Nicholas Carter

“ His presence in the machine was no surprise to the waiter, for he had expected to see him there, but, at the sight of the other two, Max had hard work to suppress an exclamation of incredulous amazement.
The distinguished-looking man who was seated on Frost’s right was the famous Professor Tufts, a scientist of country-wide reputation. The little man with the crafty face, who was seated on Frost’s left, was the well-known society lawyer, named Frank Kinsley, who was popularly supposed to know more of the family secrets of the “Four Hundred” than any man in New York. ”

“ Apparently it made no sound, for the four men went on with their work—the lawyer and Frost opening the bag preparatory to putting the jewel cases into it, and Atherton and Professor Tufts stowing away the apparatus in its case.
Every fiber of the waiter’s being tingled with suppressed excitement. It was only too plain that somebody was outside the door, preparing to burst in and take the burglars by surprise. ”

“ Carroll demanded. “By jinks, Frank, you’re the most unselfish fellow I’ve ever met! Here you are worrying about me, and trying to cheer me up, when you have plenty of cause to be brooding over your own impending fate.” ”

“ I don’t suppose that you want her in the same sense that the police do.”
“Hardly,” returned Atherton. “We want the Countess because we have a scheme in view which can only be carried out by a woman of exceptional ability and courage. Unfortunately, we have no such woman in our society, and that’s why I’ve been longing to get in touch with your remarkable side partner. She’s the very one I want.”
“May I ask what the scheme is?”
“Of course. Briefly, it’s a plan for kidnaping old Enoch Pyle’s grandson, and holding him for ransom.” ”

“ He told her what he had heard, and her big, blue eyes grew bigger still with incredulous amazement.
“You take my breath away!” she gasped. “Alfred Knox Atherton, one of the idols of New York society, who is hand in glove with most of the ‘big bugs’! It sounds unbelievable.”
“It’s a bit of an eye opener, isn’t it?” chuckled the waiter. “What a sensation I could create if I hunted up a reporter and filled him up with the details of that little conversation in Frost’s room! But, of course, I’m not going to do anything of the kind. It’s too good a thing to give away. ”

“ Mayor Henkle broke in, with a scowl, “it is merely a typographical error. Everybody knows that it was the intention of the framers of the ordinance to regulate the taking of photographs on the streets of Oldham.”
“I am willing to concede that, sir,” counsel for the defense replied smilingly. “But, fortunately for my client, intentions don’t count. The use of the word of, instead of on, may be a typographical error, but the law must be interpreted precisely as it reads. It isn’t by any means the first time that a typographical error has saved a man from jail. ”

“ Even then he did not leave the trail, but followed until the big car drew up in front of the huge apartment house in which Alfred Atherton maintained his luxurious bachelor quarters.
As the leader of the kid-gloved crooks alighted from the car, Max Berne rattled past on his motor cycle.
He could not resist the temptation.
“Good night, Mr. Atherton,” he called out.
The society man wheeled about with thumping heart, but was too late to see more than the cyclist’s back.
“That will give him something to think about!” murmured the waiter. “I hope he hasn’t got a weak heart!” ”

“ At length he halted and once more planted himself in front of his caller.
“You’re a remarkable fellow, Max,” he said, with just a suspicion of irony in his voice. “By your unaided wit you have discovered what all the trained intelligence of the police has failed to discover, or even to suspect. I congratulate you.
“You’re quite right,” he went on. “Frost and Kinsley and Tufts and myself are all members of a secret society, which obtains its revenues from the public by means of burglary, arson, forgery, impersonation, and similar unconventional methods. ”

“ Then, when the people of Oldham were keyed up to a proper pitch of excitement, Hodgins would suddenly have announced that the infernal machine had been sent by Carroll, and would have produced his evidence to prove his startling charge.”
“You certainly possess a vivid imagination, Mr. Hands,” the Camera Chap declared. “I have no doubt, though, that that is just about what they intended to do, if the bomb hadn’t gone off accidentally while old Gale was handling it in his private office, and made the thing much more serious than they contemplated.” ”

