T
HE first point of destination of the police squad, was to the door out of which Will had made his escape, and he led the men directly to it. It was unlocked, as he had left it, but four men were left there, and the others followed the boy around to another street, where was the number at which he had entered the den.
"I've made no mistake in this number, but yet it don't look like the place," he said as he stopped before the door.
"I hope you have made no mistake, my lad," anxiously said Captain Daly.
"I know I have not, sir; but then I can't find the bell."
In vain he searched, there was no bell at the side, but instead a large old-fashioned knocker.
"This is a white door, sir, as you see, and the other was painted brown."
"Then you are certainly mistaken, my lad."
"No, sir, I am not mistaken, for this is the number, but—"
"But what?" asked Captain Daly, as Will paused.
"They have taken out the bell from the side, sir, andchanged the door, since I left."
Several of the policemen laughed, but Captain Daly did not, and said: "If you say so, Will, I'll believe you.
"Your dark lantern here, Gibson."
The man addressed handed over his lantern, and Will ran the light up and down the door-post.
"Here's where the bell-knob was, sir, and it's been plugged up as you see, by something that fits in."
"You are right, Will," and the captain gave the knocker three sharp blows.
But no response came, and Will said: "They'll not answer, sir, for they've changed this door to fool me, and they know I've escaped from that man I locked in his room."
"All right, we'll open the door ourselves.
"In with it, men!"
Half a dozen policemen threw themselves against the door; but it withstood their weight, and the locks within only yielded after repeated trials. Then the door flew open, and all entered the hallway, closing it behind them.
The next door then confronted them, but Will pointed out the panel, and a club smashed that in, when Captain Daly put in his hand and drew back the bolt.
"This is a secure nest, that is certain; but I fear we'll find it deserted," said Captain Daly, and with their lantern-shades raised, they hastily followed Will up the stairs.
He went directly to the door by which he had entered, and the panel was opened with a club, and the officers dashed in, and throwing themselves against the inner door it yielded to their weight with a crash.
Then they found themselves in the large living room of the band, from whence Will had made his escape.
The bunks were there, the table, chairs, dumb-waiter, and much clothing and bedding was scattered about, showing a hasty departure; but not a soul was present.
"Will you follow down the chimney, sir?" asked Will.
"Yes, I will follow with several of my men, while the remainder break in every door of this nest, which is, indeed, a safe retreat.
"Come, men, I want only those who have cool heads on lofty places to go, for, from what he told me, it will require all your nerve to follow him."
Four of the officers volunteered, and up the ladder went Will, he having in the meantime recovered his hat, shoes and jacket from the floor.
Out upon the roof, in the drenching rain, the boy stepped, and made his way fearlessly along the dizzy hight, followed by Captain Daly and his men, who stepped with the greatest caution, for they realised their deadly peril at a glance.
Fearlessly the brave boy led the police captain and his men, the chief calling out: "Go slow, Will, for a false step here will send us to perdition!"
Reaching the chimney, Will sprang upon the top and disappeared in the interior, the others following, and descending the iron ladder in silence.
Down to the fire-place went Will, and the instant after Captain Daly joined him, and handing the boy his dark-lantern to spring open, the two hastily sprang out into the room.
It was deserted, but the door was partly open, for the lock had been wrenched off.
The pictures were on the wall, the bed all rumpled up, and the lamp was upon the table, while there was every indication of a hasty departure, as in the assembly room.
Then the police went on a voyage of discovery through the house.
It was an old-time mansion, two stories, narrow in build, and ran back against the one on the other street, to which the false chimneybelonged, and in it were some half-score of poor, but reputable lodgers, who, aroused by the police, were amazed at the raid upon them.
In answer to inquiries, they said that the room on the rear, through which the officers had come, was occupied by an artist, they had heard, though no one seemed to know much about him except that he had a number of visitors.
That there was a secret connected with his living there they had not suspected.
Confident that the lodgers of the house told the truth, Captain Daly left two of his men on duty there, and started around the block to the other house.
He found the party still on guard at the door, and they had not seen or heard anything of a suspicious nature.
Going around to the other house Captain Daly found that his men had thoroughly searched the place from the cellar to the attic.
