Part 24

“So that’s the way you doped it out, is it?” he said, and laughed raucously. “And you’re kind to Peters, aren’t you? Peters, who wouldn’t harm a fly! I killed Peters because his evidence at the inquest finished Billy Kane for fair, and I didn’t want that evidence changed. It was _me_ Peters saw coming down the back stairs and entering the library that night—only he thought it was you. Do you take me for a fool? I knew you’d see the report in the papers, and that, knowing there was something wrong about Peters’ story, you’d hunt Peters out and have a show-down, and that between you there was a chance of you getting at more of the truth than I wanted, and that Peters would then retract his evidence. Get me?

“I wasn’t for letting you out. I’d been banking on you to do a lot for me. The only guy that was in with me on that deal was Jackson—and he’s dead—just as the Rat is going to be. I spotted you long ago when you used to nose around here for that old fool who pitched his money away. I watched you quite a while before I was dead sure I could pass for you—and then I warmed up to Jackson. The rest was easy. We croaked old Ellsworth, and planted you. That gave me the coin I wanted to do what I was getting ready for—to pull out of this Rat’s game forever. It was getting too fierce with that cursed woman on my heels. So before I pulled the Ellsworth trick, I set things going to get her too, and passed the word around that I was going away for a while, so’s there’d be no chance of her tumbling to anything—and I stood pat as the Man with the Crutch. And then you acted like a Christmas tree shaking itself in my lap. There were a lot of things coming along with certain friends of mine, and with you playing the Rat and getting away with it, and with you there to stand for it if anything broke wrong, it looked like a cinch to nose them out at the tape on the little deals I’d started for them, and that would let me get away with the whole wad myself. See?”

The Rat was pouring the rubies from the trays into the hand bag again, his eyes glinting with a curious rapacious craftiness; and then, coming to one of the trays whose corner had been cut off, he laughed outright in a sort of self-complacent mirth.

“Do you remember this?” he taunted. “The night I croaked old Ellsworth I beat it for here on the quiet the minute I left the house, and I put the trays and half of the stones into that hiding place there, and then I changed my clothes and wore my crutch over to where I lived when I wasn’t at home here, and hid the rest of the stuff there. You know that, all right! Blast you, you got it, and you nearly queered me! The Rat was supposed to be away then—see? Well, that night when I was limping around with my crutch, I was told the Rat was back—and it didn’t take me long to find out your game. It looked like a piece of luck that was too good to be true! It suited me—I was for it hard. The only thing I was afraid of was that you might quit, so I left that ruby and the piece of tray for you on the table. I thought I knew you. It would give you a start, all right—but it would look as though this was where you were going to get the clue you needed, and you’d stick for fair.”

The Rat attempted to close the bag, and snarled at the bent catches. He finally fastened one of them partially, tossed the bag on the floor behind him, and, his face suddenly working again, flung his revolver arm out toward Billy Kane.

“If you’ve got anything to say before you go out—say it!” He was biting off his words. “Don’t think that because I’ve been talking a lot to you that I’m bluffing. I wouldn’t have opened up if I’d been bluffing, would I? And, besides, there’s another count on which you’re due to snuff out. The game’s up all around. I stalled on ringing down the curtain on the girl and on you as long as I thought there was a chance of my getting something out of those schemes that you kept butting in on. But you queered that, too, away back on the night you put Karlin in bad, and the police got him. Karlin’s begun to weaken and talk a little. That’s the finish of the gang, and any more pickings for me. Sooner or later Karlin’ll spill everything he knows, and he knows a lot, to save himself; and then they’ll be looking for the Rat on several other counts. So I passed the word to put the game with the girl through for to-night—while I took care of you.”

Billy Kane felt his face whiten. He knew that round, black muzzle would spit its tongue-flame in a moment. With the Rat’s hand around it, it seemed curiously like the head of a snake that was coiled to strike. Had they heard out there? Here was the bag that contained everything, all that had been taken from David Ellsworth’s vault, and here was the murderer, self-confessed. Had they heard? Had she heard? Would they remember, would _she_ remember that Billy Kane’s name was cleared? And if they were out there, why didn’t they come in? Were they going to stand there and see him shot down—see another murder committed? No! He understood. The slightest sound from the direction of that secret door would be but the signal for the Rat to fire. It was up to him—somehow—some way—to give them a chance to act. It was up to him in some way to beat the Rat to that first shot, that would not be delayed many seconds now.