“ When Chief of Police Hodgins learned that a prominent lawyer had come from New York to take the case of the Camera Chap, he was somewhat worried; but when he got a glimpse of Mr. Horatio Hands, his anxiety vanished, and he expressed his opinion of that legal luminary by a guffaw of derision.
“You just oughter to see him, Mr. Mayor,” he said to the Honorable Martin Henkle. “He’s a little bit of a pink-whiskered runt that don’t look as if he’s got nerve enough to swat a fly. I guess we ain’t got nothin’ to fear from him.”
“Well, you can’t always go by appearances,” Mayor Henkle replied. ”

“ Only last week I was saying to Frost that I’d give five thousand dollars if I could lay my hands on Elaine Wilhelm. We know what you’ve both done and can do, how you defied the police again and again in a dozen cities, over here, and most of the capitals of Europe. We’ll give you a royal welcome, both of you, but it just happens that your wife will come in particularly handy at the present time.”
“She’s a handy person at any time,” remarked the Count, with a laugh, “and the police would give more than five thousand to get their hands on her. ”

“ Hawley had become a veritable will-o’-the-wisp. Although every member of the force was as anxious as the chief to catch him, and kept a sharp lookout for him day and night, he seemed as immune from capture as a mosquito buzzing around the head of an armless man.
Hodgins stationed detectives outside the Bulletin office, in the hope of being able to apprehend him when he came to deliver the pictures; but, greatly to his chagrin, these sleuths reported that the Camera Chap did not come to the Bulletin office. ”

“ As he passed the office of Gale’s newspaper, the chief thought that he might as well drop in and tell his old friend the glad tidings, too. He knew that the proprietor of the Chronicle and his son would be delighted to hear that Hawley’s wings had been clipped at last, and that Mayor Henkle had agreed that the “young desperado” must be sent to jail, public sentiment to the contrary notwithstanding.
Hodgins was just about to enter the building when there came a violent report, followed instantly by a crash and loud cries of alarm. ”

“ A genius of Jackson, Miss., has invented an electric motor which is to act as a mosquito exterminator. His plan is to have his motor revolve at just the right speed to make a humming noise like that of buzzing mosquitoes. That attracts all the insects in the neighborhood, and, as the motor is surrounded with a metal screen, charged with a powerful current, the mosquitoes alighting on it are instantly electrocuted. ”

“ Max had returned to his chosen hiding place in the bushes, and crouched down there. Now, turning his back to the house, he pressed the button of his flash light and turned the white rays on the face of his watch for a moment.
“Twenty minutes to three,” he mused. “Perhaps, after all, they may be asleep by three o’clock. Anyhow, it’s Atherton’s risk, not mine. I think I’ll go and post myself where I can see them when they arrive.”
He retraced his steps along the footpath, until he came to the door which opened into the lane. ”

“ Suddenly she paused, and her eyes grew round and big with excitement. She was sitting near a window, and could see the drive which ran from the entrance gates to the front door of the house.
“Enoch,” she said breathlessly, “there’s a moty car comin’ up the drive! Such a swell turnout, too. Who can it be?”
Mr. Pyle hurriedly set down his cup, tiptoed to the window, and cautiously peered out from behind the curtain. By that time the car had pulled up outside the front door, and an aristocratic-looking, fashionably dressed lady of middle age was in the act of stepping out. ”

“ He was not much of a success at addressing a jury—his partner, big Alexander Powers, attended to that part of the work—but when it came to getting a client off on a legal technicality, or winning a case by picking flaws in a law, there wasn’t another lawyer in New York who was his equal. That was why Tom Paxton had chosen him to go to the rescue of the Camera Chap, instead of calling for the services of his more oratorical but less keen-witted partner. ”

“ Carroll laughed grimly. “Oh, they claim to have plenty of evidence—enough to send me to the chair, if old Gale dies. Hodgins told me that the box in which the infernal machine was inclosed has been identified as a box which was previously in my possession. He claims, too, that they have the wrapper of the package, and that the address is in my handwriting. If they can prove these things, they’ve got a strong case against me.”
“If they can prove them!” exclaimed Hawley, with a confident laugh. “But of course there’s no danger of that. The whole thing is a palpable frame-up.” ”

