THE DRAGON GIVES UP THE SECRET
THE man also started back at the sight of all four of them together. And
Rags, who had been drying himself quietly by the fire, rose with a snarl
and leaped toward his enemy of the earlier part of the evening.
"Heavens! don't let that animal loose on me again!" cried the man,
backing off. "I've just been down to the village doctor and had my arm
cauterized, as it is. I stopped in to tell you something you'd better
know. Probably you haven't noticed it, if you haven't looked out
recently. The water is rising rapidly and will soon be very nearly up to
your bungalow. You may want to get out before it sweeps under it!"
With a cry of alarm, they all leaped toward the door, Ted grasping Rags
firmly by the collar. It was even as the man had said. Peering through
the darkness, they could see the water spreading inward from a recent
breaker, only about twenty-five feet from the veranda. And the next
breaker spread in even a few inches further.
"What _shall_ we do?" cried Leslie. "Aunt Marcia will be frightened to
death if she knows it, and how I'm to get her out of here in this howling
storm, or where I can take her, I can't imagine!"
But Ted had been critically examining the weather. "Don't worry, Leslie!"
he soothed her. "The wind is shifting. I noticed just now that it seemed
to be around to the north and is getting farther west also. That means
the storm is almost over. And the tide ought to turn in ten minutes or
so. It's practically at its highest now. Ten chances to one it won't rise
more than a foot or two further. But we'll keep watch, and if it does,
we'll get your aunt out of here in Eileen's car, which is just down the
road, and take her either to our place or to the village. Our bungalow
isn't likely to be damaged, as it's farther up the dune than these. Don't
worry!"
Thus encouraged, Leslie turned indoors again, and the man, who was still
lingering on the porch, remarked:
"If it isn't too much trouble, friends, I'd like to come in for a minute
or two and ask you folks a few questions about that little fracas this
evening and how you came to be mixed up in it. It's all right and
perfectly proper!" he hastened to add, seeing their startled glances. "I
can show you my credentials." He opened his coat and exhibited a shield
on his vest--the shield of a detective of the New York police force!
So amazed were they that they could scarcely reply, but the man took
matters in his own hands and walked into the house. And Leslie never even
thought to warn him to speak softly because of Aunt Marcia!
Unconsciously they grouped themselves about him at the open fire. And
Rags, now that the obnoxious stranger had been admitted to the house on a
hospitable footing, made no further demonstrations of enmity.
"My name is Barnes--Detective Barnes of the New York force," he began,
"and I'd like to clear up one or two little puzzles here before I go on
with this business. It's a rather peculiar one. I heard this young
gentleman refer to a car that was standing in the road near here and say
it belonged to one of you young ladies named Eileen. I'd like to inform
Miss Eileen that the party who got that little article we were all
scrapping for to-night, jumped into her car when he got to the road, tore
like mad in it to the station, left it there, and caught the express for
New York. I was just in time to see him disappearing in it, but of course
_I_ had to walk to the village. I suspected what he was going to do,
though, and I went straight to the station and found the car standing
there. So I took the liberty of getting in it, driving myself to the
village doctor, and then back out here. You will find your car, Miss
Eileen, standing just where you left it, but I thought you'd like to know
it had had the little adventure!"
Eileen opened her mouth to reply, but the man gave her no chance, turning
immediately to Ted. "And as for you, young man, I suppose you thought you
were doing a wonderful stunt when you landed into me to-night, just as
I'd unearthed the thing I've been on the trail of for a week; but I'll
have to tell you that you've spoiled one of the prettiest little pieces
of detective work I've undertaken for several years, and may have helped
to precipitate a bit of international trouble, beside. I don't know what
your motive was,--I suppose you thought me a burglar,--but--
"Just a moment!" cried Eileen, springing forward. "Tell me, why are you
concerned in this? My name is Ramsay and I have a right to ask!"
Detective Barnes was visibly startled. "Are you a relative of the
Honorable Arthur Ramsay?" he demanded; and when she had told him, he
exclaimed: "Then you must know all about Geoffrey Gaines and how he
disappeared!"
"I've known him since I was a baby," she answered; "but how he
disappeared is still an awful mystery to us. My grandfather is very ill
in the Branchville hospital, you know."
"But didn't he receive my letter?" cried Mr. Barnes. "I sent it two days
ago!"
"He has been too ill to read any mail for the last two days," replied
Eileen, "and, of course, I have not opened it."
"Well, that explains why I haven't heard from him!" the man exclaimed,
with a sigh of relief. "Then I guess you will be interested to hear that
Gaines is alive and well, but kept a close prisoner by some heathen
Chinese in a house on a west side street in New York."
"But how?--Why?--Did it happen the--the night he--came down here?" she
ventured.
"I see you're pretty well informed about the matter," he remarked
cautiously. "And if these others are equally so, I guess it's safe for me
to go on and give you a history of the thing."
Eileen nodded, and he went on:
"Gaines and I used to know each other in England, years before he entered
your grandfather's service. In fact, we had been schoolmates together.