He eyed the Rat for a moment steadily; appraised again the cold-blooded, callous implacability in the other’s face—and then Billy Kane squared his shoulders, and his hands on the table slid back a little until the thumbs extended over the edge, and he laughed coolly.

“It’s the limit, is it, Bundy?” he said quietly. “Well, then, I’ll take it standing up, you cur, if you don’t mind.”

The Rat nodded indifferently.

It seemed as though Billy Kane, for all his apparent coolness and composure, was not equal to his self-appointed task. He half rose to his feet, and sank back heavily in his chair again, and his hands, as though to steady himself, clutched with seemingly desperate energy farther over the table’s edge—and then, in a flash, the table was in mid-air between the two men, and, as it hurtled forward, Billy Kane, crouched low, leaped for the other, as the Rat, with an oath, sprang to one side to avoid the table.

A red flame blinded Billy Kane’s eyes, an acrid smell filled his nostrils, and seemed to stifle him, and make his head swim dizzily, and his left side seemed curiously numb and dead, but his hands had reached their mark, and had closed like steel vises around the Rat’s throat. And he hung there, hung there because a fury and a seething passion gave him superhuman strength—hung there as cries resounded through the room, and there came the rush of feet—hung there as he crashed downward to the floor dragging the Rat with him—hung there as an utter blackness came and settled upon him.

――――

It was strange and very curious. He opened his eyes. He was in bed, and someone was sitting there very quietly, with head bent over and resting on the back of his outstretched hand. He tried to remember. He should have been on the floor in the den, shouldn’t he? And where was the Rat? Had they got the Rat? His eyes opened a little wider. That dark head there seemed strangely familiar. His side hurt him brutally. He remembered that shot now. A sort of grim humor came upon him. He was back where he had started from on that first night in the underworld—in bed with a pistol-shot wound. The Rat must have got him after all. But the Rat—the Rat! He started up in bed involuntarily.

There came a little cry. The dark head was raised. It was the Woman in Black. No, that wasn’t her name. It was Margaret—Margaret Blaine. He wanted to call her that. He tried to speak. He was very weak.

“You mustn’t try to move,” she said softly. “You have been very badly hurt, though, thank God, not dangerously so. And it’s all right—I know you want to know that. They’ve got the Rat—for the murder of David Ellsworth. We heard it all last night, and did not dare to move while he kept that revolver on you, and I was mad with fear.”

“Yes,” said Billy Kane weakly. “It’s morning now, isn’t it?”

Cool fingers closed his lips.

“Yes, but don’t talk,” she said, with a sudden attempt at severity—and, as suddenly, her eyes filled with tears. “Oh, I did not know last night—I did not understand—and you risked your life to save mine.”

Her life! He was not so weak but that he could understand that. His hand groped out for hers. It seemed as though he had always loved her—only those strange doors of the night had stood between. But now—now there was something in her eyes, behind that film of tears and those wet lashes, that made him dare.

“Your life! Would you trust me with it again—for always?” he whispered.

Again the cool fingers closed his lips.

“Billy, you are to be absolutely quiet,” she said. “Those are the very strictest orders.”

But her head was nestling on the pillow against his cheek, and there was a great gladness in his heart.

THE END

――――

*Popular Copyright Novels* _AT MODERATE PRICES_

Ask Your Dealer for a Complete List of A. L. Burt Company’s Popular Copyright Fiction

