CHAPTER XXIV.
A CLEW.
Mr. Wattles stepped forward and gently forced Al to relax his hold onthe man's throat.
"Don't get excited, my boy," he said. "This is just the time when youneed a cool head."
"That's so, sir," added the visitor. "I don't blame the young gent forthe way he feels, but if he expects to get the best of that villain,Jack Farley, he has got to keep his wits about him."
"Then," gasped Al, "it was Farley that enticed her away?"
"It was him, sir."
"And what had you to do with it?"
"More than I wish I had. The truth is, sir, I did not realize what I wasdoing at the time. I was not onto his game until it was too late, andthen I----"
"Don't beat about the bush any longer," interrupted Mr. Wattles,impatiently. "What was Farley's game?"
"Where is my sister?" added Al, in an agony of suspense.
"It's like this, gents," replied the man. "Just before the alarm of firewas given a man came to the stage door, where I happened to be standingat the time. His collar was turned up, and his hat was pulled down, andat first I did not recognize him. 'I want you to do me a favor,' hesays. 'What is it?' says I, 'and who are you?' 'Don't you know me?' heasks me. 'No, I don't,' I tells him, 'and I ain't got no time to standhere fooling with you.' You see, I thought maybe he was a stage-doormasher, though he didn't look much like one, to tell the truth, for hewas dressed in a way that----"
"Never mind all that," interrupted Mr. Wattles again. "Get to the point.The man told you he was Farley?"
"He did, sir."
"Why were you any more willing to talk to him then? Had you ever met himbefore?"
"Oh, yes."
"By your own admission you knew he was a villain. Why, then, were youwilling to do him a favor?"
"He did me a great service once, sir, and I was glad of a chance torepay him."
"Even at the risk of a young girl's life happiness, perhaps her lifeitself?"
"I did not think it was as serious as all that then, sir. You see, allhe asked me was to tell Miss March that a friend bearing important newswas waiting just outside the stage door to see her, and that he wouldnot detain her more than a minute. He also told me not to say that itwas him if she should ask."
"And you did this?"
"I took the message to Miss March, and, as she had at least half anhour's time before she had to go on again, she went with me to the doorwithout any hesitation."
"And then?" cried Al, breathlessly.
"There was no one else around at the moment. Miss March stepped out. Iwas surprised to see that there was a carriage waiting in the alley. Hesaid something to her that I could not hear, and led her to the door ofthe carriage. The next moment, to my surprise, he lifted her in his armsand put her into the carriage. She didn't have time to make anyresistance at all. I am not sure, but I think there was another personin the carriage."
"And you made no attempt to interfere?" cried Mr. Wattles.
"What could I do, sir?"
"I am pretty sure that if I had been in your place I should have donesomething," said the old gentleman, warmly.
"The carriage drove off like mad as soon as the young lady was put intoit, sir."
"Didn't Farley enter it, too?"
"Oh, yes, he jumped right in after her. The driver seemed to know whatto do; anyway, he received no directions from Mr. Farley in my hearing.I suppose it had all been arranged between them beforehand."
"Of course. You might have given the alarm at once; why didn't you?"demanded Al.
"By that time, sir, the alarm of fire had been given, and there was aterrible commotion in the theater. In the confusion I did not know whatto do."
"Well," said Mr. Wattles, "better late than never. But what put it intoyour head to come here at all?"
"I don't know that I should have come, sir, but when I heard of theheroic way in which this young gent behaved, and how he saved the livesof maybe half the audience--when I heard all this, and was told that theyoung lady, Miss March, was his sister, I made up my mind that I wouldcome here and make a clean breast of my part of the affair."
"And you have really told us all you know?"
"All, sir, so help me Heaven!"
"I believe you, my man," said Mr. Wattles.
"And so do I," added Al. "But we must not spend any more time in talk;we have got to do something at once."
"I will do anything in my power to help you, sir," said the man.
"I don't see that you can do much more than you have done," said Al."You can give me a description of the carriage and the horse, though."
"The carriage was an ordinary livery coach. There were two horses, bothof them gray. It was a livery turn-out--there can't be any doubt aboutthat--and not a first-class one, either."
"You don't know what stable it came from?"
"No, sir; but it won't be a very hard job to find that out, for thereare only three stables in town. Two of them are quite swell, but theother isn't, and I guess it was from that one that the coach came."
"Well," said Mr. Wattles, springing to his feet, "we can get to worknow. Come, my boy, this man shall take us to the stable at once, and wewill see what they have to tell us there."
"I don't want to drag you out, Mr. Wattles," said Al. "I can manage thisbusiness alone."
"You can, eh?" said the manager, almost indignantly. "Well, maybe youcould, but you won't get the chance. I am going to be right in it withyou. Why, do you suppose I could sleep a wink to-night with this thingon my mind? I tell you, my boy, I thought more of that girl than youimagine, and if anything should happen to her----"
Mr. Wattles choked and turned away his head. Al was surprised at thisexhibition of emotion; he had not given his employer credit for thepossession of so much feeling.
He extended his hand.
"Mr. Wattles," he said, "you are a good friend of mine and hers. Have ityour own way, then. Come!"
The manager pressed the boy's hand.
"I don't like scenes--off the stage," he said, rather shamefacedly. "Idislike emotion, and am seldom betrayed into it. But--but---- Oh, well,we mustn't stand here talking all night. Lead the way to the stable youspoke of, my man."
Ten minutes later the trio reached the stable. Here several delaysawaited them. In the first place, the man who had been on duty in theoffice at the time the coach must have been hired, was asleep in a roomabove the stable, and when awakened refused to get up. After somepersuasion, he agreed to do so, and came downstairs half dressed. He wasalso half asleep, and for several minutes could not recall the eventabout which his visitors were so anxious to be informed. It had been anunusually busy evening, and he was not sure whether the coach had comefrom that stable or not.
At last, however, his memory having been stimulated by a five-dollarbill, which Mr. Wattles slipped into his hands, he remembered havingrented the team to a man who answered Farley's description.
"There was a lady with him, too," the man added.
"What sort of a looking woman?" asked the manager.
"Tall, dark, with very black eyes."
"Miss Hollingsworth!" exclaimed Mr. Wattles.
"Just the idea that occurred to me," added Al.
"It was she, beyond the shadow of a doubt. She is in the scheme, too,then. That woman is capable of anything. At last we have a clew, and astrong one."