Chapter XXIV: The Plot That Failed

It was half an hour in advance of the time when Gorse was, according to agreement, to return to Lorton the silver taken from Mr. Field’s house.

Deep in the shadow of a doorway near the entrance to the “fence’s” quarters stood the figure of a man. It was Nick Carter.

Around the corner, within signaling distance, were Chick and Patsy and six police officers.

Twenty minutes passed.

Suddenly the door of Gorse’s place opened and Gorse himself stepped out.

Nick drew back further into the doorway, but he kept his eye on the man, and noticed that he carried a large and what seemed to be a heavy bundle under his arm.

He passed quickly down the street, glancing furtively behind him from time to time.

But despite his caution he was closely shadowed by Nick, who had taken up the trail after giving an odd whistle that could be heard around the corner.

Several blocks were passed, the man in front carefully avoiding the well-lighted streets.

Finally he paused before the door of a house in a narrow little street, and started to ascend the steps.

He had scarcely done so, however, when he felt a hand clasped on his shoulder and, looking quickly around, he found himself looking into the barrel of a gleaming revolver.

He gave one look at the man who held the weapon and his face turned to ashes as he gasped:

“Nick Carter!”

“Yes, my man. It’s Nick Carter. No noise, now. Come this way lively.”

Gorse was too much surprised to refuse, and before he knew it he was handcuffed and led back the way he had come.

The two did not go far before Nick stopped abruptly on hearing a slight noise ahead of him. It proved to be his assistants and the police approaching, and turning his prisoner over to them, he told them to await his signals opposite the building he had spotted.

Nick now proceeded toward the house Gorse had attempted to enter. He was confident he was about to make some important discoveries, and his face wore a smile of satisfaction at the clever way he had tricked the proprietor of the “fence.”

Nick stealthily approached the basement door and listened a few minutes to make sure no one was in the hallway within.

He cautiously tried the door and, as he expected, found it locked.

The lock that secured it proved to be one, although of a pattern supposed to be complicated, very easily picked.

Less than ten minutes’ work sufficed for him to master it, and he was free to go in.

It took but a moment to see that no one was on the basement floor.

He took no step in the direction of the upper part of the house until he had by listening assured himself that nobody was in the immediate vicinity of the head of the stairs.

On reaching the head of the stairs he paused again.

The silence that hung over the interior of the house was like that of the tomb. It was unbroken by even the slightest sound.

Going softly along the hall he finally reached a door, which he judged to be that opening on the street.

This gave him his bearings, so to speak, and he went back along the hall. He paused before a door leading into one of the rooms.

From within came no sound.

The detective told himself:

“It is deserted, and if I can manage it I mean to go in and have a look around.”

To his surprise, in trying the door, he found that it was not locked.

Softly pushing it open he entered.

There was a lighted lamp in the room.

He had not been given more than two minutes to look around when he heard steps approaching.

At once he cast his eyes about him in search of some place in which he could conceal himself.

The only place that offered was a space behind the sofa. Poor as this might prove, it was all that could be found, so he lost no time in taking advantage of it.

Just as he settled himself comfortably the door of the room opened and two persons entered.

One was a woman.

The woman’s first words were:

“If I had done such a thing I would never have heard the last of it!”

“That would depend on circumstances.”

“Indeed it would not. If I had gone away from this house, leaving it unguarded and unlocked you would have threatened to cut my throat if I was ever as imprudent again.”

“Let it drop! I’ve heard enough.”

“All right. Is everything moving well?”

“Tolerably so.”

“Have you been out to-day?”

“Yes.”

“What was the result?”

“I could not learn anything.”

“Which means that we are practically balked.”

“I suppose so. Until it can be conclusively shown that the old man is dead, we have mighty small show of handling a copper of his money.”

The woman said in a bitter tone:

“I don’t know as I am sorry.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t like a part of the game.”

“You mean my marrying the girl?”

“I do.”

“Pshaw! That should not excite your jealousy! There will be nothing of it, except to play the part of a loving husband until I get the ducats, and then I’ll skip and come back to your arms.”

