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Title: Five Thousand Dollars Reward

Author: Frank Pinkerton

Release Date: December, 2005 [EBook #9409]
[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
[This file was first posted on September 30, 2003]

Edition: 10

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS REWARD ***




Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Robert Shimmin
and PG Distributed Proofreaders




[Transcriber's note: The non-standard spellings of the original text
have been retained in this etext.]

[Illustration: "I ARREST YOU FOR THE MURDER OF VICTORIA VANE."]





                      FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS REWARD



                           BY FRANK PINKERTON

                                  1886




                               CHAPTER I.

                               THE TRAMP.


"Will you give me a glass of water, please?"

A ragged, bearded tramp stood before the door of a cottage near the
outskirts of a country village, and propounded this question to a pretty
girl who stood in the door.

"In a moment."

The girl disappeared, soon returning with a pitcher.

She went to the pump near, and soon had the pitcher running over with
sparkling water.

"I will bring a cup."

"Needn't mind."

The tramp lifted the pitcher and quaffed the water as though he enjoyed
it.

His eyes were not pleasant as he turned them keenly on the pretty face of
the girl.

"Folks at home?"

"No."

"All alone, eh?"

"Yes; but Ransom will be around soon--my brother."

The eyes of the tramp glittered. He seemed to delight in reading the
fresh young face before him.

"Nobody at home, eh?" he grunted. "Mebbe I'd better go in and rest a bit.
Any objections?"

"Yes. If you are hungry I'll bring you food out here."

It was a pleasant day, and the sun was warm without being hot, a rare
enjoyable day in June.

It seemed to the girl that there could be no excuse for a stout man like
the one before her tramping and begging through the country.

"Why do you not work?" she said.

"I wasn't born that way," and he chuckled unpleasantly.

The girl hurried into the house.

His Trampship followed.

She was not a little alarmed at finding the ill-looking fellow close at
her heels. She feared and dared not anger him.

Placing a chair at a table, she bade him be seated, and then she hastened
to set before him bread, milk and cold meat.

"The best the house affords, eh?" he chuckled, as he sat up to the
repast. "The very best."

"And it's good enough for a king."

Then he fell to and ate ravenously.

The girl walked to the door and gazed uneasily down the road.

"Brother comin'?"

"I do not see him."

"What's your name?"

The tramp was inquisitive.

"Vane."

"Eh? Is that a fact?"

The stout fellow started and regarded the girl fixedly.

"Is the name a familiar one?" questioned the girl after a moment, anxious
to conciliate the man. Her nearest neighbor was at least a quarter mile
distant, and the house was concealed by a clump of trees, so that the
girl felt that she was at the mercy of this burly, ill-looking stranger,
should he attempt violence.

"Vane, Vane," he muttered. "Reckon I've heard the name before. And you're
Victory, I reckon?"

"Victoria."

"Exactly. Sister to Rance Vane. I know'd that chap onct, and I found him
not a man, but a scamp. I never liked the Vanes, father'n son. The old
man's dead, I s'pose?"

"Yes."

"How long sense?"

"More than a year."

"Good 'nough. He wa'nt o' much account."

The tramp's eyes seemed to become suddenly bloodshot. He shoved from the
table, and rose to his feet.

The girl hoped to see him go, but he made no move to do so.

"You live alone with your brother?" he queried, suddenly.

"Most of the time."

"Victory, did ye ever hear Rance speak of Perry Jounce?"

The man leered at her in a way that sent a chill over her.

"Never."

"No? Wal, he didn't like me. I reckin I'll hev a kiss afore I go,
anyhow."

He began to move toward her. She started to escape through the open door,
but was not quick enough. The man's hand grasped her arm and she felt
herself drawn toward him.

Then Victoria Vane uttered a piercing scream.

"Stop that yellin', you fool!" hissed the tramp. He drew her to him and
bent to press his bearded lips to her cheek.

On the instant another person appeared upon the scene.

A bunch of bones collided with the bull neck of the tramp, sending him
reeling across the floor.

Victoria darted to the arms of the new-comer, a young man, tall, slender
and of prepossessing appearance, clad in hunter's costume.

"Oh, August, save me!" screamed the girl.

"Scoundrel!" cried the young hunter, presenting a rifle at the breast of
the tramp. "What do you mean by this assault on a lady?"

There was a horrible expression in the eyes of the tramp, and on the
instant he slipped from concealment a large knife to his hand.

"Stand aside, Miss Vane," the hunter said to the girl. "I will learn this
scoundrel a lesson."

Victoria obeyed, standing back against the wall, pale and frightened,
while the last comer confronted the burly tramp with his rifle cocked for
instant use.

"Let me go out, August Bordine."

So the tramp seemed to recognize the youthful hunter.

"I ought to turn you over to the authorities for punishment," declared
the young man, sternly.

"'T won't do you no good," grunted the tramp, "I hain't done nothing."

"I will leave it to Miss Vane."

Then he glanced at the girl.

The tramp began to glide toward the door.

"Stop!" thundered August Bordine. Then to the girl, "Miss Vane, I await
your decision."

"Permit him to go then. I wish no further trouble," said Victoria.

"But he really ought to be punished. He certainly deserves ninety days in
prison at the least," declared the young hunter.

"Let me go, Miss, I didn't mean nothin' wrong," whined the man who had
called himself Perry Jounce.

"Let him go," said Victoria.

The hunter lowered his gun and the tramp passed into the outer air. He
hurriedly left the vicinity, but before he had passed from sight, he
turned his face toward the cottage, and shook a chinched hand toward the
open door in which stood two forms--Victoria and August Bordine.

"Curse you, August Bordine!" hissed the coarse lips. "I'll make you
repent this interference, I swear I will. You shall swing some day, and
I'll be there to hear your neck crack!"

Then he turned about and disappeared in a clump of trees beside the road.

Victoria Vane and the young hunter were near enough to notice the
movement of the baffled tramp, but neither heard his vindictive words. It
might have been well for them had they done so.

Victoria clung to the young hunter's arm after the departure of Jounce,
and seemed a long time in recovering from her fright.

"There's no further danger," declared Bordine, "so just calm your fears.
I will remain until your brother returns."

"You are very kind, August."

After a little the young man quietly disengaged her hands from his arm
and led her to a seat.

"There, rest yourself, Victoria, while I look about the premises."

He snatched his gun and moved toward the door.

"Don't leave me, August."

"There is not the least danger now. That tramp will not return."

"He may."

"I will not be far away. If you were so fearful why did you not permit me
to take him to prison?"

"I don't know. I did not wish to appear against him, I suppose."

August Bordine smiled at the look that came to the face of the girl.

He had known Victoria Vane and her brother for several months. He was
never prepossessed in favor of her brother, and he often thought her
"soft," to use a vulgar expression.

"I do believe the girl would make love to me if I would permit it, by
giving her the least encouragement. The Vanes are queer and no mistake,"
remarked Bordine, to a young lady of his acquaintance, living in an
adjoining town.

Rose Alstine was plain and sensible, and took no offense at her lover's
referring to Miss Vane. Why should she? She knew that genial August
Bordine was true as steel and generous and sympathetic to a fault.

Trouble was coming, however, that was to try the young girl's faith as it
had never been tried before.

Back of Ridgewood village was a forest of large extent, bordering on a
narrow stream. This woods was owned by an Eastern capitalist and he had
as yet permitted no woodman's ax to resound in its depths.

Game abounded, and the woods was the frequent resort for amateur hunters,
among them the young civil engineer, August Bordine.

It was his frequent visits to Eastman's woods with gun and game-bag that
brought him in frequent contact with the Vanes, and especially Victoria,
who, during the short space of a few months, had become violently smitten
with the handsome face and gentlemanly bearing of the young engineer.

It was this fact that determined Bordine to shorten his stay at the
cottage on the day in question.

"There isn't the least danger," assured August, as he lifted his gun to
the hollow of his arm and prepared to depart from the Vane cottage.

"Then you will not stay?"

Tears actually stood in the blue eyes of Miss Vane.

"Good gracious! Vic, what a baby," and he laughed aloud.

He stepped to her side, however, and as her face pale, pretty, even
though babyish, was upturned to his he could not resist the temptation,
and he bent and kissed her full upon the pouting lips.

Then a pair of soft arms were wound quickly about his neck, and a voice
whispered softly:

"Why can't you stay with me always, August?"

He tore himself loose instantly, a guilty feeling entering his heart. He
was acting the hypocrite with a vengeance, and it did not agree with his
honorable nature.

"Confound it, Miss Vane, what a tease you are. There comes your brother
now, and I must away."

"You will call when you return from your hunt?"

"Perhaps."

He then passed outside.

A single horseman was riding slowly down the forest road toward the
village.

He must needs pass the cottage.

August Bordine had called the traveler Victoria's brother. He saw his
mistake as he passed out, but did not deem it necessary to rectify it.

He swung his rifle to his shoulder, and moved, with a long stride, toward
the nearest point of woods.

Vaulting a fence, he crossed a bit of clearing and entered a clump of
trees.

Here he paused and looked back.

The strange horseman had halted at the cottage, and was conversing with
Victoria.

Bordine saw him lift his hat politely, and knew that it was no tramp this
time who craved favor at the cottage.

"I don't think the girl will require my presence this time," muttered the
young engineer.

She did, however, as the sequel proved.

Bordine, whistling softly, turned away and plunged deeply into the
forest.




                               CHAPTER II.

                                 MURDER.


For several hours August Bordine scoured the woods in search of game. His
hunt proved unsuccessful, however, and with weary limbs and anything but
pleasant mood he retraced his steps.

At length he stood in the road within sight of the Vane cottage.

Everything looked quiet and peaceful about the place.

No smoke curled up from the kitchen chimney, although the sun was low in
the western heavens.

"Vic hasn't begun to prepare supper it seems," muttered Bordine. "Wonder
if I had best go up that way and call. Of course Ransom has returned. I
believe I will and inquire who the gentleman was who called just as I was
entering the woods."

And so Bordine turned his steps in the direction of the Vane cottage. The
front door was closed, and a dead silence reigned over the place as he
came up.

"Wonder if the folks are gone."

Bordine rapped.

No answer was vouchsafed.

He rapped again.

Silence profound as the grave.

"Well, there seems nobody at home. Vic sometimes occupies the back porch
with the cat and her book; I will see."

He walks swiftly around the house.

He came to a sudden stand as he gained the broad side porch of the
cottage.

He stood staring, struck dumb with an awful, deadly fear. Then he moved
forward a step.

His eye fell on the interior of the porch, and he started and stopped.

What was it that held his steps?

[Illustration: HIS EYE FELL ON THE INTERIOR OF THE PORCH, AND HE STARTED
AND STOPPED.]

An object on the ground--Victoria Vane, lying at full length, with open,
staring eyes, her masses of yellow hair stained a horrible crimson.

She lay within the porch, while at her side was a basket overturned, its
contents scattered about, as though she had been holding it in her lap at
the time of the accident.

Was it an accident?

As soon as he could recover his self-possession, August Bordine sat down
his gun and bent over the prostrate girl.

There was a subdued horror in his eyes as he gazed.

Blood had trickled out in a little pool from a wound in her neck, that
wound had proved the death of poor Victoria Vane.

Who had made it?

Suicide!

This was the young man's first thought--yet he soon convinced himself
that this was not likely.

A letter, torn and blood-stained, lay near. August picked it from the
ground and examined it. It proved to be from a gentleman, and was written
in a friendly, not to say lover-like strain. At the bottom was signed a
name, "A. Bor----"

The latter part of the name was completely obliterated by a blot of
blood.

While the young engineer stood in an attitude of shocked irresolution, a
step sounded on the gravel behind him.

He turned to look into the face of a young man whose countenance showed
resemblance to the dead girl.

"My God! what is this?"

The new-comer darted forward, gazed for a moment into the dead face of
poor Victoria, then staggered back, clutching the arm of August Bordine
to save himself from falling.

"Suicide, I fear," answered Bordine for lack of words.

"Suicide! My soul, is Victoria dead?"

Then the last comer knelt down beside the prostrate girl, and lifted her
golden head to his knee.

His cries and moans were heartrending.

In vain Bordine tried to soothe the young man, but he found that a
brother's grief was beyond assuagement.

For many minutes Ransom Vane sat and moaned and wept beside his dead
sister.

Then he became calm suddenly, and sprang to his feet, glancing about him
in a way that caused Bordine to fear for his reason.

"Suicide you said?" turning fiercely upon August Bordine.

"I said it might be."

"It is not. Vic was happy; why should she take her own life?"

"I do not know."

"She was murdered."

"It may be so."

"You know it is. Look! See where the steel of the assassin entered her
poor neck, and cut to the life. Oh, Vic, my poor darling! you shall be
avenged. I will go to the ends of the earth but I will find your slayer
and have his life."

Ransom Vane was white as death, and trembled like a leaf.

"I will go for a doctor," said Bordine.

"A doctor? See the life-blood there. Think you a doctor can be of
service?" groaned the young brother.

"No, but it is customary in such cases, and the coroner must be
notified."

August Bordine turned to depart.

"Stop!"

Ransom Vane laid a detaining hand on the arm of the young engineer.

"See; what is that?"

It proved to be a spot of blood on the hand and sleeve of the young
engineer's shirt, a point of which peered below his outer sleeve.

"It came from this," explained August, holding out the letter.

"Where did you get that?"

Vane took the stained and torn letter from the hand of Bordine.

"I found it on the porch."

Ransom Vane read the note hurriedly.


"MY DEAR:--Expect me on the 10th of June. I have been anxious to
see you for a long time, dear girl, and I know you will forgive me
when you hear what I have to say. If you cannot, then we must part
forever, unless--but I will tell you more when I see you. Till then,
good by, dear.

                                     "Your faithful

                                     "A. BOR----"


Quickly Ransom Vane turned upon the man before him, casting a fierce look
into his face.

