Handsome, can't you say a word for me with her? Where is she? Can I see her?"
"You had better keep away from her," suggested Nick.
"No; I want to see her. Take me to her, will you?"
"All right. Come along," replied the detective, and so Cremation Mike fell in behind them, and followed them into the cabin where Madge was supposed to be.
But they were no sooner inside the house with the door closed than Nick wheeled in his tracks, and grasped Mike by the throat, and then struck him with his fist over the temple. The result was that Cremation Mike sank to the floor without a sound, and was speedily bound and gagged.
"That's one," said the detective grimly. "There are a good many more, Patsy."
"Do you expect to get them all, one by one, in that way?" asked Patsy. "It will take a week to do that."
"No; I have a better plan than that. Wait."
Nick knew of Madge's fondness for trapdoors, and also that she always kept a large supply of liquors on hand with which sometimes she treated her men, or some of them. He had no doubt that somewhere in that cabin he would not only find the liquors he wanted, but also drugs.
There was a trapdoor in the floor of the largest room in the cabin, and under it was a shallow cellar wherein were several cases of liquors. The robbery of freight cars had always kept the hoboes well supplied with such articles.
"Now, I'm going to make the hoboes a punch," he said to Patsy. He was searching through a cupboard while he spoke, and from there he produced a large bottle of laudanum. "I will have to use this," he continued. "It is the only thing here which will do at all, and as it has an excessively bitter taste, I will have to make a punch in order to conceal it. But it will do the work I want done better and more safely than anything else."
"You'll have to use a washtub for the punch, to make enough for all of them," said Patsy. "And is there enough laudanum?"
"Plenty; and there is a couple of pails. They willdo as well as a tub. Now help me. We have lemons, and sugar, and everything that we require, here in this cupboard. But first, let's drop Cremation Mike into the cellar with the cases."
They did that, and replaced the trapdoor; then they sliced lemons—all that they could find; they found a pot of cold tea, and this they dumped into the mess with the laudanum; and upon all this, bottle after bottle of the whisky was poured into the pails until they were filled to the brim.
"Now, Patsy," said the detective, "remember that you are old Bill Turner. I want you to go out among the men right now, and tell them that Madge and Handsome have fixed them all up a punch, and if they will form in line and pass in front of the door of this cabin, each one of them can have two drinks of it. And it would be a good idea if you should act as if you had already taken your own two—or several. It will give them confidence."
"I can do it," replied Patsy, and he went out.
After a little Nick heard the murmur of voices before the cabin, and he stepped to the door and opened it; and then he found that the men, without an exception, save those who were on guard at different places—he found that eighty men had formed in line, and were ready for the treat that had been promised them.
He carried out the two pails and stood them on theporch; and then with a dipper in one hand and a goblet in the other, he called out:
"Come up slow, now; one by one. Don't be in haste. Remember there are two drinks each, for you, and no more. These two pails will just about do it. I'm doing the trick for Black Madge, who happens to be busy just now."
And so they began the procession past him; and so he doled out the concoction he had arranged for them, and watched them gulp it down with evident relish; and he called out when he served the first drink:
"The orders are that each one of you, as soon as you have had your two drinks, shall go to your quarters and turn in. You are wanted to rest up, so that we can begin this search again, and find that fellow we are after. Come on, now. When you have taken your medicine, go to your bunks and turn in—all of you!"
And they came. Then they took their medicine, and so nicely had Nick calculated the quantity that would be required that there was scarcely a pint of the concoction left when they were through.
Many of them stopped long enough to beg for a third drink of it, and only once did Nick grant that request—to a big fellow for whom two might not be sufficient.
And within thirty minutes after that last one had passed the porch, that camp was as quiet as a church.
"Patsy," said the detective, when they reëntered the cabin, after watching their punch consumed almost to the dregs, "this is about the biggest capture I was ever in."
"But we are not through yet, chief," replied the assistant, stroking the white beard he wore so naturally that Nick laughed aloud. "There are sixteen more men at liberty yet, and we have got the whole bunch to tie up. Don't forget that there are four men stationed at each of the outside entrances to——"
"Oh, I haven't forgotten it. We will serve them in the same way. All we have to do is to manufacture one more pail of punch. So here goes. And as for tying them up, that will hardly be necessary."
"Why?"
"They are good for twelve hours of solid sleep at the very least. Many of them will not waken in twenty-four hours."
"And maybe some of them will never wake up. How is that?"
"It is a chance that we had to take; but by restricting them to two drinks each, I figured that there would be no danger. No; I think we are all right.Now, help me make this extra pail of punch. After that we will carry it through the cavern to the different parties of four each."
"Suppose they get suspicious, and won't drink it?"
"No danger of that, my lad."
