BILL BUDGE'S CONVERSATION.
To Fritz, the scene below of course began to grow more interesting.
"Dot veller vas goin' to pe tried for somedings," he muttered, "und
vot ish more, uff der verdict don't vas in his favor, he vas goin' der
git sp'iled."
Young Hartly if his thoughts were in the same channel as those of the
watcher, didn't appear very much troubled about the matter, for he
perched himself upon the table, while the six jurors sat in a
semicircle facing him, and the captain a little to one side.
"Well, sir, what have you to say, Hartly, in regard to this suspicion
which has arisen against you--that you are a traitor to our cause?"
"Nothing, sir, except that whoever started the suspicion, is a liar
and a coward!" was the retort.
"Then, you deny that you have ever betrayed the existence of this
band, outside of its own membership?"
"I do most emphatically. What assurance have you, that any one has
betrayed you?"
"Is it not ample proof, when strange men haunt this vicinity, and
haunt the members to their very doors? These law-sharks, or
detectives, only wait for some disclosure, to spring their traps on me
and my faithful followers."
"I am not to blame. Though forced into service against my will, and
made to swear the oath of allegiance, rather than lose my life, I have
kept such secrets as came into my possession. I believe I know who has
excited the suspicious feeling against me."
"Well, sir, who?"
"Your rascally son, for one--your jealous daughter, for another,"
Hartly replied, shrugging his shoulders with a contemptuous laugh.
"How dare you term my son rascally, sir, and accuse my child of
jealousy?"
"Because the boy is as unprincipled a villain as yourself, and as for
your daughter, when she found that I did not court her favor, she at
once turned against me. I despise both your son and your daughter,
Captain Gregg, and that is all I have to say, except that I am not
guilty of the charge preferred against me."
"That remains to be told by the jury. You see the head of Bill Budge,
just above you, Hartly? He was caught in an intended act of treachery,
and you see his end. If Bill could speak, he'd tell you that the fate
of the traitor is hard."
"You're a cussed liar!" Budge's suspended remnant seemed to say, in a
deep, hoarse voice.
The captain and the jury uttered each a startled oath, and gazed at
the offending head in astonishment.
"Who called me a liar?" Gregg demanded, fiercely. "By the gods, I
thought it was Budge's lips that uttered those words."
"So it was!" the head seemed to say; then there was a gurgling sort of
laugh, and the head shook, perceptibly.
"Ten thousand furies!" Gregg yelled, and hastily wrenching open the
door, he made a hasty exit from the room, followed by the jurors--nor
did they stop, short of the bottom of the stairs.
Hartly did not leave the room, but dismounting from his perch upon the
table, walked off a few paces to where he could get a good look at
Budge's unfortunate pate.
"Something deuced funny, here, I'm blowed if there ain't!" he
soliloquized, apparently quite composed. "It's the first time I have
ever heard dead men talk. I say, Budge, how's the temperature up your
way?"
"Two t'ousand degrees above blood heat," seemed to issue from between
the gleaming teeth.
"Humph! pretty warm, that, I must admit," Hartly said, looking still
more puzzled.
Fritz, while perpetrating the ventriloquism, was also listening and
planning.
"Dot veller Hartly is der very chap to helb me oud mit my scheme," he
muttered, "und ve must escape from here, pefore der smugglers return."
Accordingly he slid down the rope into the room below.
Hartly looked surprised.
"Who the deuce are you?" he demanded, stepping back a pace.
"Fritz Snyder, detective," Fritz replied. "I come here on pizness--vot
for, you can easily guess. I vant you to helb me oud mit it, und I vil
see dot you haff your liberty."
"Ha! ha! that's your game, is it? Well, my friend, I'd like to do it,
first-rate, but I can not oblige you."
"Vy not?"
"Because I swore allegiance to the cause you would have me betray, and
it never shall be said that Hal Hartly was not a man of his word!"
"But I heard you say dot you vas forced inder der pizness."
"So I was, against my will, but that does not lessen the obligations
of my oath. While I live, I shall adhere to my sworn promise."
"You vas foolish--you don'd vil get any credit for your resolve. Yoost
ash like ash not you will pe killed, on der suspicion dot's already
against you."
"Perhaps. If so, I shall submit, knowing I have been innocent of
breaking my word."
"Pshaw! dis vos all nonsense! You don'd vas vant to die no more ash
any odder man. Let me cut der bonds vot fastens your arm, und ve vill
climb up to der attic und escape vrom der roof to some place where we
vil pe safe, undil we can make arrangements to break oop dis
smugglers' league."
"Nothing would please me more, but owing to my oath, I must
positively refuse to do anything of the kind," Hartly persisted,
firmly. "I admire your proposed attempt, and while I shall do nothing
to interrupt it, I can not conscientiously do anything to help it
along. Can you enlighten me any as to the mystery of this head, which,
though not possessed of life, yet uses its voice so naturally?"
"I dells you noddings apoud it," Fritz replied, shaking his head.
"Hark!"
