BULLY COMES TO GRIEF.
“That was quick work,” said Hughart, “but I did not expect to see you
helping me.”
“I had an idea,” replied the detective, “that I wanted a little of your
society myself, and so do the police.”
“Who’s talkin’ about the police?” said a voice, and the next moment a
burly man appeared in the doorway of the inner room.
He was almost a giant, and carried himself with the air of a fighter.
The muscles on his arms and neck stood out like cords, and there was an
ugly leer on his face.
“I am talking about the police,” replied Nick.
“Go chase yourself,” thundered the bouncer, “you can’t bring no police
up here while I’m around.”
Nick saw that there was trouble ahead, and got ready for it.
Hughart turned away.
“Wait,” said Nick. “You are going with me as soon as these men are
taken care of.”
“He don’t have to go unless he wants to,” sneered the bouncer. “You
can’t come up here an’ run this place.”
Hughart turned back, and said:
“I have no idea of going with you. You helped me out here, a moment
ago, and I thank you for that, but here our ways part.”
Nick was in rather a tight box, for he did not know but the crooks
might regain consciousness in a minute and come to the assistance of
the bully.
Whatever was done must be done at once.
He turned to Hughart.
“You are wanted as a witness in the case against the chief of the
diamond syndicate,” he said, “and you may as well come along without
making trouble.”
“The diamond syndicate?” echoed the miner. “What do I know about a
diamond syndicate?”
“You know all about it,” replied Nick.
“This is the first I have heard of it,” said the man, a look of fear on
his face.
It was easy to see that the man was lying.
“He’s givin’ you guff,” roared the bouncer. “Shall I put him out?”
Nick was getting angry. The developments of the night had convinced the
detective that Hughart would make trouble if an attempt to take him by
force was made.
“Get out!” roared the bouncer. “Don’t be kicking up a row here.”
Nick stepped backward to the door opening into the hall, and gave a
shrill call on his police whistle.
In a second the bouncer was making for him, not with a weapon, but with
his brawny fists, which had doubtless put more than one man out of
business.
Nick met him halfway. The fellow put up his hands in prize-ring style,
but it was of little avail. Nick is a past master in the art of boxing,
and the bouncer went to the floor to join the crooks.
Then Nick found himself threatened with a revolver in the hands of
Hughart.
The girl screamed and covered her face with her hands. Hughart turned
for a second to warn her against making an outcry, and that was enough.
He went down under a crashing blow.
Carrie gave a scream of fright and anger as Hughart fell, and turned
toward the inner stairs leading to the restaurant.
“It looks like a slaughterhouse,” she said.
And, indeed, she was not far from right. There were four men on the
floor whom the detective had put out of business for the time being. He
smiled as he thought what would have resulted had they all attacked him
at once.
“Wait until the police come,” said Nick to the girl. “You are to go
with me.”
“Indeed I’m not,” was the angry reply. “I was arrested once to-day, and
they were glad to let me go.”
“Where do you wish to go?” asked Nick. “Do you want to communicate the
news to your friend Molly, who sent you here?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about?” said the girl.
“Come, come,” said Nick, “I am the officer who had you under arrest up
at Hall’s place. You were released in order that you might show the
way to Hughart’s hiding place. Molly, by the way, has been taken to my
house, and you can see her there.”
The girl stepped back in wonder.
“You must be Nick Carter,” she said. “No other man could so disguise
himself and do what you have done here.”
“The same, at your service,” replied Nick, with a laugh.
“Then I suppose I’ll have to go with you,” said the girl, “but you
won’t get anything out of me.”
Presently the police came—two patrolmen who had heard the whistle.
Nick made himself known, told them to see that the crooks were taken to
police headquarters, and asked one of them to call a carriage.
Hughart was still unconscious from the blow he had received, and had to
be carried to the vehicle.
“You gave him a good one,” grinned one of the officers.
“It was that or nothing,” replied Nick. “See that these men are safely
handcuffed and locked up. When the wagon comes, one of you remain here
and close the place.”
The officer pointed to the bouncer.
“What about this one?” he asked.
“Lock him up,” was the brief reply. “There are plenty of charges to
make against him. He’s a tough, but not so tough as he thinks he is.”
Arrived at Nick’s house, Hughart and Carrie were placed in separate
rooms. The latter at once asked for Molly, but was not permitted to see
her at that time. Hughart was beginning to show signs of consciousness.
Chick appeared as Nick entered his study.
“You are making quite a collection to-night,” he said. “Molly is making
things hum in that little room.”
“What does she say?”
“That you shall be made to suffer for her detention.”
“That is cheerful,” said Nick. “Has she been searched?”
“Yes. Mrs. Knight left her not long ago.”
“She found the money?”
“Certainly.”
“I am sorry for the woman,” mused Nick. “She is in bad shape just now.”
Although Hughart had been suspected, without cause, by his companions
in the syndicate, under Nick Carter’s third degree he confessed
everything, with the result that the detective was able to make a
strong case against the gang.
“The small fry,” as Nick called them, it was proven had nothing to do
with the murder, and all escaped with sentences ranging from ten to
twenty years.
Bernice escaped the penalty of the law by committing suicide in her
cell.
The chief of the diamond thieves, Anton, and Stella went to the
electric chair.
The large diamonds which had been removed from the Maynard collection
by Bernice were never found. After rounding up the syndicate, Nick
refused to engage in a hunt for the diamonds.
The case was fairly won, but the famous detective declares to this day
that the cleverest criminals he ever encountered belonged to the Great
Diamond Syndicate.
THE END.
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End of Project Gutenberg's The Great Diamond Syndicate, by Nicholas Carter