Chapter XXVII: Conclusion

When Patsy had met Nick at the department store, he had no opportunity to tell him of the experience of himself and Chick that day in Philadelphia.

He did so now, however. Nick listened intently, and at the conclusion said:

“Good. You and Chick have found out the very thing to make my story complete. We could get along without Mrs. Ladew.”

Patsy was surprised at this remark, for he did not know then what had passed between Mrs. Ladew and his chief.

“I guess this is where I need some information,” he said.

“Well, then, Patsy, I’ll make you as wise as myself,” said Nick Carter.

He then told Patsy in brief the story he had learned from Mrs. Ladew.

At its conclusion Patsy exclaimed:

“I see it all! The thing that is coming in a covered carriage to that place at ten to-night is his nibs, the Englishman.”

“That’s what it is,” said Nick.

“And they’re going to stow him in that back building. That’s the game.”

“I think you’re right.”

“Well, it’s a nasty place. It’s a nasty place to bring a woman, and it won’t be an easy thing to get that fellow out of it.”

“Easy or not,” said Nick, calmly, “we have got to go through it. I guess we’ve been in worse places and come out whole.”

After a moment he said:

“I wonder where we can pick up Chick.”

“Don’t know,” said Patsy. “The last I saw of him he was trailing Lannigan, holding fast to the man he had in tow.”

“He’ll turn up in time,” said Nick. “Chick is always on hand at the right time. But come with me now, Patsy. I must see Ida.”

“Is Ida here?”

“Yes; she came over with me, for I did not know but that she would have to do the work of Mrs. Ladew. As it is, she must go to her.”

They hurried to the hotel where Nick had left Ida, and there, having written a note to Mrs. Ladew, Nick gave it to Ida and told her that she must accompany Mrs. Ladew when she was called by Lannigan.

This Ida did at once, and saw Mrs. Ladew without difficulty.

It was well for Nick’s plans that he did send Ida to the lady, for, on arriving, Ida found Mrs. Ladew almost in a state of collapse, as a reaction from the excitement of the day, and disposed, if not determined, to go no further the matter, refusing to have anything further to do with Lannigan, on the ground that Nick Carter was on their trail.

Ida devoted herself toward soothing and encouraging Mrs. Ladew, and had the satisfaction of presently seeing the woman in a better frame of mind, and with courage to go through the ordeal before her.

While this was going on, Nick and Patsy set out on the rather hopeless task of trying to find Chick in a large and strange city.

It was nearly night when they set out, and they wandered about an hour without discovering trace of Chick. Finally they reached the Broad Street station in their wanderings, and as they stood in front of it they saw Lannigan approach and enter.

“Chick’s somewhere around,” remarked Patsy.

“Unless he’s lost Lannigan,” said Nick.

“Chick never loses anybody,” said Patsy.

And to confirm his statement, Chick walked up to them.

“You can drop Lannigan,” said Nick, “for we have got on to his movements and know he will be where we want him to-night.”

“Don’t you think,” said Patsy, “it would be just as well to find out what Lannigan is doing here in the station?”

“Perhaps so,” said Nick. “It will do no harm.”

“Lannigan has been as busy as possible,” said Chick. “He’s led me a chase up and down into all sorts of queer places. He’s got a funeral on hand.”

Patsy laughed aloud.

“He’ll be lucky,” he said, “if it’s not his own funeral. That’s what I think he’s going to.”

“What do you mean by saying he’s got a funeral?” asked Nick.

“Because he’s been running among the undertakers and to the Health Board. I know he has got a permit to transport a body across town.”

“A permit?” asked Nick.

“Now what does that mean? And what has that to do with this thing?”

“Cæsar’s ghost!” cried Patsy, “that Englishman hasn’t spoiled our fun by croaking, has he?”

“Follow him, Patsy,” said Nick, “and see what he’s doing here. Then come to the hotel.”

Patsy was off like a flash, and Nick, taking Chick by the arm, took him to the hotel, on the way telling him of all the developments with which Chick was unfamiliar.

Arriving at the hotel, Nick found a note from Ida saying that Lannigan had called Mrs. Ladew to meet him in a carriage at a certain corner of the street she named, at half-past ten that night, and that Ida was going with her as her maid.

“That is all settled and according to programme,” said Nick.

Patsy now rushed in to tell them that Lannigan had been making arrangements to receive a corpse coming from New York on the train arriving at nine-thirty.

The three detectives dined and discussed this last movement of Lannigan, but they could conceive no reasonable explanation, finally reaching the conclusion that it had nothing to do with their affair.

As the hour approached, Nick sent Patsy to the corner where Lannigan was to meet Mrs. Ladew with a coach, while he and Chick went out to the house that he had visited with Patsy in the earlier part of the day.

“It is somewhat of a chance,” said Nick, “that we are taking, but I have no doubt that that is the destination of Lannigan with Mrs. Ladew.”

“At all events,” said Chick, “if he’s going to take her anywhere else, Patsy and Ida will be on hand.”