*Adventures of Jimmie Dale, The.* By Frank L. Packard. *Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.* By A. Conan Doyle. *Affinities, and Other Stories.* By Mary Roberts Rinehart. *After House, The.* By Mary Roberts Rinehart. *Against the Winds.* By Kate Jordan. *Ailsa Paige.* By Robert W. Chambers. *Also Ran.* By Mrs. Baillie Reynolds. *Amateur Gentleman, The.* By Jeffery Farnol. *Anderson Crow, Detective.* By George Barr McCutcheon. *Anna, the Adventuress.* By E. Phillips Oppenheim. *Anne’s House of Dreams.* By L. M. Montgomery. *Anybody But Anne.* By Carolyn Wells. *Are All Men Alike, and The Lost Titian.* By Arthur Stringer. *Around Old Chester.* By Margaret Deland. *Ashton-Kirk, Criminologist.* By John T. McIntyre. *Ashton-Kirk, Investigator.* By John T. McIntyre. *Ashton-Kirk, Secret Agent.* By John T. McIntyre. *Ashton-Kirk, Special Detective.* By John T. McIntyre. *Athalie.* By Robert W. Chambers. *At the Mercy of Tiberius.* By Augusta Evans Wilson. *Auction Block, The.* By Rex Beach. *Aunt Jane of Kentucky.* By Eliza C. Hall. *Awakening of Helena Richie.* By Margaret Deland.

*Bab: a Sub-Deb.* By Mary Roberts Rinehart. *Bambi.* By Marjorie Benton Cooke. *Barbarians.* By Robert W. Chambers. *Bar 20.* By Clarence E. Mulford. *Bar 20 Days.* By Clarence E. Mulford. *Barrier, The.* By Rex Beach. *Bars of Iron, The.* By Ethel M. Dell. *Beasts of Tarzan, The.* By Edgar Rice Burroughs. *Beckoning Roads.* By Jeanne Judson. *Belonging.* By Olive Wadsley. *Beloved Traitor, The.* By Frank L. Packard. *Beloved Vagabond, The.* By Wm. J. Locke. *Beltane the Smith.* By Jeffery Farnol. *Betrayal, The.* By E. Phillips Oppenheim. *Beulah. (III. Ed.)* By Augusta J. Evans. *Beyond the Frontier.* By Randall Parrish. *Big Timber.* By Bertrand W. Sinclair. *Black Bartlemy’s Treasure.* By Jeffery Farnol. *Black Is White.* By George Barr McCutcheon. *Blacksheep! Blacksheep!* By Meredith Nicholson. *Blind Man’s Eyes, The.* By Wm. Mac Harg and Edwin Balmer. *Boardwalk, The.* By Margaret Widdemer. *Bob Hampton of Placer.* By Randall Parrish. *Bob, Son of Battle.* By Alfred Olivant. *Box With Broken Seals, The.* By E. Phillips Oppenheim. *Boy With Wings, The.* By Berta Ruck. *Brandon of the Engineers.* By Harold Bindloss. *Bridge of Kisses, The.* By Berta Ruck. *Broad Highway, The.* By Jeffery Farnol. *Broadway Bab.* By Johnston McCulley. *Brown Study, The.* By Grace S. Richmond. *Bruce of the Circle A.* By Harold Titus. *Buccaneer Farmer, The.* By Harold Bindloss. *Buck Peters, Ranchman.* By Clarence E. Mulford. *Builders, The.* By Ellen Glasgow. *Business of Life, The.* By Robert W. Chambers.

*Cab of the Sleeping Horse, The.* By John Reed Scott. *Cabbage and Kings.* By O. Henry. *Cabin Fever.* By B. M. Bower. *Calling of Dan Matthews, The.* By Harold Bell Wright. *Cape Cod Stories.* By Joseph C. Lincoln. *Cap’n Abe, Storekeeper.* By James A. Cooper. *Cap’n Dan’s Daughter.* By Joseph C. Lincoln. *Cap’n Erl.* By Joseph C. Lincoln. *Cap’n Jonah’s Fortune.* By James A. Cooper. *Cap’n Warren’s Wards.* By Joseph C. Lincoln. *Chinese Label, The.* By J. Frank Davis. *Christine of the Young Heart.* By Louise Breintenbach Clancy. *Cinderella Jane.* By Marjorie B. Cooke. *Cinema Murder, The.* By E. Phillips Oppenheim. *City of Masks, The.* By George Barr McCutcheon. *Cleek of Scotland Yard.* By T. W. Hanshew. *Cleek, The Man of Forty Faces.* By Thomas W. Hanshew. *Cleek’s Government Cases.* By Thomas W. Hanshew. *Clipped Wings.* By Rupert Hughes. *Clutch of Circumstance, The.* By Marjorie Benton Cooke. *Coast of Adventure, The.* By Harold Bindloss. *Come-Back, The.* By Carolyn Wells. *Coming of Cassidy, The.* By Clarence E. Mulford. *Coming of the Law, The.* By Charles A. Seltzer. *Comrades of Peril.* By Randall Parrish. *Conquest of Canaan, The.* By Booth Tarkington. *Conspirators, The.* By Robert W. Chambers. *Contraband.* By Randall Parrish. *Cottage of Delight, The.* By Will N. Harben. *Court of Inquiry, A.* By Grace S. Richmond. *Cricket, The.* By Marjorie Benton Cooke. *Crimson Gardenia, The, and Other Tales of Adventure.* By Rex Beach. *Crimson Tide, The.* By Robert W. Chambers. *Cross Currents.* By Author of “Pollyanna.” *Cross Pull, The.* By Hal. G. Evarts. *Cry in the Wilderness, A.* By Mary E. Waller. *Cry of Youth, A.* By Cynthia Lombardi. *Cup of Fury, The.* By Rupert Hughes. *Curious Quest, The.* By E. Phillips Oppenheim.