Then I came over to this country and entered the detective service, and
he went into another walk of life. But we kept in touch with each other
by writing occasionally. A week or so ago I was astonished to receive a
letter from him, written on all sorts of odds and ends of paper and in an
envelope plainly manufactured by himself. It contained some very singular
news.
"It gave me first the history of those letters and how anxious your
grandfather was to keep hold of them. Then it told how he (Gaines) had
taken the box down here that night and tried first to conceal it in the
bungalow. But no place in the house seemed safe enough to him. He tried
to dig up a brick in the fireplace and bury it there, but gave it up
after he had broken his knife in the attempt. Then he had the inspiration
to bury it in the sand somewhere outside, and he described where he _did_
locate it, right by that log. If Gaines had known much about the tides
here, he wouldn't have thought that a very good scheme. He didn't,
though, and thought he'd found an excellent place. He then turned to walk
back to the hotel, but hadn't gone more than a mile (it was storming
hard, if you remember) when a terrific blow on the back of the head
knocked him senseless. He never knew another thing until he came to,
after what must have been a number of days, to find himself a prisoner in
a house he judged to be somewhere in New York. And from his description
I've located it about west Sixty-first street.
"He appeared to be in the keeping of a Chinaman who dressed American
fashion and spoke good English. He was told that he was a prisoner and
that it was hopeless to try to communicate with any one until he had
reported exactly where and how those letters had been concealed. He
begged for a day or two to consider the matter and was granted it, but
told that if he did not comply with their wishes he would disappear for
good and no one would ever be the wiser.
"In the meantime, he managed to get together a few scraps of paper, and
with the stub of a pencil he happened to have about him, he wrote this
letter to me, describing the location of the letters and how he had
hidden them in a bronze box wrapped in a burlap bag. He urged me to go
and get them at once, and then, later, he could safely describe to his
captors where he had hidden them. Perhaps you wonder how he expected to
get this letter to me, since he was so carefully guarded. He said that he
was on the third floor, front, of the house, near a corner where he could
see a post-box. He happened to have a solitary stamp in his pocket, which
he put on the letter. Then, at some hour when he thought his captors were
busy elsewhere, he expected to attract the attention of some children
playing in the street and offer to throw them some money if they would
mail the letter in the nearby box. As I received the letter, no doubt his
plan worked successfully. At any rate, I got it a week ago and started on
the trail immediately.
"I landed out here one morning while it was still dark, and dug all
around the spot mentioned, but couldn't find a trace of the bag or box."
"Oh, I saw you that morning!" cried Leslie. "But when you walked away you
seemed to stoop and had a bad limp! I don't understand!"
"I know you saw me," he smiled, "or, at least, that _some_ one did, for
as I happened to glance back at this house, it was growing just light
enough for me to realize there was some one watching at the window. So I
adopted that stoop and limp as I walked away, just so you would not be
likely to recognize me if you saw me again. It is a ruse I've often
practised."
"But it didn't work _that_ time," laughed Leslie, "for I recognized you
again this afternoon by the way you dusted the sand off your hands and
threw away the stick!"
"Well, you are certainly a more observing person than most people!" he
answered gravely. "But to go on. Of course, I was very much disappointed,
but I remained here, staying at the village hotel, and kept as close a
watch on the place as was possible, pretending all the time that I was
here on a fishing excursion. I tried very hard to keep out of sight of
these bungalows, in the daytime, anyway. The day you all went off on the
auto ride the coast seemed clear, and I went through the place. But I
hadn't been out of it long and walked down to the beach, when I saw the
two men drive up in a car and enter the bungalow also, and later come out
to dig by that old log. Of course, they didn't see me about! I took care
of that. And I knew, beyond a doubt, that they were Gaines's Chinamen,
come to find the booty.
"Of course they didn't find it, any more than I had, and I felt sure they
would go back and make it hot for Gaines, and I judged that he would
probably try to gain time in some way. I went back to my hotel that night
to think it all over and make further plans, and didn't visit the
bungalow again till next evening, when I found to my astonishment a queer
note, type-written, on the table there--a warning that the article stolen
from its hiding-place had better be returned. And under it, a reply,
printed in lead-pencil, saying it would be returned."
"I couldn't make head or tail of the business. I judged the type-written
part to have been left by the Chinese. But who had scribbled the other
was a dark-brown mystery. At any rate, I concluded that to-night would
probably be the crucial time, and determined to get in ahead of every one
else. The storm was a piece of good fortune to me, as it concealed things
so well, and about nine o'clock I was on the spot, proceeding to dig down
by the old log. Pretty soon I realized, though, that there was some one
else around. And just as I'd unearthed the bag, which _had_ been
mysteriously returned to its hiding-place, you appeared out of somewhere,
young man, fell on me like a thousand of bricks, and we had a grand old
tussle. I'll give you credit for being _some_ wrestler, but I was getting
the best of it, when along came you others with that terrible beast and
did the business for me!
"I thought all along, though, that you, Mr. Ted, were one of the
Chinamen. But that person must have been on the scene also, probably
lurking in the shelter of the bungalow and watching the fracas. And when
your electric light blazed on the scene, Miss," he turned to Phyllis, "he
no doubt saw the bag in my hand. Then, when the light went out for a
moment, he rushed in and grabbed the prize and was off while we two were
so busy with one another!
