The double dagger or, Nat Ridley's Mexican trail
afraid, but it has to be done. After all, it isn't a private club, and
anyone has a right there."
In the taxicab Nat Ridley made a final change in his costume, for he
knew he was following clever and dangerous criminals and he thought one
of them might have seen him some time during the day. Consequently,
when Nat alighted at the Club Tamalle and paused to pay for his ride,
he surprised a look of astonishment on the face of his driver.
"What game is this?" asked the man. "I didn't pick you up!"
"No," admitted Nat, with a smile, as he held up a couple of dollars
extra to signal to the man to keep quiet. "But you're letting me down
and you're getting paid for it."
"I'm wise," was the comment, and the cab rolled away while Nat, who was
looking like a man out for a good time, followed Berry into the club
where, it was rumored, high-priced and high-powered drinks could be
had. Before entering, Nat had observed the two foreigners, one of whom
walked with a limp, entering after Berry, who was still Nat Ridley, in
disguise at least.
It did not suit the chief detective's plans to be too conspicuous in
this well-known night club, so he tipped the head waiter to show him to
a table rather screened from view, yet from which Nat had a good place
from which to observe all that went on. There were a number of little
private booths down one side of the room, and Nat was near one of these.
Not far away Berry had a table. Following instructions, Berry had
picked up a woman, one of several who frequented the club for the
purpose of having drinks bought for them, on which they reaped a
percentage of the profits.
Berry began to act the part of a man out for an evening of pleasure.
He ordered champagne, or what passed for such, and at the order his
companion's eyes sparkled, for she saw her evening earnings greatly
swelled.
While Nat was watching and pretending to drink some wine he ordered
(and it was only pretending, for he was a teetotaler) the detective
heard voices in the booth next to him.
"And from there we went to Paloma," a man said in low tones.
"Was there anything doing there?"
"Not much. We left, pronto, and headed for Rola----"
The remainder of the name was lost in the blare of the jazz band which
struck up just then, but Nat thought he could guess what the rest of
the name was.
"Rolamotaza--the place of the oil wells," thought the sleuth to
himself. "We are coming on!"
The night club was now filling up rapidly, and Nat noticed that Berry
was entering fully into the spirit of the occasion, with his pretty
woman companion to aid him. Nat also noticed that the two men who had
been shadowing Berry had been joined by a third who, in spite of a
change in his clothes, was recognized as one of the trio who had passed
Nat when he was examining the cab in which Lemberg had been murdered.
Nat saw these three change their table so that now they were next to
the one where Berry sat, and the sleuth was wondering what that meant
when he saw Berry give him a secret sign.
Nat had instructed his helper that if during the evening need arose to
speak to his chief, a sign should be given, and Berry would go to the
washroom, whither Nat would follow. There they could communicate with
each other.
Accordingly, Nat rose slowly, as if without any definite object, and
made his way to the washroom, whither he saw Berry bending his steps.
The two entered, Nat behind Berry, and throwing a glance back over his
shoulder, Nat observed the three Mexicans following. They, too, were
headed for the private room.
"There's going to be something doing in about a minute, Berry," said
Nat in a low voice as the two entered the room, followed a moment later
by the three.
And something happened in less than a minute.
For the man who limped suddenly but purposely collided with Berry and
at once cried in angry tones:
"What do you mean--pushing me? Beast! Pig! You have lamed me! Not for
nothing shall a Gringo step on Don Castro!"
Like a flash the man drew a knife, but as he lunged for Berry his chief
leaped forward and, with a skillful blow, sent the steel clashing to
the floor.
At the same moment one of the other three shouted:
"Lights out!"
In an instant the place was plunged into darkness.
CHAPTER VIII
HALF A COAT
Silence followed the dramatic plunging of the rooms of the Club Tamalle
into darkness, but the silence did not last long. And as soon as Nat
Ridley had knocked aside the knife intended for his helper, the great
detective got ready for action.
"They're after me!" grimly decided Nat. "Or at least after Berry, whom
they have taken for me. There's likely to be a row!"
It came fully as soon as Nat expected, for he felt a rush of bodies
about him, muttered imprecations in Spanish, and then he heard Berry's
voice at his ear, whispering:
"Are you all right?"
"So far," Nat answered. "But I don't know how long I'll remain so. Did
anything happen?" he went on as the two made their way in the darkness
out of the washroom into the main apartment of the Club.
"Not yet. But I'm on the track of some of these fellows, and I think
they got wise to me--thinking I was you."
"So far our plan works," murmured Nat. "But I'm wondering if they have
spotted me as well."
There was no way of telling this at present. In fact, there was no way
of determining anything in the darkness and excitement, for excitement
there was in plenty.
"What is it?" some cried in English but with a Spanish accent. It was
a woman's voice. There were a number of them in the club, some very
handsome in a dark, Spanish way.
"It is the police!" came an answering feminine voice.
"Oh! Oh! A prohibition raid!" exclaimed several. "How silly!"
"Be careful!" warned the deep voice of a man, and Nat, hearing it,
tried to recall whether it was that of Ramon or any of his associates.
