CHAPTER XVI.
THE MAN IN THE YELLOW CAR.
A patrol wagon full of policemen had dashed up in front of the house,and they came running down the hall, followed by a horde of eagerreporters, who stood aghast at the slaughter of a few minutes.
The only participant in the fight who could talk was the detective whomTed had carried to the hall, and he was telling the chief of detectivesin whispers what had occurred.
"That young fellow followed us in," he said, pointing to Ted. "He tookme out, and then went in and finished the gang. He's a game one, he is.I don't know who he is, but, by Jove! he's a game un."
"Who were the gang?" asked the chief.
"'Big Bill' Minnis, 'Bull' Dorgan, and 'Feathers' Lavin," was the reply."Checkers we caught on the corner, and the other member of the gang,Dude Wilcox, got away. I guess it was him that rode off with the swag inthe automobile, but where he went we couldn't get."
"I can tell you about that," said Ted quietly to the chief.
Desmond looked up at him curiously.
"Not now," he said. "Don't go. I want to talk to you after a while. Now,brace up, Tom; you're going to come out all right. The ambulance is outhere, and we'll get you to the hospital."
"It ain't no use to jolly me, chief," said the man on the floor. "I'mall in. I'm bleedin' inside. I've seen too many fellows with a shot likethis ever to have any hopes. Send for my wife and a priest. I ain'tafraid to go, chief, but I hate to leave Maggie like this."
"We'll take care of her, Tom. Get that off your mind."
"All right, chief. If you say so, I know it'll be all right. Poor girl,it's hard luck for her."
"That's right, Tom, but brace up and don't let her see that you'reworried."
A woman's scream sounded through the hall, and a slender, girlish figurepushed its way toward the prostrate man.
"Tom," she cried, and knelt beside him. "Are you hit? Did they get youat last?"
"Oh, I ain't bad, Maggie," said the dying detective bravely. "Thechief's going to have me sent to the hospital, and I'll be all right ina week."
But before midnight he died.
An hour later Ted met the chief of detectives.
"Get into my car," said the chief, "and come down to my office, andwe'll have a talk."
In a short time they were at the Four Courts, the big central policestation of St. Louis, and when they were in the chief's private officeand the door barred to intruders the great detective turned inquiringlyto Ted.
"Now, who are you, and how did you happen to be mixed up in that mess?"asked Desmond.
"My name is Ted Strong," began Ted.
Suddenly Chief Desmond sat up straight and looked at Ted sharply.
"Not the leader of the broncho boys, are you?" he asked.
"The same," said Ted.
"I know about you. What were you doing near those detectives, that youshould have got in so handily?"
"I'm a deputy United States marshal, as perhaps you know."
Desmond nodded. "Yes, I know," he said.
"I was working on this very case," said Ted, "and I had got hold of oneend of it, and was about to follow it to a conclusion, when I saw theman Checkers on the street, and was following him. He led me to thedetectives. The minute I saw them and him, I knew there would besomething doing."
"What did you know of Checkers?"
"Nothing at all, except that he knew somehow that I was working on theexpress-robbery cases, and yesterday he shadowed my partner and me toEast St. Louis, where we left him behind in an automobile."
Ted then told the chief how he had come about taking possession of thered car, to which Desmond listened carefully. When Ted had finished,Desmond rose and paced the room for a minute.
"Young man, you've got the big end of the chase," he said. "Dude Wilcoxis the man who we are positive killed the messenger and got away withthe swag. If it were you who found out how he got away with it, you willhave got the last of the gang."
"Is that all there is to it?" asked Ted.
"Lord bless you, no. That's only the bunch that has been working in St.Louis. The big end of it is operating from some town farther west.There's where Dude Wilcox came from. I don't know where they make theirheadquarters, and it is out of my territory. I have all I can do to takecare of St. Louis."
"The government officers were of the opinion that St. Louis washeadquarters."
"That was true up to a few weeks ago, but we made it so hot for themhere that they emigrated."
"Well, there's no use in my staying here any longer. I might as wellhike out west. I'm not much good in a big town, anyway. I suppose you'llhave no trouble in handling Checkers without any word from me."
"Oh, yes. But let's have Checkers up and hear what he has to say forhimself."
The chief pushed a button and presently an officer entered.
"Go down to the hold-over and bring Checkers to me," ordered the chief.
In less than ten minutes the officer was back again.
"The jailer says he has no such man, chief," was the report.
"Where is he?"
"I'll inquire."
Back he came in a few minutes.
"Casey had him on the corner waiting for the wagon, sir, but in theexcitement during the fight Casey let go of Checkers for a moment, andhe got away."
Ted could see that the chief was very angry, but he controlled histemper admirably.
"Very well," was all he said.
He turned and gave Ted a sharp look.
"If you stay around here much longer, you'll have to look out forCheckers. He's a dangerous man, as well with a knife as with a gun."
"I guess I can take care of him," answered Ted.
"You look as if you could, lad," said the chief.
After a few more minutes of conversation regarding the red motor car,during which the chief advised Ted to keep the car until he was throughwith it, Ted took his leave, and returned to the hotel.
There he found Bud pacing the floor.
"Peevish porcupines," grunted the old cow-puncher, "but you've gotyourself in up to ther neck in printer's ink."
"How's that?" asked Ted.
"Haven't you seen the evening papers?"
"I've been too busy to look at them."
"I reckon you be. Busier than a cranberry merchant. Look at this."
Bud handed Ted a bundle of evening papers.
Of course, the fight between the detectives and the bandits was given animmense amount of space in the extras which followed one another rapidlyfrom the presses. In all of them were accounts of Ted's going to therescue of the detectives, and the statement that balls from Ted'srevolver had killed two of the gang.