"This letter is yours--"

"No; you may keep it," answered Bordine quickly. "It may lead to some
clew."

"But I say the letter is yours. You wrote it."

"Certainly not." "But see here;" and Vane pointed to the mutilated
signature.

Bordine started when he saw how closely the name resembled his own.

"Do you deny that you wrote that?" demanded Ransom Vane, fiercely.

"Certainly; I did not write it."

"By heaven, you did, and it is _you_ who murdered my sister!" hissed
young Vane, trembling with the maddest emotions that ever whelmed a human
breast.

"Vane clutched the arm of young Bordine, and glared furiously into his
face.

"Calm yourself, my dear Ransom," urged the engineer. "You are beside
yourself now. I had no quarrel with Victoria. In fact, we were the best
of friends, and I parted from her this morning on the best of terms. I--"

"But this letter?" demanded Vane, fiercely.

"I know no more about it than you do, Ransom. I found it there on the
porch."

"But it is yours?--you wrote it?"

"No; a thousand times no," articulated August Bordine, in a convincing
tone.

Ransom Vane groaned and reeled against a post, the letter falling from
his nerveless hand to the ground.

For some moments not a word passed between the two. Both were evidently
thinking.

The thoughts of Bordine were not pleasant ones. He remembered the tramp
who had that morning made himself so disagreeable to Victoria. It must be
that he was the author of this horrible crime.

Another figure too came up before the vision of the young engineer, the
man on horseback who sat with lifted hat, bowing to Victoria Vane, just
as he (Bordine) entered the woods.

One of these men had committed the deed. Which one? Most likely the
tramp.

Such were the thoughts that passed through the brain of August in the
five minutes that he stood silently regarding vacancy.

"August."

The voice of the sorrowing brother fell sadly on the ear of the engineer.

"Well, Ransom."

"Assist me to carry poor Vic--"

He could go no further, but moved with tear-dimmed eyes toward the dead.

August bent to the work without further speech, and assisted the brother
to move the body into the house to the pleasant front bed-room, the
especial resort of the poor girl in life. Here they placed her on the
low, neatly-covered bed, and then Bordine turned away, leaving brother
and sister in solemn, silent companionship.

That was the saddest moment of August Bordine's life.

Not even when his own sister died six years before had he felt the solemn
weight of sadness more deeply. Victoria had been his friend. She was not
over-bright, yet she was kind and tender of heart. He felt her death
deeply, and found himself wondering who could have been so wicked as to
murder a pretty girl, who he believed, had not an enemy in the wide
world.

There was something of mystery about the affair.

Once outside Bordine examined the ground closely. He saw nothing of the
letter, and was about to move away, when a shadow fell athwart the grass
giving him a sudden start.




                              CHAPTER III.

                             ALL A MYSTERY.


"I beg your pardon, but does Mr. Vane live here?"

A man of small stature, smooth face and the keenest eyes Bordine had ever
seen in human head, stood before him. He lifted a broad-brimmed straw hat
and fanned himself as though heated, although the air was quite cool for
the season.

"Do you mean Ransom Vane?"

"Yes, sir."

"He lives here."

"Very good--"

"But, sir," interrupted Bordine, "he is in no mood to receive visitors
now."

"Indeed?"

"A terrible thing has happened."

Then glancing down, the small stranger caught sight of the blood. He did
not shrink, but an interested look at once came to his face.

"A tragedy?" he questioned, quickly.

"Yes. Victoria Vane is dead."

"How?"

"It seems to be either murder or suicide."

"This is bad. When did it happen?"

"Some time to-day."

"No witnesses to the deed?"

"None who have yet appeared."

Just then Ransom Vane appeared on the porch. The moment his gaze rested
on the face of the new-comer he uttered a glad cry and extended his hand.

"Of all men in the world you are the one I most desire to see," exclaimed
Vane. Then he turned to Bordine. "Mr. Bordine, this is my old friend from
Newport, Silas Keene. You may have heard me mention his name."

"Yes. I have read of him as well. I am happy to clasp the hand of the
most noted detective of Gotham."

This was no flattery.

Silas Keene was not a secondary man. He was first in everything
pertaining to matters criminal. He had traced down more crime perhaps
than any man of his age in Gotham, and he was verging on forty.

It was opportune indeed, the great detective coming at this time.

Ransom Vane had known the man for years, and the twain had been bosom
friends.

"I cannot remain with you, Ransom," said Bordine, "but I will come again
soon. If you require any help from me, you know, you have only to call on
me."

"Certainly."

A minute later the man in hunter's costume had disappeared.

Sile Keene went in to look at the dead girl, then he examined the ground
closely, the porch, the letters, and finally investigated the extent and
shape of the death-wound.

It proved to be narrow but deep, evidently made with a dirk or blade with
two edges.

Then, after the house was searched and it was discovered that a bureau
had been rifled of several hundred dollars left there by Ransom, the
young cottager placed the torn, blood-stained letter he had found in
Bordines' possession, in the hand of the detective.

"Where did you get this?" questioned Keene, after he had read the short
epistle.

"It was found near my poor sister, on the porch."

"You found it?"

"No, Bordine."

"By the way, who made the discovery of the tragedy first?"

"Mr. Bordine. He was standing over Victoria, with this letter in his
hand, when I arrived."

"He is your friend?"

"Well, yes, I have supposed him to be."

"What is his full name?"

"August Bordine."

The detective glanced at the letter, then gave vent to a low whistle.
This was natural with him at times, especially when he had made a
gratifying discovery.

"Now you must be frank with me," proceeded Keene. "Tell me truly, what
relation this man, Bordine, bore to your sister."

"They were friends."

"Nothing more?"

Detective Keene eyed his companion sharply.

"Well, I suppose it possible that they might have enjoyed a nearer
relation had Victoria lived," said Ransom Vane in an unsteady voice.

"You think they were lovers?"

"Yes."

"How did he seem to take this tragedy?"

"I cannot tell, I don't think he was unduly agitated, however."

"Hum."

Then the detective fell to thinking deeply. He folded the note carefully,
and placed it in an inner pocket.

"I will retain that," he said. "Of course the coroner must be notified.
This is indeed a sad case. I had no thought of such a thing when I left
the depot to visit you. This will astound the neighborhood. I came from
New York intending to visit Chicago, where it is thought a forger has
found a hiding place. I was not employed to run him down, but thought I
would place the case in the hands of the Pinkertons."

"You will not desert me in the hour of my trouble, Silas?"

"No, I will not."

"You will remain to hunt down the murderer of poor Vic?"

Emotion choked the young man's utterance then, and he turned his haggard
face away to hide his feelings.

"I hoped for a brief rest, and an enjoyable visit, old friend," returned
Keene.

"It seems that it is not to be. I seem destined to be forever on the
trail of some criminal. Poor little Victoria. When I saw her last she was
a pretty, playful child. I cannot conceive of a heart wicked enough to
take such an innocent life."

"It was done for plunder?"

"Do you think so?"

"I had two hundred dollars in the bureau. That was taken."

"Yes."

"That convinces me that my poor sister was murdered so that the villain
could rob the house."

"I am not sure of that."

"No?"

"This robbery may be only a blind."

"Do you think so?"

"I will not say that. It will never do to jump at conclusions. My
suspicions, if I have any, turn toward that man who just left us."

"August Bordine?"

"Yes. He evidently wrote that letter. In a fit of jealousy, he may have
struck the blow."

Ransom Vane was silent.

He had thought of this himself, and yet it did not seem possible that his
friend could be such a demon. The detective must be left to take his own
course, however.

"They seemed always on friendly terms," said Ransom, at length, "but of
course there may have been secrets kept from me."

"True, I will investigate thoroughly." The detective hastened away, and a
little later the coroner appeared. A jury was summoned and an examination
had. This was on the morning following the tragedy.

August Bordine had been summoned by telegraph, and was the most important
witness in the case.

When he told the story of the tramp the silence was oppressive.

"Did you know the fellow?"

"I did not; I believe, however, that Miss Vane stated that he had called
himself Perry Jounce."

At the mention of this name young Vane started.

He plucked at his blonde mustache and seemed exceedingly nervous.

Nothing of grave importance was elicited from Bordine, only some present
thought he had neglected his duty in leaving the girl so soon after the
departure of the tramp.

Ransom Vane was the next witness.

He testified to finding his sister dead, with August Bordine standing
over her.

"He was in hunting costume?"

"Yes."

"How armed?"

"I saw no arms. He had placed his gun against the end of the porch I
think."

"You saw no knife?"

"None whatever."

Evidently the coroner had sighted the suspicious circumstances connecting
August Bordine with the case.

"Did you have a knife that day?" said the coroner, turning abruptly to
young Bordine.

"Yes, sir, I had a small hunting knife, but not when I found Miss Vane."

"What do you mean?"

"I lost the knife in the woods."

"Yes."

A short silence fell.

Many suspicious glances were cast at the young engineer. He felt that he
occupied a delicate position, but remained calm under it.

The jury decided, after due deliberation, that Victoria Vane came to her
death at the hands of an unknown party, and so the inquest ended. Murder
was fully established, but the murderer was not found.

In the mean time Detective Keene had made some discoveries that he kept
to himself for the time.

No one in or about Ridgewood knew Sile Keene, and so he did not at the
outset deem it necessary to assume a disguise.

The bereaved brother did not live at the cottage after the murder, but
found a room at the village tavern. Oft times, however, he wandered to
the lonely cottage, and in silence brooded over the scene of the murder.
He stood thus one day when the sound of a step startled him. He raised
his eyes to peer into the face of a ragged tramp.




                               CHAPTER IV.

                          WAS IT A CONFESSION?


The city of Grandon was only a few miles distant from Ridgewood and
connected by rail. It was a small city of mushroom growth, as is
characteristic of many Western towns.

It was here that the engineer August Bordine resided.

He was well to-do, supporting a widowed mother, giving her a comfortable
home from his earnings.

About a week after the tragedy at Ridgewood as Bordine was walking down
the street his eyes was attracted by a poster on a dead wall near.

He paused and read:


                             $5,000 REWARD.

The above reward will be given for information leading to the arrest and
conviction of the person who murdered Victoria Vane at her home in
Ridgewood on the 10th of June.

                                    "BUCK BRADY, _Sheriff_."


Other pedestrians paused, attracted as Bordine had been by the flaming
poster.

"By gosh! that ought to fetch 'im," uttered a queer-looking Yankee, who
had been studying the poster for some minutes.

Bordine regarded the speaker now for the first time.

He was lean and thin, with swallow-tailed coat, tall hat, battered and
worn, a huge necktie and heavy boots--a veritable Yankee from way back
the young engineer thought.

"They consider the girl pretty valuable," said another.

"That reward ought to fetch the villain," uttered Bordine. "I have a
notion to try for it myself."

"S'pose you dew!"

The Yankee regarded him curiously.

"It is a tempting reward."

At this moment a carriage halted, and a bearded face peered out. Beside
it was a pale, pretty woman's countenance. Evidently they had been
attracted by the same thing that caused pedestrians to stop and stare.

"Drive on."

It was the woman in a pleading tone.

"But see, my dear, here's something worth looking at. A big reward for
the arrest of the murderer of poor Miss Vane. Did you notice it?"

"It's in all the papers. _Do_ drive on, Andrew," pleaded the woman's
voice again.

Then, seeing people gazing at them, she dropped her veil. Her companion,
a heavily bearded man, seemed intent on gazing at the flaming reward
poster.

"It's worth the trial," he muttered.

Then he lifted the reins, spoke to his horse, and was soon moving away.

"Who was it?"

This from the Yankee, who seemed unusually excited as he gazed after the
moving carriage.

"It's Mr. Brown, I believe," answered Bordine. The gentleman had been but
a short time in town, but as he spent money freely and drove a fast horse
he had attracted attention, and the young engineer had heard his name
mentioned freely by some of his friends.

"Brown?"

"From Denver."

"Is that so? Where does he hang out?"

"At the 'Golden Lion'."

Without speaking again the inquisitive Yankee hurried on. In a little
time he sighted the carriage and its occupants. He followed at a
respectful distance, and saw it halt in front of a small house in the
suburbs.

The lady alighted.

"Now, Andrew--"

"Curse you! Why will you speak that name?" the man flung back, savagely.
"Iris, you have been trouble enough to me, and I won't be dogged in this
way."

"Dogged! Has not a wife a right to be with her husband?"

"Confound it, no! I will call on you to-night and have this matter
settled--settled forever."

Then he wheeled his carriage and drove away. The woman, with veil down,
remained standing at the gate for some time, watching the retreating
carriage.

And the Yankee leaned against the trunk of a tree near, seemingly intent
on watching a flock of sparrows near the gutter.

"It looks suspicious, anyhow," muttered the Yankee. "It would be strange
enough if I should run upon Andrew Barkswell here--funny, indeed."

And the woman?

Her voice was suffused with tears as she murmured:

"Andrew, Andrew, how can you treat me so? I have sold my soul for your
love, and now--now this is my reward! I feel that I shall die, yes, die,
or--or go mad!"

She clasped her hands tightly, breathed hoarsely for a moment, then
turned and reeled to the house. With a key she opened the door and
entered; which fact convinced the Yankee that she was alone.

Slowly he shuffled down the walk and paused in front of the house.

It looked silent and gloomy enough, as though no human soul occupied the
interior.

He was soon rapping at the front door. The woman he had seen enter
answered.

Pushing his way in without ceremony, our Yankee friend seated himself,
and removing his hat, began smoothing the crown with a greasy elbow.

"Well, sir," demanded the woman, "who are you, and what do you wish?"

"Specs, marm, specs," uttered the Yankee, grinning from ear to ear.

"Sir!"

"I've got 'em, a heap of the best specs sold in America."

Then the Yankee drew from an inner pocket a leather case, which he
proceeded to open, displaying a lot of cheap spectacles.

