OLD BROADBRIM'S CATCH IN PERTH.
Meantime Old Broadbrim was riding toward Perth.
Totally oblivious to what was then taking place on Round Robin Ranch, the detective thought of his strange mission, and wondered why Belle Demona should send him to Perth with her jewels just at that time.
Once beyond the ranch he gave Black Duke the spur, for he was anxious to reach Perth and deliver the packet.
Besides this, he could consult the authorities and discover when he and Waters could get away with their man after taking him, and with such thoughts for his companions he galloped on.
It was a long ride, and not until after night had fallen and reigned supreme did the detective enter the capital of the western province.
The streets of Perth were dark enough, but he heard the sounds of revel which emanated from more than one den of sin and crime, but he kept on.
Suddenly he was startled to discover that he was followed, that a silent figure crept after him on the narrow sidewalk.
Old Broadbrim watched the shadower for some time and came to the conclusion that he was really watched.
In front of the main hotel he dismounted and turned to the door.
The spy had stopped and stood over against the building across the street statue-like in his pose and keen-eyed.
Belle Demona had a spy in Perth!
Old Broadbrim entered the hotel and had Black Duke cared for.
All at once as he turned a corner he came face to face with a man who started back.
There was something familiar in the shape, and the next moment the detective seized the arm before him.
He dragged the resisting figure into the light and laughed as he looked down into the face.
"You?" he cried. "I thought you were up to something mean and startling. Come with me!"
He fell back with the prisoner in his grip, for he had looked into the scarred face of Old Danny of Melbourne.
The detective dragged his man back to the hotel and forced him up to the room to which he had been assigned.
There he thrust the old man into a chair and looked triumphantly at him.
Old Danny showed a pair of blazing eyes and growled like a maddened beast.
"You've left Melbourne, I see?" said Old Broadbrim.
No answer.
"Who pays you to watch people on the street?"
"No one. I was watching no one."
Old Broadbrim laughed derisively.
"You are very innocent. You were not watching me, not keeping track of me? Whom do you serve in this part of the island?"
"I serve myself!" cried Danny, his little eyes blazing like stars. "I'm an old man who does no wrong, but I come from Melbourne, now and then, on business."
"The business of a spy!"
The next minute Old Danny sprang up with the agility of a cat and his face seemed transformed.
In one of his bony hands he gripped a dagger, which he threw above his head with all the fiendishness of a thug, and in another instant he made at Old Broadbrim like a panther.
But the detective threw up one hand and caught the descending arm in a grip of steel.
He looked down into the old man's face and laughed at the expression of baffled rage that seamed it.
"So you are the innocent old man of Melbourne!" he cried. "You carry a knife all the same."
Danny showed his teeth and batted his eyes.
Suddenly Old Broadbrim forced him back into a chair and then stood over him.
"Now, sir, why did you shadow me?" he asked.
"I didn't."
"No lies, sir.
"You were on the sidewalk watching me like a hawk; I am Roland Riggs, yet you shadow me."
"Roland Riggs?" grinned Danny of Melbourne. "When did you get that name?"
"It has always belonged to me—the name my parents gave me."
It was evident from his glance that the old man did not believe this, for he grinned again and looked into Old Broadbrim's face.
"Come! You must tell me the truth. I'll hand you over to the authorities if you keep it back."
Danny winced.
"Out with it!" and the hand of the New York spotter caught the old man's arm and pulled him suddenly forward. "They know this scarred face of yours beyond Melbourne, and if they once have you in their hands they won't give you up very readily."
"I'll tell if you'll let me go."
"The truth, then."
"It's a bargain, eh?"
"Yes."
"I came here to help Merle."
"I don't know Merle."
"You don't, eh? You are not Roland Riggs; you have eyes like——"
The old man paused.
"Eyes like who?" queried the detective.
"I don't like to tell you that. But I've seen your eyes before to-night."
"Where?"
"In Melbourne."
"In your house?"
"Yes—yes!"—eagerly.
"Why should I visit you?"
Old Danny looked away for a second, and then his eyes slowly came back to Old Broadbrim.
"You can't deceive me," he cried. "You are the government's spotter."
"How the government's spotter?"
"You are the man who followed Merle across the sea!"
"That's only a dream of yours, Danny. Did Merle tell you to come to Perth to watch me?"
"No."
"But you came, all the same. Didn't you send him a letter?"
"I did."
"And in it you told him that I needed watching."
"Did you see my letter?"
"Never mind that. I know something about it, you see."
"That's true. You've robbed Merle!"
Old Broadbrim did not reply to this assertion, but continued to look into the eyes before him.
"How's the pit?" he suddenly queried.
There was a start on the old man's part, and he would have leaped from the chair, if Old Broadbrim had not held him down.
"I knew it. You're the man!" he cried.
"There was no tenth step, Danny."
"You found that out, did you?"
"There are loose stones in the wall of the round dungeon."
"I found that out when I looked with the light."
"And didn't find the victim there, eh?"
"That's it. You were gone."
"Now, Danny, tell me why you serve Merle."
"I am under his thumb."
"I thought so. If you refuse to do his bidding he hands you over to the authorities?"
"He has threatened to do that."
"Yet you serve him and all the time have a deathtrap in your den."
"It takes a good trap to catch Merle. He is as shrewd as a fox, and that's saying a good deal."
"But you hadn't the courage to try to spring a trap on Merle. You served him on, and it was to warn him that you came to Perth. When Merle went to America——"
"That's right. He went to America!" cried Danny. "I wished the sea would engulf him."
"But it didn't. It brought him back to you and to Belle Demona, the queen of Round Robin Ranch."
"You've seen her, have you?"
"Perhaps."
"She is pretty as was her mother."
"You knew the mother, did you?"
The little eyes sparkled like twin carbuncles.
