A BOLD GAME.

North Otago Times, 11 December 1909, Page 2 (Supplement)

A BOLD GAME.

(Copyright.)

'. . . .•• t. ■ ■• ONE OF THE MOST STARTLING 'MYSTERIES,OF CARTER'S EXPERIENCES.

By the Author of "Caught in Their Own Trap," "The King of ■ Smugglers," Etc., Etc.

PART 8. Blaney threw both hands above his head and sprang impulsively to bis feet. ' By his every look and movement he had betrayed that a great revelation had como home to him—a truth which needed only the disclosure of Nick's identity to clinch it with resistless force. "Oh, heavens! "■ he groaned, covering his face with his hands. "I have been a fool—a fool—a fool! " "You have aimed to shield this woman," said Nick sternly. "Yes, yes, of course." "I suspected it when you gave it to Trask for questioning her. A fool, indeed ! She is utterly unworthy of your affection." "I can hardly believe my ears. She has seemed "

"Pshaw ! She has been playing a part," Nick interposed, sternly. "You are sure of what you assert," "Positively. J want only the last link in the chain. I want to know what you saw in the hall that night. I want the truth from your own lips." Blaney threw back his head and thrust out his hand. "You shall have it, Nick Carter," he cried softly. "I am glad to tell it to you, rather than to Trask." Nick laughed and signed for him to resume his seat. "Now," said he, "give me the whole business. And state it briefly for lam in haste. Did you retire to bed that night after returning home from the dinner ? " "Yes, at once." "It was then about midnight. Did you see or hear anyone about the house ?" "I did not." "And your first intimation of anything wrong ?" "Was when I heard the butler call'ing for help." "You ran into the hall ? " "Yes, after looking for my revolver." "Which you did not find it its accustomed place ? " "No, it was not there. It had been taken from the room." "By the governess ? " "Yes," nodded Blaney. "She afterwards told me that she had beeu awakened, and thought she heard some one in the house. She was not sure, however, and she said she did not wish to create anj alarm. Instead, she said she slipped quietly to my room and got the weapon, knowing where I always kept it, and then started to see if her fears were justified." "Was she in her night attire when vou entered the hall ? " ' "Yes."

"Humph ! A very clever bit of duplicity," growled Nick, "It was she who admitted the burglars, and she secured your weapon to make sure that you should not make use of it, in the event of alarm and discovery." : "If she is really Arden's wife, I can Wsily believe it." • V "There is no doubt of it," said wick, curtly. "Now, what did you fiee when you entered the hall ? " | "The struggle that' was taking 'lace." "As a matter of fact, Blaney, did you not see Nell Green fire the revolver and kill the butler ?" "Yes, sir, I did." "What did she say in extenuation of that ? " "She said she intended to hit one of the burglars. Of course I believed her, under such circumstances; and as she was terribly alarmed lest she should be arrested, I agreed to shield her, and to let it appear that one of the burglars had secured the weapon and killed Henshaw to effect his escape. That is the whole story, sir."

"And that is all I want! " eiclaimed Nick, rising to go. "Before sunset the whole gang shall be under arrest, and you at liberty." "God grant it! " cried Blaney, fervently. £. "Meanwhile," added Nick, briefly pausing at the cell door, "keep these disclosures to yourself." "I certainly will, Mr. Carter." "Remember, silence until you bear from me," "Trust me." "Officer! " v'Sg^ "Yes, sir." "'"■'"" "Let me out." Within another five minutes Nick Was on his way to Morrisania, ready to clap the bracelets about Nellie Green's fair wrists. But on arriving at Blaney's residence the detective met with a serious setback. The governess was nowhere to be found, CHAPTER XIX. : THE ACME OF KNAVERY. Long before daylight that same morning, in those few hours when the hush of the night is over the city, in that brief period between the -i. slumber of wearied gaiety and the reawakening of daily toil, two men who had made their way down town and crossed by the Peck Slip ferry to Williamsburg approached a house near the water front, and after briefly fumbling about for 'a key, vanished into the gloomy interior. There had been none of your master and servant about them, none of your lordship and valet, during their night journey from a palace to quarters even more lowly and disreputable than was imagined by the detective who had predicted such a change. They had walked arm in arm with heads bowed at times in grim and ■ subdued discussion, always with a friendliness that bespoke the true tie by which they were bound, and never with the slightest haste not a betrayal of apprehension. The deserted house into which they entered was an inferior wooden structure fronted by the grim walls of a closed brewery, and skjrted on one side by one or two like hovels, and on the other side by the sheds and low buildings of a near pier, and dock. Within hearing of the Burge and • ripple, and rising at times almost into the dismal area out back, were ~ the restless waters of the dock and river, where the tide rose and fell I with that monotonous regularity ; which tides alone can display. 1 It was a place and surroundings to have caused,a heart really accustomed to the quarters abandoned to .have shrunk with disgust and sunk with apprehension and dismay. "Well, Jimmie, we may now be ,'found at the old stand," was- .the 1 ' grim comment of Mr.. Joey Kennedy, ■ as Arden lighted a lamp. Its dismal rays shed through a smoky chimney lighted a bare and damp jear room, evidently a kitchen which contained only a common deal tablo. three or four nootai a

