The Best 5 Cent Library of Detective Stories.

Entered According to Act of Congress, in the Year 189%, by Street & Smith, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C.
Entered as Second-class Matter atthe New York, N. Y., Post Office, August 8, 1891. Issued \Weekly. Subscription Price, $2.50 per Year. August 13, 1832.

= \
No. bd. SrreET & SMITH, Publishers. NEW YORK, 31 Rose St., N. Y. P.O. Box 2784. 5 Gents.

_ TRICKED AND TRAPEED

, Nick Carters Green Goods Haul.

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“HERE YOU ARE!” SAID NICK, AND HE HELD OUT THE MONEY TO THE GREEN GOODS MAN,

 
 

“9

TRICKED AND TRAPPED:

3

Nick Carter’s Green-Goods Haul.

BY THE AUTHOR OF “NICK CARTER.”

 

CHAPTER I.
‘a FOOL AND HIS MONEY.”

It was early morning, and the clerk of one of the prom-
inent hotels of Elizabeth, N. J., was gazing at his reflec-
tion in the office mirror and wondering why one end of
his mustache would persist in sticking straight out, while
the other curled in the most delightful way, when a young
man of intelligent and handsome features entered the
office and hurriedly accosted him.

“Is J. G. Laroche staying here?”

‘Look on the register and see for yourself.”

The stranger examined the register with trembling
hands.

‘““Yes, he’s here, Room 148. Will you call him for me?”

“Why, of course.”

The clerk touched. an electric button, and a boy appeared
instantly.

The stranger penciled a few lines on a card, and handed
it to the boy, who took it and was off like a flash.

Five minutes elapsed and he returned with a pale face.

“Well, what is it?” gasped the stranger, his face turn.
ing suddenly as pale as death.

“ Something's the matter up in 148.”

“Couldn’t you awaken him?” asked the clerk,

“No, and I smelled——” y=

6b Gas ee s

oe Yes.”

The clerk made
his heels.

Up they went to the third floor.

When No. 148 was reached the strong odor of gas
caused the same thought to enter each of their minds.

The clerk tried the door.

Locked.

He looked up at the transom.

Closed.

The stranger was about to break the door in, when the
clerk produced a bunch of keys.

Selecting the right one, he pushed it in the lock, and
turned it.

The stranger was the first to enter the room.

The smell of gas was almost overpowering.

But he was a young man of resource as well as presence
of mind.

Without looking to right or left, he closed his lips, held
his breath, and made for the chandelier, and turned off
the gas.

The clerk in the meantime had rushed to one of the win-
dows which overlooked the street, thrown open the inner
blinds, and raised the window.

With both the door and window open, a good. draught
was produced and the foul and dangerous odor was soon
carried away. ;

The blinds had been closed prior to the entrance of the
two men, and their opening sent the full light of day into
the room,

The young stranger, with an emotion of fear, turned
his eyes toward the bed.

It was empty. ©

But the disarrangement of the clothes showed that it
had been occupied during the night.

“Look under the bed!” said the clerk, in an awe-
stricken tone.

He had seen what he took to be a man’s foot from whero
he stood by the window.

The young man dropped to his knees, and looked as
suggested.

, rush for the elevator, the. stranger at

sree 7 A

NICK CARTER LIBRARY.

q

 

   

No. 64,

Ly.

What he saw confirmed his worst fears. ©

Under the bed, with his head toward the wall, was the
body of a tall, thin man.

“Dead !” was the discoverer’s agitated exclamation,

‘Perhaps not. Drag him out, and let’s take a look at,
him.”

The body was dragged forth. :

The face was livid and the eyes were closed.

The clerk tore open the man’s shirt, and placed his ear
over his heart.

‘““He’s not dead,” he cried out, cheerily. ‘‘Get some
whisky down his throat, if you can, while I telephone for
a doctor.”

An hour later the victim of asphyxiation was lying on
the lounge in his room and conversing in tremulous tones
with the young man who had been the means of his rescue
from the jaws of death.

“Iam sorry, Jasper, drefful sorry,” the man was say-
ing ; “‘ but I war plumb crazy when I foun’ out thet I’d been
swindled.

“TI jes turned on ther gas as a sort a’ ’speriment, en ef
it hadn’t er worked all right, I’d er blown out. my brains
with thet ther pistol o’ mine.”

Jasper Orrant sighed.

He was not related to the raw-boned, lanky, hatchet-
faced, middle-aged man who had made a fool of himself,
but there had been a prospect at one time that he might
form a legal tie by becoming his son-in-law.

“Tell me all about your experiences, Mr. Laroche,” he
said, quietly.

“Well, Jasper, it’s er story as sorter reflects on the
morils of the ole man, but I can’t help it. I’m as honest
as the majority o’ folks about, though I be a bigger fule
than Bascom’s donkey.

“Kz you knowed when you kem sparkin’ ’roun’ the
place, Jasper, I had ez finea farm ez you kin dig up
ennywhars in Putnam County, Georgy.

“Ko nigh onto a yere I bener gitten printed truck
from some fellah in New York what wanted ter sell me
money.

“Greenbacks is sca’ce down in Georgy, Jasper, ez you
knows right well yo’self, so I "lowed I’d come up yer an’
git some cheap.

“The fellah’s name what wrote the letters is Lafarge, en
he worked ther snap in the fines’ kind o’ style.

“ Most of the circulars I got war ’bout tariff reform, an’
I'd read away ter ther last few lines afore I’d strike the
milk in ther cocoanut, so ter speak.

“We're dead gone on ther tariff, down our way, Jasper,
an’ all my neighbors got these same circulars, an’ some of
’em thot that they spied er chance uv payin’ their tariff on
whisky by cheap greenbacks,

“This yer Lafarge he writ at last fer me ter come ter
Elizabeth, N. J., an put up at this yer hotel.

“Thet’s what I did, an’ purty soon a fellah with black
hair, mustache, side whiskers, an’ a slick pusson met me,
whispered ‘128’ into my yer—thet was ther pass-word—
an then we got down ter business.

“He hed three thousand dollars in greenbacks, which
he said he’d sell ter me fer three hundred dollars.

“'Thet was jus’ ther size 0’ my wallet, an’ I tole him so.

“Would I take a walk down ther street with him?
Well, I reckoned I would, an’ purty soon we met another
man in front of a dark house on some street, whose name
I disremember. 2

“I wuz ter walk inside ther house an’ git my money. |

“The second fellah, which had short hair and a red
mustache, said I was lucky ter have kep’ out er New
York. ‘You jes’ walk erlong ther street,’ sez he, ‘an’ some
one pulls er string, a hole opens under your feet, an’ you
disappear inter ther river.’

“That thar was a purty tough yarn, Jasper, but I
swallyed it, an’ waited fer my turn. Purty soon the short
man, noticin’ the hannle o’ my revolver, said it looked
like it might make a fellah mad, if a bullet frum it hap-,
pened fur ter hit ’im. ee
_ ““E made it myself,’ says I, ‘an’? down in Georgy I uses
it ter shoot bars with.’ ” 7

 

 

 

 

 

   
 
 

 

 

  

  

No. 54, NICK CARTER LIBRARY. — ; 3

 

 

body tell I kin hear ther heart a-beatin’; then I puts ther
pistol up clost an’ shoots him dead.’
“Whilst we was a-talkin’, the other feller was a-countin’
out some bills. When he had fingered over three thousan’
dollars worth of ’em, he put ’em on ther table befo’ me
an’ I gev him three hundred dollars.
“TY ast him how he could afford ter give me such a likely
stack o’ money, an’ he said that was part o’ the business
an’ he couldn’t explain.

“He put ther stuff in er wooden box—lI seen ther bills

on ther top o’ each package—an’ I put the box in my
satchel.
_ ‘When I lef’ ther house, I went direct to ther hotel, an’
it bein’ nigh onto dark, I concluded I’d have supper, take
another squint at my fortune, and then run over ter New
York and spend a few dollars on the theayters.”

Mr. Laroche uttered a deep sigh, looked appealingly at
Orrant, and then proceeded :

“IT don’t want you to give this thing away on me, Jas-
per, for we’re all weak creetures and ain’t responsible for
our actions, when you come to figger ther thing down to a
fine point.

‘Arter supper I went to my room—this yer room—an’
I tuk out ther box the greenback fellah had giv me, and
opened ther packages ter look at ther notes ag’ in.

“What do you think, Jasper Orrant? Dog my skin if I
hadn’t been roped in, an’ done fer slicker nor bar’s
grease.

“Every blame package—there were three on ’em—had a
good greenback onto ther top ov ’em, but ther rest of ther
package was nuthin’ but green paper.

“Fer three hundred dollars in good money I had ree-
seaved jest sixteen dollars and not a cent more.

“When I seen what I’d come ter, I begun ter think of
ther ole oman I’d left behine on ther farm, an’ of the
darter she had been cryin’ her eyes out fer. I began ter
think how I’d lied ter that ole ’oman o’ mine. I’d tole
her that I was goin’ up North ter hunt fer Viola Ann, an’
never said nothin’ ’bout greenbacks an’ makin’ a fortune.

“An’ ther more I thot, Jasper, ther more I got ter
cussin’ myself. An’ ther more whisky I poured down my
gullet the more desprit I got, tell, at last, at last, Jasper,
I determined to commit susancide. I’d heerd ’bout ther
gas racket, an’ I turned it on a purpose.”

“What made you crawl under the bed?” asked the
young man.

‘‘Dunno, Jasper. I must ha’ rolled under thar whilst
a-tryin’ ter git ter ther door.

“And now,” added the old Georgian, pathetically,
“what am I gwine ter do, Jasper? I’m plumb busted,
*ceptin’ ther sixteen doJlars, an’ thattle have ter go fer
hotel bills, I reckon.”

“Your bill to date will be ten dollars, Mr. Laroche,” put
in the clerk, blandly. “An extra dinner yesterday and a
little bill for liquors, you know.”

“I will settle that,” said Orrant, “and—that’s all, I
believe.”

The clerk interpreted the last words and the look that
accompanied them as a dismissal, and left the room.

Larvche remained for some moments with his head
bowed on his breast and his eyes closed.

Orrant sat watching him with a smile, in which con-
tempt was mingled with amusement.

“Jasper,” the old man said at length, as he raised him-
self on an elbow, and looked keenly at his companion, “I
wanter ask you a question.”

‘* Well?”

“ Are you hankerin’ arter Viola yit?”

The young man frowned.

Evidently the subject was distasteful to him.

He made no reply.

“ Becase if ye are, I kin tell yer somethin’.”

“Have you heard from her?” Orrant asked, shortiy,
and looking away.

“Not directly.”

- “ Well, what have you found out?” Jasper asked, some-
what irritably.

“T’ve seed ther man what run away with her.”

Orrant started, and his handsome face put on astern
expression.

“Who ishe? And where is he?” he quickly demanded.

“He is Mr. Lafarge.”
‘The man who roped you in on this green-goods racket ?”
“Ther same.”

CHAPTER. Tl.
IN NICK CARTER’S HANDS.

“Did you know that Lafarge was the man when you did
your rascally business with him?” asked the young man,
in anything but a pleasant tone of voice.

66 No. 9

‘“When did you discover the fact?”

“A minute ago.”

Orrant turned up his nose. ee

“T mighter dropped onter him befo’, Jasper,” Laroche
went on with a deprecating glance at the stern, contemptu-
ous face of his companion, “if my mind hadn’t been
wrapped up in the greenback biz. But sence I’ve ben in
the shadder ov death, Jasper, ther cobwebs have ben
breshed away from my brain, an’ I kin see now, plain as
day, what is what an’ whichis which. Lafarge is ther
man fer a thousan’ dollars.”

Jasper Orrant’s eyes were on the floor. He was think-
ing of the pasc, of a dream of happiness that had been
rudely dispelled.

Three months before the opening of this tale, he was
basking in the smiles of the prettiest girl in Putnam
County, Georgia.

Viola Laroche, tall, black-eyed, superbly formed, a ver-
itable beauty as it seemed to the young man who adored
her. She was not uneducated and unrefined like her
father, and her mother had the blue blood of the Calvertg
in her veins. When Viola had reached the age of ten, she
had been sent to a fashionable seminary near Mobile, and
had received such an education as made her shine asa
bright particular star in the best society the county
afforded. eee

It was at a reception given to General Gordon that she
first met Jasper Orrant, a young lawyer.

It was a case of love at first sight.

