Nick Carter Weekly (no. 179) (1900 06 02)
The text was read from the page scans by machine (OCR), so it has mistakes and its columns may run together. See the pages · About this title · At the Internet Archive
Page 1
KLY KCA RTER CK NI Post Offiee by STRE Ne Y¥. ntered as second class matter at the Subscription price $2.50 per year. Issued weekly. & SMITH. EET 5 Cents. rice P. 179. No. Way \ ie FROM BEHIND ATTRACTED HIS ATTENTION. WHEN A NOISE o} NICK WAS GETTING THE BEST OF THE STRUGGLE
Page 2
NICK CARTER WEEKLY. Bniered according to Act of Congress in the year Te, by aoe a Smith, in the Office of the Tibrarian of Congress, Washington, Entered as second class Matter at the New York, els ¥., Post Office. Subscription price, $2.50 per y NEW YORK, Issued perky. No. 179. ~ STREET & SmiTH, Publishers, a jane 2, 1900. ” 988 Wiliam Bt, N.¥. 5 Cents, Nick Carter’s Beautiful Decoy; OR, THE DIAMOND DUKE OF CHICAGO. By the Author of “NICK CARTER.” CHAPTER I. SOWING THE WIND, “Look quick, Chick! “Where, Nick® “Just going into the Fifth Avenue Ho- See that man?” tel,” “Well, by Jove!” “Know him?” “Do I know him? Why shouldn’t I know him as well as you? It’s Yank Yar- dell, the Diamond Duke of Chicago.” “You're right, my boy. That was the Diamond Duke, a little older and consider- ably changed in appearance since we met him last, but Yank, just the same, and not disguised one particle.” 33 “Wonder where he’s been ever since that time, Nick, and what is he doing in New ie OFS pan as the atrecte in broad daylight?” _ 92 was the ce “You had better walk on, while I go in after him and investigate. I am sufficiently dis- guised to take chances in his presence, but he might get onto you, for the Diamond Duke is a keen one.” s “All right, Nick, house; for I’m dead anxious to hear your I'll meet you at the report.” The two men parted in front of the hotel entrance—the last spokesman proceeding onward up Broadway, and the other, who was the celebrated New York detective, Nick Carter, entering the famous Fifth Ave- _ nue Hotel in quest of the Diamond Duke. As Chick walked briskly along New York’s great thoroughfare, he recalled to mind some stirring incidents through which he and Nick had passed in Chicago about three years previous to that time. ers had re to. the Garden City, at
Page 3
2 NICK CARTER WHEKLY, the request of Chicago’s chief of police, to run down a well-organized band of diamond thieves with whom the local police had not - been able to successfully cope. The head of the band was known as Yank -Yardell, the Diamond Duke. soubriqtet by reason of his known fondness He gained his _for diamonds. Jewels of that class were a passion with him, and though he had been suspected of being the ring-leader of the gang which was perpetrating the numerous dia- mond robberies, no positive evidence could be brought against him to trace the crimes to his doors, until Nick Carter and his as- sistant, Chick, were called into the case. Even then the slick scoundrel kept out of the clutches, of the law, although Nick succeeded in landing some of his confed- erates in the Joliet penitentiary for a term of years. But not one of the captured and convicted rogues would peach on their chief, and he went free. The effect of Nick’s good work, however, was to break up the band, and to render Yank powerless to ply his peculiar business in that city with any continued success. Therefore, shortly afterward, the Diamond Duke disappeared from Chicago, and Nick had lost all trace of him until he, by chance, ‘while walking up Broadway with Chick that winter afternoon, saw him as he was just in the act of entering the Fifth Avenue Hotel. The detective reached the corridors of the hotel in time to see his man come out of the bar-room with a cigar which he had just lighted. Yank crossed directly to the news stand, as and asked some question. Nick hurried forward, "amd was in time to hear Tyson's clerk say: “The best we have is two, four and six in the third row of the dress circle.” “Well, they’ll do, but I only want two seats,” replied the applicant. “We don’t like to split them up, for it’s pretty hard to sell a single seat so far back,” the clerk said, three. “I tell you I only need two. in an endeavor to sell all If you want to sell me numbers two and-four, Ill take them.” : “Well, here they are.” So Yank got his tickets for the two seats, paid for them, put them away in his pocket- book, buttoned up his overcoat, and started out to Broadway, little imagining that the shrewdest detective in America was on his track. : Nick had no difficulty in following his man. Yank Yardell was six feet tall. His figure was well knit, and he looked like a giant in strength. Though he must have been nearly sixty years of age, his form was as upright and — his step as firm and quick as that of a man of thirty. His hair was snow-white, but he kept it | clipped close to the skull, though it was mid- . winter. . There was not the vestige of a beard or mustache on his face. All in all, Yank Yardell was a man who as would be easily remembered by any oné who had once seen him. That was the reason that Nick Carter was — surprised somewhat to see the noted crim- inal walking New York’s great thoroughfar oe
Page 4
° NICK CARTER WEEKLY. in the light of a winter’s day without the aid of a vestige of disguise. “Well,” muttered Nick, “the Diamond turned north on Fifth avenue, and was going at a moderate pace when last seen, Nick could find no trace of it either on that avenue, Duke is up to something crooked, and I’m or the diverging streets above Twenty-eighth going to find it out whatever it may be.” Yardell walked up Broadway to Twenty- eighth street, then he turned eastward. | Nick kept about two hundred feet behind him, Half-way between Broadway and Fifth avenue stood a coupe with the driver sitting on the box, The coupe stood in front of an importer’s shop, and Nick’s natural conclusion was that the “fare,” or occupant, was in the store at- tending to some shopping, while the coupe waited. But as Yardell reached the place, Nick was taken by surprise to see him suddenly ‘open the door of the vehicle and step in. The driver almost immediately drove off toward Fifth avenue. . Then Nick realized that the coupe had been waiting there for Yardell. The Diamond Duke’s slowly, and the horse jogged at a moderate Nick coupe started trot down Twenty-eighth street. watched it turn north on Fifth avenue. “T can easily overtake him,” muttered the detective, “if I can find a cab at the Gilsey House, and there usually is one or two there at all hours of the day.” He found a cab on the Twenty-ninth street side, hastily explained to the driver what he wanted, and was soon flying east- ward in search of the slow going coupe. He was not long in discovering that he had been tricked. te. In spite of the fact that the coupe had \ street. ‘Once convinced that he had lost his man, he paid the cab-driver and dismissed him. “Yardell played me a very simple trick,” muttered Nick. “Before he got to Twenty- ninth street his driver turned about and drove rapidly south, turning off into some side street below Twenty-eighth _ street. Three to one he went right back to Broad- Way. | “Now, the question is: did he suspect’ that he was followed? : “Well, I’ve got another card, which Vl play on him.” A few minutes later Nick was back in the Fifth Avenue Hotel. He made his way without hesitation to Ty- son’s news stand, “Got a single seat for the Empire to- night?” asked Nick, ‘es The answer was exactly what he expected. He felt reasonably sure that the clerk would not pass the first opportunity which presented to sell that. extra seat. ““Yes,” was the eager response, “I’ve got just one single seat for the Empire to-night.” “Where is it?” a ; “Third row in the dress eitcle” “Which side of the house?” “Right in front.” \ “711 take it.” As Nick paid for and received his ticket, he was pleased to note that the coupon con- tained the No. 6. “Tl wager a good - red apple that the
Page 5
a ses NICK CARTER WEEKLY. Diamond Duke will not evade me this time,” he soliloquized, as he passed out to Broad- bay. ‘ “Tt’s going to be a bad night in point of weather,” he thought, as he looked at the threatening skies, a business sense for Yank Yardell, if he goes .to the theater. “That’s it. whether he’ll be one of the parties to oc- If he is, he’ll prob- If he goes, I very much doubt cupy ihose two seats. ably be in disguise. “Well, they'll be two of them, at least, and where they go I guess I can follow. ‘Let me see. The play is Sowing the Wind. What is the harvest? ing the Whirlwind. “The play to-night, Mr. Yardell—some- - thing lively for you afterward.” CHAPTER, IT. AT THE EMPIRE THEATER, The night set in wet and dreary.' A cold, dridzling rain began at dark and gave prom- ise of keeping up till morning at least. A steady east wind blew the small, half-frozen . drops into the faces of pedestrians, and made “tife on the streets of New York anything but : pleasant. * The curtain at the Empire Theater was just going up as Nick Carter presented him- self to the head usher with his coupon to seat No. 6, in the third row of the dress circle. e He appeared in the guise of a young man well dressed, dark skin and hair, small black mtistache and side whiskers. No one who was familiar with the fair, senetlt face of Nick eee | “and also a bad night in _small fortunes on his person, Why, Reap-- - companion enter first. See a however, would — aney. for a few. moments. have recognized him in the young fellow whom the usher showed to seat No. 6. A magnificent solitaire diamond-pin. graced Nick’s necktie, and on the third finger of the right hand he wore a ring which contained another stone equally rare and brilliant. - As the detective was putting these two he said to Chick, who stood by watching him: salt these diamonds do not win for me the attention of Yank Yardell ‘to-night he will have lost his old-time passion for jewels of their kind.” | Nick was somewhat disappointed at not — finding seats Nos. 2 and 4 occupied. Still it gave him a chance to settle himself and be ready to watch the couple who should occupy them while they came in and took possession, The first act was hekneished: and Nick had.almost concluded that Yardell, for some reason, was not coming, when the usher ap- . peared, and dropped the two seats on his — . right into their frames. At last the expected visitors had arrived. Nick did not turn his head, but his sense of hearing was strained. He heard a heavy tread coming down the aisle, mingled with the sound of the rustling and swish of a lady’s costume. When the party reached the aisle in front of the row, he glanced around, To his surprise, there stood the Diamond Duke, as he saw him in the afternoon ‘at the | Fifth Avenue Hotel and on Broadway, only Ae the man’ was now arrayed in a dress SHiti ns Yardell turned and stood aside to tet his His companion almost took Nick's breath =
Page 6