When the punch was made, they divided it into two lots, each carrying half, and, thus equipped, they again entered the cavern, this time just as daylight was beginning to appear.
The first party they selected to serve was the one farthest away, and the detective discovered that they were grumbling because they had not been relieved.
But when he appeared with the pail of punch, and told them what had happened—that every one had been served with the same thing—they forgot their sorrows and had their share as the others had taken theirs.
And here, in order to make doubly sure, Nick had given each of the drinks a larger dose of the sleeping draught than he had served in the valley. As soon as the men had drunk what was given them, and had been refused more, he left them, followed by Patsy, and returned through the cave to another entrance.
And here again the operation was repeated in the same manner, an idea of suspicion never once entering the head of any of the men; they were far too eager for the drink which the thoughtfulness of their mistress had provided for them.
"They'll be suspicious when they begin to feel drowsy all at once," suggested Patsy, as they moved away.
"Let them," replied Nick. "We won't be there, and not one of them will be able to go very far before he drops in a stupor. I have fixed it, all right."
They found the second party as eager as the first, and one of them already the worse for too many drinks from a bottle he had had in his pocket; but they took the medicine that Nick portioned out to them as the others had done, and they in turn were left alone to drop off to sleep as they would; for they had been awake all night, and now it was broad daylight. They figured that they deserved some sleep.
At the third entrance the four men were already asleep—all but one of them, and he was drowsing; and Nick, in his character of Handsome, pretended to be angry at first. He pretended to refuse to give them the punch that had been sent to them until they begged so hard that he finally relented.
"Why," said Patsy, when they left them, and took their way toward the fourth, and last, place—the hole under the Dog's Nose, near the place where Handsome and Madge were prisoners, "it's all as easy as living on a farm."
"And not half so interesting," laughed the detective.
They walked past the movable rock behind whichthe two prisoners were confined without so much as devoting a glance to it, for they were both intent upon accomplishing this last installment of capture through the medium of the laudanum; and here they found the four men who were on duty, just about ready to mutiny because they had not been relieved.
But the presence of Handsome—or the man they believed to be Handsome—quieted them at once, for they stood in wholesome dread of him and his anger; and when they understood what had been brought to them, they were ready for anything.
And so it was that in their turns they took their medicine as the others had done. When they had swallowed it, Nick said to them:
"Stretch out, now, you fellows, where you are. I'll let you sleep for a while, at least. I'm going to sit here and smoke. I am tired myself. Turner, sit down. We'll keep watch here for a spell."
The men did not require a second invitation, but speedily took advantage of the permission—and it was surprising how soon the laudanum took effect upon them.
Ten minutes had not elapsed before the four were sleeping soundly, and snoring as if they never expected to awake again.
"I think we can go now," said Nick, at last, rising.
"What is the next trick to be done?" asked Patsy.
"Let me see," replied Nick. "It's thirty miles fromhere to Calamont. How far is it to the railway track in a direct line? That is the way you came, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"How far is it?"
"About four miles, possibly. I can make it in an hour."
"Then skip. This is the nearest point to start from. Get to the track as soon as you can. Flag the first train that comes along, no matter what it is. Get aboard it, and go to the first station. Get off there, and use the telegraph operator. Have him wire to Mr. Cobalt, the president of the road, exactly what has happened. Ask Cobalt to send a special train to us from the nearest point. We will want about twenty officers to take charge of all these prisoners, and he had better send along some chains with padlocks on them. You can figure that out yourself. We will want to make chain gangs of these men, so that they can walk to the railway, but so that they are chained together and cannot escape. You've got the idea?"
"Yes."
"Go, then, and see how quickly you can get the officers here, and we can get this crew away from here."
"And you?"
"I'll stay here. Skip, now. Don't talk any more."
"Have I got to carry these whiskers with me?" grinned Patsy.
"You'd better not stop to remove them now. I put them on to stay. Go!"
And Patsy went.
Nick remained where he was for a while, thinking deeply, and altogether satisfied with what he had accomplished; but after a little he rose, and took his way back into the cave, intending to see what Handsome and Madge were doing, and if they were making any effort to free themselves.
But after he had reëntered the cave, and had covered the twenty rods that intervened between it and the movable rock, he stopped in astonishment and stared.
The rock was pushed wide open.
With a bound he darted forward and entered the place, but only to find that Madge and Handsome had both disappeared. Their bonds were lying upon the floor of the cavern, but they were no longer there themselves.
Nick did not wait to see more than that then.
He turned away on a run, and darted through the galleries with all the speed he could summon under the circumstances—and he came out into the valley, where the sun was shining, directly behind his two escaped prisoners, for they had not preceded him by more than a minute, evidently.