"Rubbish!" said Ted. "I didn't kill any bandits. I took a couple ofshots at them after they had fired on me, that's all."
"Well, yer won't be able to get away from these newspaper stories. Ifany of ther gang run across yer, they'll shore go after yer with a hardplank. Ye've placed ther black mark on yerself with ther gang."
"All right. I can stand it if they can. I've got a few up my sleeve forthem."
Then Ted related exactly how the thing happened, and of his talk withDesmond.
"And they let that fellow Checkers get away," sighed Ted. "The chiefsays he's the most dangerous of them all, and warned me to look out forhim. Bud, I've got a hunch."
"Let her flicker. I'm kinder stuck on yer hunches; they pay dividendsright erlong."
"The fellow in the check suit was the man who tried to stab me because Iwouldn't let him see the anonymous letter. I don't know which was thereal man, Checkers or the other. But there were many points ofsimilarity between them, and when Checkers called for us to stop theautomobile, it was the voice of the man who commanded me to give him theletter. Keep Checkers in your mind."
The next morning they went out to Don Dorrington's house and got out theautomobile.
"We'll circulate around pretty well in this," said Ted, "and ifCheckers is in town he'll spot us, and we
may get a chance at him yet."
"What do you want with him?"
"I'm depending on him to lead us to headquarters."
For an hour or more they rode about the town, making the machine asconspicuous as possible.
"Bud, we're being followed," said Ted, nodding toward a yellow car thathad been in evidence oftener than mere chance made possible.
"Yep. I've had him spotted fer some time," answered Bud.
"Why didn't you say something about it?" Ted laughed at Bud's silence.
"Oh, I knew that you were on to it, too," was the characteristic reply.
"What do you suppose he's chasing us for? He must know that he can'tharm us."
"He don't want us. He wants that red car. It's a beautiful piece of redevidence against him an' his gang. Yer see, it's ther best kinder aclew."
"Right again. But he needn't think he can steal it, for he can't."
They put the car up during the middle of the day.
"We'll let it rest for a while," said Ted, as they ran it into a publicgarage. "This evening we'll take it out again, and if we're followedthen we'll be sure that it is Checkers, and that he is on our trail."
It was seven o'clock when they trundled forth again.
A bright moonlight night made motoring highly enjoyable, and after theyhad run about for a couple of hours Bud got out, saying that he wastired of the sport, and would return to the hotel, and leave Ted to takethe machine back to Don Dorrington's basement.
They had been followed by the yellow car again, but in going throughForest Park they had managed to give their trailer the slip among theintricate roads and bypaths, and had seen nothing of him for half anhour.
As soon as Ted had let Bud out, he hit up the speed, for the boulevardwas comparatively free of traffic, and he fairly spun along to thewestern part of the city.
Cutting off the boulevard, he entered upon a side street to make a shortcut to Dorrington's house.
He noticed, as he turned into the side street, a light-colored carstanding close to the curb as he passed, but so many cars were standingin front of houses here and there that he paid no attention to it.
But he had no sooner passed than the light-colored car glided after himnoiselessly. Ted's own machine was making so much noise that he was notaware of the presence of another car until it was abreast of him, and soclose that he could reach out his hand and touch it.
He thought the car was trying to pass him close to the curb, and startedto turn out to give it more steerage room.
"Sheer off, there," he called, "until I can get out of here."
Suddenly something wet struck him in the face. He gave a gasp, as afearful suffocating pain filled his head and lungs, and he sank downinto the bottom of the car, insensible.
At the same instant the man in the other car reached over and throttledthe red car, then stopped his own.
Leaving his own car in the middle of the road, he leaped into the redcar and gave her her full head.
In half an hour the red car had left the city and was speeding along asmooth country road in the moonlight.
Ted still lay in a stupor in the bottom of the car, and the only soundthat came from him was an occasional gasp as his lungs, trying torecover from a shock, took in short gulps of air.
It was midnight before the red car slowed down.
Ahead in the moonlight rose the black bulk of a building.
It presented the appearance of a country house of some pretensions.
The house was dark. Not a light appeared at any of the windows.
The red car approached it cautiously, running into the deep shadow castby a high brick wall. A dog on the other side of the wall barked awarning.
The man in the red car whistled softly in a peculiar way.
A window was raised somewhere, and the whistle was answered by another.
In a few minutes there was the sound of a man walking on a graveledpath, then the creak of rusty iron and a gate swung open.
"All right?" asked a voice at the gate.
"You bet. Got them both," answered the man in the red machine.
"Bully for you. Run her in."
The red machine, with Ted still lying in the bottom, ran into a largeyard, and the gate was closed again, and the car was stopped in front ofthe house.
"Come, help me carry him in," said the man in the car. "He'll be comingaround all right in a few minutes, then we may have some trouble withhim, for he's the very devil to fight."
Ted was dragged out of the car in no gentle manner, and carried into thehouse, which was unlighted save where the moonlight shone through thewindows.
"Into the strong room with him," said the man of the house.
Ted was carried into a room and dumped upon a lounge. Then a light wasstruck, and both men bent over the prostrate form of the leader of thebroncho boys.
Both of them started back.
"Whew! You must have given him an awful dose, Checkers," said the man ofthe house.
"Had to do it, Dude. If I hadn't, I'd never got him here, that's acinch."
"Well, get his gun off before he comes to."
Ted was stripped of his weapons, a glass of water was thrown into hisface, and he began to regain consciousness.
He had been shot down with an ammonia gun, and the powerful alkaloid gashad almost killed him. For a long time he breathed in gasps, but hissplendid constitution pulled him through.
When they saw that he was recovering, the two men left the room, afterexamining the iron-barred windows, and as they went out they locked andbarred the door behind them.