"I knew her mother," slowly said Old Danny, as if recalling the past. "Belle Demona is well named. She has her mother's traits and her temper, but she is cool and cunning."
"She is cool, as you say, Danny. She has seen a good deal of the world."
"That is true—she has seen life."
"She has been in London?"
"And Paris!"
"She has traveled in Italy."
"She nearly broke the bank at Monaco."
"I have heard of this."
"But for an American whom she had netted with her beauty, she would have struck it very rich there. She had him in the toils, but all at once at a public ball he spurned her and got her hatred."
"What was that man's name?"
Danny of Melbourne shook his head.
"I don't know. Belle told me once, and swore that she would have his life for the insult."
Old Broadbrim dropped his voice to a solemn whisper.
"Look here, Danny," he said, "the man is dead."
"What, the person who incurred Belle's vengeance at Monaco?"
"Yes."
"Does she know it?" cried the old man. "Did you tell her?"
"She knows it. Not only this, but Merle went to America months ago charged with a commission from her."
"To kill him?" exclaimed Danny of Melbourne, his face losing every particle of color and his eyes seeming to leap from his head.
"Do you think Merle would cross the sea to serve Belle Demona?" quietly asked the detective.
"He would raze the gates of hades for her," was the prompt reply. "He is her slave and is under her thumb, as I have been under his for years."
"Then you shall soon escape," said Old Broadbrim. "He will soon cease to lord it over you. Keep a still tongue in your head and you are safe. But you must go with me."
"Whither?"
"You must go to the high sheriff and remain with him till I see you again."
"I see. You are not Riggs. You are the man-hunter from across the sea."
Old Broadbrim merely smiled.
BELLE DEMONA'S MATCH.
"I have caged him!"
"You?"
"Yes, I have trapped him, but he refused to talk."
"Where is he now?"
"In the second pit."
Merle Macray, who listened to these words from the lips of Belle Demona of Round Robin Ranch, turned a trifle pale, and then said:
"Is he dead?"
"I don't know, but I trust he is."
"I'll see."
He darted from the parlor and went to the door leading into the first dungeon, into which Dick Waters had been thrust by the woman's command, and crossed it to the wall.
There he found a secret door which he opened and held his dark lantern above his head.
For a little while he saw nothing, and then he made out a human figure on the ground.
"Waters?" he called, but the man did not stir.
Merle went over to the man and threw the bull's-eye light upon his face.
"What means this?" cried Waters, springing up. "She did it, and you know why."
They stood face to face and looked at one another like wild beasts.
"And so do you, man," cried Merle. "He is in league with you, I mean Riggs."
"Prove it."
"You have been seen together. You have held secret consultations on the range and in the hut."
"That proves nothing. Riggs and I are friends."
Merle seemed baffled.
Was this man to beat him and come out of the affair victor after all?
"You are to perish here like a rat in a trap unless you make a full confession," cried the hunted man. "The traps of Robin Ranch are as deadly as the dungeons of Venice. There is no escaping from them, and your doom is sealed."
Waters, who was a young athlete, looked the other over from head to foot, and seemed to measure strength with him.
Merle retreated a step and laid his hand on his hip.
His eyes flashed with an angry light.
"I see. You are in league with Riggs, so called. Tell me the truth, Waters. Who is he?"
But Waters was no traitor.
"You refuse, do you?"
There was no reply.
"Then rot where you are! When he comes back you will have a companion in your misery."
"When who comes back?"
"Riggs; he will return to die with you. The fool has crossed the sea to fall to pieces in the dungeons of the ranch."
Merle, a minute later, stood once more face to face with Belle Demona.
"You found him?" she said.
"Yes; it is true. There was a plot, and when Riggs comes back we spring the trap on him."
"It shall be done! We must be entirely safe here."
"We shall be."
The shades of night had deepened over the landscape and the songs of the birds in the bush had ceased.
Far across the pasture lands of the Australian ranch moved a line of men and horses that gradually approached the ranch like robbers.
Their movements were almost noiseless, and their leader addressed his followers in low tones.
Nothing told of the approach of the enemy, and the night winds did not waft to the doomed ranch tidings of the swoop.
On a little rise not far from the sheep sheds the band halted, and Blacklocks addressed his men.
He told them of the marvelous treasure in the secret vaults of the ranch, and of the vengeance they would take.
When he concluded he gave the command to march on, and the column moved again.
It neared the ranch.
The guards did not stop its march; indeed there were no guards in sight, and everything seemed in readiness for the attack.
Suddenly the air rang with fierce shouts, and the rapid gallop of horses was heard.
"The bandits! the bandits!" cried half a dozen voices, and then all was confusion about the ranch buildings.
Down upon the houses swept the bandits, secure in their saddles, all dark-faced ruffians, who had plundered more than one good ranch, and left but misery and death in their train.
But this time there was to be a stubborn defense.
The bandits were suddenly checked by a sheet of flame that seemed to burst from every window of the ranch-house.
Blacklocks and his demons fell back—recoiled with cries of fright and agony.
The defenders of Round Robin Ranch had determined to fight to the last extremity, and were firing accordingly.
Their bullets told; men reeled from the light saddles, and horses pitched in every direction in the throes of death.
Volley after volley poured from the ranch, and whichever way the bandits turned they met the same sheet of fire.
Blacklocks himself was unhorsed and struck down, but he led his men on again.
At last the scoundrels gave way.
The defense was too much for them, and they had to fall back, carrying with them nearly one-half of their men.
The repulse had been disastrous for the few defenders, for six lay on the bloody floor of Ranch Robin, and of these four were dead.
The windows were shattered, and bullet marks scarred the house from eaves to foundation.
Merle, with a bloody bandage around his forehead, stood in the middle of the room looking like a demon of battle, and Belle Demona, holding a carbine in her jeweled hands, stood near him triumphantly and happy.