They had discovered the door which Will had remembered to have seen in front, and as it was still dripping wet it showed that it had been removed that night from its place, to throw the boy off his guard, but it had, however, failed to do so.
In different rooms of the house was found a quantity of stolen booty, the loss of some of which Captain Daly and his men had heard of, and there was every indication that it was a nest of burglars of a daring and desperate nature.
The Land Sharks had long been known to the police for their bold acts of crime, yet they never before could be located, and even the gruffest of the policemen praised Will for what he had done.
Dawn was now breaking, and a neighbour, coming out of his house, was asked who owned the premises.
He said that his landlord did so, and giving the address, the proprietor of the two houses was at once looked up; but he was amazed at what he heard, for he let the property to an old woman who said she wished to keep boarders, and had regularly paid her rent three months in advance, and had built a new chimney and made other improvements which she had paid for herself.
The landlord was greatly amazed to find what those improvements were, but he could give no clue as to who or what his tenant was, or where she could be found.
Having discovered the secret retreat of the Land Sharks, however, was a cause of congratulation, and the booty found was considerable, so that Will was praised for his good services, and at once told that he was to consider himself a member of the Secret Service and to report the following day after he had become rested, for the night of peril and hardship the good-hearted police-captain could see had told on the brave boy.
With a heart bounding with joy, Will had hastened home, and his mother and sister greeted him warmly, for they were most anxious regarding his long absence, and with wonder they listened to the strange story of his adventures, while Pearl cried in glee: "Hurrah for the Boy Detective!"
T
HE day and night of rest which Will took, he really needed, for his capture, escape and hard work, had indeed been a severe strain upon him.
Captain Daly had picked up a roll of bills, in the Land Sharks' rooms which some one of them had dropped in their haste to get away, and he had insisted upon Will's falling heir to the money, though the boy had urged against it.
There were only about twenty dollars, but it was a large sum to Will, and he handed it over to his mother, so that when he awoke from his long sleep, he found a splendid dinner ready, for Pearl had been to the market and spent the five-dollar bill given her with no economical hand. The mother and her children greatly enjoyed their dinner, and Will then told his mother that Captain Daly had said that his pay would be thirty dollars a month to begin with, and all felt cheered at the prospect, and retired with lighter hearts than they had had the past few weeks.
Upon reporting at the office of Captain Daly the next morning, Will received a warm welcome from all, and was congratulated over and over again upon his nerve and the good services he had rendered.
"Now, Will," the captain said, "I find that Mr. Rossmore, a retired merchant of Baltimore, lost a son Willie some six years ago, and still offers large rewards for his restoration.
"From what you heard from the Land Sharks, you know more than any one else about the matter, and the boy is doubtless dead, as they stated, and they evidently murdered him.
"Now I wish you to go to Baltimore with these clothes, the photographs and the ring, and see Mr. Rossmore, telling him all, and directing him to the spot on the prairie, as well as you can, where your friend Night Hawk Jerry said the boy was buried.
"Will you go?"
"Certainly, sir, for I am ready to do just what you wish, if you think I am able to accomplish it."
"You are able to do a man's work, Will, after what you did to extricate yourself from the clutches of those Land Sharks.
"Now I will give you the money for your trip, and you had better get a satchel, a suit of clothes and some other things, and get your mother to pack them for you.
"Here are twenty-five dollars to fit you out with, and I'll give you the money for your trip when you are ready to start.
"And here, my boy, I had almost forgotten to give you your badge of office; it is a gold one, and a present to you by the officers of this precinct.
"We would make it a public demonstration, only we do not wish it known outside that we have made a new departure and enlisted a boy in the Secret Service force."
As Captain Daly spoke, he pinned under the boy's coat a handsome gold badge, a shield, upon which was engraven:
"SPECIAL OFFICERofMetropolitan Secret Service."
"I will prove deserving of all your kindness, Captain Daly," said Will, with a choking voice, and he sallied forth to make his purchases.
This done, he took them home, and Mrs. Raymond packed his little grip-sack, while Pearl was lost in admiration over the gold badge.
With the shield fastened securely upon his vest, beneath his coat, and his satchel in his hand, Will bade his mother good-bye and started for the precinct to get his final orders.