With one wild spring he was upon them, and as Handsome turned to defend himself, Nick hit him withhis fist, so that he sent him reeling across the grass, where he fell senseless to the earth.
But in the meantime Madge had turned with a scream of rage, and when she saw the real Handsome fall helpless, she broke into a run toward her own cottage, for she had no weapon to use now, Nick having deprived them both of their guns.
But the detective ran after her, and, just as she was about to leap upon the porch, he succeeded in seizing her, and in pulling her back again toward him.
She turned upon him then like a fury; but with a laugh he sprang under her extended arms, and seized her around the waist; and then he lifted her from her feet, and, still laughing, he ran across the grass to the cabin in which Patsy had once been a prisoner, and in another moment he had tossed her inside, closed the door and fastened it.
For a long time he could hear her storming in there, but he had to hurry back to Handsome, who was still down and out when he got to him, but who presently revived.
But he had all the fight taken out of him, and he allowed himself to be bound again securely, after which Nick led him to Madge's cabin, and tied him to one of the rustic chairs on the porch.
Including Black Madge and her first lieutenant, Handsome, there were one hundred and two prisoners turned over to be dealt with by the law when Patsyreturned to the place in the hills, having piloted the officers who were sent by special train to complete the capture.
Black Madge did not see the detective again to speak to him; but she sent him a note, in which she said:
"I haven't done with you yet, Nick Carter. I will never forgive you for fooling me as you did. I shall manage to get my liberty again, somehow, some time, and when I do, it will be for the purpose of wreaking vengeance on you. And I will get even some day, never fear."
"I haven't done with you yet, Nick Carter. I will never forgive you for fooling me as you did. I shall manage to get my liberty again, somehow, some time, and when I do, it will be for the purpose of wreaking vengeance on you. And I will get even some day, never fear."
Nick Carter had entirely forgotten Black Madge's threat when he was forcibly reminded of it one morning by the following letter which he found on his breakfast table:
"Nick Carter: One month ago—how time flies—I wrote to you that I hadn't done with you yet; that I would never forgive you, and that I would get even some day."That was a month ago. I thought when I wrote that it might take a year—but they are easy marks in this State."It was my hope after you captured me and all my followers, that I would have a chance to see you again, and to talk to you before I was taken away to prison. You would say probably that I wanted to boast; for a threat, after all, is only another kind of boasting. But it wasn't so, Nick Carter; I wanted to tell you what you had succeeded in doing; and this is it:"You have succeeded in creating in me a passion which supersedes all others in my nature—the passion of hatred. Twice now you have foiled me; twice you have been successful in arresting me, and the latter of these two times you not only destroyed the organization which I had created, and rendered it utterly impotent for my future uses, but you destroyed almost at one blow every ambition that I had through that organization and by reason of it."You didn't know that, and you couldn't appreciate it; and it wouldn't matter at all to you if you had; neither has it anything to do with the purport of this letter."I know you will say that I am a fool to take the trouble to warn you, but I would be less than a woman, and much less than the bad woman I am, if I did not take this opportunity of exulting over the chance that is now promised to me to get square with you."Heretofore my every effort has been centred upon playing on my fellow men; heretofore I have had only two thoughts in pursuing my career; one was to create an organization of which I was the supreme head, and the other was to secure by the operation of that organization all the money that it was possible to obtain."I have always been a thief with a system. My robberies have all been committed after careful planning; you know that because of the one you helped to commit yourself. But now I have only one ambition left—to get square with you. I haven't decided yet how I shall do it, or when, or where it shall be done. If I had so decided I would not tell you, so it makes no difference."But I have been a hard student, Nick Carter, of many things. I have had good instructors in the science of mixing and using poisons; there is no person living to-day, man or woman—yourself included—who is a better marksman than I am with firearms;there is no person, man or woman, who is more adept to-day in the use of all weapons than I am. This is not boasting; it is fact."Moreover, I have the power to appear in many guises—disguises you might call them. In one or more of them—perhaps in many of them—I shall appear to you, and when you are least expecting it I shall strike."Don't think by that that I mean to strike you dead. That would not be making you suffer enough; but I shall find other and better ways in which to strike—ways that will make you suffer and realize what you did when you made me your enemy, and made me hate you as I do."And another thing; I have already set to work to bring together, as rapidly as I can find them, people who have criminal records and who have reason to hate you as I do; people whom you have pursued as you have pursued me; those whom you have sent to prison; those whose careers you have interrupted; those you have threatened; and those who have cause for holding a grudge against you."I have sought many of those, and I have found many. I am still seeking others, and I shall find more; and when I have got together enough of them, and have selected from that number those whom I deem most available for my purpose and competent to carry out my directions as I shall give them, I shall organize them into a Band of Hatred, the sole object of which shall be your undoing and, ultimately, your death."You have preyed too long already upon that classof humanity to which I belong, and from our standpoint your position is much the same as is our position from yours."You know me well enough, Nick Carter, to know that from this moment forward you will never be safe from danger for one moment of your life; whether you are sleeping or waking; whether you are afloat or ashore; whether you are quartered in the seclusion of your own study at home, or are abroad upon the streets of the city."You know that I do not threaten idly. You know that I am a woman with a purpose. You know that I am intelligent, educated, and determined. You know that I am a woman to be feared."I have thought this matter all over, and decided upon it during those hours when I was locked in the cabin up there in the hills, after you had drugged the men of my company, and succeeded in capturing us all."When I was taken to prison I knew that it would be only a short time before I would be able to make good my escape. How I have succeeded in accomplishing it does not matter. I have found one key in my experience that never fails to open prison locks, if it is properly applied; the fact that it is made of gold is sufficient explanation, and gold I had in plenty, for I have always been successful, and even now I have hoards concealed in different places which will supply me with funds more than sufficient to carry out to the bitter end this campaign of vengeance upon which I have determined."I think that is all."I shall leave here for New York City an hour after this letter is put in the mail. When you will see me first I do not know.Black Madge."
