CHAPTER XIX.--THE MAN BEHIND THE SCENES.
"Not my son!" shouted the old man. "This has gone quite far enough! Jap,call the police, and order this mad youngster taken away."
The younger man broke into a harsh laugh and turned to those who hadjust entered. Slocum and Chang Chee were whispering together, and adangerous looking knife showed in the hand of the false ranger.
"You hear what father says, boys," Lemon said. "Remember that."
"What is this kid doing here, anyway?" demanded Slocum.
"He came here, evidently, for the purpose of blackmailing me," Lemonsaid. "He has papers stolen from the mountains--lists, he says theyare--and they should be taken from him by force."
Slocum and Chang Chee started toward the boy, but he waved them backwith his hand.
"I will lay the papers on the table," he said. "You are quite welcome tothem for the present."
"I'll take him down to the police station," said Chang. "He ought not tobe at large. Come, youngster."
"You seem to be able to talk pretty good English now," laughed Ned."Much better than the slang you gave out in the mountains."
"Come!" shouted the Chinaman. "You are here alone, so there is no needof a fight. Come along!"
"We'll see about my being here alone presently," Ned said. "Anyhow, I'dbetter be here alone than with any one of you in the dark streets. Ishould be murdered before a block was passed. That is what you came toFrisco for, to murder me--just as the man in the lake cavern wasmurdered."
Those in the room looked at each other and remained silent. There was atense moment, when every person there seemed gathering for a spring,when the lust of blood seemed in every glaring eye, but it passed.
"Where are the Chinamen you brought away from the British border?" askedNed of Chang Chee. "Are they in this city? Oh," he continued, as Changglared at him, "we knew that you were about to bring in a batch. Youusually light forest fires in order to attract the attention of therangers when you get ready to unload a band of Chinese on Uncle Sam.That is Doyers street cunning, Chang!"
"You see," he went on, "we have had the good luck to discover why theforests in Northern Idaho and Montana have been set on fire sofrequently. I don't care to say what I think of the wisdom of yourcourse in so attempting to hide your movements, except that it attractedattention instead of diverting it. You firebugs might have been arrestedlong ago," he continued, turning to Slocum, "but it was thought best towait until the head center of the whole conspiracy was in the hands ofthe law. Now that this has been accomplished, I may speak."
The people standing around the boy looked into each other's faces, andthere was a movement as if to draw weapons.
"Permit me to congratulate you on the discovery of the leader of theoutlaws," the old man said with a snarl. "Perhaps you will be kindenough to give us his name?"
"There are no objections that I know of," was the reply. "His name isFelix Emory. You may have heard of him."
"An old acquaintance of my son Albert," the old man said.
"That is the name of the man who was so mysteriously murdered in theKintla lake cave," Slocum observed. "Why do you place the crime on thedead?"
"Felix Emory," Ned said, "is not dead. He is alive at this moment--aliveand in this room!"
The young man broke into a jarring laugh and turned to the old man.
"You remember the strange resemblance between Felix and myself," hesaid. "Well, it seems to have deceived this clever young man. By theway, Slocum, why don't you take the lad to the police station? We haveno more time for him here."
Slocum and another sprang forward, but Ned opened the door with a quickmotion and stood beyond their reach.
"The man found dead in the cave," the boy said, facing the old man, "hadmet with an accident in his youth. The first joint of the little fingerof the right hand was missing. Also, there was a scar over his lefteye--a trifling scar, made with a knife in the hands of a playmate. Doyou recall these marks of identification, Mr. Lemon?" he added.
The old man threw his hands to his face and stood silent for a momentwhile the others looked on in perplexed silence. When he uncovered hisface again he stepped forward to the man he had called his son onentering the room.
"Let me see your hands, Albert," he said, kindly. "Bend down so I cansee the scar on your forehead!"
"Step aside, you old fool!" the young man cried, pushing the old manback rudely. "We have had enough of this, boys," he continued, turningto the others. "The game is up unless we get rid of this dotard and thisboy. Why don't you get busy?"
The old man dropped into a chair and lifted his face to Ned's.
"You found my son murdered?" he asked. "Then this man Felix Emory standsin his shoes! Even I was deceived by him! Why, he has been calling uponme for large sums of money during the past month. He has takenpossession of my boy's rooms. Was it this man Emory who killed him?"
"We believe so," was the reply. "The proof is within reaching distance."
"Out with them both!" shouted Emory.
"Your son Albert took this man in and tried to do something for him,"Ned went on, "and was robbed and murdered for his pains. This man Emorywas the leader of this choice band of smugglers and firebugs when hecame to your son. The band was on the point of scattering because theofficers were close on their track. They needed a man well up in theworld--a man against whom the breath of suspicion had never beenblown--to represent them in the opium market and the smuggled Chinamenmarket. They sent this man Emory to your son with a proposition, and heturned him down. Then they parted. But Albert knew too much and so hewas lured to the woods and killed, and Emory stood before the world asyour son. It was a devilish plot, great wealth being the object. If youwill look at the stubs in this check-book you will see the difference inthe hand-writing."
"I rather admire your nerve, boy," Slocum said to Ned. "You've got theright kind of courage to stand up here and tell all this to us. You knowvery well that we can never let you go out of this place alive? Thateven this old man must suffer for your bit of foolish daring?"
