Nicholas Carter

“ Patsy crept to the window again, revolver in hand, where he crouched to gaze and listen.
David Mack was speaking.
“There now is nothing to it, Carter,” he was snarling bitterly, no longer in disguise. “You have put me in a position that leaves me no alternative. I must wipe you out of existence.”
Nick Carter sat gazing sternly from one to another.
“You put yourself in the position you are in, Mack,” he coldly answered. “If you think you can remedy it by killing me—well, that’s up to you.”
“It’s what he deserves,” snapped Kate Crandall. “He’s an infernal meddler. ”

“ Beyond the fringe of shrubbery flanking the curve of the driveway stood a baby carriage containing a child about two years old, then crying piteously.
“By Jove, there’s more trouble,” said Patsy. “What’s the matter with her? She spoke of tending the children. I can see only one. She must have lost track of the other.” ”

“ There was a spirit in their way of jumping to his bark, a sprightliness of real zest, a vim that told its own story of master and crew. They loved him as much as they feared him. It’s a good combination aboard ship.
And Stevens? He was one of the crew now; though I still read great worry in his face.
And it was to old-fashioned “yo-ho-ing” that we fairly sang the spars over the taffrail onto deck; the mainmast to starboard, the foremast to port. A tackle rigged to the bitts had done the trick.
When everything was lashed fast, Stroth motioned Stevens to the position at the wheel. ”

“ It will be the joy of my life to know that he is off the earth. You know what he has done for me, Dave.”
“Yes, I know, Kate, all right.”
“Give him all that’s coming to him, then.”
“It’s the only chance for any of us,” growled Duffy, scowling. “We must play the game to a finish, or throw up our hands.”
“You’ll throw up your hands, all right,” thought Patsy, with eyes and ears alert.
“As for Kate Crandall——” Mack began.
“Oh, you are not the first man, Mack, who has been brought to the bad by this unscrupulous woman,” Nick interrupted. ”

“ David Mack was found to be short in his accounts precisely—half a million dollars.
Numerous packages of securities, or supposed to contain them, tied up and sealed and labeled with Mack’s own handwriting, contained only worthless papers and useless old documents.
David Mack was short precisely the amount of the demanded ransom.
“My Lord!” Mr. Madden groaned, when the full truth was learned. “My Lord, who could have believed it? Are disasters never to end? What on earth does this mean, Mr. Carter?”
Chick waved both dismayed bankers to their seats. ”

“ Chick whispered. “He thinks Nick is the only one who is wise to this business. Vengeance, when he finds himself cornered, may impel him to snatch up the weapon and kill the chief.”
“Gee! I get you.”
“Have your revolver ready,” Chick added. “If Mack makes any such move as that, give him a drop shot on the instant.”
“Drop shot is right,” muttered Patsy, scowling. “I’ll drop him so he’ll never rise again.” ”

“ You owe it to the community, as well as to yourself, to defer yielding to such knavery as long as you can consistently do so. In the meantime I will devote all of my energies to running down the crooks and finding the child.”
“But they may kill her, or——”
“Not at present,” Nick insisted. “Not as long as they see a ghost of a chance of forcing you to comply with their demands. That would be the worst step they could take. Have no fear of it, Mr. Madden. They will not kill the goose from which they hope to get a golden egg.” ”

“ Nick Carter caught sight of the couple only by chance. His touring car, in which he was seated with his chauffeur and Patsy Garvan, his junior assistant, was speeding through one of the winding driveways in Central Park, New York, and heading for Fifty-ninth Street.
“Hold on! Slow down, Danny!” he cried to his chauffeur. “That woman has fainted, or is in a fit.”
The woman was lying on the greensward near a diverging driveway, and some fifty yards from where Danny Maloney, startled by the detective’s sudden sharp commands, brought the touring car to a quick stop. ”

“ Nick retorted. “As for masquerading, why have you been posing under a fictitious name here and while in the employ of Madden, Mellen & Mack?”
“Because you made my own name notorious,” Kate informed him, with bitter asperity. “I could not get employment under my own name. A woman must live decently—though infernal meddlers like you make it next to impossible. What do you want here, anyway?”
“You know what I want,” Nick said, more sternly. “I want to know what you and your confederates have done with John Madden’s little daughter, Amy Madden.” ”