The bandits rode back over the hills with threats of future attack and vengeance, and the last shots had died away on the night air.
An hour later silence had come down over the old ranch, and all traces of blood on the floor had vanished.
"If Riggs would only come back now," said Belle Demona, "I would finish the work."
"He will come," answered Merle. "The trap is now set for the detective, and we will soon be safe."
At this moment there crouched on the porch outside the slender figure of a young girl.
Her eyes seemed ablaze with passion, and in her hand she clutched a revolver.
Her figure was not seen for the vines, but she could see the couple in the room beyond.
Stareyes had come back!
She watched Merle and Belle Demona with eager eyes, and felt her blood course like molten lava through her veins.
"I failed before and he still lives," she hissed. "I see him with her, and they have saved the ranch. But where is the detective? What has become of Roland Riggs?"
In another moment Merle came toward the porch, and Belle Demona caught his arm.
"Do you think the girl is here?" she cried. "Is Stareyes that witch in the country."
"Ask me not."
"But she has been here. There have been tracks in the sheep sheds. She lurks there. Fire them!"
"Wait till morning."
Belle Demona released him, and Stareyes saw him pass within a few feet of her.
She could have struck him again, but she did not.
"Perhaps Riggs wants him more than I do," she muttered. "He is the agent of justice, and has crossed the sea for this man. Truly he belongs to him. You shall have him, Riggs, but, if you fail, he shall die by Stareyes' hand!"
Stareyes slipped back over the path which led to the sheep sheds, and entered one of these.
She crept up to her hidden bed in the hay, and lay down.
Presently she started and listened with her ear glued to the crevice nearest her.
"They have come for me," she said, grasping the revolver and looking down into the darkness.
Some one was beneath her.
She heard a stealthy step and then the labored breathing of a person she could not see.
All at once there flashed up the tiny light of a match, and the girl in the hay could hardly suppress the cry that bubbled to her lips.
It was not Merle, the rancher, but Belle Demona, who stood in the sheep shed.
The burning match in her hand told her purpose.
She had come to fire the sheds and to burn her—Stareyes—out.
Madness and intense jealousy blazed in the ranch queen's eyes, and for a moment she looked around upon the interior of the little shed as she held the blazing match aloft.
"This will scorch the sleeping viper," Stareyes heard her hiss. "A match and a little hay will avenge me."
Belle Demona threw some of the hay upon the floor, and then struck another match.
Gloating over her demon work, she withdrew toward the door and looked back.
In another second she had thrown the second match upon the hay, and it caught immediately.
"That's it! She will burn now, and Stareyes will no longer prove the curse of my life."
Larger and larger grew the flame, and Belle Demona turned away.
She did not see the lithe form that dropped from the hayloft to the ground.
She did not note the nimble-footed girl who avoided the fire and sprang from the hut.
Belle Demona went back to the house, with the flames of the burning shed seeking the vault of heaven.
She looked back once from the porch, and saw the roof fall in with a shower of sparks.
"It is over and the nest is destroyed! Pray Heaven the viper was in it!"
"What have you done?" said a voice behind her.
She turned and saw Merle.
"I've fired the sheds and killed the viper of Melbourne!" was the reply. "Now no one remains but Riggs, the detective. Finish him, and the secret is forever safe."
She went over to the piano and began to play a wild and merry tune.
OLD BROADBRIM TIGHTENS THE COIL.
Old Broadbrim, after his interview with Danny of Melbourne, escorted the old man to the residence of the high sheriff, with whom he had a brief conversation.
The sheriff promised to detain the old fellow till the detective had secured Merle, and with this promise ringing in his ears, he went back.
Jem, the Sydneyite, was a man to be looked for now.
The reader will remember that he left Round Robin Ranch on a mission for Belle Demona.
Merle, however, had enacted from Jem a promise that he would go no farther than Perth, where he would find plenty to amuse him, for this purpose Merle had supplied him with ample funds.
What had become of Jem?
Had he gone to Melbourne for the purpose of looking into the pit-trap in Old Danny's den, or had he stopped in Perth?
If the American detective, still sailing under the name of Roland Riggs, could have looked into a well-known gaming den on the main street of the provincial town he would have got a peep at Jem.
The young man had obeyed Merle and disobeyed Belle Demona.
Fond of gambling, he had sat nearly all day in front of his pile of chips and played fiercely.
His success was varying, and now and then the pile would grow very small to mount again and bring a gleam of triumph to his eyes.
Jem knew Riggs only since his coming to Round Robin Ranch.
He had seen the disguised detective and knew that he stood high in the favor of the couple there.
Therefore when the door of the gaming den opened and he saw Riggs standing before him, he threw down his cards and greeted him with a smile.
But the next instant Jem's face paled.
What if Riggs should tell Belle Demona that he had broken his promise?
Half a minute later Jem threw up his hand and walked over to Old Broadbrim.
"Hello Riggs! I didn't expect you here," he said, forcing another smile to his lips. "I came down here for a little time, and will throw up the cards now."
They stood beyond the house in one of the little parks that dot Perth and were alone.
"How's the ranch?" said Jem.
"It's coming on fine; but you've been away nearly as long as I have."
"When did you come in?"
"A few hours ago."
"But you were there when I left?"
"And you, Jem, were not to have stopped here."
The young man started.
"Who told you so?"
"I know it. You were to go to Melbourne."
"For her? Yes, that's right; but hang it all, Riggs, when a fellow is better paid to stop here, why shouldn't he?"
"Who paid you best?"
"My friend Merle," said Jem. "He's a cool one, and when he wants a thing done to his liking it is done that way, that's all."
They stood under one of the trees in the park, and Old Broadbrim saw that his companion's face was still pale.
"Look here, that was a cool game, Jem," said he.
