CHAPTER XXV.
IN WHICH I TAKE JIM ON TRUST.
"It is time for you and I to understand each other. Don't stop therelooking moon-struck! Go ahead, and don't waste time. I'll run back andask for the address. Miss Barnard, if she scented a secret, might betrusted with it. But, Dr. Hess--his brain has not kept pace with thesteps of the universe."
With these remarkable words, Jim Long lowered his head, compressed hiselbows after the fashion of a professional prize-runner, and was offlike a flying shadow, while I stood staring after him through thedarkness, divided betwixt wonder at his strange words and manner, anddisgust at my own stupidity.
What did he mean? Had he actually discovered my identity? And, if so,how?
While waiting for a solution to these riddles, it would be well toprofit by Jim's advice. So I turned my face toward the village, andhurried forward.
As I approached the station, a bright light from the operator's windowassured me that I should not find the office empty, and comingstealthily toward it, I peered in, to see, seated in the most commodiousoffice chair, Gerald Brown, of our agency, the expected "nightoperator."
On a lounge opposite the window, lay Charlie Harris asleep.
I tapped softly on the open casement, and keeping myself in the shadowwhispered:
"Come outside, Gerry, and don't wake Harris."
The night-operator, who knew the nature of the services required of himin Trafton, and who doubtless had been expecting a visit, arose quietlyand came out on the platform with the stealthy tread of a bushman.
After a cordial hand-clasp, and a very few words of mutual inquiry, Itold Brown what had happened at the doctor's cottage, and of mysuspicions regarding Blake Simpson; and, then, using a leaf from mynote-book, and writing by the light from the window, I wrote twomessages, to be sent before Harris should awake.
The first was as follows:
DOCTOR CHARLES DENHAM,
No. 300 ---- street, N. Y.
Carl Bethel is in extreme danger; requires your professional services. Come at once.
BATHURST.
The second was addressed to our office, and was much longer. It ranthus:
CAPT. B., A----, N. Y.
Murder was attempted last night; Bethel the victim. See that Denham comes by the first train to attend to him. Give him some hints before starting. Look out for B. S. If he returns to the city in the morning, keep him shadowed. Will write particulars.
BATHURST.
"There," I said, as I passed them to Brown, "send them as soon as youcan, Gerry. The doctor will hardly receive his before morning, but theother will be delivered at once, and then they can hurry up the "oldwoman." As for Blake, he will probably take the morning train, if hereturns to the city, so they have ample time to prepare for him. Did yousee Carnes on the express?"
"Yes; but only had a moment's speech with him. He told me to tell youthat Blake left the train at Ireton, and that he went straight to a sortof feed stable, kept by a man named Briggs--"
"Briggs!" I exclaimed, involuntarily.
"Yes, that was the name. At this stable he was furnished with a goodteam and light buggy, and he drove straight south."
"Ah! he did. But my time is not at my disposal just now, Gerry; I have acompanion somewhere on the road. I suppose you got the bearings of thisTrafton business at the Agency?"
"Yes; I think I am pretty well posted. I have read all your reports."
"So much the better. Gerry, you had better take up your quarters at theTrafton House. I am stopping there. It will be convenient, for more thanone reason."
Gerry agreed with me in this, and, as at that moment we heard footstepsapproaching, which I rightly guessed to be those of Jim Long, weseparated at once, and I went forward to meet Jim.
Before, I had deemed it necessary to press the siege, and lead Jim totalk by beginning the attack in a voluble manner. Now, I was equallyintent upon holding my own forces in reserve, and letting him open theengagement, which, after a few moments' silence, he did.
A few rods away from the depot stood a church, with broad, high stepsleading up from the street, and a deep, old-fashioned portico.
Here Jim came to an abrupt halt, for we had turned our steps southward,and said, with more of courtesy in his voice than might have beenexpected, considering his recent abruptness:
"Let us go up there, and sit under the porch. It's safer than to talkwhile walking, and I fancy you would like me to explain myself."
I followed him in silence up the steps, and sat down beside him on theportico.
"I wonder," began Jim, lowering his voice to insure himself againstpossible eavesdroppers, "I wonder why you have not asked me, before thistime, how it happened that I was the first to discover Bethel'scondition, or, at any rate, the first to give the alarm."
