Part 19

"He's slipped through my fingers for the moment!" she went on, "but I've got a line on his girl again. I'll fix her to-night."

My heart went down at this piece of news.

"She's at a sanatorium at Amityville," Lorina went on. "I got a servant into the house, and I know her habits. I won't take any chances this time. This is a job for you, English."

Fancy my feelings! I had no time to think. Yet I had to say something, and quickly, too. I said the natural thing.

"I won't do it!" I cried. "I am working for you night and day as it is, good work, too! I didn't engage for murder--a woman too. I won't do it! I'm done with you all!"

And I flung down my tools.

Lorina took this outburst calmly. She is accustomed to it no doubt. She merely looked at Freer, and he got between me and the door.

"Don't be simple-minded, English," she said contemptuously. "This is no child's game, that you can refuse to play if you don't like the rules. You're in it for bad or for worse like the rest of us. And I have the means of enforcing my orders!"

"Not that!" I begged.

"It was agreed long ago that this woman and this man have got to be put out of the way. You're the only one of the crowd that hasn't been tested out, and the other boys are complaining. Here's your chance to make good. You understand there's no alternative. You're a valuable man to us, but----!"

I can give you no idea of the effect with which she said this. She is a terrible woman. Her eyes were like points of ice. Meanwhile I was thinking hard. If I did not go, she would undoubtedly find some one else. I might be prevented from warning you. I could not warn Sadie direct, because you had never given me her address. In the end I agreed.

Lorina smiled on me.

"What are my instructions?" I asked.

"The girl is at Dr. ----'s sanatorium," said Lorina. "You should not get out there before dark, so the seven-thirty train will be the best. There is a train back from Amityville a little after ten which will land you in town before midnight."

She then told me how to reach the sanatorium, and described the layout of the grounds.

"My report says that the Farrell girl keeps close to the house during the day," she went on, "and walks out at night. Her favourite spot is a pool at the bottom of the lawn, which is surrounded by juniper trees. There is a bench at the southerly side of the pool that she always visits. It is near the public road, and will be no trouble for you to reach. The thick growth of young trees makes plenty of cover."

"What am I to do when she comes?" I asked.

Lorina turned her back on me a moment. When she faced around she handed me an automatic pistol with a curious cylinder affixed to the end of the barrel.

"Use this," she said. "It makes no sound."

I slipped it in my pocket.

"Freer will go with you," said Lorina.

This seemed fatal to my hopes--I had to keep command of my face though. I made believe it was a matter of indifference. To give Freer credit, he did not appear to relish the assignment, but he dared not object either.

"As soon as you get back you will both come direct to my house," said Lorina.

Such were our instructions.

We went to take the seven-thirty train as ordered. As Freer never left my side I had no opportunity to call you up. I know now that you weren't at the hotel anyway. In the station Freer went to buy the tickets. I waited on a bench in plain sight of him. Next to me sat a nice, sensible looking girl, and I had an inspiration.

"Will you send a telegram for me?" I asked smiling at her.

Naturally she was somewhat taken aback. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Don't look so surprised," I said, smiling still. "There's a man watching me. He mustn't know. It's terribly important--a question of a life, maybe."

I was lucky in my girl. She had an adventurous spirit. She smiled back. "Who to?" she asked.

"Have you got a good memory?"

"First-rate."

"Miss Farrell, care Doctor ----'s Sanatorium, Amityville."

"I have it."

"Just say: 'Do not leave the house to-night.'"

"Right. Signature?"

"'B. Enderby.' You'll find the money to pay for it on the seat when I get up."

Freer, having secured the tickets, now came towards us. I met him half way. He look at me hard.

"I made a friend," I said, grinning as men do.

"Humph!" he said sourly. "I shouldn't think you'd be in the humour now."

I went out to the train with him, giving an amourous backward glance towards the girl.

An hour and a half later we were crouching among the young juniper trees at the edge of Dr. ----'s pond. I was reminded of that other night in Newport. Certainly I have led a full life this past week. Once more I waited with my heart in my throat fancying that I heard her approach in all the little sounds of night. Freer was no happier than I, I believe. While we waited in the dark I quietly unloaded the magazine of the pistol to guard against accidents.

Once we did hear steps approaching along one of the paths, and held our breaths. But they passed in another direction. If she had come my plan was to secure Freer with her assistance, if she were not too frightened. But she did not come.

Freer had a tiny electric flash with which he consulted his watch from time to time. He said at last:

"We can just make the train. It's the only train to-night."