*Danger and Other Stories.* By A. Conan Doyle. *Dark Hollow, The.* By Anna Katharine Green. *Dark Star, The.* By Robert W. Chambers. *Daughter Pays, The.* By Mrs. Baillie Reynolds. *Day of Days, The.* By Louis Joseph Vance. *Depot Master, The.* By Joseph C. Lincoln. *Destroying Angel, The.* By Louis Joseph Vance. *Devil’s Own, The.* By Randall Parrish. *Devil’s Paw, The.* By E. Phillips Oppenheim. *Disturbing Charm, The.* By Berta Ruck. *Door of Dread, The.* By Arthur Stringer. *Dope.* By Sax Rohmer. *Double Traitor, The.* By E. Phillips Oppenheim. *Duds.* By Henry C. Rowland. *Empty Pockets.* By Rupert Hughes. *Erskine Dale, Pioneer.* By John Fox, Jr. *Everyman’s Land.* By C. N. & A. M. Williamson. *Extricating Obadiah.* By Joseph C. Lincoln. *Eyes of the Blind, The.* By Arthur Somers Roche. *Eyes of the World, The.* By Harold Bell Wright.

*Fairfax and His Pride.* By Marie Van Vorst. *Felix O’Day.* By F. Hopkinson Smith. *54-40 or Fight.* By Emerson Hough. *Fighting Chance, The.* By Robert W. Chambers. *Fighting Fool, The.* By Dane Coolidge. *Fighting Shepherdess, The.* By Caroline Lockhart. *Financier, The.* By Theodore Dreiser. *Find the Woman.* By Arthur Somers Roche. *First Sir Percy, The.* By The Baroness Orczy. *Flame, The.* By Olive Wadsley. *For Better, for Worse.* By W. B. Maxwell. *Forbidden Trail, The.* By Honorè Willsie. *Forfeit, The.* By Ridgwell Cullum. *Fortieth Door, The.* By Mary Hastings Bradley. *Four Million, The.* By O. Henry. *From Now On.* By Frank L. Packard. *Fur Bringers, The.* By Hulbert Footner. *Further Adventures of Jimmie Dale.* By Frank L. Packard.

*Get Your Man.* By Ethel and James Dorrance. *Girl in the Mirror, The.* By Elizabeth Jordan. *Girl of O. K. Valley, The.* By Robert Watson. *Girl of the Blue Ridge, A.* By Payne Erskine. *Girl from Keller’s, The.* By Harold Bindloss. *Girl Philippa, The.* By Robert W. Chambers. *Girls at His Billet, The.* By Berta Ruck. *Glory Rides the Range.* By Ethel and James Dorrance. *Gloved Hand, The.* By Burton E. Stevenson. *God’s Country and the Woman.* By James Oliver Curwood. *God’s Good Man.* By Marie Corelli. *Going Some.* By Rex Beach. *Gold Girl, The.* By James B. Hendryx. *Golden Scorpion, The.* By Sax Rohmer. *Golden Slipper, The.* By Anna Katharine Green. *Golden Woman, The.* By Ridgwell Cullum. *Good References.* By E. J. Rath. *Gorgeous Girl, The.* By Nalbro Bartley. *Gray Angels, The.* By Nalbro Bartley. *Great Impersonation, The.* By E. Phillips Oppenheim. *Greater Love Hath No Man.* By Frank L. Packard. *Green Eyes of Bast, The.* By Sax Rohmer. *Greyfriars Bobby.* By Eleanor Atkinson. *Gun Brand, The.* By James B. Hendryx.