“ Atherton raised his brows.
“Must!” he repeated. “Really, Max, you’re forgetting yourself. That’s hardly the way to speak to me, if you desire my help. However, I don’t suppose you meant to be impertinent.”
“Not at all,” was the reply. “All the same, sir, I repeat that I must see you now.”
“And I repeat that I can’t and won’t see you!” Atherton replied, growing angry.
“I think you will, sir,” Berne assured him suavely.
“And why, pray?” demanded the society man.
The waiter came a step or two nearer, so that the chauffeur could not hear. ”

“ But the Camera Chap proved to be a most submissive prisoner. Although he knew that he was booked now for a six months’ stay in the county jail, he accepted the situation with a rueful smile. The prospect was decidedly unpleasant, but there was nothing to be gained by “going up in the air.”
Hodgins slipped handcuffs on his wrists, and marched him to police headquarters. Thrusting him into a cell and bidding the turnkey keep a vigilant watch over him, the chief hurried to the city hall to tell the mayor the good news. ”

“ CHAPTER V.
“HERE THEY COME.”
“Alfred Atherton and his bunch!” muttered Max, quivering with suppressed excitement. “They must have changed their plans at the last moment. I distinctly heard Atherton say to Frost that they would reach here about three o’clock, and it’s just after two now. Of course, they won’t be able to tackle the job under the circumstances. When they discover that the people in the house are astir, they’ll give up the attempt, and hotfoot it back to the big town—if they don’t blunder into hot water before they get wise. ”

“ When it comes to detective stories worth while, the Nick Carter Stories contain the only ones that should be considered. They are not overdrawn tales of bloodshed. They rather show the working of one of the finest minds ever conceived by a writer. ”

“ I gathered from Eudora’s manner while speaking of this marriage, that she had never loved her husband, but had become his wife because he loved her, and because his influence was very strong over Albert.
And the idea gave me unqualified satisfaction. You may say it is foolish to be jealous of the dead, but—well, never mind. Most of us are selfish enough to want the entire affections of those we love. We do not care to share a divided interest.
After their coming to Southbridge, Mrs. Leroy said, Albert had become thoroughly changed. ”

“ Have you had an accident, sir?”
“Nothing but a blow-out and a cranky engine,” was the reply. “Are the rest of the servants in bed?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, you and James can follow their example as soon as you’ve locked up. We don’t want any supper. We’re all tired out, and we’re going straight to bed.”
While he was speaking, he had assisted his wife and daughters to alight. As they passed up the steps and into the house, the waiter saw that each of the three ladies was wearing quantities of jewels in their hair, at their throats, and on their fingers. ”

“ They were shot up a few floors, and Max Berne was ushered into a luxuriously furnished room overlooking the wide avenue.
“Will you sit down?” Atherton asked, in tones of icy politeness.
He pointed to a chair in the middle of the room, but his visitor smilingly shook his head and seated himself at one of the windows.
“This will suit me better, I think,” the waiter answered blandly. “It will be easier for me to attract the attention of the people in the street—if I need to. Also,” he added, as he drew a loaded revolver from his pocket. ”

“ Gale replied nervously. “I can’t understand how it happened.”
“I reckon I’ve got a pretty clear idea how it happened, all right,” growled Hodgins. “Somebody sent the old gent an infernal machine. The pieces of it are lying on the floor of the office now. And it ain’t hard to guess who that somebody was, eh?”
“No, indeed,” young Gale replied. “My father has only one enemy—at least, only one who would be capable of such a cowardly attack. That cad, Carroll, is responsible for this, as sure as you’re standing here, chief! I demand that you place him under arrest at once!” ”

“ Only a few days previous, Tom Paxton, managing editor of the New York Sentinel, had received a letter from the Camera Chap. It ran as follows:
“My Dear Tom: I am having a great time out here in the beautiful Catskills. The peace and quiet of this picturesque mountain retreat are just the things for my jaded nerves. I have not forgotten my physician’s instructions to avoid all forms of excitement, nor your kind advice to try to forget that there is such a thing in the world as a camera. ”