Police Captain Howard

“ The little word "yes" would be the death-warrant of a living human being—no matter how fallen and wicked, a human being all the same.
To say "yes" would seal the fate of the woman McGinnis now called his wife.
Poor Helen!
She bent her head and hid her face in her hands, and wept bitterly as the closed carriage rolled swiftly onward.
A strange fancy, a love for Helen had taken root in the evil heart of McGinnis.
That it possessed depth was evidenced by his being willing to brave the wrath of the man in whose hands his life rested, provided Helen would become his wife. ”

“ Yet she could not help cowering down in terror as she saw her tormentor entering the room—could not help shrinking down close to the bed, while cold chills crept up her spine, accompanied by a feeling as if she were telescoping into herself.
Tige paused.
As she stood and gloated over this unconscious action of Helen's, the fiendish woman gave utterance to a blood-chilling chuckle.
The sight of this fear that was manifested for her, was the highest compliment which Tige could be paid. ”

“ Shadow gave the word.
We rushed forward, every man with a brace of revolvers in his hands, and when I called on the rascals to throw up their hands, they cast one glance at the gleaming array of "barkers" and raised their hands.
Happily, Shadow's augury was forestalled.
We bagged as dangerous a lot of men as ever were banded together, and without firing a single shot. Unexpectedly taken as they were, they had no time to prepare for defense.
"Now for the Black Hole," said Shadow, when all the captives were in irons. ”

“ If everything that a person enjoys is fun, then it was fun for her to torture her patients and watch the exhibition of their anguish.
Poor Helen!
It was enough to make a heart of adamant soften to see her lying there, quivering and shivering.
It was enough to cause the stoniest eyes to shed tears of blood.
But Tige was not a human being.
It would be a libel on the whole human race to call her so. ”

“ Earnestly he had studied the face of Helen Dilt's abductor, and it exactly corresponded with the mental picture he had formed of the individual he was after.
Such a likeness, he told himself, could hardly be the result of accident.
A description which had been given him, every word of which he had carefully treasured up, suited McGinnis perfectly and in every particular.
And, as Shadow pursued, a grim smile began to play about his lips.
"It is the man!" he muttered, again breaking through the shield of silence with which he had so long kept himself surrounded.
"It is the man!" ”

“ Poor Helen Dilt!
Better, much better, would it be for her to die at once, if she was to be called on to long endure the torments that were devised and executed by the ugly-faced hag who presided over that private mad-house.
The hag was literally a fiend.
And a fiend in human form at that.
We speak of the natural love that resides in the human heart, that is an indestructible part of it, that is born with it, and never departs until the member has ceased to pulse, and lies silent and heavy in the heart that contains it. ”

“ Several times each day Tige would pass suddenly into the poor girl's presence, and no matter how composed Helen might have been a minute before, the sight of her torturer at once threw her into an excited state, at the same time inducing a fear that caused her to retreat into a corner, quivering and gasping for breath, while a cold dew that sprang from every pore would bathe her entire body. ”

“ Again and again did the hag stick a big pin into Helen.
And again and again did she exultantly laugh at the evidences of pain which the poor creature could not avoid displaying.
"Will you be quiet and docile?"
A jab with the pin.
"Will you?"
Another jab.
"Will you?"
Another prod with the bright pin, whose point was reddened with Helen's blood.
"Will you, I say?"
Still another jab.
"Yes—yes," Helen almost shrieked.
"It's a good thing for you if you will bear your promise in mind," said Tige, grimly. "I always make people regret breaking their word with me." ”

“ McGinnis was by this time sober enough to understand the full import of the words, and he began to writhe, and strain, and try to burst his bonds.
The wisdom of Shadow's gagging him was now apparent, for had he been free to do so, the villain would have bawled and shrieked like a madman.
"I abhor a murderer, and I shudder at thoughts of murder," Shadow went coldly on. "But I stifle all such feelings for the sake of avenging in a fitting manner the death of one who was more than all the world to me, whom you robbed of life. ”

“ Both Mat and Helen understood that to Shadow they owed their deliverance, and both were deeply grateful and could not thank him enough.
After a while I said plainly that there was a mystery underlying all this which I should like to have explained.
"You shall hear the explanation," said Shadow. "I am not what I seem; I am not a man; I am Nellie Millbank, to whom you were kind enough—although a stranger—to lend the money with which to decently inter the body of her murdered lover." ”