"It was a losing game all around. While I was in the village, I 'phoned
my department in New York to meet his train when it got in and arrest
him, if they could find him, and search him at once. But after I'd been
to the doctor's (I had a long session there) I 'phoned them again and
heard that the train had been met, but no one answering such description
as I could give had got off. No doubt he was canny enough to get off at
some station short of New York and so was lost to sight.
"Well, the prize is lost for this time, but perhaps we can pick up the
trail again. At any rate, Gaines is probably free, for they promised to
release him as soon as the letters were obtained."
When he had ceased speaking, Leslie got up from her chair and disappeared
into the kitchen. When she returned, she laid a dark bundle in the lap of
Eileen.
"I guess the prize was found some time ago!" she remarked quietly.
"Suppose you open that bag and see, Eileen!"
And amid an astounded silence, Eileen's fingers managed to unloose the
fastening of the bag and insert themselves in its depths. Then with a
little cry of joy, she drew out and held up, for all to view, the bronze
box that had caused all the disturbance--the Dragon's Secret!
* * * * *
The complicated explanations were all over at last, and the curious,
fragmentary story was pieced together. Detective Barnes took up the
little bronze box and examined it carefully, experimenting, as they all
had done, to find a way of opening it--and, of course, unsuccessfully.
"There's one thing that puzzles me, though," remarked Ted, "about that
queer type-written note. How and why and by whom was it left originally?"
"It was written on thin, foreign-looking paper," replied the detective,
"and I can only guess that the foreigners left it there, though probably
not on their first trip that afternoon. No doubt they either went to the
village, or, more likely, returned to the city to talk it over, perhaps
with Gaines. And he, supposing I had long since captured the prize, and
to put them off the scent, suggested that some one nearby may have been
meddling with the matter and that they leave a warning for them. I feel
rather certain he must have done this to gain time, for he knew that if I
had found the thing, I would immediately set about having him released,
and he must have wondered why I hadn't done so. Perhaps he thought I was
having difficulty locating the house where they had him hidden. But,
Great Scott!--that makes me think!--They must by this time have
discovered the trick you played, Miss Phyllis, and be jumping mad over
having been so fooled. Perhaps they think Gaines is responsible for it,
and they'll certainly be making it hot for _him!_ I must get to the city
immediately and get him out of that hole. Oughtn't to waste another
minute. If you can spare your car, Miss Eileen, I'd like to run up to the
city with it, as I know there are no more trains to-night. I'll guarantee
to fetch it and Gaines both back in the morning!"
"You certainly may have it," replied Eileen, "and you may take me with
you and leave me at the hospital, on the way. Grandfather must know of
this at once. I'm positive he'll recover now, since the worry is all
over. But first, wouldn't you all like to see something? I happen to know
the secret of opening this box. Grandfather showed it to me when I was a
little girl, and he used to let me play with it."
She took a pin from her dress, inserted it into the carved eye of the
dragon and pressed it in a certain fashion--and the lid of the bronze box
flew up! They all pressed forward eagerly and gazed in. There lay the
packet of foreign letters, safe and sound. Eileen lifted them and looked
curiously underneath. Nothing else was in the box except some strange,
thin bits of yellow, foreign paper covered with vague pictures and
curious Chinese characters. They seemed to be so thin and old as to be
almost falling to pieces.
"I don't know what _these_ things are," she remarked, "but they probably
have nothing to do with this affair, anyway. Grandfather was always
picking up queer old things on his travels. But he must have thought them
interesting, or he never would have kept them in here. But we must go
now," she ended, closing the box. "And I'll see you dear people all
to-morrow. This has surely been a wonderful night!"
But just as she was ready to go, she said: "Do show me the dusty shelf
where this was hidden, please!" And then, as she stood gazing up at it,
she exclaimed, "To think that it lay here behind those worn-out old
kitchen things all the time we were so madly hunting for it! But perhaps
it was the safest place, after all!"
The two girls escorted Eileen and Mr. Barnes to the door, Ted offering to
see them to the car. As they came out on the porch, Leslie uttered a
little cry of delight. The storm, which all had momentarily forgotten in
the later excitement, was over. The ragged clouds were driving by in a
strong northwest wind, and a few stars could be seen peeping through the
rifts, while, best of all, the water had already retreated several feet,
though the crash of the breakers was still tremendous.
As Leslie and Phyllis returned to the room, they were startled to see
Aunt Marcia, in a dressing-gown, peering out of the door of her room and
blinking sleepily.
"What on earth are you two girls doing up at this unearthly hour?" she
inquired. "I woke and thought I heard voices and came out to see!"
"Oh, we've been talking and watching the storm!" laughed Leslie. "It's
all over now, and the stars are shining. You'd better go back to bed,
Aunt Marcia. The fire's out and it's very chilly!"
And as the good lady turned back into her room Leslie whispered to
Phyllis, "And she slept through all _that_--and never knew! How can I be
thankful enough!"