These were given him along with a well-filled purse, and Captain Daly went with him across the ferry to see him on board the train.
As he took his seat alone in the sleeping car, which the kind-hearted captain had provided him with, Will felt his own importance, and his heart was full of gratitude that he had, by his own acts, become able to earn a support for his mother and sister.
Arriving in Baltimore, he went to the hotel to which Captain Daly had directed him, and, after breakfast, with the photographs and clothing of the kidnapped boy wrapped up in a bundle, he made inquiries as to where the home of Mr. Rossmore was, and set out to go there.
He found it without much difficulty, a superb country seat in the outskirts of the city, and he recognized at a glance the scenes of the photographs he had with him.
A gardener was at work upon a bed of flowers, and approaching him, Will asked if Mr. Rossmore was at home.
"No, young gentleman, they have gone to their farm for a few weeks on the eastern shore," was the answer.
At once Will determined to follow them there, and after getting the directions, he asked: "Has Mr. Rossmore ever heard of his missing child?"
"No, indeed, not a word, and it's my opinion he never will, as I think little Willie is dead; but master thinks he'll find him yet; but Lordy! you hain't Master Willie, are you, for you do look 'mazing like him."
"My name is Willie, but I am not Mr. Rossmore's son, though others have said I look like him."
"You do, for a certainty, sir, and master and his wife will see the likeness, I'm sure, if you are going there."
"Yes, I am going there, for it is important that I should see them," and bidding the old gardener good-bye, Will returned to the hotel and discovered that a boat left the next afternoon for the town nearest the Rossmore farm.
So he went down to the wharf and secured his berth, and amused himself looking about the city until time to go on board the next day.
He had a pleasant state-room, and, as he made himself at home in it, he felt that he was becoming quite a traveller.
Enjoying the run down the Chesapeake, it was late when heretired, and he dropped off quickly to sleep, lulled by the motion of the boat.
He was awakened by the hum of voices, and saw a light in his face, strangely like the glare of a bull's-eye lantern.
But he had at once saw that it came through a knot-hole in the partition between his and the next state-room, and within a few feet of him were two men, one lying in the berth, the other seated upon a chair, and they were talking in a low tone.
Without stopping up his ears, Will could not help hearing all they said, and the voice of one seemed familiar.
Putting his eye near the knot-hole, to his surprise he recognized the man in the berth as Night Hawk Jerry.
The face of the other he did not know.
What he heard them say was as follows:
"Well, Nick, we can go and strike old Rossmore for all we can get out of the him, after we attend to this farmer on board that I tell you has the cash he got for a boat-load of cattle he took up to the city and sold.
"He stopped at the same hotel with me, and when I told him I was going down to see Mr. Rossmore, he told me he lived near him, and directed me how to get there, while he said he would ask me to ride out with him, only he had come to the village where he boarded the boat on horseback. Now we can get a rig and drive out ahead of the farmer, lay for him on the road, and just take in his pile, which goes up into the thousands, I am sure.
"Then we can go to see old Rossmore and see what we can get out of him, under promise of bringing him his boy."
"You think he'll put up anything?" asked the man addressed as Nick.
"Yes, he'll put up something, though he's been very freely bled by frauds; but, if it had not been for our being taken in by that boy Captain Cruel picked up in New York and who was, I admit, just the fellow if he had not played us false, we'd have got a clean fifty thousand from Rossmore."
"The boy got your crib raided, you told me?"
"Well he did, and but for our pal who slept in the exit room, waking up as he did, we'd have all been caught, for the boy led the police upon us in an hour after he got away."
"He was a sharp one for a kid."
"Yes Nick he was; but you must go and turn in now, and to-morrow, as soon as the boat lands, we'll hurry ashore and get a waggon to head off the farmer."
"Good-night, Jerry."
"Good-night, Nick," and the latter personage left the state-room of his fellow villain, and sought his own quarters, while Will, scarcely having breathed as he overheard what was said, placed a pillow against the knot-hole, and tried to go to sleep.
But in vain, for his brain was too full of thoughts, and it was nearly dawn when he at last sank into a deep slumber; but he had formed a plot in his fertile mind to thwart the two rascals in their bold game of double robbery.