"Yes! I hear it. It is Gregg and the boys coming back. Quick! or you
will be seen!"
Fritz made haste to shin up the rope to the garret once more, and had
barely succeeded in so doing when the smugglers, headed by Captain
Gregg, once more entered the room.
They did not come boldly in, but thrust their heads in and took a look
around first.
Seeing that no harm had come to Hartly, they then ventured in.
"Ha! ha! you're brave fellows, ain't you?" he laughed. "I didn't cut
tail and run, although I have not even the use of my hands."
"You're cussed brave, all at once!" Gregg growled, evidently not
liking the taunt. "Did that thing speak again?" with a wry glance at
the guiltless pate of the departed Budge.
"Of course. I've had quite a chat with William," Hartly replied. "He
says he's in a very warm latitude at present, and so he's come back
spiritually for a short cooling off!"
Gregg uttered an oath.
"Pooh! I don't believe such bosh."
"But it's a fact, nevertheless. Budge says they've got a little corner
left up in his country for you, too, when you get ready to emigrate,
which will be mighty soon, judging by the active preparations that are
being made to receive you, such as gathering kindling wood, making
matches, and the like."
"Curse you, they'll git you first!" the smuggler said, with vicious
emphasis. "Go ahead, boys, an' tell him the decision you've made."
"Well, we've concluded that Hal Hartly is a traitor to our cause, and
for the sake of protection it will be necessary to feed him to the
fishes!" one of the jurors said. "Eh, ain't that the ticket, boys!"
A grunt of assent from the others was the answer.
"Then it shall be so," Captain Gregg ordered. "I am sorry for you,
Hartly, but treachery merits death, as you were informed when you
joined. As an organization which must exist in secrecy, we are forced
to adopt harsh rules. Your companions have carefully weighed all the
evidence, and have decided that the safety of the organization demands
your death. As you have sown, so shall you reap."
"Do you mean this, Captain Gregg?"
"I do, sir, emphatically."
"Then you shall live to repent ever having pronounced my doom.
Henceforth I shall not consider my oath of allegiance obligatory, as I
have hitherto done. I'll show you what harm I can do your vile
organization."
"But you shall have no chance. Jim Hovel and his brother have already
consented to sink you to the bottom of the Atlantic for a stated sum,
and thus rid us of you effectually. They are waiting below for you, as
it is a safe night for such work. If you have any prayers to make, you
had better make the best use of your time."
"I'll suit myself about that, you villain!"
"Numbers two and three, take the prisoner down-stairs!" the captain
ordered.
Two of the smugglers seized hold of poor Hartly, and led him from the
room.
Up in the attic. Fritz was in a predicament. The majority of the
smugglers yet remained in the room below, and he could not get out of
the house in that way, as was his desire, to make an attempt if
possible to rescue Hal Hartly.
The only course left for him was to escape through a trap-door onto
the roof, and trust to luck in getting to the ground from there.
"Dot veller vas von big fool for not acceptin' my advice," he mused,
as he fumbled cautiously around in the darkness. "Yoost like ash not
dey vil pe gone off mit him, ven I git down dere, und den he vil pe a
goner, sure ash der dickens."
It required several minutes to find the trap in the roof, and it was
no slight job to displace it.
When he had accomplished this much, however, it was but a moment's
work to clamber out upon the roof in the pouring rain and replace the
door.
"Py shimminy, dot vas a hard storm," he soliloquized. "Der ocean
grunts as uff she vas got der dispeppersy. Now der next t'ing ish
somedings else. Der roof vas slippery ash von soap ladle, und first I
know der vil pe a dead Dutchmon spilled someveres over t'e ground."
That portion of the main roof of the building was quite steep, and the
eaves were at least twenty-five feet from the ground.
Not fancying the idea of a drop of that distance, the young detective
crawled to the ridge, to reconnoiter.
On the other side of the ridge, the roof sloped down to meet a gable,
from where the gable's roof took another descent, so as to bring the
eaves about seven feet nearer to the ground.
Aside from this there was no possible way of reaching _terra firma_.
"Eighteen feet! I don'd know vedda I can stand dot or no. I must try
it, however, or Hal Hartly vas a dead codfish sure."
Using extreme caution, he slid from one ridge to the other, and then
from that to the eaves, from where he was to drop.
"Vel, here's der blace vere I don'd vas so much tickled. But pizness
vas pizness, und a veller don'd vas can rise in der vorld vidout
dropping sometimes; so here goes!" he muttered.
And clinging to the eaves for a second, he let himself drop.
Down--down he went, with great velocity, and finally struck upon
something softer than mother earth, from which he tumbled end over end
to the ground.
The following instant a wild, unearthly howl rent the night.
"Och! murther--murther!" shrieked a man's voice; "I'm kilt! I'm kilt!
Och! Holy Vargin Mary save me!"
It was the Irishman's voice. It was upon him that Fritz had first
alighted, and he was probably badly jarred up, for he continued to hop
around and yell at the top of his voice.
To make matters worse, the door of the house opened, and Gregg and his
followers came pouring out.