NICK CARTER WEEKLY. 5 It was a young lady, so beautiful that the detective, as well as every one in that part of the house, for the time being, forgot the play on the stage, and kept their eyes on her lovely face. She was small in stature, and little in build, yet most symmetrically formed. — In complexion, she was a pure blonde, with hair of a golden brown hue, blue eyes, a com- plexion of milk and roses, full red lips, and a-hand like a baby’s. By Nick’s practiced eye, however, much of the milk. and roses were recognized as unnatural. She was certainly not more than seventeen years old, as Nick told himself after his first glance. The girl was elegantly dressed in a becom- ing costume of blue, which set off her blonde charms to perfection. This youthful beauty sank into the seat . next to Nick with natural grace and without so much as giving the young man on her left a passing look, Yardell occupied the aisle seat, and in a few minutes both he and the yoting lady were apparently deeply interested in the play. Occasionally she would turn a look upon Vardell, which Nick could not help thinking was one of anxiety, or full of some trouble- some thought. ae The play proceeded to the end of the first act, Yardell and the young lady seemed to . . * * be very much interested in what was being enacted on the stage. But the detective heard not a word spoken by the actors, nor saw what they did. - He was studying the strange couple on his 2g Tight. - a ; What did it mean? saat wv. Who was this beautiful girl whom Yardell had brought to the theater so boldly? She seemed to be ‘very much attached to the elderly: man, and the latter showed at times that he was anxious for her comfort | and pleasure., Between the first and second acts, Yardell did not leave his seat. The strange couple talked to each other in low tones, seeming to be oblivious to everything and everybody: about them. Neither looked around at the house, and both appeared to be completely taken up with one another. Nick could hear very little of the conver- sation between the girl and her companion, but what he did understand was purely such as might be held by two members of the same family on such an occasion. Just before the curtain went up on the sec- ond act, she took advantage of a lull in their conversation to ask in an anxious tone: “How do you feel now?” “Oh, I’m all right!’ he replied. “Don’t - let it trouble you.” | “But I can’t forgive myself for letting you come out with me on such a night,” she mur- mured. The curtain cut short further conversation between them. Thus the best part of an hour passed when Yardell: suddenly leaned over and whispered something in her ear. 2 Whatever it was, Nick saw that the words gave her trouble. : Yardell arose, and made his way slowly up the aisle and out into the lobby. Her eyes followed him till his form ‘dis- z =
Page 7
‘8 appeared from sight. Then she turned her eyes toward the stage and sighed. Nick could see that while her eyes were - upon the stage, her mind was not following the play. Occasionally she would ttirn her head, and glance anxiously up the aisle. During one of these times she dropped her handkerchief at his feet. He stooped, picked it up, and, as, she turned her head again to the front, he handed it to her, saying: “Pardon me, miss, you dropped your hand- kerchief.” “Oh, thank you!” she murmured, scarcely allowing her blue eyes to rest upon his face an instant as she took the handkerchief from his hand. He noticed during the brief time her hand- kerchief was in his hand that it was one of rare pattern. It was a lady’s clear lawn, one inch hen: stitch handkerchief of a very costly quality. Embroidered in each corner was a wreath of flowers. In the center of one of these wreaths was also worked the name “Katherine.” Underneath the name, embroidered in the same colored thread, was a miniature dying dove, pierced with an arrow. a All this Nick, in his customary way of never missing an examination of anything which came in the line of his\ vision, noted before he returned the handkerchief to her. The girl’s perturbation appeared to in- crease as the minutes went by without bring- ing back her elderly escort. . “Tf she is acting,” thought Nick, “she is an adept in her art for one so young.” ‘NICK CARTER WEEKLY. The young lady’s agitation became so great at one time that she half rose from her seat as if determined to leave the house. But suddenly she sank back, and once more gave utterance to a sigh that was almost a moan, Nick concluded that the time had come, and the circumstances had arisen which war- ranted him to act in a way he had not con- templated when he bought. the seat in the afternoon. Leaning over toward her, and speaking in a low whisper, so as not to attract more at- tention than possible from others, he asked: “Is there anything I can do for you, miss? I see you are distressed about something.” She flashed a shy glance at him, and a ting¢ of what naturally would be considered a flush of embarrassment came into her cheeks; yet Nick imagined it might be the flush of satisfaction rather than of modesty. “You are very kind, sir, and you are right to think I am distressed. I don’t know what to think of papa’s long absence. I am afraid something is wrong.” “Did he not tell you why he went out?” “Oh, Yes: ed from home, and just before he left his seat He was not well when we start- he told me he was going out to the street to get a breath of air, and would return in a few minutes.” “T don’t believe anything serious has hap- pened,” remarked Nick, “but if you desire I will go out and see what detains him.” “Tf you will be so good I shall certainly be greatly indebted to you,” _ Thereupon Nick arose and went out to look for Yank Yardell. Nothing would have pleased him mote 2 than to have met the Bois as ae Duke in ve ‘N she murmured. —
Page 8
corridors of the theater with such a fine ex- cuse to get on close and familiar terms of conversation with him, But the missing man was nowhere to be found. Inquiry at the coat-room convinced Nick that Yardell had not called there for his coat or umbrella, and yet the man had neither ar- ticle when he entered the auditorium of the theater. But the door-keeper remembered the man quite well. He had gone out at the time . mentioned without an overcoat—clad only in his dress suit. He stopped just outside the door to light a cigar, and then passed on slowly toward the street. With this information, Nick returned to his seat, and made a report to the girl. “So you see you needn't worry. When he said Nick. “Maybe I am silly for feeling as I do, but has had his smoke he will return,” I can’t shake off the conviction that ‘some- _ thing has happened to him,” she insisted. “That feeling is surely without good rea- sons,” he replied, “Maybe if I tell you that papa is subject ‘to very severe and dangerous attacks in which he suffers terribly, you will better un- derstand why I worry,” was her somewhat hesitating reply. “Just before we left home he felt some of the premonitory symptoms, But they passed away so quickly that he insisted on ‘and I didn’t want to come out. coming, and I yielded. I am afraid he has been taken suddenly with one of them.” “It is hardly probable,” insisted Nick. “I am considered a pretty fair physician in my native city, and I happened be look at your er a bebcre ae left his seat. There , NICK CARTER WEHEKLY. ; 7 was nothing in his face to suggest pain, nor the approach of a severe attack of sickness. Besides, no man, feeling ill, would smoke a cigar.” “Well, perhaps I am foolish to worry. But I wish he would come back. It is not like him to leave me here so long alone.” The red lips quivered just the least bit, and a suspicion of moistness came into her blue eyes. : oe The conversation ended there for a brief period, but the young woman’s nervousness grew perceptibly. Finally she said to Nick: “This is becoming unbearable. Something has happened to papa.” - “What can I do for you?” — asked the detective. “IT must go out and look for him. If he is not to be found, then I shall hurry home as fast as I can go.” “But it is raining hard. You cannot go alone. Let me act as your escort till you find your father.” I thank you a thousand times, and accept your con- “You are very kind, I am 6ure. siderate offer. Let us go at once.” . The next minute Nick was accompanying the unknown beauty out of the theater half an hour before the curtain was due to drop on the last act of Sowing the Wind. “Well,” muttered he, as he followed” her up the aisle. “This is more than I bargained for when IT set out this evening to take up the — trail of the Diamond Duke. I’ve struck it deep, if not rich.” 2 . “Tf I am in the hands of a decoy, it is the most beautiful, most innocent appeating and ==. strongest: sgecoy. T ever ran up against.” i
Page 9
e.. NICK CARTER WEEKLY. ‘CHAPTER ITI. NICK’S MYSTERIOUS RIDE. Again did Nick inquire in the lobbies and at the door for the tall, athletic-looking old man with the close-cropped white hair. He had not been in the cloak-room. The door- He was not in any of the corridors. keeper was sure he had not returned. Then Nick went out upon the street. He approached the nearest cab to the en- trance, and addressing the driver, asked whether he had seen such a man—describing _ Yardell. “Oh, yes, I seed him,” was the rather eager expression. “He cum out hur in the rain wid- out nary. overcoat or umbrel; acted jest like a crazy man, staggered up to a cab down there, jumped in, and was driv away after giving the driver his instructions.” Nick confirmed this report by inquiring among several other cab-drivers. Then he went back to the ladies’ cloak- room, where he had left his fair charge, and made his report. She seemed to repress an outburst of tears with much difficulty. “y was sure something had happened to him. He never treated me so before,” she half sobbed. _ “Where do you think he has gone?” in- quired Nick, determined to play out the gaine ~ to its full limit, for he now felt sure he was¢ “up against” a new trick of the Diamond Duke’s manufacture. “Flome, I suppose; but he must certainly have been wandering in his mind to go off = and forget me as well as his heavy coat and umbrella.” “Where are : they?” ¢ “Tn the cloak-room with my cloak. And he has gone away with the check. Oh, dear, what can we do?” : “Tf you can tell me the number of the check, maybe I could get your wrap as well as his coat.” “Oh, the check was No. 13. Papa men- tioned to me that it was unlucky. And it certainly proved itself to be so.” Having the number of the check, Nick, by using the persuasion of a liberal fee, and giving the check-boy a satisfactory explana- — tion, obtained the goods the missing check called for and also his own overcoat. He then conducted his fair charge to the street, where they were assailed by a storm of: “Cab; sir! Cab! Nick did not fail to note the fact that he Have a cab!” was led in a way, which to one of an unsus- picious nature would have been impercepti- ble, without hesitation, toward the parmage whose driver had given him his first informa- tion of the departure of Yardell. The driver was down off his box ina mo- ment, holding open the door of the coupe, © into which the young lady stepped without the slightest hesitation, Nick hesitated long enough to inquire of her: “Where is he to take us?” 7 ~ The answer came without a moment’s de-— lay. Mise “No. 222 West One Hundred and Forty: first street.” Nick, Tepeated the number to the driver. Bebacwihil! ’ was the latter’s. exclamation. ie “That's sed ge in 1 Harlem, an’ it’l take an
Page 10
NICK CARTER WEEKLY. = 9 “Well, don’t lose any time on the way,” said Nick, as he stepped into the coupe. The door was slammed shut, and the next moment the coupe was rattling up Broad- way. Rain was still falling at a steady rate; the night was growing colder and a more dis- agreeable time for a drive to Harlem could _ not “well be imagined. The coupe was apparently new and of modern make. Its windows were small and _ high up. The vehicle had not gone a block before “Nick became aware of the fact that he could not see out. Objects on the street were in- visible to a person inside. ie : One less expert in the tricks i criminals would not have suspected that the coupe was built for the purpose of preventing an occu- pant from noticing objects which he might pass. Indeed, a novice would have assured himself that the rain and cold so obscured * the glass as to render an outlook impossible. The detective knew better. He recognized the fact that the coupe and its driver eed no strangers to the girl sitting at his side. “And we are not going to Harlem, either,” thotight he. “If she suspected that I know _ that 222 West One Hundred and Forty-first street is a vacant lot she would not feel so serene in her pretensions. _ “Tt would puzzle a mind-reader, however, “to keep track of that driver’s route, shut up ‘in this box. We'll let him go his route. He'll hardly fool Nick -Carter when he pulls up at his destination. “There are very few places in New York, which I can’t recognize, if I have a show.” > That is what Nick thought, but he was destined to be compelled to acknowledge his error. The detective held on his lap the overcoat belonging to Yardell, which he had secured from the theater cloak-room. Having noth- ing to occupy his mind during the long drive except to carry on a meaningless conversa- tion with the girl at his side, he put in some time by making a “hand-to-liand” seatch of the pockets of the coat. ~~ + The search was more as a matter of form than from a hope that he would find any- — thing in the pockets of value to himself or detrimental to the shrewd owner. Therefore he was agreably surprised to discover that his blind search was not fruit- less. groping hand, and were quietly transferred to his own pocket. They might be important, or they aight be without significance.’ That remained to be seen later on. ‘ He had no chance to examine them in the “darkness of the coupe. They drove into Central Park, somewhere at the south end—probably at the Eighth. That much Nick realized, avenue entrance. Then followed a drive over the avenues of the Park, long enough to take them to the ‘northern extremities at One Hundred and Tenth street. But Nick was certain that before the coupe Several articles fell into the way of his got half-way to the upper end of the Park it had been turned; and was driven back. toward Fifty-ninth street. This conviction was confirmed when on — leaving the Park the wheels struck granite blocks instead of a smoother surface. | ““Seventh and Lenox avenues above the z x S > 2 r¢ om y
