CHAPTER VI.
BRADY'S PROPOSITION.
"How do you feel, Carl?" asked Matt, when the Hawk was safely clear ofthe ground and swinging easily along through the night.
"I feel like my headt vas as pig as a parrel," answered Carl. "Pyshiminy, dot vas a svipe vat I got. I see pooty ret lights aroundt me,und I don'd know somet'ing ondil lader."
"It's a cinch, matey," spoke up Ferral, "that Brady laid that trap, andthat we only got out of it by the skin of our teeth."
"What do you say to that, Brady?" asked Matt.
"It's mighty unfortunate--for me," replied Brady, from the bottom ofthe car. "I laid a trap, King, but not that kind. What I wanted, was totalk you into helping me rescue Helen. I don't know yet how Whipple andPete managed to show up there when they did. They didn't see me, andthey don't know now that you've captured me."
"As soon as we can get to South Chicago," said Matt, "we'll tell Harristhose fellows are here. This is the first clue the police have had asto where they are."
"A good night's work, mate," said Ferral, "strike me lucky if it ain't.Harris will be all ahoo when we tell him that it was Brady who wrotethat letter."
"Don't take me back to South Chicago just yet," pleaded Brady,struggling to a sitting posture and leaning against the rail at theside of the car. "If Pete and Whipple are away from that shanty in LaGrange, this will be a good time to get Helen."
"He talks mit two tongues vorse as any feller vat I know," remarkedCarl.
"He thinks he can keep on fooling us," scoffed Ferral.
"Listen to me, that's all I ask," pursued Brady, desperately earnest."Pete and Whipple, helped by a man named Hooligan, got the girl awayfrom her friends in Chicago, and----"
"How did they do it?" interrupted Matt.
"Hooligan met Helen on the street, and told her that her brother,Hector Brady, Jr., was sick and wanted her to come to him at once.Helen knew the police were looking for my son, just as they were forthe other members of my gang who had escaped the officers, and she didnot dare to go back to her friends and tell them where she was going.Hooligan told her it wouldn't be necessary for her to say anything, asshe could get back to Archer Avenue in the afternoon. Hooligan tookHelen by train to River Forest, a suburb of Chicago, and not far fromLa Grange. He's care-taker during the summer for a house in RiverForest, Hooligan is, and he took the girl there. The moment the girlreached the house, Whipple and Pete made a prisoner of her, and turnedher over to Mrs. Hooligan. When it became night, Helen was taken to ahouse owned by the Hooligans in La Grange--and Helen has been thereever since. Last night I was in La Grange and I spotted the house, butthe gang were too many for me and I didn't dare try to rescue Helenalone. I had already thought of you and the Hawk, King, and I knew wecould turn the trick if I could only get you to help."
The facts were surprising--providing they were the facts--and Brady'sknowledge of them was equally mystifying.
"How did you learn all this, Brady?" demanded Matt.
"Grove got the news to me while I was in prison. Whipple and Pete triedto ring him in on the deal, but Grove wouldn't stand for it. A prettydecent sort of a grafter, Grove is, but he's done with crooked workand has gone to California to lead a different life. My son, at lastaccounts, was in New York. By this time he's off for foreign parts. Itis due to you, King, that my gang has been scattered like this, andthere was a time, not many days ago, when all I asked was to be freejust long enough to settle my score with you. But this strange affairof Helen's has changed all that. I'm thinking more of getting even withWhipple and Pete than I am of getting even with you. As for Helen, Ican see now that the girl meant well, although what she has done hasmade a convict of me."
The convict was always a well-spoken man, and plainly a man ofeducation. This, perhaps, had made him a more dangerous criminal thanhe would otherwise have been.
Somehow, Matt was deeply impressed by his words. The young motorist'sdesire to help Helen Brady probably influenced him to pay someattention to his prisoner's words.
"You're right in saying this is a strange case, Brady," said Matt. "Thestrangest part of it is why Whipple and Pete should go to all thistrouble. What are they trying to do?"
"I've made up my mind to tell you the whole of it, King," returnedBrady. "During my thieving operations around South Chicago I picked upquite a lot of valuable property. You got some of it back, but not thebiggest part. I hid that away, to a place known only to me, and wrotedown instructions for finding the place, and stowed the memorandumunder a loose brick in the house at Lake Station, where Helen stayedfor awhile after you got the Hawk away from me in Willoughby's swamp.If anything happened to me, I intended to tell Hector, Jr., where theinstructions were hidden, have him get the plunder, turn it into cash,and hire lawyers to get me out of trouble. While I was waiting for mytrial, there in South Chicago, I sent the letter to Hector, Jr. He hadleft town and the letter fell into Helen's hands. She opened it, wentto Lake Station and got the memorandum. In some way, Whipple and Petefound out about it, and they engineered the abduction before Helencould turn the paper over to the police--as I know she intended doing."