“Of course!”

“Business, my dear--simple business, nothing more!”

“That’s what you would have me to believe.”

“Because it is absolute truth. In all the world you are to me the one and only woman.”

Although Nick Carter could not see what was done, his ears were sufficient of a guide to the truth to inform him that the man at this point put his arm around the woman and kissed her affectionately.

It was all that Nick could do at this time to prevent gritting his teeth so that they would hear. It fairly made his blood run cold to hear that man talk so coolly of the foul wrong that it was intended should, through him, befall a young and innocent girl.

Like a revelation had been these few words that he had thus far overheard.

That the woman was mollified by his caresses was shown by the tone of her voice when she next spoke.

“I am sure, Demas, that you do not care for any other woman, and yet at times I cannot think but that you must, and it drives me nearly mad with jealousy. I long thought that you cared a good deal for this namesake of mine that you used to go to see once in a while.”

“Pish! Helen; I never cared a copper for her. But, when I saw that she was fool enough to fall in love with me, I believed it would not be a bad idea to keep it alive, for even then the plot we are working out had begun to frame itself in my mind.

“I never believed, as you did, that she was really the daughter of Field.”

“That was the result of your jealousy. It made you nearsighted where she was concerned. I wish I was as sure of some other things as I am that she is really his child.”

“You think that she will marry you for the asking?”

“If I had not been sure of it, do you suppose that I would have gone into the scheme under the circumstances that I have? Of course I am sure of it.”

“How can you be?”

“How do I know that you love me and are the best and most daring woman in the world, where my best interests are concerned, my dear?”

The woman laughed. She said, returning to a subject previously touched upon:

“Well, what about Field?”

“I can’t make it out.”

“You were up there to-day?”

“Yes.”

“And learned nothing?”

“Just precisely that. Appearances are that he was taken to the river bank and away in a boat.”

“Who could have done it?”

“I don’t know. I can’t even guess.”

“Nor what the reason was?”

“No. If I could once get at a reason I might spot the person who carried Field off. What the fellow wanted with his dead body, unless it was to play counter to me, I cannot understand.”

“That’s what it looks like.”

“Yes, that and nothing else, but I can’t think of anybody who would be likely to be in the game, as nobody knew what I was up to.”

The woman’s jealousy led her to revert to that other Helen again, saying:

“You will not think of marrying her until it is settled that she is dead certain of getting the money as well as the credit of being old Field’s daughter?”

“Of course not. But, hark!”

While the man and the woman were listening to some sound that had reached their ears the detective was busily thinking.

What he had heard was a revelation to him in every sense of the word.

While in some unimportant particulars it proved his first theory wrong, in the main it supported it amply.

Holding the key to the mystery now, he saw how it had all been brought about, save for one point. This was the precise motive that had led to Mr. Field being carried away.

Nick now understood precisely the relation that was held by Helen Doane to this man.

In some way he had gained an inkling of whom she really was, but instead of telling her had kept it to himself, biding a time when the fact could be made to turn to his advantage.

At last he had arranged a scheme for doing this.

Ostensibly leaving New York for a considerable length of time, he had gone only a short distance. On the day preceding the crime he had returned to the city, and had mailed the forged letter to Helen. That night, accompanied by an accomplice, he had entered Mr. Field’s house, and the gentleman had been attacked and left for dead. Lorton would not have left, unless he believed him dead, since his death was a necessity of his scheme. If it had not been, and Helen was really the missing child, then he might have returned her without harming Mr. Field. This would not do, however, as under those circumstances Helen would not be permitted to see and marry him, in which way alone could he hope to get his fingers on the Field millions. After he had departed, some one had carried away the unconscious form of the millionaire, and the better to cover up his tracks this second crook had resorted to the spilling of the blood down the lawn walk and to the river front, while in fact he took Mr. Field into a light wagon and drove him away.

That was the case summed up in a nutshell. It only remained to learn who this second crook was and when he had stolen Mr. Field’s body.

The detective had just about got this straight in his mind when he heard the woman say:

“I think it is Luke coming.”

The next minute there came a knock at the door.