*Hand of Fu-Manchu, The.* By Sax Rohmer. *Happy House.* By Baroness Von Hutten. *Harbor Road, The.* By Sara Ware Bassett. *Havoc.* By E. Phillips Oppenheim. *Heart of the Desert, The.* By Honorè Willsie. *Heart of the Hills, The.* By John Fox, Jr. *Heart of the Sunset.* By Rex Beach. *Heart of Thunder Mountain, The.* By Edfrid A. Bingham. *Heart of Unaga, The.* By Ridgwell Cullum. *Hidden Children, The.* By Robert W. Chambers. *Hidden Trails.* By William Patterson White. *Highflyers, The.* By Clarence B. Kelland. *Hillman, The.* By E. Phillips Oppenheim. *Hills of Refuge, The.* By Will N. Harben. *His Last Bow.* By A. Conan Doyle. *His Official Fiancee.* By Berta Ruck. *Honor of the Big Snows.* By James Oliver Curwood. *Hopalong Cassidy.* By Clarence E. Mulford. *Hound from the North, The.* By Ridgwell Cullum. *House of the Whispering Pines, The.* By Anna Katharine Green. *Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker.* By S. Weir Mitchell, M.D. *Humoresque.* By Fannie Hurst.

*I Conquered.* By Harold Titus. *Illustrious Prince, The.* By E. Phillips Oppenheim. *In Another Girl’s Shoes.* By Berta Ruck. *Indifference of Juliet, The.* By Grace S. Richmond. *Inez. (III. Ed.)* By Augusta J. Evans.

*Infelice.* By Augusta Evans Wilson. *Initials Only.* By Anna Katharine Green. *Inner Law, The.* By Will N. Harben. *Innocent.* By Marie Corelli. *In Red and Gold.* By Samuel Merwin. *Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu, The.* By Sax Rohmer. *In the Brooding Wild.* By Ridgwell Cullum. *Intriguers, The.* By William Le Queux. *Iron Furrow, The.* By George C. Shedd. *Iron Trail, The.* By Rex Beach. *Iron Woman, The.* By Margaret Deland. *Ishmael. (III.)* By Mrs. Southworth. *Island of Surprise.* By Cyrus Townsend Brady. *I Spy.* By Natalie Sumner Lincoln. *It Pays to Smile.* By Nina Wilcox Putnam. *I’ve Married Marjorie.* By Margaret Widdemer.

*Jean of the Lazy A.* By B. M. Bower. *Jeanne of the Marshes.* By E. Phillips Oppenheim. *Jennie Gerhardt.* By Theodore Dreiser. *Johnny Nelson.* By Clarence E. Mulford. *Judgment House, The.* By Gilbert Parker.

*Keeper of the Door, The.* By Ethel M. Dell. *Keith of the Border.* By Randall Parrish. *Kent Knowles: Quahaug.* By Joseph C. Lincoln. *Kingdom of the Blind, The.* By E. Phillips Oppenheim. *King Spruce.* By Holman Day. *Knave of Diamonds, The.* By Ethel M. Dell.

*La Chance Mine Mystery, The.* By S. Carleton. *Lady Doc, The.* By Caroline Lockhart. *Land-Girl’s Love Story, A.* By Berta Ruck. *Land of Strong Men, The.* By A. M. Chisholm. *Last Straw, The.* By Harold Titus. *Last Trail, The.* By Zane Grey. *Laughing Bill Hyde.* By Rex Beach. *Laughing Girl, The.* By Robert W. Chambers. *Law Breakers, The.* By Ridgwell Cullum. *Law of the Gun, The.* By Ridgwell Cullum.