etove and a coal Bcuttlo, < and a few old "pans and culinary utensils. Kennedy had dropped into one of the, chairs, elevated his heels to the edge of the table, and drawn forth his invariable companion and solace of solitude, his black clay pipe which he deliberately filled. . Jimmie Arden tossed away his burned match, placed the lamp on the table, and then Bank heavily into one of the chairs. '

"By Heaven, I'm tired ! " he said, heaving a sigh, and taking off his hat. "It must bo near morning." " 'Bout four o'clock," replied Kennedy sentcntiously. "Got another match?".

Arden tossed one across the table, and stared at the sturdy ruffian opposite while he lighted his pipe. "Yes, Joey," he finally rejoined, taking up the other's earlier comment, "we are back at the old stand. Quite a change from the Buckingham. Not an agreeable shift." Kennedy smiled grimly, and expressed his opinion with a dismal growl and grunt. "And it is quite a while, Joey, since you turned up here from Australia." "So 'tis." "Nearly five months, isn't it? "

" 'Bout that, Jimmie." "Well, we've lived well since then on the swag you brought with you." "Ay, well indeed." "And my scheme has enabled you to throw the coppers off your track for that Melbourne job of yours," continued Arden. "And that is something." "You are right Jimmie, lad," grunted the cracksman. "You bet I am."

"And I'm not sorry I ran across you the very day I landed. You gave me safe cover, and I'll not forget it." "Curious, too, that you should have known about that Arden chap, and all the particulars which have made my scheme so feasible." "Him, whose name you took ? " "Yes, of course." "So 'twas." v "How have I played the part, Joey ?" . "First class, Jimmie," replied Kennedy, with a heartiness that carried conviction. "Think so ? " "If you'd been Jimmie Arden himself with his swagger and his belt of diamonds, round your waist, you couldn't have done it better. As far as we've gone, Jimmie, you've showed yourself a peach and a plum. There's no getting round that, laddie."

And the grim cracksman opposite added emphasis to his opinion with nod after nod of his bullet-shaped bead and a more vigorous puffing of his black clay pipe. Ardcn's face expressed the satisfaction he felt over these remarks of evil commendation. It was evident that he now had some project in his mind, which he presently contemplated broaching, and which he very likely feared might not meet with such hearty approval. That shrewd' Nick Carter had hit upon nearly the whole truth appears in the interview progressing. "And now, Jimmie," observed Kennedy, after several moments of silence, "suppose you open up, and let me know why you've made this change so sudden-like." Arden nodded aDd drew his chair to the table.

Resting his arms on its begrimed surface, he looked across at his companion, and said: "I'll do it, Joey, and I hope you'll fall in with my ideas." "Most likely I will, Jimmie." "I trust so, for we've been good friends."

"So we have, lad, and are." "The fact is, Joey, our game has met with a temporary check." "/That so? What sort of a check ? " "Blaney can't settle."

"Humph ! I reckoned it might possibly come down to a play of that sort."

"You're not put out, Joey ? " "No, Jimmie, I always take things as they come," said Kennedy crowding the tobacco down his pipe with philosophical indifference.

Arden looked pleased, and some' what relieved.

"But the outlook is not so bad, Joey, after all," he went on.