The man who entered was addressed as Luke.

When the door was closed, Luke inquired:

“Have you learned anything?”

“No.”

“That’s funny.”

“So it is. Have you been out looking around?”

“I have.”

“And you could not learn anything about Field?”

“No.”

At this juncture came a ring at the bell.

The woman said:

“That’s the front doorbell! I wonder who it can be?”

Lorton rejoined:

“I think that you had better go.”

The woman arose to go and answer the ring.

She returned shortly after, ushering in a man who said:

“How are you, Lorton?”

At the man’s first words Nick could hardly repress a chuckle, for he recognized his voice as that of his assistant, Patsy.

“How are you? What are you doing here?” returned Lorton.

The woman put in with:

“He’s come from Gorse, he says.”

“From Gorse?”

The man said:

“Yes, he sent me.”

“What for?”

“To bring back the silver you left with him last night. He says he’s been warned and don’t want anything to do with it.”

“Tell Gorse he’s a fool. The melting pot would fix it in half an hour.”

“He don’t think so.”

With a sneer in his tone, Lorton said:

“Does he expect to get his money back?”

“I guess not. He’s glad enough, I take it, to get rid of it so cheaply!”

Starting up in surprise and alarm, Lorton demanded:

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing, only that the old man seems to be pretty well scared about the stuff for some reason and wanted to get it safely out of his hands. I don’t know for sure, but I think it has been traced that you were concerned in the Field matter, and the ‘boodle’ to him.”

“Nonsense!”

“Not at all! You know that you fixed the old man, and it is possible, I think, that somebody tumbled to you.”

“See here, it will be wisest for you to keep a still tongue. You’re letting it wag a trifle too freely for your best good health.”

“That’s all right. You don’t think I would go around blabbing all I know and all I guess, do you? I speak of it to your face as a fact, and would not have done it if you hadn’t invited it.”

“Well, they can’t say I murdered the old man unless they find his body.”

“But you did, all the same!”

“Yes, and I’ll murder you, too, if you don’t get out of here in a hurry!”

“I rather think not.”

As the disguised young detective gave this reply Nick Carter arose from his place of concealment and echoed:

“I rather think not!”

Turning in the direction of this new speaker, Lorton uttered an oath and demanded:

“What is the meaning of this?”

Nick smilingly answered:

“I will show you!”

As he spoke he ripped off his disguise with one hand, while with the other he snatched out a revolver and brought it to bear on Lorton.

The woman was the first to recognize him. She gasped:

“Nick Carter, the detective!”

Bowing to her, he returned:

“At your service, madam!”

Then to the man who had brought the silver:

“Your disguise is admirable, Patsy. Your own mother wouldn’t know you.”

The woman shrieked:

“It is all clear now! We’ve been trapped!”

And, in an excited tone, she added:

“The trap--the trap! There are only two of them! We ought to be able to master them!”

“Only two of us, eh?”

Saying this, Nick drew out and blew a whistle.

With a thunderous crash the front door was carried from its hinges and a full dozen of policemen rushed into the room.

The game was up.

The conspirators saw it at a glance.

Just after the handcuffs had been placed on the wrists of the two men there was a bustle at the door, and then Mr. Field stood before them.

At sight of him both men turned pale, while even Nick started with surprise.

Looking at Lorton, Mr. Field said:

“That is the man who struck me!”

And turning to Luke:

“That is the man who carried me away from my house in an unconscious condition and has kept me prisoner ever since.”

The eyes of Lorton and Helen fairly flamed with anger when these words were uttered.

The former hissed:

“So you turned traitor, did you?”

The man sullenly returned:

“Yes, and for good reason. You were plotting for a big stake and only wanted to give me a paltry ten thousand. When we looked at Mr. Field just before leaving the house I saw that he was not dead, and, after we parted, I returned and carried him away, knowing that while I had him in my hands I held the power to make what terms I pleased. Now the plot has failed!”

The answer fully explained the last thing that was a mystery to the detective.

After the two men and the woman had been taken away, Nick turned to Mr. Field.

