CONCLUSION.
Zulima told the detective where her uncle was domiciled. Then,
womanlike, she burst into a flood of tears. Bitterly did she regret
ever having become acquainted with the explorer.
Burt found Frank in the hallway and told him of his discovery.
“Have you got Bull Blair?” asked Hare.
“No.”
“Then you look after the Abyssinians and I’ll have another try at
cooking his mutton.”
“Don’t you want to come with me?” remarked Burt.
“Do you want me?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then I will look Bull up if I can. He won’t give me the shake this
time if I succeed in getting the nippers on him.”
Burt returned to Zulima. She had stopped weeping.
Rising to leave she said: “The information I have given you may cost
me my life.”
“There is no danger of that.”
“At any rate,” said the beauty, “life now holds no promises for me.”
Bowing to the detective, she departed. An hour later the house
occupied by the heathen priest was surrounded, front and rear, by
a score of policemen. Accompanied by two sergeants of police Burt
forced his way into the house by way of the basement door.
As the door gave away Ashah sprang for the detective with uplifted
sword. Burt dodged the blow aimed at him and fired at the giant.
Ashah tumbled to the floor with a bullet in his brain. The faithful
slave had died in defense of his rascally master.
“This way!” cried Burt, and he led the way up-stairs.
The two sergeants followed with drawn revolvers. When they reached
the parlor floor they heard two pistol reports up-stairs.
That caused the little party to accelerate their speed.
Burt readily found Stolburst’s new quarters. Upon the floor lay
Ajeeb, with a smoking revolver in his hand. Blood flowed in a
continuous stream from a little hole in his forehead, the edges of
which were blackened with powder. He had bragged to Billy Barry that
he should never die by violence, yet he had in the end inflicted
death with his own hand.
Before shooting himself Ajeeb had shot Stolburst. The bullet aimed at
the latter’s heart had struck a rib and glanced off. Seeing escape
impossible, Ajeeb determined to kill both his prisoner and himself.
Luckily for Stolburst, the villain’s plan had miscarried.
Burt cut the bonds that encircled the prisoner’s ankles and wrists.
Stolburst was insensible, but he soon came around. When he saw the
detective bending over him the unfortunate man’s features became
illuminated with joy.
“At last!” he murmured.
“Yes; you won’t suffer any more.”
“The Eye of Jobu--have you recovered it yet?”
“No.”
The explorer’s countenance fell.
“Too bad--too bad!”
“I have a good prospect of securing it,” said Burt.
“Tell me upon what you base your hopes.”
“Not now.”
“But I must know.”
“You are too weak to converse; I will tell you soon enough.”
A doctor was sent for, and when he came he dressed Stolburst’s wound.
The physician was greatly surprised to see the man had but one ear.
Burt took him aside and told him how Stolburst had lost the ear.
“There is a man in Paris who could do something for him.”
The doctor gave Burt the party’s name and Burt wrote it down. Then he
had Stolburst conveyed to a hospital in an ambulance.
As Burt was leaving the house Zulima met him on the stoop.
“Did you arrest my uncle?” the beautiful girl asked.
“No.”
Her face brightened up.
“I am so glad!”
“Zulima, your uncle is dead.”
The princess did not cry. For a moment she regarded the detective
with a stony stare.
“Where is the body?”
“In the room where Stolburst was confined,” replied Burt.
“Did you kill him?”
“He killed himself.”
Without another word the princess went up-stairs.
Burt took his departure.
It now becomes necessary for us to follow Frank Hare. That cheerful
and ambitious young man got himself up like a beggar. Then he
sauntered out to find Bull Blair.
For hours he went from saloon to saloon in the Fourth and Sixth
Wards, begging. His receipts were lamentably small. At about
nightfall he flushed his quarry. He came on Blair in a beer saloon on
Baxter Street.
As when he met him in Shaw’s, Frank found him alone.
“Please help a poor man,” said Hare, going up to the burglar.
“Clear out!”
“Won’t you give me a little something?” pleaded the pseudo-beggar.
“Haven’t got anything. I’m thinking about going into your line of
business myself.”
“Ain’t you Bull Blair?”
The rascal started at mention of his name, but he did not discover
Frank’s identity.
“Suppose I am?”
