THE UNFOLDING OF ROGERS’ PLOT.
“Mr. Carter,” continued Morgan, after a short pause, “I suppose it would
be a sort of paradox to say that there could be such a thing as a square
crook, but if there ever was a crook who tried to be on the square as
far as his business would permit, Tom Morgan is that chap.”
“It is something of a paradox, Red,” laughed Nick. And then he added
seriously: “Why do you not shake the business and be on the square all
round?”
“Too late, sir--too late. There is too much past and not enough future
in mine.”
“‘Though thy sins be as scarlet, they shall be washed as white as
wool,’” quoted Nick solemnly.
“I know all that, sir, and I appreciate your kindness in saying it, too.
I know, moreover, that you are just the man who would hold out a helping
hand to a chap like me who made a break to get up onto the brighter and
better side of life. But I didn’t come here to discuss that with you,
and if you don’t mind we won’t do it.”
“All right, Morgan. Go ahead; only, I would like to add just one word on
the present topic before we leave it.”
“What is that?”
“This: If there should ever come a time when you want to play square,
come straight to me and say so. I’ll promise to believe you--to take
your word for it, and to stand for you in the fight that is bound to
follow.”
“Thank you, Mr. Carter. I won’t forget; and who knows? There may come a
time when I’ll call that hand of yours.”
“Good,” said Nick. “I hope there will.”
“And now, before I get down to the business of my call here to-night, I
want to say a word in explanation of my position.”
“Go ahead, Red.”
“I told you just now that my principle was a fair field and no favors.
That expression means more with me than it does with some people.”
“I’ve no doubt of it, Morgan.”
“It means, for instance, that when I decide to crack a crib somewhere I
know that in doing it I am more than likely to get you on my track, and
that it is your duty to nail me if you can.”
“Exactly.”
“Well, if you do nail me, I do not cherish the least sort of hard
feeling toward you for doing it. I am a professed enemy to society; you
are its guardian. If I do wrong it is your duty to catch me and send me
away, if you can--and I respect you rather than hate you for doing your
duty, even though I may be the victim of your zeal.”
“I believe you, Morgan, although it is rather an unusual view for your
class to take.”
“It is true in my case; but if I should try, I don’t think I could put
my finger upon another crook who feels just as I do about it.”
“No; I do not think you could.”
“Ninety-nine out of a hundred of the crooks who have, sooner or later,
felt the weight of your hand, want revenge.”
“That is only natural, I suppose.”
“Natural or not, it is true. Many a man is engaged this minute in
keeping tabs on the days of the week and month by scratching on the
walls of their cells, who are only waiting to get out in order to get
square with you.”
“Sure thing, Red; but I’m not getting nervous about them.”
“Oh, I know that, and it isn’t what I’m driving at. Let me go on in my
own way.”
“Correct. Go ahead.”
“Some of them want to murder you; some only want to punch you,
and--well, there are all sorts of feelings among them, and out of the
whole lot it is safe to say that not one out of a thousand would ever
take definite shape if there was nobody to direct them.”
“Aha! I think I see your point.”
“Now, I’ll tell the story of my own experience, and you will see exactly
what I mean.”
“Well?”
“I hadn’t been out of prison more than four or five weeks when an old
pal of mine came to see me. The first thing he did was to ask questions
until he found out that I owed the time I had just been doing up the
State to you. Then he asked me to meet some of the gang he was training
with, at a place down in East Houston Street. I asked him what the lay
was, and he told me that I would find out when I got there--and I did.
“In a few words, the lay had three prongs to it. One of them was for the
rescue of a man named Paul Rogers, of whom I had never heard at all at
the time. He was sure to be convicted of murder in the first degree,
and a rescue was planned to take him away from his guard while he was on
his way to Sing Sing.
“I saw no objection to that, inasmuch as we were to be well paid for the
job. I did not know, and I do not know now, where the money came from to
pay us; I only know that there was plenty of it. There wasn’t to be a
blow struck--and, in short, the whole plan was so slick and comfortable,
and there was such real genius in it that I rather enjoyed the thing,
and went into it as much for the fun of it as for the money--although
that was a consideration.
“I won’t stop to tell you about the plan now, for you will hear all
about it in the morning. It is one of the things that can happen once,
easily, and because of the very simplicity of it, can never occur again.