"There has scarcely been time," I replied, guardedly. "Besides I, beingso nearly a stranger, thought that a question to be more properly askedby Miss Barnard or the doctor."
"You are modest," said Jim, with a short laugh. "Probably it will notoccur to Miss Barnard to ask that question, until her mind is more atease concerning Bethel's condition. As for Dr. Hess, he had asked itbefore he took off his nightcap."
"And did you answer it," asked I, maliciously, "in the same good Englishyou are addressing to me?"
"I hope not," he replied, laughing again. "I told him the truth,however, in a very few words, and now I will tell it to you. Lastnight--I suppose it is morning now by the clock--I spent the evening inthe village, principally about the Trafton House. I presume you arewondering how it came that you did not see me there, for I happen toknow that you spent the entire evening in the office or on the porch.Well, the fact is, I was there on a little private business, and did notmake myself very conspicuous for that reason. It was late when I camehome, and, on looking about the cabin, I discovered that my gun wasmissing. My door, for various reasons, I always leave unlocked _whenabsent_, so I did not waste any time in wondering how the thief got in.I missed nothing else, and, after a little, I went outside to smoke, andthink the matter over. I had not been out many minutes before I heardthe report of a gun,--_my_ gun, I could have sworn. It sounded in thedirection of Bethel's cottage, and I was not many minutes in gettingthere. I found the door open, and Bethel lying across the threshold,wounded, as you have seen. He was almost unconscious then, but as I bentabove him he whispered one word, 'Louise.' I could not leave him lyingthere in the doorway, so I lifted him and carried him to the bed, andthen, seeing that it was a shoulder wound, and that he still breathed, Irushed off, stopping to tell Louise Barnard that her lover was woundedand, maybe, dying, and then on again until I saw you, the very man whosehelp I wanted."
"And why my help rather than that of another?"
"Because, next to that of a physician, the presence of a _detective_seemed most necessary."
"Long," I said, turning upon him sharply, "this is the second time youhave referred to me as 'a detective.' Will you be good enough toexplain?"
"I have spoken of you as a detective," he replied, gravely, "because Ibelieve you to be one, and have so believed since the day you came toTrafton. To explain in full would be to occupy more time than you or Ican well spare to story telling. I have watched you since you first cameto this place, curiously at first, then earnestly, then anxiously. Ibelieve you are here to ferret out the authors of the many robberiesthat have happened in and about Trafton. If this is so, then there is noone more anxious to help you, or who could have a stronger motive for sodoing, than Jim Long."
He paused for a moment, but I remained silent, and he began anew.
"I think you are interested in Bethel and his misfortunes. I think youknow him for the victim of those who believe him to be what you reallyare."
"You think there are those who fear Bethel because they believe him tobe a detective? Is that yo
ur meaning?"
"That is my meaning."
"Long," I said, seriously, "you tell me that your gun was stolen lastnight; that you recognized the sound of the report coming from thedirection of Bethel's house."
He moved closer to me and laid a hand on my shoulder.
"It was my gun that shot Bethel," he said, solemnly. "To-morrow that gunwill be found and _I_ shall be accused of the crime. If the devils hadpossessed my knowledge, it would have been you, instead of Carl Bethel,lying somewhere now, dying or dead. I say these things to you to-nightbecause, if my gun is found, as I anticipate, and I am accused of theshooting, I may not be able to serve Carl Bethel, and he is not yet outof danger. If he lives he will still be a target for his enemies."
He spoke with suppressed emotion, and my own feelings were stirred as Ireplied:
"Long, you have been a mystery to me from the first, and I do not readyour riddle even now, but I believe you are a man to be trusted. Give meyour hand, and depend upon it you shall not rest long under a falseaccusation. Carl Bethel, living, shall not want a friend; Carl Bethel,dead, shall have an avenger. As for you, and myself--"
"We shall understand each other better," he broke in, "when the timecomes for me to tell you my own story in my own way."
"Then," I said, "let us go back to Bethel. I want to take a look aboutthe premises by the first streak of daylight."
"Ah!" ejaculated Jim, "that is what I wanted to hear you say."