“Permit me to congratulate you. I thought you had fallen into our old friend Greer’s hands.”

Mr. Field extended his hand and caught Nick’s in a grateful clasp, while he asked:

“Who called you in, Mr. Carter?”

“Mr. Barnes.”

“My blessings on him! He’s a manly, noble fellow!”

“Now, can you tell me anything about the occurrences of the night on which you were attacked?”

“I cannot tell you much.”

“You did not go to bed?”

“I did not. I remained up thinking over some matters and arranging the details of a certain matter when I was suddenly made aware of the proximity of somebody by hearing a suppressed cough. I turned around and saw a man close to me, with a club in his hand, and was on the point of calling out when struck. The club hit me squarely on the head and I knew no more until I found myself in the arms of a man in a narrow, dark hall. Recovering consciousness then, I began to struggle with him, and, although I did not succeed in getting away, I gave him a great deal of trouble. He got the best of me by striking me again, when my senses once more left me. In that condition I must have been carried upstairs, for I imagined the dark hall to have been that of this house, and, on my showing signs of returning consciousness, the man drugged me. All this last I recall in a dim and confused way only.”

Questioned as to how he escaped from his captor, Luke, Mr. Field said the man had evidently drugged him every time he left him alone, for the hubbub caused by the detective’s entrance had awakened him from a deep stupor, and when he arose from the couch on which he was lying, there was no one to dispute his escape. His captor no doubt thought the drug more powerful than it was.

Despite Luke’s villainy, Nick could not but admire his courage in secreting his prisoner in the very house his pals were occupying.

Nick now asked some questions that went to prove the truth of the story told by Timon, the butler, in whom Mr. Field reposed the utmost confidence.

The replies satisfied the detective that the servants in the house were guiltless of any participation in the crime.

Nick then said to him:

“Excuse me, Field, if I refer to a period in your past that must arouse sad memories, for I have a special purpose in view in doing so. I do not refer to your previous similar experience, but to a fact concealed by you from the world. You married after your return to this country, and had a child?”

“I had.”

And he sadly added:

“But I drove them from me.”

“You would like to recover them?”

“I would give half my fortune to be able to do so.”

“Have you never been able to learn anything of them?”

“I have not.”

“Not of your wife, or of both wife and daughter?”

“I mean both.”

“Then you do not know that your daughter is alive?”

“I do not.”

“And you did not, the day before being paid that burglarious visit, write a letter to her?”

“How could I when I did not even know that she was alive?”

The detective smiled with triumph, while a great look of relief spread over his face.

Nick’s next step was to acquaint his old friend with the fact that he would find his wife and daughter at his home.

Nick said:

“Wife and daughter!”

He had no hesitation now in saying the latter, for Helen Doane stood proven as an innocent party in a dark transaction. And yet the circumstantial evidence against her was sufficient to have convicted her.

It is needless for us to go into details of the happy meeting that followed between the members of the reunited family, of how Mr. Field begged for forgiveness, and was forgiven; of how his wife proved that she still loved him; of how happy they were in having found so good and true a daughter; of how they lived so happily afterward in each other’s society.

Helen Field, as she now was known, explained to Mr. Barnes on a subsequent occasion how it was that, being of a somewhat romantic turn of mind, and feeling that the service done her by Lorton was of signal value, she had determined to place her life at his disposal in return for having, as she painted it, saved it for her. It was this that had led her to refusing Barnes’ suit.

After listening to this naïve confession he did just what any sensible man would have done in his place--took her in his arms and kissed her over and over again, and ending up by a request that she would name the “happy day.”

And, as all obedient girls do, she “referred him to her father.”

Father in this case was not a stern tyrant, and acquiesced heartily and gave them his blessing--and a check for a hundred thousand the day they were married!

Demas Lorton, Luke and Helen Lorton were tried, convicted and sentenced to prison for the longest possible terms.

Nick’s reawakened anxiety in regard to Mr. Field was, long before this happy event, finally and fully relieved.

Two weeks after Lorton’s trial and sentence, an unknown man was killed by a fall from the elevated railroad station at Thirty-fourth Street.