"I kin fit old or young, rich or poor, fat or lean, I'm a ginooine
malefactor o' the human race, a honor to my profession; in fact I'm an
eye doctor, and if you've weak eyes, as I see you hav', let me--"

"Sir, it is useless; I want none of your wares," said the woman, tartly.

"Yeou look sick, madam."

"I want none of your wares I tell you."

"Law now--"

"Please go."

"But see here, mebbe yeou don't know who I be. I'm Jathom Green, from
Goose Creek, down ter Vermount."

"But this is nothing to me I tell you."

The Yankee glanced carelessly, yet keenly, about the room. He noticed
everything without seeming to do so. Folding up his spectacles, he
finally returned them to his pocket and retired.

Just at dusk a man ran up the steps and opened the front door.

He did not resemble the man we have seen in the carriage some time
before. He followed the woman at once to a back room, flung his elegantly
clad frame into a chair, and gazed fixedly at the trim figure of the
woman before him.

Producing a cigar he lit it before uttering a word.

A second figure stole up the steps and opened the door cautiously,
tiptoeing down a narrow hall to the room occupied by the man and woman.
The last comer was the Yankee, who had not been far from the vicinity
during the afternoon.

Kneeling the Yankee peeped through the keyhole. He started then and came
near uttering an exclamation.

"Now, sir, what have you to say regarding your conduct," demanded the
woman, who, with hat and veil removed, was rather a pretty lady of medium
size, although her white face and hollow eyes betokened much suffering.

"Nothing."

"Nothing? Oh, And--"

"Stop! Utter that name here and I will brain you," hissed the man,
suddenly, furiously, half rising to his feet.

"What must I say?"

"Brown, call me Brown, Jones, or anything but that."

"Well, Brown, you know I have been a faithful wife, and you have treated
me with anything but affection."

"Why did you follow me? I told you I'd kill you if you did."

"It is because I love you, Andrew--"

"That name again!" he uttered, with an imprecation. "Madam, if you were a
true wife, you would assist me in my schemes, and we might live in a
mansion. I have a plan."

"Well?"

"We might win that reward."

The woman shuddered and covered her face with her hands.

"Do you know, Iris?" he proceeded, with the utmost coolness, "I saw that
girl, Victoria Vane, before she was killed. I tell you, she was quite
sweet on me."

A groan alone answered him.

"There was money in the house, and I managed to handle some of it,"
continued the man. "I supposed, or rather, I expected to make more out of
that haul, but only got a few paltry dollars. I expect some poor tramp
will be arrested for the murder of the girl, and hang, like enough."

"And you--you killed her?

"That would be telling, my dear. These girls get a fellow into a deuce of
a scrape sometimes, let alone a fellow's wife. But, my dear, let's drop
this subject and talk of something more agreeable."

The creak of a door startled both.

The man seemed startled.

He turned his head, then came to his feet with a hissing cry.

He was peering into the muzzle of a glistening revolver, behind which
stood the form of our Yankee friend.

The light in the room was not brilliant, yet faces were plainly
discernible.

"August Bordine, I arrest you for the murder of Victoria Vane!" cried the
Yankee, in an awful voice.




                               CHAPTER V.

                           THE TRAMP ON DECK.


For full a minute not a word passed between the two men. The sodden eyes
of the tramp were fixed in a sullen gaze on the face of Ransom Vane.

"What do you want here?" finally demanded Vane in a harsh voice.

"I came to see you."

"To see me?"

"That's what I said."

"I have no money to give you, so you can travel," retorted Vane
impatiently.

"I hain't just ready to travel," grated the tramp. "You act jest as
though you didn't know me, Rans Vane?"

"Know you?"

The young man glanced fixedly into the face of the ragged, filthy looking
being before him.

"Wal?"

"I never saw you before."

"Sure?"

"I am sure."

"Didn't you once live in New York State?"

"Yes."

"Near Rochester?"

"Yes."

"On a farm?"

"Yes."

"Hev' you forgot the young feller that drove the team, the chap that got
his walkin' papers in the dead o' winter, and was actually kicked into
the road jest because he was absent one time to see his sister who was
tendin' school in the city? You called me lazy then, Rans Vane, and you
struck me, yes _you_ did, and don't you remember, I swore I'd get even?
More, you insulted my sister by speakin' ill of her, and that chit of a
gal, Miss Victory, laughed. I was mad--"

"You are Perry Jounce."

"That's it the fust time guessin'."

"And you have come to this. I knew you would never amount to anything,
even if you did have a smart sister."

"Hush, now! Don't you dare speak of her."

"Did she do well?"

"Better 'n yours."

A deadly pallor struck the face of Ransom Vane. His sister was dead, had
been cruelly murdered, and at that moment he believed that this
villainous tramp had had a hand in her death.

"Scoundrel!" exclaimed Vane, advancing toward the tramp. "You are the
wretch who murdered my poor Victoria."

"Stand back."

There was an evil glare in the eyes of the speaker.

Vane continued to advance threateningly.

"Stand back, I say, or you'll get a taste o' _this_."

He displayed a huge knife, the same with which he had threatened Bordine
on a former occasion.

"Scoundrel!"

"It won't do no good to sling words. Rans, I ain't afeard of em."

For several minutes the two stood glaring at each other with glittering
eyes and gleaming teeth.

"Rans Vane, I swore I'd git even with ye fur all you did agin' me and
mine ten year ago. I reckin you're gittin' a leetle o' the sufferin--"

"Stop," hoarsely.

"No I won't. I want ye ter know that I hain't forgot. I know'd you'n the
gal came West arter the ole man died, but I didn't know whar. I've been a
tramp fur a year, and I 'lowed I'd run onter ye sometime, but 'twas all
unexpected when I seed the gal t'other day."

"And you murdered her, murdered my sister?"

"Wal, 'twould a-b'en justice ef I had."

"Oh, you wretch--"

"'Twont do no good to call names, pard; they never hurted anybody yet 'at
I knows of," sneered the tramp, still holding his knife ready for instant
use.

The slender frame of Ransom Vane trembled, and his white hands were
clinched fiercely. He well understood the vicious nature of the man
before him, however, and realized that a movement of aggression on his
part would lead to his own doom.

Now, more than ever, was he convinced that Perry Jounce was the one
guilty of the death of poor Victoria. Vane was placed in a terrible
position just then. The tramp had him completely in his power, and it
might be that he meditated another murder.

"Perry Jounce, listen to me."

The young man forced a calmness he did not feel, while speaking to the
man before him.

"Perceed, Rans, old boy."

"Why did you murder an innocent child like my poor Victoria? Surely she
had not harmed you."

Ransom Vane began now, with the intention of talking against time, with
the hope that some one might happen along, and assist in capturing the
tramp.

"Nothin' but a child, eh?" with a brutal sneer. "I'd like ter know whar
you git yer old gals then, ef Miss Vic war a spring chicken."

The young man's blood boiled to resent the insult.

Nevertheless, his prudence still held his passions down.

"Perry, why will you speak so brutally?"

"Look a-here, Rans, I ain't none o' your kid-glove kind. I allus speaks
out what I hev to say. I hate you and yourn, and I jest tell you in plain
English 'at I'm glad your sister's dead; not fur her sake, but because it
makes you suffer."

"And this is why you murdered her?"

"Who said I did it?"

"You have just admitted as much."

"That's a lie! I never make such foolish admissions as that. I'd look
well owning up to somethin' I didn't do."

"Do you mean to tell me that you did not murder Victoria?" cried the
young man in a tone of intense feeling.

"Of course I didn't. I ain't no fool."

"I cannot believe you."

"I don't ask ye to."

The tramp polished the blade of his huge knife on his greasy sleeve.

"I might spill a little blood I s'pose," he muttered aloud, "but I reckin
I'll let you live awhile yet."

Then he turned as if to depart.

"Don't go yet," cried the young cottage-owner, as his eye caught sight of
a man approaching from the wood road. His thought was that with help he
might capture the tramp.

"Wal, why not?"

Perry Jounce halted.

"I want you to answer a few questions."

"Heave ahead."

"Tell me what you know about my poor Victoria's death. You were here just
before."

"Who told you so?"

"It doesn't matter."

"I know now. It was that engineer from Grandon. I've forgot his name. He
peached on me, I reckin."

"You have guessed the truth."

"Rans, don't you trust that man."

"Why not?"

"_He_ kin tell you how Vic come ter die, he kin. 'Twas jealousy and the
like that did it."

"Do you mean that?"

Ransom Vane sprang forward and clutched the arm of the tramp.

"Let go. Yes, I mean it. _He_ killed Victoria 'cause he thought she'd
make trouble atwixt him an' another gal, that's the truth ef I hang fur
it."

"My soul! it is as I feared."

Ransom Vane still clung to the arm of the tramp, however. The man was
rapidly approaching, and carried a gun. Young Vane recognized him as
Bordine, and he was anxious to secure his assistance in securing the
tramp.

"Let go, Rans, I must be traveling."

"But wait. Will you testify to what you have jast said?"

"Mebbe."

"Then remain--"

"Let go, I tell ye."

Vane, however, still clung to the arm of Jounce. The latter became angry,
and flung him off furiously.

"Help! Murder!" shouted Vane.

"Take that, you fool!"

The tramp struck a vicious blow with his knife at the heart of young
Vane.

The latter sunk bleeding to the ground.

"Hello!"

A tall, slender young man in hunter's costume peered upon the scene.

Perry Jounce walked forward, glanced keenly into the young hunter's face,
then said:

"I've fixed him, I take it; but don't you peep, or--"

He did not finish his sentence, but strode swiftly away.

"Stop, August Bordine. I am badly hurt by that scoundrel. Will you help
me?"

Ransom Vane sat up, with blood streaming from a wound in his breast.

The hunter at once sprang to his assistance, and made a swift examination
of the wound.

He tore strips of cloth from the wounded man's shirt and succeeded, after
a little, in staunching the blood.

"How do you feel?"

"Weak as a cat, but I don't believe the blade touched a vital spot,"
answered Vane, who now sat on the bench at the end of the porch.

"Of course he didn't. Shall I help you to the doctor's office?"

"No. You are going to the village?"

"Yes."

"Then you may send Dr. Helling to me."

"I will do so."

"Stay one moment."

The hunter turned about and waited for what his young friend had to say.

"You saw that tramp, August?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you stop him? He gave me this wound, and I believe he is the
man we need for--for the murder of poor Vic."

"No?" in evident surprise. "I was so startled I didn't think far enough
to stop the fellow."

Then the young hunter proceeded on his way with his gun under his arm and
a peculiar smile on his countenance.

"There's a little mistake it seems," he muttered.

Just then a man stepped from a clump of bushes near and touched the
hunter's arm.

He halted and turned about quickly.

"Andrew Barkswell, I'm glad to meet you."

It was Perry Jounce, the tramp, who uttered the words.




                               CHAPTER VI.

                          DETECTIVE AND WIDOW.


When the Yankee crept in upon his prey he felt sure of securing him.

There's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip, however.

Our Yankee friend failed to take into consideration the fact that there
was a second person in the room.

The young man stared at the Yankee and his revolver as if more surprised
than frightened.

"What's the matter, old chap?" uttered the man, with a sneer. "This is my
house--"

"You are my prisoner," uttered the Yankee, sternly.

"Who are you?"

"You will learn soon enough, August Bordine."

"That isn't my name."

"You have a dozen. I know you, however, as the forger, Andrew Barkswell."

"Well, I suppose I may's well come."

He was going in without resistance.

The Yankee was keen, but he failed to notice the movement of the woman.

Of a sudden she sprang forward behind the Yankee, and flung her arms
about him, pinioning his arms for an instant. He soon tore loose, but
precious time had been lost.

With a sweep of his hand, the man, whom our Yankee friend had taken for
August Bordine, dashed the lamp to the floor, leaving the room in total
darkness.

"Good-by, Mr. Keene. I hope you'll have better success next time,"
chuckled a voice, and then the outer door slammed, denoting that the
outlaw had passed out into the night.

All this was the work of less than a minute.

The detective, for he it was, wrenched himself from the woman's detaining
arms, and dashed down the hall to the street. Darkness reigned outside,
and it soon became evident that the outlaw had made good his escape.

The baffled detective went back to the house in no enviable mood.

"I'm a little out in my reckoning," he muttered. "That man was certainly
Barkswell, and yet he resembled Bordine. Can it be that the two are
identical? They certainly look enough alike to be twin brothers."

Once more the detective entered the house. Groping along the hall, he
scratched a match, and entering the back room, soon had the lamp burning
once more.

The woman was gone.

"I might have arrested her," muttered the detective, "had I not chased
her husband into the darkness. I am confident that it's the same couple I
saw in the carriage, yet then he was in disguise."

Sile Keene searched the house from top to bottom, but made no important
discoveries. He was prone to believe, however, that Barkswell was the
assassin of poor Victoria Vane.

"Is this man and Bordine identical? That is the question," mused the
detective. "I am inclined to think they are."

Then he left the house and hurried swiftly away.

The city of Grandon was small, and it did not require much time to
traverse its entire length.

In a little time the detective stood before an unpretending dwelling
which had been pointed out to him as the house of the young engineer.

There was a cheerful glow in the windows, although the curtains were
down. Keene had cast aside his Yankee togs, and appeared undisguised.

The bell was answered by the widow Bordine herself, who at once invited
him into her cozy parlor.

No one was here.

The detective glanced keenly around and noted the comfort of the little
house. How could the young man who had built such a snug nest turn his
attention into criminal channels? The widow was but sixty, with a plump
form, pleasant eyes and agreeable manners. Detective Keene was at once
prepossessed in her favor.

Could the son of such a woman be the villain appearances indicated? or
had there been a grand mistake somewhere?

"My name is Keene," said the detective, introducing himself. "I called to
see your son."

"My son is not in."

"When will he return."