Page 11
10 Park .are both macadamized,’ mused Nick, “and on one or the other of, those drives would we have emerged had the coupe gone to One Hundred and Forty-first street. “T am’ certainly mistaken for a stranger, probably because it is natural to suppose a guest at the hotel would have bought that extra ticket. . “€ertainly Yardell would not make such a blunder, or set of blunders, in trying to trap Nick Carter. “Well, I'll soon see where his place of op- eration is now.” Twenty minutes after leaving the Park the coupe drew ‘up to the pavement, the driver jumped down, opened the door and ex- claimed : “Here we are, sir.” The girl sat next to the open door. Before Nick could arise, she anticipated him, handed the umbrella to the driver, and jumped out under its protection as soon as he raised it. Then she stopped until Nick stepped out. ° Before he could cast his eyes up or down the street. he found the umbrella rather awk- wardly pulled over his head by the little woman holding it, and he was being hurried under an awning, which extended from the “outer edge of the pavement to the door of a - tall dwelling—one ofa long row which were all alike. “Wait for this gentleman,” called the girl to the Jehu, as she led Nick up the steps un- der the awning. Nick reached out his hand and rang the bell. | peat was answered almost instantly by a _ meek-looking man servant. NICK CARTER WEEKLY. “Is papa here?” eagerly asked the girl. “Yes, Miss Katherine. He came home half an hour ago, and IJ fear he is very ill.” _ “Where is he?” “In his room lying on the bed.” “Where are the other servants 2” _ “Ail retired but me, and Mr. Ward would not let me call anybody.” “f can’t understand it,” panted the girl. Then turning to Nick, she said: “Did I understand that you are a physi- Caner,” ) Nick bowed assent. “Then will you kindly wait till I see papa, It might be hard to get a doctor up at this hour, and your professional services may be as welcome as has been your kindness to me.” “T shall be pleased to be at your further service.” “John, conduct the gentleman to the din- ing-room. I'll not be absent long.” She flew up stairs, while Nick followed “John” back to the dining-room in the rear of the parlor. There he found a light dimly burning, and a luncheon spread for two on the table. “This,” thought Nick, “is the cheese in the trap at which the mouse is expected to nib- ble.” CHAPTER IV. A BOTTLE OF QUEER WINE. While Nick Carter waited in the dining- room for the return of the beautiful stranger, — he had time to think over a few of the decid- edly novel features of his ‘situation, for — “John” had-left the room, closing the door ; behind him, as soon as Nick was seated. eo hae
Page 12
NICK CARTER WEEKLY. “Well, after all, Iam here in the Diamond Duke’s present place of operation without knowing where, in the great city of New York, it is situated,” mused he. “That umbrella trick and the awning dodge was admirably worked, and took me, I confess, by surprise. ; “The best I can do is to decide that I am south of Central Park, about midway be- tween two of the avenues inthe better part, or the brown-stone front section, of the city. “T am bound. to admit that I am surprised at what I have so far seen. ° “How does it come that I find Yank Yar- dell living in this grand residence in the fash- ionable quarter of New York city? “What is that beautiful girl who calls him papa? “Who is that beautiful girl who calls him house from the curb to the door? “What is the aim of the trap they have set for me? } “I am certainly played for a stranger and a tenderfoot. “Everything in the louse, so far as I can see in this dim light, is fine and expensive. T will now soon see what the plan is to rob me; how “Ah! here comes my temptress. they operate.” aa The fair girl came hurriedly and Sete. into the room: ; “He is very ill,” she cried, her words com- ing in trembling tones. “I find him uncon- scious. Will you go with me to him at once, Sirs Nick arose and followed her up stairs, be- lieving that the period of his danger, what- ei _ ever it might be, was near. He was wide Nas and let no chance go ing. 11 by unobserved, whereby harm could come to him from some hidden quarter. The girl conducted him to the second floor rear. A door leading into a large room stood open, sae Through this door the girl preceded him into the apartment. x It was richly furnished, but was like all other parts of the house, dimly lighted by a gas-jet turned low. Opposite. the door stood a large bed, on which Nick recognized the form of the Dia- mond Duke. He lay there stretched out on his back in his full dress suit, just as he had thrown him- self at some uncertain time before. His face was pale, almost white, but whether it was caused by a mask or by the reflection of the light Nick was unable to say. The hands lay at his side listlessly, and his eyes were closed. Nick went directly to the right side of the’ bed, and the girl took a position on the\other side. He picked up Vardell’s arm, and placed a finger on the pulse. It did not surprise him to find the pulse beating regularly. Then he raised the lid of one eye, and pressed a finger on the ball. , The man moaned and turned his head. Nick looked up quickly, and encountered the blue eyes of the lovely girl bent upon his face with a gaze that was almost beseeching. It was a strange couple, dnd a strange ad- venture with which he found himself deal- — ” _ “How is he?” she asked in a low tone.”
Page 13
LZ “Not in a dangerous condition. Can you send a messenger to a. drug-store and have a prescription, filled for me?” “Yes. John will go.” Nick hastily took a page from: a smail miemoranda, and wrote thereon a simple pre- seription, stich as a doctor would give as a restorative and tonic—a formula with which he was quite familiar. “Then send him for this at once,” he said, handing her the paper. : She left the room hurriedly with it. As soon as she was down stairs, he turned to the bed, determined to make Yardell confess that he was acting a part. To his utter surprise, he saw the Diamond Duke open his eyes, raise himself upon his ‘elbow, and place his finger 1ipon his lips as.a warning for silence. ; ' “Shut the door,’ he whispered. Nick crossed the room and complied. “Tock it,’ tone. . Nick turned the key in the lock, and went back to the bed, feeling perfectly able to cope hand-to-hand with Yardell. : “Yet he did not anticipate any such neces- ‘came the request in a louder - sitv, and he was correct in his surmise. “Why did you pretend to be insensible?’ asked. Nick. "To get a word with you alone,” “For what purpose?” ; hia Tee ~ “You are a doctor ?” . “You are a good guesser?” ; “T feel one of my spasms of pain coming on; 1 have felt it for some time. It will soon You, as a physi- cian, will recognize the symptoms of the have me in its clutches. T was anxious that That is why I feigned unconsciousness till you sent her from the room. My God! the pain! Tt Pa albddll mie Pree Se a 7 By this time the man was writhing upon 1 deadly angina pectoris. you should not let her know what it is. dining-room again. NICK CARTER WEEKLY. the bed in a manner that might have deceived even Nick had not the detective known with whom he was dealing. . At the same time the knob of the door turned. Then came a sweet, low voice call- ing: “Let me in. ‘It’s Katherine.” Nick looked at the acting-sufferer on the bed. The latter managed to whisper in spas- modic words; “Don’t let—her—in. ‘She must not—see ——me-—-thus. Take her down stairs—till— the pain has passed—ten minutes. Tell her --I—want to—be alone. Please go.” Anxious to play into the couple’s hands to the full extent of the plot, through which he could. not as yet see, ‘Nick obeyed his pre- tended patient. He went to the door, unlocked it, eeaed out, and said to Kathetine, who stood look- ing up at him with child-like pleading: “Your father will be better alone until the Can you take me somewhere while your servant is gone?” medicine I sent for arrives. “Why, certainly. Come with me.” She led the way down stairs, and into the The parlor and recep- tion-room were closed and dark. ; “Poor papa,” she murmured. . “This luncheon was for him tand me when we should come home from the theater. Now it must go “untasted, for I couldn’t swallow a mouthful Pais he is in that reeugee What = is it, sir?’’, > species of indigestion, I think, miss, 3? rgplied ‘Nick cautiously. surprised if these late brought your father to the uncom luncheons state in which we found him.” “Then it is hardly worth while to ask you to partake of it?” she said, ae at him sweetly. ‘Ser “T never . Sale ae at night,” “I shouldn’t be | 3 have
Page 14
NICK CARTER WEEKLY. added: “Especially when the luncheon is drugged for my benefit.” A bottle of wine stood opened upon the table, with labels from the bottom to the mentally neck. Katherine picked this bottle up in both hands, as Nick afterward recalled the fact, and poured out enough of the contents to fill “a wine glass. “You will not refuse a glass of sherry?” she said, with a bewitching look of entreaty ~ straight into his eyes. For answer, Nick picked up the bottle she ' had set down, filled another glass from its contents, and, handing it to her, replied: “Not if my fair hostess will join me.” He expected her to make some excuse and refuse the wine, so firmly was he convinced that it was drugged. To his ‘surprise, she replied Gath the” slightest hesitation : : “Why, I shall be pleased to do so,” /taking the glass in her dainty hand she gave him a mock bow and drained the contents. and Nick watched her closely, and was cer- tain that the wine went down her throat. There was no trick about it. “It is my glass, and not the wine, which is _ drugged,” he thought; “but I'll foil her.” Pretending an awkwardness he didn’t pos- sess, the detective let his glass fall and it was shattered upon the floor. “How stupid I am "he murmured: ” “Never mind. There is plenty of wine, -she cried, cheerfully, grasping the bottle again in both hands. “Unfortunately, there are but ~ the two glasses on the table. If you do not object to using the one from which I have just drank _ “Tt will taste all the sweeter,’’ was Nick’s J gallant reply, as he watched her refill her own glass. - “T was certainly mistaken about the wine r glass being drugged,” "he tesa “for she ~ same. 13 does not show one particle of disappointment Whatever her game may be ‘it lies not in the wine.” a, Thereupon he raised the glass and drank the potion she had poured for him. : As he sét the glass on the-table, John, sagt servant, appeared in the door-way. “May I see you a moment, Miss Kath- erine ?” he said. ; Miss Katherine hurriedly joined him in the hall, pulling the door shut after her. Nick reached to'the chandelier to turn up the gas. The key turned, but the Fes remained the in her face. the chandelier... None would respond to his touch. » He took a match from his pocket, - _struck it, and tried to light the other jets in A small book-case stood in the shadows of the wall on his left. It had an odd ap- pearance to his critical eye, and he went over “i to get a closer view. a “Ah! I thought so!” he muttered, as. he touched the various volumes, ‘ I am at last getting onto the fraud with which I am surrounded, and Vit know a ood deal more about it before I leave.” So -he told himself; but even the best laid mies. ‘painted dum- plans of the most successful detectives some- times go wrong. ‘ Turning to retrace his steps toward the table. he noticed on the floor at his feet some- thing small and white. Picking it up he ~found it to be a visiting-card, which, upon. a closer examination by the dim light above the _ table, he saw bore this name and address: | Emory Rives, .32 West Forty-second street. ¥ “Hum!” ejaculated “Nick. of service to me. acquaintance of Mr. ey. ‘Rives. It never pours but it rains.’ His eyes at that moment had fallen upon “8 something white lying on. the floor near oS : door, and lie: 2 ies over to it, Hello : 2 ps a =a “This may be = _ I may want to make the f a 2