Nick Carter happened to go to the morgue on other business, and the keeper, knowing his familiarity with members of the criminal class, invited him to view the body.

Nick identified it at a glance.

It was Elmer Greer!

“So,” thought Nick, “this is his end. It’s funny! I never knew a criminal who led a happy life. From the first fall, jail and the hangman’s noose haunt their waking and their sleeping hours. If they don’t die in jail or the poorhouse, they meet a fate similar to this of Greer’s. It’s incomprehensible to me why men should ever take up a life of such misery and unhappiness!”

And the great detective shook his head.

For once he had propounded a question he could not answer!

THE END.

In the NEW MAGNET LIBRARY there is shortly to appear No. 1192, a splendid tale showing great detective skill, under the title of “Nick Carter’s Masterpiece,” by Nicholas Carter.

=Western Stories About=

=BUFFALO BILL=

ALL BY COL. PRENTISS INGRAHAM

=Red-blooded Adventure Stories for Men=

There is no more romantic character in American history than William F. Cody, or, as he was internationally known, Buffalo Bill. He, with Colonel Prentiss Ingraham, Wild Bill Hickok, General Custer, and a few other adventurous spirits, laid the foundation of our great West.

There is no more brilliant page in American history than the winning of the West. Never did pioneers live more thrilling lives, so rife with adventure and brave deeds, as the old scouts and plainsmen. Foremost among these stands the imposing figure of Buffalo Bill.

All of the books in this list are intensely interesting. They were written by the close friend and companion of Buffalo Bill--Colonel Prentiss Ingraham. They depict actual adventures which this pair of hard-hitting comrades experienced, while the story of these adventures is interwoven with fiction; historically the books are correct.

