A Woman at Bay Part 33

"You stand over there in that niche," replied Nick. "When he steps inside the very nature of the place will bring his back toward me. I will tap him on the back of the head with my fist and knock him into your arms. You are to grab him with your arms around him, and hold him so that he cannot get at a weapon, and until I can get my fingers on him. That is all. Now, ready and wait."

They had some time to wait; longer than Nick expected, and he began to fear that Handsome would bring some of the men back with him; but at last they saw the glimmer of his light as he approached, and Nick knew by the sounds he heard that Handsome was returning alone.

Presently he appeared. He was calling out softly, for he could not understand why he had not been answered--and the light he carried prevented him from seeing the hole behind the rock until it was directly in front of him.

And then he came to a sudden stop, and gazed at it in astonishment.

"Gee!" Nick heard him exclaim. "Dogged if they haven't found a hole here. And they have gone into it, too. I wonder if that old cuss knew about it all the time?"

He remained in doubt for a moment what to do; and then, as Nick had predicted, he stepped softly forward, and, holding his light aloft, peered through the opening.

But Nick had chosen his place of concealment well, and Handsome could not see him.

Then Handsome called out:

"Madge! Bill! Where the devil are you?"

There was no reply, and he waited a moment before he called again. Then he repeated:

"Madge! Madge!"

When no reply came to this second call, he stood for some time in doubt, as if he thought of calling a.s.sistance to him before he entered that dark and unknown place; and once Nick thought he half turned, as if he had decided to summon some of the others.

But he evidently thought better of this, for he turned about resolutely again, and boldly stepped into the opening. Two such steps brought him exactly into the position where the detective wanted him, and as soon as he had achieved it, Nick struck him with his fist.

With a half-articulated cry, Handsome pitched forward and fell into the grasp of Patsy, who was ready for him; and then, when he would have struggled, other arms--Nick's--seized him from behind, and another blow fell upon him, striking him behind the ear, and rendering him half dazed for the moment.

And then Nick, knowing that Patsy could hold him, turned about and closed the rock door of the retreat; and before Handsome had recovered his senses sufficiently to offer any resistance, the two detectives had bound him so securely that he could not move.

"Take his feet," ordered Nick, then. "We will carry him back into that chamber, to keep Madge company."

While they were doing that, Handsome managed to recover his powers of speech--for, now that the rock door was closed, Nick did not think it necessary to gag the man--and his powers of speech in this particular instance were something frightful to listen to.

He was still swearing when they dropped him, none too gently, upon the floor of the cavern not far from Madge; and then Patsy lighted two bracket lamps with which the place was provided, while Nick smilingly removed the gag from Madge's mouth.

And where Handsome had worn out his vocabulary of curses, Madge took it up, and completed it in masterly style, and there was really nothing for either of the detectives to say for a long time. But her breath was gone after a while, and she lapsed into sullen silence, closing her remarks with the request:

"At least give me something to drink out of that bottle that Handsome went after."

Nick could really do nothing less, and he complied; and the liquor seemed to restore some of her accustomed coolness, for she looked at Nick with an ugly gleam in her black eyes, and said:

"You are Nick Carter again, aren't you?"

"Again?" replied Nick, laughing. "I was always Nick Carter. I was so interested in that last interview I had with you, Madge, that I couldn't stay away; and now, when you condemned my a.s.sistant to death, you hastened the reckoning. That is all."

"I'll condemn you to death yet--and watch you die, too!" was her retort.

CHAPTER XVI.

NICK MAKES BAD MEDICINE.

Handsome had also recovered from his paroxysm of rage by this time, for he was one who had the gift of knowing when he was beaten, and the logic to accept a situation when he knew that it could not be avoided.

"I reckon you've got the drop on us, Carter," he said. "You've played the game mighty well, too. There is one thing about it that I would like to know, though, if you will tell me. Will you?"

"What is it?" asked the detective.

"I want to know if you have been old Bill Turner from the beginning. I want to know if it was you whose acquaintance I made in the first place, the time I was pulled out of the hole in the rocks, or if it was old Bill himself."

"That was the old man himself," replied Nick, smiling.

"And the second time I met him; was that him--or you?"

"That was the old man, also."

"Well, all that I can say is that you have played the part so devilish well that I find it hard to believe even now that you are not what you appear to be."

"You're a fool!" said Madge spitefully.

"Oh, I admit the impeachment, Madge. There isn't any doubt of it. I'm a fool, all right."

"And you are up against it rather hard just now, Handsome; you and Madge," said Nick.

"I know that, too. I'm no fool as far as that is concerned. What are you going to do about the rest of the gang?"

"I'm going to capture the whole bunch," was Nick's rather astonis.h.i.+ng reply.

"I don't see how you are going to do it," retorted Handsome. "There is a cold hundred of them, all told--and every entrance to the cave is guarded. You attended to that yourself."

"Certainly, I did; because I foresaw this very moment."

"Well, all that I can say is that you can see a cussed sight farther into a stone fence than I can."

"I'll show you how it is done, if you are interested," replied the detective. "But, first, I am afraid that I will have to ask you to step out here a moment, into the other part of the cave, always remembering that if you make any kind of a break, down you go with a cracked skull;"

and Nick leaned forward and loosened the cords around his ankles.

"Oh, I know when my hands are in the air, Carter. If I make any breaks it will be because I think I see a chance of winning. What do you want?"

He rose stiffly to his feet as he asked the question; and Nick looked him in the eye as he replied:

"I want you to remember, in the first place, that I am more than twice or three times as strong as you are, and that if you offer to give me any trouble I shall hurt you; and hurt you so badly, too, that you won't get over it right away. I am going to take you into the other part of this cavern, toward the door where we entered. I am going to free your hands, and then I shall ask you to put on these old togs that Turner has left here for a change of clothing in case he got wet--for I want these that I am wearing for Patsy. After you have made the change I shall tie you up again, and then you will see--what you will see. But, remember, if you refuse to obey me on the instant that I give an order, down you go, and I will take the clothing off your senseless body, instead of letting you do it, and keep well. Now, are you ready?"

"Yes."

Nick took him into the adjoining part of the cave, and held the light on him while he made the necessary change; for Nick had found some extra clothing of Turner's in the cave; and when that was done he tied Handsome up again, more securely than ever, and placed him on the floor again.