Old King Brady

“ 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. ”

“ And Harry was so earnest about it that Old King Brady went, leaving him in charge of Alice and Quong Lee.
It was well towards midnight before Old King Brady again found himself approaching the old fertilizer factory.
He was not alone.
Feeling that he might need help he confided the details of his case to Wardman Connors and took him along.
"I don't see a soul," remarked Connors as they approached the pier. "I am afraid it is all Harry's imagination." ”

“ Old King Brady soon discovered that he had attempted the impossible. He could not start a single screw.
"This is a bad job," he exclaimed. "We shall have to lower the box again. I greatly fear that we are up against a murder case. If the woman was alive, she would surely have revived before this."
"She said she was dying," replied Alice. "It begins to look as if she spoke the truth."
"Get back to the boat," called Harry. "We may as well run around to the India Basin warehouse. We shall be able to open the box there." ”

“ The kicker obeyed, and was just about to step back into the launch, when Old King Brady, ordering him to remain where he was, he sat down on the big tin box.
Instantly he jumped up again, exclaiming:
"Good heavens! There is some one alive in this box!"
"Ah! The princess!" cried Alice. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The next instant part of the runway flew up, closing the doorway, while Harry and Alice looked on.
"You scoundrel!" shouted Old King Brady. "Harm that woman at your peril!"
"Leggett is signalling!" cried Harry. "There are Chinks in the launch!"
"Save the princess!" exclaimed Alice. "That yellow fiend has unearthed the treasure and now he will kill her."
"But how to get at him!" cried Old King Brady. "You two keep guard here. There must be a rear entrance. I'll tackle him there." ”

“ Old King Brady and his partner did not know much about the woman.
Whether she was actually concerned in La Croix's smuggling games or not, they had not the faintest idea.
She was a fine-looking woman, tall and stately, with brown hair, blue eyes and handsome features. But she seldom laughed.
Hers was one of those set, inscrutable faces, hard to read, for she seldom showed the emotions preying upon her mind.
"She don't seem to fear detection," commented Harry, as they walked along. "She hasn't made the slightest effort to conceal her actions." ”

“ Now you die!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three shots were instantly fired.
"This is murder!" cried Old King Brady, and he threw himself against the middle door from behind which the shots came.
CHAPTER IX. THE BRADYS GET TOGETHER ONCE AGAIN. BUT THE PRINCESS SLIPS THROUGH THEIR FINGERS.
Urged by Harry, Ah Lung jumped to the outer door of the smoking room as this part of the House of the Seven Delights was called.
Young King Brady hastily adjusting his clothes—he had taken off his coat and vest after the manner of opium smokers—prepared to follow him, but Ah Lung was back before he could get ready. ”

“ Old King Brady shook hands and invited the doctor to sit down, introducing Leggett as a Secret Service man.
"Do you mind if I take my supper at this table?" asked the doctor.
"Not at all," was the reply.
Having come up with the man, it seemed to the old detective that he might as well listen to anything he had to say.
"I thought you were going to China, doctor?" he began.
"Did go," replied the doctor. "I have been across twice since I saw you. How is Young King Brady?"
"Well."
"In San Francisco?"
"I don't know where he is just now. He is working for a man on a private matter. ”

“ His name was High Lung, he informed Old King Brady.
"There's your patient, Doctor," said the old detective. "He has been drugged by some of your people. To me he seems dead. Save him if you can and I'll write you a check for a thousand dollars."
High Lung made no answer but proceeded to examine Harry.
He took a long time about it, too. Old King Brady began to think he never would let up.
At last Dr. High Lung pulled away.
"He is not dead," he said, quietly. "I can save him."
"Good!" cried Old King Brady. "Go ahead."
High Lung then ordered Alice from the room and Harry was stripped. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Old King Brady commented.
"If he were not up to some mischief, he would not be so careful to conceal his identity," Harry remarked, drily.
They let the young man get some distance ahead before they ventured out in the street. Then they separated, to avoid attracting special attention.
Mason walked down Eighth avenue to Thirty-fourth street and boarded a horse-car going east. The detectives followed it afoot until they reached Broadway, and at Herald Square they secured a cab. ”

“ Harry covered the Doctor, Old King Brady managed to make the princess let go her hold on his hair, but not without some difficulty.
Quickly they tied his legs together, searched and captured another revolver.
Meanwhile Garshaski had not spoken a word. His face was deathly white, the sight of his own blood which flowed freely had apparently turned him faint, for by the time the Bradys succeeded in securing him he had relapsed into unconsciousness.
"Call Alice!" ordered the old detective. "We want to find out about the treasure while we have so good a chance." ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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." ”

