A Woman at Bay; Or, A Fiend in Skirts
take him past the hiding place where he had left Patsy; for it was no
part of his plan that he should give the others even a chance of an
accident of finding that hiding place.
It had been shortly after eleven o'clock when Nick returned to the cabin
after assisting Patsy in his escape; it was now after midnight.
There were torches and lanterns in abundance scattered among the four
parties that were searching; and, in the directions that Nick had given
each party, he had taken good care that they should become thoroughly
lost if possible. He had an object in this, as will be seen.
The way through the cave along the route which the detective had
selected to follow was smooth and even, as we already know; but Nick
made it as long and as rough as possible by taking the party off into
some of the side galleries as they proceeded.
He was looking for a place where he might lose some of them, and at
least where he might, before the expedition was finished, succeed in
separating them.
What he chiefly desired was to finally get either Madge or Handsome
alone with him.
It was two hours later before they finally passed the bowlder behind
which was the entrance to the hiding place where Patsy was concealed;
but not one of the party so much as glanced toward it; and Nick led the
way on past it to the exit--and that exit was not the hole under the
Dog's Nose, but a larger one at some distance from it.
There they found the four men who had been sent hither, and they
reported that they had seen nothing; and cautioning them to remain on
guard, Nick led his party back into the cave again.
And then, after a few moments, he pretended suddenly to find that fifth
entrance--the hole under the Dog's Nose--and there four other men were
waiting--and they had seen not a thing to suggest the proximity of the
prisoner who had escaped.
"Now," said Nick, "I think we'd better s'arch them side galleries more
thoroughly. If you'll return with me to the entrance from the valley,
we'll start over again, and go into and through every one o' 'em. We'll
divide our party into smaller groups o' three and four, and in that way
we kin cover all of them at the same time. What do you say?"
"All right," said Madge, still looking upon him with suspicion. "But
Handsome and I will remain with you, Turner."
"That is what I hoped you'd do," replied Nick; but he spoke with a
meaning which she did not understand.
They followed the plan suggested by the detective. That is, they
returned to the entrance from the valley, and there Nick divided his
followers into six parties, thus arranging that four of the parties
should contain four searchers each, one of them should contain three,
and his own immediate party should consist of himself, with Handsome and
Madge.
To the leaders of each of these subparties he gave the necessary
directions, with the result that he sent them off as they arrived at
their respective galleries, and after a little he found himself alone
with the two chiefs of the outlaws.
"There ain't much for us to do now," he said. "There ain't much more
searching as we kin do. There's only two galleries left for us to
explore 'less we find some hiding place that's remained unknown until
now."
"And that isn't likely, is it?" asked Madge. Her voice was still filled
with suspicion against him.
"You know as much about that ere as I do," he replied.
But they searched each of the galleries without any result, and Nick
finally directed the route so that at last they paused to rest directly
in front of the movable rock behind which was the entrance to the place
where Patsy was concealed.
And Nick seated himself so that his own back was against that rock, for
he did not care to run the chance that Handsome might lean against it
hard enough to move it--at least, not until he was in every way prepared
for that part of the drama.
Madge was tired by this time, and she showed it. She leaned against the
rocky wall and sighed deeply; and Handsome furnished the cue for the
next scene--so perfectly that Nick could not have ordered it otherwise
if he had tried.
"I'm dry," said Handsome, yawning. "This is dry work, Madge. Don't you
think we had better give the thing up for a time and wait. Pat will be
starved out after a little. He'll have to come out and get caught."
"If he ain't lost in the galleries," suggested Nick; and Madge replied:
"No; we won't give it up. If you are dry, Handsome, suppose you go to
the camp and get something for us all. I wouldn't mind having something
myself."
"I'll do it," said Handsome, rising. "Wait here."
He was off like a shot, for now he felt that he knew the route
sufficiently well through the caverns to find his way without
difficulty; as, indeed, he did. And he had a lantern to light his path.
Nick sat quietly until Handsome was well out of hearing, and then,
purposely, he leaned very hard against the rock behind him--so hard that
it moved, and he nearly fell upon his back inside the opening.
With a well-simulated cry of surprise, he leaped to his feet, and stood
staring, and Madge did the same.
"A secret hidin' place!" cried out the supposed old man--and he pushed
the rock farther in, thus making the opening even larger.
Then he stooped forward toward it.
"Hello in there!" he called lustily, for he wished to warn Patsy of what
was taking place, and at the same time to instruct him what to do. "Come
out of that, you--Pat! There are two of us here, and one is Madge
herself. Come out of that!"
"You fool!" exclaimed Madge.
"Come out of that!" repeated the detective, pretending not to hear her.
"Come out of that, or we'll come in after you!"
There was no reply, and Nick turned to her.
"Come along," he said. "We'll go inside and find him."