Three weeks afterward they were engaged.

The young man believed that his sweetheart was as
good as she was beautiful.

After reveling in an atmosphere of bliss for three
months there came a sharp and terrible awakening.

Viola left her home one day for the ostensible purpose
of visiting a neighbor some miles away.

She never went to the place, and she never returned to
her home.

The next day when Jasper called to see her, he found
her father and mother wild with grief.

A letter from Viola, brought by a colored boy that morn-
ing, told a story that turned the lover’s hope and joy into
bitterness and gloom.

‘Dear father and mother,” if said, ‘‘do not grieve on account of my
sudden departure. It is all for the best. Jasper loves me no longer,
and I cannot stay at the old place another day. I have gone with one
who has promised to aid me in attaining a position I have long coy-
eted. I will write again when I am settled.”

She had never written again.

The father had entertained a traveling agent some days
before, and inquiries made at the nearest railway station
elicited the information that Viola and the agent had left
on the train for the North together.

It was clearly a case of elopement.

And now Laroche was positive that the man Lafarge,
who had swindled him out of three hundred dollars, was
the villain who had spirited away his daughter.

Jasper Orrant had remained in Georgia, listlessly per-
forming the duties of life, until Laroche’s departure for
the North.

The old Georgian had gone away with the avowed pur-
pose of finding Viola and punishing the man who had
stolen her away.

After he had gone, Jasper discovered that the old man
had had a second object in leaving nome, and that was tc

 

better his financial condition by investing in New York
greenbacks. :

 

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4 NICK CARTE

 

   

No. 54.

By LIBRARY.

 

 

One of the sham tariff circulars fell into the young
man’s hands.

He instantly saw through the trick of the green-goods
men, as he had always been a constant reader of the
papers, and besides he had had considerable metropolitan
experience.

Without saying anything to Mrs. Laroche that might
add to the poignancy of her sorrow over the loss of Viola,
Jasper told her that he intended to join the husband and
father in the search.

Arrived at Elizabeth, he learned that Laroche had been
seen in the company of a notorious New York swindler.

The result of his further investigation is known to the
reader.

When Viola’s father made the positive declaration that
Lafarge was the scoundrel who had been the cause of the
young girl leaving her home, J eee instantly determined
to find and punish him.

He also made up his mind that Lafarge should refund
the three hundred dollars which he had swindled the old
Georgian out of.

From Laroche he obtained complete descriptions of both
Lafarge and the short man who had acted as that villain’s
confederate.

Then he said, curtly :

“Pll settle your hotel bill, and you will take the next
train for home.”

“'What’ll I say ter ther ole ’oman ?”

“Tell her that I am on the trail of Viola’s abductor, and
that there was no need of your staying, as you could be of
no use.”

- That’s so, Jasper,” murmured the old man, contritely.

“You need not say anything about the loss of your
money, unless you think it your duty to tell your wife all
about it.”

**Do you. think you’ll get my money back #”

“T may.”
“Then I won’t say anything till I hear from you,
Jasper.” aaa

No more was said,

Mr. Laroche left Elizabeth that afternoon for his
Georgian home.

Jasper Orrant went to New York city, when he had put
a railroad thicket into the old man’s hand and bidden
him good-by.

He had determined to put the case into the hands of the
smartest detective in New York.

‘You must secure Nick Carter,”
to whose office Orrant had immediately betaken himself
on his arrival in the great city.

“Where is he?”

“Here.”

“Tn this building ?”

be Yes. 7

“Where ?”

‘In the superintendent’s office talking with Mr. Mur-
ray. ”

“Mr. Murray holds the position which you have been
elected to fill, does he not?”

(39 Yes. 9

The inspector went to the telephone, and dropped a few
words into the speaking-tube.

Two minutes elapsed and Nick Carter, the great detec-
tive, stood alert and smiling before the young man from
Georgia.

“Nick,” said the inspector, ‘‘you were saying the other
day that you were spoiling for another green-goods case.
Here you are.’

A few words told the detective the whole story.

“Lafarge and Fogg,” was his quick comment,

“The smartest and most dangerous green-goods fakirs
in the Union,” added the inspector. ‘

“As the post-office authorities are interested in this
business, I think I’ll wire Wanamaker and get an author-
_ ization to act for the Government,” said Nick.

Jasper Orrant waited while the following telegrams
went and came:

_ “Joun WanaMakeER, Postmaster General, Washington, D. C.:—Green-
goods men growing bolder in their operations here and in States ad-

Chief Inspector James, New York office, to give you all power neces-
sary for prosecution of your work. Hope you will succeed. :
‘*W ANAMAEER.”’

“Nick Carter, at Inspector Byrnes’ office :—Call and see me.
“C. C. JAMES, Chief Inspector, N. Y. P. 0.”

That evening the great detective, with full authority

goods men, started for Bridgeport, Conn., after a lengthy
consultation with his faithful assistant, Chick, and Jasper
Orrant.
Bridgeport was known to be oad quariors for the shrewd
swindlers he purposed attacking, and he felt sure that in
or about that place he would either see, or hear, tidings of
Lafarge.
He was made up for the campaign as a typical cowboy.
On the railway car he read the papers, bought nuts and
eandy from the train boys, and conducted himself in such
a free and easy manner that he attracted the attention of
a smartly dressed young man with black mustache and a
pair of sharp black eyes, who sat a few seats below him.
Nick had spotted the fellow when he entered the car. _
He knew “by the cut of his jib” that he was a confidence
fakir, and probably in the green-goods business.
Pretty soon the young man got up and walked down the
aisle and past Nick to the end of the car, and looked out
the window.
He remained there but a moment, and then came slowly
back, looking keenly into the faces of the male passengers
on his way.

Opposite Nick’s seat he stopped.

The great detective had just invested | a nickel in n pea-
nuts.

He looked up when the stranger stopped, and, Gob
the young man with the black mustache could speak, held
out a handful of peanuts. :
“Have some, mister,” he said, in hearty Western ac-
cents.

“Don’t care if I do,” returned the other, with a smile. °
‘““By the way,” said the stranger, “I was looking for a_
man from the West or South-west.” _

“What State?”

“ Arkansas or Texas, I think. I can robes sure by look-
ing in my note-book.”

He put his hand in his pocket, took out a small book,
and was about to turn over the pages, when Nick spoke

said Inspector Byrnes, | UP:

“Tf he war from Texas, I might know him.”
“Texas, yes——” looking on one of the pages—“ that is
the State. Texas, why of course. I ought to have remem-
bered it.”
The stranger took a seat beside Nick, book still in hand.
“His name was Peters, Crockett Alamo Peters. Did
you know him?”

““Wuz he from San Antone way ?”

c Yes. ”

“Don’t ree-kolect ther name ata jump. What does he
do fer a livin’ ?”

“Fe’s a bull puncher.”

“That used ter be my gait.”

“Yeg?”—an assumed surprise and a look of f gratified i in-
POURAL Se ee ec ee re

“Fact.

Denver.”

‘‘He wrote me he was coming,” said the stranger, as if
to himself and with a shade of annoyance in his voice.
“Doggone aman who makes a promise and doesn’t keep
it,” he added, quickly, with an indignant expression:

“T allus keep my promises,” said the disguised detective.

A pause. .

The stranger glanced furtively about him, saw that the -
nearest passenger was several seats away, and out of
hearing and then said, in a low tone of relief:

“Well. maybe it’s just as well that he hasn’t shown up.”

Nick smiled inwardly. are

He knew what was coming.

 

joining. Would like official authority to take the field against them.
- “Nick os, care Inspector Byrnes.”

ing a big stake for an n insignificant outlay.”

  

ot it ee. a

“Nick CARTER, ¢are Inspector Byrnes, New York :—Have wired

from the post-office department to begin war on the green- —

I’ve punched bulls and rounded up cattle all ,
the way from Durango to Santa Fe and from Santa Fe te

 

“That’s right.” : =

“No man but a fool would miss such a chance of mak- :

 

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Ree eae ie Sale [a peer

NICK @ARTER LIBRARY. : 5

———.

 

oe What are yer drivin’ at stranger?” queried Nick, his
face the picture of devouring curiosity.

“The chance this fellow from San Antonio has missed.”

“Money is a good thing ter have, stranger.”

“Soitis. At least that’s been my experience.
way, how are taxes down in Texas?”

“Purty durn high.”

“Causes a fellow to rustle to make both ends meet, eh?”

a6 Yes. ”

“'There’s nothing like making money easy.”

“That’s so,” regretfully.

“ And no risk about it either.”

“Risk? Why should there be a risk about makin’
money—’cept in tacklin’ faro or poker.”

“Do you play ?”

“Once in a while.”

The stranger’s doubts were fast disappearing. He was
feeling his way.

He was looking for aman who was not overburdened
with moral scruples, but who atthe same time was not
disposed todo anything which might place himin the

~ clutches of the law..

The cowboy looked like a promising subject.

Having made up his mind as to his course of action, the
stranger took a sealed envelope from his pocket, handed
it to the disguised detective, and said, mysteriously :

“Read that, and I’ll see you later about it. Mum/’s the
word, whatever you may conclude to do.”

a Eh Ce

Nick’s innocent stare caused the stranger to smile.

“Say nothing and saw wood.”

“Oh, yes, I cotton ter that, right away.”

“Where are you bound ?”

“To Bridgeport.”

“Good! Ill see you, there.”

The young man, with the black mustache, arose from
the seat and held out his hand.

*“Good-by for the present, Mister—

“ Austin Jobson.”

“Good-by, Mr. Jobson, and——” lowering his voice toa
whisper—“ be sure and read what’s in that envelope very
carefully.”

Nick nodded his head.

The stranger left the car.

Left to himself, the detective opened the envelope, took
out a printed circular, and read as follows:

“No. 144 Mort Street, New Yorkx, June 5, 1892.
“Duar Sir—We take this opportunity of making known
to you our business. Weare satisfied from investigation
that you would make us a good agent, and therefore hope
you will not be slow to take advantage of this offer.”

By the

“Tm jumping at # with my mouth open,” muttered
Nick.

“You will find our goods to be equal to any, and we
know you will not have any trouble with them, as we
have agents who are buying large amounts from us every
month, and no one has any trouble.”

“Hvery day,” commented the reader, “a sucker leaves
Suckerville with one of these circulars in his pocket.”

“The paper used in our money is the same _ as that used
in the. genuine. The engraving is perfect in every re-
spect, and no one on earth can tell these bills from the
simon pure article.”

“Here is where the sucker pauses, for he knows that
generally there is a big risk in attempting to pass coun-
_terfeit money. But the next paragraph puts the cinch on
his misgivings, and he is ready to chance arrest.”

Nick continued his reading.

“Our terms are $50 for $1, 000, or for $100 we will send
$2,300, or for $200 we will send $5,000. Better terms
still, if we can see you personally. Write to our address

_ for further particulars.”

“That’s one way to work the green-goods game,” mused
Nick, “for there’s all kinds of bait for all kinds of suckers.

“Tam one of the kind who will play with the hook a!

little Es biting.

 

 

“This chap, with the sharp eyes and black mustache, is
neither Lafarge nor Fogg. But through him I[’ll find my
men as sure as butter comes from grass.”

At the Bridgeport depot, the stranger accosted Nick as
if he had been an old friend.

“Well, Mr. Jobson, and what’s the good word with
you ge

Nick’s look was solemn, as he answered ;

“T’m plumb bothered.”

‘ About what?”

Money.”

They were walking away from the depot, Nick with his.
only baggage, a satchel, in his hand.

: ‘Money is easy to find, if only you know where to look
or it.”

“So I’ve heered. Reckon I’ll be lookin’ fer the place one
of these days.”

“What do you think of that circular I gave you?”

“That’s the kind this yer Peters you was speakin’ of got
a hold of ?”

“The same, and he wrote that he would come to Bridge-
port on this train, and buy some of the goods.”

“Have you got ’em ter sell?”

66 Yes. 9

They were in front of a hotel.

Nick went in, the stranger following.

The disguised detective registered as “A. Jobson, San
Antonio, Texas,” and had the satchel sent up to the room
assigned him by the clerk.

“ Let’s take a walk,” suggested the green-goods man.

Nick, whose eyes had scanned the faces of the loungers
about the hotel without seeing either of the men he was
after, gave a ready assent.