A
FTER what he had heard, Will was most anxious to remain unseen, for he knew that Night Hawk Jerry would recognize him very quickly, and that would spoil all.
So he feigned sickness, had his breakfast brought to his state-room the next morning, and then, as the boat landed at the town where the two conspirators were to leave it, he grasped his gripsack and cautiously went forward.
The men leaped ashore, when the gangplank was run out, and Will followed them at considerable distance up into the village.
There were quite a number of passengers, so that the boy was unable to select the one against whom the robbers had plotted.
But he watched his men, saw them go to a livery stable, and soon after ride out of town at a gallop. Instantly he went to that same stable, and a few minutes afterward was in a buggy with a driver, going on the road which the robbers had taken, for the livery man told him how he had directed them.
By fast driving he came in sight of them, and then he told his man to draw rein and wait, while he got out and went ahead on foot.
By keeping close in to the woods he kept out of sight of the robber pair, and saw them turn into a thickly-wooded point at a bend in the road, where the underbrush was very dense.
"That is their ambush," he muttered to himself, and he returned to the buggy, getting in just as a horseman appeared coming along the road.
As he drew near, Will saw that he was a fine-looking man, with an athletic form, and a kindly yet strangely stern face. He was well dressed and appeared to be a well-to-do country gentleman, and the boy remembered having seen him on the Chesapeake steamboat.
As he drew near to where the buggy was waiting, he said pleasantly, recognizing the negro driver: "Well, Hercules, out for a drive?"
"Yas, Massa Lomax, I is takin' dis young gemman on a leetle drive, sah," answered Hercules, who had gained his name from his great strength.
"Pardon me, sir, but may I have a word with you?" said Will, politely.
"Certainly, young man," replied the farmer.
"You came down the bay on the steamer last night with me, sir."
"I came down on the steamer, but I do not remember to have seen you, though your face is strangely, sostrangelyfamiliar to me," and the farmer gazed fixedly into the face of the boy.
"We have not met, sir; but may I ask if you did not take up to Baltimore a cargo of cattle and sell them there?"
"I did."
"Well, sir, I overheard a plot between two men last night to rob you on your way home this morning. My state-room adjoined theirs, and a knot in the wooden partition had fallen out, or been pushed out, just at my head, and I saw the men and heard their plot.
"One of the men is a noted New York crook, and I am anxious to capture him, while his companion is doubtless a Baltimore thief."
"You surprise me, young sir, and I thank you most sincerely, for I have with me a large sum of money, and taken at disadvantage I might lose both it and my life, though I am armed."
"These are desperate men, sir, or at least I know one to be, and I am determined to capture him if possible, for I can get him held until a requisition from the Governor of New York can be obtained."
The farmer smiled at the words of the youth, and said: "You are a plucky fellow, and we had better send for a constable from the village, for Hercules will go."
"I am an officer, sir, and I have formed a plan to capture them," and Will opened his coat and showed his badge, not only to the farmer's surprise, but to Hercules's great awe and admiration.
"Well, my young friend, what is your plan?"
"To tie my handkerchief about my face, and muffle up, laying back in the buggy as though I was sick, while I drive by the point of ambush, which is at the bend in the road above here.
"When I get by, I will leave the buggy with Hercules, and we can get close back to the place of ambush, and you can come along, and as the men approach you, we will be close on their tracks."
"A good plan, my lad; but let us know each other, as we are to act together.
"My name is Kent Lomax; I am a farmer, and live not far from here."
"My name is Will Raymond, sir."
"Raymond!" and the farmer started.
"Yes, sir."
"Where are you from?"
"New York, sir."
"Ah, me! Your name recalls the strange resemblance your face bears to one I once knew, and it is strange, indeed, that face and name should be so alike," and the farmer spoke in a voice that was full of sadness; but in an instant he continued in a different tone: "Well, Master Raymond, I am glad to be associated with you in this little affair, and you are the captain, so go ahead with your plan."
After a few other arrangements the boy drove on in the buggy with Hercules, his face tied up, a scarf about his neck and his hat drawn down over his eyes.
But his keen eyes were watching the road as they drove along, and he detected in the bushes the two men in ambush.
As agreed upon with Kent Lomax, Hercules dropped his whip and sprang out to get it, so that he, watching back down the road, should know just the spot where the robbers were.
