Francis Worcester Doughty

“ THE GREAT SWAMP MYSTERY.
Heavy banks of dark clouds were flying across the lowering sky. Occasionally the big silvery moon burst from the rifts and flooded the landscape with its mellow light.
During one of these intervals the two detectives gazed around.
The train had disappeared in the distance.
Not far away from where the Bradys stood they saw the big box lying beside the track, turned over on its side.
They ran back and hastily examined it.
"Empty!" ejaculated Harry, in some surprise.
"What has become of the man it contained?" asked Old King Brady. ”

“ Two detectives were passing along from Seventh avenue, toward Broadway, when the wild appeal brought them to a sudden pause.
"Hark, Old King Brady!" one of them exclaimed. "Did you hear that cry?"
"Somebody in distress, Harry," replied the tall, gaunt old man, as he shot a keen glance around. "This is a dangerous neighborhood."
The stylishly-dressed youth of twenty nodded, felt to see if he had a revolver in his pocket, and pointed at an undertaker's wagon standing in front of one of a row of houses opposite. ”

“ When he finished the old broker was thoroughly amazed at the great crime Mason committed in order to rob him.
That it was a failure was due to the detectives, he easily foresaw.
He thanked them again and again, and said, sadly:
"Poor Lizzie! She was faithful to me through all."
"No one will be gladder to see you than she," said Harry.
"And she's so near me now?"
"Yes. In a quarter of an hour you can be with her."
"I feel renewed hope now."
"Will you please tell us how your rascally nephew first managed to get you into his power, Mr. Dalton?" asked Harry, in curious tones. ”

“ He dropped a letter in a lamp-post letter-box and rapidly strode across town and entered a liquor saloon.
Young King Brady divested himself of his disguise in a hallway.
While waiting for his man to emerge from the saloon, the boy made a bundle of the disguise and wrapped it in a newspaper.
Half an hour passed by.
Getting uneasy over the prolonged absence of the man, Harry strode into the saloon, glanced around and failed to see Mason.
"He must have given me the slip!" thought the boy, ruefully.
"Looking for any one, sir?" queried a bartender who was watching him. ”

“ Seeing his advantage, Old King Brady said:
"Now, see here, Mr. Wiffles, you know we are detectives, don't you?"
"Ob c'ose," admitted the coon, in gloomy tones.
"You tried to shoot us, and you tried to kill us in the quick-sand. That gives us the right to put you on trial for your life, charged with attempted murder. You are in a pretty bad fix, old man. I wouldn't give two cents for your life. You know what little evidence is required here to hang a Georgia nigger. Therefore you can realize what your fate will be." ”

“ Despite the fact that the coon now wore a dress suit, the detectives recognized him as the driver of the undertaker's wagon, whom "Mr. Gloom" had addressed as "Sim."
A gurgling cry escaped the black man.
"Let me go!" he gasped.
"I've got you now, you villain!" cried Harry, grimly.
"Fo' de Lawd sakes, what yo' doin'?" groaned the darky.
"You are the undertaker's helper. We know you."
"No, I ain't, boss. No, I ain't!" protested the man in alarmed tones.
"Don't you lie to me! We know you, I tell you, and by Jove we are going to make you tell who that man was you murdered!" ”

“ They dragged the darky into the parlor.
The crayon picture of a man hanging on the wall met Harry's glance, and pointing excitedly at it, he cried:
"See, Old King Brady! There's a photograph of the murdered man we saw in the box this coon was handling!"
Old King Brady was startled.
He noticed that Harry had made no error about it.
Lizzie Dalton quickly glanced at the picture.
"Why," she exclaimed, "that's my father's likeness!"
The Bradys glanced at each other in amazement.
"Then Oliver Dalton was the murdered man!" Harry muttered. ”

“ Old King Brady chuckled.
Holding up a false beard, he glanced at the man.
"Why," exclaimed Harry, "it's Mr. Mason!"
"Bless my heart, so it is," added the old detective, feigning to be very much astonished at the discovery. "How strange! Why, Mr. Mason, what in the world are you going around masquerading this way for, at such a late hour of the night?"
The broker's nephew was furious over his exposure.
He knew it was useless to pretend he was not the man they mentioned and he swore at them, and cried, fiercely:
"That's none of your infernal business."
"How angry you are. ”