The twain walked out of the hotel, and before long
found themselves in the suburbs. _

“If you want to invest,” said the stranger, after they
had entered a shady walk, “I can accommodate yOu

Nick was about to make a satisfactory reply, when a
low whistle behind him caused the young man with the
sharp eyes and the black mustache to turn pale.

“We're spotted,” he whispered, “and must separate.
Will see you at the hotel, in. your own room, in an hour.”

Nick was disappointed.

The fellow was starting off, when he said :

‘*Who whistled ?”

“My partner,”

Nick said no,more.

He allowed the green-goods man to cross the street, and
disappear around a corner.

Then he turned quickly and walked in the direction
whence the whistling had come.

A man standing under one of the trees which bordered
the walk, near a crossing, saw him coming, and at once
turned his back to the detective, and began walking rap-
idly away.

But Nick had spotted him without seeing his face.

Jt was Billy Silk, a noted bunco steerer, who had served
a term in Sing Sing, thanks to Nick’s efforts, and who had
been politely informed by Inspector Byrnes that his room
in the metropolis was preferable to his company.

For some months he had been lying low and keeping
out of sight of the officers.

Nick, who had heard that he had gone to Colorado, was
surprised to see him in Bridgeport.

He was a keen-witted rascal, and he might have recog-
nized the detective, in spite of the cowboy disguise.

And if so, the whistle of warning had not been given its
right interpretation by the young man with the sharp
eyes.

It had been a warning of another character.

It had said to the green-goods man: “Look out, you are
talking with the smartest detective in the country.”

Nick’s jaws squared themselves in dogged determina-
tion, as these thoughts passed through his mind.

Billy Silk was still ahead of him, and still walking like
aman who has important business to attend to, and not
a moment to spare.

At the first corner he turned.

As he did so, Nick stepped behind a tree.

There he did a lightning disguise change.

He reversed his coat for one thing.

 

  

 
   

6 NICK CARTER LIBRARY.

~

 

And his sombrero was submitted to a process of com-
pression which left it one-eighth its wearing size, after
which it was tucked away in an inner pocket.

Off went his sweeping mustache, and on went a black
beard.

A few other changes and he was transformed into an
Italian mendicant, who needed only a hand organ and a
monkey to make him independent and nappy.

Billy Silk’s form was still in sight when Nick turned
the corner, and again took up the pursuit.

The fellow made many turns and crossings before he
dropped into aslow gait on one of the streets near the
Sound, but in the outskirts and where the houses were
few and far between.

Sauntering carelessly behind him, ever and anon poking
around in the gutters with along stick which he had
picked up, the disguised detective at last saw his quarry
stop in front of a dilapidated frame-house, which stood in
a large swampy inclosure.

A raised walk of stone, overgrown with weeds, led from
the gate to the front door.

As Billy Silk was about to enter the gate,a man came;
down the walk to meet him.

It was the green-goods operator, he of the sharp eyes
and black mustache.

Nick coming up, as they met and shook hands, Reard
Billy say hurriedly :

‘‘Get inside quick, for there’s danger,” and food the
other say in return: “It’s a pity the boss is away, for he’d
know what to do.”

As they paid no attention to bim as he passed by on the
sidewalk, Nick came to the conclusion that his disguise
was a perfect one.

The two men entered the house, and the door closed
after them.

The detective determined to get in the building, and
overhear what was said between them.

But how to do it?

That was the question.

It was not yet noon, and to make an attempt to enter
by the back way, or any way, would be to eh certain
discovery.

While walking away from the gate aie debating the
problem, he thought he heard a faint call for help coming
from the direction of the house.

He stopped and listened with all his ears.

The cry was 1epeated, and seemed to conié from below
the surface of the ground.

The house probably had a cellar.

He moved farther away, so that he could inspect one
side of the structure.

The weeds prevented him from making sure on the
point, but he was convinced, nevertheless, that there was
a@ window on the side, and that the sound must have come
through it.

It would never do to stand still and stare at the house
with the sharp green-goods men inside.

He walked slowly on once more, but with his ears
strained to catch the slightest noise.

The call for help was repeated.

Nick’s curiosity was aroused.

The house held a-mystery.

He was resolved to unravel it.

By some means he must get inside, and at once.

The words of the young man, who had tried to rope him
in, recurred to him.

“Ts a pity the boss is away,” etc.

They suggested a bold move, and upon the instant he
resolved to put it into execution.

He walked back to the gate, quickly entered it, and
strode up the walk like a man who had business there.

Arrived at the door, he paused for one moment, and
hearing rio sound from within gave several loud knocks.

Presently there was heard the movement of feet.

“Who's there?” called out a voice, which Nick recog-
nized as Billy Silk’s.

“ A messenger from the boss.”

The door was opened, and the ex-convict looked Nick
over from head to foot.

“Where is the boss?” he asked sharply.
“ Hlizabeth.”

“ What’s your message ?”

Nick looked furtively about, and then said, mysteri-
ously : 2

“Da gal.”

66 Ah! 1»?

Billy Silk started.

“Suppose dat I wass come in da housa, eh?
you better whata da boss say.”

“Yes, yes; come in.’

He ushered Nick into the front room.

The game was now opened in earnest.

Don I tella

 

CHAPTER. III. ‘

AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY.

There was no carpet on the floor of the room, and the
furniture consisted only of a square wooden table, sev-
eral wooden chairs, and a large cabinet which fitted one
corner diagonally.

A curious expression crept into Billy Silk’s face when
Nick turned his eyes on the cabinet.

The young man with the sharp eyes occupied a seat by
the table, upon which he was nervously drumming his
fingers when the detective entered.

“Now,” said Silk, when Nick had taken a seat, “tell us
what the boss said.”

“He sayed data you mus’ give a gal to me queeck.”

“Got any writing to show that you are giving us straight
goods?”

‘“Naw—no writing. Boss, he say data he was got a ne

“tima).~

“No time to write ?”
¢¢ Si. 33.

and agent ?”
“He juss beena talk wida man data come from Florida.”
“Were you present when they met?”
(79 Si. 7?
“What was the first word.”
“Da boss say one hund’ seventy-seeks.”
“One hundred and seventy-six.
other man say?” —
~ “Hesaya dasam’. And then they was commenca talka,
talka, talka about mon’.”
“What made the boss speak to you?
you?”
“Dosa he knowa me?”
Nick assumed an expression of blank amazement.
“Dosa he knowa me?” he repeated. “Do you taka da
boss for a foola?”
ro No. A}
“Den, of course, he knowa me.
me, eh Q”
“What have you ever done for him that he should trust

you ? 9”

Does he know

Else how wuss he trus’

“T sava him froma da cop.”

6e W hen ? 99)

“'Thees morn’.” :

“What did the cop want of him?”

“To arres’ him.”

“What for?”

“Bouta what soma man data come from Virgin’ say.”

“Man from Virginia, eh ?” a

“Gi, signor.’

“And what did the man from Virginia say ?”

“He saya data da_ boss rob him of a da beeg mon® by da
game of a da grin-goods.”

‘‘Take him, Billy,” said the questioner, “he’s too fly for
me. PP]

Billy sat on one end of the table, and dangled his legs.

Nick was now satisfied that the two rascals were sus-
picious of him.

“You spoke of a girl,” said Billy.
refer to?”

“Da one in dis house,” answered Nick, boldly.

“Really, now, but there must be some mistake.
is no girl in this house that I am aware of.”

‘What girl do you

There

 

to his words, a muffled cry was heard.
It came from below—from the cellar.

No. 54. ie

“What was he doing when he made you his messenger”

Well, what did a

This question was asked by. the young man’at the table. |

At that moment, as if for the purpose of giving the lie —

    

 

      

 

 
 

NICK CARTER LIBRARY.

 
  

i

 

The young man with the sharp eyes jumped to his feet,
and was about to leave the room, when a word from his
confederate restrained him.

“Wait.”

Then Silk turned again to the false Italian.

“You have not quite satisfied us,” he went on, “that
you are in the swim, as it were. You may be a detective
for aught we know.”

Nick smiled, and shook his head. é

“Some better proof of your friendly connection with
the party you call the boss must be given before we can
admit you into our confidence. Come, trot out something
now, and better to the point, or take a walk.”

Once more came that muffled cry—the cry as of a
son in deadly peril or grevious pain.

Nick felt that it was time to act. .

“T gota something data I thinka will feex all righta,”
he said, quietly. -

“That's good. What is it?”

Billy Silk was standing close to the other man.

Nick strode forward quickly, as soon as Silk had spoken,
until he stood in front of him.

Then, quick as a flash, up went his hands, clenched and
ready for service.

Bif! Punk!

Down went the two green-goods men, asif a cyclone
had struck them.

As they strove ‘to arise to their feet, Nick let out with
his fists again.

This time he was the winner of a double knock out.

Neither Billy Silk nor his companion attempted to rise
after the second assault.

But as Nick was stooping over them, handcuffs in hand
—he had resolved to run them in on general principles—
he heard a noise behind him that sounded like the cau-
tious opening of a door.

He turned quickly, to face the cabinet which stood in
the corner.

The door was slightly ajar.

Ashe gazed at it wonderingly, it was seen to softly
close.

What did it mean?

Who was in that cabinet?

If a man, why did he not come out?

Nick lost no time in useless speculation.

He arose to his feet, drew his revolver, and stepped
resolutely toward the corner.

He was within three feet of the cabinet, when a sharp
click of a spring was heard.

The next instant the floor gave way under his feet, and
ae was precipitated into a darksome hole some nine feet

elow.

As Juck would have it, he struck squarely on _ his feet.

Before the trap closed, he heard these words spoken by
_ the man who had stepped from the cabinet when the trap
- was sprung.

“That’s the way to catch ’em, boys.”

The voice was familiar to the detective.

It belonged to Pharis Fogg, the partner of Lafarge, boss
of the green-goods men.

Nick ground his teeth in rage.

He had had the good luck to strike the rendezvous of
the rascal he was anxious to entrap, and then had been
entrapped himself.

He was in total darkness.

The floor upon which he stood was asphalt or concrete.

Feeling about with his hands, he soon found that he
was in a square apartment, the side walls of which were
stone.

And there was no tangible evidence of adoor or other
outlet anywhere.

He was a prisoner inaroom without light, and from
which escape seemed utterly impossible.

The air was foul from insufficient ventilation, and after
a time he began to experience the effects of it.

- His head began to ache, his mouth became parched, and
ere long a feeling of giddiness seized him.

This was a warning that he would sink into a faint that
might pass into death, if he did not leave the place soon,
either by his own volition or through the agency of his
enemies.

per-

 

He pulled his wits together for a final attempt to solve
the mystery of his prison.

: There must be some other outlet beside that of the trap-
oor.

How had the trap been sprung?

By some person concealed in the cabinet, of course. }

“That point being settled,” cogitated Nick, “we come’
to the man himself, Pharis Fogg. Y

“ He was not in the cabinet when I entered the room in ©
the company of Billy Silk.

‘Where was he, then? :

“There can be but one answer, unless it is granted that .
Fogg has supernatural powers, which is out of the ques-
tion. He was in some other room, which has an opening
into the cabinet.

“That room may be on the same fioor with the cabinet,
or it may be below.

‘““My idea is that it is below, and that he ascended to the
main floor in some way just after I arrived.”
Nick ceased his speculations for a moment, in order to
oe an investigation that had not before occurred to

im.

He felt his way to the corner, which he judged to be
directly under the cabinet.

But there was no ladder, rope, or any contrivance there
or thereabout, by which a person might hoist himself to
the ceiling.

A failure to find anything of the kind did not discour-.
age the great detective.
Asa matter of fact, he had not expected to meet with

success in this respect.

Some other method of egress had been used.

He slowly passed his hands up and down the stone wall,
feeling carefully with his fingers, about all the mortared

‘spaces.

While thus occupied, he almost forgot his giddiness an
the foul oppression of the atmosphere of the room.