Then the buggy drove on, and once around the bend they turned into a secluded spot and at once sprang out and hitched the horse, while they crept up a ravine, which Kent Lomax had told them would lead them almost to the bend in the road.
"They could not have chosen a better place for us to surprise them," said Will as he hurried on with the negro.
"No, massa, dat am so, and I awful glad I cum with you, for maybe I git suthin' out o' dis scrimmage," returned Hercules.
"You shall, Hercules, and I hope it will be gold rather than lead."
"I don't want no lead, massa," and, Hercules picked up a stick, to serve as a club, as they went along.
Soon they came to the end of the ravine, and, creeping up to the top of the bank, Will looked over. He quickly drew back his head, for the two men were not sixty feet from him, standing behind a clump of bushes on the edge of the road.
"You see um, massa?" whispered Hercules.
"Yes; and Mr. Lomax is already coming, and, but a couple of hundred yards away;" and Will took from his pocket a small revolver, but of large calibre, and glanced at it carefully.
"Now I'll watch, Hercules, and you be ready to run out with me."
"Yas, massa."
In silence then they waited until, suddenly, the words were heard:
"Halt! Your money or your life!"
"Come!" and with the word Will and Hercules bounded from the ravine.
They saw farmer Lomax at a halt in the road, one man grasping the rein of his horse, and the other holding a pistol up in his face.
The farmer sat perfectly quiet, and the men each had an handkerchief over his face, with holes cut to see through.
"Come, out with your money, and lose no time, if you value your life!" sternly ordered Jerry, the Night Hawk.
The farmer thrust his hand into his pocket, drew out his well-filled wallet, and tossed it upon the ground, just as clear and sharp came the cry: "Hands up, Night Hawk Jerry!"
The two men uttered a cry of alarm and turned, to see the boy and the negro almost upon them; and recognizing Will, Night Hawk fired.
The bullet clipped a hole in Will's hat-brim, and at that moment the boy pulled trigger, just as the robber fired a second shot.
Down, dropped Night Hawk, a dead man, for Will's bullet had pierced his brain, while at the same moment Kent Lomax had hurled himself upon the other robber and held him at his mercy.
"I was sorry to have to kill him, but he shot me through the hat, for I felt it turn on my head, and his second bullet clipped my arm, but I guess did no harm," said Will.
"My boy, you are worth your weight in gold; let me see if you are hurt," and Kent Lomax turned his man over to Hercules, while he drew off the boy's jacket and rolled up his shirt sleeve. There was a slight gash on the left arm that was not of much consequence, and Kent Lomax quickly bound a handkerchief about it, while he said:
"You will need no requisition for your man, Master Raymond, while this one we will give into the hands of the village constable.
"Hercules, mount my horse and ride back to the village for the constable and the coroner, and I will remain here with this young man."
The negro departed, while Will said: "My errand here, sir, wasto see Mr. Rossmore upon an important matter, and I am anxious to catch the boat back to-night, so that I might drive on to his farm and get back here by the time the constable arrives, if you do not mind."
"Certainly not, and Mr. Rossmore lives on the road a mile from here.
"You will come to a bridge crossing a stream with a mill upon it, and the Rossmore place is just beyond on the hill in full view."
Thanking the farmer Will sprang into the buggy and drove on.
As he reached the bridge he came to a halt, while he said: "Why, this is the very scene that mother painted and gave to Colonel Ivey.
"How strange her painting should be so like a real scene way down here on the eastern shore of Maryland," and, wondering at the coincidence, Will drove on up to the handsome country home on the hillside.
L
ITTLE dreaming that he was approaching the home of his mother, her birth-place, and that of her mother before her, the home from which she had fled that, to her, fatal Christmas eve, Will Raymond drove up to the hitching-rock and sprang out of his buggy.
A gentleman sat upon the piazza, smoking a cigar and reading a paper, but arose at his approach.
"Good-morning, young gentleman," he said pleasantly, and then his eyes became riveted upon Will's face. He was a man of fifty perhaps, with noble countenance, tinged with sadness, and a look of anxiety.
"My boy, who are you?" he said, quickly, before Will could speak.