Page 15
~ locked in. 14 “My. lady’s handkerchief with the queer wreath and the queerer design embroidered on it. I'll just keep it this time in sweet re- membrance. It, too, may be of value to me i1 the very near future.” He stooped, picked it up, folded it around . the card, and thrust both into a secret pocket where he always carried small articles of special value to guard them against chance discovery should he meet with a mishap. He was suddenly impelled to take this pre- caution by a fear which seized him at this very moment. ‘As he raised to an upright position, a strange dizziness seized him. *At the same ~ time the dim light in the room began to grow fainter, and the air appeared to be getting . almost stifling. He staggered toward the door, and laid his hand on the knob. - Tt turned to his touch. Indeed, it kept turning easily and contin- uously. The knob was merely a dummy. Nick’s senses were going fast. He knew too well now that he had been drugged, after all. He further realized that he had been The door before him was as firm in its setting as the side of a man-of-war. Satisfied of that fact, Nick turned and “staggered across the room to the windows in _the rear. There he was confronted with another strange discovery. Where the windows appeared to be was _ nothing but a blank piece of wood. What seemed at a distance to be window-sashes were painted delusions. The detective had barely time to realize this startling truth when the drug overcame him. EON (a A thousand hands seemed to be grasping NICK CARTER WEEKLY. his neck, and choking the breath out of his body. In frightful agony, he laid hold of his col- lar, and tore it from his throat as if it was a band of fire. Then he reeled, and fell like a dead man to the floor. ‘Nick Carter, in spite of his precaution, had nibbled at the cheese and was caught like a rat in a trap. CHAPTER V. HOW THE BOTTLE TRICK WAS WORKED. There came a blank in Nick -Carter’s life after he fell insensible upon the dining-room floor of the strange house into’ which he had been led by the decoy of thé Diamond Duke. This blank covered a period of three or four hours. When his memory came back, he found himself in a hansom cab, rattling up Broad- way opposite Grace ‘Church, The great thoroughfare was almost de- serted. He awoke to consciousness almost as sud- denly as if he had been wrapped 1 in a. natural sleep. But there was a dull, ( ieoeane pain in his head; his eyes felt sore, and there was a disagreeable-taste in his mouth. E The white walls, and spires of Grace Church not only gave him an immediate idea of his location, but brought to his mind with the rapidity of a flash of light the circum- | stances of his strange adventure of the night. How had he escaped from the clutches of | . the Diamond Duke and the girl who had so. neatly entrapped him? | Where was he going, and how had he Pe into that cab? : Raising his hand, i tapped against the top of the cab, attracting the attention of the | driver. 2 gine:
Page 16
NICK CARTER WEEKLY. “What does this mean, my man?” he shouted. : The driver ran his cab up to the pavement, got down from his seat, and appearing before Nick, “Tt’s all right, sir. said, as he tipped his hat: I’m takin’ you home, as is right an’ proper.” Where ?” fumbled in his vest-pocket, and “Taking me home? Cahby finally took out a card, which he handed to Nick. “T found ‘yer card in yer inside pocket, after a tarnal s’arch fur suthin’ to identify yer, an’ that is how I knowed where you lived, sir.” Nick read the name and address on the card with considerable surprise. Emory RI1vEs, 32 West Forty-second street. “You found this in my pocket?” queried Nick. “You must know pretty well how to search a man.” “T do, sir. gents as I pick up very airly in the mornin’. I have lots of practice with a9 “Where was I when you found me?” in- terrupted the detective. “Layin’ in a doorway on Broadway, nigh Broome street, sir.” ; “Oh, I was?” “You wuz, sir; gentlemen sometimes gits, an’-——” “Was there any one with'me or near me when you first saw me lying in the door- way ?” “Not a soul, sir. Broadway at that p’int ain’t very lively so late in the night.” “What time is it?” “About three in the mornin’. “Well, my man, that is not my saith and not my address. But since you have been so kind as to start to take me home, I will let you finish the contract.” Then Nick gave him his right address, and the cabman once more started up Broadway. all knocked out, too, as 15 “Well, he kin climb out of a knock-out quicker an’ any gent I ever seed afore,” mut- tered the driver, as he gave his lazy horse a cut with the whip, “an’ I have in my time took a good many of the high-flyers home airly in the mornin’. This ’ere ’un are a corker, an’ no mistake.” ; Unfortunately for Nick and the cab- driver, neither noticed that a coupe came out of Washington Place shortly after they left the vicinity of Grace Church, and followed them up Broadway at a ee discreet dis- tance. . : In the coupe was an elderly party with a long beard and black, bushy hair. The driver of the coupe never lost sight of Nick’s cab, until it set him down at his own door half an hour later. At that time the coupe was several blocks away, and kept on its journey as if the driver was not aware that there was such a thing as a hansom cab in the world. Twenty minutes later this same coupe was driven through the street on which Nick’s residence stood, and just as the detective was. tumbling into the bed the occupant of the coupe was peering out and noting the num- ber of the house, having received a precon- certed signal from the driver when exactly opposite the detective’s residence. 3 Then the coupe went east to ek avenue, and disappeared. Next day Nick summoned Chick and Ida to the library. His wife was also present. To the three he related the adventure of the night before. ; “And you don’t know where that house is?” asked Chick, when he had heard the last of Nick’s recital. “T have no more idea than the man in the ” moon. “Well, it’s worth while to try to find it.” “Yes, and I'll try to do it. to be a hard task.” peRS be But it’s going
Page 17
16 “The awning to the pavement?” “There were hundreds of them up last night. “But you have others.’” “Yes, I have the handkerchief, the card, and the cabman who took Yardell from the theatre.” “You know him?” “T can find him.” “Can I help you?” “Yes. You and Ida may both take a hand.”’ “How can I fit in?” queried Ida, rather eagerly. .The awning clew is not worth much.” “By tracing the girl ces this handker- chief,’ said. Nick, holding up the delicate piece of linen he had picked up from the floor jist before he fell insensible in the mys- teriotts house. he said, “You can _“You see it is of rare pattern,” as Ida took it from his hand. easily find where it came from by trying to match it at some of the prominent stores. It -is not likely that more than one will have that variety on hand.” “After I have found where it came from, you think I can discover who bought it?” “It is possible. The embroidering of that name and the design was done after the ‘handkerchief was purchased. Such work is usually done by some one employed in the store for that purpose. If I am right in this case, you. may be able to strike a lead.” “T’ll do my best, sir.’ “And you, Chick, will take this card, and Get his explanation, if he can give one, of how the card happened to be in possession of Yank - Yardell.” é Ma eNick?” “Well?” “You said you had removed some articles Hsin up its owner, Emory Rives. 5 from Yardell’s coat and transferred them to - your own pockets while in the coupe?” NICK CARTER WEEKLY. “T did.” oe “What: were they?” “T don’t know.” “They were taken away from you?” “Ys. sensible in that house, they probably found those articles in my possession and relieved In searching me after I fell in- me of them, together with my diamonds, my “watch, and my small roll of money.” *“Then they knew you had searched Yar- while circling around the city in the coupe.” “Certainly; and, Chick, that fact brings forward a revelation.” dell’s overcoat, “A revelation?” “Yes. couple are not willing to commit murder.” “IT guess I’m pretty thick-headed this morning,” said Chick, wrinkling up his fore- Namely: Bad-as they are, the head in a puzzling look. © “You evidently are. Do you not see that, when they found those articles of Yardell’s in my possession they. had evidence that 1 No lamb, but without Now, if they would mur- der any of their victims, ae life pone have been worth a picaytune.” “Yet they robbed you?” “Oh, was no tenderfoot? doubt a detective? yes! Yank Yardell’s passion for _ diamonds was not proof against the tempta- tion of my brace of sparklers. They robbed me, and then placed me in a Soe section of. the city.” “But you don’t believe they had a robbery in mind when they went to the theatre?” “Yes, I do. They had it all planned, ex- pe as it was carried out, with one excep- tion.’ “Oh! there was an Teer on to their A plan?” : “Exactly; in the victim. They were Taying : for some one else.” “Who ?” “Td like to find out. It was some one who
Page 18
NICK CARTER WEEKLY. didn’t fall into the trap. So they accepted _ me as a substitute.” “There is one mystery which will be hard to clear up, I think.” “What is that?” “How the girl drugged you.” “There is no mystery in that at all.” “What?” “I deserved to be drugged for failing to think of the trick at the time.” “What was it?” “The bottle had two*compartments and two distinct qualities of wine. ; - “One quantity was pure, the other was drugged. “Any one picking up the bottle, naturally, would pour out from the pure wine. “This I did when I filled her glass. “But a finger pressed upon the concave bottom of the bottle shut off the pure sup- ply,,and let loose the drugged liquor. “YT remember that in both instances when the girl poured my portion into the glass she raised the bottle with both hands. “T was away off not to observe that a finger of her left hand was pressed ae the bot- tom of the bottle. “T remember it now, and I haye more than once seen one of those double-barreled bot- tles. “Tt was the neatest and most sucéessful trick to which I ever succumbed.” CHAPTER VI. “CHICK, WE HAVE 1” E TREED OUR COON! Nick Carter’s acquaintanceship among the cab-drivers of New York is very éxtensive. Among those who had confirmed the story of Yank Yardell’s strange departure from the Empire. eae he recognized several at the time. He knew where to find these men diene - the day, and he started out to hunt them up. - With this im cored fun ieronadioe Nick left : P : Bete 17 The first cabby approached proved to be a fertile field. “Do I know who took the gent away? Why, cert! It was Jed Fluke; No. 218, You'll fied him down at Madison Square now.” BG . So Nick proceeded to interview 218. “He was a rum fare,” asserted 218. “Just walked right through the rain to my cab, opened the door, said: ‘Take me to the West- ~ moreland Hotel,’ jumped in, and I drove away.” “You took him to the Westmoreland?” — “I did, sir.” “And left him there?” “That’s” what.” “Where did you go, then?” “T drove back to the theatre.” “Did you see a dark-haired young man and — a very pretty girl leave before the entertain- ment was over?” G “Left in the strange coupe? Yes, I seed “em.” ‘ : “Why do you call it a strange coupe?” “Tt’s driver acted strange like. He claimed his was a private vehicle,-and paid Lem Goodfriend five dollars to surrender his place near the entrance. % “Then when the young lady comes out with the gent, he asks her, ‘Where to?’ and she tells him a number away up in Harlem, jest as if he was a public, and she a chance fare. Besides——” oe “Well, besides what?’ “He had Ben Mackey’s numbers on his lamps. Now, there can’t be no two licenses for the same number:- And then——” “What then?” is “Nobody can see through the windys of — that coupe. The glass looks all right till you git right up ag’in it, an’ ‘then it’s just like a = stone wall.” BS