“ Then, like a flash, the truth suddenly dawned upon Harry's mind, and he cried:
"Now I see through it. Those obstructions were put on the rails to stop the train at this point so that the body could be removed from this car."
"By whom?" demanded the startled baggage master.
"Accessories of the villain who killed that man!" cried the boy. "They've carried the body off in the swamp to hide the evidence of their crime. Come, Old King Brady, alight here and see if we can trace it."
The detectives made a rush for the door and leaped from the train. ”

“ The Bradys got a good look at him before he turned his back to them and Harry clutched his companion's arm and whispered:
"By jove, that's Andrew Gibson, the Custom House inspector, in disguise."
"Yes," assented Old King Brady, nodding, "I recognized him. He knew us, too, I could tell at a glance. That man hates us. I wonder what he is doing here. Can he be after La Croix, too?"
Harry was startled at the very suggestion.
"He knows La Croix is a professional smuggler," he remarked, "and I wouldn't be surprised if he got on to the man living here. He may be trying to nab him as we are doing." ”

“ You are duped. Do as you please with my innocent wife and daughter. You can prove nothing against them. An outsider did the smuggling. That lets us out. I defy you. Do your worst. La Croix."
Young King Brady smiled at the note.
"The raving of a madman!" he muttered scornfully. "If he imagines he has beaten us, we will soon relieve him of that notion."
He carried the note to Old King Brady and exclaimed:
"La Croix has escaped with the diamonds."
"How did he get them?" asked the old detective, curiously.
"Clara sent them to him by the hall-boy." ”

“ It may be one of the warehouses on the channel here after all."
Harry stopped the launch accordingly.
The ebb tide took them back and the fog closed in on the Islais Channel.
The boat ran against a wharf and the movement was stopped.
"Shall I pull up, governor?" inquired Young King Brady.
"No. We will rest as we are," said the old detective. "Quiet, now. Let us listen. I shall not remain long idle here."
"It isn't the least use," growled the Secret Service man. "There won't be nothing doing to-night."
Old King Brady made no reply.
This man was a chronic kicker. ”

“ Old King Brady smiled at Harry's remark.
"There's no great hurry about that case," he remarked.
"Well," said the boy, "are you ready to go through the cars on a hunt for Solomon Gloom? We must make sure of our man before he has a chance to alight at a way station and elude us."
Old King Brady bent nearer to Harry, to reply, when suddenly a cloth was thrown over their heads by a man who sat behind them.
The cloth was saturated with chloroform.
While the detectives were struggling to extricate their heads, they inhaled the deadly fumes and were overcome by the drug. ”

“ Harry muttered.
"That's the situation!" said the girl, quietly. "If you move hand or foot, you'll get shot. Those men never miss their mark. At such short range they could kill you even if they were not expert shots."
The Bradys saw the force of her reasoning.
In a word, they were helpless.
Neither attempted to draw a weapon in self-defense.
To do so would be to seal their doom.
An awkward silence ensued.
Old King Brady finally asked in gruff tones:
"Well, what are you going to do about it?"
"Make prisoners of you and hold you until we have disposed of the diamonds," quickly replied Clara. ”

“ Alice was in despair for it was a very serious case and she could see that the old detective was quite as much concerned as herself.
"What can we do?" she asked.
"Our best plan is to ring off for a few hours," replied Old King Brady.
"But poor Harry?"
"Listen, Alice, if the Chinese meant to kill Harry I need not tell you that by this time they have probably carried their intention into effect. It will do no harm to delay a little. Every move we have made has doubtless been watched and reported to those rascals. Mr. Connors, don't you think I am right?"
"Sure," replied the wardman. ”

“ Butler was taken sick. He sent his son to you yesterday. The foolishness of it. Ed is a good boy, but he is only a boy. Where is he? Has he been here yet?"
"No, madam, he has not been here," replied Old King Brady, who saw at once that the woman was acting on her own account, and probably without the knowledge of her husband.
"The lazy fellow has probably overslept himself," said the woman, working her fan. "Just like him. I thought it might be so. I am just as well pleased. I wanted a chance to talk to you first. Have you heard anything of Ethel—my daughter, I mean?" ”

“ They were now speaking loud and rapidly.
"Draw your revolvers, boys, and be ready," breathed Old King Brady. "We are liable to be discovered at any moment."
Alice sat listening.
"They are the smugglers, all right," she presently whispered.
"Sure?" asked Old King Brady.
"Yes. They say——"
"Never mind, Alice, unless it is something important."
Still the voices continued.
The smugglers appeared to be passing the launch in the direction of the channel.
"Listen!" whispered Alice, as they presently ceased. "This is important. One said: 'We must hurry if we expect to save the princess. ”