"Come on," I said. "It isn't our fault if she didn't come."

"Thank God she didn't!" he said involuntarily.

I shook hands with him. He was a traitor to me, and a thief, but I forgot it at the moment.

The trip home was without incident. We got up to Lorina's shortly after midnight. The whole gang was there: Foxy, Jumbo, Jim, Blondy, several of the young fellows, a dozen in all besides Freer and me. They were all gambling in the dining-room.

Lorina jumped up at the sight of us.

"Well?" she demanded.

"No good," I said. "The girl never came."

"Hm!" said Lorina. That was all.

It struck me that she must have known already that we had failed.

Lorina asked for her pistol, and I handed it over.

"Boys," said Lorina, "we'll go up to the office and have a council. I was just waiting for these two to come in. We've got to decide what we're going to do about this bull Enderby. He's active again."

There was something in the tone of this speech, or in the look which accompanied it, that caused the scalp behind my ears to draw and tingle. I began to wonder if I had not risked too much in venturing back into the lion's den this night. However, it was too late for regrets. I put the best face on it I could.

We trooped up-stairs. Some of the boys had been drinking. There was a good bit of noise. The office as I have already explained is the front room on the second floor. It extends the width of the house, and it has three windows. That on the left is over the portico and stoop.

At the right of the room is a large flat-topped desk. Lorina sat at it with her back to the fireplace. She motioned me to a seat at her right. The men lounged in chairs about, some of them with their elbows on the desk. Lorina ordered the door closed. I was wondering if I'd ever leave that room alive.

Lorina rapped on the desk for attention.

"Boys," she said bluntly, "we've got a spy among us."

Instantly every pair of eyes turned on me. I jumped up. My back was in the corner. I bluffed them as best I could.

"What's the matter with you?" I cried. "I didn't ask you to take me in. You came after me. You gave me your work to do. Haven't I done it? Didn't I deliver the goods at Newport? Didn't I undertake a nasty bit of work to-night? Ask Freer there. And now you turn on me!"

"Keep quiet!" commanded Lorina. "You'll have your hearing."

To the men she said: "For a week I've known there was a leak somewhere, and I wanted to test him. I gave him a job out at Amityville, and I sent Freer with him. I had an agent in the house out there. Well, he didn't pull the job off."

"Was that my fault?" I cried. "Ask Freer."

She turned to Freer. "How about it?"

"I--I didn't see anything," he stammered.

"Were you with him all the time?"

"He was never out of my sight."

"Be careful how you answer," she said, "or I'll believe you're in with him."

Freer's face was pale and sweaty. "Well--well--he flirted with a girl in the station. I couldn't hear what he said because I was buying the tickets. It looked all right."

"Looked all right!" snarled Lorina. "You fool! One of Enderby's spies tracked you!"

"I swear we weren't trailed!" cried Freer. "I watched particularly."

"What time was that?"

"About quarter past seven."

"At eight o'clock a telegram was delivered at the Sanatorium," said Lorina. "My agent called me up. It said: 'Do not leave the house to-night,' and was signed 'B. Enderby.'"

The gang looked at me with a new hatred.

Lorina laughed harshly. "Oh, this isn't Enderby," she said. "Enderby was at the Sanatorium to-night seeing his girl. We had the two of them together, and this traitor double-crossed us!"

They began to move threateningly towards my corner.

"Keep back!" cried Lorina. "Let's hear what he has to say first."

I licked my dry lips and did the best I could for myself. "You've got no proof!" I cried. "How could I have sent a telegram? I was never out of Freer's sight. Why should I have signed it Enderby if Enderby was out there? You all know I'm no bull but a workman at Dunsany's. I can account for every minute of my time since Jumbo first picked me up!"

Lorina was nearer me than any of the men. She took a step forward. I guarded my face. But that was not her point of attack. Her hand shot out, and the wig was snatched from my head. There I stood with my bare poll. The jig was up.

A loud laugh broke from the men--jackals' laughter, before tearing their prey. A different kind of sound came from Freer.

"My God! it's Mr. Dunsany!" he gasped.

"Eh?" said Lorina.

"Walter Dunsany," he repeated, staring as if he saw a ghost.

"Is this true?" she demanded of me.

I felt as if the worst were over now. A sudden calmness descended on me. It was a sort of relief to be able to be myself. "Quite true," I said.

"What's your game?" she demanded scowling.

"Do you need to ask?"

There was a commotion among the men. I heard different exclamations and demands. Some were for despatching me on the spot; one suggested I be held for a million dollars' ransom.

