The double dagger or, Nat Ridley's Mexican trail
"Then, suddenly, one day, Henry Lemberg was killed. He was found
stabbed to death in a lonely place. The police said Mexican bandits had
done it. I didn't know what to do. I was getting afraid. Then August
was killed in much the same way."
"Did the Mexican police do anything?" asked Nat.
"They came and asked a lot of questions and went through a lot of
motions," the girl replied, "but it didn't amount to anything. Then
some of the young men clerks, who had also come from New York with
me to work for my cousin, sent word to Carl in New York and he had a
detective come down to try to catch the murderers. Well, the detective
came, and----"
"His name was Dan Steele, wasn't it?" asked Nat softly.
"Yes. How did you know?" and Cora Ardell looked at her questioner with
widely opened eyes.
"It is my business to know," remarked Nat. "And poor Steele was also
murdered; wasn't he?"
"Yes! Oh, yes!" There was a tearful catch in her voice. "Oh, who are
you, anyhow?" she asked, gazing searchingly at Nat. "How do you know
all these things? Who are you and how did you come just in time to
rescue me from that horrible Negress?"
"In answer to the first questions," Nat replied, still speaking almost
in a whisper, "I will say that I happen to know about the killing of
Dan Steele because he was my friend, and, just before his own murder,
your cousin Carl engaged me to ferret out the men who had killed his
uncle and his brother."
"Then you are a--" began the girl.
But Nat, motioning to the bound wench, made a sign of caution. But he
saw that Cora had guessed his profession.
"Now tell me," went on Nat, "and I must know in order to decide in what
way to act, how did you happen to come here?"
"I was kidnapped and brought here."
"By whom, how, and when?"
"I don't know by whom," the girl answered. "But it was about a week ago
and this is how it happened."
"Tell me all the circumstances that occur to you," urged Nat. "A point
that seems small to you may loom large to me. Omit nothing."
"There isn't really very much to tell," Cora said. "After Henry Lemberg
was killed--murdered I suppose I should say--there was much confusion
in the office. This was doubled when a few days later his uncle was
stabbed to death. The whole office force was thrown into a state of
terror, for we thought a race war had broken out.
"We didn't know how to attend to business, and there was much to be
done, for the oil wells turned out to be more valuable than was at
first supposed. You know my cousins had some wells of their own and
also bought others in which certain Mexicans had interests. These
last wells were not thought to be worth much, but after the Mexicans'
interests had been purchased by my cousins and the Mexicans had left,
these wells proved worth more than all the others put together."
"So I heard," remarked Nat.
"Well," resumed the girl, "you can imagine what a state the business
was in after the two murders. Then Mr. Steele came down to help us
straighten things out. But in a short time he was killed. Then terror
seemed to take possession of all the young men clerks who had been
brought from New York to help with the office business, and they packed
up and went back to the United States."
"What did you do?" asked Nat.
"Why, I stayed on and did what I could to save my cousin's business!"
exclaimed Cora, with spirit. "I wasn't afraid until--until----"
"Well, until what?" asked Nat, as she hesitated.
"Until one day I received a card on which was scrawled a warning to
leave the country," said the girl in a whisper. "I was told that I
would have a week, after that----"
"Well, after that?" encouraged Nat.
"There was no direct threat," said Cora. "In place of words was the
picture of a double dagger."
"I thought so!" exclaimed Nat. "The sign of the Tola gang. I take it
you didn't desert?" he asked.
"No. I telegraphed Carl in New York, asking what to do. I wanted to
save the business if I could, for I had an interest in it, and I knew
the families of the murdered men might be in want. The oil wells are
very valuable."
"I believe so," agreed Nat.
"But before I could get word back from Carl," resumed Cora, "one night
I was called to the door of my boarding place with a Mexican family. I
was told someone wanted to see me. I thought it was a business message.
But as soon as I went out of the house I was seized in the dark, a
blanket was thrown over my head, I was put in an auto, and the next I
knew I was brought here. Since then I have been kept a prisoner, and
several times Mexicans whom I did not know have come here with papers
they wanted me to sign."
"Which you didn't do?" asked Nat.
"No; and I never will! They put the Negress over me as a guard, and
yesterday they gave me what they said was the last warning. It was to
the effect that unless I signed the papers I would be lashed with the
whip until I did. Just before you came one of the Mexicans was down
here, and, when I refused, he told the woman to get the whip. I--I
guess you saw the rest," and Cora finished with a little sob.
"I saw the rest!" declared Nat, with a grim look in his eyes. "And I'm
going to have a hand in the rest. Now if you are able to come----"
He interrupted himself to listen. The noise upstairs seemed to have
quieted down, but there were audible footsteps coming along the
stone-paved floor of the cellar. Nat arose and drew his gun.
"What is it?" asked Cora in a whisper.
"I don't know," was his answer. "But it is best to be ready for them.
Get behind me."
The girl moved into a position of safety just as a big husky Negro
followed by two Mexicans entered the dungeon. They appeared surprised
at what they saw--the wench bound in a corner and a calm white man
guarding the girl prisoner.
"Who is yo'?" leered the colored man.
