Ralph Boston

“ I have hidden the truth from her, even, and can confide only in you, Nick. For you are the one man on whom I can depend, who may be able to successfully meet the situation. Come to the house. I then will inform you.”
“Very well,” Nick consented. “I understand, now, why you were so anxious to reach me.”
“I was more than anxious, more than anxious,” Senator Barclay repeated, while Nick and Patsy accompanied him toward the house. “There is another mysterious feature in connection with this robbery, Nick; one that seems utterly inexplicable.” ”

“ Selig nodded.
“It’s a safe gamble, too, that the cursed students who queered my game will keep their traps closed,” Margate forcibly argued. “They’ll not dare to confess. Even though mystified by its disappearance, they’ll think themselves well rid of the body. It’s a cinch that the Carters have not tracked them, nor more than suspect the truth, and we still have time to bleed the woman out of a big wad of money.”
“That’s true, Andy, if we waste no time,” put in Nance Selig suggestively.
“Right you are, Nance,” declared Margate, with eyes glowing. ”

“ Oakley exclaimed, staring.
“Don’t be so sure of that,” Nick said dryly. “Things aren’t always what they seem. We may find that—ah, I find it even sooner than I expected. Here is one—yes, a second and third. This tells the story.”
“What is it?” cried Oakley impulsively.
“Have a look, Chick,” said Nick. “Use my lens.”
Chick hastened to comply, viewing one of several faint bits of evidence on the dusty floor.
“What is it?” Oakley repeated, quivering with excitement. ”

“ The good name of your institution should not be ruined by the foolishness of a few of your students, if it can possibly be prevented. I think they now will see it in the same light and do all in their power to rectify their folly. What do you say, Mr. Oakley?”
Oakley threw up his hands and met the detective better than halfway.
“I say that you’re all wool and a yard wide, Mr. Carter,” he cried, with genuine feeling. “I’ll speak for the others and tell you the whole story. Not only that, sir, but we’ll do all we can to repair the wrong.” ”

“ The United States government pays its postal employees poorly at the start. I guess there isn’t another branch of the Federal civil service where a fellow has to do so much for so little pay.”
“Why don’t you get out and go into something else?” she asked. “I’ve often wondered why a bright fellow like you should be satisfied with such a small job.”
“I want to be a post-office inspector,” he answered. “That’s the goal which tempted me into entering the service. Those fellows earn good money, and I’ve always had a liking for detective work. ”

“ But Tiger Bill never fired that shot. Quicker than even his trained and murderous hand, quick as a flash, indeed, the little German’s hand came up, and it held a big, old-fashioned Colt revolver, and in an instant the desperado was as dead as he could reasonably expect to be, with a bullet hole drilled neatly through his head.
A great crowd instantly rushed in. Bill lay dead upon the floor, his right hand still holding the revolver; behind the counter stood Gus, quietly wiping off the mess of oysters from his face and the counter. ”

“ After a slight pause Boss Coggswell went on:
“I am pretty good at sizing up men, Mr. Sheridan, and I like your style. I should be pleased to have you join my organization. We need young men of your caliber in this district.”
“Thank you,” replied Owen, “but I don’t care to go into politics. And, besides, I am of the opposite party.”
“I like you for saying that, too,” declared the district leader warmly. “It is refreshing to meet a young man who is so loyal to his party that he won’t desert it even to advance himself. ”

“ When Professor Arden rejoined Chick a few moments later, he returned the nearly empty vial, saying, with a smile:
“I have retained enough of the fluid to make a thorough analysis, or tests that may possibly reveal its precise nature and properties. I was inclined to doubt, Mr. Carter, the existence of any substance or compound that would have upon the human organism just such effects as you have described in the case of Margate.”
“Nevertheless, professor, Nick feels very sure he is right,” said Chick.
“I now think he may be,” replied the chemist. ”

“ Nick had waited only a few moments in the reception hall, when the butler returned and conducted him to the library, where he found Lady Deland awaiting him—a stately, beautiful woman still in the twenties, whose pale cheeks and apprehensive eyes denoted with what misgivings she had read Senator Barclay’s note introducing the famous detective. ”