"What was?"
"Why, your little play in London."
"Did he tell you?"
"Who, Merle?"
"Yes. Well, never mind. I did let the fox get away from me, but I came on after him as soon as I could."
"It's no blame on your part, Jem. You were deceived so cleverly and so well that Merle doesn't blame you. Then who would have thought that the tracker would come out in Lord Harway's yacht?"
"No one. He must have pulled the wool over his lordship's eyes in a masterly manner," laughed Jem. "You see, Riggs, forI see Merle has told you about all—it was a little my fault in London. I could have silenced the man once, but I let the opportunity slip."
"You took the trail as soon as Merle sailed from London."
"Yes, I took his place. The man wasn't to get off, but he did. Then I cabled Merle to Melbourne and put him on his guard, for when I knew theMaybloomwas bound for Sydney, I felt that he wouldn't stop this side of Melbourne. In that I was right, I guess Merle stopped him there."
"I think so—in Old Danny's den."
"The very spot I am to investigate for Belle Demona! But I don't care about the trip. I don't like Melbourne and, besides, it's not the place for cards that Perth is. I've been thinking, Riggs, since seeing you, that I might let you carry out the rest of my plan and investigate the old pit for me."
"You're kind, Jem, just as if I care about the job."
"I'll pay you, Riggs. I'm the lucky man to-night," and he pulled from his pocket a lot of ten-pound notes. "Help yourself, but only go to Old Danny's and look into the pit. If any one's at the bottom Belle Demona will pay well for the news, and if it's empty—why, by Jove! we can trump up a story for the occasion. Will you go, Riggs?"
Old Broadbrim pushed the bills away.
"Why not make up the story here, Jem?" he said.
"I never thought of that, only a letter from Old Danny to Merle might give us away."
"We can fix the old man," said the detective. "But Merle must have had great cause to wish that tracker out of the way."
"He has cause. That was a dangerous man."
"Was he an Englishman?"
"No. No Scotland Yarder would have made Merle so eager to get away from him. He was one of these Yankee sleuths. He followed Merle all the way from New York."
"What for?"
"Just exactly what for I can't tell. You see that is one of the secrets Merle never confided to me."
"You're not his confidant, then?"
"Not in all things. He keeps some secrets from Belle Demona even."
"When did you go to London, Jem?"
"More than six months ago. I went that far with Merle."
"When he went to the United States?"
"Yes, when Belle sent him over there on a mission of some kind. It must have been a startling mission to have fetched this Yankee detective back in his wake."
"Exactly. Now if you only had stopped the detective in London you would have done Merle a favor, but I say you're not to be blamed, Jem, boy."
"I hope not. It wasn't altogether my fault. I never thought of Lord Harway's yacht till it was too late."
The detective, who had pumped Jem so effectually, proposed to adjourn to an alehouse just beyond the park, and the young Briton consented.
They proceeded to a back room, where ale was brought them and where Old Broadbrim played the remainder of his hand.
"So you went up to London with Merle when he set out on the mission across the sea?" he asked.
"I stayed with him till he sailed."
"But he kept the secret, did he? Come, now, Jem, you're a good fellow, and you and I are going to become famous friends, for I don't intend to give you away to Belle Demona, who thinks that you are on the road to Melbourne. I don't care why Merle went to America, for I'm only Roland Riggs, ranch herder and plainsman, and it doesn't matter to me if he went out on a mission of blood."
Jem fell back and his lower jaw dropped as he looked Old Broadbrim in the face.
"I happen to know that Belle Demona hated an old man who years ago spurned her love in Monaco, and, as he was a rich old cove in the States, he was a fat pigeon to be plucked or killed."
"That's it!" and the hand of Jem came down upon the table with emphasis. "He was a rich old cove, sure enough. I heard Merle say that he went out to pay off an old debt."
"One of his own?"
"No; one of hers."
"I hope he paid it. These old rascals who spurn woman's love must sooner or later reap the reward of their acts."
"Yes. Belle would have gone herself but for a little attack of the bush fever," continued Jem. "That's the way Merle came to go."
"Did he go willingly?"
"Yes; he wanted to serve her."
"And did, no doubt. When he came back, of course he acquainted you with the result of his mission?"
"I met him in London. I was on hand when he came back, but he didn't say much. Only he showed me a newspaper containing an account of the violent death of a rich man in New York, and when he pointed to the article he gave me a knowing look—that was all."
"But you inferred, Jem, that the old cove was the enemy of our mistress, Belle Demona?"
"I hardly remember what I inferred just then," answered Jem, draining his glass. "But let's quit this subject, Riggs; it's not a pleasant one."
"Agreed, Jem. We'll make up the story for Belle about your supposed visit to Melbourne."
Jem laughed at this, and the two talked half an hour longer, when they left the tap-room.
There was an eager and triumphant look in the Quaker's eyes.
He had all the clews in his hands; he had picked up many a thread since setting foot on Australian soil, and the coils of guilt had tightened around Merle Macray.
He parted with Jem in the street, and saw the young man wend his way toward the gambling den.
"Good-by, Jem," said Old Broadbrim under his breath. "If thee knew to whom thee has talked to-night perhaps thy nerves wouldn't be quite as steady as they are. But never mind, Jem. Thee is not in the shadow of the noose."
In a little while the detective stood on the porch of his hotel and was watching the many figures that flitted past underneath the lamps.
He was entirely at his ease.
As cool in Perth as if he stood on Broadway, he watched the crowds with a smile at his lips.
Thousands of miles from home, the Quaker, who was daunted by nothing, felt as secure of victory as if he had not an enemy in the world.
When at last he turned in it was with a feeling of coming victory which nothing could dim.
Had he not left Waters on guard at the ranch?
He was serving Belle Demona, and Stareyes would not betray him.