"Not until late. His business requires him to keep late hours sometimes."

"Which is unpleasant for you."

"Somewhat, but it won't long be so."

"Indeed?"

"When they are married, he will bring Rose here, and then he'll keep
better hours."

"Rose?"

Detective Keen smiled at the simplicity of the old lady.

"Rose Alstine. They've been keepin' company a long time."

"The young lady is wealthy?"

"How do you know? Have you seen 'em?"

"No, but I've heard of the Alstines," returned Keene.

"Well, I suppose Rose is quite an heiress, especially if the old man's
mine turns out well, he's been buying out in Colorado. He's out there now
looking after it."

"Yes."

"I expect August'll be married as soon's he gets home."

"And that will be when?"

"Can't tell. It may be a month and it may be a year."

"Quite an uncertainty, indeed."

"Yes," heaving a deep sigh, "I'll be proper glad when they are settled."

"I should think so. You have friends in Ridgewood."

"None to speak of."

"The Vanes--"

"Oh, yes, I know. They wan't my friends in petic'lar. Victoria was a
pretty girl, and some folks called her smart, but I never could see it.
Poor thing, it was an awful end she came to at last," and the widow wiped
away a sympathetic tear.

"It was, indeed," agreed the detective. "Your son thought much of the
girl?"

"Of Victoria Vane?"

"Yes."

"Law, no. Didn't I tell you that August was keepin' company with the
Alstine girl?"

"Yes; but young men sometimes have more strings than one, you know."

"But August ain't that kind."

"Artless, old mother!" thought Keene. "She knows nothing of the doings of
this son of her's." Then, thinking of the forger whom he had come so near
capturing that evening, Keene said: "You are from New York, I believe,
Mrs. Bordine?"

"Formerly, yes."

"From the neighborhood of Rochester?"

"Yes."

"Do you know a family by the name of Barkswell?"

"Never heard of 'em."

"Are you sure?"

"Well, I'm not given to telling wrong stories, Mr. Keene. Why should I?
Our family was never ashamed of its name--"

"No, certainly not; but I knew the Barkswells, and I thought you might
have forgotten. I am from York State myself."

"Glad to hear it. I think I heard August speak of you. He met you down to
Ridgewood?"

"Yes. I am quite anxious to see your son on important business."

"Come in to-morrow, then. I expect he'll be to home."

The detective rose to go.

It did not seem possible to him then that the villain Barkswell and
Bordine could be one and the same, yet it was nevertheless certain that
there was a strong resemblance between the two men, and Keene was
determined to watch Bordine closely.

Detective Keene hurried away.

Soon he was traversing one of the narrowest streets of the city. Just
ahead of him he saw a man standing so that the light from a saloon window
flared in his face.

Silas Keene halted an instant and gazed fixedly at the man.

It was certainly the same person he had attempted to arrest that night--
either Andrew Barkswell or August Bordine.

The detective suddenly advanced.

The sound of his step caused the young man to turn about.

Both men regarded one another fixedly, a surprised look shooting over the
face of the younger.

"Ah, it is Mr. Keene. Glad to see you, sir. Will you come home with me?"
cried August Bordine, as he grasped the detective warmly by the hand.




                              CHAPTER VII.

                                CAUGHT!


It will be remembered that the young hunter who had assisted the wounded
Ransom Vane, was hailed on his way to the village by the tramp, who has
so far occupied a prominent place in this narrative.

A curious smile flitted over the face of the hunter as he looked at the
ragged creature before him.

"I am glad to see you, Andrew," said the tramp, extending his hand.

"Are you?"

The hunter refused to touch the dirty paw extended toward him.

"Won't you shake?"

"No. You have made a mistake. I am not Andrew Barkswell."

"Not Andrew Barkswell?"

"No."

"Who then?"

"My name is August Bordine."

"Lord, is that so?" cried Jounce with a grin. "Didn't you just come from
the man I knifed down yonder?"

"Certainly, and you'll have that to answer for."

"Will he die?"

"I expect so."

"You wouldn't dare appear agin me?"

"I will, as you shall see."

The tramp fell back a step and made a move as if to draw a weapon, but
the muzzle of a cocked rifle cooled his ardor a little.

"Now, see here, what's the use of fooling, pardner?" whined the tramp.

"No use of it. I am in deadly earnest I assure you," returned the hunter.
"I am of the opinion that you murdered that poor girl last week, and do
you know, sir, there's a big reward offered for you dead or alive?"

"No. How much?"

"Five thousand dollars."

"No-o!"

"It's true."

"Who makes the offer?"

"The proper officer--sheriff, I suppose. Come, now; I think I will take
you into custody, and haul in that reward."

"But I ain't guilty, and you know it, Andrew."

"Andrew again--"

"No more foolin', old chap. I know you, though, by gum! you _do_ look a
heap like the ingineer from Grandon. Mebbe you'n him's related. But see
here, I kin tell you by that, allus."

With a quick movement, the tramp sprang forward and pushed up the hat of
the hunter, revealing in the roots of the hair a red, ragged scar.

"Your loving wife made that, pardner, and I 'spose you'll acknowledge the
corn now."

"Confound you!"

The hunter seemed angry enough to annihilate the tramp, but the latter
stood back and grinned complacently in his face.

"Couldn't fool me, brother," chuckled Jounce. "I 'member when Iris gin ye
that rap. She sticks to ye like a burr, pardner, and won't let ye play
sweet on the ladies, as you'd like. Kinder mean fur a wife to keep sich a
sharp eye out fur her lord, but I tell ye, Iris is grit to ther backbone,
and she's jealous, too. But I won't tantalize yer, coz 'taint jest; but
'sposin' you gin me a little rhino? I'm busted--dead broke; out o' rocks,
and wrecked on a lee shore."

The man uttered an imprecation.

"I see that you know me," he finally articulated. "I've fooled a good
many, but it seems a loving relative can't be deceived. Don't you give me
away, Perry, and I'll have money enough for all of us soon."

"No lying?"

"It's true as preaching"

"What lay are you on?"

"I make no confidants."

"Then you'll rue it mebbe."

"I certainly should if I did. I've got the softest snap but for one
thing."

"Wal?"

"An infernal man-tracker from Gotham is out here on my lay. He may prove
troublesome."

"I've seen him--Sile Keene."

"Yes. Put him off the track, Perry, and I'll make it an object."

Then the hunter laid a gold eagle in the hand of the tramp. An avaricious
gleam filled the man's wicked eyes.

"You can count on me, brother."

"Never mind brothering me. I don't want you to trouble me again, you
understand, until--"

"Till that man-tracker goes under?"

"Exactly."

"You bet I won't."

Then Barkswell moved on his way, and the tramp disappeared in the bushes.

"Ho! So Mr. Andy don't like for me to call him brother," uttered the
tramp, gutterally. "Wonder if he's forgot that he married sister Iris. I
must look up the old girl. Mebbe she can do something for me. I'm aware
that she'd be ashamed of me in these togs but I reckin I kin sleek up a
bit with a part o' this"--clinching the gold-piece as he spoke.

In the meantime Andrew Barkswell made his way to the village, and finding
the village physician, sent him to the cottage of Ransom Vane to attend
the wounded man.

It will be seen that the man in hunter's costume was not August Bordine,
although he had deceived Ransom Vane into believing him to be the
engineer. It was this close resemblance to Bordine that put a scheme into
the head of a villain.

"I had no idea that I looked so much like somebody else," mused the young
villain as he rode toward Grandon that night. "I'll profit by this, or I
am a fool. If Iris had only remained away. She's so squeamish, I can't do
anything. I really wish an accident would happen to her."

All this happened on the day before the adventures of Mr. Barkswell with
the detective in the guise of a Yankee, already recorded.

We now return to the city.

Silas Keene was not a little puzzled as he found himself clasping the
hand of the young man in front of the low saloon.

Was this the same man he had dogged to the house in the suburbs?

He looked like him, and yet there seemed to be a slight difference in the
voice.

The detective was puzzled.

"Where do you stop, Mr. Keene?"

"At the Golden Lion."

"Good hotel; but I would like to have you accompany me home. I would talk
of the late crime at Ridgewood. I notice that a large reward has been
offered for the perpetrator."

"It seems so."

"Of course you will strive to win the reward."

"Certainly."

The two men were now walking away from the vicinity of the saloon.

"This is the hardest part of the city," said Bordine. "It's seldom that I
come this way."

"What called you here to-night?"

The detective was suspicious now of the man, and had his revolver
convenient to his hand.

"Well, simply because I saw a fellow coming this way that I recognized.
The man entered that saloon. You see I brood continually over the murder
of poor Victoria Vane."

"Yes; that is natural enough."

"Is it? I suppose it's because I was connected with it in such a way."

"You connected with the murder?"

Sile Keene seemed to think his companion was about to make a full
confession, for he almost stopped in his walk to stare at the face of
Bordine.

"I was connected with it, as you will remember. Sometimes I blame myself
for not remaining until her brother returned, and not giving that tramp
the opportunity he desired," said Bordine, in a solemn voice.

"So you think it was the tramp that committed the murder?"

The detective asked this question simply for the want of something
better. He was now pretty thoroughly convinced that the real assassin
walked at his side, and that it might be well to arrest him at once,
when, if necessary, sufficient evidence could be hunted up afterward.

"I am almost sure of it."

"What motive?"

"Robbery and revenge."

"Indeed."

"Yes. Poor Victoria!"

"See here, Mr. Bordine, what was that girl to you?" demanded the
detective, suddenly and sharply, laying his hand on the arm of his
companion.

A dark form dogging their steps--had not been seen by either.

"She was nothing to me, sir."

"A friend?"

"Certainly, and nothing more. If you knew her you will bear me out in the
statement that she was something of a coquette in her way."

"I know nothing about that."

"You hadn't met her in some years perhaps."

"I admit that I had not. See here, Mr. Bordine, _alias_ Barkswell, we may
as well come to an understanding. I consider you a dangerous man, and
propose to put you in a safe place."

At this moment a ring of cold steel touched the temple of Bordine, who
regarded the detective in silent astonishment.

A revolver was against his temple.

"What does this mean?" demanded Bordine.

"That you are my prisoner, forger and assassin!" hissed Silas Keene.

The next instant a pair of handcuffs were snapped over the young
engineer's wrists.




                              CHAPTER VIII.

                         THE DETECTIVE PUZZLED.


August Bordine stood handcuffed and a prisoner, his face the picture of
utter astoundment.

It was too dark, however, for the detective to note the look on the face
of the young engineer.

"I hope you will go with me peaceably," uttered Keene, as he clutched the
arm of his prisoner to lead him away.

"Mr. Keene, this is astounding. I thought you were my friend," finally
uttered the young engineer, in a voice quivering with emotion.

"You are a skilled and slippery villain, young man, but you cannot throw
me off the scent by any such pretense as this. I've trapped too many
criminals, and heard their smooth talk. Let me tell you that I heard your
confession to your wife, that you murdered Victoria Vane and robbed the
house."

Bordine trembled under the detective's hand.

"Come."

"But I tell you there is some mistake, sir. My name is Bordine, and--"

"I do not care to listen just now," interrupted Silas Keene. I know my
duty."

"I doubt it," retorted Bordine angrily. "I will make you smart for this."

The young man walked on, however, and when in the vicinity of the city
lockup, the detective turned from the street to cross a vacant lot. They
were thus in a gloomy spot, and compelled to pass near the edge of a deep
hollow, an excavation made a long time before for a cellar.

Just at this point a dark form glided up behind the detective and dealt
him a stunning blow on the head, felling him to the ground.

"Thar, pardner, I reckon that beak won't git no furder with his
pris'ner."

Bordine was dumbfounded.

Who was the rough-spoken man who had come to his rescue by perhaps
dealing the detective a death-blow?

"He put the darbies on, did he?"

Bordine held up his manacled hands. The gruff-spoken individual fumbled
with them a moment, and then, to his great joy, Bordine found his wrists
free.

The stranger had done him a good turn indeed.

Now the young engineer was anxious about the detective's fate; who he
realized, had been acting in good faith no matter how foolishly he had
blundered.

"I'm allus on hand like a thumb," chuckled the man who had rescued
Bordine.

"You had keys to fit the handcuffs?"

"Took 'em from the bloke's pocket."

"I see."

Then, as he cast the bracelets from him, August bent over the prostrate
form of Silas Keene.

"I'm afraid you've seriously injured the man," said August lowly.

"Wal, nobody'll cry ef I have," grated the rescuer, "I expect we'd better
make sure of the job and then I kin claim the reward."

"Reward."

"Why, confound it, the rhino you promised me ef I'd knife the cursed beak
who was on yer trail."

"Oh yes, to be sure," returned the young engineer, who by this time began
to "catch on" to the true situation.

It was evident that a grave mistake had been made, and Bordine resolved
to carry on the deception with a view to learning something of the
intentions of the villain or villains who had plotted the destruction of
Keene.

"Let's see, how much was I to give you for this?"

"Durn it, that was fur you to say, Andy. I want you to be liberal now."

"Yes, you've done me a good turn to-night and I'm not unmindful of it,
but I don't happen to have any money on my person just at present.
Suppose you call 'round to-morrow evening about this time."

"When you'll be out of the kentry mebbe," retorted the other with a growl
of dissatisfaction.

"You ought to know me better than that," rebuked the engineer.

"I know ye fur jest that caper, Andy Barkswell."

So that was the man he was supposed to represent. There was something
familiar in the ring of the man's voice, too. Where had he heard it
before?

"Well, sir, I can't pay you anything to-night. You appoint a place of
meeting and I will be there, don't you fear," returned the young
engineer, after a moment given to reflection.

"Wal, ef that's yer game, I'll meet ye at Billy Bowleg's saloon,
to-morrer at this time. Is't a bargain?"

"It's a bargain, Perry."

Then the two clasped hands.