"What business is that of yours?" countered Nat Ridley.
"I'll soon show yo' what business I has, white man!" shouted the Negro.
"Come on, boys!" he called to his Mexican companions.
Nat Ridley hastily made a plan. Reaching back, he took hold of Cora's
hand and whispered from the corner of his mouth:
"Be ready to follow me! We're going out of here!"
The Negro man seemed to anticipate that something was coming, for he
lurched forward, farther into the dungeon, and cried:
"Get around him, boys! Knife him ef he tries any rough stuff, but doan
hurt de lady." Evidently the Mexicans understood English, for they
nodded and separated, intending to take Nat one on each flank, while
the Negro made a frontal attack.
But suddenly the detective and Cora, who kept close to him, made a leap
to pass between the Negro and the Mexican on the left of the detective.
At the same moment Nat pretended to look behind, and over the heads of
the trio, as if seeing a rescue party and he cried loudly:
"You're just in time, Jake! Take 'em from the back and shoot to kill!"
The ruse worked perfectly, for the Negro and the Mexicans turned,
expecting to see a rescue party. At that moment Nat made a rush,
pulling Cora after him, and, safely reaching the door of the dungeon,
passed between the Negro and one of his helpers.
Turning like a flash, Nat sent a bullet through the dangling electric
light. He then pulled shut the door of the dungeon.
"That will give us a few seconds start," he said to Cora. "Come on!"
"Do you know your way out?" she asked.
"Yes," he answered. "There is a secret stair."
He hurried back to the private room where there was to have been a
quiet supper for two. The various corridors of the underground part of
the club were still lighted.
Nat and his companion entered the room. Further preparations for the
meal had been made, for there was food on the table, but no sign of the
aged servant.
"Now to escape!" cried Nat.
He pressed the stone that operated the door to the secret stair, and
watched it slowly opening. But as the opening widened several loud
shouts and screams of fear came from above.
The next moment there was a heavy explosion, as of a bomb, and a shower
of bricks, stones and mortar fell upon Nat and the girl. There were
a succession of grinding, crashing sounds, and then came darkness in
which Nat and his companion seemed buried under an avalanche of dirt
and stones.
Nat Ridley felt a stinging blow on his head, and then he knew no more.
CHAPTER XV
IN HIDING
The detective seemed to be walking down a long, dark lane, at the end
of which he saw a faint glimmer of light. The light hurt his eyes as it
grew brighter and the radiance increased as he came nearer to what, at
last, seemed to be the rising sun.
Then, as the pain in his head and eyes became almost unbearable with
the nearness of the light, which appeared to sting and burn him, Nat
Ridley became aware that he was staring at the rising sun--a ball of
golden fire--which shone full in his face, coming through a hole in a
pile of stones. Nat found himself half reclining on some burlap bags
and, as he tried to sit up, he became aware of a soft hand gently
pressing him back while a voice said:
"You had better lie quiet a little longer."
"What happened? Who are you?" asked Nat. Then he saw Cora Ardell
looking at him. Her face was grimy and there was a smear of blood on
it. But she was still beautiful.
"Oh, now I remember," observed Nat haltingly. "We were in the dungeon
and there was some sort of explosion."
"A bomb went off upstairs in the club, I guess," said Cora. "The top
of the cellar fell down on us just as you were going to lead me up the
secret stairway."
"That's it!" exclaimed Nat, as memory came back to him. He moved his
legs and arms, and found, aside from some bruises and stiffness, that
he was suffering but little. No bones were broken, but there was still
that terrible pain in his head. He put his hand to it and felt a large
lump.
"A stone fell on you there, and you were knocked out," explained the
girl.
"Then how did I get here?" asked Nat, for he looked about him and saw
that he was lying in a sort of tunnel of stone, with open country just
beyond. "How did I get here, out of the cellar?"
"I dragged you here," Cora answered.
"What, you--alone?"
"Oh, I am stronger than you think," she went on, with a wavering smile.
"And you know it is easier to drag a person than to carry him. I don't
believe I could have carried you--in fact, I know I couldn't have done
that. But it was comparatively easy after I'd rolled you over on a pile
of bags, to keep the stones from hurting you--it was comparatively
easy to make a rope of some other bags and haul you along."
"But how did you get me up the stairs?" asked Nat.
"There weren't any stairs left after the explosion," Cora replied.
"They tumbled down and made a sort of a runway."
"And you ran up it with me?" questioned Nat, smiling now, as the pain
in his head, caused partly by the rush of blood following a return to
consciousness, began to ease.
"I didn't do much running," confessed the girl. "I had to do a lot of
pulling and hauling. But at last I got you this far and I thought we
had better stay here. I couldn't tell who might be after you--and me."
"I guess they'll be after both of us," admitted Nat. "I may as well
tell you now that I am a detective who was engaged by your cousin to
solve this mystery, just before he, himself, was killed by the Tolas.
There is something terrible about their vengeance!"
"I had begun to believe so," admitted Cora. "What are we to do?"
"That will need to be considered," returned Nat. "First, though, let me
thank you for saving my life."
"Oh, I don't believe I did that."
"Yes you did!" insisted the detective. "It would have been only a