He was forcibly reminded of his perilous surroundings
when he was reaching highest in his effort to find the key
of the cabinet puzzle.
His head allof a sudden began to whirl round and:
round, until in spite of all his efforts to throw off the feel
ing of sufiocation that oppressed him, he sank down upon
the hard floor.
One hand—his right—was thrown out, involuntarily as
he straightened upon the cement, until it touched the ex-
treme point of the corner.
At that moment, just as his senses were about to leave
him, an electric thrill passed through his veins.
His fingers had touched a something that was neither
asphalt nor cement.
Metal.
A button of brass or steel about the size of a quarter of
a dollar.
Instinctively he pressed it. hara, and instantly some-
thing happened that acted as a revivifier.
It was a strange creaking noise from over his head.
With an almost superhuman exertion, he rose to a sit-
ting position and looked upward.
The darkness prevented him from seeing anything.
But he knew what the noise meant.
It still continued, and soon as he rose to his feet, and
leaned against the wall for support, he felt a wave of
cool air strike his face.
His strength began to return as if by magic.
In a moment the means of escape from the darksome
prison would be within reach.
For the button he had pressed was a part of a concealed
mechanism that was used in lowering and hoisting the
floor of the cabinet.
With his hands again raised, this time for the purpose
of grasping the wooden car, he was congratulating him-
self that he would soon be face to face with the villain
who had entrapped him, when a Jarring noise above, fol-
lowed by an excited exclamation, told him that his pur-
pose and action had been discovered.
Instantly the car, as it might be called, had its move-
ment reversed.
It began to rise just when it was within a few inches of
Nick’s uplifted hands.

 

It was within a foot of the upper floor, when Billy Silk’s

a

 
  

  
8

 

NICK CARTER LIBRARY.

   

 

 

jeering voice smote ee the aperture upon the de-|
spairing detective’s ears.

“Tt’s no use, old boy, you can’t make it.
with Nick Carter this time.”

The detective clenched his hands, but made no answer.

“Tf you’ll be real good and keep your brain in gooa con-
dition, we’ll come down and see you after a while.”

Still no answer.

The floor of the cabinet was drawn into place, and all
sound from above was cut off.

Nick was no longer in a fainting condition, for the air
which had flowed in through the hole»shad given him a
~new lease of life. :

He felt that he was good for active service for half an
hour at least.

When the discovery was made by the villians above
that he had learned the secret of the cabinet, and was
about to make use of it, Nick felt a sense of acute disap-
pointment.

But hope did not entirely leave him.

Pharis Fogg had ascended from the room he was now
in.

And this was proof to Nick’s mind that the partner of
Lafarge had come, originally, from some other apartment
in the cellar, and one which communicated with the room
he was now occupying against his will.

There must, therefore, be a secret door somewhere,
which was operated by a concealed spring.

Before Nick began his search for it, he pressed the but-
-on in the corner again.

It would not work.

The green-goods men had fastened the car a the top.

Perhaps they would lock the other door, so as to pre-
vent his making effectiv re use of it in case he should
find it.

Never mind. He must discover it, if possible, and give
it a trial.

At last his search was rewarded.

Another button, similar to the one which had moved
the machinery which had set the floor of the cabinet in
motion, was found near another corner.

He pressed it, and one of the stones, which proved to be
not more than an inch in thickness, swung open, revealing
a@ narrow corridor, which was partially hghted up bya
small grating at its farther end.

Nick crawled through, and closed the door behind him.

In the corridor there was a sufficiency of pure air.

As he hurried along toward the window, he came to an
intersecting corridor, a short one, which terminated ata
wooden door.

Nick stopped, and, as he did so, a faint moaning sound
saluted his ears.

It came from the end of the shallow corridor.

ia girl—he had hazarded a guess when conversing

th the villains that there was a girlon the premises—
was undoubtedly in that room.

Nick had taken one step in the direction of the wooden
door, when a grating noise made him pause suddenly, and
grasp his revolver. :

The noise came from the main corridor.

He rightly conjectured that it was caused by the open-
ing of a door, probably one of iron, and that his enemies
had come down by another way to learn if he had dis-
covered a means of escape from the room into which he
had been precipitated.

-The opening of the door was followed (by the sound of
footsteps along the main corridor.

Nick was out of sight, and crouching in the shallow
passage near the point of intersection, when the form of
Billy Silk hove in view.

Like a panther, the detective threw himself upon the
ex-convict, and hurled him to the floor.

Behind Silk was the young man with the sharp eyes.

He was knocked down by a powerful right-hander be-
fore he was fairly aware of Nick’s presence.

This time the detective did not leave the two men until
he had bound them hand and foot with stout cords.

He was anxious to investigate the room which had the
wooden door, but he must provide against any interfer-
ence on the part of Pharis Fogg, who was probably up

stairs.

i

 

 

In Billy Silk’s pocket he found a large key.

So it proved.
Out of the corridor Nick hurried into a small room, with
a stair-way in one corner.

Up the stairs he hastened, and finding no locked doors

in his way, reached the front part of the house without
making any nose that would be likely to excite suspicion.

Before entering the room with the cabinet, he listened
a moment at the door.

All was still within. =

He opened it softly.

The room was vacant.

Where was Fogg?

Had he descended into the hole Heoagh which he (Nick)
had been consigned, or had he left the house.

The point could soon be determined.

He went out the front door, walked down the path to

the gate, and looked up and down the road.

Ah, there he was, a couple of. blocks away in the direc-
tion of the town, and just crossing the street.

Nick hurried back to the house, and quickly descended
to the cellar.

He found Billy Silk and his confederate where he had
left them.

The pockets of each were explored for more keys.

Quite an assortment was found.

Nick tried one after another at the wooden door, and
finally found one which would fit.

He turned it in the lock, and threw the door open.

The room was small—a seven by nine affair—and was
provided with one small window, which was barred.

But Nick had no eyes for anything but the pale-faced
girl who was sitting upon an iron bunk against the
farther wall.

One hand was manacled, the chain being secured to an
iron staple in the stone wall.

She could not move more than a few feet.

Her hair, which was black, was disheveled, and abject
fear looked out of her brilliant eyes.

She had taken Nick for an enemy, for he still wore his
Italian disguise.

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said, quietly, as he approached,
“for Iam your friend, come to release you.”

Her expression changed to one of joy unspeakable.

She tried to speak, but could not.

Then her slight form began to tremble, and she pres-
ently burst into a flood of tears.

But they were tears of happiness.

Nick waited until she was calm, and then took one of
the keys from a bunch he had found in Billy Silks’
pocket, and unlocked her manacle.

Her first words were of gratitude for her release.

Then she inquired anxiously :

“Ts he in jail?”

“Who?”

“The man who put me here.”

“What is his name?”

“ Lafarge is one of his names.’

“No, he is not in jail, but he soon will be, I hope.”

“He is a monster.”

She shuddered at the recollection of her terrible experi-
ences.

“He is, indeed,” replied Nick, with a commiserating
look ; “ , and now I would be pleased to know your name,
miss.’

ee oe name is Viola Laroche.”

“T thought so.”

 

CHAPTER IV.
A CRUEL DECEPTION.

“You thought so,” repeated Viola Laroche, in surprise.
‘‘Yes, I am Nick Carter, a detective, and I was solicited

-|to undertake this case by a fine-looking young man of the

name of Jasper Orrant.”

The girl flushed, and then a look of pain came into het

eyes.
“T have treated him shamefully,” she said.

This must fit the lock of the door cae out oe a
The jig’s up corridor.

 

   

   
      

 

 

 

   
   
   

   

 

 

 

coho 3

and mother were at church.

he asked, with simulated earnestness.

os But not intentionally, I know.”

“No. Iwas deceived by a villain.”
- Nick looked at her in such a curious manner when she

: a this that she hastened to add:

**He deceived me by making me believe he was going to
help me to a situation, when he wanted me, instead, to
assist him in his unlawful enterprises. We have never
had any other relations.”

“Tam glad to hear it.”

“My story,” she continued,
ate one.” » *

‘*Perhaps you had better relate it now. Then I shall
know how to act in regard to the fellows outside.”

Nick told her how he had overcome Billy Silk and the
young man with the sharp eyes.

Viola said the latter’s name was Duke Abbey.

“Ts he in the employ of Lafarge?”

& Yes. Db]

“‘And so is Billy Silk, I suppose?”

66 Yes. ”

“Excuse me for a moment.”

With these words, Nick got up, went into the corridor,
and dragged his captives to a position near the door,
where he could keep an eye on them while the girl was
relating her story.

When he reseated himself by her side, he said :

“Now I am ready to listen to what you may roe to
tell. ”

“"T was Le to be married to Jasper Orrant, and

“is a strange and unfortun-

was living in happiness and content out in my dear
Georgian home,” she began,

“when this man Lafarge
amade his appearance.

‘“ Fle was ostensibly traveling through the South as the
agent of some agricultural patent. In reality he was look-
ing for dupes upon whom he might work some of his
many swindling schemes.

“He came to the house first on a Sunday when father
I had not been feeling well
that day, and so had not accompanied them.

_ “He was on horseback, and looked hot and tired.
_“Heasked for a glass of water. I gave it to him.

“After an hour’s rest on the shady veranda, during
which time he used his fine conversational powers to good
advantage, he left with the promise to call and see father

- on the following day.

“ He was true to his word, and after father had agreed
to buy one ot Lafarge’s imaginary devices for the saving
of labor on a farm, the villain started off in the direction
of town.

‘‘T was then far down in one of the lanes in the cotton
patch, and he saw me from a distance, and waved his
handkerchief.

“T returned oe salute, and pee oy he was by my
side.

‘After a few commonplaces had been indulged in he
said, in a grave tone of voice:

s ‘Dye bad news for you.’

“My heart almost stopped as

“ ‘Bad news?’ I repeated, ina gasp. ‘Is mother——’

“ “No,’ he interrupted, quickly, ‘your mother is all
right. So is the old gentleman, your father. The bad
news is concerning a young man, Orrant by name.’

 & What is it? I managed to ask, as he hesitated and

looked at me pityingly.
“ “He is a married man.’
“You can probably imagine my sensations at this aston-

- ishing statement.

“It was some time before I could command my voice
sufficiently to reply, and then I told him flatly that I did
not believe him.

“ “What possible object can I have in oe you?’
‘I do not know the
fellow, and we are not rivals, for I, too, am married.’

“T looked at him incredulously in spite of what he said.

“Tf you care to have the proof, come with me and I will
give it to you.’

‘““ *T will come,’ I said, promptly.

“ ‘Until you have satisfied yourself that I have spoken

the truth,’ he went on, ‘it will be best not to mention the

matter to any one.

NICK CARTER LIBRARY. | 9

—

“JT ran to the house to make some changes in my dregs,
he promising to meet me at the edge of the town.

‘‘Mother noticed my excited looks, but 1 diverted sus-
picion by saying that I was out of breath from running,
and that I was in a hurry to change my dress in order to
go over to a friend’s house in the neighborhood.

“Heaven forgive me for the lie I told, but in my con-
fused state of mind I don’t believe I was quite responsible
for what I said.

“TI know that but one idea possesed me,and that was to
test the truth of the monstrous story which Lafarge had
told me at the earliest possible moment.

“TI met him on the outskirts of town, and he took me to
the principal hotel.

“In the little up stairs parlor of the establishment I was
introduced to a bold-looking woman of about thirty, who
announced herself as the wife of Jasper Orrant. She said
that the marriage had taken place in Macon three years
betore,

‘Fool that I was, I did not ask to see her marriage cer-;
tificate nor seek any corroboration of her remarkable’
averment.

‘‘T believed her unsupported word, and in my grief and
disappointment I was ready to listen to anything that
promised to take me away from the place where may false
lover lived.

‘‘Lafarge said that Mrs. Orrant was an actress, and that
she was the recipient of a handsome salary.

“ ‘Tt is the easiest work in the world for a woman of
beauty and intelligence,’ he insinuatingly remarked, ‘and
if you, Miss Laroche, were to adopt the stage as a profes-
sion I have not the slightest doubt but that you would
succeed.’

“T listened with dull ears until he said that he was on
terms of intimacy with a leading New York manager, and
that he could obtain a position for me at once if I chose te
go North.

** *You will have to commence at the lowest rung of the
ladder, asa matter of course,’ the plausible villain pro
ceeded, ‘but it won’t take you long to rise to a well-pay-

ing place. At the outset your salary will be ten dollars a
week.’

“Ten dollarsu week! Why, that would support me
comfortably.

*‘T looked at him with eager eyes. He smiled, and
spoke a few words to the woman who had represented
herself to be Jasper Orrant’s wife.

“She left the room immediately afterward, and when
she had gone he said :

“ *T have asked her to telegraph to New York about the
place to make sure. I know it was vacant a few days ago.
We will get an answer inside of half an hour.’

‘‘While she was away he tried to entertain me with
stories of the metropolis, of the pleasures the rich and
well-to-do indulged in, and how a woman of courage and
ability had as good a chance of amassing wealth and mak-
ing a name for herself in the dramatic profession, asa
man.