Arriving at the spot, they took a careful survey of the house and the place, and made the discovery that the double doors in the fence, which Chick and Patsy had observed, were slightly open.

“Ready for the covered carriage to drive in,” remarked Chick.

It was then after nine o’clock, and the two settled themselves for a wait until ten, the hour at which Lannigan had told Dempsey the covered carriage would reach there.

A few minutes before ten the doors were swung open and, as Chick was quick to recognize, by Tom Driscoll.

It was almost on the very hour that they saw a hearse approaching. As it turned the corner the horses were whipped up suddenly and they dashed through the gates, which were closed immediately after the hearse passed through.

“Oho!” exclaimed Chick. “Now, what is the meaning of that?”

“A part of your undertakers’ work to-day,” said Nick. “But what of it? What scheme is this?”

“Nick,” said Chick, earnestly, “do you think they could have killed Ellison?”

“And brought his body all the way over to Philadelphia?” said Nick. “That is hardly possible.”

They stole up the street to a point opposite the gates.

From that point, however, they could see nothing.

A tree was immediately opposite the courtyard on the side of the street on which they stood.

“Give me a back,” said Chick, in a whisper. “I’ll climb up and see if I can look over the fence.”

Nick made a back for Chick, and in a moment Chick was up in the branches overlooking the fence.

While he was there the gates were suddenly opened, and a flood of light shone out. The hearse came from the yard and was rapidly driven away.

The gates were then immediately closed again. In a moment or two Chick slipped down from the tree. He said to Nick:

“A box like those they put caskets in was brought in that hearse. It was heavy; it took six men to draw it by ropes from the pavement to the bridge. It was then carried into the rear room of that house in the rear, the lights of which you can see.

“Then they brought out the box light, for they let it down easily and carried it into the stable.”

“Something mysterious here,” said Nick. “Is it possible that they have brought Ellison over from New York in that box?”

“Drugged, so as to be unconscious?” asked Chick.

“It begins to look like that,” said Nick. “They could do it by perforating the casket with air holes.”

He was silent a moment or two, deeply thinking. At last he said:

“It must be so. They say they will have Ellison here to-night. Mrs. Ladew has been forced by Lannigan to meet him to-night. Ellison would hardly come over here willingly, and the chances of his escape, of being recognized or of alarming the public, would be too great for them to attempt to force him over. Chick, the only way in which they could get him over is to bring him unconscious and as a corpse.”

“It must be so,” said Chick. “Ellison was in that box. They have lifted him out and he is in that room where the lights are.”

“Then we have located our man.”

“And we’ll be sure of it, if Lannigan comes with Mrs. Ladew here.”

“I presume,” said Nick, “if we are right, that they are busy now in restoring Ellison to consciousness.”

“Our trick,” said Chick, “is to wait here and watch for the coming of Lannigan with Mrs. Ladew.”

It was half-past ten by this time and, according to their calculations, Lannigan could not reach there before eleven.

They settled themselves for the wait, and promptly on the hour of their calculations they saw a coach round the corner.

The doors in the fence swung open again, and as the coach turned into the gate Nick and Chick sprang behind and close to it.

The wheels had not rolled over the sidewalk before Patsy came up on a run and joined them.

As the coach cleared the gates they were swung to as before. But not quickly enough to shut out the three detectives.

The moment it stopped the door of the coach was opened and Lannigan stepped out.

Nick, with a bound, was beside him and, striking him heavily with the butt of his pistol on the head, knocked him clean over. At the same moment he called to Ida to guard Mrs. Ladew in the coach.

Driscoll, who was in the courtyard to receive the carriage, seeing the attack on Lannigan, rushed forward, but was met by Patsy, who hit him squarely in the face, but not until Driscoll had recognized Nick Carter and cried out his name.

Though he had fallen under the force of Patsy’s blow, he picked himself up and took to his heels without waiting for anything further to occur.

Under the lead of Nick, Chick and Patsy rushed to the winding stairs and reached the bridge before an alarm had been given to any of the others.

Who they were to meet they had little idea, but Chick thought they would have to encounter not less than six.

As they entered that rear building from the bridge they met a man whom Nick concluded at once was the man Clowes and, without waiting for any act upon that man’s part, he sprang forward and struck him a terrific blow in the face which toppled him over.

“Take care of that man, Patsy,” cried Nick.

He dashed along the hallway, closely followed by Chick.

Patsy stopped to look at the man and saw at a glance that he was unconscious. He called after Nick:

“You’ve done that already. I couldn’t take better care of him if I was to hit him with a sledge-hammer.”

And he ran after the other two.

At the door of the room where they supposed Ellison had been taken they met two or three, who had been attracted by the noise and scuffle in the hall.

Nick sprang forward, striking with both hands, and Chick was beside him in the effort.

The force with which they had jumped forward carried them into the room. A hasty glance showed them a man bound on the bed, while one was bending over him.