"Is this Mr. Rossmore?" asked Will.
"Yes, my son."
"My name is Will Raymond, sir, and I am a special officer of the New York Secret Service, sent to see you upon a matter of interest to you."
"About my lost boy? Quick! tell me if you have any news of him whom I must say you most closely resemble, and—"
"I do resemble your son, sir, and so much so that a gang of scoundrels were to use me as a foil to make money out of you."
"But you are not my boy? He would be about your age, and look like you, I think," and Mr. Rossmore was greatly excited.
"No, Mr. Rossmore, I am not your son; but I have come to tell you all I know of him, and I am sorry to say that you must give up all hope of ever seeing him alive."
"No! no! no! I cannot, I cannot!" and Mr. Rossmore listened to the whole story that Will had to tell, from his meeting with the man who had sent him on the errand, to his killing Night Hawk by the roadside.
"And, Mr. Rossmore," continued Will, "when I escaped from the den of the Land Sharks, I brought with me the clothes, which they said your boy had on when stolen, and his ring, and they were to bring them with me, to prove that I was your Willie.
"I will get them," and going out to the buggy he returned with his satchel, and the clothing and ring were exhibited.
"My poor, poor boy! these are indeed his little suit and ring; how well I remember them; but, my noble boy, I must see the grave that they say he was buried in on the prairie, before I give up all hope. If it contains the remains of a small child, I can but believe, and besides, Willie had his left arm broken when a baby, by falling from the lap of his nurse, and this will identify the bones as his.
"Oh, may heaven's anger fall on those who murdered my little boy!" and Mr. Rossmore bowed his head with grief, just as a lady, whose locks were prematurely grey from sorrow and suspense, came out upon the piazza.
"Husband, I have heard all, and I believe at last that our boy, our little Willie, is dead," she said, and turning to Will, she greeted him most kindly, while she too was struck by the likeness of the young detective to her son.
"Have you parents, my boy, and a home, for gladly would I give you one," she said to Will.
"Yes, my noble boy, come to us and be our son," cried Mr. Rossmore.
"I have a mother and sister living in New York, and I am their only support, and I must return to them, though I thank you most kindly for your good offer to me," said Will, touched by the grief and generosity of Mr. Rossmore and his wife.
"Well, my boy, I would not rob your mother of you for worlds, but you must let me help you, and if ever you need a friend come to us, for we live all alone here, and are strangely restless since the loss of my boy.
"We have travelled abroad, but came back soon to our Baltimore home, and then we have come here, for this place was the home of my wife's cousin and adopted sister, whose fate is a mystery to us, and a sad one, for she ran away from home one night, fifteen years ago, leaving behind her that noble man, you saved from robbery, Kent Lomax, to whom she was engaged.
"She deserted him for a villain, a man whose life Kent Lomax had saved, and she fled with the rascal to Philadelphia, and was followed there. Kent Lomax tried to avenge the double wrong, for the poor girl's mother died from the shock, and the villain shot him, and for months he lay at the point of death, and, when he recovered all trace of the man was lost.
"Years after her father died, and my wife here now has the estate, which will be hers unless her adopted sister returns to claim it, or her children do, if she has any; otherwise Mrs. Rossmore is the next heir.
"So you see, wherever we go, we have sad memories to confront us; but here both of us are well, and more content than elsewhere, so we often come; but I am detaining you with family history, whenyou are anxious to return to the scene of your affray down the road, and I will accompany you.
"Wife, please send the carriage after me," and so saying Mr. Rossmore got into the buggy with Will and drove back to where Kent Lomax had been left with the dead man and the bound prisoner.
On the way Mr. Rossmore asked: "My son, do you think you could find the grave of my little Will, from the description you had of it?"
"I think so, sir."
"Will you go West with me and find out?"
"If I can get permission, sir."
"Well, you can telegraph what you have done to your chief, and ask permission to go with me, and I will have my family physician accompany us, for he set Willie's arm when it was broken, and could tell if it was my child in the grave.
"But we will talk more of this, for there is farmer Lomax," and a moment after they drove up to the spot where Kent Lomax stood, while coming in view at the same time were a number of persons on horseback and in buggies.