"Nick Carter: One month ago—how time flies—I wrote to you that I hadn't done with you yet; that I would never forgive you, and that I would get even some day.
"That was a month ago. I thought when I wrote that it might take a year—but they are easy marks in this State.
"It was my hope after you captured me and all my followers, that I would have a chance to see you again, and to talk to you before I was taken away to prison. You would say probably that I wanted to boast; for a threat, after all, is only another kind of boasting. But it wasn't so, Nick Carter; I wanted to tell you what you had succeeded in doing; and this is it:
"You have succeeded in creating in me a passion which supersedes all others in my nature—the passion of hatred. Twice now you have foiled me; twice you have been successful in arresting me, and the latter of these two times you not only destroyed the organization which I had created, and rendered it utterly impotent for my future uses, but you destroyed almost at one blow every ambition that I had through that organization and by reason of it.
"You didn't know that, and you couldn't appreciate it; and it wouldn't matter at all to you if you had; neither has it anything to do with the purport of this letter.
"I know you will say that I am a fool to take the trouble to warn you, but I would be less than a woman, and much less than the bad woman I am, if I did not take this opportunity of exulting over the chance that is now promised to me to get square with you.
"Heretofore my every effort has been centred upon playing on my fellow men; heretofore I have had only two thoughts in pursuing my career; one was to create an organization of which I was the supreme head, and the other was to secure by the operation of that organization all the money that it was possible to obtain.
"I have always been a thief with a system. My robberies have all been committed after careful planning; you know that because of the one you helped to commit yourself. But now I have only one ambition left—to get square with you. I haven't decided yet how I shall do it, or when, or where it shall be done. If I had so decided I would not tell you, so it makes no difference.
"But I have been a hard student, Nick Carter, of many things. I have had good instructors in the science of mixing and using poisons; there is no person living to-day, man or woman—yourself included—who is a better marksman than I am with firearms;there is no person, man or woman, who is more adept to-day in the use of all weapons than I am. This is not boasting; it is fact.
"Moreover, I have the power to appear in many guises—disguises you might call them. In one or more of them—perhaps in many of them—I shall appear to you, and when you are least expecting it I shall strike.
"Don't think by that that I mean to strike you dead. That would not be making you suffer enough; but I shall find other and better ways in which to strike—ways that will make you suffer and realize what you did when you made me your enemy, and made me hate you as I do.
"And another thing; I have already set to work to bring together, as rapidly as I can find them, people who have criminal records and who have reason to hate you as I do; people whom you have pursued as you have pursued me; those whom you have sent to prison; those whose careers you have interrupted; those you have threatened; and those who have cause for holding a grudge against you.
"I have sought many of those, and I have found many. I am still seeking others, and I shall find more; and when I have got together enough of them, and have selected from that number those whom I deem most available for my purpose and competent to carry out my directions as I shall give them, I shall organize them into a Band of Hatred, the sole object of which shall be your undoing and, ultimately, your death.
"You have preyed too long already upon that classof humanity to which I belong, and from our standpoint your position is much the same as is our position from yours.
"You know me well enough, Nick Carter, to know that from this moment forward you will never be safe from danger for one moment of your life; whether you are sleeping or waking; whether you are afloat or ashore; whether you are quartered in the seclusion of your own study at home, or are abroad upon the streets of the city.
"You know that I do not threaten idly. You know that I am a woman with a purpose. You know that I am intelligent, educated, and determined. You know that I am a woman to be feared.