August Bordine recognized the man now as the tramp who had assaulted
Victoria Vane, that day, when he was up at Eastman's woods on a hunting
excursion. He was the same man he had seen enter the saloon so Silas
Keene came along, and it was this saloon that the tramp had named as the
place for the next meeting. It was well. The engineer resolved to be on
hand and make sure of the burly scoundrel who, August Bordine was sure,
had murdered Victoria Vane.

"Now, pard, hadn't I better gin the hound another tap on the head?"
Referring to the insensible detective.

"No, leave him to me, old fellow. You have done your complete share in
disposing of the man-tracker. I will complete the work."

"Better dump him in yender."

"No."

Perry Jounce said no more, but moved swiftly away in the gloom.

Then August Bordine hastened for assistance.

He found a hack, and had the insensible detective borne to his home,
which was not reached until nearly midnight.

When the man-tracker opened his eyes, he found himself in a cozy room,
snugly ensconsed on a huge sofa, with the fumes of a hot sling in his
nostrils.

"Taste this, Mr. Keene, and you will feel better."

It was August Bordine, with a hot drink for the detective. For a moment
the man-hunter could scarcely believe his senses.

He sipped the hot sling, and afterward felt better, so that he sat up and
gazed about him. It was the same room he had visited earlier in the
evening, but the picture of home comfort was not the same, on account of
the absence of the comfortable form and motherly face of Mrs. Bordine,
who had retired long since to rest.

Silas Keene's senses were yet in a daze, and his head ached enough to
split. He glanced at the pleasant face of the young engineer, then about
the room, as if wondering where he was.

"You are puzzled, Mr. Keene."

"Well, I should say so," returned the detective. "I cannot account for
it, nohow."

"This is my home, Mr. Keene, and you are welcome to remain here until you
choose to depart. I would like for you to make it your home while you
remain in the city."

"But," gasped the detective, "how does it come that I am here?"

"I had you brought here in a hack."

"Was it you that knocked me over?"

"No, indeed," smiled Bordine. "I was never known to assault an officer."

"Then how--"

"I will explain."

The young engineer did so, telling all the circumstances and concluding
with:

"I am as deeply puzzled as you can be, at the man's motive in rescuing me
from your hands. Evidently he mistook me for another person, since he
addressed me as Andrew Barkswell."

"And is not that your name?"

"Certainly not. I hope you did not make the same mistake. Evidently you
did, for, if my memory serves me, you addressed me by that name as well
as my own when you arrested me last night."

"Last night?"

"Yes. It is quite morning now."

"And you have been with me all night?"

"Yes, and summoned a physician. You see I was afraid you had been
seriously injured."

Silas Keene bowed his head in thought for some moments. At length he
looked up and held out his hand.

"Mr. Bordine, I have been a confounded fool."

"I hope not."

Yet the young man could not repress a laugh at the queer expression
resting on the countenance of the detective.

"I arrested you for murder."

"Yes."

"For the murder of the Vane girl."

"Yes. You were in a hurry to win the reward--I forgive you, sir. It was
simply a mistake."

"And might have proved a grievous one."

"Certainly. I am satisfied that it is no worse."

"And you can forgive me?"

"Certainly."

The two men clasped hands in apparent friendship.

Nevertheless the detective had a lingering suspicion that he was making
more of a fool of himself than ever. He tried to smother this, and to
appear frank and genial before Bordine. If the man before him was not
Barkswell, then he resembled him so closely as to defy detecting the
difference.

"I will watch and wait," thought Keene, "and not make another move until
I am certain of the facts."

"Now that we understand each other," proceeded Bordine, "I wish to make a
bargain with you."

"Proceed."

"I promised to meet this tramp, whose real name is Perry Jounce, I
believe, at Billy Bowleg's saloon to-morrow evening, for the purpose of
rewarding him for his villainy."

"Yes."

"I find that my other duties will compel me to remain away, but if you
will look after the appointment I shall be glad. You can take all the
help you need, and make sure of this tramp, and may help break up a bad
nest as well. What do you say?"

"I will do it of course."

"Thanks. Now lie here and rest. You need to be recuperated, for the work
is hard." "I will do so."

Then bidding his guest good-night, the young engineer left the room.

As he had said it was almost day dawn, and one person was early astir, at
least in the city, a man who had been listening at the slightly raised
window to the conversation going on between Bordine and the detective.

"It is well," he muttered with a chuckle of delight as he hurried away.




                               CHAPTER IX.

                            A BIBULOUS LOVER.


In a pretty bijou of a room one evening sat a girl of nineteen, tall and
stately, with a comely face and eyes that were lustrous as stars.

Rose Alstine was not a beauty, but she was good at heart, generous to a
fault, and beloved by all who knew her.

She was an heiress to wealth that was reputed bordering on a million. Her
money prospects, however, in no way marred the goodness of her character.
Had she been overly proud she would certainly not have permitted the
attentions of the humble engineer, August Bordine.

There was genuine love between them, too, not of the effusive, sickish
sort, but that love that enobles and glorifies.

On the evening in question, Rose sat alone gazing thoughtfully at the
carpet. There was a troubled look on her countenance, for only that day
she had heard bad news. A horse had run away with her lover and flung him
so violently against a post as to injure him severely.

In the evening paper she read the account, and now she was debating
whether or not it would be unmaidenly for her to call on her lover. In
the main Rose was a sensible girl, yet she was seldom known to fly in the
face of the proprieties.

August might die!

It was this thought that brought a moisture to the eyes of the heiress,
just as Miss Williams, her cousin of uncertain age, entered the room.

"It would certainly never do, Rose, never."

"What is that, Janet?"

"It would never do for you to visit a man. Just think what the gossips
would say. As a relative, and one who would not like to see our good name
trailed as a garment, I warn you not to think of such a thing as visiting
that man Bordine."

Rose regarded the speaker keenly.

Even with a sad feeling tugging at her heart, she could not but
understand that it was sour grapes with Janet Williams. She had once
tried desperately to win the attention of the young engineer.

"But, Janet, August may be fatally injured," said Rose, after a moment,
in a faltering voice.

"Which would not alter the status of the case in the least."

"Are you heartless, Janet?"

"No. But--"

[Illustration: WITH A LITTLE SHRIEK SHE RUSHED INTO HIS OPEN ARMS AND
SEALED HER WELCOME ON HIS LIPS]

A bounding step on the stair cut short the words of Miss Williams. The
next instant the door was flung open and a man crossed the threshold,
and, hat in hand, confronted the two girls.

His face was somewhat pale, yet his lips were wreathed in a smile. Rose
sat for an instant staring at the man as though about to faint, so
astonished was she.

Then with a little shriek she rushed into his open arms and sealed her
welcome on his lips.

Miss Williams stood dumfounded.

Rose lay sobbing on the breast of her stalwart lover.

"There, Rose, darling, that will do," said the gentleman, leading her to
a seat. "Were you not expecting me?"

"No indeed," cried Rose, as she brushed away the tears. "I read of the
terrible accident, and my mind was full of forboding."

"Indeed! What a little goose you are, Rose."

"But you might have been killed, you know, and then--"

"Well?"

"And then what would have become of poor me?"

"Sure enough; but I wasn't killed, nor even seriously hurt, my dear, so
we will discard such disagreeable thoughts from our minds."

He settled himself on the wide, cushioned couch at her side, and pressed
a kiss on her cheek just as Miss Williams swept, with upturned nose, from
the room.

"Faugh!" ejaculated the elderly girl, as she closed the door behind her
with a bang. "I can't abide such sickly slush as that. Rose is a fool,
and that man isn't one whit better."

Then she flounced down the broad stairs and sought relief from her
overwrought feelings in smelling-bottle and snuff.

Yes, dear reader, Miss Williams, dear old girl, was given to snuff, and
she would soon cross the boundaries to that old maid's paradise where
cats and parrots abounded.

With her it was indeed the sourest of sour grapes.

And Rose?

She felt that this was the happiest moment of her life, as she nestled
against her lover's breast and realized that no harm had come to him
after all.

"It was wholly a false report, August, but it made me miserable for some
hours."

"Not wholly false," he said, as he toyed with a diamond ring that
glittered on her finger. "I was thrown out and injured, but not very
badly. I came here just as soon after the accident as possible to
alleviate your fears."

"Oh, how good you are."

"This ring," he said, seeming to wish to avoid the subject of the
accident. "A genuine diamond, is it not?"

"Certainly. Have you forgotten--"

"That it was my own gift. No, darling, but I believe I have forgotten the
cost," he said, quickly.

She stared at him in astonishment.

Then she burst into a laugh.

"How absent-minded you have become," she declared. "I fear that accident
injured your brain, August."

"It's barely possible," he said, forcing a laugh.

"Why, you goose, you know that ring was a present from papa on my last
birthday, and he said it was worth a good thousand. How could you
forget?"

"Surely, how could I?" he returned, with a glittering eye. "I--I don't
feel just right, that's a fact."

"And it may have been very imprudent for you to come out so soon after
your fall," evincing anxiety.

"Oh, no; I guess not," was his light reply. He lifted her hand again.

"It's your ring you miss?"

"Yes."

She rose and went to a little stand, from a drawer taking a golden
circlet, and resuming her seat once more.

"Why do you not wear it?"

"It's a little large."

"Indeed. Permit me to take it. I will bring you another that you can
wear."

She resigned the ring to his keeping.

"And this one. How beautiful!" he exclaimed, turning the diamond ring
about on her finger.

"Strange you never noticed it's beauty before."

"Well, you know I've been too deeply absorbed in the owner."

Then he slipped the ring from her finger and held it up to the light.

"Well, it _is_ a beauty!" he murmured, toying with it as a delighted boy
might with a new plaything.

"I thought you did not admire diamonds?"

"Well, can't a person change their opinions?

"Certainly, but--"

"Ah, that pain again!" exclaimed the engineer, clasping his stomach
suddenly and groaning.

"Oh, August, you are hurt, in pain, and trying to keep it from me!" she
cried in alarm.

"It's a mere nothing, but--but have you any, brandy in the house? I feel
that I need something of the kind."

He seemed trying to smother his distress, and this caused poor Rose to
grow pale with alarm.

She sprang up at once.

"I believe there is a flask of brandy in the pantry; I will go for it."

"If you only would."

She passed out quickly.

In about ten minutes she returned having a flask and glass.

"I feel much better," he said, "but I will taste the spirits since it may
prevent a recurrence of that ugly pain."

He tossed off a rather ample glass of the liquid, and declared that he
felt twenty per cent better.

"If you weren't a strict temperance man I should think that you liked
brandy," said Rose, with an amused laugh.

"I'm temperate to the backbone save when it's necessary to use liquor as
a medicine," and he laughed, too, in unison with Rose.

She placed the flask and empty glass on the little stand.

"I must return now, Rose. I don't feel that I ought to remain out late
to-night."

"Well, I hope you will not suffer from the effects of the accident."

"No danger. That diamond ring, Rose. I dropped it and can't just put my
finger on it. Will you help me find it?"

He peered under the couch and chair.

"Never mind, August, I can find it in the morning."

He rose up then, kissed her good-night, and hurried away.

The next morning, when Rose came to look for the diamond ring, it was not
to be found. She went to the stand and opened it; her case that held a
set of diamond bracelets was there, open but empty.

Rose Alstine uttered a great cry.

Her diamond bracelets, valued at five thousand dollars were gone!

What did it mean?




                               CHAPTER X.

                           THE BOWLEGS SALOON.


The saloon of Billy Bowlegs was a low resort, and Detective Keene
realized that it was not a safe place for a member of his profession were
he recognized by any of the law-breakers who frequented the place.

The detective was deeply puzzled with regard to August Bordine. He could
not remove from his mind the idea that the young engineer was the same
man who visited that woman, his wife, apparently, in another part of the
city. It seemed that the young man was playing a double game.

"He has befriended me, and I will not move against him until I make sure,
hereafter," thought Keene. "He has an estimable mother, and it seems a
shame that he should be such a villain. It will break her heart, I
believe, when she comes to know what a scoundrel she has for a son. I
will investigate this mixed state of affairs thoroughly before I jump at
conclusions. It is barely possible that I was a little premature last
night."

The detective wandered about the city in disguise during the greater part
of the day, but made no discoveries, save only that he saw the tramp,
Perry Jounce, pass down and enter Bowleg's saloon in the early part of
the day.

Late in the afternoon an elderly looking gentleman, in the office of the
Golden Lion, purchased an evening paper and began perusing the locals.


                                "RUNAWAY.

"While Mr. August Bordine was driving down the street, near the depot,
his horse became frightened at a passing train and ran. Mr. Bordine was
hurled out against a telegraph pole and severely injured. He was removed
to his home by a friend. At the hour of going to press we have not been
able to obtain further particulars."


After reading this, the old gentleman came to his feet.

He passed from the hotel, and turned his steps in the direction of the
Bordine cottage.

In a little time he was ringing the door-bell.

"You wish to see my son?" queried the old lady who opened the door.

"Yes."

"He is not able to see visitors."

"He is badly hurt, then?"

"Mother, tell the gentleman to come in," called a voice from the cozy
front room, and so the visitor was permitted to go before the engineer.

"Ah, beg pardon, but I thought that it was a friend," uttered the pale
young man, who sat in the great armchair, propped by pillows.

"My voice sounded familiar?"

"Yes."

"And I am a friend," cried the old gentleman, at the same time removing
hat and wig.

"Silas Keene!" exclaimed Bordine.

"Good lord, who'd a thought it?" interjected the motherly widow, with
upraised hands.

"Only a bit of disguise," laughed the detective. "I adopt such
frequently. It sometimes becomes highly necessary you know, Mr. Bordine."

"I suppose so."

"I saw a notice of your injury in the evening paper and hastened here at
once."

"Thanks. You are very kind," returned the young engineer. "I assure you
it is nothing serious, but may lay me on the stocks for a day or two. I
meant to assist you to-night, but, as you see, now, it is wholly out of
the question."