“ Like a sleuth-hound he kept on the track of the evil man, and so carefully did he time his movements, that the suspicions of McGinnis were not aroused.
Light-footed as a cat, noiseless as a very shadow, gliding along like a ghost, a better person than the mysterious little detective could not have been found for the purposes of dogging and pursuit. ”

“ Mat at last said, in a choking voice. "You remember, mother, what Helen has told us—her impressions concerning her early childhood. And, mother, I believe there is money at the bottom of the thing, that Helen stood in somebody's way, and has been spirited off by this person's orders."
"It is possible."
"Possible! I feel it to be the truth. And I shall not rest night or day, mother, until I have found her. Good-bye, mother, for I am going. Heaven in mercy assist you and care for you until I can come back to do so. Good-bye!" ”

“ Here junk-shops flourish in all their glory, side by side with old iron and old chain shops.
Groggeries of the lowest kind abound, and here is the lair of the river-pirate.
Sometimes blocks occur on which not a single building is to be found, save small offices in connection with iron or lumber yards.
At night no section of New York is more lonesome, or more inviting to the performance of deeds of darkness.
Just opposite a tumble-down pier, not far from Grand street ferry, stood, and still stands, a little shanty, built in the rudest manner, only one story in height. ”

“ McGinnis had just come in.
And he came with haste, for he had just heard of the remarkably high tide, and feared that his prisoner had fallen a victim to its cold embrace.
He now understood the meaning of Helen's cries, and their not having been repeated under such circumstances, he considered as indicating her death.
"I say—I say, down there!" he yelled. "Are you alive and kicking?"
Helen had nothing to gain by keeping silence, and as she arose from her knees, she replied in the affirmative.
"Good enough!" grunted her jailer, banging shut the trap-door. ”

“ You have not always sold papers?"
"No, sir."
"Where can I have seen you?"
"I don't know, sir," was the only reply, for Helen did not care to talk to him.
But she saw that he was an elderly man, his hair was streaked with gray, and in clothing and manner he bore the impress of apparent respectability.
"What is your name?" he inquired.
"Helen."
"What!" with another start. "Your name is Helen, is it?" recovering himself. "Helen what, my girl?"
"Helen Morris," was the reply, for she had now for a long time used the name of her benefactors as her own. ”

“ A sigh of relief escaped his lips as he heard the thud caused by Growler's fall, followed by the deep-chested oaths of Cap, who, in his rage, turned his revolver on the guard, and was within an ace of pulling the trigger.
Cap took it for granted that the spy was a detective, and supposed that the game was up; that the place would surely be in the hands of the police in an hour or two.
"Lock that door, and keep it locked!" he savagely ordered Growler, and then started on a run for the other side of the building, hoping to catch Stanton. ”

“ Shadow next fastened his feet, and when the villain was perfectly helpless the detective coolly sat down on the string-piece, to wait until the liquor's effect had passed more away.
McGinnis' fear tended to sobering him quickly, and just as a distant church-clock was striking ten, Shadow arose and then knelt beside the villain, at whom he gazed with a fixed look that indicated unalterable purpose.
"McGinnis, your time is short," the mysterious detective sternly said. "Make your peace with Heaven if you can. In three minutes you die!" ”

“ McGinnis had not the remotest idea that he was under surveillance, and certainly did not dream that he was tracked to his very door.
In the dark hours before the dawn a dark figure glided around and around the shanty, ghost-like in the perfect silence of its movements. It was Shadow surveying the lay of the land. ”

“ He pursued her.
Helen faced him, her back to the wall.
"Keep away—leave me alone," she cried. "Keep away, or I will shriek until somebody hears me."
Her tone was a determined one, and McGinnis was shrewd enough to see that it would be foolish to bother her any farther, or her cries might be heard, and be the means of getting him into serious trouble.
He backed away, and, with an oath on his lips, went up-stairs, banging shut the trap-door behind him. ”

“ He understood the significance of the movement, and loathfully put out his hands.
"Howard, I don't like this," he said, in an assumed angry tone, to carry out the idea that he considered it in the light of a practical joke.
"You'll like it less before I get through with you," as I snapped the handcuffs on his wrists. "To be a thief is bad enough, but to call yourself a detective and then be in league with a gang of cut-throats, river-pirates and burglars, is far worse, and I give you my word that I intend to shove you as hard as I can." ”