Lorina turned on the last speaker. "You fool!" she cried. "Ten millions wouldn't save him! He gets a perpetual lodging in my cellar!"

Cries of approval, more laughter greeted this.

From her dress Lorina drew the gun I had given her a little while before. "Hands up!" she commanded.

Now I knew it was not loaded, and I had a loaded gun in my pocket. But so had every other man there, and all had more practice in drawing their weapons than I. So I thought it best to obey. Up went my hands.

"Foxy, Jim, frisk him!" said Lorina.

They found the gun, and flung it on the desk. Lorina dropped it in the middle drawer. There was nothing else incriminating upon me.

"Down on the floor with him!" cried somebody.

"Wait!" said Lorina. "We'll see what we can find out first."

I caught at the little straw of hope that showed. "Send them out and I'll talk freely," I muttered. "I've no mind to be shot when I'm not looking."

Over-confidence betrayed her. With a gun in her hand she felt herself more than a match for any unarmed man. By a fatal oversight she never looked to see if her weapon was loaded. She didn't trust that mob very far, as I knew, and perhaps she thought I might have something to say which it was better they shouldn't hear. They grumbled, but she was absolute mistress there. She ordered them out of the room.

"Shut the door," she said. "Wait outside. Do not come in unless I call you."

If I could get that door locked, and get my gun back! I crept along the wall opposite the windows a little at a time. Lorina made no serious attempt to stop me, because there was no possible escape on that side of the room.

"What have you got to tell me?" she said.

"What do you want to know?" I parried. Every second I could gain was precious.

"Stand still!" she commanded. "Where is Enderby to-night?"

"At the Sanatorium, you said."

"He returned on the same train you did."

"I didn't know it. I wish I had."

"Well, where is he now?"

"At the Rotterdam, I suppose."

"He has not come back there. I have the place watched."

"Then I don't know where he is."

"You lie! Where do you have your meetings?"

"We have never met but once since I've been on the case."

"Do you expect me to believe that? Stand still!"

"I don't care whether you believe it or not. It's the truth."

Meanwhile I was moving a few inches at a time around the wall towards the door the men had gone out by. Since Lorina knew the dozen of them were just outside the door, indeed we could hear them, she cared little. My hands were still elevated of course.

"How do you communicate with him?" she asked.

"By letter or telephone."

"Where?"

"At the Rotterdam."

Her eyes glittered. "I've had enough of this fooling," she said. "If you've got anything that's worth my while you'd better say it. My finger's impatient."

I needed a few seconds yet. I adopted a whining tone. "Why should I split on Enderby? You're going to croak me anyway. What'll you do for me if I tell?"

"For the last time, tell me what you know, or I'll hand you over to the boys!" said Lorina.

I had reached the door now. The key was in it. I had calculated every move in advance. Down came my hands, I turned the key, and flung it out of the open window. Lorina began to shoot. The gun makes so little noise at any time that she had pulled the trigger several times before she realised it was not loaded. By that time I was half way back to the desk. I got the drawer open and my hand on my gun, as she leaped on my back. I flung her off.

She was crying for help by this time. The men outside tried the door, then flung themselves against it. It could not hold long against that weight. But I needed only a few seconds. I reached the window over the portico. Somehow or other I slid down a pillar to the steps. As soon as my feet touched something solid I fired three shots in the air. This was the pre-arranged signal to the men in the hotel.

I vaulted over the balustrade, and crouched in the areaway of the adjoining house out of range of any shots from the windows. Foxy undertook to follow me. As he dropped to the stoop I shot him in the legs. He fell in a heap. The others looking out, thought better of imitating him.

Almost immediately the men came running out of the hotel, and Lorina's gang disappeared like magic from the windows. But as it had been arranged that some of the detectives were to approach over the back fences, and others by the roof, I had no fear they would escape us.

The rest is soon told. When we broke in the door we heard Lorina commanding the men not to shoot. As the police crowded into the hall, she came towards us head up, and with superb insolence demanded to know the meaning of the outrage. I'm afraid I indulged in rude laughter.

The police were amply provided with handcuffs. We secured the prisoners two by two, searched them, and carted them off in the patrol wagon that was summoned by telephone. The bag was Lorina, Jumbo, Foxy (not seriously wounded), Jim, Freer, seven other men and the three negroes. Blondy escaped in safety according to your instructions. There was much mystification expressed, since the house was guarded front, rear and roof, and every corner of the interior was searched. Of course, I made a great fuss about it.

