CHAPTER XIII.
CONCLUSION.
The struggle was short and decisive.
Supple though the younger Gregg was, he was no match for the man fromLeadville, and it was not long ere Mr. Thornton had his man pinnedfirmly beneath him, so that he could not move.
By this time the villagers had arrived upon the scene, in numbers, andstood contemplating the scene, in wonder.
"What is the matter here?" one of them demanded, stepping forward."Who set fire to this building?"
"That I am not prepared to say, as I just came," Mr. Thornton replied,"but I know that I have captured one of the worst villains living. Isthere an officer of the law among you? If so, I want him to take thisdevil into immediate custody, and watch well that he don't escape."
"I am a constable, but I must first know what charge you have againstthis young man of highly respected family," another villager said.
"Charges enough to hang him higher than Haman, if you like," thespeculator cried. "He has my daughter imprisoned somewhere, in hopesof extorting money from me; he is wanted in Leadville, Colorado, forno less than three cold-blooded murders, and also for horse-theft, andI've got papers to show for it!"
"It's a lie! It's a mistake! This man is crazy!" young Gregg shouted."I appeal to you for protection, gentlemen!"
"Protection you shall have, sir, by law, if you deserve it!" theconstable replied, slipping a pair of hand-cuffs upon the young man'swrists.
"Now, sir"--to Mr. Thornton--"permit me to examine your papers."
The speculator drew a package of documents from an inside coat-pocket,and the officer gave them a critical examination.
"They are all right," he said, returning them.
"For the present, I will leave the scoundrel in your charge--until Irecover my lost daughter!" Mr. Thornton said.
"That you will never do, curse you!" Griffith Gregg hissed, savagely."You've sealed her doom, in tackling me, and you may as well put amourning band around your hat."
"What! do you dare to tell me my daughter is in peril, sir?"
"Well, that remains to be told. It is according to whether I amreleased or not. If not, most assuredly you will never see her or themoney she stole, for if I am to answer for all the charges you havepreferred against me, I can just as well add a few more, without anyinconvenience."
"We shall see about that. I think a rigid search will find her.Officer, remove him to a place of safety, until I determine upon afuture course of action."
The constable accordingly took his departure, marching the youngerGregg with him.
The fire had by this time gained great headway.
It leaped in great crackling volumes from the roof, and burst throughthe sides in fiery forks. The whole interior was a seething furnace oflurid flame, and timbers were already beginning to fall in.
"Where is Silly Sue?" some one cried, and the question went from mouthto mouth. "She sometimes sleeps in the old house."
"Silly Sue, as you call her, is dead," Mr. Thornton announced.
"Dead!" the villagers exclaimed, gathering around him--"Silly Suedead?"
"Yes, dead, and lies in the shanty down the road, belonging to HalHartly, who has gone to some neighboring town to arrange for herburial!" the speculator said. Then he related what he knew concerningthe brutal whipping she had had, at the hands of Gregg senior.
A murmur of indignation ran through the crowd as he spoke, and thoughsome of the men did not cry out against the guilty man, the majoritywere greatly excited.
"Do you swear this is true?" one of the villagers cried, angrily.
"Ay--swear it a hundred times, if you like. If you have any doubts onthe matter, it will take but a few moments to examine the poor child'sform, upon which welts and bloody cuts yet remain to be seen."
"Then, I for one propose we give Greyville as good as he meted out!"the man cried, whose name was Tompkins. "I always had a private ideathat he was a villain, and now I need no further proof to confirm it.All in favor of hauling him out and lynching him, make manifest bysaying 'I.'"
There was a decisive shout among all but about ten of the men, whomaintained a grim silence.
"Lynching is a crime, gentlemen," Mr. Thornton said, "in the East,which would render you liable. It can do no harm to give the humanmonster a taste of the whip, however, and then turn him over to therigor of the law."
"Perhaps you are right," Tompkins agreed. "Come along, boys! We'llteach the wretch that he must be civilized, if he will live in acivilized country!"
And the sturdy villager led off, the whole crowd following in his rearwith indignant faces.
There was indeed a dark look-out for Captain Gregg.
From his library window in the village mansion he was watching thefire, and saw the crowd march in a funeral-like procession down fromthe bluff along the beach toward the village.
The countess saw, too, and compressed her lips tightly.
"Ze crisis is coming!" she hissed, sharply--so sharply that he startedviolently. "Ze crowd has heard of ze girl's death, and are coming foryou."
He turned deathly pale; they would show him no mercy, as he had shownnone to Susie, he well knew.
"We must escape from here, somehow!" he cried. "To submit to arrestmeans death--for you as well as myself."