A great rage welled up in Brady as he went on.
"Those two treacherous hounds want to get the plunder, and they willkeep Helen a prisoner until they can make her tell where the stuff isconcealed, for I imagine she destroyed the paper after reading it.That's why I want to play even with them! It was for that alone that Istruck down the prison guard, got into his uniform, and escaped fromthe 'pen.' If you'll help me, King, I've got a proposition to make toyou--and you'll find that I stand by it."
"What's your proposition?" asked Matt.
Where Brady had put the spoil of his many robberies had long been amystery to the authorities, and Brady's recital, although one of thestrangest Matt had ever heard, was logical, and bore the stamp of truth.
"It's this," went on Brady, visibly gratified because the youngmotorist seemed inclined to fall in with his plans; "help me rescueHelen and place Whipple and Pete in the 'pen.' If you will do that, Iwill go back to Joliet and finish my term, and you can rely on Helen totell where the plunder is cached. But if anything has happened to thosewritten instructions, and Helen can't tell, I'll give the informationto you and you can have the stuff dug up and returned to the peoplefrom whom it was taken. I can't say anything fairer than that."
This was queer talk for Hector Brady. Motor Matt could hardly believehis ears. And yet, he was offering little. He had already beenrecaptured, so his return to Joliet was a foregone conclusion; andHelen, it was almost certain, knew the location of the cach?, and itmight be considered that the stolen property would be returned withoutany of Brady's help. That Whipple and Pete could wrest the locationof the cach? from Helen, Matt could not believe. He knew the girl'sdetermination too well.
"He iss trying to make some fools oudt oof us," remarked Carl. "Don'dlisten to him, Matt."
"That's the sizing I give his talk, mate," seconded Ferral. "He's a badone, and couldn't tell the truth on a bet."
"Haven't you any gratitude for what Helen did for you?" demanded Brady."If it hadn't been for her, you would have lost this air ship."
"That's the least of it," said Matt gravely. "Miss Brady saved Ferral'slife and mine, at the time of that balloon-house plot of yours, Brady.You want to take the Hawk to the place in La Grange where Hooligan andhis wife live?"
"To the place where they live when they're at home," answered Brady."They only stay there in the winter. During the summer they're takingcare of that house in River Forest."
"They're making fine use of that River Forest house!" exclaimed Matt."But they can't be there now, if they've got Helen at the place in LaGrange."
"Mrs. Hooligan has charge of Helen, and Whipple and Pete are there withher. Hooligan himself is at River Forest."
"What sort of a two-faced scoundrel is this Hooligan, that he helpscriminals in such work?"
"He happens to be Pete's brother."
"That doesn't e
xcuse him."
"Probably he's figuring on getting a share of the stuff Pete andWhipple are hoping to find. There's enough of the loot to make them allpretty comfortable. If you hadn't butted into my affairs, King, I couldhave sailed away in the Hawk and taken life easy for the rest of mydays."
"The proper way to work this," said Matt, after a moment's reflection,"is to take you to South Chicago, Brady, leave you there, and pick upHarris and two other officers. Then you can tell us where to go andwe'll have Whipple, Pete and the two Hooligans behind the bars beforedaylight. And Miss Brady will be safely rescued."
"That won't do at all," protested Brady. "In the first place, that willmake too much of a delay at a time when every moment may count; and, inthe next place, I'll have to be along to tell you where to moor the airship and point out the house."
"He has got somet'ing oop his sleeve more as he lets oudt," answeredCarl. "Go shlow a leedle, Matt; dot's der vay vat I feel aboudt it."
"Right-o," agreed Ferral. "Even though there is a little delay, Matt,it's better to go to South Chicago and pick up Harris than to let Bradylead us into a mare's nest."
Brady showed signs of exasperation.
"I don't believe you want to do anything for Helen!" he growled.
"Yes, we do," said Matt, "and we're going to La Grange at once; butwe're going to leave those ropes on you all the time, Brady, and I'llreconnoitre Hooligan's house and find out if your yarn is straightgoods before we sail in there and get ourselves into possible trouble."
"That suits me," and Brady floundered to his knees and looked overthe rail. For a long time he peered downward, evidently getting hisbearings. "Make a half turn to the left," said he, "and speed upthe engine. I'll stay right here and tell you exactly where to go.You'll never regret making this move, King. All I have to gain is thesatisfaction of rescuing Helen Brady and getting the stripes on Whippleand Pete."
Matt, full of wonder at the way events were falling out, turned the airship in the direction indicated by Brady and increased the speed of thepropeller.