“ I’m no gunman, but I don’t propose to let you give me the worst of it, nor this young lady. There will be no more trouble unless you reach for a weapon. If you do—well, I’ll take mighty good care that mine barks first.”
“We’ll let it go at that, then,” said Nick, settling back in his chair. “Who are you and how do you figure in this business? Kate Crandall said she was alone here.”
“So I did, Carter, and supposed——”
“You keep quiet, Kate, and let me do the talking with this detective,” Conroy commanded, interrupting her when she pulled herself together and started to explain. ”

“ If he attempts trickery, however, he will meet the fate of a trickster. No more need be said. There remains only to act. And upon how you act—all will depend.
“David Mack must make no move, however, until he hears from me. He will be given explicit instructions, which he must follow to the letter. Beware of any deviation from them—and of the vengeance of
“Ralph Redlaw, Chief of the Needy Nine.”
Twice from beginning to end, without once looking up from the pencil-printed sheet, Nick Carter read this threatening communication, with its amazingly audacious demand. ”

“ Madden, I have only a word to add. I will do all that you could do, or the entire metropolitan police, to trace and recover your daughter. I will also accomplish it before she suffers any serious harm, even though I am finally forced to throw up my hands and pay a ransom for her safe return.”
“I understand, Nick, and have absolute faith in your judgment,” Mr. Madden said feelingly. “I give you entire charge of the case. You evidently think, I infer, that we shall hear from her abductors.”
“Hear from them!” Nick exclaimed, smiling. “Don’t you doubt that for a moment, Mr. Madden. ”

“ Nick gazed at him for a moment before replying, then said approvingly:
“Your remarks have the true ring, Mr. Mack, and I’m glad to note it. On the contrary, however, you must not undertake to thwart these scoundrels.”
“Not undertake it!” Dave gasped. “Good heavens! you don’t mean, Carter, that you advise paying this ransom?”
“No, I do not,” Nick assured him. “But the situation is one that requires skillful handling. A blunder of any kind might cost the child her life. ”

“ At three o’clock that afternoon, alone, and carefully disguised, Nick Carter arrived in the neighborhood of the Duffy residence, where he began a stealthy search for Patsy Garvan. He failed to find him, of course, and soon he noticed that the house appeared to be deserted. There was no sign of life through any of the windows, and the door of the garage was closed.
“The birds must have flown,” Nick reasoned, pausing a short distance from the house. “Patsy must have found them here and they must have made an immediate move of some kind, or he would have telephoned to me again. ”

“ But I shall not have another attack at present. I never have two in quick succession. I now am able to go, sir, thanking you for your kindness.”
“I will take you home in my automobile, Miss Hanson, if you wish me to do so,” said Nick kindly.
“Oh, no, sir, thank you,” she quickly objected, gradually drawing away. “These attacks are not as serious as they appear. It will do me good to walk home, sir, thanking you again.”
She bowed and moved away with the last, evidently quite herself again, and Nick turned to Patsy and started to return to his touring car, in which Danny was waiting. ”

“ I knew what the trouble was, all right, when I saw her wiping froth from her lips.”
“What a beastly affliction!”
“Beastly hardly expresses it,” said Nick. “Any disorder that knocks one out without warning is a deucedly bad affliction. If she had—— Hello! What now?”
A cry of alarm came from the direction in which the nurse had disappeared. Looking back, for Nick and Patsy had nearly reached the waiting touring car, they now beheld the girl running wildly hither and thither, excitedly wringing her hands, and evidently in a frantic search for some one. ”

“ Nick explained. “A scream from the child would have been heard in half a dozen directions. It is ten to one, therefore, that she was abducted by some person with whom she is acquainted, perhaps of whom she is fond, even, and by whom she could easily have been influenced. Do you know of any woman, Mr. Madden, who would be guilty of such a crime?” ”

“ Nick said earnestly. “She did perfectly right in acting upon her impulse to aid a woman said to be in distress, and she cannot reasonably be blamed for not suspecting that she was the victim of a put-up job. Even with all of my experience, Mr. Madden, I did not at first suspect it.” ”

“ The woman’s fit may have been only a trick to lure the nurse away while——”
“Holy smoke!” Patsy interrupted. “I’ve got you.”
He darted away at top speed with the last in search of Margaret Hanson.
Nick already had turned, and was hurrying toward the distracted nurse, who still was seeking here and there like one bereft of her senses. Tears were streaming down her cheeks when the detective approached her and grasped her arm, saying firmly yet kindly:
“Come, come, my girl; calm yourself. What’s the trouble?”
“It’s Amy, sir,” moaned the girl. “I can’t find her.” ”