"Certainly."

"Have you made any discoveries?"

"None of consequence."

"We are no nearer the solution of the murder mystery than ever," muttered
Bordine. "I think, if you succeed in arresting Perry Jounce, you may
wring something from him. He is a low villain, and would as lief commit a
murder as eat."

"Yes. I mean to look after the scoundrel to-night."

"Don't attempt to do anything alone, Keene."

"I think there is little danger."

"But that tramp may have discovered his mistake by this time. He
undoubtedly mistook me for another person, as _you_ did last night."

"True."

The detective eyed the engineer keenly.

If this young man was a dissembler he was certainly a keen one.

"You will be on your guard?"

"Certainly," with a smile. "I have trailed too many criminals to their
lair to fear now."

"One thing more," as the detective rose to go. "I want you to consider my
house open to you at all times during your stay in Grandon."

"Thank you. I will not forget it."

And then the detective was gone.

"What a strange man," remarked Mrs. Bordine.

"Yes," agreed August. "I have heard of him as a great detective, and I
hope that he will prove his name good in this instance. Surely it does
seem as though this murder mystery might be cleared up. Of course there
may be no evidence to convict him, yet it seems plain to me that Perry
Jounce, the tramp, is the guilty man."

"I should think they'd arrest him at any rate."

"I am of the opinion that it would be good policy."

In the meantime Silas Keene had resumed his disguise and returned to the
Golden Lion. He remained here until after darkness fell, then, going
outside, he secreted a revolver and set of handcuffs on his person, and
congratulated himself that he was ready to pay the saloon of Billy
Bowlegs a visit.

He counseled with a member of the police force afterward.

"I'm going to make an onset to-night, at Bowleg's saloon, and I want you
to be within call in case I should need you," explained the detective, at
the same time revealing his badge of office. "There's money in it if
you're alert, my friend."

What member of the force could resist such an inducement?

Silas Keene sauntered down the narrow street leading to the saloon in
question, paused for a moment on the threshold, then passed in.

Soon a man in blue halted in the shadows without, and waited
developments. He expected that the detective would soon give the signal
for assistance, but the police officer waited in vain.

Slowly the minutes passed.

An hour drew its length along, and then, becoming impatient, the man of
clubs walked into the saloon.

Two men were drinking at the bar, and from beyond a screen came the sound
of voices, where numerous gamesters were engaged in play.

Billy Bowlegs was himself behind the bar. He seemed to recognize the
officer, for he nodded and set out a decanter of brandy and shoved it
toward him.

After drinking the officer said:

"An old gentleman entered a short time since. I had my eye on him, and
would like to see him."

"Man with long hair, and one eye?"

"No. A real gentleman, with gray hair and beard."

"Seems 's though I do remember seeing such a chap," uttered the
barkeeper. "How long ago was it?"

"Nearly an hour."

"Probably he went away."

"Not by the front door."

"Eh! Then you've been watching him? Suspicious character, eh?"

"Yes."

"You can look through the rooms."

Billy Bowlegs led the way behind the screen.

Half a dozen men sat playing at the tables, as many more smoking and
reclining on settees at the side of the room.

The air was thick with smoke, yet the keen glance of the police officer
showed that his friend, the detective, was not present.

"Strange!" muttered the officer.

"He doubtless went out the side door," and Billy Bowlegs pointed to a
narrow door at the side of the room.

"Possibly."

The officer was not the brightest member of the force, and believing that
he had been sold by the old man who had pretended to be a detective, the
guardian of the night returned to the bar-room, partook or another horn
of brandy, and then passed out upon the street.

"Sold!" he muttered, angrily, as he strode from the dangerous vicinity.

Meantime what _had_ occurred to detain Silas Keene so long?




                               CHAPTER XI.

                               ENTRAPPED!


When Silas Keene, the New York detective, entered the bar-room, his
glances met no familiar face. The tramp had been thoroughly described to
Keene, so that he felt that he should know the fellow the moment his
glances fell upon him.

The detective did not know that his man was on the lookout for him.

It will be remembered that a man had been listening through an open
window to the conversation between the detective and August Bordine in
the early morning.

That man was no less a personage than Andrew Barkswell, whose strong
resemblance to the young engineer had so complicated affairs. He, of
course, preferred to meet the detective in a way that the latter little
suspected.

Keene sauntered into the card room, after partaking of a cigar.

While here watching the players, a hand touched his arm.

"Be you lookin' for somebody, mister?"

Keene looked into a dark, repulsive face, and at once recognized the man
who had been described as the tramp, Perry Jounce.

"Yes," returned the detective.

"Who mout it be?"

Bending to the man's ear, Keene whispered the name of Barkswell.

"Loud o' liberty!" exclaimed Jounce, "I was expectin' him, too."

"When did you meet him last?"

"'Bout this time last night."

"Exactly; on a vacant lot--?"

"Eh?"

The tramp started and evinced alarm.

"Don't worry, old fellow," uttered the detective in a low voice. "I know
all about it, my friend. You were to meet a gentleman here by
appointment?"

"Yes."

"I am the man."

"You?" incredulously.

"Yes. Mr. Barkswell couldn't come, and so he sent me to take his place. I
would like mighty well to see you in private for a few minutes."

"I kin fix that."

Jounce left the room, going to the bar-room for a minute. The detective
didn't mean to lose sight of his man, so he managed to watch him from a
convenient position behind the screen.

He saw him procure a key from Billy Bowlegs, and whisper something in his
ear. Then he came swiftly back to his room beyond the screen.

"I'll find a quiet place whar we won't be disturbed, pardner," uttered
Perry Jounce, at the same time leading the way to a small screen that
seemed to be tucked back in the corner to be out of the way. Turning
this, a narrow door was revealed.

Unlocking this, guide and detective passed through, and stood in total
darkness.

The detective was resolved to learn from this man all he could about
Andrew Barkswell before he placed him under arrest, and it was for this
reason that he seemed to fall in with his wishes so condescendingly.

In the darkness, with the sound of the key grating in the lock as Jounce
secured the door. Silas Keene became slightly nervous for the first time.

Might he not be walking into a trap? It was possible, and yet it did not
seem probable, since this man could not know who he was.

Keene clutched the butt of his revolver with one hand and waited
developments with considerable anxiety.

"Come on, pard."

Then Jounce led the way down a dark and narrow passage to another door,
which he pushed open.

"Go in, boss."

The detective hesitated.

Noticing it the tramp strode on in advance, struck a match and lit a gas
jet that stood out from the wall.

"A pokerish place," said Keene, as he followed Jounce into the room and
gazed about him.

"Its private anyhow," returned the burly fellow with a laugh.

There could be no disputing this fact.

A round table occupied the center of a small room, with a chair on either
side of it. A pack of cards and decanter of liquor occupied the center of
the table, also a couple of glasses.

"Everything as snug's pigs in clover," chuckled Jounce. "This ere's the
boss' private room, where he entertains peticler guests. Them as wants a
private confab comes in here."

"Indeed."

One fact the detective noted, the room had no window, and was evidently
entirely within the building. Not a sound from without, or from the
barroom penetrated the place.

Jounce locked the door, an unnecessary precaution, the detective thought,
and threw himself into one of the chairs.

"Sit down, pardner. We kin confab here without bein' disturbed, you bet
yer buttons."

"I should think so," was the dry response.

"Help yerself to refreshments."

Jounce tapped the bottle with a dirty finger.

Keene, however, was wise enough not to indulge. He saw before him but one
man, and if treachery was meditated, he believed himself a match for this
one easily.

"Now, then, perceed."

"First, Mr. Jounce, we'd best come to an understanding," declared the
disguised detective.

"Sartin, sir."

"You expected to meet my friend Barkswell tonight?"

"I did."

"For what purpose?"

"Didn't he tell yer?"

"It was about the payment of money?"

"Exactly."

"For what service?"

"Don't yer know?"

Jounce leaned his face between his hands and grinned.

"For the murder of the detective from New York, Sile Keene?"

"Putty nigh it; but you call it by a hard name, stranger. Did the kurnel
send the rhino?"

"The colonel?"

"I mean Andy Barkswell, of course."

"He wanted to make sure that you had completed the job."

"Why, condum it, wasn't he thar? What more could he ax?"

"Nothing, so far as Keene is concerned."

"Wal?"

The detective realized that he was treading on dangerous ground, yet he
resolved to risk it.

"It's about that other affair."

"The t'other affair?"

"Over at Ridgewood."

"What the Satan you drivin' at, pardner?"

"You ought to know."

"Speak right out plain, pardner, and don't beat about ther bush," growled
the tramp, showing his teeth.

"Well, it's that little affair about the girl that died so suddenly over
at Ransom Vane's. You haven't forgotten that, of course?"

"Of course not."

The ugly eyes of the tramp regarded the disguised detective in a way that
was not pleasant.

Was the tramp really the guilty person in that tragedy? If so, how much
or how little did Andrew Barkswell know of the affair? The letter that
had been found with the dead girl would indicate that she had been on
somewhat intimate terms with either Barkswell or Bordine. As yet Keene
was not satisfied as to the identity of the two. He resolved to make a
bold venture at the present time, and learn if possible what there was to
know or at least how much the tramp knew on the subject.

"It seems that our friend Andrew isn't exactly satisfied with the way you
bungled that job."

"How's that?"

"You left too many straws for the beaks to take hold of." A low, gutteral
laugh was the only answer vouchsafed to this by Mr. Perry Jounce.

"You know the job was a botch?"

"I don't know nothin' about it."

"Well, anyhow, Andrew does, and he refuses to pay a cent until somebody
goes up for the murder of that girl. Do you understand?"

"No, I don't!"

The eyes of the tramp still fixed themselves in an ugly glow on the
countenance of Keene.

"Well, so long as the hounds are on the scent there's danger to Andrew,
that to you must be plain enough; and danger to yourself as well. Now,
why not fix the crime on some one, and thus make it safe for Andrew and
you beyond peradventure? That is the plan, and until that is carried out
my friend Barkswell doesn't propose to pay out any money."

"And he wants me to fix that thing of killin' the gal onto an innersent
man."

"Exactly."

"Good land, what does he take me for?"

"A man who is ready to work on any line for money."

"Wal, when he pays me fur puttin' a head on Sile Keene, then I'll look to
'tother biz. But I hain't no fool, and I reckin' you ain't 'goin' cordin'
to orders from Andy!"

"Why do you think so?"

"Because, sense he didn't kill the gal, why shu'd he keer 'bout gittin'
someone else in the limbo. Partner, you ain't sharp."

"I may not be. Of course Andrew didn't kill the girl, but he knows who
did, and--"

"Does he? Then somebody's peached."

"Not necessary. Andy Barkswell's not a fool, Mr. Jounce."

"No?"

The look on the tramp's face was comical in the extreme.

The detective believed the hour for action had come. He had been anxious
to get from his companion a confession, but it seemed the fellow was too
shrewd to give himself away.

"Of course he knows that you put the girl out of the world--"

"That's a lie."

"What?"

The detective was on his feet in an instant.

"I say that's a lie! I didn't tech a hair o' Victory Vane's head, but I
know _who_ did."

"Well?"

"I aint a-goin' to tell you, _Sile Keene!_"

The tramp came to his feet and bent threateningly across the table.

"Ha! you know me?"

The detective whipped out his revolver.

"Too late, pardner!"

There was a horrible grin on the face of Perry Jounce. On the instant an
object shot from above full upon the head of Keene, and he sank lifeless
to his chair!




                              CHAPTER XII.

                         A YOUNG GIRL'S DISMAY.


Robbed of her precious jewels!

No wonder Rose Alstine was dismayed.

How had the robber gained entrance to her room?

An examination of the windows, in fact all openings to the house, proved
them intact, and yet the fact remained that the robbery had been
committed.

Miss Alstine sent word to the chief of police, who came at once, looked
over the premises, and promised to use every effort to discover the
burglar.

Rose never once thought of her lover in connection with such a crime.

It was Miss Williamson who first called her attention to her visitor.

"There's no telling what men will do, cousin Rose."

"What do you mean by that?" demanded the heiress quickly.

"I mean that it is easy enough accounting for the loss of your jewels."

"Well?"

"Your friend, Mr. Bordine borrowed them, doubtless to tide over a
financial difficulty."

"Janet!"

"Well, you can't trust these men."

"But you shall not insult August with such insinuations," cried Rose,
reddening indignantly.

"Well, he was your only visitor. If a burglar had entered the house there
would be some signs by which you could determine how he gained your room.
None exist, so I say that it was undoubtedly that lover of yours who
borrowed his lady's jewels."

And then Miss Williams gave vent to a tantalizing laugh, that only served
to roil the feelings of Rose more deeply than ever.

"You ugly girl!" exclaimed Rose, "I ought to turn you out of this house
for such vile aspersions. I won't, however, for I know you are only doing
this to tease me."

"After all it is true."

"You don't believe any such thing, Janet."

"Yes I do."

Rose left her cousin, hot with indignation. She went to her mother, a
weak invalid, who had no consolation to offer. That was not in her line.
The word peevish would pretty well describe the condition of Mrs.
Alstine, who had a chronic ailment that prevented her enjoying the
hospitality of friends.

Two days passed with no solution of the mystery.

And during the time August Bordine did not come to the Alstine house. For
this there was good reason. He was not yet able to move about comfortably
on account of his hurt. He read of the burglary in the morning paper, and
wondered if the police would prove any more successful in capturing the
burglars than they had in elucidating the Ridgewood murder mystery.

After the passage of twenty-four hours the young engineer became not a
little anxious with regard to Silas Keene.

The detective had promised to report before now, his visit to the saloon
and interview Perry Jounce, the tramp.

"Why did he not come?"

"I can't stand this much longer," murmured August, as he sat still under
the burden of pain, waiting for some news from Keene.