The lieutenant of police reported the haul to Inspector Lanman, who arrived bye and bye with other high police officials in an automobile. You ought to have been there too. I was wild at my inability to get hold of you. I used all the eloquence at my command appealing to Lanman not to disturb anything in the house, and not to have the prisoners questioned until we could get hold of you. He agreed.

I am remaining here in the house to see that his orders in that connection are obeyed, and also on the chance that other members of the gang may come in. We have all of them that matter though--except the grand boss. Unfortunately the noise of this capture will give him warning, but I have done the best I could. Lorina's other establishment is well-guarded, but will not be broken into until morning. Come quickly when you get this.

WALTER DUNSANY. (J. M. no longer.)

31

The tremendous popular excitement that followed on the capture of Lorina and her gang does not help on my story, so I will pass over it quickly. The haul we made in the modern cave of Aladdin staggered the public imagination. Much against Mr. Dunsany's advice the jewels were publicly exhibited in police headquarters for three days.

Mr. Dunsany and I were elevated into the position of newspaper heroes. He at least deserved it, but I doubt if he enjoyed his honours. I know I didn't enjoy what fell to me. I couldn't help but think if we had only been able to hush up this noise for twenty-four hours, maybe the grand boss of the outfit might have walked into our welcoming arms.

I will simply say that a thorough combing of Lorina's house, and of her offices, revealed not the slightest bit of evidence leading to the man we sought. She was a wonder at covering her tracks. In the midst of all the popular praises I was discouraged. There was nothing as far as I could see to prevent the organiser of the gang from presently organising another. Meanwhile I was in hourly expectation of receiving his compliments in the shape of a bullet.

I had one small hope left, and that was in Blondy. The fact of his escape had been duly published, and I was praying that Lorina, deprived now of any better instrument might be led to use him. I carefully stayed away from the boy, keeping in touch with him by letter and phone. I would not, of course, put him up to communicating with Lorina. That would instantly have aroused her suspicions. Any move must come from her. I append some of Blondy's letters.

_July 10th._

DEAR MR. ENDERBY:

The house was pinched last night, as you know by this time. I had gone to the back room on the third floor by myself because I thought they were going to murder a man in the office, and I was sickened by it. I don't know if he got away or not. I suppose the whole story will be in the evening papers. Anyhow I heard the three shots outside, which you told me would be the signal, so I beat it up the ladder to the scuttle. You told me if any one else tried to get out that way, I was to let them go on ahead of me and hide in the hall closet, but I was all alone. There was a deuce of a racket down-stairs. The servants in the front room were hollering, but they didn't come out. I got out on the roof and met the detectives coming over from the hotel. They grabbed me and threw a light in my face. Seeing who it was they let me go. I was glad. I was afraid maybe you had forgotten to give them instructions. I went down to the street through the hotel, and chased home as quick as I could. According to your instructions I shall go on living here as usual until I hear from you.

Yours respectfully, RALPH ANDRUS.

For nearly a week nothing of any importance happened. Then I received this:

_July 16th._

DEAR MR. ENDERBY:

I called you up this morning to tell you about the lawyer coming to the association rooms to see me. This afternoon I went down to his office as you told me I should. The fellow said he was one of the lawyers hired by Mrs. Mansfield to defend her, and she had given him my name to see if I would make a witness on her side at the trial. Then he put me through a cross-examination that lasted a couple of hours. I was kind of flustered by it, because I didn't know how you would have wanted me to answer his questions. But you told me if I didn't know what to say to tell the truth. So I did. The only time I lied was when he asked me how I got out of the house that night. I said when I got out on the roof I saw the officers coming, and hid behind a chimney till they passed. It seems I didn't know enough about the gang one way or another to make any difference. The lawyer told me to keep my mouth shut if I wanted to stay out of trouble, gave me a couple of dollars and sent me home. I hope I handled this matter right.

Yours respectfully, R. A.

The lawyer Blondy referred to was a junior partner in one of the best-known firms engaged in criminal cases. It had been announced that this firm had been retained by Lorina. Since the lawyer had approached the boy openly there could be no doubt but that he himself was acting in good faith. I could not but feel though that there was something behind this visit, because, of course, Lorina knew that Blondy could tell next to nothing about her affairs, and that little not to her credit.

I finally decided that she must have used the young lawyer as a kind of cat's-paw to discover Blondy's situation and present disposition towards herself. If I was right there would no doubt be developments presently. I awaited the event in no little anxiety.