_ALL TITLES ALWAYS IN PRINT_

1--Buffalo Bill, the Border King
2--Buffalo Bill’s Raid
3--Buffalo Bill’s Bravery
4--Buffalo Bill’s Trump Card
5--Buffalo Bill’s Pledge
6--Buffalo Bill’s Vengeance
7--Buffalo Bill’s Iron Grip
8--Buffalo Bill’s Capture
9--Buffalo Bill’s Danger Line
10--Buffalo Bill’s Comrades
11--Buffalo Bill’s Reckoning
12--Buffalo Bill’s Warning
13--Buffalo Bill at Bay
14--Buffalo Bill’s Buckskin Pards
15--Buffalo Bill’s Brand
16--Buffalo Bill’s Honor
17--Buffalo Bill’s Phantom Hunt
18--Buffalo Bill’s Fight with Fire
19--Buffalo Bill’s Danite Trail
20--Buffalo Bill’s Ranch Riders
21--Buffalo Bill’s Death Trail
22--Buffalo Bill’s Trackers
23--Buffalo Bill’s Mid-air Flight
24--Buffalo Bill, Ambassador
25--Buffalo Bill’s Air Voyage
26--Buffalo Bill’s Secret Mission
27--Buffalo Bill’s Long Trail
28--Buffalo Bill Against Odds
29--Buffalo Bill’s Hot Chase
30--Buffalo Bill’s Redskin Ally
31--Buffalo Bill’s Treasure-trove
32--Buffalo Bill’s Hidden Foes
33--Buffalo Bill’s Crack Shot
34--Buffalo Bill’s Close Call
35--Buffalo Bill’s Double Surprise
36--Buffalo Bill’s Ambush
37--Buffalo Bill’s Outlaw Hunt
38--Buffalo Bill’s Border Duel
39--Buffalo Bill’s Bid for Fame
40--Buffalo Bill’s Triumph
41--Buffalo Bill’s Spy Trailer
42--Buffalo Bill’s Death Call
43--Buffalo Bill’s Body Guard
44--Buffalo Bill’s Still Hunt
45--Buffalo Bill and the Doomed Dozen
46--Buffalo Bill’s Prairie Scout
47--Buffalo Bill’s Traitor Guide
48--Buffalo Bill’s Bonanza
49--Buffalo Bill’s Swoop
50--Buffalo Bill and the Gold King
51--Buffalo Bill, Dead Shot
52--Buffalo Bill’s Buckskin Bravos
53--Buffalo Bill’s Big Four
54--Buffalo Bill’s One-armed Pard
55--Buffalo Bill’s Race for Life
56--Buffalo Bill’s Return
57--Buffalo Bill’s Conquest
58--Buffalo Bill to the Rescue
59--Buffalo Bill’s Beautiful Foe
60--Buffalo Bill’s Perilous Task
61--Buffalo Bill’s Queer Find
62--Buffalo Bill’s Blind Lead
63--Buffalo Bill’s Resolution
64--Buffalo Bill, the Avenger
65--Buffalo Bill’s Pledged Pard
66--Buffalo Bill’s Weird Warning
67--Buffalo Bill’s Wild Ride
68--Buffalo Bill’s Redskin Stampede
69--Buffalo Bill’s Mine Mystery
70--Buffalo Bill’s Gold Hunt
71--Buffalo Bill’s Daring Dash
72--Buffalo Bill on Hand
73--Buffalo Bill’s Alliance
74--Buffalo Bill’s Relentless Foe
75--Buffalo Bill’s Midnight Ride
76--Buffalo Bill’s Chivalry
77--Buffalo Bill’s Girl Pard
78--Buffalo Bill’s Private War
79--Buffalo Bill’s Diamond Mine
80--Buffalo Bill’s Big Contract
81--Buffalo Bill’s Woman Foe
82--Buffalo Bill’s Ruse
83--Buffalo Bill’s Pursuit
84--Buffalo Bill’s Hidden Gold
85--Buffalo Bill in Mid-air
86--Buffalo Bill’s Queer Mission
87--Buffalo Bill’s Verdict
88--Buffalo Bill’s Ordeal
89--Buffalo Bill’s Camp Fires
90--Buffalo Bill’s Iron Nerve
91--Buffalo Bill’s Rival
92--Buffalo Bill’s Lone Hand
93--Buffalo Bill’s Sacrifice
94--Buffalo Bill’s Thunderbolt
95--Buffalo Bill’s Black Fortune
96--Buffalo Bill’s Wild Work
97--Buffalo Bill’s Yellow Trail
98--Buffalo Bill’s Treasure Train
99--Buffalo Bill’s Bowie Duel
100--Buffalo Bill’s Mystery Man
101--Buffalo Bill’s Bold Play
102--Buffalo Bill: Peacemaker
103--Buffalo Bill’s Big Surprise
104--Buffalo Bill’s Barricade
105--Buffalo Bill’s Test
106--Buffalo Bill’s Powwow
107--Buffalo Bill’s Stern Justice
108--Buffalo Bill’s Mysterious Friend
109--Buffalo Bill and the Boomers
110--Buffalo Bill’s Panther Fight
111--Buffalo Bill and the Overland Mail