"I'd like to have the training of that kid for a few years," Chang said."I could beat the world with him!"
"Well, you all know what we've got to do," Emory said, angrily. "We'vegot to get rid of the boy and this old man. If we do not, there is anend of a rather profitable business. Besides, with Albert Lemon dead, Ibecome his heir, with no possible chance of being identified as FelixEmory."
"You devil!" shouted the old man. "You murderer!"
Enraged by the exclamation, Emory made a rush for the old man, but wasstopped by a voice from the doorway opening into the rear room.
"That'll be all for you!" the voice said.
It was Jimmie who stood in the doorway, smiling, and making about theworst bow a Boy Scout ever made.
"Don't wiggle about so, gentlemen," he added, "for the men behind thispartition have you all covered with repeating rifles, and some of themare nervous. Stand still while a friend of mine presents you withwristlets."
Jap turned and faced the frightened group and then pointed to the wall,near the ceiling, where a line of two-inch holes were seen, at each holea shining eye.
"You see," he said, "I cut those holes there to-night, so the boyswouldn't have to lie hidden under the furniture. There's a gun behindevery one of them. And now, with your permission--"
Jimmie passed out a bunch of clattering, ringing handcuffs, and Japslipped them on the wrists of the prisoners. As he did so Frank camedashing into the room, swinging his cap aloft. Ernest, Jack, Pat and Liuwere there, too, overjoyed at the great victory.
"Wow!" he cried. "Here's a wire saying that the bunch was captured atPortland to-night, and another from Missoula says the men left in thecaverns were caught yesterday. I have the honor to report, Mr. SherlockHolmes Nestor," he added, with a low bow, "that the round-up iscomplete."
"Our day will come directly," Emory shouted. "You haven't a word ofproof against any of us. Your story sounds all right here, but waitunti
l you get into court. Our lawyers will pick your yarn apart like arag doll. And you, Jap," he went on, turning to the servant, "when didyou turn against me?"
"There have been two instances of false personation in this case," Nedsaid. "You, Emory, personated Albert Lemon, whom you murdered, and you,Jap, personated the servant Emory brought here after he had seen youcarried out of the rooms for dead."
"Then that isn't my servant at all?" asked Emory.
"I was in the employ of Albert Lemon," answered the Jap, "when you tookhim away and killed him. When you came back from the mountains youcaused me to be drugged and killed, as you supposed. But your servanthesitated in the work. He finally turned against you, and permitted meto come here in his stead. It was he who disclosed the hiding place ofthe duplicate key. He told me, and I told Mr. Nestor."
"It is all a blackmailing conspiracy!" cried Emory.
"When Mr. Nestor came back to the city, three days ago," the servantwent on, "I was told by the man I was personating in these rooms thatthe whole plot was known. He said that Mr. Nestor knew that you were notAlbert Lemon, also that I, Albert Lemon's servant, still lived. I didn'thave much to tell him when he came to me, but I told him all I knew."
"And you let him search my rooms?" cried Emory.
"Of course," was the cool reply. "He has everything required to send youto the gallows for the murder of Albert Lemon, and everything necessaryin the case against the smugglers and firebugs, too. He found Emory'sservant," he added, facing the father, "in a Japanese tea house, andbrought him here to me after the closing scene was set for to-night. Youmay talk with him if you want to. He can tell you how the murder of yourson was planned, also how the plot to kill Mr. Nestor in the mountainswas laid--here in these rooms."
Again the old man sank into a chair and buried his face in his hands. Itwas a severe blow to him. He had arrived in San Francisco that day,anticipating a pleasant month with his son. And now to find him dead!
"It would be interesting," said Slocum, speaking for the first timesince the arrests, "to know just how this remarkable boy discovered theconnection between this flat and the mountain caves."
"The murder brought the clue," Ned replied. "From the first the clue ledhere. And then the key without a stem, the smudge on Emory's finger, thetypewritten sheets, the machine in the mountains--oh, it was all easyenough after the discovery that this man Emory did not know where AlbertLemon kept his duplicate key to that desk!
"The case is ended," Ned continued, "and all the parties wanted by thelaw are under arrest, so, if you don't mind, gentlemen, I'll go to bed!"
Jack, Pat, Ernest and Liu now advanced into the room and lookedsmilingly at their leader.
"You can't lose us," Jack said. "If you don't mind, we'll take you backto the Rocky Mountains for a little fun with the aeroplane. I guessthere won't be any bold bad smugglers up there to distract our attentionfor a few weeks."
"And then," Jimmie cut in, "I hope you'll all go back to little old NewYork. I'm hungry and thirsty, and sleepy for a walk down the good oldBowery and the wise old White Way!"
The case against Felix Emory was so complete that he pleaded guilty onbeing arraigned in court and was sentenced to the gallows. Changreceived a long sentence for his connection with the murder, and thesmugglers and firebugs were sent to prison for ten years each.
The clean-up was so complete that Ned was requested to visit Washingtonand confer with the Secret Service chief regarding other cases.
"But, after all," he said, on leaving Jimmie and the other boys,including Ernest and Liu, in New York, "I don't think I want any morefighting forest fires assignments in the Secret Service. We'll go backsome day and look over the ground, but I don't think I'll ever be ableto get some of those rides in the air out of my mind."
THE END.
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