Hercules and the constable rode in advance, and as they rode up and dismounted, Kent Lomax introduced Will to the officer of the law, and his story was again told, the coroner standing near with a jury which he had selected from the crowd.
All gazed upon Will as a hero; but the boy shrank from observation, and remarked to Kent Lomax. "I hate notoriety that comes from taking the life of a human being, villain though he was."
"That is the proper spirit, my lad; but the coroner wishes to ask you a few questions, and then I would like to have you go home with me as my guest, while I also desire to compensate you is some way for your services to me."
"Thank you, sir, but I am paid for my duty, and can accept no other reward, while I am to go back with Mr. Rossmore."
So it was settled, and as Mr. Rossmore's carriage drove up, Will got into it with his host, and drove away, followed by Kent Lomax on horseback, while Hercules returned to town with the buggy and two horses of the robbers, along with those who had come out to the scene upon learning what had occurred.
That Hercules had fared well at the hands of Will, Mr. Rossmore and Kent Lomax was evident by the happy look upon his honest face, and the words: "I wish dere'd be a robber-killin' ebery day, and Sunday too, and dis nigger'd get rich."
At a place where the roads branched off Kent Lomax bade them good-bye, grasping Will's hand warmly, and saying: "You know my name and address, my boy, and if you ever need a friend don't hesitate to call on me, for I have no kindred that are dear to me and I am rich and would be glad to serve you—so command me."
Thus they parted, the man who had been engaged to his mother—the man whom she deserted to marry the man who had so cruelly treated her.
Neither knew what they were to each other, and yet each seemed drawn toward the other. Nor did Will suspect for an instant; anhour afterward, that he was eating dinner beneath the roof where his mother had been born, and that Mrs. Rossmore was his own aunt.
That night Mr. Rossmore and Will took the boat to Baltimore, and having sent from the village a long and explicit dispatch to Captain Daly, an answer was found awaiting them upon their arrival at the hotel in the city the following day.
The answer read:
"New York Police Dep't.
"Special Officer,Will Raymond:—"Your telegram most satisfactory, and will get requisition for Night Hawk's comrade and have him brought here."You have acted as I knew you would in everything, and the chief joins me in congratulations upon your pluck and detective skill."You have full permission to go West with Mr. Rossmore, and your leave is unlimited. Success to you.
"Special Officer,Will Raymond:—
"Your telegram most satisfactory, and will get requisition for Night Hawk's comrade and have him brought here.
"You have acted as I knew you would in everything, and the chief joins me in congratulations upon your pluck and detective skill.
"You have full permission to go West with Mr. Rossmore, and your leave is unlimited. Success to you.
Daly."
That night the Westward bound through Express on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad carried Mr. Rossmore, his family physician, and Will Raymond, the Boy Detective, and their destination was the North Platte river in Nebraska.
I
T was toward sunset, one pleasant afternoon, some ten days after the visit of the Boy Detective to the eastern shore of Maryland, that a party of horsemen were visible driving over a Nebraska prairie.
The party had left Fort McPherson on the Platte, whose commander had kindly sent an officer and soldiers, under a skilful guide, with Mr. Rossmore, as an escort.
Will had told the buckskin guide just what he had heard the Land Sharks say regarding the spot where they had buried Willie Rossmore, and the plainsman had expressed himself as acquainted with the Lone Tree, while he also said that there were fully a dozen graves about it.
Soon the tree, standing alone on the prairie, and upon the bank of a small stream, loomed up in the distance.
"There's the Lone Tree," said the guide, "and we'll reach thar jist about dark."
All eyes were turned upon the distant and solitary cottonwood tree, standing like a giant sentinel upon the prairie, and the horses were urged on at a more rapid pace.
But the shadows of night fell before the tree was reached, and it was decided to go into camp and make a search in the morning.
One of the pack-horses carried some pine-knots, and a fire was soon kindled, while another carried some canvas flies which were stretched as a shelter.
There were ample provisions with them, with plenty of game shot during the day's ride, and soon a most tempting supper was spread out before the hungry party.
As for Will Raymond, it was to him a most enjoyable expedition, for he had often read of a wild life upon the plains, and with the buckskin-clad guide, the soldier escort, and the knowledge that there was danger of an attack by Indians, he was charmed.