“ Half an hour passed, and the alleged Mrs. Orrant re-
turned with a smile on her painted visage.

“She bore in her hand a telegram.

“Lafarge took it, read it, and then passed it to me with-
out a word.”

Viola put her hand in the pocket of her dress, and drew
out a crumpled bit of yellowish paper.

“Here it is,” she said. “I have keptitin my pocket
ever since.”

Nick saw that it was an odrinary telegraphic blank.

He also saw, when he scrutinized it carefully, that it
had not been filled out by an operator, for the reason that
it lacked the official marks.

“This Mrs. Orrant,” he said, “wrote the dispatch her-
self.”

“Yes, I know it now, but at the time I accepted the tel-
egram as genuine.

“Ags you will see, it is signed, ‘A. M. Palmer,’ and says
that the place will be held for Mr. Lafarge’s friend for
two days.

“ Just what persuasions were used to induce me to leave
on the train for the North that afternoon I do not now re-

 

-member.

If I had been as cool-headed as lam now lL

  
    

 
  

   

10

NICK CARTER LIBRARY.

 

 

 

would never have gone without writing mother a more
explicit letter than I did. But I thought at the time that
{ had a good place, that I was en the way to fame and
fortune, which I then ardently desired, in order to punish
Jasper Orrant by showing him what he had lost; and
that I could write a good long letter, giving the fullest
explanation of everything, when I was once installed in
Mr. Palmer’s theater.

‘‘We arrived in New York, and I was taken to a hotel
near the Battery.

“Mrs. Orrant did not accompany us thither. She got
off somewhere in the southern part of the city after we
had crossed the river, and I have never seen her since.

“ After having consigned me to the care of the matronly
proprietress of the hotel, Lafarge left me for the purpose
of looking up Mr. Palmer, and concluding the arrange-
ments for my engagement.

‘‘T had no fears as to my own capabilities, for I was so

-. foolish as to suppose that my experience in school elocu-

tion fitted me to become an actress oe I had received a
few weeks of technical training.”

The richness and volume of her voice, the rare play of
feature as she talked, added to the girl’ s beauty and
grace, caused Nick to say at once:

oa believe you would have made your mark on the
stage.”

“Thank you. But I never will, though.”
66 No oe?
“No. Ihave no desire now to become an actress. My

dream of glory and riches is over.”

She sighed, and for a few moments nothing was said.

Then a voice from the corridor was heard.

“Say, old lucky bones, how long is this seance going to
last?”

The speaker was Billy Silk.

‘“*An hour, may be,” Nick answered, iieetly:

“That's all right, then, for I didn’t know but it might
last a year. If that was the programme, I was going to
suggest that you give it to us in installments.”

“T]l install a gag in your mouth, Billy, if I hear any
more such remarks, or any remarks at all.”

“Beg pardon. I won’t interrupt again.”

He winked at his comrade, who was lying alongside of
him, as he said this, but Duke Abbey only frowned.

In the latter’s opinion there was nothing to smile at in
their surroundings.

Viola Laroche, at a es from Nick, went on with her
story.

‘‘T did not see Lafarge again until the next morning,
shortly after breakfast, and when I was sitting in the
parlor.

“There was a cloud on his brow as he advanced to greet
me.

“ «“There’s no honor in the profession,’ ite said, ‘Palmer
has gone back on us.’

“T stared at him blankly.

“Vou won’t get the position,’ the villain continued,
‘for the reason that it was filled last night.’

_ “This was most discouraging news, for here I was alone
in New York, and with but a few dollars in my pocket.

« ‘But don’t be cast down, Miss Laroche. If one way to
make your living is closed to you another may be opened.
Tll see that you get along all right,’ he emphatically
added, ‘for I’m responsible for your being here.’

“T thanked him with my eyes, for I was too agitated to
speak.

Me ‘How would you like to take charge of a little office,
and do nothing but receive letters?’ he asked.

“ “Anything that is respectable that I am capable of
doing and that will give me a living will do,’ I answered,
as bravely as I could.

“ «Then it’s all settled. Hang it, but I believe I’m glad,
after all, that old Palmer failed to come to time, for in
the office you will have day work, and a regular sinecure.’

“ ‘And the salary,’ I timidly inquired.

. “ ‘Migs Laroche,’ he said, ‘I?ll be generous with you.

PU give you ten dollars a week for a starter, just what
you would have received had you gone on the stage, and
if the business increases, as I think it will, I will raise
your salary in a month.’

“T did not think then to inquire what the business was,

had received.

‘‘In the afternoon, after I had found a nice boarding © :

‘place, he took me to the office he had spoken of.

- “Tt is located on EKighth avenue, near One Hundred and
Highteenth street, and contained nothing but a counter, a
table, a desk, and two chairs, and a number of blank
account books.

Loe get you an outfit of stationary and fancy articles,’
he said, ‘and that will save you the annoyance of answer-
ing questions as to your business. You may not sell a
dime’s worth in a week, but that does not matter, for
your real business will be to receive letters wane. I am
away.’

‘“ ‘What are the letters about?’ I asked, my Sn in
regard to his business being at last aroused.

“ “They are answers to circulars I have sent out,’ he
readily replied. ‘Iam agent for a great many patents,
and the letters contain business propositions.’

“T was satisfied with this explanation, and the next day
I entered upon the discharge of my duties.

“JT did not sell much stationary, but I did receive a
great many letters and telegrams, more of the latter than
the former.

‘“Kvery night either Lafarge or Duke Abbey, who had
been introduced to me as the villain’s agent, would come
to the office, open the letters, and then consult a large
journal which was kept locked in a drawer of the desk.*

“These telegrams came from all sections of the country,
and I never knew what any of them contained until one
day after I had been in the office about two weeks I picked
one from the floor, where it had dropped unnoticed by
Lafarge.

“T could not resist the temptation to read it.

‘ It was from some party away off in Kansas, and said
only :

‘* ‘Please renew my subscription for 1892.°

“What did it mean?

“Was Lafarge a newspaper or magazine publisher, as’
well as an agent for agricultural patents?

“T puzzled my brain all day over that telegram, and
when Lafarge came in the evening I handed it to him
without a word of explanation.

“He instantly exclaimed :

“¢ “So you are onto the snap, are you? Well, Iam glad
of it, for if there’s anything I hate it’s secrecy among
friends.’

“It was on my lips to say, ‘What do you mean?’ but I
refrained, for my wits were sharpening under the experi-
ence I was undergoing. |

“Instead of asking such a question, I simply said :

** ¢T think you might have told me all at once.’

‘‘He laughed heartily, for he thought I could be trusted.

“ ‘T tell you what, Viola’—he had never been so famil-
iar before—‘ we'll make the strongest team in the country
now that you’ve got your eye teeth cut. I am pretty good
at hauling in suckers myself, but you, with your pretty
face and your demure expression, ought to double dis-
count me at the game, and give me points besides.’

“T was now determined to know what disreputable
business he was engaged.in, in order that I might have
him punished.

‘He had lied to me—his admissions told me that—and
he had never intended that I should go on the stage.

“The scales were rapidly falling from my eyes.

“} was beginning to see some of the wickedness that
my guilelessness and inexperience had hitherto concealed
from me.

“ ‘Are you going to tell me about the snap?’ I asked,
when his fit of laughter had ceased.

66 6 Yes. 9

one phase of the’green-goods swindle with which you are
doubtless familiar.

“The circulars sent out by Lafarge contained this in-
struction: ‘Don’t write, but send either one of the follow-
ing dispatches the day before you intend to start for New
York :

 

“ ¢ “Renew my subscription (which means Ill meet
you at the depot, Elizabeth, New Jersey.)” ve

for I was very unsophisticated, in spite of the education I aes

“ And thereupon he entered into a full explanation of

      
      
       
  
 
  
  
   
   
   
 
  
   
  
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
   
  
  
   
  
  
   
 
  
  
  
  
   
   
  
  
   
   
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
 
  
   
  
  
   
   
 
     
   
  

 

 

 

 
  

   

 
  

   
 

jn ici

|

ame anes

 

  

 

passengers.

No. 54.

NICK CARTER LIBRARY.

 

 

“ « “Renew my subscription for 1892 (which means pat
the place of meeting shall be Bridgeport, Conn.)” ’
“ And so forth.

“The swindle was consummated at these meetings, and.

Lafarge said that he and the men working under him had
made two hundred thousand dollars in one year.

“When he had finished his explanation I could hardly
contain myself from shame and indignation.

“The expression of my face must have told him some-
thing, for when he left the office that afternoon he said he
was afraid I might not like the business after all.

“JT made no reply to this, for I had made up my mind to
inform the first policeman I met of the character of the
swindle I had been innocently engaged in.

“When I closed up the shop, and was putting the key in
my pocket, a man stepped up to me, said he was a detec-
tive, and had been directed by Inspector Byrnes to make
an investigation of Lafarge’s office.

“Here was my opportunity.

“T reopened the shop, and when the detective had en-
tered I told him all I had discovered.

‘‘He was not.a bit surprised at my revelation.

“ ‘The inspector has been on to him for some time,’ he
said, ‘and what you have told me but confirms what we
have suspected.’

“After he had looked over the books and papers he
said :

“ ‘Lafarge has gone to Bridgeport, and I have tele-
graphed the local officers there to arrest him the moment
he leaves the train. And that reminds me,’ he went on,

‘that neither I nor the Connecticut police know the man.

except by description. He will get out on habeas corpus,
and leave us in the lurch if somebody does not go down
by the next train to identify him.’

“I did not think this statement at all curious or im-
probable, and so when he suggested that I was the proper
person to furnish the identification I had no objection to

‘make.

“The next train for Bridgeport saw me as one of the
The detective, for so I considered him, occu-
pied the seat with me, and paid my fare.

“Arrived at our destination he called a cab, and we
were driven to this house.

“Not until I entered the front room up stairs did I sus-
pect treachery.

“There, by the table, sat Lafarge, and by his side was
Duke Abbey, the man who had acted as his agent.

“And not an officer or any other person in sight.

“But it was not so much their presence out of custody
which led me to suspect that I had been the victim of a
vile plot as. the expression of the arch-villain when he
caught sight of me.

“Tt was that of malignant triumph.

“I turned to my guide, the supposed detective, to ask}

an explanation.

“A look in his face as he turned it toward me made my
suspicions so many certainties.

‘“ ‘Did you have much trouble, Fogg?’ asked Lafarge of
the man.”

‘Fogg !” ejaculated Nick. “He was the detective, was
he? Pharis Fogg, the green-goods man, partner of

Lafarge, eh ?”

“Yes, he was the man. I had been caught in a neat
trap. But then it was not much of a trick to deceive an
ignorant, inexperienced girl.

“ “No,’ said Fogg to Lafarge’s question, ‘I had no
trouble with her at all. She swallowed the hook with the
bait.’

“Then the wretch laughed with much amusement ap-
parently.

“JT felt like tearing his eyes out, and he must have
feared an attack, for as soon as he spoke he moved away
to the side of his partners in crime.

“When I asked Lafarge why he had treated me so
shamefully he replied that he did it for self protection.

“ “You would have given me away to the detectives,’
he said, ‘if I had not forestalled you. Here in this house
you must remain until I see fit to let you out.’

‘“ You dare not imprison me,’ I cried.

‘“ ‘Dare not,’ he retorted, ‘I dare do anything.’

“ His tone frightened me.

 

“T started for the door, but Lataice reaeled it before
me.

‘““ “No, you don’t,’ he hissed, ‘there is your place.’.

“He pointed toward the cabinet.

“Duke Abbey and Fogg stepped in front of me as he
spoke, and laid violent hands on me.

“In the grasp of three powerful men what could I do?

“T struggled as best I could, but was borne to the cab-
inet, which seemed to conceal a descending trap, and was
lowered to the dark and foul smelling place under it.

‘From there I was taken to the apartment where you
now behcld me, and upon my refusal to swear never to
betray him in case I was released the villain Lafarge
manacled me as if I were a dog.

“ Before he left me he put the climax, as he thought, on
my misery by informing me that Jasper Orrant was nota
married man; that he had deceived me in that as in all
other respects.

“This intelligence was pleasing rather than otherwise,
for though I might never look on the face of my former
lover again yet I would have the mournful satisfaction of
knowing that he had never been false to me.

“That is all, Mr. Carter.”

“ A very neat fake, I must say,” sneered_Billy Silk from
the corridor.

