"To escape you!"
"To escape me! Wall, I'm damned! That elegant young lady to put onlivery; and to escape me!"
"Yes; you and the others. She knew you were watching her! Of course shewas grateful for it!" I added, for his face fell "but she couldn't bearit all the same. You know what girls are," I went on apologetically,"They don't like to be cornered or forced to do anything. She knew youwere all clever fellows at your work and didn't take any chances." I wastrying to conciliate him; but I need not have feared. He was of theright sort. He broke into a laugh, slapping his thigh loudly with hisopen hand as he said heartily:
"Well, that girl's a daisy! she's a peach; she's "It"! To think of herwalking out under our noses, and us not having an idea that it mightbe her, just because we didn't think she'd condescend to put on thebreeches--and the footman's at that. Well, it's a pity we didn't get onto her curves; for it might have been different! Never mind! We'll takeher out of her trouble before long; and Mr. Whisky Tommy and his pushwill have to look out for their skins!"
This little episode passed some of the time; but the reaction to thedreary waiting was worse than ever. As I began again an endless chain ofsurmises and misgivings, it occurred to me that Don Bernardino might bemade of some use. The blackmailers had evidently watched him; it mightbe that they would watch him again. If so, he could be the means of atrap being laid. I turned the matter over in my mind, but at presentcould see no way to realise the idea. It gave me another thought,however. The Don had been very noble in his attitude to me; and I mightrepay some of his goodness. Although he was so quiet and silent, I knewwell that he must be full of his own anxiety regarding the treasure, nowexposed as it might be to other eyes than his own. I could ask him togo to see after it. With some diffidence I broached the matter to him,for I did not want in any way to wound him. Since I had determined torelinquish the treasure if necessary, I was loth to make the doing soseem like an ungracious act. At first he almost took offence, remindingme with overt haughtiness that he had already assured me that all thetreasures of Spain or of the Popedom were secondary to a woman's honour.I liked him all the better for his attitude; and tried to persuade himthat it was his duty to guard this trust, as otherwise it might fallinto bad hands. Then a brilliant idea struck me, one which at once metthe case and made the possibility of a trap. I told him that as theblackmailers had watched him once they might have done so again, andhave even followed him to my house. As I was speaking, the thoughtstruck me of how well Providence arranges all for the best. If DonBernardino had not taken from the library the typescript of the secretwriting, it might have fallen into the hands of the gang. When Imentioned the idea to him he said in surprise:
"But I did not take the papers! I read them on the table; but did notthink of moving them. Why, had I done so, I should have at once madesuspicion; and it was my purpose to keep the secret if I could." An ideastruck me and I ran over to the table to look where the papers usuallywere.
There was not a sign of them about. Somebody had secured them; it couldhardly have been Marjory who lacked any possible motive for doing so.The Spaniard, eagerly following my face, saw the amazement which I felt;he cried out:
"Then they have taken them. The treasure may yet prove a lure throughwhich we may catch them. If it be that they have followed me to yourhouse, and if they have any suspicions that came to me on reading thatpaper, then they will surely make some attempt." If anything were to betried on this line, there was no time to lose. I had to carry out thematter privately; for on mentioning to Don Bernardino that I should askone of the detectives to go with him, he at once drew back.
"No!" he said, "I have no right to imperil further this trust. Thediscovery was yours, and you knew of the hiding place before I did; butI could not with my consent allow any other person to know the secret.Moreover, these men are enemies of my country; and it is not wellthat they should know, lest they should use their knowledge for theircountry's aid. You and I, Senor, are _caballero_. To us there is,somewhere, a high rule of honour; but to these people there is onlylaw!"
"Well," I said, "if you are going, you had better lose no time. Thesepeople have had nearly six hours already; I left the house with Mrs.Jack a little after ten. But you had better go carefully. The men aredesperate; and if they find you alone, you may have a bad time."