"I have thought this matter all over, and decided upon it during those hours when I was locked in the cabin up there in the hills, after you had drugged the men of my company, and succeeded in capturing us all.
"When I was taken to prison I knew that it would be only a short time before I would be able to make good my escape. How I have succeeded in accomplishing it does not matter. I have found one key in my experience that never fails to open prison locks, if it is properly applied; the fact that it is made of gold is sufficient explanation, and gold I had in plenty, for I have always been successful, and even now I have hoards concealed in different places which will supply me with funds more than sufficient to carry out to the bitter end this campaign of vengeance upon which I have determined.
"I think that is all.
"I shall leave here for New York City an hour after this letter is put in the mail. When you will see me first I do not know.
Black Madge."
The detective read this remarkable letter twice from beginning to end, and then he passed it in silence across the table to Chick, who was seated opposite to him.
And Chick also read it twice in silence, and as silently returned it. Nick, realizing that Ten-Ichi and Patsy would also fall under the sweeping hatred of Black Madge, tossed it over to them with the direction that they read it also.
There was not one among them who felt like making any comment upon the letter, or its contents, at least until their chief had spoken; but presently, with a gesture to Chick, which meant that he was to follow him as soon as he had finished his breakfast, the detective left the table and went to his study.
It was only a few moments after that when Chick entered the room, smiling.
"I hope, Nick," he said, dropping into a chair near the window and lighting a cigar, "that you enjoyed the reading of that letter from Madge?"
The detective was silent a moment before he replied, and then quite slowly he said:
"So far as I am personally concerned, Chick, the letter or its contents has no more effect upon me than the snapping of your fingers, but I will confess that Iam in some dread concerning what she might do to you, and to Ten-Ichi and Patsy."
Chick leaned back in his chair and laughed aloud.
"If you will excuse me for saying so," he remarked, "that is utter nonsense. Of course, the boys downstairs and I are quite capable of taking care of ourselves."
"I don't doubt that," said Nick, "but that is not exactly the point."
"What is, then?"
"You have forgotten one part of her letter," said Nick.
"What part?"
"That part wherein she speaks about making me suffer, rather than attempting to do me physical harm."
"Oh! I haven't forgotten it."
"Do you understand what she means by that, Chick?"
"Certainly."
"Let me hear if you do."
"Well, she probably means that it would be her first effort to make you suffer by injuring those whom you love—in other words, by doing something or other to one of us. But forewarned is forearmed, and, anyhow, I don't think it behooves any of us to be afraid of a woman."
"This is a case," said Nick, "where a woman is much more dangerous than a man. A man would fightout in the open; a woman will fight in the shadow; or, at least, such a woman as that will. She is a pretty bad one, Chick, and a grave foe."
Chick nodded.
"It is always best," continued the detective, "to give your enemy or your adversaries credit for every advantage they possess. Black Madge is a wonderfully smart woman, and is unprincipled and implacable as she is smart. She will halt at nothing to carry out her design of vengeance, and just as sure as you are sitting there, Chick, we will presently feel the surety of that threat."
Chick flicked the ashes from his cigar, and then strode across the room to the window, where he stood for a moment looking out.
"I don't see exactly what we are going to do to head her off before she begins," he said presently.
"There is nothing to do," replied Nick gloomily.
"Upon my word," said Chick, laughing, "one would think that you were more than usually affected by that letter from Madge. Do you really take it so seriously as all that?"
"I take it seriously," replied the detective, "because I so well understand what the woman means, and she means just what she says. Instead of going on evenly and living the life we have been living, we must not be for an instant off our guard from this day on, until she is again behind the bars, and I hope the nexttime I arrest her it will be within the limits of the State of New York, where I can place a watch over her so that she will not escape."
"And I hope so, too," said Chick.
"And now, in the meantime," continued Nick, smiling, "since we have this letter and know what she is about to do, I think we will meet her halfway, and not wait for her to open the ball. Since she is at liberty, we will set about capturing her at once."
Down on the East Side of New York, in Rivington Street, and some distance east of the Bowery, on the second floor of one of the oldest buildings in the city, a remarkable meeting was being held during the night that followed the receipt of Madge's letter by Nick Carter.
In a room on this floor, which was brilliantly lighted by four gas jets blazing from the chandelier, nine people were seated. They were gathered along two sides of the room, in which was a centre table, and behind this table was Black Madge.
Before her on the table were various sheets of letter paper, which she had turned from a pad one after another as she made notes upon them, and in her hand she held a pencil which ever and anon flew rapidly over the paper while she recorded such information concerning those who were present with her as she cared to remember.
They had been present in that room for upward of an hour, and during that time Madge had questioned each one of the eight who faced her concerning the statements they had made, and which she had noted.