112--Buffalo Bill on the Deadwood Trail
113--Buffalo Bill in Apache Land
114--Buffalo Bill’s Blindfold Duel
115--Buffalo Bill and the Lone Camper
116--Buffalo Bill’s Merry War
117--Buffalo Bill’s Star Play
118--Buffalo Bill’s War Cry
119--Buffalo Bill on Black Panther’s Trail
120--Buffalo Bill’s Slim Chance
121--Buffalo Bill Besieged
122--Buffalo Bill’s Bandit Round-up
123--Buffalo Bill’s Surprise Party
124--Buffalo Bill’s Lightning Raid
125--Buffalo Bill in Mexico
126--Buffalo Bill’s Traitor Foe
127--Buffalo Bill’s Tireless Chase
128--Buffalo Bill’s Boy Bugler
129--Buffalo Bill’s Sure Guess
130--Buffalo Bill’s Record Jump
131--Buffalo Bill in the Land of Dread
132--Buffalo Bill’s Tangled Clew
133--Buffalo Bill’s Wolf Skin
134--Buffalo Bill’s Twice Four Puzzle
135--Buffalo Bill and the Devil Bird
136--Buffalo Bill and the Indian’s Mascot
137--Buffalo Bill Entrapped
138--Buffalo Bill’s Totem Trail
139--Buffalo Bill at Fort Challis
140--Buffalo Bill’s Determination
141--Buffalo Bill’s Battle Axe
142--Buffalo Bill’s Game with Fate
143--Buffalo Bill’s Comanche Raid
144--Buffalo Bill’s Aerial Island
145--Buffalo Bill’s Lucky Shot
146--Buffalo Bill’s Sioux Friends
147--Buffalo Bill’s Supreme Test
148--Buffalo Bill’s Boldest Strike
149--Buffalo Bill and the Red Hand
150--Buffalo Bill’s Dance with Death
151--Buffalo Bill’s Running Fight
152--Buffalo Bill in Harness
153--Buffalo Bill Corralled
154--Buffalo Bill’s Waif of the West
155--Buffalo Bill’s Wizard Pard
156--Buffalo Bill and Hawkeye
157--Buffalo Bill and Grizzly Dan
158--Buffalo Bill’s Ghost Play
159--Buffalo Bill’s Lost Prisoner
160--Buffalo Bill and The Klan of Kau
161--Buffalo Bill’s Crow Scouts
162--Buffalo Bill’s Lassoed Spectre
163--Buffalo Bill and the Wanderers
164--Buffalo Bill and the White Queen
165--Buffalo Bill’s Yellow Guardian
166--Buffalo Bill’s Double “B” Brand
167--Buffalo Bill’s Dangerous Duty
168--Buffalo Bill and the Talking Statue
169--Buffalo Bill Between Two Fires
170--Buffalo Bill and the Giant Apache
171--Buffalo Bill’s Best Bet
172--Buffalo Bill’s Blockhouse Siege
173--Buffalo Bill’s Fight for Right
174--Buffalo Bill’s Sad Tidings
175--Buffalo Bill and “Lucky” Benson
176--Buffalo Bill Among the Sioux
177--Buffalo Bill’s Mystery Box
178--Buffalo Bill’s Worst Tangle
179--Buffalo Bill’s Clean Sweep
180--Buffalo Bill’s Texas Tangle
181--Buffalo Bill and the Nihilists
182--Buffalo Bill’s Emigrant Trail
183--Buffalo Bill at Close Quarters
184--Buffalo Bill and the Cattle Thieves
185--Buffalo Bill at Cimaroon Bar
186--Buffalo Bill’s Ingenuity
187--Buffalo Bill on a Cold Trail
188--Buffalo Bill’s Red Hot Totem
189--Buffalo Bill Under a War Cloud
190--Buffalo Bill and the Prophet
191--Buffalo Bill and the Red Renegade
192--Buffalo Bill’s Mailed Fist
193--Buffalo Bill’s Round-up
194--Buffalo Bill’s Death Message
195--Buffalo Bill’s Redskin Disguise
196--Buffalo Bill, the Whirlwind
197--Buffalo Bill in Death Valley
198--Buffalo Bill and the Magic Button
199--Buffalo Bill’s Friend in Need
200--Buffalo Bill with General Custer
201--Buffalo Bill’s Timely Meeting
202--Buffalo Bill and the Skeleton Scout
203--Buffalo Bill’s Flag of Truce
204--Buffalo Bill’s Pacific Power
205--Buffalo Bill’s Impersonator
206--Buffalo Bill and the Red Marauders
207--Buffalo Bill’s Long Run
208--Buffalo Bill and Red Dove
209--Buffalo Bill on the Box
210--Buffalo Bill’s Bravo Partner
211--Buffalo Bill’s Strange Task