“ They were shouting this way when Mason came from behind the rocks, pulled off his mask, and grinned sardonically at them.
Finally he said in sarcastic tones:
"Well, how do you like dying by inches?"
"This was cowardly of you, Mason," said Old King Brady, bitterly.
"It's my way of gaining revenge."
"Why don't you give us a fair show to fight for our lives?"
[21] "Because you are so dangerous you might beat me."
"Help us out of here, and act like a man." ”

“ My! My! Keep cool, Mr. Mason. Wrath isn't going to mend matters for you in any way."
"Get out of my path, you old meddlesome fool!"
"Now, don't get excited," laughed Old King Brady. "You must know, sir, that we are engaged upon very important business. Some time ago we saw you come out of that house, and thinking you were a burglar we followed you down to the East river."
"You followed me?" gasped Mason, with a guilty start. ”

“ We can only verify our suspicion by opening that big box and looking at the contents. This I intend to do."
"Our safest course will be to capture Solomon Gloom first, and then confront him with the contents of the box," replied Harry. "If we find a corpse there, we may learn whose it is and why the man was killed."
"Very true," assented Old King Brady, with a nod, as he pushed his white hair back from his massive brow. "And if we don't find a corpse in the box we'll have the satisfaction of arresting Gloom for shooting you." ”

“ Just then the shots and yells were heard by an old track-walker of the railroad, and he rushed around the swamp shouting:
"All right! I'm coming!"
This unwelcome voice to Mason caused a look of alarm to flit over his pale features, and, fearing arrest, he sped away.
The villain calculated that the detectives would be buried out of sight long before assistance could reach them.
But the Bradys were cheered up wonderfully.
They kept on shouting, and the track-walker finally found them by being guided by the tones of their voices.
Only their heads stuck above the water. ”

“ With a snort, the galled beast sprang forward and raced madly along the street toward Broadway, from whence a policeman was running.
"Hello!" yelled the patrolman. "Who fired that shot?"
"Man lying wounded up the street!" shouted the undertaker.
Away dashed the policeman to investigate and the wagon kept on to Sixth avenue, swung around the corner and dashed downtown, under the elevated road.
In the meantime, Old King Brady had risen to his feet. ”

“ When they reached the street, Harry cried:
"That Mason was a clever schemer. But we've foiled his plan to palm off a stranger's body for that of the missing broker. We must let Lizzie Dalton know how she was duped. There's every possibility yet that her father is still alive. With this doubt pending, the will need not be probated yet."
"Steps have already been begun to test the signature," said Old King Brady. "By this afternoon we shall know positively whether that signature to the will is a forgery or not." ”

“ In the middle of the parlor floor lay a curious-looking dagger, which looked as if it had been buried in a human body, and the bare boards were stained with the same life fluid.
"There's been a murder committed here," flashed through the detective's mind, as he picked up the knife and put it in his pocket, "and those men have carried away their victim's body in that box!"
He rushed to one of the parlor windows and flung it open, just in time to see Harry get shot. The sight made Old King Brady frantic with fury.
[3] "They've killed the boy and escaped!" he roared. ”

“ Just then Harry muttered:
"Well, the great swamp mystery turns out to be a very simple matter, now that we fully understand it, Old King Brady."
"This man may be lying, Harry."
"We can easily prove what he has told us."
"Yes, indeed. And if we find Mr. Dalton kept a prisoner it will go mighty hard with Mason when we capture him. I'm glad to hear that the old broker had the nerve to resist his demands, for it looks to me as if his nephew were trying [25] to amass all the money he can get his hands on in order to escape from here as soon as possible." ”

“ All our theories may have been wrong. Sim Johnson and Ronald Mason may be innocent men. Perhaps we wronged them by unjust suspicions based upon circumstantial evidence."
"Then you think we had better drop the case?"
Old King Brady nodded, and replied:
"I don't see what else we can do now. If the man found in the river is Dalton, the body is in such a state that it will be utterly impossible to tell whether he was a victim of foul play, suicide, or accident. There is absolutely nothing about the body to indicate what the cause of his death was." ”