For answer he pulled a revolver from his pocket. "Since yesterday," hesaid, "I go armed, till these unhappy businesses are all over!"
I then told him of the entrance to the caves, and gave him the key ofthe cellar. "Be sure you have light." I cautioned him "Plenty of lightand matches. It will be towards low water when you get there. The ropewhich we used as a clue is still in its place; we did not take it away."I could see that this thought was a new source of anxiety to him; if thegang were before him it would have served to lead them to the treasureitself. As he was going, I bade him remember that if there was any signof the men about, he was to return at once or send us word, so that wecould come and catch them like rats in a trap. In any case he was tosend us word, so that we might have knowledge of his movements, andinferentially of those of our enemies. In such a struggle as ours,knowledge was everything.
Not long after he had gone, Cathcart and MacRae arrived on horseback.They said there were three other saddle horses coming after them.Cathcart had a list of all the churches, and the manses of all theclergy of all shades of doctrine, in Buchan; and a pretty formidablelist it made. He had also a map of Aberdeen County, and a list of suchhouses as had been let for the summer or at any period during it. Suchwas of course only an agent's list, and would not contain every lettingprivately.
We set to work at once with the map and the lists; and soon marked thenames which were likely to be of any use to us, those whi
ch had at anytime lately been let to strangers. Then Cathcart and Gordon and all thedetectives, except the chief, went off on horseback with a list ofplaces to visit. They were all to return to report as soon as possible.The chief kept tab of the places to be visited by each. When the resthad gone, I asked him if he knew where any of those supposed to beof the gang lived in the neighbourhood. He said he felt awkward inanswering the question, and he certainly looked it. "The fact is," hesaid sheepishly, "since that young lady kicked those names on the dirt,and so into my thick head, I know pretty well who they are. Had I knownbefore, I could easily have got those who could identify them; for Inever saw them myself. I take it that 'Feathers' is none other thanFeatherstone who was with Whisky Tommy--which was Tom Mason--in theA. T. Stewart ransom case. If those two are in it, most likely theone they called the 'Dago' is a half-bred Spaniard that comes fromsomewheres over here. That Max that she named, if he's the same man,is a Dutchman; he's about the worst of the bunch. Then for thisgame there's likely to be two Chicago bums from the Levee, way-downpoliticians and heelers. It's possible that there are two more; a manfrom Frisco that they call Sailor Ben--what they call a cosmopolite forhe doesn't come from nowhere in particular; and a buck nigger from NooOrleans. A real bad 'un he is; of all the.... But I hope he isn't in thegang. If he is, we haven't no time to lose."
His words made my blood run cold. Was this the crowd, within whosedanger I had consented that Marjory should stand. The worst kind ofscoundrels from all over the earth. Oh! what it was to be powerless,and to know that she was in their hands. It took me all my strength ofpurpose not to weep, out of very despair. I think the detective musthave wished to cheer me a little, for he went on:
"Of course it's not their game to do her any harm, or let harm come toher. She's worth too many millions, alive and unharmed, for them tospoil their market by any foolishness. It's here that I trust WhiskyTommy to keep the rest straight. I suppose you know, Sir, that criminalsalways work in the same way every time. We know that when the Judgewouldn't pay up for old A. T., Featherstone threatened to burn up thestiff; but Whisky Tommy knew better than to kill the golden goose likethat. Why he went and stole it from Featherstone and hid it somewhereabout Trenton till the old lady coughed up about twenty-five thousand.Tommy's head's level; and if that black devil isn't in the squeeze,he'll keep them up to the collar every time."
"Who is the negro?" I asked, for I wanted to know the worst. "What hashe done?"
"What hasn't he done that's vile, is what I'd like to know. They're ahard crowd in the darkey side of Noo Orleans; and a man doesn't get abad name there easily, I tell you. There are dens there that'd make GodAlmighty blush, or the Devil either; a darkey that is bred in them andgets to the top of the push, doesn't stick at no trifles!