"That so ? " " I have another scheme which I now feel sure may be successfully worked and which in the end will pan out as much profit for both of us as if Blaney had the dust with which to settle." "What's the game, Jimmie ? " "I have taken it into my head to marry Blaney's daughter, and so work myself.into his jewellery business," Arden explained. "You know what that would mean in the end." "Marry his daughter 1 " muttered Joey Kennedy, with a look of grim amazement. "That's the size of it." "Will she have you ?" "I have as good as a promise to that effect." "From her ? " "From her own lips, Joey." "When, Jimmie ?" "This very evening," "Where was Nell while this was coming off ?" "Under cover." And Arden, reassured by the fact that his companion offered no protest thereupon explained what had occurred and his design in detail, By the expression on his face Kennedy .rather thought that the project was a good one. "But there's one thing very much in the"way of this scheme Jimmie," he observed grimly, when Arden had made it known.

"What is that, Joey ? " "You are already married, and your wife isn't a woman to be easily run into a side-track."

Arden's face took on a look that spoke louder than wordß.

"There's a way by which it can be done," be answered, with startling significance. "Put her under the sod ?" "Or under the waters of yonder river! " said Arden, hissing the words through his teeth and pointing out through the door of the dismal hovel. If the cracksman had any feeling in the matter or any objection to the heinous design, he. did not betray them. "Have you made up your mind to do this, Jimmie ? " be asked curiously. "Yes, I have." I "When ?" "I've made sure that she'll come here to-morrow." "To-day, you mean." "Yes." "How so?" "I sent her, a letter from the Buckingham before ten o'clock, and just, after I returned from Blaney's." "Telling her to'come here ? "

"Yes, immediately after receipt of the letter. She will get it by the first morning delivery." .

"And if she comes ? " • "She shall never leave here alive I" said Arden decisively, with' his dark eyes aglow. "There are more reasons than one why this should be done, Joey." "What other reasons ?"

• "To begin with weMon't hitch well and never have. She la In my way." "TltttW?"

, "Decidedly,-so'l Furthermore, she 1b as- false as -the devil I ' Young Blauey'a conduct convinces me of that." -' "Mebbe so." "I am satisfied of it," snarled Arden. "Then, again, It waß her hand that killed the butler, .Hcnshaw." "That's true."

"Don't you sco what an advantage it will be to us,- Joey, if she were suddenly to' disappear and never show up again,"

' Kennedy's interest increased in a noticeable degree. "Why so ? " he demanded, laying aside his pipe and lowering his heels to the floor.

"I'll tell you why," exclaimed Arden. "If she can'be got out of the way and leave no word or sign behind her as to whero sho has gone it will_ be taken for granted that sho bad'a hand in the murder, and has fled to join' her confederates." "Yes, Jimmie, that's so." "And that will send the coppers searching after her, and dead off our track. We shall bo the last to be suspected. It's not known about here that she's anything to me and the best of them cannot discover that her name is not Green." "I think you'ro right." "I know I am," declared Arden. "Her death will servo us best in every way." "It looks so, Jimmie," nodded the cracksman. "And after you marry the other one where do I come in ?"

"I'll do the right thing by you, Joey, never you doubt that," said Arden earnestly. "To begin with, once I have wed the girl, and fixed myself with Blaney, you shall have all the swag that we nailed from his safe, and all that is left of the money he lent mo shall be yours." ".That's fair, Jimmie."

"And once I am in the business with the old man," continued this arch scoundrel, "I'll put you in the way to making a lift out of his store, the which we can share together." Kennedy nodded approvingly. "Better still I " he rejoined. "Now, what do you 6ay ? " "To the scheme ? ", "Yes."

'"I say, Jimmie," replied the cracksman, grimly, "that it's good enough for me, and that I'm in it with you, providing you can marry the girl." "I'll Riiarantec that, Joey."

"There's my hand on it, then. But, mind you, the other is not to bo done up until the marriage is certain."

I "I agree to that, even," said Arden, after a moment's consideration. "But she must be confined here and constantly watched." "While you arc working out the plans ? " "Yes."

"I will look after her once we get her here," nodded Kennedy. "If she gives me the slip you shall have a medal." Arden did not tell him that the result of his brief consideration had been to put the woman out of his path, alone and v on the quiet, the very first opportunity he got. J Instead, he nodded approvingly, and said :

"I feel safe in leaving her to you, Joey. And this is one season I have left the Buckingham." "To do her up ? " "Yes, of course. It couldn't have been done there." "Hardly." "Now, however, you can keep watch over her, and be under cover at the same time."

"Sure thing, Jimmie," vouchsafed the cracksman. "The whole scheme is well laid out."

"I also want it to appear that I feel greatly disturbed over the loss of my diamonds and the fact that Blaney cannot settle." "I sec."