I haven’t been told yet whether it succeeded or not, but I am sure it
did, it was so slick.
“Well--things went along swimmingly until there came a new deal, all in
the same game. I have told you there were three deals. The second one
was a play against Nick Carter.
“I want you to understand in the beginning that there wasn’t a man in
that outfit who had not suffered at some time or other at your hands.
There wasn’t a man there who had not cried out from behind prison walls
for vengeance against you. There wasn’t one who did not grasp eagerly at
the thought of it--and right here, Mr. Carter, was where I bolted.”
“Do you mean that you defended me there among them?”
“Well, I wasn’t quite such a blooming fool as that, you know. Such a
thing wouldn’t have done you any good, and it would have done me a lot
of harm. No; I just kept my mouth shut and told them that I’d carry out
the program I’d enlisted for, and that I’d see them later about the rest
of it.
“Now, I told you at the start that I didn’t come here to do any peaching
on my pals, and so you must not expect me to tell you any names. I
couldn’t do that. Nor will I tell you all of the plot; but I will tell
you this much:
“The main guy behind the whole outfit is that same Paul Rogers, and it
would appear that he is some pumpkins in his own country, wherever that
may be--England or France; I don’t know which. He’s either got a big wad
of shekels, or he knows where to find one when he needs it.
“Now, Paul Rogers has got a wife, whom you also sent up. She was to get
out of the pen to-day, her time being greatly shortened for good
behavior, and all that. Maybe you know who she is, Mr. Carter?”
“Yes; Isabel Benton, or Rogers; it is the same thing.”
“That’s right. Those are the only names I shall mention. You’ll have to
guess the others as they appear.”
“I think I can do that.”
“All right. I hope you can. Please take notice that I am telling you
only what I have picked up at the meetings of that mob, and I don’t
vouch for the truth or the correctness of any of it. I never heard of
any of the parties except yourself, until I trained with the crew I’m
speaking about.”
“Go on. I understand.”
“Up the river somewhere, not as far as Sing-twice, I imagine, there is a
beautiful country place where some people live whom you know. There is a
very beautiful young lady in the family, and somehow the notion has
gotten out among the crooks that you are very friendly with that family
and especially with the daughter. This Isabel Benton and the daughter
are as alike as two peas, it is said, and there was a plot to place
Isabel in her place, once upon a time, which plot failed.”
“I know all about that,” said Nick.
“All the better if you do. The father of the young lady is a
multi-millionaire. There is a brother, also, who is what the boys call a
smart fool. You know what that means. He is money blind. He has
abilities and won’t use them. He is smart, but too lazy to use his head.
Gritty, but too easy to fight. A good fellow, but too much taken up with
killing time to do anything else. A young chap, I imagine, who hasn’t
been woke up yet, so to speak--a sort of an electric motor without any
current to speak of.”
Nick laughed aloud.
“That is a first-class description of a person whom you never saw,” he
said.
“Well, it is the impression I received from what I heard about him. That
boy--he’s about twenty-four, I think--is very much in the way of Paul
Rogers, and Paul Rogers proposes to put him out of it. The old man is
still more so, and Paul Rogers has sworn away his life. The old
lady--the mother--is a sort of supernumerary, but when the time comes
she is billed to shuffle off in some way or other--I don’t know what.”
“And the young lady?” asked Nick.
“I was getting down to her. I couldn’t find out much about the plot
against her, save that the woman Isabel is to take her place, somehow
and somewhere, and the thing is to be done so slick that nobody will
suspect that it is done.”
“Do you mean that you do not know the particulars, or that you are
keeping them back?”
“I mean that I don’t know them, only to the extent that if you don’t
keep a mighty close watch over her she will disappear off the face of
the earth in such a way that you won’t have any idea that she is gone
until it is too late to help her; and that because you are the only
factor in the plan which can interfere with their success, you are to be
gotten rid of in the most approved fashion--and that, Mr. Carter, is
what I came here to tell you about. Paul Rogers was set free this
afternoon, and I happen to know that there is a bet on, with the odds
against you, that you will be a dead one inside of forty-eight hours
after he is at liberty.”
“In that case, Morgan,” said Nick coolly, “you won’t mind answering me a
few questions, will you?”
“I don’t think so. Ask ’em, and I’ll tell you.”