“ They are not overdrawn tales of bloodshed. They rather show the working of one of the finest minds ever conceived by a writer. The name of Nick Carter is familiar all over the world, for the stories of his adventures may be read in twenty languages. No other stories have withstood the severe test of time so well as those contained in the Nick Carter Stories. It proves conclusively that they are the best. ”

“ An open desk stood near one of the walls. The first article on it to catch the detective’s eye was a large pad of plain paper, remarkably like that on which was written the Redlaw letter.
Nick instantly noticed all of these things, however, and his ears were alert to detect a sound from any other part of the house. None could be heard. He apparently had found the woman alone. He remarked casually, nevertheless, while he took a chair near the table:
“Are we likely to be overheard? My business relates to private political matters, Miss Randall, and what I tell you must go no further.” ”

“ Madden gravely questioned.
“Yes, absolutely,” said the detective. “The circumstances admit of no other interpretation. This whole business was cut and dried, carefully planned, and cleverly executed.”
“You reason that——”
“It may be told in a nutshell,” Nick interposed. “No such lad as Lucy Sloan described would have remained to watch the two children while she ran to aid a fainting woman. A well-bred boy, accustomed to obey his elders, might have done so, but not a lad of the streets. He, boylike, would have returned to learn how the woman fared and to see all that occurred.” ”

“ John Madden sank back in his chair as if completely nonplused.
“That is the story in a nutshell, gentlemen, and that is why David Mack was appointed to conduct negotiations with a fictitious Redlaw. Observe, Mr. Madden, how easy that would make it for him to take your money and restore your missing child.”
Mellen banged the table with both fists, crying angrily:
“By Heaven, that scoundrel shall pay for this. I will have his life. I will——”
“On the contrary, Mr. Mellen, you will be wise and let the law inflict the penalty,” Chick Carter interrupted. “Nick already is at work along these lines. ”

“ Nick noticed that the machine was covered and that the stenographer had not yet arrived.
Mr. Mellen, the second member of the firm, was an energetic man of middle age, their operator on the floor of the Stock Exchange, which necessitated his absence from the office during most of the business hours. He arose to go, in fact, very soon after the detective entered.
The junior member was David Mack, who acted as cashier for the firm. He was much younger, still under forty, a well-built, clean-cut man, with a smoothly shaved face, quite dark and attractive. ”

“ John Madden is talking. Who are you?”
The response came with more threatening intonation:
“Never mind who I am. You keep your trap closed, and let me do the talking. If you butt in with any questions, I’ll hang up the receiver. Do you get me?”
“Yes,” said Nick.
“Listen, then, and don’t butt in,” continued the woman. “It’s about a piece of live stock that you must have missed by this time. I’ve got the lamb, and she’s all right. Whether she’ll come home all right, wagging her tail behind her, depends on yourself. You’ll get a letter to-morrow morning stating the conditions. ”

“ Nick quickly objected. “The crooks engaged in [Pg 15] this job are not blockheads. They will guard against being discovered by any such trick as that.”
“You may be right,” Mack thoughtfully allowed.
“I know I am right,” Nick insisted. “You must be governed strictly by my instructions.”
“You may depend upon that.”
“To begin with, then, you must inform me by telephone as soon as you hear from Redlaw and learn when and where you are to meet him. If I happen to be out of my house, you may state the circumstances to one of my assistants.” ”

“ She is as wily, tricky, and heartless a jade, Mr. Madden, as ever stood in leather.”
“If that is the case——”
“There are no ifs, Mr. Madden, in regard to that,” Nick again interrupted. “I know the woman’s character from A to Z. Do you know where she has been living?”
“Yes. She has a suite in the Carleton, an apartment house on Lexington Avenue.”
“Did have, not has,” said Nick, a bit dryly. “Take it from me, Mr. Madden, she will have vanished from the Carleton. She is too clever to have overlooked the fact that she might be suspected of the abduction. But I will trace her. ”

“ Oh, I must find a policeman, and——”
“Stop a moment,” said Nick, detaining her. “I can do more than a policeman. I am a detective. Compose yourself, now, and tell me just what occurred. I will help you find the child. How old is she?”
Glancing sharply around, Nick had seen plainly that the child would be easily discovered unless she had strayed to a considerable distance, which was quite improbable in the short time the nurse had been absent. ”

“ And up through the companionway bounded Carl Stroth!
I’ll not soon forget the light in those eyes of his as he bellowed:
“Here, you lily-livered hounds! What? Douse sail for a puny summer shower? What d’ye think we are? Children? Come now, you lame duck!” and he swung Stevens around. ”