“ This was confirmed almost immediately by the intercourse that began as soon as the woman, who was driving the runabout, brought it to a stop at one side of the road.
“Ah!” she exclaimed. “You’re here ahead of us, Tony.”
“Sure I’m here,” said the man in baggy brown. “I’ve been waiting twenty minutes.”
“Well, what have you learned, Selig?” Margate demanded, with manifest interest. “You keep quiet, Nance, and let me do the talking.”
“Tony Selig,” thought Chick; then, he rightly inferred: “By their resemblance, too, this woman should be his sister. Nance Selig, eh?” ”

“ He saw Chick on the floor, the four men above him, and the hand of Andy Margate raised with a revolver to beat out the fallen detective’s brains.
Nick fired on the instant, and the bullet went true.
Margate pitched forward in a heap, with an ounce of lead in his brain, and instant consternation and dismay fell upon his three confederates.
“Hands up, you fellows, or there’ll be another corpse here,” Nick cried sternly, with the rascals effectively covered. “Look after Chick, Patsy. I can attend to these rats.”
The “rats” did not dare to show fight. ”

“ THE BOSS DEFIED.
The man in the gray uniform of Uncle Sam’s postal service laughed lightly. “Don’t talk like a boob,” he said. “I’m not defying any organization, and I have no desire to make an enemy of Mr. Samuel J. Coggswell or anybody else. If he’s petty and narrow-minded enough to get sore on me just because I refuse to give up five dollars for a picnic ticket for which I have no earthly use, well, I can’t help it.” ”

“ He stepped noiselessly into the hall, leaving the door as he had found it, and he then sought concealment on a bare back stairway leading to the second floor.
“I may find it of advantage to steal up there,” he said to himself. “I must overhear just what comes off in this crib, and also learn how many I am finally up against.”
The hammer ceased at that moment, and he heard Margate say gruffly, addressing the elder Selig:
“That’s good enough, Zeke. Good enough.”
“It strikes me so, Andy.”
“Sure. Not a ray of light can get through the blankets, to say nothing of the curtains and blinds. ”

“ The United States is divided into secret-service districts, each district having headquarters conveniently located in charge of a skilled operative, who has under his direction from time to time as many assistants as the criminal activities in his locality demand.
Perhaps the most picturesque work of the secret service is performed by its “flying squadron”—the free-lance field workers, who may be sent to any place at any time. Most of these men are not much above thirty years of age; the average age of all secret-service men is under thirty-five. ”

“ Senator Barclay replied, with countenance beginning to brighten. “There are hundreds of brilliant and discerning men in the circle of my acquaintance, Carter, but you certainly have something on all of them. What do you mean? How do you know there was only one burglar, and why he left a soiled sheet in my house? By gracious, I begin to feel that you may yet avert the calamity that threatens me.”
“Let’s wait until we are seated in our library, senator,” Nick replied, smiling. ”

“ Are you the person who has it?”
“No. A man has it who——”
“Send him here, then,” Lady Deland interrupted. “I will talk with him.”
“Don’t be a fool,” Nancy said curtly. “And don’t pretend that the paper is of no great value to you. We know better than that, we who have it. You listen to me for half a minute and I’ll tell you just where you stand and what you must do.”
Lady Deland’s eyes drifted toward the mirror for an instant and she received from the listening detective a signal of assent. ”

“ Good heavens! what possessed me to do such a thing?”
“That’s not the question,” said Oakley, a bit sullenly. “You now have confessed the whole business, barring the outcome. Only the devil himself can explain that. The question is—what became of the body?”
Nick Carter heard the last with no great surprise. It was in line with his earlier suspicions. He saw, too, with what consternation Doctor Dabney and the other students began to realize what had been done the night before, and he checked with a gesture the censure that was rising to the lips of the astounded physician. ”

“ Nick had been quietly informed as to the bank and its location, at which they arrived twenty minutes later, and into which Nancy accompanied Lady Deland, leaving the supposed chauffeur and maid in the car.
“Gee! this looks like soft walking, chief, now,” remarked Patsy, while they waited.
“Quite so,” Nick replied. “I think we shall land the goods and arrest the gang. That woman hasn’t even the ghost of a suspicion.” ”