She had a revolver in her hand, and now she stepped quickly forward, for
there was nothing of the coward about Black Madge. There was not a thing
on earth that she feared.
She stepped forward so quickly that she had passed inside the barrier of
rock before Nick--as he intended she should--and then, as he stepped
after her, he seized her quickly from behind--seized both her arms, and
pulled them behind her with a suddenness that made her drop her weapon
to the rocky floor.
As he pulled her backward, she tried to cry out, but he had anticipated
that, and already he had grasped her so that he could press one of his
hands for an instant over her mouth, and at the same moment he called
out:
"Quick, Patsy! On your life! There isn't an instant to spare!"
And Patsy was ready and fully prepared.
He had approached them through the darkness at the first note of warning
from Nick, and was in reality only a few feet distant when they entered
the rocky passage; so that when the detective seized upon Madge and
pulled her backward, Patsy was ready to leap forward and to give his
aid.
When Nick's hand was pressed over her mouth to stop the cry that rose to
her lips, Patsy was there to seize her, also; and he did it; and,
although she struggled fiercely, she was quickly overpowered, and a gag
was thrust into her mouth.
Then they tied her, hand and foot, with cords with which Nick had
provided himself, and together they carried her far back into the recess
behind the rock.
"There is a big room here," said Patsy. "And it is stocked with
provisions, and a stream of pure water trickles through it. One could
live here a month without going out."
"Good!" said the detective. "Carry her in there. Then when we have made
her safe, we will wait for Handsome, and serve him in the same manner.
And after that, I have got a plan which will work the whole thing out to
a finish."
Madge was glaring at him venomously all this time, for she could not
speak. But her eyes were terrible to see in their utter ferocity.
She knew now what the game was that had been played against her. She
knew now that the man she had supposed to be old Bill Turner was all the
time no other than Nick Carter himself.
She could have bitten her tongue out with rage and chagrin. She fairly
writhed in the ecstasy of her impotent anger.
But they laid her gently upon the rocky floor, where there were some
blankets over leaves--it was evident that Bill Turner had used this
place as a retreat of his own, and had provided it for that purpose,
like a schoolboy who finds a cave and makes a cache--and then Nick spoke
to her.
"You see, Madge," he said, "it is all up with you and your gang; or very
nearly so. We are going out now to capture Handsome, and bring him here
to keep you company. After that I will show you a trick that will make
you green with envy, and that will finish up this hobo business of yours
once and forever. Come on, Patsy."
They left her there and returned to the entrance.
"Now," said the detective, "there is only one way to make Handsome fall
into the trap. We must leave this entrance open for him to discover when
he returns. He will first miss us. Then he will see the hole behind the
rock. Then he will step forward to look inside. Then no doubt he will
call out. I will stand here and remain silent; and then Handsome will do
one of two things--he will either come inside to search for Madge and
me, or he will set up a yell for the others to come to him."
"Suppose he brings some of the men back with him?" asked Patsy.
"We have got to chance that."
"Well, what are we to do when he steps inside this hole--for he will do
that?"
"You stand over there in that niche," replied Nick. "When he steps
inside the very nature of the place will bring his back toward me. I
will tap him on the back of the head with my fist and knock him into
your arms. You are to grab him with your arms around him, and hold him
so that he cannot get at a weapon, and until I can get my fingers on
him. That is all. Now, ready and wait."
They had some time to wait; longer than Nick expected, and he began to
fear that Handsome would bring some of the men back with him; but at
last they saw the glimmer of his light as he approached, and Nick knew
by the sounds he heard that Handsome was returning alone.
Presently he appeared. He was calling out softly, for he could not
understand why he had not been answered--and the light he carried
prevented him from seeing the hole behind the rock until it was directly
in front of him.
And then he came to a sudden stop, and gazed at it in astonishment.
"Gee!" Nick heard him exclaim. "Dogged if they haven't found a hole
here. And they have gone into it, too. I wonder if that old cuss knew
about it all the time?"
He remained in doubt for a moment what to do; and then, as Nick had
predicted, he stepped softly forward, and, holding his light aloft,
peered through the opening.
But Nick had chosen his place of concealment well, and Handsome could
not see him.
Then Handsome called out:
"Madge! Bill! Where the devil are you?"
There was no reply, and he waited a moment before he called again. Then
he repeated:
"Madge! Madge!"
When no reply came to this second call, he stood for some time in doubt,
as if he thought of calling assistance to him before he entered that
dark and unknown place; and once Nick thought he half turned, as if he
had decided to summon some of the others.
But he evidently thought better of this, for he turned about resolutely
again, and boldly stepped into the opening. Two such steps brought him
exactly into the position where the detective wanted him, and as soon as
he had achieved it, Nick struck him with his fist.
With a half-articulated cry, Handsome pitched forward and fell into the
grasp of Patsy, who was ready for him; and then, when he would have
struggled, other arms--Nick's--seized him from behind, and another blow