Nick turned an angry face in the rascal’s direction to
see something he had not bargained for.

At the opening into the main corridor stood Lafarge,
while looking over his shoulder with a malicious grin
was Pharis Fogg.

The two villains had reached the cellar by way of the
cabinet “elevator,” and without making any noise.

Lafarge held a revolver in his hand, and its muzzle was
on a line with the detective’s forehead.

The situation was a peculiarly perplexing one.

 

CHAPTER V.
THE WORK OF A FIEND.

Pharis Fogg was stooping down to cut Billy -Silk’s
bonds, whez: Nick acted.

-Unmindful of the pointed pistol, he sprang into the cor-
ridor, dodged the bullet that was aimed at him, and
struck Lafarge a blow under the ear that knocked him
down.

Then he turned his attention to Foge.

That individual had cut the cords which held Billy
Silk’s ankles, and was rising to his feet, knife in hand,
when Nick fetched him a side-winder which doubled him
up on the hard floor beside his companion in crime.

As he fell the knife dropped from his hands unperceived
by the detective.

Nick was kneeling down beside Lafarge, for the purpose
of handcuffing him, when a warning cry from Viola
Larocbe made him jump quickly to his feet. —

To late to save himself.

Billy Silk had rolled over until his hands had touched
Fogg’s knife, and as the blade was sharp he had managed
to hold it, so that the cords about his wrists were easily
severed.

He was on his feet and moving toward the courageous
detective, when Viola’s cry of warning rang out.

Nick turned to face the new danger just as the knife
descended. |

It struck him in the side, just over the heart.

A sharp metallic sound accompanied the blow.

Nick knew what that meant.

The knife’s point had struck the case of his watch, and
he had sustained no injury.

Billy Silk was about to follow up the thrust with an-
other, not being aware that the blade of his knife was
broken, when Nick’s two strong arms encircled his waist,
and he was hurled violently to the floor.

The ex-convict was a wiry fellow, and he tried his best
to wriggle out of the detective’s embrace.

All to no purpose.

Nick had his knees on the rascal’s chest and his hands
at his throat, and would have speedily had the cords on
him again but for the return to sense and activity of the
green-goods partners, Lafarge and Fogg.

  
  
    
 
 
   
  
 

   
     
   
   
    
 
  

 

Sp :

NICK UARTHR LIBRARY. ee

 

 

 

 
  

os Nick could turn his head, the butt of Lafarge’s
pistol descended on it, and he was stretched senseless be-
side the form of Billy Silk,

room again, with the door locked upon her.

Nick recovered his senses, only to find himself bound
hard and fast.

He was reconveyed to the hole from which he had es-
caped but a short time before.

After a short conference with his subordinates, Lafarge
saw all three of them leave the. house, and then he gave
his whole attention to his detective-prisoner.

A good supply of fresh air poured its way into the win-
dowless' room from the cabinet aperture, while Lafarge
remained in the hole.

When he stepped from the car of the cabinet, Nick,
lying on his side, saw that he carried a lighted lantern in
one hand and something which looked like a large cigar-
box in the other.

He placed the box in one corner, the lantern in another.

‘“‘T see you are curious to know what that box contains,”
he remarked, when he had squatted on the floor, a few
feet from the prostrate detective.

Nick made no reply.

“Before I tell you. whatis init, I want to inform you
that this world is not wide enough for two such men as
you and me.

‘Alive you are a standing menace to my schemes of en-
richment.

‘‘T intend shortly to widen the circle of my operations,
but it will be necessary before I make a move that your
ease should be effectually settled.

“ When I leave this room, it will be to enter the apart-
ment where Miss Laroche is now crying her eyes out.

‘‘T have no design against her life, and I shall, there-
fore, conduct her to some other place which is more se-
questered, and where she can be furnished with more of
the everyday conveniences of this practical life.

“As for you, Nick Carter, the end of your life will come
in one hour.

“That box contains a dynamite petard, and a lot of in-
teresting machinery.

“Tt is ‘set to go off at three o’clock.”

The assassin looked at his watch.

“You have one hour and five minutes,” he resumed, “
which to say your prayers and do a heap of regret
thinkéng.

“And now good-by.
a fire is unnecessary.”

With these words Lafarge arose, took up the lantern,
stepped to the car, and, touchng the button, was drawn
slowly up to the cabinet.

When he found himself alone, Nick began to tug with
all his might at his bonds.

In vain.

Lafarge had put them on, and he was an expert at the

business.
Then the detective rolled over and over, until he was
near the corner where the box of dynamite lay.
ce But he did not touch it.
, His face was within afoot of the box, and, as he lis-
tened, he heard a faint ticking going on within.

Half an hour passed and he still remained in front of
the box.

All attempts to gain the use of his hands had failed.

There was no help for it.

He must die, be blown to atoms perhaps, unless help
should come from some unexpected quarter.

He could not determine the time as it passed; he could
only guess at the number of minutes that must precede
the explosion.

When all his senses told him that the terrible moment
was close at hand, he heard loud shouts from above, fol-
lowed by several pistol- -shots fired in rapid succession.

Soon the floor of the cabinet began to creak.

Some one was about to descend to his prison.

Who was it?

Friend or enemy, he would be running an awful risk,
for the dynamite bomb might explode at any moment.

In feverish impatience, Nick waited for the new-comer
to declare himself.

If we meet again it will be where

 

A moment later and Vola Laroche was in her prison-|-

 

The car reached the damp floor of the prison-room.
**Where are you?” called an anxious voice.

Nick gave a great cry—a cry of mingled joy and terror.
For the new-comer was Chick.

“T’m here in the corner close to a dynamite bomb that: :

may explode before you can get to it.”
“T don’t want to get to it, I want to get to you.”
The faithful fellow hurried in the direction of his

superior’s voice, found the bound detective, and quickly —

cutting his cords, assisted him to his feet.

‘Now for the elevator again,” he cried.
may be too late.”

Nick did not delay proceedings.

The two detectives reached the platform, which has
been variously designated as “car,” “elevator,” and
‘‘fioor,” and had started on their upward journey, when
a dull and startling thud was heard.

Chick clutched Nick’s arm, and waited for the end.

“We're gone up,” he whispered.

A prolonged hissing followed the first noise.

Nick’s spirits rose at a jump from zero to_the highest
degree of delight.

And when a sickening stench filled the room, he shouted
in the mad exuberance of his joy:

“We're all right, Chick. The bomb’s a fraud. It’s
fizzled.”

And such, indeed, was the case.

Placed in the corner in the hopé that it would send the
detective to kingdom come, it had utterly failed to per-
form the work required of it, owing to some defect in its
construction. :

Chick burst into a laugh when he realized the situation.

They were now in the cabinet.

Leaving it, they stepped into the front room of the
house.

Upon the floor lay a young man with eyes closed and
his head in a pool of blood.

“ Who is he, and what does this mean, Chick ?”

“Tt means, Nick, that while you have been gone, I have
had an adventure of my own.’

“Tam anxious to hear it, but I must first ascertain if
Miss Viola Laroche has left the house.”

He hurried below by the other route, found all the doors
open, and the young lady’s room empty.

“Just as I supposed, ” he said to himself; “but I wanted
to make sure.’

Returning to his assistant, who meanwhile had been
bandaging the prostrate man’s head, Nick said, eagerly :

= Go ahead, Chick, with your story. e

~“ Quick, or we

 

CHAPTER Vis
TRICKED BY A SHARPER.
“You left me in New York,” began Nick’s gallant assis-

tant, “with instructions to pipe off the Mott street office |

and to shadow Lafarge or any of his men, should I find
them about the place.

“You had instructed Orrant to work Elizabeth and
Jersey City for-points, and, after I parted with him, I
made up asa German emigrant, and set out for Mott
street.

“The office was there sure enough, and there was a
young woman in charge of it.

“She was busily engaged in directing envelopes when I
accosted her.

“‘Wog dis dot embloymend offiz dot I heered apout
somedimes. alretty?’ I asked her in my best dialect.

“*What do you want?’ she asked, without looking up
from her work.

““Vat do I vant? Vorrk, py chimminy, und pooty
quick, too, 1 bade you.’ —

ay thought she would say that I had made a mistake, |

and that she did not keep anemployment office. Instead

of that, to my surprise she said:

ey might find you a place, if I thought you would suit.’

“‘Vust dary me, dots all,’ I made reply earnestly.

‘Dere’ 8 nodding dot I cand do ven I gets my sphunk down

vonce.’
“Are you acquainted with the city?”

“¢am IT acqvainted mit dot zitty? Vell I should schmile oe : |

   
       
     
    
  
 
   
  
  
  
   
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
  
  
   
  
  
   
   
  
   
  
  
  
 
  
  
   
  
   
  
    
  
 
 
   
    
  
 
    
 
     
   
   
   
     

 

 
 
   
 
  

   

i NICK CARTER LIBRARY. : 13

 

 

 

 

 

   

vonce. I peen here zwei weeks, und | knows der Pattery,
der Bow-wowery, der Boo- -wooklyn brwidge, und Onion

- square, und——’

—“<«Phat will do,’ she interrupted. ‘

“Then she put another question.

“*Can you keep a still tongue in your ae ?

“T pretended not to understand her.

“*Gan I geeb still mid my dongue in dot head of mine?
Vell, I oxposes dot I guess so, nein ?’

‘“* What I mean is,’ she went on, as she noticed my puz-
zled expression, ‘can you keep a secret?’

‘““*Geeb a zecret? I gan geeb fere oof dem at vonce mit
my eyes zhut. Vas is das?’

“*T will tell you.’

“She leaned over the counter, and whispered these

words in my ear:

“Tf you want to see Lafarge, go to the Harlem depot.’

“T was thrown off my guard by the words.

“*How do you know I want to see him?’ I exclaimed,
in my natural tones.

“A jeering laugh was the answer.

““I thought so, because I know you, Mr. Chick,’ she
said.

“Confound her, but she had every reason to remember
me. Nelly Cly, the ex-stewardess of the City of Boston,
who assisted the Wall street band of thieves to escape
over the Sound to a safe retreat in Connecticut.”

“She is a smart one,” remarked Nick; ‘‘but we were
never able to directly connect her with any crime.”

“I did not know her when I spoke to her as the German,
for she has aged terribly, and besides she has changed
from a blonde to a brunette.

“T felt mighty mean, I can tell you, when I found that
She was on to me.

“T wasn’t going to show that I was rattled, however.

“*Look here, Nelly,’ said I, ‘Iam not looking for any
Lafarge, for I’ve got nothing against him. I am after a
sly coon that used to hang out in this quarter.’

““What’s he wanted for?’ says she.

“* Holding up a kid hawker in Central Park.’

“*Do I know him?’

“*You might. He’s small, olive complexioned, black:
haired, smooth faced, and squints.’

“T talked as if I were in dead earnest.

“*T think I saw such a party on Broome street this
morning, as I was coming to the shop,’ she says. ‘Does
he limp a little?’

¢ SINO: 3

“She asked that question to catch me.

‘“When I answered ‘no,’ she said:

“*T didn’t see him, Chick, I was only joking.’

“Just at that moment I cast my eyes down the street,
and who should I behold coming toward us half a block
away and bold as you please, but our man, Lafarge.

“ Nelly saw him as soon as I did, and she made a warn-
ing signal, which caused him to turn quickly and dart
down Grand street.

“T followed quick on his heels, boarded a car of the
elevated railroad, and was whirled away with him to
the Harlem railway bridge, took passage after a short

_ wait on one of the cars of the Harlem railway station,

where we connected at Danbury with the Housatonic for
Bridgeport.

“You must not think that I wore my German emigrant
disguise all the time.

“Oh, no! Before I reached the elevated I had madea

change by a quick dart into a hall-way.

“T was the toughest kind of a citizen you ever saw
when I got on to the train. =
“Well, everything worked smoothly, until we reached

_ this town.

“At the depot the trouble commenced.

“When Lafarge alighted, he was met on the station
platform by a man who was the exact counterpart of him-
self, mustache, side-whiskers, and all.

“As they stood together, I saw that the resemblance in

_ features, apparel, etc., was so striking, that if I were to

_ shut my eyes and have them separate I could not tell the
true from the false, when I opened them again.

_ “Stop, there was one way of distinguishing them. The —

 

false Lafarge wore a pink rose at his button-hole, the
other did not.

“After afew words uttered in a low tone of voice, my
Lafarge took his twin by the arm, and they went into the
gents’ waiting-room of the depot, and closed the door
quickly behind them.