"How so?"
"Did you not witness the whipping without attempting to interfere?" hesneered. "They'd string you up as quick as I--especially wheninvestigation came to prove you to be Madame Lisset, the notoriousFrench smuggler."
The woman's turn it was to whiten now, and a suppressed curse escapedfrom between her clinched teeth.
"I vas one big fool for evaire anchoring here, or having you for meagent," she replied. "Somesing must be done, and zat vera quick. Whats'all it be?"
"There is but one course--flight. Go to my room and get all the moneyand jewels there. When you come back, I will be ready."
She obeyed, and in a very short space of time returned, dressed readyfor escape.
Leaving the house by the rear door, they skulked hurriedly along anarrow lane.
This soon brought them out into the country, and into an orchard.
Without pausing, the chief of smugglers made a wide _detour_, whichfinally brought them out upon the beach, half a mile north of thevillage, and directly opposite the steamer "Countess," which lay agood two miles out at sea, at anchor.
A light row-boat was drawn upon the beach. This Gregg pushed off intothe water, and sprung in, the countess following him. Then, seizingthe oars, he pulled with all his skill and strength toward thesteamer.
At the same time, a boat manned by half a dozen men, pulled out fromthe beach in front of the village, and this, too, was headed towardthe steamer.
"Ha! they've suspected our dodge!" Gregg growled, on discovering thepursuit. "Curse them! I did not think discovery of our flight would bemade so quickly."
"Will zey reach ze boat first?"
"By no means. I've got the start, and the steamer is a good half amile farther from them than us, if not more!"
* * * * *
Let us look after Fritz.
The roof of the old rookery on the bluff has just fallen in, andmillions of sparks go up toward the cloudy sky.
Is the young detective still within that old building?
He had heard Hartly, when he ran through the house, setting fire toit, and had yelled at the top of his voice for assistance.
But, either Hartly had not heard or did not heed his cries, for noassistance came.
Out in the hall, which adjoined the doorless room, the flames soonbegan to crackle ominously, and the pungent smell of smoke creptthrough the wall to his nostrils.
For a few moments Fritz stood transfixed with horror, as the peril ofhis situation began to dawn upon him.
He knew by the smell that the house was on fire; he knew that if hedid not make a hasty escape he would be consumed in the mercilessflames.
What was he to do?
>
Really, what was there he _could_ do?
He rushed about, scarcely aware what he was doing.
Suddenly his foot caught upon something, and he fell violently to thefloor.
In all his after life he could look back with gladness upon thatmishap, as it was the means of saving him from an awful death.
Quickly scrambling to his feet, he searched the floor; a moment laterhis hand came in contact with an iron ring. Pulling upon it, he raiseda trap in the floor, disclosing a large aperture leading down intoanother pit below, which he concluded was a cellar.
Without pausing to consider what he was doing, he dropped down throughthe hole.
Anything was preferable to the horrible danger above.
He landed upon his feet upon a hard bottom of the cellar into which hehad leaped.
In a moment thereafter there was a crash, and a portion of the rearroof over the cellar fell in.
The light of the burning timbers now gave him a view of his situation.
The cellar ran in under the whole of the house, and was nearly filledwith boxes. The only stairway had been covered by the caving in of thefloor, thus closing this avenue of escape.
The caving in, in turn, had been mainly caused by the falling of aheavy girder, from the second floor.
Directly in front of where Fritz had landed was a large well-like holein the ground, that looked as if it might be very deep, and his onlywonder was that he had not stepped off into it, in the darkness thathad prevailed immediately after he had struck into the cellar.
"I vonder off dot vas a well, or ish der hole vot leads down into dercavern," he muttered, peering over the edge. "If der latter vos dercase, I'm all righd, providin' I can git down. But off id vos a well,den I vos a gone sucker sure. I don'd see anydings off derrope-ladder."
Looking above his head, he however, discovered where a staple had beenrecently drawn out of a joist, and this satisfied him that it had beenwhere the ladder had been fastened to, and that the hole was the samethat penetrated into the cavern in the bluff.
"Der next t'ing vas to get down dere," he muttered. "If I jump, likeash not I preak mine neck, und den I pe ash pad off ash before, of notvorse."
There seemed no other way of getting down, however, and he resolved totake his chances, rather than remain in the cellar and become a targetfor the fallen fiery timbers.
With a prayer for safety he made the uncertain leap.
Down--down--down he went with a velocity that took his breath, and heknew no more, except being conscious of striking the earth with aheavy jar.
When he recovered his senses he was in the outer cave, and MadgeThornton was kneeling over him, chafing his hands.