Page 19
18 218 and went to the Westmoreland. There he got a very slight trace of his man. A stranger, whose description tallied with Yardell, room, left a deposit for its return, and had rented an umbrella at the check- gone away. Nick spent a good deal of the rest of the day on some of the cross streets in the fash-° ionable portion of the city, trying to locate the house of mystery, but abandoned the task as hopeless, and went home to hear the re- ports of his assistants. Chick was already there, but Ida had not returned. “Did -you find your man?” a asked of Chick. “Oh, yes! that was quite egage “Well, what did he say about the card?” “T told him it had béen given to a cab- driver by a young society man, who was picked up on lower Broadway in a very bad state of intoxication.” “Did he ask you who the man was?” “Oh, yes! admitted the card was not his own, and yet couldn’t or wouldn’t give any account of where it had come from. Then I described you.” “Well, what did he say?” _ “T imagined the shadow of a frown passed over his face, but he declared he didn’t know the fellow, and couldn’t imagine how you got hold of the card. Declared he had none of those cards since he came back from the I said it was a stranger who ‘West three months ago.” “Didn’t appear to be sincere, eh?” “No. thing happened during my visit to Mr. Rives.” “What -was it?” “An envelope and a letter lay on the table _-near where he sat when he received me. “The envelope was addressed to him in a _ most feminine hand. eG And there was another strange NICK CARTER WEEKLY. “Tt contained a design in one corner.” “Well, what was the design?” asked Nick, as Chick hesitated in his story. “A wounded dove pierced by an arrow.” “The same that is on the handkerchief?” “Yes, And that is not all.” “Go on.” “I saw the signature of the letter.” “Ah! Katherine?” “Katherine,” “This Emory Rives—who is he?” “A young man about town.” “Any business ?” Has money—at least, he is supposed to have money.” “What is 32 West Forty-second street ?” “Bachelors’ apartments.” “Fere’s Ida,” exclaimed Nick, as.his young lady assistant entered. “Well, Ida, what success ?” “T am told not. “T visited seven dry-goods stores befére I found mates to that handkerchief.” “Then you did find a match?” “Yes; at Macy’s.” “Well?” “One of the clerks of the linen counter re- fembeted the woman very well who bought a dozen of the handkerchiefs about a month ago, and ordered the name and the ccna embroidered on them.” “Did she describe the girl 22 “Yes. A well-dressed young woman, very young, quite small, very handsome, very _light hair, light blue eyes, very red cheeks, and clad almost entirely in blue.” “Were the handkerchiefs sent to her?” “No; she called and got them.” “And that was the last they saw of her?” “No. Her cousin called a week later, and ordered a dozen more just ate them.” “Cousin, eh?” - = So the clerk said. This cotsin was strik- ne ne ee
Page 20
NICK CARTER WEEKLY. but her hair was more of a brown color, the eyes were darker blue, and the color of her cheeks didn’t seem to be as rich, was pale and rather sallow. She, too, was dressed from tip to toe in blue.” ““Two Little Girls in Blue,’ ”’ quoted Nick. “Did she also call for the handkerchiefs?” “No; the first customer called and got them when they were finished.” “What? “The clerk said she was sure of it. You are sure?” She could easily distinguish between the two by reason of the color of the hair, eyes and cheeks. The fairer, fresher one carried away both sets of handkerchiefs.” “ “So there are two of them, Nick,” suggest- ed Chick.. ““Two Little Girls in Blue’ try- ing to dosyou.” Ye “T am not so sure of it, my boy,’ reply. oes “You don’t think those two customers was the were one and the same person?” “I’m not certain those two ‘Little Girls in ‘Blue’ are both trying to do me. That’s what J mean. On the contrary, I am almost con- | “vinced that one is trying to do the other.” “Why ?” “Well, it seems probable that those dupli- cate handkerchiefs were ordered for a pur- pose, doesn’t it?” “But what purpose?” « “Ask me something easy, lad,” smiled Nick. “That is a puzzle which can’t *be guessed off-hand. We must work it out.” “And yet we are no nearer to finding the hiding-place of Yardell than we were yester- day,’ growled Chick. “I’m not so sure of that, my boy.” “What have we to go upon?” “Well, we can watch this Emory Rives.” so viesie: ; “Ee will probably visit one of the Kather- ines before long, since she has written to him.” . 19 “True,” “Now, you take up a watch on Rives, and follow him wherever he goes. If we can find his ‘Little Girl in Blue,’ I may be able then to find mine.” “You don’t believe his ‘Little Girl in Blue’ is yours?? “T didn’t say so.” “Well, I’m off to shadow Mr. Rives.” Some time after Chick went away, Nick also left the house well disguised. While strolling along Fourteenth street he was surprised, almost “dumfounded to see Yank~Yardell and the girl of his adventure the evening before come out of a store, cross the broad pavement, and enter a coupe, which looked somewhat like that which had taken him on his circuitous drive through the rain. There was a great crowd on the pavement —the usual winter throng of shoppers—and_ before Nick could reach the coupe it had driven off toward Broadway. Luck- was with him, however. An empty vehicle of the same order was passing. | Nick hailed it, and bargained with the - ‘driver to keep the other coupe in sight until _ it reached its destination. . This the willing Jehu did not do absolutely. He got blocked at the Fifth avenue cross- ing, and the pursued vehicle turned up Broadway and was lost to his sight for sey- eral minutes. a He was, however, not long in overhauling it, much to Nick’s relief; for the detective _ feared a repetition of the trick of the day outwitted and before,, when Yardell kal eluded him. oe ‘The chase was not a long one. Another stop was made at Tiffany’s. - Then the Yardells once more drove off, with Nick’s coupe following at a respectful and safe distance. : / The route was up Broadway to | ifth ave nue , and thence up the avenue to Forty-ninth FO Zz A
Page 21
~ 20. NICK CARTER WEEKLY. street, where the first carriage turned west- Without waiting for a formal invitation, ward. Zee Chick got in with Nick, and the two were Again Nick. lost sight of the coupe for soon bowling down town. ; some seconds. But it was in plain view when “Well?” was Nick’s monosyllablic inquiry. he himself turned into Forty-ninth street. “T tracked my man.” Midway between the avenues the coupe “Where ?” drove up to the pavement on the north side. « “To Forty-ninth ‘street.” = - . Nick’s heart beat a little faster when he “What part?” noted that the row of residences before which “Next door, west, to the house where you the vehicle was stopping might correspond — landed your elderly couple.” s with that into which he was led, almost blind: “You saw them?” folded, the night before. “Yes. Rives had hardly gone in when I He believed he had run his game to earth *@” that*cotlpe’ coming, S04 waited ‘and oe aeticten se the fare —— Then I saw you, and guessed the rest.’ Somewhat to his surprise, when the coupe é ss E “Chick, we have treed our coon. came to a halt the door opened, and instead of the upright, massive form of Yardell CHAPTER VIL Mes alighting, “a tall, thin. white-haited, yee NICK HFARS SOMETHING ABOUT re OTHER” whiskered old man, who had a bad stoop to - KATHERINE. . his shoulders, shuffled out to the pavement. Ae fhe moment Nick Carter had arranged Then ‘followed a small, bunchy, middle- in his mind a way of working against Yank aged lady, modestly dressed in black, as be- Yardell and his pretty companion, something ccame a widow of her years. She wore “occurred which threw him a on altogether = glasses, and her hair, streaked with gray, was another course. ae ; = - worn smooth over her temples, after the style” Just as he was about o ote from dinner * of several years ago. ‘on the evening after he and Chick had traced The stately Yardell and the richly-dressed their respective parties to adjoining houses 2 , Katherine who entered the coupe at-Tiffany’s on Forty-ninth street, his front. door bell had vanished during the drive as completely rang. : as a pair of harlequins is retransposed into = When ie servant went to answer the call, the lean and slippered pantaloons during the Nick arranged the dining-room door so that _ transformation scene in the pantomime, he-and his assistants could see the visitor _ The elderly couple slowly ascended the enter the hall without being seen themselves _ steps of one of the buildings, and disappeared hy whoever it might be. ia res inside, while the coupe was driven westward ING sooner had the caller taken off his hat, to a public stable near Broadway, where it and thrown back the collar of his overcoat, -.was turned over to the stablemen. _ than Chick gave utterance to a suppressed . Having located the coupe, Nick ordered exclamation of surprise. # his driver to take him to Madison Square. “What is it, Chick?” ‘aeleed Nick, as a - While giving these orders, a strange, odd- watched the servant usher the sttanger into Tooking young fellow approached the car- the reception- room. Ben a ¥ coe - “Do you ives who that man is » Nick?” a = ~ Nick tecognized him at once. Tt. was. Chick, very. much ise
Page 22
NICK CARTER WEEKLY. “Well, he’s nobody but Emory Rives, Es- quire, “of Forty-second street.” “Sure?” “Sure as rat poison.” an- He “A gentleman wants to see you, sir,” nounced the servant at this moment. is in the reception-room.” = “Better step into the library, Chick, and hear what he has to say to me. The com- municating door is open, and the curtains drawn,” suggested Nick. So when the detective entered the recep- tion room his assistant was comfortably lo- cated in the library, with his ears open to what might pass on the other side of the cur- tains. ‘When Nick came into the presence of his - visitor, the latter arose, and asked: “Are you Mr. Carter, the detective?” eet Fegan Sega ae “Are you disengaged ?” el Ban epee you a an hour, or probably a little more.’ : { mean have you time to take up a piece of work in your line of business ?” > “When?” : “Right away. The sooner the better.” “What is the nature of it?” “To find a missing man.” “What is his name?” “William Ward.” aa _ “Missing from where?” “No, no! “From residence on Forty-ninth street.” eR, his “How. long has he been missing?” _ “Nearly a month.” . “Are you his son?” ~ “No, sit.” : 2 “Any relation ?” “None, now.” “Oh! Expect to be?” i The young 9 man se flushed and bowed. 21 Nick’s cool announcement of his visitor’s name startled the latter. a “You know me?” “T have heard of you.” “How ?” 4 “T had your card last night.” “Was it you who visited me this fore- noon ?” , : “No, That was my assistant. man he told you about.” “What! You, Nick Carter, drunk and sent to my address—you,. the great detec- tive!” I was the “Yes, I, the great detective, if you will have it so. Even great detectives sometimes trip up. The best of us are human. [t was more of an adyenture, however, than a fit of intoxication.” “T should like to hear about your aavere ture.? Y 7 - “Well, you shall probably -hear the story after I have heard yours.” “Mine?” ert “About the disappedtnce of your prospec- tive father-in-law, Mr. Ward. How did he disappear, and what is there mysterious about it?” ’ “Tl tell yout. The evening before he dis- appeared he told his daughter that he ex- pected to be away from home on secret busi- ness for some time. He didn’t know then when he would start, but it was likely that . while he Was" gone he would need, money, -which he would not like to obtain by giving requested that 4 his check. He ‘therefore should he send a messenger to her during his absence she should draw from her private account, which is very large, whatever sum he should designate in his letter sent to her by the messenger. This sum she was to place in an envelope, in such a manner that no one would step what the movelehes ‘con=