“IT foresaw what the game would be, and prepared for it.

“They had not been out of my sight half a minute be-
fore the door opened again, and out they came.

“The train was just starting up for the New Haven
stretch.

“The two Lafarges, as I will cali them, walked to the
steps of the last car, and shook hands.

“The one with the rose in his button-hole got on the
platform, and made his way to a seat in the car.

“TI followed him in the belief that he was my man,
imagining they had exchanged the rose for my benefit.

“I was a passenger with the man with the rose in his
button-hole, and we traveled together as far as Stratford.

“There he got off.

“So did I.

“On the platform he caught sight of me, and smiled.

“That smile opened my eyes to the truth.

“T had been tricked.

“The Lafarge I had followed from New York to Bridge-
port had smiled many times on the car, but it was not the
kind of a smile this fellow had.

‘“Lafarge’s smile was something not to be forgotten, for
he invariably contracted his eyes in a most peculiar
manner.

“To make sure that I had got the rights of the matter
at last, I watched this Stratford fellow’s face secretly,
while he stood gazing at the passengers, to see if he would
smile again.

“Yes, he did smile for the second time.

‘“A young and handsome lady, in alighting from the car
in front of us, had the train of her gown catch in some
way, and she would have fallen to the platform had not
my quarry. stepped forward quickly to her assistance.

‘He smiled then, not once, twice, but many times, and
with never a contraction of the eyes.

“As I stood watching him, I noticed something that I
made a mental note of.

“Upon his neck, under his right ear, was a large mole.

“*Tll not mistake you again for somebody else,’ was
my thought.

“Another train going west was due in twenty minutes.

“JT determined to take it, and let my man with the mole
go where he pleased, unhindered by me.

“So I gave no further attention to him, but when the
train came along, I got aboard and was carried back to
Bridgeport.

“‘T was in the smoking-car all the way.

“After the train had pulled out of the station, the door
nearest tome opened and asmooth-faced manin dark
clothes entered, and hurriedly passed me.

‘‘As he went by, I shot him a quick, searching glance.

“His face was unfamiliar, but under the right ear was
a large mole.

“The false Lafarge beyond a doubt, and in his proper
person, without a disguise.

“*Good!’ thought I, ‘for I may now shadow him to
some purpose.

“He alighted from the train at this place, as I thought
he would, and made a bee line for the Sound.

“T was sharp on his trail, not as the tough, but as my
natural self, which was as efficient as a disguise, for I felt
satisfied that the fellow did not know me.

“When he entered this house I was close at his heels,
but he was so excited that he did not look behind him.

“He was in the cabinet, and was about to descend when
I softly opened the door of the room.

“He heard me and left the cabinet, pistol in hand, to
meet me.

“Bang! went his gun when he saw me, and bang! went
mine at the same instant.

“My shot took effect, and he fell to the floor.

“ As I stooped over him he murmured, faintly

“ ‘T’m done for, I guess. If you want to help Nick Car-
ter you’d better hurry up.’
‘“« ‘Where is he?’ I asked.

    
   
      
14 : NICK CARTER LIBRARY. ; ee

 

‘ “Down below. Go in the cabinet, find a button in a

eorner, press it, and down you'll go.’

“I did not wait to hear more, but hurried to the cabi-

net.”

This finished Chick’s story.

Nick made an examination of the wound on tne head of
his assistant’s victim, and found that it was not serious.

The bullet had simply cut the scalp, and had not pene-
trated the skull.

Procuring water from the kitchen Nick bathed the fel
low’s face, and he was soon able to sit up and converse.

But the great detective did not inform him that his
injury was a slight one.

He preferred that for the present he should remain
under the impression that he had received a morta] wound.

-“As yoa have helped me in one instance,” began Nick,
“you might as well continue your good offices.”

“Tam willing.”

“Where is Lafarge?”

“T don’t know if ne is not here.”

“Has he any other retreat than this?”

“ Yes, one other.”

“Where is it located ?”

‘Near South Elizabeth, in Jersey, off the Linden road a
piece.”

“What kind of a place is it?”

‘‘A brick house in a hollow.”

“Is it occupied 2?”

“Ves. ”

“By whom ?”

“By Lafarge’s brother, a doctor, who keeps it as a pri-
vate insane asylum.”

be Ah! 49?

The ejaculation was most expressive.

“Has Lafarge any other office besides the one on Mott
street 2?”

‘Yes. The principal one is in Park Row.”

“What number ?”

“ah 119. bb)

After a few more questions, which elicited’ ‘nothing of
importance, the two detectives left the house.

Their first move on reaching town was to sond a wagon
for the wounded man, and have him conveyed to the
nearest hospital.-

All this took time.

It was shortly after dark when they went to the tele-
graph office.

There was a dispatch there for Nick.

It was from Jasper Orrant, at Elizabethport, New Jer-
sey, and read as follows:

“Lafarge and another man, short and with red hair (‘that’s Fogg,’
commented Nick), with a woman closely vailed and acting like an in-
valid, landeil here from a Sound boat half an hourago. ‘The short
man and the woman have just started in a close carriage in a north-
westerly direction. Lafarge took the train for New York. I will fol-
low the carriage.”

“T am going to New York,” said Nick.
“ And I had better go to New Jersey,” said Chick.
“Yes, Orrant may need help.”

CHAPTER VII.
NICK LANDS HIS FISH,

From Inspector Byrnes Nick received one of the vircu-
lars which had been sent out from the office in Park Row.

It had been taken from an Indianian who had come to
New York to buy green-goods, but who had fallen into
the zood hands of Captain Cullagh at Morrisiana before
he had met either Lafarge or one of his agents.

Provided with this circular, and with certain other
points, and made up as Solomon Gashwilder, of Indiana,
Nick dropped a postal into a Broadway box, ‘and awaited
developments.

Thats evening. he received a visit at the temporary
quarters ae had taken up at a Third avenue lodging-
house.

The visitor was Duke Abbey.

After a short conversation, which lef Nick satisfied in
mind that the fellow had not spotted him, the pseudo

Gashwilder was requested to bring his wallet and himself

—

ip the New Haven and Hartford Hotel, over Harlem oa

Bridge, on the following morning at nine o’clock.

Nick hunted up Inspector Jacobs of the Post Office de-

partment after Abbey left, and received from him a cer-
tificate of deposit for three hundred dollars on a Boston
bank.

With this certificate he was to buy three thouasnd dol- |

lars worth of green-goods.

Nick was at the hotel on time.

To his delight Lafarge was awaiting him.

They shook hands heartily.

“Tam very glad to see you, Mr. Gashwilder,” said the
schemer. “Suppose we go down town now, and take a
look at the goods.”

“Suppose we do.”

Lafarge took Nick to a place on Elizabeth street, near
Broome.

They started up a dark and narrow passage to the sec-
ond floor.

At the door of a small room a long wait occurred.

The door was provided with a wicket, and after two

sharp raps, followed after an interval of ten seconds by |

three more, the wicket was opened, and the head of a
man was disclosed.

Nick recognized him as Billy Silk.

‘“What’s your number?” he asked.

Lafarge turned to Mr. Gashwilder.

“Ninety-seven,” said the disguised detective, promptly.

The door opened, and Lafarge motioned Nick to enter.

The disguised detective glanced around the room, and
saw an old man sitting at a desk which opened at the top.

He had a big package of good money before him, and
Nick, as befitting his assumed character. went over to the
desk, with his mouth wide open in delighted wonder.

“Well, by gum, and is this ther kind 0’ money I’m ter -

buy :

“Yes,” said Lafarge, who was by his side, ‘‘and there
isn’t an expert in the country who could tell it from the
genuine government goods. Handle it yourself.”

Nick knew the money was good, vut he took up a pack-
age of the bills and put on a pair of spectacles, and ap-
peared to make a very minute examination.

‘““T reckon I'll invest,” he said, emphatically.

“That’s what they all say when they see the goods.
Now, father, get the order book out, and we’ll proceed to
business.”

Nick had already spotted the old man.

He was Pharis Fogg, and he must have aprived: from
New Jersey the night before.

But where were Chick and Orrant and Viola Laroche? |

These questions must be answered later.

Fogg produced an order book from the desk.

Lafarge then turned to Nick.

“Count out three thousand dollars of that money your-
self to make sure that you are not being cheated.”

Nick counted out three thousand dollars.

Lafarge took out a little brown box from the desk.

“Put them in that,” he suggested.

This was done.

“Now put your John Henry in that order book, and the
thing’s settled.”

While Nick, with his tongue out, was laboriously
struggling with his name, the “old man” deftly substi-
tuted the usual package of green paper for the package of
good money.

Lafarge picked up the box containing the gr een- goods.

“Come with me to the Adams Express office,” he said.

Nick, who had not given up bis certificate of deposit,
had nothing to say against this proposition.

They went down stairs, and entered a room on the
ground floor which was fitted up exactly like a branch
express office.

There were trunks and boxes and packages on the floor
and a clerk behind the counter.

Lafarge handed the box to the clerk. and received a —

receipt written on a regular Adams Express bienk.
Lafarge paid one dollar, and put the receipt in his
pocket.
“Now,” said he to his intended victim, the guileless

 

Gashwilder, ‘‘I’ll retain this receipt until you cash ae
certificate and hand over the money.”

  

 

         
  

 

a

*

iw

it

if
ee

 
  

 

 

 

 

   
  
   

 

 
 

 

a

ea nn

‘No. 54.

 
 

NICK CARTER LIBRARY. : 15

 

“That’s agreeable.”

Matters were moving entirely to Nick’s satisfaction.

Lafarge suggested that they go to some bank and see if
the certificate would be honored.

Nick said he had done business with the Chase National
and that they knew him there.

“To the Chase we’ll go then.”

' The great detective could not conceal his satisfaction.

He had arranged with the post-office detectives to be at
the bank when he came there with Lafarge, and Inspect-
ors James and Jacobs were on hand when the green-goods
sharper and his intended victim put in an appearance.

While waiting at the bank the officials had allowed the
Chief Inspector, James, to take the numbers of six fifty-
dollar silver certificates and mark them for future identi-
fication.

This was done by making a pin hole through the left
eye of Edward Everett on each certificate.

Lafarge and Nick on entering walked up to the paying
teller’s window, where the false Gashwilder presented the
certificate of deposit ror three hundred dollars.

The teller handed him the six marked bills.

“Here you are,” said Nick, and he held out the money
to the green-goods man.

The post-office inspectors prepared for action.

They believed that the villain would at once swallow
the bait that had been prepared for him. But he was too
wary.

A bank was not the place for the transaction of private
business.

Nick, who had not looked for an acceptance of the
marked certificates then and there, was not disappointed
when the green-goods man said:

“Put ’em up. This isn’t a good place to close the deal.
Follow me.”

Nick put the certificates in his pocket, and the two went
out.

As it had been arranged that the arrest should be made
by the post-office men, the two inspectors, James and
Jacobs, followed Nick and Lafarge out.

Up Nassau street to Fulton went the detective and his
quarry.

They entered a saloon on the south-east corner.

James and Jacobs came up a moment later, opened the
door softly, and peering in saw Nick and Lafarge pass
into the wash-room and close the door after them.

Up to this moment Nick Carter had played a careful
and clever game,

It had been no simple trick to deceive so accomplished
a scoundrel and shrewd a trickster as the man Lafarge.
who for years had successfully eluded detection and cap-
ture.

In the wash-room Nick exhibited no eagerness to obtain
the express receipt.

On the contrary, he said, when they were secure from
hearing and observation :

“T dunno, mister, but I may be takin’ a big risk in car-
tin’ home them greenbacks.”

“Risk ! pshaw, man, what’s come over you?”

The villain spoke sharply and nervously.

“Tt can’t be possible.” he thought, “that I am going to
lose my sucker, when I’ve got the hook in his mouth.”

“Are you plumb sure, mister, thet ther bills are per-
sisely like the ones Uncle Sam sends out from Washing-
ton ?”

“Haven’t I said so, and haven’t you seen and felt of
them? Say, have you ever heard of any one being arrested |
for passing them ?”

“No, I can’t say es I hev, mister.”

“And you never will.”

“Well, I reckon I’ve got ter go on, seein’ es how I’ve
waded in so far, mister.”

“You'll never regret it.”

‘Hope not.”

“Come, then, hand over those siver certificates.”

“ Here you are.”

“ And here is the express receipt.”