“ Nick said impressively. “I now know positively that Andy Margate lives, and I’m out to get him. In getting him, Senator Barclay, I shall probably get the letter and document that are of such vast importance to you. Whether it can be done in time to avert the peril that threatens you and Lady Deland remains to be seen. It certainly cannot be accomplished by prolonging this discussion. I must hasten to see Lady Deland.” ”

“ The man in baggy brown was just descending the steps of Professor Arden’s residence.
“Aha! That does settle it,” thought Chick. “He wanted to know who had called on the chemist, and he went to inquire, probably offering some plausible reason. He evidently found out, too, judging from the celerity with which he is departing. You shall also find, young man, that there are longer heads than yours.”
The seedy young man then was hastening down the avenue in Chick’s direction, but on the opposite side of the broad thoroughfare. ”

“ In spite of the politician’s reassuring words, he felt sure that Coggswell had been very much in earnest about wanting him to hand over the mail of somebody on his route—that was the real reason he had been summoned to the clubhouse.
Owen recalled something which he had once heard somebody say regarding Samuel J. Coggswell—a very queer remark which had been made in his presence one day by a man who knew the boss well: “When you are talking with Sammy,” this man had said, “watch his ears carefully. If they begin to wiggle, look out for a crooked deal. ”

“ Society maids are to wear rings in their noses and bells on their toes; the fair sex will become entirely bald, and perhaps have cute little landscape scenes done in oil here and there on their shining pates; men may adopt skirts, wear bracelets and earrings, and possibly carry fans instead of canes, the walking sticks being permissible to women alone.
This old world is fast approaching its great upheaval stage, this wonderful prognostigator tells us. The great war of nations shows it—the Scriptures show it, he declares. We have been in preparation for this upheaval for nearly eighty years. ”

“ He will reason, of course, that I cannot have yet discovered that he is alive, much less have tracked him to the medical college and to the Barclay residence.”
“Gee whiz!” exclaimed Patsy. “You’re the only man on earth, chief, who could have accomplished all that in so short a time. Margate will not believe it possible.” ”

“ Silent Workers of the “Black Cabinet.”
“Headwork and legwork are more important than green goggles and false whiskers” for the modern sleuth, according to William J. Flynn, chief of the United States Secret Service, better known as Uncle Sam’s “Black Cabinet.”
As a rule, disguises are not used by those in the service. If the matter in hand, for instance, requires the collection of information from workmen, a man is chosen who looks the part without a disguise. He simply wears such clothes as workmen wear and affects the manners and speech of the men with whom he mingles. ”

“ One glance at Boss Coggswell convinced the letter carrier that the oil painting downstairs was an excellent portrait. The district leader certainly appeared to be a very pleasant man. It seemed hard to believe that he could be the kind of fellow who would persecute a humble post-office employee for refusing to give up five dollars for a ticket to a club outing. ”

“ Nick conducted her to the library and ushered her into the room.
Lady Deland arose to receive her and pointed to a chair.
Nancy Selig took it without the ghost of a suspicion.
Nick withdrew and closed the door, then stepped noiselessly through the side hall and into the diplomat’s study.
The first words that fell upon his ears from the library told him that Nancy Selig had lost no time in approaching the business engaging her.
“You can safely admit it to me, since you say there is no one to hear us,” she was adding to what already had passed between them. “There is nothing in mincing matters. ”

“ Uncle Sam’s men in gray are supposed to be mere automatons when it comes to delivering mail. One of the rules of the department is to the effect that carriers must not indulge in any unnecessary conversation while covering their routes; and, of course, they are not supposed to ask any questions or betray any curiosity concerning the letters they carry.
Owen Sheridan was well up on the rules and regulations, but he vowed, as he stepped out of the office to cover his route, that he was going to find out the significance of that letter before another hour had passed. ”

“ Nick then informed her as briefly as possible of the strange combination of circumstances resulting in the loss of the fateful document and her letter relating to it, adding, with convincing earnestness:
“Senator Barclay is in no sense to blame for the misfortune. He thought the safest place for the document during the single night he was to retain it was in the pocket of the coat in his own room.”
“Oh, I do not blame him, Mr. Carter,” said Lady Deland, who now had nerved herself to meet the trying situation. “Senator Barclay is a very dear friend, and a man in whom I have absolute confidence. ”