"But you be easy in your mind as yet, Sir; at present there's naught tofear. But if once they get safe away, they will try to put the screw on.God knows then what may happen. In the meantime, the only fear is lest,if they're in a tight place, they may kill her!"
My heart turned to ice at his words. What horrible possibilities werethere, when death for my darling was the "only" fear. It was in a faintenough voice I asked him:
"Would they really kill her?"
"Of course they would; if it was their best course. But don't you bedownhearted, Sir. There's not much fear of killing--as yet at allevents. These men are out for dough; and for a good heap of it, too.They're not going to throw away a chance till the game's up. If we geton to their curves quick, they'll have to think of their own skins. It'sonly when all's up that they'll act; when they themselves must croak ifshe doesn't!"
Oh! if I had known! If I had had any suspicion of the dangerous natureof the game we were playing--that I had consented that Marjory shouldplay--I'd have cut my tongue out before I'd have agreed. I mighthave known that a great nation like the United States would not haveconcerned itself as to any danger to an individual, unless there hadbeen good cause. Oh fool! fool! that I had been!
If I had been able to do anything, it might not have been so bad. It wasnecessary, however, that I should be at the very heart and centre ofaction; for I alone knew the different ramifications of things, andthere was always something cropping up of which I had better knowledgethan the others. And so I had to wait in what patience I could pray for.Patience and coolness of head were what were demanded of me for thepresent. Later on, the time might come when there would be action; andI never doubted that when that time did come it would not find mewanting--even in the issues of life and death.
CHAPTER XLVI
ARDIFFERY MANSE
In the dreary time of waiting I talked with the detective chief.Everything which he told me seemed to torture me; but there was a weirdfascination in his experience as it bore on our own matter. I was faceto face, for the first time in my life, with that callousness which isthe outcome of the hard side of the wicked world. Criminal-hunters, aswell as criminals, achieve it; so I suppose do all whose fortunes bringthem against the sterner sides of life. Now and again it amazed me tohear this man, unmistakably a good fellow and an upright one, weighingup crime and criminals in a matter-of-fact way, without malice, withoutanger, without vindictiveness. He did seem to exercise in his habitualthought of his _clientele_ that constructive condemnation which swaysthe rest of us in matters of moral judgment. The whole of his work, andattitude, and purpose, seemed to be only integral parts of a game whichwas being played. At that time I thought light of this, and consequentlyof him; but looking back, with judgment in better perspective, I am ableto realise the value of just such things. There was certainly morechance of cooler thought and better judgment under these conditions,than when the ordinary passions and motives of human life held sway.This man did not seem to be chagrined, or put out personally in any way,by the failure of his task, or to have any rancour, from this cause, inhis heart for those to whom the failure was due. On the contrary, he,like a good sportsman, valued his opponent more on account of thecleverness which had baffled him. I imagined that at first he wouldhave been angry when he learned how all the time in which he and hiscompanions had been watching Crom Castle, and were exulting in thesecurity which their presence caused, their enemies had been coming andgoing as they wished by a safe way, unknown; and had themselves been thewatchers. But there was nothing of the kind; I really believe that,leaving out of course the possibly terrible consequences of his failure,he enjoyed the defeat which had come to him. In his own way he put itcleverly:
"Those ducks knew their work well. I tell you this, in spite of thesofties we have been, it isn't easy to play any of us for a sucker. Justfancy! the lot of us on sentry-go day and night round the castle, for,mind you, we never neglected the job for one half hour; and all thetime, three lots of people--this push, you and the girl, and this Dagolord of yours--all going and coming like rabbits in a warren. Whatpuzzles me is how you and Miss Drake managed to escape the observationof Whisky Tommy's lot, even if you went through us!"
It had been after five o'clock when the party set out to visit themanses; at six o'clock the reports began to come in. The first was amessage scribbled on a leaf torn from a note book, and sent in one ofthe envelopes taken for the purpose.