Now she leaned back in her chair, and, holding one of the sheets of paper in her hand, she said:
"Stand up, Scar-faced Johnny, and answer the questions I shall ask you."
One of them, a short, stocky, red-headed, brutalized being, who was almost as broad as he was long, leaped to his feet, thrust his hands deeply into his pockets, and with his chin stuck forward aggressively, waited.
"You hate Nick Carter, do you, Johnny?" Madge asked.
"I hate him like poison."
"And you would kill him if you could?"
"I'd cut his throat in half a minute if I was sure of not being caught."
"Tell me again why you hate him so."
"Ain't he sent me twice to prison? Once for four years and once for three. And the last time he done it didn't he hand me a welt alongside of the jaw that I'll never forget? A man can't hit me like that and have me love him afterward. You just show me the way to do it, Black Madge, and I'll lay him out cold—so cold that he'll never get over it again. All I want is a chance."
"All right," said Madge, "take your seat.
"Now, Slippery Al, you stand up. What's your line of graft, Slippery?"
Slippery, who was tall, and sallow, and lean, and unkempt, and who looked consumptive and otherwise unwholesome, grinned sheepishly, as he replied:
"I reckon my name ought to answer that question. I slips in and I slips out where I can and when I can, and picks up anything that's lying around."
Madge laughed scornfully.
"You don't look as if you had sense enough to hate anybody or anything," she said.
"Oh, I hate Nick Carter, right enough," was the unhesitating reply.
"Why do you hate him?"
"Because he sent my father and my mother and my two brothers to prison, and they're all there now, and they weren't doing a thing that interfered with him in any way."
"What were they doing?" asked Madge.
"Well, if you want to know it straight, Black Madge, they was running a little counterfeit plant of their own—making dimes and quarters and a few half dollars for some of us to blow in when we couldn't find the real rhino."
"Running a counterfeit plant, eh?"
"That's it, marm."
"And Nick Carter sent them all to prison, did he?"
"He did that."
"How does it happen that he didn't send you along with them?"
"Well, I managed to slip out just in time," said Slippery, with one of his sheepish grins; "but he sent a bullet after me when I was running away that singedthe hair over my right ear, and taking it all in all I hate him about as much as anybody."
"Not enough to kill him if I should ask you to do it, do you?"
"Well, Madge, when it comes to killing, that ain't in my line; but if you want me to lead him on somehow where somebody else could do the job, I think I'd be about the covey that could do it."
"That'll do for you. Sit down, Slippery."
"What's your name?" she added to the man who was next him.
A dark, beetle-browed, heavy-jawed, coarse-featured man, who looked as if he was as powerful as a giant, rose slowly to his feet, and replied in a surly tone, and with an ugly glitter in his eyes:
"I have got about forty names; leastwise, the police say I have; but they as knows me best calls me Bob for short; sometimes they fixes it up a little by calling it Surly Bob. But I think that Bob will do for you."
"What have you got against Nick Carter, Surly Bob?" asked Madge, smiling. She liked the looks of this hard-featured individual. He was just brutal enough in his appearance to satisfy her ideas of what a man should be.
Bob deliberately took a huge chew of tobacco into his mouth before he replied, and then, with a slow and almost bovine indifference, he responded:
"I don't know as it makes much difference to you, Black Madge, what I hate him for as long as I do hate him, and I'm bound to get square with him some day, whether I do it in connection with this organization that you're getting together or on my own hook without the help of any of you," and he glanced defiantly around. "It's enough that I do hate him. He's done enough to me to make me hate him. It's enough that if I had him alone in this room to-night one of us would never leave it alive unless he got the best of me without killing me, for I would certainly do him if I got half a chance.
"But I'll tell you one thing about him that maybe it will do some of you good to hear, for I give you fair warning that you want to give Nick Carter a wide berth unless you can manage somehow to catch him foul. He's about as strong as three horses, and if he ever succeeds in getting his grip on you you're gone. I'm about as tough as they make them, but I'm a wee baby in Nick Carter's hands, and don't any of you forget it."
"Tell us the story," said Madge.
"Oh, it ain't no story; it's just a short account. We ran into each other once near the front door of a bank I had gone into after hours and without the permission of the president and board of directors. When I picked myself up from the middle of the street after he grabbed me there was a crack in the top of myskull which didn't get well for three months. That's all I've got to say about it, but I want to add this: If that fellow Slippery Al, who says killing ain't in his line, but leading astray is, wants to bring Nick Carter my way, and will fetch him along so as I can get him foul, I'll fix him for keeps, and no questions asked."
And Surly Bob sat down.
He had no sooner taken his seat than the individual next to him sprang up without waiting to be asked to do so. If you had encountered this individual along Broadway or on Fifth Avenue in New York City, you might not have devoted a second glance to him; but if you had, and still had not studied him closely, you would not have thought him other than a gentleman.