But Old Broadbrim did not know that the trial of his life was yet to come, and that he was on the eve of the most perilous adventure of his memorable career.
But if he had known this would he have shrunk?
No; he would not have been Old Broadbrim, the Ferret, if he had done so.
He was a man who never fled from danger when duty called.
BACK TO THE DEATH-TRAP.
Old Broadbrim rode back to Ranch Robin.
As he dismounted at the door he caught sight of Belle Demona on the porch, and the queen of the ranch greeted him with a smile.
He had carried out her mission to Perth; he had delivered the jewels to the lapidary and was back with his answer.
In the house the detective was served with wine, and Belle Demona stood near while he feasted and told the story of the bandits' repulse.
Old Broadbrim went out at last to look for Waters.
Could he have looked beneath the foundations of the ranch at that very moment he might have seen a man toiling for life between four walls.
He would have seen the slender figure of Dick Waters, in the demi-gloom of the lower dungeon, working as his hands had never worked before.
But the Yankee spotter did not witness this sight, for others came before his eyes in a short time.
The long hot day drew to a close, and yet Old Broadbrim had not caught a glimpse of Waters.
There was a vacant spot where the sheep sheds had been and he turned to one of the men for an explanation.
"She fired them," said the guard.
Old Broadbrim's look was a mute question which the man understood.
"Mistress Belle came back with a gleam of murder in her eyes, and I never saw her look that way before. She must have thought the sheds sheltered an enemy."
The detective started.
Had she finished the career of Stareyes, the fair avenger? and was the girl a charred heap of bones under the ruins of the old sheds?
Old Broadbrim did not care to ask openly for Waters, still his whole soul seemed interested in the mystery that hung over the young man's disappearance, and at last he sought out one of the guards whom he thought he could trust.
Waters had been missing for some time.
Old Broadbrim put this and that of the guard's story together, and concluded that the pair had pounced upon him soon after his (Old Broadbrim's) departure for Perth.
Had they wormed the truth out of Dick Waters?
He would not believe it, for Waters was a fearless man and would stand by his sworn promise.
All at once a hand was laid on Old Broadbrim's shoulder, and he turned to look into the face of Merle Macray.
"Back once more, eh, Riggs?" cried the man. "I'm glad you're here, for the bandits may give us something more to do, and, with several graves over there on the hill, we will need a hand and an aim like yours. You're ready, of course, for the battle?"
"Yes, always ready."
Merle twisted his mustache and looked toward the burned sheds.
Within the next half hour the captain of the guards came, and Old Broadbrim mounted his horse to take his station on the range.
This time he was placed in the darkest and wildest place on the ranch.
Far away stretched the landscape of bush and hills, and he could barely see his hand before his face.
As he stood beneath the darkened heavens, with his senses on the alert, he believed that some piece of deviltry was afoot and that it behooved him to be watchful.
For an hour he stood beside the horse like a statue and listened to the calls of the night birds across the country.
He could not see the lights in the ranch house, and this only served to make his position the more dangerous.
Suddenly, however, he heard a slight noise, and then a figure appeared almost at his feet, as if it had risen from the ground.
"Hush! not a sound," said a low voice, as a hand fell upon his arm. "It is I—Stareyes."
Old Broadbrim, with a start, looked down into the face of the avenging girl, which was pressed close to his, and for a moment he did not reply.
"You are in danger here," continued Stareyes. "The knife has been sharpened and the blade is about to fall."
"I thought as much when they placed me here."
"They have trapped Waters. He is in the underground dungeon now and cannot escape."
"So they've caught him? Did he confess?"
"Not he! He would tell them nothing, and to the dungeon he went, there to perish unless sooner rescued."
"It is the chamber under the house, eh?"
"The one next to the walls of the treasure house. I know the way to it, but the house is watched to-night, and Waters may work on the walls in vain."
For a moment the detective looked away, but his gaze came back to the stern face of the girl.
"Belle Demona fired the sheds and thinks I am there yet," she went on with a derisive laugh.
"I thought so."
"I could have killed her had I wished to, but her time is to end in a bitterness worse than death. Wait, Riggs. She is to see the end of all her hopes, and the revenge she took across the sea is to mock her at last."
Old Broadbrim heard at this moment a slight sound overhead, and they looked up.
"I know their plans," said Stareyes. "I have not been idle since you rode away on Black Duke. You are to be shot from ambush to-night. The hour has about arrived. Your grave has already been made over there in the bush and—— Hush! they are here."
Stareyes pushed the detective back, and listened with her face turned toward the little hills.
"They are to come from yon point," she whispered. "Who is to do it? Belle and Merle!"
In another instant the detective led his horse around a clump of bushes, and thus screened his body.
"Wait, I'll draw them off. You must have a breathing spell," cried the girl. "Stand where you are. I'll draw them back."
The figure of the girl vanished, and Old Broadbrim stood alone in the night.
Five minutes later he saw a jet of flame shoot heavenward where the ranch houses were.
He stood transfixed with astonishment as he looked, and for a moment did not speak.
All at once the fire bells of Ranch Robin rang out on the air, and their clanging startled all.
The ranch house was in flames!
"It is the girl's work," thought the detective. "She plays a desperate hand, but the right one just now."
Already he saw the moving forms of men in the rapidly increasing light, and the following moment he was in the saddle riding like the wind toward the scene.
The men of the ranch were fighting the flames with all their might, and Old Broadbrim threw himself into the work with his accustomed agility.
For half an hour it was a battle for existence, and then the victory was but half secured.
The ranch house had been saved, but at terrible cost; the fine interior had been gutted, and the appointments almost ruined.
Belle Demona, with a strange pallor on her face, stood off and looked on.
Merle Macray, not far off, watched the last efforts of the men, and smiled when he saw Old Broadbrim at the head of the workers.