"For that reason I can represent that I have discharged my valet, and felt compelled to take cheaper rooms. While lam executing my design on Rose Blaney, I shall stop in some private hoarding-house In Morrisania. Meanwhile, Nell must be constantly guarded, and finally done away with,"

"That can be done when the time comes, Jimmie."

"It must be done." "Ay, ay, it shall, lad. But what was your idea of slipping out of the Buckingham at night, and so cautiously ?"

Arden laughed and tossed his head. "Just to make sure of one thing, Joey," he replied.

"What's that ?" "To prevent any shadow from locating our retreat here, in case we have been over-confident and some infernal blue-bottle ,is wise to us, or thinks he may be." "tou don't think we've been shadowed, do you ? " demanded Kennedy, with an ugly gleam in his narrow eyes.

"By no means," cried Arden quickly "I think nothing of the kind. But I took the precaution in case I am mistaken. For that reason only." "I don't reckon wc need fear'that" growled Kennedy, rising to his feet. "Nor I, Joey." "And now I'm going to get a wink o' sleep." "I'm with you, old pal." ' The two men climbed a narrow flight of stairs in the gloomy entry, and repaired to the bedrooms on the second floor.

It was plainly evident. that they were alone in the house and thoroughly familiar with it and its surroundings. As was subsequently proven, it was here that the man known in these pages as Jimmie Arden had been briefly located at the time he first encountered the notorious cracksman, Joey Kennedy, whose name is, in England and Australia, a veritable synonym for bold burglaries and desperate, deeds. Out of the meeting of these men, with -, the aid of the former's wife, and by means of stolen property in the cracksman's possession, had been developed and executed one of the most curious and crafty schemes that ever came within the province of Nick Carter, to discover and' in part forestall.

It was after ten o'clock that morning before either of these men put in an appearance down stairs.

When Joey Kennedy came down he found Arden peering through the closed blinds of one of the front windows into the street outside.

It was a narrow, little-frequented way leading to the river, and giving access only to the hovels mentioned, the rear of the brewery, and one of the older piers in that quarter. "What's the matter, Jimmie ?" demanded the cracksman, after regarding him in silence for a moment, "Anything wrong ?" Arden turned from the window. The subdued light of the room accentuated the pallor:of his haggard face and intensified the sullen glow of his sunken eyes. It was the face of a man who had slept but little despite that physical nature had been strained and abused, whose mind could not.rest under tho burden of the awful crime he was contemplating and for which he 1 bad deliberately planned.' . "No, nothing wrong, Joey," he answered hoarsely, "I was looking out'to see if the way is dear for the woman," ■ "Istt?" ■ :■•'

"ftl, CIUUQOUgh. ThMfe'B OUlf

a truck ball down the pier and the street itself is deserted."

"Anyalgn of her?" "No'."/ "What time do you look for.her? "

| "Most any time i' now," growled i Arden, turning to a cupboard to procure a drink. "I wrote her to start at once on receipt of my letter. I was taking no chance that , Rose Blaney disclosed my proposal in her presence. I gave the girl a hint that she'd better keep mum for a day or two."

"There would be the devil to pay if Nell discovered your treachery," said Kennedy grimly. "No, I guess not," was the significant response, "How about breakfast ?"

"Wait till later. And, by the way there Is one thing I want you to do this morning," added Arden.

• "What is that ? " "Fix up a bit, Joey, and slip over to Blaney'B store," "What for?"

"We must get word to Magee, the clerk there. And it must not be delayed too long either." "What's the matter with Magee ? " "Suppose he calls up the Buckingham, to ask what I am about and how the thing is going, and learns that we are not there ? If informed that we left ip the night, he may think it strange, and ruin us by some indiscretion."

"There's something in that," admitted Joey Kennedy dubiously. "There's so much in It that it will not do to take chances," said Arden, decisively. "You can drop in there, Joey, and give him a pointer on the quiet," "Why don't you go ? " growled the cracksman, half-suspiciously. "Because I am known there and you are not," replied Arden. "It will be better if I am not seen there especially talking to one of the clerks," "Mebbe so! " "I know so. You must go over there this morning." "And you, Jimmie ? " "I'll wait for " "Hush I "

There was the sound of a key being thrust into a door. 4 Arden, with his countenance turning ashy for an instant, darted softly to one of the windows,

Then he turned with finger warningly,raised and hissed: "It's all right I It's Nell I " But he soon found out that it was not all right. To bo Continued.