After the supper was dispatched, sentinels were placed out upon the prairie, at some distance, the horses were staked out within the circle formed by the four guards, and the rest of the party sought the shelter of the tent flies to sleep. No, not all, for Mr. Rossmore was too deeply moved by the belief that he was near the grave of his long-lost child, and he paced to and fro, beneath the solitary tree, his thoughts busy with his grief.
Then there was another that did not care to sleep, and that was Will Raymond.
The surroundings, the wildness of the scene, the prairie, the soldiers, all impressed him, and he strolled about the camp, while as the moon arose he walked out to a sentinel on duty and had a long talk with him.
At last, as midnight came, and the sentinels were relieved by others, he went to the shelter, wrapped himself in his blanket, and soon sank to sleep.
The sun was rising when he awoke, and Mr. Rossmore, who lay near him, had just got up from his blanket couch. The guide already had breakfast ready, and when it was over, the search for the grave began.
As the guide had said there were a number of graves in the vicinity of the tree for several trails led by it, and many a dear one, dying upon the plains had been laid to rest there, where the solitary cottonwood would serve as a monument to their memory.
"Now give me the particulars, boy pard, the time he was buried, his age when he was put here, and I guess I kin pick out his restin' place," said the guide.
Will gave the full particulars, as he knew them, and the guide set to work.
Grave after grave he went to, and left, making some remark at each one.
"This one looks to be about the age you say, boy pard, and it were made as though in a hurry, and with a don't care feelin', and not as them builds a dirt house over them they loves.
"Sergeant, bring yer utensils and dig earth here," said the guide, and he stood over a small grave that indeed did look as though it had been hastily dug and filled in, for others, even those smaller, and evidently with the remains of children in them, were made as though the heart of the diggers had been in the work.
Two soldiers now stepped forward with spades and the work was begun of turning the earth from the grave.
It was not a very long task, and soon the end was reached, the moldering bones of a body were found. Tenderly they were taken out having been wrapped in a blanket, and from a felt hat that had been upon the head, a mass of dark-brown curls were taken.
Mr. Rossmore took the hat and its precious burden tenderly, and asked: "Doctor, this looks like Willie's hair."
"Yes, exactly the shade," was the reply, and the doctor bent over the bones, while all present removed their hats with reverent awe, Will Raymond having unconsciously set the example.
In deathlike silence all stood while the doctor placed the bones together, and said: "This was the body of a child about Willie's age, at the time that our young friend here says they killed him, and it was a boy—yes, here is the left arm, and—it has been broken!"
"Heaven have mercy! it is the body of my poor boy," groaned Mr. Rossmore.
"Yes, Rossmore, it is, and I can swear to it, for here is the broken arm, the fracture being just below the elbow, as was Willie's, while you remember the tooth I took out for him one day?"
"Yes, he would not go to a dentist, but wished you to take it out, so I sent for you."
"He had no other tooth missing, and none here are, you see; but great Heaven!" and the doctor arose to his feet, holding the skull in his hands.
All pressed about him, while he continued, pointing to the skull: "Do you see that fracture?
"It tells the story that he was murdered!"
It was too true, the fractured skull showed where a death-blow had been given the poor boy, but whether by accident or design, who could tell?
As all crowded about the doctor, gazing at the skull, Will Raymond sprang down into the grave and picked up something that had caught his eye in the loose dirt.
"See here!" he called out, and he held up a gold watch and upon the inside case was engraved the name:
"Ed Ellis."
"Mr. Rossmore, that is the name of the man who was with Night Hawk Jerry, whom I shot, and he was one of the kidnappers, and here with your son, for this watch proves it, and it fell out of his pocket when he was burying him," said Will.
"Boy pard, you've got a long head, for the man who laid this boy's remains in thet grave, dropped thet watch," remarked the guide.
"Then it will be a fatal evidence against him, and I will leave nothing undone to hang him," sternly said Mr. Rossmore.
Then the bones were gathered together, and being placed upon one of the pack-animals, the party started on the return to the fort.
Arriving there, the bones were placed in a coffin, and Mr. Rossmore, the doctor and Will Raymond started upon their return East, the grief-stricken father having given the guide and the soldiers a most generous gift as an appreciation of their services.