His features were handsome or would have been handsome were it not for the crafty and shifty expression of his eyes and the otherwise insincerity that was manifest in his face. Among his companions of the underworld he was known far and near as Gentleman Jim.
By profession he was what is known as a confidence man, although it was said of him that he had the courage to take any part that might be required of him in preying upon the world at large.
He had been known to assist, and to do it well, at a bank robbery. He had once lived for some time inChicago as a highwayman. It was said of him that in his youth he had begun his career of crime by rustling cattle in the far West, and that he was as quick and as sure with a gun as any "bad man" of that region.
His attire was immaculate and in the height of fashion. He was clean shaven, and he wore eyeglasses which gave to him somewhat of a professional look, and which he had been heard to say were excellent things to hide the expression in a man's eyes.
In stature he was tall, rather broad, and extremely well built. In short, Madge looked upon him when he rose with undoubted admiration in her eyes, as if she believed that here was a man who could be anything he chose to be in the criminal world.
When he spoke it was in an evenly modulated tone of voice which might have done excellent service in a drawing-room; and, moreover, his voice was pleasant to listen to.
"I suppose you would like to hear from me, as well as from the others, Madge," he said slowly. "I haven't got very much to say, except that I don't take much stock in boasted hatreds. Where I was raised, and where I began my career—and I am not particularly proud of that career—when we hated anybody we rarely said much about it, but I will say this to you, and to the others who are here: I am very glad that this organization is being perfected. I am veryglad that some concerted action is to be taken against this man, Nick Carter, who has come pretty near putting us all out of business. You all know who I am, and some of you have got a pretty good idea what I am. Nick Carter knows about as much about me as any of you, which, after all is said, is next to nothing at all. But I have been on a still hunt for Mr. Nick Carter for some time, and when I get him in a position which Surly Bob calls foul, I shan't wait to send to any of you for assistance. I'll do the rest myself."
"And now you," said Madge, fixing her eyes upon the individual who was seated next to Gentleman Jim "Rise in your place and tell us your name, and make us a little speech, as the others have done."
"My name is Cummings—Fly Cummings, I'm called. Some of the bunch here knows me and some don't. Those that do know me don't need to be told anything about me, and those that don't know me are just as well off. I'm in business for myself, and always have been. The world owes me a living, and it's been paying it pretty regular ever since I was sixteen years old, and I'm now coming sixty-two. I'm like the others here in one respect: I've got a grudge against the man we've been talking about. I've never been able to make him feel it, because I've always fought mighty shy of him rather than get within his reach; but when I heard that this here movement hadbeen started going by you, Madge, and the word was passed around among the guns downtown that you wanted a few of us that hated Nick Carter to come to the captain's office and form a little organization, it struck me that it was just about the right thing to do. I've heard what Surly Bob had to say, and I know that Surly isn't the sort of chap that's in the habit of talking through his hat. If Surly Bob had it in for me I'd patronize the New York Central Railroad, and take a train out of town right away.
"I've heard what Gentleman Jim had to say, and if Jim was looking for my gore to-night, I'd take a steamer across the ocean or commit suicide, because I'd know I couldn't get away from him in any other way.
"I've heard what Slippery Al had to say, and while Slippery ain't of much account, he's about the nastiest toad that ever picked a pocket, and I wouldn't care to have him down on me.
"And as for Scar-faced Johnny, well, Johnny is a bad one, too. I ain't making any threats particularly, Madge, but I'm willing to join this organization, or I wouldn't be here, and I want to say now that when you're fixing up the business, and arrange for the signals so that we can summons each other when we want them, I'll do my part to the tune of compound interest; and I guess that'll be about all from me."
The sixth man of the party, who was the next toget upon his feet, had the stamp of prison life all over him. His face bespoke the pallor which is acquired in no other place in the world, and the vicious, shifty, sneaking gleam in his eyes spoke well of the craftiness which is the result of long confinement under the domination of brutal guards and turnkeys.
So recently had he escaped from prison, apparently, that his hair was still cropped short to his skull, and one almost expected when looking at him to see the stripes of prison garb upon him.
"I am Joe Cuthbert," he said slowly, in a tone so low that it could scarcely be heard. "I wouldn't have come here to-night at all if I hadn't been assured on the level that it would be perfectly safe to do so. I don't think there is any one of you in this room except Madge herself who knows me, but you will all hear from me later on as sure as I'm alive and can escape arrest.
"You may have been told since you came here that I have just escaped from prison, or if you haven't been told it, and know how to read, you have probably seen the rewards for my recapture. You will know, too, that I was sent up for croaking another chap, or, as they call it in the courts, for murder. I want you all to know that I served eight years. Eight years of hell, and that I've come out of there with the determination of getting square with the man that sent meup. That man was Nick Carter; and that's all I've got to say."