Beneath the midnight stars stood Ranch Robin, deplorable sight, almost uninhabitable and forlorn.
Old Broadbrim thought of Waters in his dungeon.
What had he done?
Was he safe, or had the fire found its way to him and put an end to his career?
"Riggs?" said a voice behind the detective, and he looked into the face of his prey, Merle Macray.
Without another word Merle led the way to the ranch queen's private rooms and turned upon him.
He shut the door behind him and pointed to a pair of revolvers that lay on the table.
"You are not Riggs," said Merle. "The time for the unmasking has come. You are the American detective, Josiah Broadbrim."
Not a muscle of the detective's face quivered.
Merle stood over against the table, and as he spoke one of his hands picked up the nearest weapon.
"These weapons are loaded alike," he went on. "We are alone in this room, and here like men we fight to the death!"
"Who loaded the revolvers?"
"I saw them loaded. I watched the loading with keen eyes, and they are charged alike. I snuff out the light, and in the darkness we fight it out forever."
"Why not in the light?" asked Old Broadbrim.
"Let it be in the dark," was the answer.
"But thee had light when thee struck Custer Kipp down in the library of his own house!"
There was a slight start on the murderer's part, and his eyes for an instant sought the floor.
"Never mind that. You are an indefatigable tracker; never heard of your like. Trailed from New York, I have been in the shadow of your hand long enough. But it must end now—in this house!"
Old Broadbrim took one step toward the table, and at the same time Merle's hand went up, and the room became enveloped in darkness.
Silence fell over the scene, and the detective heard not the slightest sound.
What had become of Belle Demona?
Perhaps she was keeping watch outside, waiting for the result of the duel in the dark, or she might be elsewhere, lying in wait for the girl who had fired the ranch.
Somewhere in the apartment stood Merle, but Old Broadbrim could not see him.
"There is a button set in the wall where I stand," suddenly said the unseen Merle; "I press it, and a match is ignited which lights the lamp. I will touch it, and we fire at first sight of each other. Does that suit you, Mr. Broadbrim?"
"It suits me," said the detective.
As he spoke he moved toward that part of the room from whence the voice had come and stopped.
The minutest space of time seemed an hour, but all at once the whole room seemed on fire, for Merle Macray had pressed the secret button in the wall.
The next instant the figure of the detective cleared the carpet before him, and his hand closed on the arm which came up with a cocked revolver at the end of it.
Merle recoiled, but the grip of the trailer was not to be broken.
The men stood face to face and looked into each other's eyes.
"It was unfair!" hissed the hunted man.
"With me, when there is a murderer to catch, everything is fair," was the answer.
THE ESCAPE OF THE DOOMED.
Stareyes was right when she told Old Broadbrim on the range that Dick Waters was doomed to perish in the lower dungeon.
The young Briton, after his interview with Merle, had been shut up again in darkness, and with death staring him in the face.
The place seemed strong enough to hold a dozen men like him, and he had crept around the walls again and again in a vain attempt to find an outlet.
He was still on the hunt for one, when he heard a sound that thrilled him.
It was the cry of "Fire!" which penetrated to his prison, and caused him to hold his breath in anxiety and fear.
For some time he could not imagine what had caused the alarm, nor just where it was; but all at once the terrible truth flashed across his mind.
It was the ranch!
At the same time an awful thought took possession of Waters' brain, and he stood as one paralyzed in the darkness.
Shut up like a rat in a trap, with fire overhead and strong walls on each side, Dick Waters thought his temples would burst.
He pounded the walls of the prison, but the sound was drowned by the shouts above and the efforts put forth by the fire-fighters to save the house.
He listened against the stones, and tried to mark the progress of the grim destroyer, but in vain.
The wall which had receded to let him into the lower dungeon had gone back to its place, and he was cooped up with death before him and without hope.
He wondered if Old Broadbrim had come back.
If he had, had he thought of him, and would he look for the man who had become his ally?
At last a drop of water touched Waters' forehead.
He knew that it had soaked through the ceiling from the buckets of the ranchmen, and for a moment he took hope.
Perhaps, after all, he would be saved.
Now, with renewed desperation. Waters went to work on the wall already sounded fifty times.
He would not die where he was without an effort, a last one, for liberty.
Against the door by which Merle had entered the place he hurled himself, only to fall back exhausted.
But this did not check him.
Dick Waters, in the underground trap, intended to perish fighting; for, fire-chased, he would not let the demon get the best of him.
Seconds to a man in peril seem hours of torture.
It was thus with Waters.
But all at once there came to his ears a cry that tingled them with joy.
He heard voices now and knew that the fire fiend had been checked.
Saved! but only to perish where he was.
Waters drew back against the wall and clinched his bleeding hands.
Presently he heard nearer sounds, and a key turned in the door.
As he sprang forward he was stopped, for the door shut, and he stood again in darkness.
"Where are you, Waters?" cried some one.
"Here!"
A hand found the young man's arm and closed there.
"Thank Heaven! They did not finish you."
"Is it you, Tom?"
"Briggs! I am one of the three who seized you at her command; but, by heavens, I can't see a human being, and a pard at that, die in a trap like this."
Waters uttered a responsive thanksgiving.
"The coast is clear. The way to the south is open for you, but you must hasten. In a minute the avenue of escape may be closed."
"I am ready!"
Guided by the man who had come in the nick of time, Waters went up the steps into the starlight.
"This way," whispered Briggs.
Three minutes later the rescued man stood some distance from the blackened ranch house, and Briggs' hand pointed toward the south.
"You know the way to Perth," said he. "To be found here means death."
"But Riggs," said Waters, "is he back?"
"He is over there; but don't stop for him; Riggs can't help you at Robin Ranch. He has all he can do to care for himself. You must go or die here, Dick."