Page 23
ross 22 - when he would return to her with a second note.” “A queer request on his part.” - “Yes. But he promised he would tell her all about it when he returned, and would also pay back the money.” “How soon afterward did he disappear?” “That same night. Next morning Kather- ine found a note from him on the library . table, telling her he had gone on his secret mission and might be absent a month. In it he urged her not to be uneasy, or impatient, and to eee promptly ae he send to her for money.” “Well, so far there is nothing mysterious about it.” “Wait. You'll think differently when you hear that in the twenty-six days of his ab- sence she has received six demands from him for money instead of one, and all in larger sums than he had intimated the gone demand would be.” “Yas she responded to these six requests?” ° “She has responded to five. The sixth one came only to-day.” “And how did she answer that?” “She has not yet answered it. The mes- - senger is to return for the money to-morrow. Now, this last straw has broken the camel’s back. It was this sixth demand which _aroused suspicion.” “How?” “She sent him in response to the other five calls eighty thousand dollars, which was the entire amount of what she had in bank, or at her command.” “Yet he now sends for more?” “Yes, and the last request is for fifty thousand dollars.” “But he knew before he disappeared just how much money she could popnand: in her ‘own name?” “That is it, sir. So when this last eats diary demand one she Sth Be some- NICK CARTER WEEKLY. thing was wrong, and. sent for me. I ad- vised her to place the affair in your hands, and she sent me to you, while she put the messenger off till to-morrow under the plea, in a letter to her father sent back by him, that she would have to make some outside . arrangements to fill the entire amount.” “That was well thought of, but it will not’ work,” said Nick. “What do you mean?” “T mean the messenger will not return for the fifty thousand dollars. alarmed the rascals.” — * “What rascals?” “The parties who have been robbing Me Ward as you described.” “Then where is Mr. become of him?” Ward? - What has She has no doubt — “T can’t answer that—now. We will tirst — find the conspirators, and then we may find Mr. Ward—or discover what has become of him.” “Let us hope not. But murder is not im- possible, nor yet improbable with the gang to whom he has fallen a victim.” “You talk as if you knew who they are.” “You don’t think he has been murdered?” . “I think I know them. But I want to ask — you a few questions before I say more.” “T will answer to the best of my ability anything you ask, Mr. Carter.” “Flow long have you known the Wards?” “Since I was a boy in school.” “You are the affianced husband of Miss — Katherine?” Se “T have that happiness.” “She has a fortune in her own right?” “Yes; left by her mother.” ’ ee “Is Mr, Ward in business?” _ “No. He retired some years ago.” “Where does he bank?” ; “At the Importers’. National.” Ba 28 ‘Nelson Reyes is the cashie
Page 24
NICK CARTER WEEKLY. “Mr. Boyd is a deacon in the Nineteenth Presbyterian Church?” “He is. I attend that church myself.” “So does Miss Ward and her father?” “Yes. “T thought so. They are members of the church.” Has Mr. Ward ever been absent on these mysterious trips before?” “Only once.” “Did he send for money that time?” “Yes. trap, and didn’t send it.” But Katherine was afraid it was a “He showed irritation when he returned?” “At first, yes. Afterward, he told her she had done right. If such an occasion ever arose again he promised to give her notice in advance.” “And this time he did?” “As I have told you.” “Mr. Rives, do you know where Kather- ine’s father was during his first strange ab- sence ?” “J—no, sir.” “You suspect, however, he was shut up with some boon companions, gambling.” “That thought has occurred to me, Mr. Carter.” “Well, he didn’t dare give his check to replenish his it is correct. Being a churchman, pockets when he was a heavy loser, especial- ly as the cashier of the bank is a fellow mem- ber of his church.” “But you don’t believe he has been ms bling this last time?” “NO; ‘session’ He probably meant such another when he mentioned the matter to his daughter. But even if he went to the place where the game is carried on, he has not been there all the time. Have you ever known him to gamble?” “Only once.” “When was that?” “About a year ago.” “In this city?” “No. In Colorado Springs. — We were all = there. He fell in with some Western gentle- men, and they led ns into poker, at. which he lost a small sum.’ “Who were the Westerners?” “T only remember one. He was a Chi- cagoan, named Yardell.” “Ah! Why do you remember him?” “Because I met him personally several times. He had a very charming daughter, who was so much like Miss Katherine that our united attention was attracted to it, and the resemblance led to very close associations all around for a while.” “For a while?” 2 “Well, you see, by chance I discovered that Yardell’s Chicago reputation was not good. Then we all cut him, and his daugh- ter. We left them at the Springs, and I never saw them again until last night.” “Oh! You saw them last night? Where?” “At the Empire Theatre. Yardell left about the middle of the play, and didn’t come back. His daughter left some little later in company with a young man who was a stranger to me.” + “Never saw him before?” ' No." “Wouldn't recognize the young man if you ever saw him again?” ““Yes, I think I would.” ; 7 “But you don’t.” “T don’t? Why: “T was that young man.” “Oh! You're joking.” “No, I am not. I took the young woman home.” “You know her?” “Better than you do.” ~ “Where do they live?” “Next door to your fiancee.” “What ?” “T said next door to Miss Ward—on the east.” a “You are mistaken.” j eat
Page 25
24 : NICK CARTER WHEHEKLY. yp “Oh, no : I am not! “Why, old Mr. Courtney and his widowed daughter, Mrs. occupy that house.” Clements, “Your old Mr. Courtney is Yank Yar- dell, the famous Chicago crook, and the Widow Clements is none other than his beau- tiful, but wicked, alleged daughter. This explains how it comes that I found your card in their hotise. That girl got it when you visited them at Colorado Springs.” “You astound me, Mr. Carter!’ “Do I? Well now I'll give you another shock. os "How ?” “By telling you that we shall doititlens find Mr. Ward, or what remains of him, some- where in that house next door to where he has been living.” ? CHAPTER VIII. SHUT UP IN THE WINE CELLAR. Emory Rives was speechless in his amaze- ment at the words of the great detective. He could do naught but stare at the man who. stood before him, and talked like a mind reader, revealing the past and foretelling the future. } aid Before he could gather himself. aoe a re- “ply, Nick continued: “Does Mr. Ward own the house he lives in?” . EY-CS; "= “Who owns that ita this supposed Courtney occupies?” “A man named Bliss.” “Where is he?” “In Europe. He went abroad last year after the death of his wife, to be gone five or six years.” “How did this Courtney, or rather Yardell, get possession ?”’ “Bliss left the house all finished: to be sold or rented by the agent. There is no sale lightful daughter. I want to know now is this, Mr. Rives: Did you at any time devote yourself out of the or- dinary to, Yardell’s alleged daughter he ‘the young man, in some embarrassment. — Rives. who will not take advantage of the truth you utter, but will place it to Soot Soe encouraged Nick. ter got ‘there. lady’s resemblance to my fiancee which at-, tracted my attention and led me to seek an — introduction. marked attention, but only on account of her decided resemblance te, Miss Ward—I as- sure you I had no——” Doe night?” oW nen Peas for real estate, as you may know, and I pre- sume Yardell made a good offer to rent it.” “How long has he lived there?” “He had possession in the fall when we got back from the West.” | “We Tat “T returned with Mr. Ward and Kath- erine.”’ “Was the Ward house closed while they were in the West?” “esr “Ha! ha! Now we are coming at it.” “Coming at what?” “The scheme of Yank Yardell and his de- I'll explain later. What. ” “Did I—well—you see stammered “Do not hesitate to be frank with me, Mr. You are speaking to a detective é “Well, then, I met Miss—ah—Yardell in Colorado before Mr. Ward and his daugh- — Indeed, it was the young — I probably did show her — “Oh, that is all right, “Mr. Rives. You — had no thought of winning her affections ' ee “None on_ earth.” “Who was with you at - the theatre last 5 “T went alone.” “Where did you buy your seat?™ “At the Fifth Avenue Hotel. is ge hee
Page 26
NICK CARTER WHEKLY. “Tt was on the side of the auditorium?” “The right side; yes. You saw me?” “No. But it must have been so situated that you couldn’t fail to see the Yardells.” “Tt was.” “Of course. They saw to that when they bought their seats.’ “J don’t exactly———” “Well, you were intended for the, victim to be snared—not I,” “To be snared. Why, how?” “Same as I was. They expected you to come across between acts, take Yardell’s seat, and fall into the trap of accompanying the dear agitated girl home. But you didn’t bite, and were saved.” “Saved 2” “That’s it. If you had taken my ride, you would not, in most likelihood, have seen this Mr. I believe the Yardells are playing a desperate game, the object of which is revenge on you and the Wards—that is the girl’s share of the spoils— / and the robbery of your future wife and her morning’s sun. Rives, father the more substantial business arrange= ment of the Diamond Duke himself. “They failed so far in trapping you. We must now find out how far they have suc- ceeded in the assault upon Mr. Ward.” “What is to be done?” “JT want to get into Mr. Ward’s house.” But why?” “Tl explain when I get there. “That is easily done. Are you willing to place yourself in my hands, Mr. Rives, and do what I direct ?” “T am, perfectly.” “Then I’ll put you to the test. Chick!” The assistant parted the curtains, and stepped into the room. Rives looked at him in surprise. “My assistant, Mr. Rives,” said Nick, by way of = al think you have met before.” : “Nott to my knowledge.” 25 “He called on you this morning about that card.” “Ts he the same?’ : “Only a little changed, since then, in reeked up. He has heard all that passed between us, and no time need, therefore, be lost in tell- ing your story over again. You will both please follow me.” Nick led the way upstairs to his “den.” “I am going to ask you to trade the suit you now wear, Mr. Rives, for one I'll give you from my stock in hand,” said Nick, waving his arm around at the multitude of costumes, the sight of which was filling Rives with sur- prise. The young man looked questioningly at Nick without replying. “Sit down a few minutes, Mr. Rives,” con- tinued Nick, “till I produce another man like ” you. ! So saying, he began work on himself, stop= ping occasionally to look at Rives. : He carefully selected a wig, mustache, and false eyebrows, and fitted them on. Then he used his paints and dyes with a quick touch, which was at the same time entirely artistic. When he wheeled around, Rives gave a gasp of amazement. : He saw his own head and face, as Nick had promised, on the shoulders of another man. “We are about the same size. With your clothes on me, no one, at even a short dis- tance, will know that I am not Emory Rives.” “I think I understand,” replied Rives, “You are to represent me?” “Yes. Iam going directly from the house to the Ward residence. If I should be watched, as. I have reason to believe will prob- ably ne the case, no one will suspect it is not you.” “And iii is to become of me meanwhile?” “Can you drive a horse?” “Can I drive a horse? Why, I am con- sidered an expert.” oe
Page 27