Rose Alstine was not a strong-minded female, yet she possessed a will of
her own, and once she set her mind on an object she was destined to
obtain it or make a desperate effort at least.

A sudden resolve entered her mind to visit the home of August Bordine and
consult with him on the mysterious burglary.

No sooner thought of than the impetuous girl proceeded to carry it into
effect. She took a street car to the suburbs, and then, with directions
from the driver, set out to find the house of Mr. Bordine, which she had
never visited.

These were among dwellings in Grandon similar to the one occupied by
August Bordine and his mother.

In a little time the girl came to a halt in front of a cottage.

"This must be the place," thought Rose, opening the gate.

She went to the front door and rung the bell. No answer was vouchsafed,
and concluding that no one was at home, Rose turned to retrace her steps,
when she espied a summer-house at a little distance, from which the
murmur of voices proceeded.

The house was almost hidden by dense foliage.

"August and his mother are out yonder, it seems," thought Rose. "I will
go to them, and give August a glad surprise." Then, with a light heart,
the maiden tripped down a grass-lined path toward the summer-house.

She was to encounter a scene she little expected. Soon she was in the
vicinity of the cool bower where August and his mother had retired for
friendly chat.

"Don't speak that way, Andrew; it hurts me."

It was the voice of a woman, and involuntarily the steps of Rose Alstine
halted. Could that be her lover's mother thus addressing her son? The
girl was too deeply excited to notice that the name uttered was not that
of her lover.

Moving on, Rose soon stood where she could gaze into the summer-house.
Then she came to a halt. It was a picture that poor Rose never forgot--
that presented to her at that moment.

She saw two persons in the little leaf-embowered room--a man and young
woman.

The latter stood with hand clasped about the neck of the young man, who
was handsome in the extreme. Was there a handsomer man in Grandon than
August Bordine?

Rose did not believe it, and there he stood with that woman's arms
about his neck, her pale face upturned to his, the light of a pleading,
all-enduring love in her dark eyes.

It was a love scene in every sense of the word.

Rose shuddered and grew white, yet she dared not advance, dared not
interrupt the scene presented to her gaze. Eavesdropping was foreign to
her nature, yet at that moment it was not in her power to recede, and so
she was held in her tracks--compelled to listen to words that rent her
heart like death itself.

"My dear, you wrong me when you imagine that I care for any one but you.
I did disapprove of your following me here, for you know that I must
depend upon my wits for a living, and I think I might do better without
the incumbrance of a wife."

"Oh, that is the same old argument. You have put me off with it time and
again. I wish you would consent to do as other people do, and live an
honest life."

"But I cannot. I must ever appear as a single man, for it would not do to
let it be known that I have a wife. Zounds, Iris, I would be out of
business in short order."

For some moments silence followed these words.

The rather pretty woman whom the gentleman had termed his wife still
clung to the neck of her liege lord, evidently too much wrought up to
speak again.

"Come now, Iris dear, let this scene end here and now. I have a little
business of a most important nature on hand, and time is precious."

He tried to disengage her hands, but she clung to him with wonderful
tenacity.

Neither saw the girl in the shadow of the vines outside, who regarded the
twain with blanched cheeks, clasped hands, and eyes dilating with a weird
and awful suffering.

"Time is precious," uttered the lips of the young wife. "Alas! that it
should be so precious that you must needs neglect me. I wish to ask you a
question, Andrew."

"Well?"

"Did you have aught to do with this robbery at the Alstine mansion?"

"Sh! my dear, that would be telling."

"I know you were up there two nights since."

"Ah, you were dogging my steps."

"No, but--"

"I cannot permit this to go on, Iris," uttered the man, sternly. "You are
ruining my business, Iris. I do wish you would return to New York."

"I will go when you go."

"Not before?"

"Not before."

Then fell a silence. There was a worried, half-angry expression on the
countenance of the man, that did not escape the notice of the girl, who,
in spite of her inclination, was a listener to all that was taking place
within the walls of the summer-house.

"Release me now, I must go," uttered the man, in accents that were harsh
and stern.

Still the woman clung to his neck.

"Oh, my darling, my darling!" she wailed, half-sobbing in the strength of
her emotion. "You must not go from me again, Andrew. I am your wife, and
you have no right to flirt with other women!"

Seizing her hands, he tore them loose and flung her violently aside.

"This is enough of this foolishness," he declared, angrily. "I want you
to remain here in seclusion and behave yourself. When I can settle down
with a fortune, then I will acknowledge you before the world, and we will
cut a swell; but let me tell you that if you envoke any further trouble
simply because I visit other ladies occasionally, you will hear from me
in a way that you little expect."

[Illustration: "OH, MY DARLING--MY DARLING!" SHE WAILED, HALF SOBBING IN
THE STRENGTH OF HER EMOTION.]

The woman sank to a seat and covered her face with her hands, while a
groan escaped her lips.

One glance he cast at her, then he turned and strode from the place.
Another instant and he stood facing Rose Alstine, whose pallid face and
flowing eyes quite startled him. "Heavens! you here?" he ejaculated,
settling back in a tremor of dismay.




                              CHAPTER XIII.

                     THE DETECTIVE'S LAST STRUGGLE.


Perry Jounce uttered a grunt of satisfaction when he saw that the
detective was beyond power to know him for the time.

Jounce had been thoroughly posted by Andrew Barkswell, and knew that in
the disguised man before him the noted detective was presented.

"So," muttered Jounce, as he touched a spring with his foot that sent the
weight back to its place in the ceiling, "I reckon you won't trouble us
gents agin."

Then he went over to the side of the stunned detective, secured his arms
and removed his beard and gray hair. "Thought you was sharp enough to
fool me," chuckled the villain. "I reckin you'll l'arn ef you ever git
yer mind agin, that two kin play at ther game o' twist."

After these movements the tramp left the room. He was gone but a short
time when he returned, accompanied by Billy Bowlegs.

"So you've thumped him?" muttered the saloon proprietor. "How much did
you find?"

"Notting."

"See here, chum, that's too gauzy."

"Didn't ther boss pay yer a good hundred fer this room?" questioned
Jounce, turning upon Bowlegs.

"He hasn't paid it yet. I'm not going to permit any snap games. This
fellow doesn't go out of here till you pay the full price."

"That's ther snap!" returned Jounce. "You jest hang onter ther cuss, will
yer? He ain't no good to me," and then the tramp chuckled audibly.

"But I can make you trouble."

"Kin yer?"

"Yes, I can."

"All right; heave ahead."

The saloon-keeper found that he was dealing with a man who was not to be
frightened or deceived into paying over money unnecessarily.

"Never mind," he said, finally. "It's all right. You wish to dispose of
this fellow effectually?"

"In course."

"I've never permitted bloodshed in my house," proceeded Billy Bowlegs,
"but I'll tell you what we will do. We will drop the fellow down to the
lower room, and leave him until the boss comes; then his fate will be
decided upon."

"That suits me."

Bowlegs touched a spring with his foot, and the chair containing the
stunned detective sank from sight.

The tramp stared at the opening in the floor wonderingly.

"I declare!" he finally exclaimed, "you've got this thing in shape to
work to perfection, pardner."

The saloon-keeper smiled without reply.

"Where's the chap gone ter?"

"He is safe," answered Bowlegs. "I'll excuse you now."

"Wal, I swar, that are's cool."

Nevertheless the tramp departed. At the bar he swallowed a huge glass of
brandy, and then passed upon the street.

From this it will be seen that Billy Bowlegs was in league with the
notorious scoundrel who is known to the reader as Andrew Barkswell.

This, it will be remembered, was on the same night that the robbery was
committed at the Alstine mansion.

When the detective returned to consciousness he found himself in a small,
dark room, with solid walls of masonry about him, a close prisoner.

There was an awful pain in his head, indicating that he had been struck a
severe blow.

He felt over his person, to discover that his weapons had been taken from
him.

Then, with an effort, he came to his feet, and began groping about the
room. Solid walls on every side met his touch.

"Well," he finally muttered, "I have learned one thing at least to-night
--the fools of this world are not all dead. One of them, however, came
pretty close to it."

It seemed an age to the imprisoned detective before the creaking of a
door announced the coming of some one.

The door opened and closed, and a light filled the room, proceeding from
a lantern in the hand of a man. This did not prove a brilliant
illuminator, yet it served to reveal the countenance of the new-comer
fairly well.

"So you are safely caged at last, my dear Keene," said the visitor, in a
sarcastic voice.

"And this is your work, August Bordine, after all the confidence I placed
in you," uttered the detective, in a rebuking voice.

"It was merely a game of wits, Mr. Keene. I was too smart for you, in
spite of the fact that you're reputed to be the sharpest man-tracker in
Gotham. I think it would pay you to hire me for a spell."

"This, then, was a put-up job?"

"That's about the size of it."

"That runaway and injury to yourself that the papers speak about was only
a blind?"

"Only a blind, my dear Keene."

The villain smiled and stroked his mustache complacently. "I don't mind
telling you, seeing you're not likely to give me any further trouble,
that I shall marry the heiress to the Alstine estates and quit the
precarious work that I have all along been following, and hereafter live
a gentleman."

"Indeed!"

The detective could not help admiring the villain's coolness, even while
despising his villainy.

"You congratulate me on my plan?"

"No. You cannot carry it out."

"And why not, pray? You won't be there to interfere, Mr. Keene. I have
provided against such a contingency."

"You have a wife living."

"So you imagine, so _she_ imagines; but it is a mere show. Iris is not my
wife."

"You deceived her with a mock marriage?"

"That is about the size of it."

"What a consummate scoundrel."

"Don't use such pet expressions, my dear Keene, you hurt my feelings, you
really do, I assure you."

"I expect to hurt your neck some time," retorted the detective, curtly.

"Oh, you do? Let me tell you, Mr. Keene, that that time will never come
to you, never."

"It may come sooner than you imagine."

"I'll risk that."

"I would like to ask you a question."

"Go on."

"How about that old lady who occupies your house on ---- street? Is she
your mother?"

"Yes."

"Does she know what a scoundrel she has for a son?"

"She has no knowledge of my private affairs," returned Barkswell, not
seeming to notice the offensive manner of putting the question used by
Keene.

"And Iris is not your wife?"

"That's what I said."

"And Miss Alstine knows nothing of this, of your plans, your scheming to
win a fortune through her?"

"Certainly not. I haven't been fool enough to give myself away."

The detective remained silent for a moment. Then he looked sharply into
the face of Barkswell and said:

"I am puzzled to know why you saved me from the tramp last night, and
took me to your home and nursed me so tenderly. Since you are so anxious
to have me out of your way, why did you not leave me to die on the vacant
lot, or give the finishing stroke there. It would have been the wisest
plan, it seems to me, for such a reckless villain as you are, to pursue."

A low laugh fell from the lips of Barkswell.

"You do not understand me yet, Mr. Keene. Truth to tell I am one of the
most tender-hearted creatures in the world. I haven't the heart to strike
a man when he's down. I sympathized with you, and what is more, I wished
to blind your eyes to my true intentions. You had put the bracelets on me
and proclaimed that you were going to lead me to prison. I wanted to
prove to you that you had made a mistake."

This to the detective seemed a lame explanation. He felt certain that the
villain before him had not stated the case as it actually was.

"It seems I made no mistake after all," uttered Keene. "You are the right
person, and I never ought have permitted you to go free an hour after I
made the discovery of your villainy."

"What discovery do you refer to?"

"The murder of Victoria Vane."

"Then you still hold to the opinion that I committed that deed?"

"Certainly I do."

"Well, see here, Mr. Keene, I have you completely in my power, and do not
intend that you shall ever again see the light of day. Under such
circumstances I have no reason for uttering a falsehood. I solemnly
assure you that I did not harm that poor girl. I am as innocent of that
as you are. I did flirt with her a little I admit, but there was nothing
serious took place, I would be willing to swear to this."

Of course the detective did not believe a word of this, although
Barkswell uttered it in a solemn and apparently sincere manner.

"I believe you will yet swing for that murder," was Keene's sharp reply.

That Barkswell was the forger who was wanted in New York the detective
was assured. He judged this from a photograph that he had in his
possession the subject of which, however, had a full beard, and this had
prevented Keene's recognizing the likeness when he was first introduced
to Barkswell, alias Bordine, by young Ransom Vane.

It will be seen that the detective still believed that the young engineer
and Barkswell were one and the same, which goes to prove that the two men
resembled each other as twin brothers might. It was this resemblance that
was to produce no end of trouble to all concerned in our story, which, by
the way, has more of truth in it than most of the fictions of the present
day.

"Well, you and I cannot agree if we talk all night," said the man with
the lantern, "so I suppose this interview may as well come to an end at
once."

From the tone of the man's voice, Keene judged that he meant to
perpetrate a murder. With hands and limbs free, though weak from the blow
he had received on the head, Silas Keene was not the man to give up life
without a struggle.

The moment the last word fell from the lips of Barkswell Keene darted
forward, full at the throat of the villain before him.

"Thunderation!"

With this exclamation Barkswell dropped his lantern and clinched with the
detective.

Both went to the floor in a terrible struggle for the mastery.

Weakened though he was, the detective proved no mean adversary, and he
might have conquered had not a third party appeared upon the scene, who
at once went to the assistance of Barkswell, and by beating Keene over
the head with the butt of a revolver he succeeded in quieting him so that
he could be secured.

Keene, nearly senseless, was rolled upon the damp floor, upon his face,
and his hands secured with a cord at his back.

"There, I reckon he won't give no more trouble," said a voice that the
detective recognized as that of Perry Jounce, the tramp.

"Confound his picture," grated Barkswell. "I believe the scamp would have
been too much for me if you hadn't come just as you did."

"Even the service of a brother-in-law hain't allus to be despised; eh,
Andrew?"

"No. You did me a good turn just now, and I'll not forget it."