The transfer was made.

Nick drew a deep breath of relief and satisfaction.

Lafarge, the bold operator, was in the toils at last.

The two men passed ints the saloon.

eer

“Have a drink,” said Lafarge, easily.

“Don’t care if I do.”

They walked up to the bar, and Nick called for soda.

The green-goods man in his elation over his supposed
victory, called for whisky straight, and threw himself on
the outside of a four-fingered fill-up.

He smacked his lips with an “Ah-h-h! that’s the
caper,” and then started briskly for the door.

As he stepped out Inspector Jacobs placed his hand on
his shoulder.

“T want you.”
peneas coolness and self-possession instantly deserted

im.

He made no resistance when the handcuffs were placed
‘upon his wrists.

And resistance would not have been of any avail had he
made it, for elose beside Jacobs stood Chief James, while
behind the villain was Nick Carter, the man who had run
him down.

The great detective saw the defeated green-goods man
depart in good company, and then he started for the Eliz-
abeth street joint.

On the way he met Chick.

Nick was overjoyed to meet his faithful assistant.

“Ts the girl all right?” he asked, after they had shaken
hands.

79 Yes. »

“And Orrant?”

‘Happy as a clam in high water.”

i i: Good. You can give me the particulars if you choose
ater.”

“What’s up? Where are you going?”

“To Elizabeth street. And I want you to come with
Hie.

“That suits, if there is fun in prospect.”

“There is.”

- They hurried to the dingy office where the “old man”
had given Nick the box of green-goods, to find Billy Silk
and Abbey in possession.

They were quietly placed under arrest.

The “old man”—Pharis Fogg—had gone.
ae Go we’ll find him in Elizabeth or thereabout,” said

ick.

“What makes you think so?”

“Because when he left the brick house where he had
ee Viola Laroche he had no idea that we were onto
aE!)

“Any: one at the house now ?”

66 No. 9

“'W here’s the doctor, Lafarge’s brother ?”

“We scared the wits out of him, and he’s left the coun-
try for his country’s good.”

‘*Tell me all about it.”

“Weil,” began Chick, “I got to Elizabeth in time to
catch Japer Orrant as he was boarding a train for New
York:

“He had followed Fogg and the vailed woman—who
was Viola Laroche, and who rac been drugged to make
her come along all right—to the brick asylum where Dr.
Lafarge holds forth; and upon discovering what kind of
an establishment it was had burried back to Elizabeth for
assistance.

“Not finding either of us about, or obtaining news of us
at the telegraph or post-office, he had made up his mind
to go on to New York.

“T got to him just in time, as I have said, and we
started out yesterday afternoon to attack the asylum.

‘‘T obtained a pointer on the doctor before we left Eliza-
beth, and when we rung the big bell at his door I knew I
could fetch him. :

“We went out without disguising ourselves, and when
the doctor saw us he guessed what we wanted.

“JT didn’t waste any wordsonhim.

“ “You will produce Miss Viola Laroche within five
minutes, or you will accompany us to Klizabeth to answer
to a little charge of malpractice that has just been pre-
ferred against you,’ says I.

“That was stretching the truth a little.

“A charge of that kind could have been preferred with

 

the likelihood of sending the doctor to prison, only the
party most interested had refused to prosecute on account

Fie

       

   
  
    
   
   
       
16

NICK CARTER LIBRARY. 7:

No. 54.

 

 

of the unpleasant notoriety that the case would give her.
“But he knew nothing of this, and he turned as white as
_asheet at my words.

““*There is a young lady of that name here,’ he stam-
mered. ‘If I produce her will your claim be satisfied an
will you leave me unmolested ?’

“T answered in the affirmative, and in less than two
minutes he brought out the girl.

‘‘You should have seen Orrant when he beheld her, pale
and weak, but still beautiful. . :

‘And you should have seen both of them during the
next five minutes.

“We left Dr. Lafarge with the intimation that he might
be prosecuted if he remained in that neighborhood, and
before I left this morning to come over to New York I
heard that he had skipped the country.”

Nick and Chick went to Elizabeth that afternoon and
arrested Pharis Fogg. a

No complaint for complicity in the green-goods swindle
was made against him.

 

But he was prosecuted for the abduction of Viola La-
roche, and got a five years’ sentence.

Lafarge and his tools were tried in the United States
Court, and received severe sentences for their fraudulent
use of Uncle Sam’s mails.

Jasper Orrant and Viola were married, with Nick and
Chick as witnesses, on the day following Fogg’s arrest.

They are now living happily in their Georgian home.

The great detective and his able assistant were highly
complimented by Inspector Byrnes and Postmaster-Gen-
eral Wanamaker for their clever work.

(THE END.)

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3—A MILLION DOLLAR CHECK; Or, Tae Lirrrz Giant at
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4__ONE AGAINST TWENTY-ONE; Or, THe Rancu Rossery.
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5—THE CIPHER LETTER; Or, Nick Carter’s Iron NEeRvE.,
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6—NICK CARTER IN PHILADELPHIA; Or, Tur Nicur Hawzs
OF THE QuAKER Crry. By the Author of *‘Nick Carter.’

oe THUNDERBOLT, LOCOMOTIVE; Or, Tue Package In
u ar bees Matt, By the Authur of ‘‘Nick Carter.”
8—NICK CARTER BEFORE THE MAST; Or, A Sza Mystery.
By the Author of ‘‘Nick Carter.”
9—A MAN WITH FOUR IDENTITIES; Or, Toe Lirrun Grant's
ProsueEM. By the Arthur of ‘Nick Carter.”
10—NICK CARTER’S DOUBLE GAME; Or, Tue Guost oF
Ravenswoop Hovusge. By the Author of ‘‘Nick Carter.”
_11—NICK CARTER IN BOSTON; Or, A CiEveR Forarr’s
Scuzmmse. By the Author of ‘‘Nick Carter.”
.12—CHECK No. 777; Or, Huntine tHe Same Man Twice.
the Author of ‘‘Nick Carter.” :
. 13—3,000 MILES BY FREIGHT; Or, Tue Mystery or 4 Piano
Box. By the Author of ‘‘Nick Carter.”’
14—THE THIRTEEN’S OATH OF VENGEANCE; Or, A Crim-
mnaL Compact. By the Author of ‘‘Nick Carter.”
15—THE FATE OF DOCTOR QUARTZ; Or, Tus Murper in
tHE DissectiING Room. By the Author of ‘‘Nick Carter.”
_16—PACKAGE “17 A;” Or, Tue Secret or a Famity Froup. By
the Author of ‘‘Nick Carter.”
17—NICK CARTER’S GREAT PERIL; Or, A Prisoner ror Lirs
: Wire tHE Drap. By the Author of ‘Nick Carter.”
18—THE GREAT DETECTIVE DEFIED; Or, Zetma, THE
Fremate Frenp. By the Author of ‘‘Nick Carter.”
19—THE LITTLE GIANT’S TASK; Or, Nick Cartrr’s Won-
pERFUL Nerve. By the Author of ‘‘Nick Carter.”
90—BROUGHT TO BAY AT LAST; Or, OUTWITTED, Out-
GENERALED AND OuTpoNE. By the Author of ‘‘Nick Carter.’
91—NICK CARTER AT WESTERN UNION JUNCTION; Or,
Tum St. Paun Trams Rossery. By the Author of “Nick

By

C Or

; 09. _NIOK CARTER’S CELEBS ATED CASE; Or, Taz Mysreris
or Gornam. By the Author of “Nick Carter.”

_93—THE LITTLE GIANT ON DECK; Or, Tot Great Appuc-

TION Case. By the Author of ‘‘Nick Carter.”
24-NICK CARTER AT GLENDALE; Or, Tue RoBBERy OF THE
: Prisco Nicgut Express. By the Author of ‘Nick Carter.”
25—YOUNG HERCULES, NICK CARTER’S ASSISTANT ; Or, A
: Man or Muscie anp Nerve. By the Author of ‘‘Nick Carter.”
96—NICK CARTER IN SAN FRANCISCO; Or, Unzarruine
: Crime in Cutnatown. By the Author of ‘‘Nick Carter.”

 

27—NICK CARTER IN CHICAGO; Or, Tur Crim or tHe Laxe
Crry. By the Author of ‘‘Nick Carter.”
No. re PASSENGER GOING EAST, By the Author of “Nick
arter.”
No. 299—NICK CARTER’S MYSTERIOUS CASE; Or, Tur Roap-
Hovsrt Tracrepy. By. the Author of “Nick Carter.”
. 30.-MAD MADGE, THE QUEEN OF CROOKS: Or,.Ficutina
AN ArtruL For. By the Author of ‘‘Nick Carter.”
. 31—A DEAD MAN’S GRIP; Or, Toe Sxeteton mn THE Cxoser.
By the Author of ‘“‘Nick Garter.”

No.

. 82—-NICK CARTER IN KANSAS CITY; Or, Tax Nicut Hawss

Revivep. By the Author of “Nick Carter.”

. 38-—-THE MYSTERIOUS MAIL BAG ROBBERY ; Or, Nicx Car

TER's GREAT Catch. By the Auther of ‘Nick Carter.”

. 34-YOUNG HERCULES IN MEXICO; Or, Pruck anp Musciz
Acarnst Stratecy. By the Author of “Nick Carter.”

. 35—NINETY MILES AN HOUR; Or, Tue Prosiem or Srven
Deatus. By the Author of ‘‘ Nick Carter.”

. 86—NICK CARTER IN ST. LOUIS; or, Taz Niaur Hawks’ Last
Scrreecu. By the Author of “Nick Carter.”

. 37—NICK CARTER IN BALTIMORE; or, Tur Consprracy oF
THE Rep Leacur. By the Author of ‘Nick Carter.”

. 88—NICK CARTER IN NEW ORLEANS; Or, Tue Rep Leacuz’s
Last Errort. By the Author of ‘ Nick Carter.”

. 39—THREE TIMES DEAD ; Or, Nick Carrer in a Ticut PLace.
By the Author of ‘Nick Carter.”

. 40—THE GREAT JEWEL ROBBERY ; Or, Nick Carter AMonc |
THE Hore, Turmves. By the Author of “Nick Carter.”

.41—THE FOURFOLD MURDER; Or, Nick Carrer’s CLEVER |
Work IN Froripa. By the Author of “‘Nick Carter.”

. 42—THE N. Y. CENTRAL TRAIN ROBBERY; Or, Tux Nervizsy |
Outiaw AuivE. By the Author of ‘Nick Carter.”

. 43—THE LETTERS ON THE FLOOR; Or, Nick Carter’s CLEVER
Decrpper. By the Author of ‘‘Nick Carter.” |

.44_NICK CARTER ON HIS METTLE; Or, A Cuasz AFTER
A Fortune, By the Author of. “Nick Carter,” ete.

. 40—NICK CARTER’S GREATEST PERIL; Orn, On Tue Tratn
Or A Human Fienp. By the Author of “Nick Carter,” ete.

.46—THE GOLD BRICK SWINDLERS; Or, Nick Carrer’s
GREAT Exposure. By the Author of ‘“‘Nick Carter.”

. 47—NICK CARTER ON THE BOWERY: Or, Tur Terrors OF
One Nicut. By the Author of ‘‘Nick Carter,”

. 48—NICK CARTER’S HANDICAP; Or, Won iy a Canter.
the Author of ‘Nick Carter.”
.49—BOLD MASKED ROBBERS; Or, Nick Carrer’s Livery |

ConFruict. By the Author of ‘Nick Carter.” <7
50—NICK CARTER’S FIGHT FOR LIFE; Or, Taz Mitiioname’s
Nemesis. By the Author of ‘Nick Carter,”
. 5|1—JUDGE LYNCH’S MISTAKE; On, Nick Carter’s Srarce
FoR A MurpErer. By the Authorof ‘Nick Carter.”
No. 52—A BOLD BANK ROBBERY ; Or, Nick Canrmr’s Great HaAcr, ||
By the Author of ‘Nick Carter.”
No. 53—NICK CARTER IN WALL STREET ; Or, Trackine a Stoten
Fortunre. By the author of ‘Nick Carter.”
No. 54—TRICKED AND TRAPPED; On, Nick Carter's Green
Goops Haun. By the author of ‘‘ Nick Carter.”
No. 55—ROBBED BY RIVER PIRATES; Or, Nick Cartme AMONG
THE WuHaRF Rats. By the author of ‘‘Nick Carter,”

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