“I’ve been hunting for you all day,” said Hare meekly.
“What have you been hunting me for?” asked Bull.
“Because I’m getting paid for it.”
“Paid for it?”
“That’s what I said.”
“Who is paying you?”
“Mike Quick’s bartender.”
“How do you know me?”
“Lord bless you,” said Hare, “I haven’t been traveling about this
district for years without knowing some of the people who live in it!”
“I don’t ever remember seeing you before,” returned Blair.
“That ain’t my fault.”
“Who said it was?” said Bull. “So Jimmy Elford told you to find me?”
“Yes; I’m to get a dollar for the job,” replied Frank.
“Well, you’ve earned the dollar.”
“That’s a mighty comfortable thing for me; I won’t have to roost in
City Hall Park to-night.”
“What does Elford want?”
“To see you.”
“Why didn’t he look for me himself?” remarked Blair.
“I didn’t ask him.”
“Have you no message?”
“He told me to say that Burt Cromwell had gathered in his boss.”
Bull started.
“What!” he exclaimed; “has Mike Quick been arrested?”
“Sure as a gun.”
“I can’t do anything for him.”
“I’m not asking you.”
“Don’t be so sassy,” said Blair. “Where can I see Elford?”
“Down at Shaw’s.”
“I don’t like to go there.”
“You needn’t go in; I’ll have him come out to you.”
“Is Quick’s place closed?”
“I guess so; the bartender told me he was going to close.”
“Come along, then; we will go to Shaw’s.”
When in the vicinity of the Oak Street Police Station Frank suddenly
presented a revolver at his companion’s head.
“What does this mean?”
“It means,” replied Hare, speaking in his natural voice, “that you
won’t get away from me this time!”
Blair recognized the detective for the first time.
“If you try to escape,” said Frank sternly, “I’ll put a bullet
through your head! Now march!”
The young detective landed his fish in the police station. Then he
reported the capture to his chief.
“Did he turn over the green diamond?” said Burt.
“No,” replied Hare nonchalantly; “but he’ll weaken, see if he don’t.”
Frank’s prophecy was fulfilled. The next day Blair sent for him and
told him where he had buried the booty he had secured at Murphy’s.
The spot indicated was beyond the Harlem, but Hare had little
difficulty in finding it.
That afternoon he very triumphantly turned over the treasure to his
chief. Both detectives took considerable interest in examining the
great green diamond.
Mike Quick was convicted of the murder of Monte Murphy. He was never
hanged, having been carried off by an attack of pneumonia.
Bull Blair was sent up the river for twenty years, while his pal,
Tony Riley, got off with ten. After the death of the heathen priest
Burt lost sight of both Billy Barry and the beautiful Zulima.
Dick Kidd died of the wound inflicted by Pierre Jacquet, who fled the
country and was never captured afterward. When Kidd felt that death
was near he confessed to the murder of Aimee Jacquet.
Enoch Cook drifted to Chicago, and was killed in a drunken row there.
Henry Stolburst sent the Eye of Jobu to King John of Abyssinia. He
went to Paris and visited the physician already referred to. The
latter did much to relieve the explorer of his horrible appearance.
But he has never forgotten that he owes his rescue to Burt’s
fidelity, and whenever, in the course of his travels, anything comes
up that he can turn over to Burt he does so.
“Burt Cromwell,” he is fond of saying, “is the best detective I have
ever met in the entire world.”
THE END.
MAGNET LIBRARY
A weekly publication devoted to Detective literature. March 4, 1905
No. 435
“Get Acquainted With Smith’s”
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Transcriber’s Notes
The Table of Contents at the beginning of the book was created by
the transcriber.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation such as “every-day”/“every day” have
been maintained.
Minor punctuation and spelling errors have been silently corrected
and, except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the
text, especially in dialogue, and inconsistent or archaic usage,
have been retained.
Page 15: “as great as his devoteees” changed to “as great as his
devotees”.
Page 56: “dive-keeper adjourned to the rear room, where they seatd”
changed to “dive-keeper adjourned to the rear room, where they
seated”.
Page 57: “famous fences in New York--Monte Murhpy” changed to
“famous fences in New York--Monte Murphy”.
Page 196: “the desperado was uphurt” changed to “the desperado was
unhurt”.