The young man hesitated.
Behind him stood the old house, and before the long trail to the provincial capital.
"I am going," he said as he held out his hand to his deliverer.
"That's right. It's life over there, but death for you here."
The two men separated.
"Should I leave Riggs here alone?" thought Waters, when he had reached the hills. "It is treachery. It would be called cowardice. He may need my help back there."
He looked in the direction of the ranch, and then turned his face deliberately toward it.
"I'll stand by Riggs! Together we play out our hand, or fall together."
Once more he tramped back with the courage of a lion.
He managed to flit past the house and caught sight of the varied groups of ranchmen in the light of lanterns and torches.
Suddenly the figure of Belle Demona loomed up before him as she directed the men still at work on the remnants of fire.
"A deadlier viper than that never lived in the bush," said Waters, as he watched her. "But for her Riggs would not be here looking for Merle, and she would slay on the spur of the moment. Her sting is death."
He slipped around the place hoping to catch sight of Riggs, but in this he failed.
Old Broadbrim was not to be seen.
Waters hid himself nearby and watched and waited.
He knew nothing of the two men standing in darkness in the ranch house.
He wondered what had become of Merle, but he did not dream that at that very moment he and Old Broadbrim faced each other in the little room, locked in, with revolvers in their hands.
Had Waters known this there might have been a change, but ignorant of the scene, he stood aloof from the ranch house and watched for the detective.
He was in the act of moving on when a footstep greeted him, and he turned quickly with his hand on the weapon Briggs had handed him.
"I nearly destroyed the nest," he heard a voice say in tones of triumph. "I gave it the match, but the men saved it. And Riggs fought the flames the best of all. It was calling off the hounds of death from him, for he was in the shadow when I lit the moss."
Waters made out the speaker standing in the narrow path within arm's length, and the next moment he had captured her.
Stareyes uttered a cry as she flashed a knife in his face, but he did not relinquish his hold.
"You fired the ranch—you!" said Waters, pulling the fair Australian forward. "You must hate Belle Demona."
"Does the bird hate the hawk that robs the nest?" she exclaimed. "Do I hate the beautiful serpent over there, and the man who does her bidding? Stand her before me and arm me with a keen blade, then ask me if I hate her."
"You say you saved Riggs?"
"I did. He was doomed on the guard line and stood in theshadow of death when my match created the diversion in his favor. It was a lucky thought, and I would not have cared if the feathers of the fine bird in yon blackened cage had shriveled in the flames my match made. It is only vengeance. But I've left him for Riggs, the detective. I only want to teach Belle Demona that one woman cannot rule all hearts with a rod of iron in this part of the world."
Waters, who had dropped Stareyes' arm, stepped back, but the girl eagerly followed him.
"The game is up," she went on. "Riggs is unmasked, and they know that he came out after Merle Macray. By their shrewdness he is in the jaws of death, and unless he closes in on Merle now he will end his trail in darkness."
"Where is he?"
"Ask me not."
"You saw him fighting the fire?"
"I did, but suddenly he vanished as if the hands of fate had shut upon him."
"Still he cannot be far away."
Waters looked toward the ranch and the gaze of Stareyes followed him.
"Wait! I'll go back and spy out the land," said the girl.
"You? Why, they'll see you and then your career will end."
"When they catch Stareyes there will be a sting in her hand," she hissed. "Merle is for Riggs, Belle Demona for me!"
She started off, and in a second Waters lost sight of her.
He heard her steps in the path after she had vanished, and then he looked toward the ranch house in vain to hear something of Old Broadbrim.
Let us follow the Australian girl.
She went back to the house like a bat in the night.
When near the half-burned structure she stopped and listened.
The fire had been totally extinguished and the voices of the guard came from the little house nearby which had escaped destruction.
Stareyes drew nearer and stood in the shadow of Ranch Robin.
The beautiful porch no longer had its network of vines, and burned wood lay everywhere.
She stepped upon the porch and leaned toward the door of the main dwelling.
A strange silence rested beyond it.
The avenger listened and heard at last the opening and shutting of a door.
A light gleamed for a moment in the house and Stareyes drew back.
Belle Demona stood before her.
The striking figure of the mistress of the ranch stood before her deadly foe.
The Australian breathed hard.
Her bosom rose and fell like the waves of the sea and she could hardly keep her eager hands off the creature before her.
What a chance it was.
Suddenly Belle Demona stepped toward the end of the porch and cast a glance toward the guard house.
A call issued from her throat, and Stareyes started.
In another instant a man appeared leading a magnificent black horse.
"Thanks, Burke. Keep them in ignorance of my departure," she said. "I'll pay you with your weight in gold. Good-night!"
She sprang into the saddle, gathered up the reins, and in another moment was riding toward Perth.
OLD BROADBRIM'S DESPERATE HAND.
"With me, when there is a murderer to catch, everything is fair!"
Such were the words that fell upon Merle Macray's ears when he looked into the eyes of the tireless tracker in the little room to which he had led him after the fire at the ranch.
The chamber had been flooded with light by the hand of the hunted man, but Old Broadbrim had arrested his hand in mid-air, and the revolver with which he hoped to clear his path had been rendered useless.
Yes, the man who had crossed the ocean on the trail, knew nothing but success.
With him, as he had said, everything was "fair" when it came to taking the guilty.
Merle could only look into the calm face of Roland Riggs, so-called, and curse himself for not putting an end to his career sooner.
A hundred opportunities had presented themselves, but he had let them slip.
He and Belle Demona had talked over the matter, but had failed in execution.
Old Danny's trap had failed to hold the man-hunter, and he now knew that the end of his own career was near at hand.
But he did not despair.
Belle Demona was still between him and the noose, and their guards, with the exception of Waters, were true.