=S & S=

=Novels=

=Means=

=MONEY’S WORTH=

Clean, interesting, attractive--they afford the reader the best possible value in the way of literature of the day. Do not accept cheap imitations which are clearly intended to deceive the reader and are always disappointing.

=A CARNIVAL OF ACTION=

=ADVENTURE LIBRARY=

=Splendid, Interesting, Big Stories=

This line is devoted exclusively to a splendid type of adventure story, in the big outdoors. There is really a breath of fresh air in each of them, and the reader who pays fifteen cents for a copy of this line feels that he has received his money’s worth and a little more.

The authors of these books are experienced in the art of writing, and know just what the up-to-date American reader wants.

_ALL TITLES ALWAYS IN PRINT_

=By WILLIAM WALLACE COOK=

1--The Desert Argonaut
2--A Quarter to Four
3--Thorndyke of the Bonita
4--A Round Trip to the Year 2000
5--The Gold Gleaners
6--The Spur of Necessity
7--The Mysterious Mission
8--The Goal of a Million
9--Marooned in 1492
10--Running the Signal
11--His Friend the Enemy
12--In the Web
13--A Deep Sea Game
14--The Paymaster’s Special
15--Adrift in the Unknown
16--Jim Dexter, Cattleman
17--Juggling with Liberty
18--Back from Bedlam
19--A River Tangle
20--Billionaire Pro Tem
21--In the Wake of the Scimitar
22--His Audacious Highness
23--At Daggers Drawn
24--The Eighth Wonder
25--The Cat’s-paw
26--The Cotton Bag
27--Little Miss Vassar
28--Cast Away at the Pole
29--The Testing of Noyes
30--The Fateful Seventh
31--Montana
32--The Deserter
33--The Sheriff of Broken Bow
34--Wanted: A Highwayman
35--Frisbie of San Antone
36--His Last Dollar
37--Fools for Luck
38--Dare of Darling & Co.

In order that there may be no confusion, we desire to say that the books listed below will be issued during the respective months in New York City and vicinity. They may not reach the readers at a distance promptly, on account of delays in transportation.

To be published in July, 1926.

39--Trailing _The Josephine_ By William Wallace Cook
40--The Snapshot Chap By Bertram Lebhar

To be published in August, 1926.

41--Brothers of the Thin Wire By Franklin Pitt
42--Jungle Intrigue By Edmond Lawrence
43--His Snapshot Lordship By Bertram Lebhar

To be published in September, 1926.

44--Folly Lode By James F. Dorrance
45--The Forest Rogue By Julian G. Wharton

To be published in October, 1926.

46--Snapshot Artillery By Bertram Lebhar
47--Stanley Holt, Thoroughbred By Ralph Boston

To be published in November, 1926.

48--The Riddle and the Ring By Gordon MacLaren
49--The Black Eye Snapshot By Bertram Lebhar

To be published in December, 1926.

50--Bainbridge of Bangor By Julian G. Wharton
51--Amid Crashing Hills By Edmond Lawrence

=Love Stories=

All the world over love is very much the same, whether it be found in a palace, or a hovel, or in a vine-covered cottage.

It is the one subject that is vitally interesting to every man and woman, irrespective of nationality.

This is why the love stories in the _New Eagle Series_, the _Bertha Clay Library_, and the _Southworth Library_ are so eagerly sought for. They are worthy of your attention.

If you have not a series catalog, send us a two-cent stamp and we will be very glad to send a copy to you by return mail.

=STREET & SMITH CORPORATION=
=79 Seventh Avenue= =New York City=

=The Dealer=

who handles the STREET & SMITH NOVELS is a man worth patronizing. The fact that he does handle our books proves that he has considered the merits of paper-covered lines, and has decided that the STREET & SMITH NOVELS are superior to all others.

He has looked into the question of the morality of the paper-covered book, for instance, and feels that he is perfectly safe in handing one of our novels to any one, because he has our assurance that nothing except clean, wholesome literature finds its way into our lines.

Therefore, the STREET & SMITH NOVEL dealer is a careful and wise tradesman, and it is fair to assume selects the other articles he has for sale with the same degree of intelligence as he does his paper-covered books.

Deal with the STREET & SMITH NOVEL dealer.

=STREET & SMITH CORPORATION=
=79 Seventh Avenue= =New York City=

Transcriber’s Note: 1. Obvious printer, spelling and punctuation errors have been corrected silently.

2. Where appropriate original spelling has been retained.

3. Italics are shown as _xxx_.

4. Bold print is shown as =xxx=.