"It is no dry raid! There are spies and traitors among us! Be careful,
my friends!"
"He's one of the fellows we want!" whispered Nat to his helper. "See if
you can work yourself around to that side of the room. But be careful.
You have your gun, of course?"
"Yes," answered Berry in low tones. "But I fancy these fellows would
rather fight with a knife than a gun. I've got a knife, too."
"Watch yourself," warned Nat. "But get that fellow if you can."
"I will!" promised Berry, and he slid away.
Nat had backed to a wall, for he felt it safer in case of a fight which
he thought would follow to have all his enemies in front of him.
The detective dimly saw forms swirling this way and that in front of
him. Then, suddenly, he felt a pricking sensation on his left hand and
he drew it quickly away with the thought that someone was trying to
disable him by a scratch from the doped point of the miniature double
dagger.
At the same moment Nat reached out with his hand and caught hold of a
figure passing in front of him. He was surprised when a woman's voice
screamed and she exclaimed:
"Oh, let me go! I have done nothing!"
"You tried to stab me!" hissed Nat in her ear. He realized that these
Mexican murderers might have hired a woman to do some of their work.
"I stab you, señor? Never! I am but trying to get away. Are you Jules?"
she whispered leaning so close to Nat that he could smell the perfume
in her hair. "Oh, Jules, take me----"
"I am not Jules!" declared Nat. "But I felt a prick on my hand, and----"
"Pardon, señor, it was but a pin in my dress! Oh, why did I ever come
here! Are you of the police?"
"No," answered Nat, which was the truth. "You have nothing to fear.
There is a door--go!"
At that instant someone had opened a door leading into a corridor
at the end of which a light burned dimly, and the illumination was
sufficient to enable the detective to see a little.
Nat gave the unknown woman a shove toward the way of escape, since
he decided she had had nothing to do with the case on which he was
working. And the detective felt a distinct sense of relief when he
heard the news about the pin. Imagination can play uncanny tricks at
times.
Now several others, seeing the corridor door open, made a rush for the
exit, so that it became jammed and there were grunts and imprecations
from the men seeking to escape and screams and imploring calls from the
women and girls.
Most of the habitués of the club, Nat realized, had nothing in common
with the men he was seeking as the murderers of the Lembergs and Dan
Steele. But the detective felt that some of the criminals, or at least
their confederates, were present, and feared capture. Otherwise, the
order of lights out never would have been given.
As Nat was wondering what was happening to Berry, the detective felt
a man bump into him on the right side, and, at the same moment, one
came at him from the left. The distant light in the corridor had gone
out, and the place was once more in darkness, with a milling, pushing,
jostling and excited crowd doing all it could to get away from the
danger of arrest.
"Who are you?" asked Nat of the man on his left. "I am a stranger in
New York. I came in here by chance and----"
He heard a whisper of Spanish words and though he did not sense all the
meaning he had a feeling that the man on his left had called an order
to the one on his right.
"They mean to do for me!" thought Nat to himself.
As quickly as a shadow moves, he dropped to the floor. It was not
a moment too soon, for in the glow of an electric flashlight which
someone switched on, Nat caught the gleam of a knife blade, and it was
in the hand of the man who had been on his right.
The hand holding the knife lunged out, but the blade, instead of being
sheathed in Nat Ridley's body, found a place in the companion of the
Mexican. There was a cry of pain and a voice asked:
"Did I get the pig?"
"No, devil, you got me!" snarled another voice. "He has escaped us. I
bleed! Get a doctor!"
"I'm glad he's bleeding instead of me!" mused Nat as he crawled on his
hands and knees out of the danger zone. "That was a close one!"
If possible the excitement now became greater, for several had heard
what the stabbed man, injured by his own friend, had said, and there
was fear of more mistakes.
"Turn on the lights! Let us have light!" several implored.
"No! No!" came the answering replies. "There are traitors among us!
They must be killed!"
"I wonder what's happening to Berry all this while," mused Nat. "I hope
they haven't stuck a knife into him, thinking it's me. This case is
developing faster than I thought it would."
He was reassured a moment later when, crawling into a corner, at that
moment somewhat deserted, he felt another man crawling even as he was
doing and a voice called into his ear:
"It's all right, Chief. I got some dope."
"You don't mean dope from the double dagger, do you?" asked Nat, for he
recognized Berry's voice, though he could not see his face.
"No, I mean information. I got next to the fellow they call Ramon, and
I heard him say the next meeting would be in Rolamotaza, a week from
to-night. He mentioned a fellow named Don Castro."
"That's the chap who whipped out the knife in the washroom," remarked
Nat. "So the scene is going to shift, is it? Well, I'll be on the
job. I think we'd better be leaving here, Berry. We can't do much in
the dark, and as soon as the lights go up the ones we want will have
vanished. There's too much risk getting a knife in the back in the dark
to stay here."
"Just what I was thinking, Chief. It's too bad they spotted us so
quickly."
"Yes. They're slicker than most. Do you happen to know where the exit
is, or any way of getting out?"
"I've got it spotted," was Berry's whispered answer. "Follow me, but