Old Broadbrim could not take him to Perth, that would be folly, for one man cannot successfully fight against twenty stalwart Australian ranchers.
Old Broadbrim continued to clutch Merle's wrist and to look into his eye defiantly.
He suddenly twisted the weapon from the murderer's hand and thrust him into a chair.
"Silence, as thee value thy life, man!" he said, bending over his prey.
Merle gave him a look of braggadocia, but did not speak.
"I know what thee is thinking about," continued the Quaker detective. "This is Ranch Robin; thee thinks thyself safe here."
"You cannot take me away."
"We'll see. In the first place, thee will obey me."
"Proceed. Issue your first command."
Merle was getting back his old courage.
Old Broadbrim did not hesitate.
"Thee will follow me without a single word," said he. "The men are in the guard house. Thee will proceed with me to the stables spared by the fire."
"Come! You see how eager I am to obey you," answered Merle. "To the stables, did you say?"
"Yes."
The Quaker detective, with a cocked revolver in his hand and his keen eye fastened upon Merle, walked him to the door.
"One break for liberty—one signal to her or any of your men, and the murder of Custer Kipp will be avenged on Ranch Robin!" said a voice at Merle's back.
He did not look around to see who had spoken—he knew without that—and the door was opened.
They stepped into the starlight.
Nothing was seen of Belle Demona, and the sounds of noisy men in the guard house had died away.
The scene was strangely quiet after the fire, and the total absence of a living soul save themselves seemed to startle Merle.
"To the stables," whispered Old Broadbrim.
Merle turned in that direction, when all at once a figure stepped from the path.
Quick as thought the detective turned upon the intruder, but a hand was thrown up and a voice spoke:
"You have him, I see, Riggs."
"Waters!" cried Old Broadbrim, and Merle lost color.
"You have but little time to lose," continued the young Briton. "The steeds are in the stable and ready."
A minute later the party gained the stables of the ranch, and Waters opened the doors.
"Which horse will you ride?" asked Old Broadbrim, turning upon Merle.
There was no reply.
The whole thing seemed a dream to the man who had been tracked from America.
"Quick! Which horse?" said the detective.
"Whirlwind."
"I'll get him," said Waters, disappearing in the stable, but the next instant he came back to the door.
"Whirlwind is not here."
Merle seemed to start.
It was a mystery.
"Whirlwind is Belle Demona's horse, and she left the ranch some time ago."
"Left—Ranch Robin?" cried Merle.
"She rode away like the wind," answered Waters.
The rascal seemed to smile, but selected another horse, which in a little while was let forth, and he mounted under cover of Old Broadbrim's pistol.
In the saddle, as he settled himself as if for a dash, he turned to his captor and said:
"Do you hope to take me out of Australia?"
"What did I track you across the sea for, if I don't intend to hand you over to American justice?"
The lips of the doomed man met, and his eyes glanced over the long stretch of starlit barren that lay ahead.
It did not take Old Broadbrim and Waters long to secure their captive in the saddle, and then, with a last look at the dark structure a few feet away, they gathered up the reins.
"You got out, I see," observed Merle, for the first time addressing Dick.
"Yes; the dungeon, strong as it was, did not hold me long. The fire gave me a good fright, and for a time I thought all was lost, but help came."
"Help? I thought so. You could not have escaped without it."
There was no reply.
"Who was the traitor?" asked Merle.
"There was no traitor."
"But some one must have betrayed us—you know that, Waters."
The young man looked at Merle and caught the flash that lit up his eyes.
"There is one person whom you seem to have forgotten," was all he said, and then looked away.
Merle fell into a deep study, during which he was silent.
"I see it now. She helped you," he suddenly cried. "There comes a day of vengeance. When I am out of your hands, gentlemen, I will show this sand viper that there is a hand that kills."
Old Broadbrim and Waters exchanged glances.
When he was out of their hands?
That day, if they were not outwitted, would never come; and when Merle would think of paying Stareyes back for helping Waters to his freedom, he would be powerless to strike.
With Merle Macray between them, the two man-hunters rode swiftly over the open.
The stars had come out with unwonted brilliancy, and the whole surface of the heavens seemed studded with them, like a vast diamond field.
The road to Perth was well defined, and the steeds, which had traveled it often, knew the way without being guided.
Not for a moment did the captors of the hunted man remove their eyes from him.
Once Old Broadbrim ventured to break the reverie into which Merle had fallen, but the glance he got was enough.
"It's been a long trail, sir," said Old Broadbrim.
"You're not at the end of it yet," was the flashed response.
"You took the steamer ahead of me—theCampania. I found the clew in the papers left behind by Jason Marrow, the man killed the same night of the Fifth Avenue murder."
"His papers?"
"Yes; I know who that man was, and that makes your crime all the darker."
Merle's face clouded, but he did not speak.
"Jason Marrow was your half-brother, Merle," continued Old Broadbrim. "He held the secret of your life in Australia; he knew that you had leagued yourself with Belle Demona, the woman who planned the death of Custer Kipp, and he wrote out the story of your life and hers, in order that justice should find your trail if you slew him to render the dread secret safe. You searched the house near the little alley, after the second deed. You went from Custer Kipp's house to your brother Jason's. You found him alone, and the same hand that throttled the millionaire killed the other."
Merle looked into the detective's face, and for a moment it seemed that he would deny the charge, but he did not reply.
"It's been a long chase," pursued Old Broadbrim. "Thee might have checked pursuit in New York."
Merle's look said: "How?" in language not to be misconstrued.
"Thee forgot that the dead might speak and tell the very name under which thee embarked in theCampania. That name fastened the crime upon thee. I crossed the sea after 'Rufus Redmond,' but all the time I was looking for Merle Macray."
Once more the fine face above the saddle grew troubled and a baleful light came into the eyes, but it died away and Merle's countenance resumed its old appearance.