“ Curiously I awaited Helen's return to consciousness, after having ironed Tige and turned her over to the custody of one of the men.
She opened her eyes at last.
She did not fling her arms about Shadow's neck, did not call him Mat, did not seem to recognize him.
Then Shadow was not Mat Morris!
This much was clear.
Who, then, was Shadow?
The mystery fretted me not a little.
"Are you ready for further work?" coolly asked Shadow, turning to me a minute later.
"Yes. Will we need as many men?"
"All but one. You can spare one to remain in charge here. ”

“ When wrists and ankles had been secured to the four corners of the bed, they proceeded to gag Helen, who was then left alone with Tige.
This time the torture was one of burning with red-hot irons.
Tige had brought in with her a small charcoal furnace with which to heat the implements of torture.
She first touched the irons to the soles of the victim's feet.
Then Tige touched the iron to the palms of Helen's hand.
It was terrible!
Helen had lived so generously that she was stronger in body than when tortured before, and as she writhed and twisted the ropes squeaked and strained. ”

“ Shadow hung to McGinnis, nor ever let him get out of his sight.
More than once the hand of the mysterious detective sought the butt of his revolver, as it had done in the saloon, in the first fever of excitement subsequent to the recognition.
An equal number of times, however, the fingers unclasped from the weapon.
While McGinnis filled the bill as far as the description went, and while Shadow would have staked his life that he was the man, he had sense enough, and was cool enough, to be aware that after all he might be mistaken.
He did not wish to kill the wrong man. ”

“ His pal inserted his hand.
Now was my time to capture them!
I drew my revolver, and had taken a forward stop, when——
Bang!
Almost beneath my feet a spring gun was discharged, and I could hear the big buckshot—each one a young bullet—buzzing about my ears, like a swarm of hungry flies on a hot summer's day.
I paused.
A window went up.
A head appeared and a stern voice said:
"Aha! I've got you now, you rascals;" and I saw the muzzle of a gun appear. "Stay where you are if you value your lives! A dozen spring guns are concealed just there, and a single step may discharge them all." ”

“ The life of McGinnis was in his hands.
Suppose the villain should take this opportunity of putting it forever out of his power to again threaten him?
It was a startling reflection.
Brown had come there secretly; nobody knew of where he was going, nobody had seen him enter this shanty—facts concerning which McGinnis was as well posted as himself.
But in the faces of man and wife no sign of treachery was to be seen.
He could trust them.
"There is no danger," Brown mentally said. "They will not kill the goose that lays the golden eggs—they are too avaricious for that." ”

“ Seen to receive a roll of bills by a party of rascals, they had made use of an alley-way to head him off, and then suddenly sprang on him from an ambush.
The possibility alluded to would have been killed by the coolness of Shadow's demeanor, by his quick-witted promptness taking his measures to disconcert the villains, by the exhibition of courage displayed by him.
The whole thing could never be a part of a woman's character.
Only a man, and not an ordinary man at that, could have acted as Shadow did under those trying circumstances. ”

“ Satisfied by this display of knowledge, the fellow unfastened the chain and Shadow glided in. I sprang out from behind the pillar which had concealed me, and forced my way in just as Shadow clapped a revolver to the villain's head.
"Give an alarm at your peril!" hissed Shadow, and dragged him away from the door, which I at once swung open and admitted the men.
Handcuffs had been brought in plenty, and the keeper who had opened the door for us soon had a pair of them on his wrists.
Over the building the men scattered with as little noise as possible. ”

“ He stayed by Helen while she was eating, and his evil eyes were lighted with admiration as they rested on her.
"I say," he remarked, when she had finished eating—"I say, you're a trump, even though you be such a young gal."
Helen's puzzled look was evidence that she did not comprehend at what he was driving.
"You're a smart one, too," said McGinnis. "And I think it's blamed tough on you to pen you in here."
"Then why did you do so?" demanded Helen.
"Orders, my sweet, orders—and orders must be obeyed. But, I say, how'd you like to take the place of the old woman up-stairs? ”

“ His keen gaze rested on a man whom he felt an inward conviction was the individual whom he had for so long in vain endeavored to discover. And, with eyes beginning to flame, the mysterious detective gradually drew nearer to the individual, while one hand rested on his revolver. ”