26 “Then please take off that suit of clothes.” First, Nick put on the suit Rives took off, and then dressed the latter in a suit of livery, and otherwise transformed the young club-’ man into a cab-driver. While Nick was putting on the suit Rives had laid off, Chick was busy transforming the young clubman into a cab-driver. Nick then wrote a letter to a livery stable- keeper in the neighborhood, and gave it to Rives. “Take that to the place of address. They will furnish you with a coupe, which you will drive up to my house, and wait till your fare comes out. Tl give you your directions afterward. Now, I'll have ‘Chick show you out by a secret way.” ; Turning to Chick, the detective said: - “Lam pretty well convinced that Mr. Rives was followed when he came directly here from the Ward residence. be watched when he drives me away. If so, we shall probably “T want you, therefore, to be outside with “your eyes open, and if you find that Yardell is not at the Forty-ninth street house, try to keep him away for the next few hours.” “All right, Nick, A understand, s “And, Chick!” £°Y es; sir.” “Should the chance offer to arrest Yardell, don’t fail to nip him.” “You feel sure the time has come?” “As sure as I am that I will-find out what has become of Ward as soon as I get a chance to search Yardell’s house,” Twenty minutes later, the society man, dis- guised as a cabman, drove up in front of Nick Carter’s house, and waited patiently for ten was the reply. minutes. Then the detective, in his counterfeit pre- sentment as Rives, came out of his house, got into the cab, and said to the driver: sine a ‘me to No, — bask Forty-ninth Cs Street.’ NICK CARTER WEEKLY. “That is Ward’s residence,” muttered the false cabman, “and I'll bet a bottle of wine against a cigar that Nick Carter’s expectation of being followed will be fulfilled.” Though he didn’t see the spy, that indi- vidual never once lost sight of the carriage till it drew up in front of the Ward residence, and Nick went inside, leaving the disguised club- ~ man on the box of the coupe outside with the mere order: “Wait.” “Well, if this isn’t a stiff go, I’ll eat the horse,” thought Rives, “and if it was anybody but Nick Carter back of this adventure, I would not feel-comfortable over it.” Miss Ward met Nick almost as soon as he entered the house, and Nick was not slow in noticing the marvelous resemblance between her and the woman next door. He had some difficulty in making her understand the queer state of affairs—that her lover was sitting out on the top of the coupe, and that the man before her was Nick Carter in disguise. iS But he told her enough about the people next door to give her some idea of the ob- ject of his visit, and then got her consent to have free use of the house for several hours, if necessary. . This eiigee being Srasted to Nick, he: proceeded to make a careful search of the ‘Ward residence, which finally ended success- fully in the air chamber—a large, dark, un- occupied space between the roof and the ceil- ing of the fifth floor front. Entrance to this place was obtained through a garret in the rear. It was in this unused section that Nick's search was crowned with success. There he discovered a communication between the two — houses which’ had been cut out, no doubt, while the Ward residence was still locked up. Using this secret passage, Nick was soon in a similar apartment to the air chamb
Page 28
NICK CARTER WEEKLY. the Ward house. He had noted the fact that both buildings were exactly alike in external appearance, and had come to the conclusion that one was a duplicate of the other—a con- clusion. which was found to be correct in every respect. It was not long until he was making his way cautiously through the home of the Yar- dells. “Tf they have Ward here, he should be somewhere beneath the level of the street, whether dead or alive,” mused Nick. “J am going to search the cellar.” : He had less difficulty than he anticipated in making his way through the house. It seemed to be almost, if not quite, deserted. Scarce fifteen minutes passed from the time he made his entrance through the air chamber and garret until he was cautiously descending the cellar stairs. - The place was as dark as an apartment in Mammoth Cave, after Nick closed the cellar * door behind him, Then he felt his way to the bottom of the rough stairs and was about to produce a small bull’s-eye lantern, which he had brought for convenience sake, when a faint streak of light caught his eye. It came from a point on his right, thirty or forty feet ahead. Without stopping to investigate, Nick began to slowly pick his way through piles of empty barréls, boxes, and rubbish toward the line of light, which gradually grew brighter as he approached it. The nature of the light quickly disclosed it- self. It came from the entrance into a sub- cellar, or what Nick at once recognized to be a wine cellar. The door was slightly ajar, showing that a light burned beyond it. - Nick cautiously, but quickly, approached the door, pushed it open, far enough to see in, and stopped to investigate. * 27 The apartment was closed in with solid walls of stone, and was about twelve feet square, The door was of iron, and the floor of marble slabs. With the door securely closed, a small ventilator opening into the wall high up near the ceiling supplied air from the outer world in limited quantities sufficient to maintain life. As Nick peered through the open doorway a singular sight met his eyes. A gray-haired, elderly man was sitting on the earthen floor in one corner of the cellar, eating something from a platter which he held on his lap. Squatting in front of the old man, with his back toward Nick, was another person—a burly, stout-built man. Nick’s conclusion,: instantly formed, was that the old man was William Ward, and the other was his jailer, who had brought the millionaire’s dinner to him and was waiting till it was eaten. A second glance brought to Nick’s gaze a revelation. He saw a heavy chain, one end of which was fastened to an iron band around Mr. Ward’s right ankle, and the other end to a staple imbedded in the wall. Mr. Ward was not only a prisoner, but so securely held that escape without aid was made utterly impossible to him. Nick opened the door wide, and began to move quietly across the cellar toward the un- suspecting jailer, when Ward looked up, saw him, and uttered a cry of astonishment. In an instant the jailer had taken alarm. He leaped to his feet, and faced about just as Nick sprang upon him. _ There was a short, fierce struggle, in which Nick had the best of it in point of strength, skill and preparation. Kee, At the moment Nick succeeded in snap- ping a pair of handcuffs upon his prisoner, a. noise from behind attracted his attention. He turned his head to see a face at the Sx ~ Se My
Page 29
28 fast-closing door—the beautiful face of the woman he met the night before in the Empire ‘Theatre. It was merely a glarice, but it was enough _ to let the detective see the gleam of satisfac- tion on that face. Then the iron door clanged shut, and the noise of shooting bolts on the outside was heard. Nick made a rush across the room, and threw himself against the door, He might have as well butted against the stone walls. Even while he stood looking around trying to realize the gravity of the situation, a thin cloud of smoke began to creep through the crack uiider the door, and the odor of burning wood became plainly perceptible to the sense of smell of the three men in the ‘sub-cellar. “My God!” cried the helpless jailer, “she has fired the lumber up there, and we are all as good as dead men.” CHAPTER IX. REAPING THE WHIRLWIND, The situation was indeed precarious, _ Nick realized. In a few minutes the inflammable piles -of lumber in the main cellar would be a mass of ‘flames, making an oven out of the wine cel- lar. ; Death was thus sure to come, ‘either by strangulation or roasting. “Who are you?” asked Mr. Ward, when Nick turned to him and began to examine the chain which held the old man a prisoner. And i “T am. Nick Carter, the detective. ~ T’ve come to rescue you.” “Too late!” groaned the old gentleman, z J = ie tea ey ce ee bet EM sor as. NICK CARTER WEEKLY. Oh, Oh, Katherine, how could “we shall all be roasted alive in this hole. my poor child! you treat me so!” ‘Do you know where you are?” asked Nick: st West Vest “Where?” “A prisoner in the wine cellar of my own To my sorrow I do.” house.” “Your own house ?” “Certainly.” “Whi told you that ?”’ “No one need tell me. Don’t T recognize this place. I’ve been in it hundreds of times.” : “Oh, the she devil! We shall be burned alive !” shrieked the man whom Nick had captured. es “There may be hope for you, Mr. Carter,” “You may escape at least.” “How?” “ “The air-shaft of the furnace runs just be-" exclaimed Ward. neath this floor.” “Well?” — “Tt is made of tin, and large enough to let a man crawl through.” “But how can we get into it?” “If you could raise a couple of the’ stone : flags from the floor you'd easily find the air- shaft. Then you might cut through.” » “Yes, if we had a weapon of any kind to a pry up the flags, or cut through the tin,” said. Nick, looking around. “Tf I help you out in that respect, wil you = escape?” asked the jailer. - Nick looked at the fellow, and was not slow s to realize that the man was speaking | with some hidden knowledge to spur him on. ‘promise no harm shall come to me after our
Page 30
“4 x “Now, then, we have no time to lose,” NICK. CARTER WEEKLY. “Yes. Show-us how we may escape, and I'll stand by you afterward, provided you'll make a clean breast of it against Yank Yar- dell and that woman,” said Nick. “Won't I, though,” growled the jailer. “That she devil would have roasted me. here with the rest. It was a fear of her treachery that induced me to hide a crow-bar and ax in this place.- I meant to use them to force the door, should she ever manage to lock me in.” “Where are these implements ro “Take these off, and I’ll get them.” " He held up the handcuffs, and Nick struck them off in an.instant. The jailer walked across the small apart- ment to the side next the street, reached up to an offset in the wall, which was concealed in the semi-darkness,-and produced the two tools. With the use of the crow-bar, and guided by Mr. Ward, Nick soon had two of the mar- ble flags raised, exposing to view the great tin air-tube. <i ‘ - Tt was then the work of only a few«minutes io cut out a huge section of the pipe with some vigorous strokes of the ax, and the means of escape was before them. “Now, then, we'll soon have you out of-this, Mr. Ward,” exclaimed Nick, as he threw the ax away, and turned to the imprisoned man. ~ - “Tmpossible !’ groaned Ward. “My chain can hardly be forced with the tools you have.” “No; but that lock can be opened,’ said Nick, as he produced his pick-lock key and stooped to examine the band around the pris- oner’s leg. . There was a sharp click a moment later, and the iron band fell from Ward’s ankle. urged Nick. “The smoke is getting uncom- fortably thick in here, and that iron door is already so hot it would blister the hand that touched it. You first, Mr. Ward.” The liberated man did not hesitate to take advantage of the detective’s invitation, but promptly crawled into the air-tube through the ragged opening.’ : “Now, then, my man,” cried Nick to the jailer, as Ward’s feet disappeared. The jailer climbed into the tube. Nick They all soon reached the back yard, and twenty minutes after the iron door went. last. was bolted against them the three men reach- ed the street, only to see it blocked with an ‘enmense crowd, attracted to the scene by the fire, which had been discovered in the basement and the cellar. It was not. until they reached the street that Mr. Ward real- ized he had emerged, not from beneath his own house, but from beneath the house next door. Chick. “Well ?” “Pye got him. He’s locked up at head- quarters.” “And the woman?” “Y’'m afraid she’s gone. She’s not to be found.” And Chick was right. During the asceite: ment resulting in the discovery of the fire, Yardell’s female accomplice managed to make her escape for the time being, and disappeared as completely as though she had been a vic- tim of her own crime. But Nick promised himself that some time : in the future he would treat himself to the — pleasure of putting that beautiful fiend be- se e , * . ‘ 5 29 Among the first persons Nick met was