They waited for nothing, but each of the three detectives selected a man and toppled him over with blows.

The onslaught had been so rapid, and so vicious, as well as unexpected, that the men were hardly prepared to defend themselves.

Nick sprang to the bedside and, whirling the man who stood there aside, and who, as they subsequently learned, was a physician, said to the prostrate man:

“We are your friends, Mr. Ellison.”

He could see the man’s eyes flash with intelligence and, whipping out a knife, Nick cut the bands that confined him and, thrusting a revolver in his hand, said:

“Help to defend yourself.”

Ellison sprang from the bed as soon as his feet were released, while Nick turned to help Chick and Patsy, on whom the men, now recovered from their confusion, were attempting to make a combined attack.

They had been joined in the meantime by Dempsey.

Chick recognized him at once, and he went at that man, who had already drawn a revolver, striking him in the face with the butt end of his own.

Ellison joined them instantly, and, weak as he was, quickly showed his fighting power.

Though there were seven of them in the room, the four soon overcame them, driving them before them out of the room and into the passageway.

There they were at the mercy of the four behind them, for the way was narrow, and in their efforts to escape they blocked each other against the wall.

There were broken heads in plenty, but they managed to reach the bridge, some of them escaping over it and some down the winding stairs, among them Clowes, who, recovering consciousness, ran away.

The four went down the stairs into the courtyard, but by the time they had reached it the men who had fled from them had entirely disappeared.

The coach was still standing there, the driver sitting contentedly on his box, while Lannigan was sitting on the pavement.

For a moment Nick could not imagine what he was doing there, and thought that he must be yet dazed with the blow he had given him.

But, passing the heads of the horses, he saw the reason for Lannigan’s attitude.

Ida was sitting on the coach step covering him with a revolver, having threatened to put a ball into him if he stirred.

“Get up, Lannigan,” said Nick. “You can put up that revolver, Ida.”

Turning to Ellison, Nick said:

“Mr. Ellison, I was only commissioned to discover the mystery of your disappearance and find you. I shall not attempt to do anything to these rascals on my commission. It is for you to determine whether you will make a charge against them and arrest them. I want to say to you that if you care to consider the wishes of Mr. Sanborn and the lady you married yesterday, you will do nothing. It is for you to determine whether you can go clean handed to your friends.”

“I think I understand you,” said Mr. Ellison, “you refer to the story of my having been married some years ago in England.”

“I do,” replied Nick.

“It is true that I was married, most unfortunately. I was informed months ago that my wife was dead, as I had heard two years or more before.”

“I understand that,” replied Nick; “and that your wife made her appearance in this country on the day of your wedding to Miss Sanborn.”

“That is what I was informed, and the fact that she was nearby induced me to leave the house as I did. But the fact is, Mr. Carter, the woman I met in that coach was not my wife. She was my wife’s sister, who looks much like her. It was a fraud played upon me. It was my discovery of it that led to my being chloroformed and kept in confinement. My wife is dead.”

“And you are, therefore, legally and fairly married to Miss Sanborn,” said Nick. “It is not for me to advise you, Mr. Ellison, but my duty to Mr. Sanborn leads me to say that I know, if his wishes are to be consulted and those of the lady who is now your wife, everything will be done to prevent publicity and notoriety, even if it results in the escape of these rascals from the justice they so richly merit.”

“That accords with my feelings,” returned Mr. Ellison, “though my first impulse was to seek revenge on them.”

Nick then went to the coach door and spoke to Mrs. Ladew, saying:

“My aid, Ida here, will return with you to your house, Mrs. Ladew. You may go in the full assurance that you will not be bothered by Lannigan.”

To Ida he said:

“As soon as you leave Mrs. Ladew, come to the hotel. We shall go back to New York as soon as we can. A new case awaits us there.”

He then directed the driver to drive off with the two occupants, and when the courtyard was cleared of the coach he turned to Lannigan, saying:

“Jimmy Lannigan, I have always heard that your luck is very great, but this time it has deserted you. Some time ago I let you slip out of my hands, believing that the warning would keep you straight. I was wrong. I know now that you are crooked all the way through. You would be a menace to the community if I let you off again, and this time I’m going to run you in--under the old charge.”

Lannigan, who thought he had escaped again, was so much confused that he simply stared at Nick and made no movement until he felt the cold steel on his wrists and knew that he was handcuffed and in Nick’s power.

Then his passions let loose and he turned a flood of abuse upon the detective. But Nick quickly stopped the fellow with an effective gag and prepared to remove him in custody.

Subsequently he was taken to New York and Nick Carter’s testimony was so damaging that Lannigan was sentenced to ten years in the State’s prison.

THE END.

No. 1099 of the NEW MAGNET LIBRARY, entitled, “A Race Track Gamble,” by Nicholas Carter, is a great story, and tells how the quick-witted Nick caught a gang of race-track crooks, after much trouble and many dangers, and sent them where they could do no more harm for some years to come.

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