There was a moment of utter silence after this announcement, which had in it many of the elements of the dramatic.
There was not a person in that room who had not seen the inside of a prison, and many of them had served as many as four years, while others had been in prison many times for short terms.
But to have just escaped from prison after having been confined for eight long years seemed to them the climax of the possibilities of hatred.
But the moment passed, and Madge fixed her eyes upon the seventh of the group, who slowly rose to his feet and said:
"After what we've just heard, Madge, it doesn't seem that anything that I can say can add to the intensity of feeling that pervades this distinguished assembly. I regard it as quite an honor to be among those who know so well how to hate. As for me, I have also been inside a prison, to which this man Nick Carter sent me. I had been mixed up in a little diamond robbery from one of the big firms in this town. I don't know but maybe some of you heard about it; it was called the taking of the pear-shaped diamonds, and at the time that happened I was in love with a very beautiful girl, and was outwardly leading a very respectable life. It's enough for me to say now thatwhen the exposure that followed Nick Carter's investigation of that case, and through it the exposure of all my previous criminal record, which before that time I had been able to conceal, the girl went back on me, and would have nothing more to do with me. Now she is married to another man, and while I don't blame her any, I do blame the man that exposed me, and if any of you people that are gathered here can help me in getting square with him I'll be eternally grateful. My name is Eugene Maxwell."
There was only one other individual left in this collection who had not as yet spoken, and now, although Madge fixed her eyes instantly upon him, he remained in his chair as he was, with immovable, sphinxlike countenance and gloomy eyes. He was a tall, spare, rather well-dressed figure, when he rose at last in reply to her spoken request, and he stood, half leaning upon a cane which he held in his two hands, and bent a little toward her as he spoke.
"I haven't any name, so far as anybody knows," he said slowly, and with distinct and deliberate enunciation. "It has pleased my friends always to bestow a title upon me. Until to-night I have always worked alone, and have rarely made myself known to any of the inhabitants of the underworld, and if any of you here have ever happened to be told about The Parson, you will know who I am."
There was a distinct stir in the room when he uttered this name or title, for The Parson had always been more or less a mystery, and one that was much envied by thieves generally. He was a confidence man of the higher type; the sort of man who would go into strange cities or villages or communities, and represent himself to be a professional man; sometimes a minister; sometimes a priest; again a rabbi; and it was his graft to solicit and collect contributions for charitable purposes upon forged recommendations and letters which he had prepared in advance.
His success in this line had been enormous, and his work had always been done in the dark and alone, until six years before this particular occasion, having done it once too often, Nick Carter had trailed him down and captured him.
He continued:
"I was always very successful in my line of graft until Nick Carter got after me, and while I didn't get quite so long a term as our friend Cuthbert, I was sent up for five years, and served four years and three months of it. I want to say to you now that every night and every morning of my life during those four years and three months I cursed Nick Carter and everybody and everything that belonged to him. That's why I'm here. I take part in this little scheme that Madge has concocted to down that fellow with the greatest pleasure I have ever known. If you should happen to be in want of funds any time——"
"I'll supply the funds," interrupted Madge.
"All the same, if you should happen to be in want of funds at any time, all you've got to do is to whisper it to The Parson and I'll put my hand down in my pocket and supply the dollars, for I've got a few left, and I know where there are a lot more to be obtained."
He resumed his seat slowly, rested his chin upon the head of his cane between his hands, and the gloomy look came over his face again like a mask.
And now Madge stood up behind the table, resting her hands upon it, and leaning a little bit forward as she spoke.
"I'm a proud woman, my friends," she said. "I'm a young woman, too, being not yet twenty-four, and a good hater. I am part Spanish and part French. I was raised in Paris, and learned all that I know about my business over there. The first time that I ever saw Nick Carter in my life was in the office of the Prefecture of Police in the room of the Chief of the Secret Service. I was seventeen years old at the time when the chief had sent for me to question me about the death of a woman which had occurred in the house where I lived on the floor above me, and about which, fortunately, I knew absolutely nothing.
"But Nick Carter came into the chief's office while I was there. I had only a fleeting glance of him at the time. I left the room almost as soon as he enteredit. I did not see him again for five years, at which time he came in disguise to the thieves' headquarters where I was staying. I recognized him that time by his eyes, but nevertheless he captured me and sent me to jail.
"I escaped from that jail before I came to trial, and did it through the help of my friends. Somewhat later than that he hunted me down a second time, but I escaped, and I have sworn now to be even with him, and that is why I have brought you here together. You will please to stand up now, raise your right hands, and repeat after me in taking the oath of The Band of Hatred."