Detective Keene heard these remarks, and tried to profit by them.

"This man is fooling you, Mr. Jounce," cried Keene, faintly.

"Shut up."

This from Barkswell.

"I tell you that this man is fooling you. He is not--"

A blow on the head from the fist of Barkswell effectually silenced the
tongue of the helpless detective. His senses reeled, and for a few
minutes he was oblivious of his surroundings.

"What was the feller tryin' to git through him, Andy?"

"Nobody knows. Bear a hand and we'll put him where the hogs won't bite
him."

Both men laid hold of the bound detective and dragged him to one side of
the room.

The lantern, that had been overturned in the struggle, still burned,
giving a faint light. Jounce hung it on a pin in the wall, and then
turned to his companion, who had lifted a small trap door not far from
the center of the room.

A gust of damp air, full of a moldy smell, came up.

"What's that?" questioned Jounce.

"An old well. They say it's forty feet down to the mud and water. It
hasn't been used in years."

"What'll you do--?"

"Drop our friend into it. Nobody'll ever be the wiser."

"Good heavens, what a doom!"

Even the tramp shuddered at the thought of consigning a human being to
that awful tomb. Nevertheless he assisted Barkswell to lift Keene and
bear him to the mouth of the well.

An instant later and Detective Keene shot from sight. A hollow cry came
up, then solemn silence, as Barkswell closed the trap and turned away.




                              CHAPTER XIV.

                       IN THE HANDS OF A VILLAIN.


It will be remembered that Andrew Barkswell was startled to find that
Rose Alstine had been listening to the confab between himself and wife.
This was after the infamous plotter had consigned Detective Keene to a
horrible doom at the bottom of the old well under Billy Bowlegs' saloon.

Now that the man-tracker was off the trail, Barkswell felt better. He had
concocted a tremendous plot that his theft of the diamonds came near
despoiling. It was not his wish to have Rose know of the existence of his
wife. If necessary, the villain had resolved to put that wife out of the
way forever.

There never was a plotter less scrupulous than this man, whose smooth
tongue and jaunty exterior had stood him so well during almost a lifetime
of villainy.

Now, at one fell stroke, his villainy lay exposed.

He regarded Rose for some moments with painful silence.

"I have found you out at last," cried the maiden, her cheeks flaming, a
lofty scorn in her great dark eyes.

"Rose, don't misjudge me."

"Misjudge you?"

"Yes; I repeat it, you misjudge me, Rose Alstine."

For some moments she did not speak. Then, of a sudden, she made a
movement as if to enter the place where this man's wife sat bowed and
weeping.

He put out his hand.

"Do not go in there."

"Stand aside, sir."

She pushed her way forward in spite of his interference, and stood
confronting the woman in the summer-house.

A white face, marked with the most intense suffering, was uplifted to the
gaze of the young girl.

"Are you August Bordine's wife?"

Rose put the question hotly, so full of indignation as scarcely to
contain herself in calmness.

"His wife?"

"Yes."

"I am Andrew Barkswell's wife, I do not know the parson you mention."

"Indeed! So he has more than one name, the infamous wretch!"

Then, with a great sobbing cry, Rose Alstine turned and fled from the
place, dropping her veil to hide the haggard woe that reveled on her
countenance. Slowly Barkswell come back into the presence of his wife.

"And it is thus you would betray me," he said in an angry tone. "Iris, I
am sorry that you are determined to ruin me."

"Ruin you?"

"That is the word."

"How can you talk that way, Andrew, you who have made my life a hell
since the hour I first met and loved you. It was that mad and hopeless
love that has led me to do things that, if they were known, would shock
the minds of men.

"You know how I have suffered to please you, Barkswell. I almost feel
that it would be a relief to end all in death."

"I wish you might," he uttered in a heartless tone. "You have been my
evil genius always, Iris Jounce. It was a sorry day that I married you.
You deceived me by leading me to believe that you had money."

"I know now that it was for money alone that you married me. I did have
money, and you spent it, and would now kick me aside, if I would only
permit it, but I will not, I mean to continue pleading until you consent
to quit your evil ways and settle down to a quiet home life--"

"Bah!"

"Andrew Barkswell, who was that beautiful girl? One you have deceived, no
doubt."

"You seem capable of answering your own question," he said, with a sneer.

"Have I answered it correctly?"

"Possibly."

He plucked at his mustache and looked into vacancy. He was deeply
angered, both with himself and with the woman before him. It was an
unfortunate thing to have Rose Alstine come upon them as she did.

At that moment the schemer felt like strangling this woman, whose love
for him, through good and evil report, passed understanding.

"You have not answered my question, Andrew," persisted the wife.

"The lady was Miss Alstine, I think."

"You think?"

"Well, I suppose I _know_ that she is. A very eccentric girl, and
somewhat flighty in the upper story."

"Crazed?"

"That's about it, Iris."

"And you have been the cause of it?"

There was a look in the woman's eyes at that moment not pleasant to see.
In fact, even he recoiled from it in evident annoyance and alarm.

This woman had long been his simple tool, doing many things that at one
time she would have shrunk from in horror and loathing. Andrew Barkswell
had dragged her down to his own level, and was even now meditating her
complete destruction. He had never scorned her, or told the truth, that
she was no longer loved. He understood her nature too well. He pretended
the most extravagant affection at times, and it was thus that he held her
confidence, in spite of the facts that bade her hate and despise him.

"No, Iris; you are mistaken," said the man, in answer to the last words
of his wife. "I have never harmed the girl, nor do I wish to do so. I
hope you won't borrow any trouble over her."

"I ought not to, I suppose."

And then followed a bitter laugh.

"If you had done as I wished, and remained in Rochester, it would have
been much better."

"Do you think so?"

"Certainly I do."

"You wish me to return?"

"I do."

"That you may make love to this girl you have the cheek to tell me is
crazy? Bah! I tell you there's method in her madness. I believe you have
pretended to be a single man, and that, as you ruined and murdered
Victoria Vane, you would ruin and slay this beautiful girl. I will not
permit you to do it!"

"What! You will step in and destroy my plans? By Heaven you shall not! I
will strangle you first!"

She uttered a terrified scream as he sprang at her, and clutched her
throat furiously.




                               CHAPTER XV.

                              HIRAM SHANKS.


"Help! Murder!"

It was a startling cry that echoed through the grounds and fell on the
ear of the man who was passing.

He listened a moment, but the sound was not repeated.

Vaulting the fence, the man hastened in the direction of the
summer-house.

He soon gained a position where his black eyes took in a somewhat
startling scene--a tall, slender man bending over the prostrate form of a
woman, the latter lying still and white on a low, wide bench.

"Have I killed her?" muttered the man, in audible tones. "Well, if I
have, it is not my fault; she forced me to do it, and--"

He started then, and uttered a great cry. A hand touched his face, and a
man's visage peered into his.

Instantly the hand of Barkswell sought his hip.

"Don't draw, brother, it's only me."

Barkswell stared in a startled way into the face of the new-comer.

It was indeed Perry Jounce, but he had changed so in the past four and
twenty hours as to seem like another man.

His beard was gone, and a new hat and suit of clothes altered his
appearance wonderfully.

"What have you been doing to yourself, Perry?"

"Fixing up so't I kin go sparkin' as well as you, brother darling,"
returned the tramp, forcing a gurgling laugh. "What's up here? Iris dead
--_you her murderer!_"

"Don't be a fool, Perry, she's only fainted."

"But I heard her scream murder."

The eyes of Perry Jounce pierced the guilty villain to the quick. If
there was one being in the wide world whom the miserable tramp loved,
that person was his sister, the wife of Andrew Barkswell, and the only
kin he had in the wide world.

"She was in one of her tantrums, that is all."

"Man, I believe you're lyin' now."

"Be careful."

Barkswell drew his revolver.

The threat did not appear to affect Perry Jounce.

"It wouldn't be good fur you ter snap that pistol at me, Andy. I jest
heard you say't mebbe you had killed her, meanin' Iris. Now what hev you
ben up to?--let's hear right down quick, or thar'll be a tussle right
hyar and now."

There was a determined ring in the man's voice not to be mistaken.

Barkswell wished to avoid a quarrel, and so he said with a smile:

"You misunderstood my meaning entirely, Perry. Iris was determined on
quarreling with me over an unimportant matter. You know she's terribly
jealous, and she worked herself up into a fainting fit."

Perry Jounce accepted the explanation with a growl. He did not attempt to
push matters to a crisis. He had received some money from Barkswell, and
was anxious to keep in with that gentleman.

"Lead the way, pardner, and I'll take her to the house."

Perry Jounce lifted the seemingly lifeless form of his sister in his arms
and strode from the summer-house.

Barkswell led the way to the cottage, and a little later the woman
revived. When questioned by Jounce she refused to make any explanation.

"Confound it," growled the tramp, "that man of yours'll kill you some
time, Iris, and you'll let 'im do it 'ithout making complaint."

"I should not care to see Andrew in prison."

"He may go thar yet."

"Anything new?"

"Somebody's got ter swing fer the crime at Ridgewood; why mayn't it be
Andy?"

The woman started and grew pale as death.

Her brother thought she was on the point of fainting again.

"Don't worry," he cried, quickly. "It may never be fetched home to Andy."

"Do you believe he is guilty?"

"Don't you?"

He sought to evade the question.

"I--I cannot say. I have thought--"

"That _I_ had a hand in it, eh?"

The eyes of the tramp regarded his sister's face fixedly.

But Mrs. Barkswell refused to make reply. She shuddered and drew her
shawl about her as though experiencing a sudden chill.

All this time her husband sat on the porch enjoying a cigar, his busy
brain dwelling on the latest scheme it had conjured up.

It was unfortunate, he thought, Rose Alstine's coming at that inopportune
moment. He could not understand how it was that she put in an appearance
at his house.

"She mistook me for her lover, that is evident," he mused. "It was
unfortunate, and I may now have some trouble in convincing her that I am
true. It is highly important that August Bordine does not meet her again.
What a strong resemblance there must be between that man and myself to
deceive the eyes of love.

"If I could only get rid of my wife and marry the heiress what a grand
stroke it would be. Well, there's a saying that nothing venture nothing
gain, and I mean to go in on that principle. I'll win the heiress, but
first _two_ persons must cease to breathe."

Who these two persons were the reader can readily guess.

While the young schemer sat there smoking and meditating, a queer team
halted in front of the cottage--a team of dogs attached to a small
wagon, in which sat a man, with deformed shoulders, and queer little
face, framed in red hair and beard, a black patch tied over one eye,
while the other was exceedingly red and inflamed.

"Hello!" called the man from the street.

A smile touched the face of Andrew Barkswell.

"A confounded notion peddler," he muttered, "yet a queer-looking
specimen."

"Hello!"

At the second call Barkswell rose to his feet and walked out to the gate.

"Be you the man of the house?"

"I am."

"Wal, I've got the neatest set o' table-clothes you ever set eyes on.
Irish linen, direct from the green sod, warranted to be the best article
of the kind for the money in North America."

"I don't wish any."

"But you'll look at 'em. You're a gentleman; I can tell by the looks of
your countenance."

"I don't care for any."

"Hair oil, toilet articles, the neatest--"

"You needn't mind showing them," as the little, elderly man sprang out of
his low wagon and hobbled to the walk with a tin box under his arm.

"Where's the woman--your wife? Mebbe she'd like to look at something."

The man pushed his way through the gate and insisted on entering the
house.

This was wholly unnecessary Barkswell thought, but he permitted the
peddler to have his way.

Iris and her brother entered t spread out his wares.

He talked glibly, but was such a repulsive-looking personage as to render
his long stay objectionable. In order to be rid of him Mrs. Barkswell
made a small purchase, after which, finding that he could sell nothing
further, the peddler thrust his wares back into the tin box and shuffled
out of the room.

"Pretty place you've got here," he remarked, as he stood on the porch and
gazed about him.

"Yes," admitted Barkswell.

"You own it?"

"Yes."

"Your name is--"

"Bordine."

The man uttered the name involuntarily. He had been acting as Bordine,
and somehow, he seemed growing into that personage more and more.

"Well, well," grunted the peddler, holding out his hand, "You an' I ought
to be acquainted. My wife is your own aunt, did you know it?"

Andrew Barkswell regarded the speaker in astonishment. He thought he
detected an ironical ring in the man's voice, but when he glanced into
the fellow's face he seemed honest enough, in fact the red eye failed to
show the least feeling on the subject--the one under the black patch was,
of course, as unspeakable as the tomb.

"I was not aware of the relationship," said the plotting villain, as he
clasped the hand of the queer-looking peddler.

"Lor', that's funny."

"You don't live in town?"

"I reckon not. So you don't remember me, August?"

"I can't say that I do."

"You've certainly heard your ma speak of Hiram Shanks, the man that
married her youngest sister, Lucretia?"

Again the young man shook his head.

"Well, it beats all," grunted Mr. Shanks. "I thought you must have heard
of me. Since my wife died I've kinder gone to rack and ruin. I ain't the
man I used to be in my young days, oh no!" with a long-drawn sigh.

"I should judge not."

"Call your ma, August. I know she'll recognize the man that married her
sister Lucretia."

"Mother isn't at home."

"Bad again. When will she return?"

"Not soon."

"Visitin'?"

"Yes."

"Would you mind lettin' me stop over night with ye? Hotel bills is
powerful large, and for the sake of relationship, I think you will let me
bunk one night. My team won't eat much, and as for me, a crust of bread
and cup o' tea will set the inner man in good shape."

"I am sorry, but--"

"Oh, no 'pologies. Of course, if you can't keep me it's all right. I'm no
beggar."

Once more the peddler shook the hand of Mr. Barkswell, and then shuffled
away. As he passed through the gate a bit of paper fluttered to the
ground from one of the peddler's pockets. After the queer fellow's
departure Barkswell secured the paper and could scarcely repress an
e