“ An old, rotten board walk from the railroad bed to the trees, caught his view and he suddenly called to the old detective:
[6] "I see a light among those trees. Here's a path. Let's follow it into the swamp."
"Be cautious!" warned the old detective. "If those rascals have carried the body from the box to the midst of those trees, they will be on the lookout for any possible pursuers and may give us a warm reception."
"We need not let ourselves be seen," replied the boy. ”

“ The girl listened intently and when he finished, she said, in tones of relief:
"Then you have reason to believe that the man was alive when you heard his voice coming from that old hut in the swamp?"
"Just so," assented Old King Brady, admiring her fortitude and cool judgment.
"And you believe my cousin Ronald and this negro were at the bottom of the whole thing?" continued the girl.
"We do. It's our opinion that Mason sent your father a decoy telegram to the Union Club, and lured him to the empty house in Thirty-sixth street. ”

“ Soon afterward the detectives started for Swamp Angel.
"The action of Ronald Mason in coming here so oddly with his uncle's valet strikes me very strangely," remarked Old King Brady, as they trudged along the road toward the station. "In fact, it is a most singular proceeding. He evidently poses before his rich uncle as a paragon of virtue. Behind the old man's back he is evidently a high roller."
"Then he must be a deceitful man," said Harry. ”

“ Seeing the detectives stupid from the drug, a low chuckle escaped the man, and he rose to his feet and muttered:
"Sleep, you dogs! Tracked me, eh? Well, it won't do you any good. You'll be snoring long after we reach Georgia. And when you do arouse yourselves, you'll find the box gone from this train. This must be a mighty good disguise, if you failed to recognize Solomon Gloom in it—really, a very clever disguise." ”

“ The boy was first to catch view of a man in the open doorway opposite, and he dimly observed that he was tall, thin, dressed in black, wore a high hat, and had a mustache and a pair of bushy side-whiskers.
"Looks like an undertaker," Young King Brady commented in a whisper.
"He's carrying something," added the old detective. "Ah—it's a coffin, ain't it?"
"A wooden box shaped like one. There's another man on —— [2] the other end of it," said Harry, whose interest was aroused. "They're coming out."
The second man was a short, roughly-clad negro. ”

“ When the detectives looked him over, Old King Brady asked him:
"Say, what's your name?"
"Nick Wiffles."
"Where do you live?"
"In de swamp."
"Ain't you the man who built a bonfire on the railroad track some time ago, to stop a train from running into an obstruction?" ”

“ Old King Brady shot a quick glance at Harry and exclaimed:
"You may be right. The man in the box may not have been dead after all. Perhaps he was alive, under the influence of a drug. The man who drugged us may have drugged him, too, you know. ”

“ There were two more passenger coaches, a smoking car and a baggage car ahead, and the detectives searched them thoroughly for the undertaker.
But to their disgust he was not found.
They paused on the platform of the baggage car and Harry exclaimed:
"He must have checked the box through on a ticket he bought for Savannah, and then hid somewhere on this train."
"Which shows what a foxy gentleman we have to contend with," muttered Old King Brady, grimly. "He feared pursuit." ”

“ Now that we've got the railroad guarded so they can't escape, it will be best for us to watch the swamp, and I think we'll find them lurking there until they think the excitement blows over. They won't expect us to look for them there. That will make our task all the easier, Harry. ”

“ Because we haven't satisfied ourselves about what Mason and the black valet were doing on the river with that boatman. If we find that the old gray-bearded fellow was the one who brought the body to the morgue, it would seem to indicate that Mason and the coon know something about how Mr. Dalton may have met his doom. Remember the object they had towing behind the boat may have been the old broker's corpse. We can find out by attending the coroner's inquest and gaining a glimpse of the man who picked up the body. ”

“ Taking something from his pocket, he handed it to the officer.
"My card, sir," he said, politely. "Name of Solomon Gloom. This is a case of smallpox. House has been quarantined. Here's my Health Board permit to remove the corpse. The rule is to take 'em at night."
He handed over a permit, but it was too dark for Old King Brady to read it.
"Well," said the officer, hesitatingly, "that part may be all right. Who is dead?"
"Albert Reid, the old cotton broker, sir. Got him in a metallic casket in this box. Going to take him to the crematory at Fresh Pond." ”