Page 31
30°; NICK CARTER WEEKLY. hind the bars of a State prison, where she could do no more harm to victims of her deadly charms. g Chick in a few words explained how he had made his capture. As Nick anticipated, a spy watched him when he drove away from his own house dis- guised as Emory Rives. The spy followed the cab to Forty-ninth street, and then went to a saloon on Sixth avenue. Chick kept him in sight all the time. At the saloon the spy met Yardell in his disguise as the elderly neighbor of the Wards. To him the spy was making a report, when Chick, having secured the aid of two police- men, made a descent on the saloon and cap- tured both Yardell and his ally. The latter was discovered to be the coachman, who had driven Nick around town the night before. On Yardell’s person was found nearly the entire eighty thousand dollars which he had so successfully got from Miss Ward. With the help of the testimony of Boyd, the man who Nick captured in the wine cellar, Yank Yardell was convicted, and sent to the penitentiary for twenty years. His coach- man was also captured, and got a ten years’ term in Sing Sing. Boyd, who turned State’s evidence, was one of the two tools whom Yardell and his al- leged daughter had employed to aid them in their plot against the Wards. Those four were all who occupied the mysterious house. Revelations by Ward and the man Boyd SomArmied Nick’s idea af Yardell’s plot. It was found to be correct in nearly every in- stance. > =, It was Yardell who first tempted Mr. Ward -to gamble, while they were in Colorado Springs. In New York, Yardell once more dragged ’ the old man into his one weakness, which he was trying to keep concealed from his daugh- ter and friends. Yardell’s plot was the boldest move of his life. ‘ Profiting from the information which he had gained from Ward in Colorado concern- — ing the latter’s New York residence and con- nections, Yardell came secretly East ahead of the Wards. Luckily for him, he found the house next door to the Ward residence for rent. He secured it, and-began to lay his plot to - rob the rich man. Before the Wards got back to the city, Yardell and his assistants had cut their secret passage-way through the partition between the air chambers of. the two houses. By this means the Diamond Duke and his female ally frequently prowled through Ward’s residence at night. On one of these nocturnal visits, the girl found one of Katherine’s handkerchiefs and carried it away. Then a mania seized her to haye some ex- actly like them. , Her search through the dry-goods estab- lishments was made at once. She found the particular kind at Macy’s, and left her order, even giving “Katherine” as the name, and the same design to be em- broideret on each one. When Yardell heard what ie had done, he became alarmed, and forced her to make up ae See, ee ee
Page 32
‘NICK CARTER WEEKLY, to represent Katherine Ward when she went back to get the handkerchiefs. Yardell happened to be sneaking through Ward’s residence on the night the latter told Katherine he expected to be called away for He heard the old man instruct the daughter to honor a day or so on private business. any demand for money which might come from him by messenger during his absence, and listened attentively while Ward went into details how she should raise the cash, Of course, Yardell knew what it meant, for he had an engagement with Ward for a. game at cards on the following day. That night Mr. Ward was chloroformed, and removed in an insensible condition by Yardell and his confederates to the wine cel- lar under the latter’s house. There he saw no one but his jailer, whom Nick ‘surprised, and who, acting under in-r structions, made the old man believe that his daughter, Katherine, was the cause of ae in- carceration. _ Nick’s theory is that Yardell designed to induce Ward to turn over to Katherine all his available account and negotiable stocks, and that these would then be transferred in cash by the personation of his female con- federate as Miss Ward. But when Ward was rescued the time had not yet arrived to ask of him this price for his freedom. They, however, had in their possession one of his letters, written a year before to Kath- erine, and with this Yardell turned one of his wicked accomplishment to advantage, and so correctly forged Mr. Ward’s handwriting that he succeeded, after five efforts, in getting every dollar of her ready: money, amounting 31 Had his. greed known a proper curb, he would not in all to eighty thousand dollars. have aroused the suspicions of the Care girl, and Nick's task in landing him in Sing Sing might have been more difficult. Bad as Yardell was, no murder could be’ But Nick believes that the girl, who was Yardell’s last accomplice, traced to his d8ors. did not hold human life so high. Emory Rives and Katherine Ward are now’ man and wife, and the only cloud on the horizon of their united lives is a fear that she whom they knew as Miss Yardell will some day and somewhere cross their path when they least expect her. And Nick Carter feels sure that sooner or later he will have the opportunity presented to even up an unsettled account with Kather- ine Ward Rives’ double. ; Among the detective’s curios is the queer bottle with the two compartments—out of which he and that woman drank wine to- gether on one of the few occasions in his life when he was outwitted by a woman, The detective also got possession of Yar- dell’s curiously constructed coupe. He found it a marvel of ingentity, which had been built to order in Europe for the Diamond Duke. Among its contrivances was a series of slides on the lamps, worked with a spring, whereby the number of the vehicle might be changed, as if by magic, a dozen times in a night. The interior of the coupe was equipped with a receptacle under the seat filled with articles of disguise. There was also a mirror and a bright lamp for the latter’s use at night, whose rays were as completely shut in by the Soap ee
Page 33
32 NICK CARTER WEEKLY. Opaque glass of the dummy windows as if they shone in a dungeon, In this cab, while on their-way downtown or homeward bound, Yardell and his accom- plice changed their disguises with ease and regularity. “They were about as slick a couple as I said Nick to his assistant at breakfast the morning after ever met in my whole experience,” Yardell’s capture. And thus for the time he dismissed the case of the “Two Little Girls in Blue.” THE END, The next number of the Nick CARTER WEEKLY will contain ‘‘The Government Custom’s Swindle; or, Nick Carter’s Work - for the U. S. Treasury,’’ by the author of ‘‘Nick Cartey,’’ NICK CARTER WEEKLY LATEST ISSUES: 179—Nick Carter’s Beautiful Decoy; or, The Diamond Duke of Chicago. or, The Body 178—Nick Carter Arrests a Client; Found in the Flat. 177—Nick Carter’s Dumb Assistant; or, The Man with Dead Brain. a 17é—Nick Carter Behind the Counter; or, A Peck of . Pawn Tickets. ge ——— s Pointer; or, A Hungry Dog’s Din- 14—By" 7 Whose ¥ Hand; or, Nick Carter Advertises for river, 178—Caught in Six Hours; or, Trouble in Room No. 172—Burglar Joe; or, Nick Carter’s Leap in the Dark. 17I—Nick Carter's Little Shadow; or, The Man with the Yellow Dog. Lear te by Rlectricity: or, Nick Carter Bags an Old Offender, 169—Unmasked by Nick Carter; Blackmail. are ear ee s Second Sight; or, A Dumfounded ner 167—Nick Carter Makes.a Loan That Brings Him Big Ret i66—Niek Cartan Prevents a Disturbance, and Loses a Disguise. 165—Nick Carter in a Hole; or, A Plan to Cateh Him That Didn't Work 164—Nick Carter Off the Track, but Has Another String to His Bow. 168—Nick Carter. Jumps a Train, and Takes Big “ or, An Attempt at Chan 162—Nick Carter Saves a Life, and Earns a Woman's Gratitude. 161—Nick Carter Corners a Bank President; Balance That Was Crooked. 160—Nick Carter’s Steamer Trunk; or, A Crime in Mid-Ocean. 159—Nick Carter's New Uniform; or, A Bribe That Was Expected. 158—Nick Carter and the Sawdust Man; or, An In- vestment That Caused Trouble. Poel tress Carter as an Wxpert; or, A Battery That s Tampered With. 186-Nick” Carter's Silent Search; or, A Drive ata Fake Detective. aes Carter’s Curious Client; or, A Criminal ith More Gall than Sense. 154_Niek Carter Settles a CRSP IEREY: or, A Telegram That Wasn't Signed. or, A Back numbers always on hand. ‘ 1a i So Carter’s Mascot; 153—Nick Carter’s Midnight Caller; or, A Case Con- cluded Before Daylight. is Pe Carter’s Fake Murder Case; or, The Pian 0 Wipe Out the Agency 151—Nick Carter Stands a Bui, and Wins a Game Which Ends in Limbo. 150—Nick Carter’s Bogus Bargain; or, Outwitted by Duplicate Methods. 1449—Nick Carter Exchanges Prisoners; or, A Like- ness Easily Explained. 148—Nick Carter’s Snap Shot; or, A Photograph That Gave Evidence. 147—Nick Carter's Turn at the Wheel; or, Red and Black Both the Same. 146—Nick Carter's Tae for Life; or, An Accident in the Nick of T 145—Nick Carter’s Midnight Arrest; or, An Interrup- tion of a Poker Game. 144—Nick Carter Claims a Se Over to the Right Owners. 143—Nick Carter's Handsome Prisoner; or, How Her Smile Failed to Fascinate Him sees eee a Wizard and Shows Him a ew Tr 141—Nick Carter on the Limited; or, The Man on the Smoker Who Didn't Smoke. 140—Nick Carter's Greatest Compliment. 139—Struck Down; or, How the Superintendent Lent a Hand. 138—Nick ne s Mouse Trap; or, The End of Doc. Helston 137—Bob Ferret's oe Card; or, What Was Found ‘Sy on a Century 136—Short Work withe Train Robbers; or, The Mask That Was Marked with Blood. ee Nb an Abduction Case; on A Baby’s Cry for. rreedom 134—The Malay’ be Charge; or, Roxy's Life Saved by 2 ; a New 133—Afraid of Nick Carter; or, The Man Who Wasn’ t. Born Yesterday. 132—The Face in the Bottle; or; Detective Buff ‘apd 2 One of the Finest. 131—At. a ae ten or, Nick Carter's Train Rob- 130-Roxy's s Sienal ‘in the Sky; or, A Gold-Bug Worth a Fortune. j and Turns It or, Treachery Among ps aier we harder: or, Nick Carter’s Short Vaca- aa, If you cannot get our patiraioes iSai: your newsdealer, ies cents a copy will bring them to you by mail, postpaid. — SoM STREET & os Publishers, 238 William Ss
Page 34
Another | gp STREET & SMITH’S Leader : LATEST “Comrades” Wednesday, March 28th, 1900. It proved to be like all of Street & Smith’s lines, a sure winner from the start. Tom Wright, the hero of ‘‘ Comrades,” is a bright boy who -has m=! decided to devote his life to the service of “King Steam” in one of the great railroads of our land. Rest assured he will reach fame and fortune on the lightning express. The life of an ambitious railroad man is full.of exciting incident, and Tom has his full share of adventures. Through all of these, he will be found Wright by name, right in word, right in deed, and always right. The many adventures of Tom and his friends will be followed with the deepest interest by all who are fortunate enough to read this new series of splendid stories. Tom will be surrounded by several ‘‘ comrades,’’ who will - join hands with him and stand by him in his various enterprises. MR. ROBERT STEEL is an author of wide experience in the field covered by these stories, and we are certain his work will please all who admire our well-known ‘‘ Tip Top Weekly” and ‘‘Do and Dare Weekly,” to which ‘‘ Comrades” wil! be a companion. Street & Smith know just what the boys and girls of America like best, and as announced ina previous card, propose to render it * possible for every boy and girl in the land to find just what they want, and as great a variety as they desire in the publications issued by them. They cover all fields, and fill all demands. All their lines are leaders. Remember. “Comrades” Appears Every Wednesday .I1—Tom Wright on Trial; or, A Clear Track to Success . 2—Tom Wright, Station Agent; or, ‘‘ Saving a Superintendent” _ .3—Tom Wright at the Throttle; or, The Belle of the Midnight — Special .4—Tom Wright, the Railroad Favorite; or, The Raid on the Through Express 5—Tom Wright, Car Finder; or, The Search for 1313 READ iT! PRICE 5c. 32 pages—illuminated cover—uniform in size and style with “Tip Top” and “Do and Dare”