The cavern was dense with smoke, and breathing was difficult.
Fritz comprehended the situation at once and sat up.
"I vas come down like a t'ousand of bricks, eh?" he smiled, feeling ofhis limbs to learn if any of them were seriously damaged. "I forgotall apoud vere I vas going all at vonce. How you got oud off derdungeon?"
"Good luck would have it that Griffith, in his passion should havethrown the bolt of the padlock when the catch was not in, so I easilyreached out my hand, drew the padlock off, and got out into thechamber," Madge replied. "What is the matter? Is the old houseburning?"
"Yes. We must get oud off here or ve shoke to death. Off it gets toodeep, I vil swim mit you t'rough dot hole."
He accordingly arose to his feet, and raising her in his arms, hewaded toward the aperture, and outside of the cavern, around to thesouthern beach, the water in the deepest place but reaching to histhroat.
"By shimminy dunder, I feel yoost like ash if I vas tickled to death,t'ings haff turned oud so vell," Fritz cried, as he placed Madge onher feet. "A vile ago I vas ash goot ash guff up for a roastedDutchman; now I vas oud, und so vas you, und I feel better ash aspring lamb."
"Are you sure we are out of danger?"
"Vel, no, not eggsactly sure, but I t'ink ve pe all righd now. Yoostyou sday here in der shadow off yer pluff, vile I skirmish aroundt undsee vot's to pay."
She accordingly did as directed, while he clambered up the side of thebluff, bent on reconnoisance.
The first man and only man he met was Mr. Thornton, who had hurriedback from the village to the bluff as soon as Captain Gregg wasdiscovered missing, to keep watch in the vicinity.
He uttered a cry of joy as he saw Fritz.
"Why, bless you, boy, I never expected to see you again!" he cried,shaking the young detective by the hand.
"Und you come purdy near id, too, you can bet a half-dollar, Mr.Thornton, for I yoost got oud off der building here in time to savemine vool. But I haff got your daughter, und der monish vas safe!"
"What! you do not tell me this for a fact, Fritz?"
"Vel, off I don'd misdake, it vas. Yoost vait here, und I pring youder girl. Ash to der money, she vas no fool, und put it avay vere shecan get it again."
He vanished, only to reappear a few minutes later, accompanied byMadge.
Then followed a touching scene. The speculator received his lostdaughter with open arms; there were explanations, and kisses, andtears, and laughs, and the reunion was now complete.
Leaving them to their joy, let us take a concluding glance at theocean race, which was in the meantime transpiring.
The pursuers saw Gregg pull out from the shore as soon as he saw them;and they tugged at their oars with a will.
"Pull, boys!" Tompkins cried, from his position at the steering-oar."See! the woman is waving her handkerchief! That is a signal to thecrew on board to fire up, ready to be off. Pull--pull for your worth!We must intercept them, if possible, before they board!"
The villagers did pull, with a will, and their boat fairly leaped overthe water.
Tompkins had guessed the truth. The countess's signal did result inthe crew's raising anchor, and in unbanking the slumbering fires, forhuge volumes of smoke almost immediately began to roll from thesmokestacks.
But, pull though they did, with almost super-human efforts, thepursuers were destined not to win.
Gregg's boat reached the steamer while the villagers were yet eightminutes distant, and he and the countess clambered aboard. Then thesteamer's whistle gave a defiant shriek, and the craft began to moveaway.
As she did so, the pursuers saw a man suddenly leap overboard into thewater.
Pulling on, they came to him, just as he was sinking for the lasttime.
It was Hal Hartly, and he was mortally wounded.
He only spoke once after they pulled him aboard; it was to gasp outfaintly:
"She's doomed! I've scuttled her!"
Then the blood spurted from his mouth, and he expired, while the"Countess" steamed away to sea, and was lost from view, and CaptainGregg the smuggler was lost from the clutches of the law.
What was the fate of the "Countess" is not definitely known, but shenever again entered the port of Havre, nor was a soul on board of herever afterward seen.
* * * * *
The Philadelphia detectives who arrived the next day found no one toarrest, as those on whom suspicion could justly rest, had fled, duringthe night.
Susie and Hal Hartly received a respectable burial, at the expense ofMr. Thornton; then, after paying Fritz as promised, the sum of fivethousand dollars, the speculator set out for his Western home,accompanied by his daughter, and by Griffith Gregg, who was to go backto the scene of his crimes, for trial.
With his reward money, Fritz immediately returned to Philadelphia, andsoon after purchased an interest in a paying established business,where he may be seen 'most any day, when not on detective duty, or ifhe is out, his pretty wife Rebecca will represent him.
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends