A ROUND-UP OF SPOOK-ARTISTS.
It began to look very much as if Horace Richmond's theory was correct.
Certainly the colonel had fallen again into the clutches of bogus
mediums.
It might be that the whole plot was directed to that end, and that the
transfer of the jewels to the Stevenses was only to be an incidental
result of the plot.
Yet so long as Miss Stevens' unusual conduct remained unexplained, it
would not do to go upon this theory.
"One of the principal things that Horace Richmond employed me to do,"
said Nick to himself, "was to break up his uncle's belief in
spiritualism. I guess that this is a first-class chance to do it."
He softly crept to the corner where the gliding figures had disappeared.
There, as he expected, he found one of those movable panels which the
bogus mediums prepare so cleverly.
His experience of such affairs taught Nick exactly what he should find
in the other room.
There must be a little cabinet in the corner covering the other side of
the sliding panel.
The medium might be in it, or she might be sitting blindfold just by the
door.
But the cabinet was certainly not empty. Two figures had gone into it,
as Nick had observed.
One of these was doubtless playing the part of Aunt Lavina.
The other must be waiting to appear in some other role.
Nick listened. He could hear the colonel questioning the supposed
spirit.
The replies were put in that silly and mysterious language supposed to
be appropriate to visitors from the other world.
The meaning of them, however, was plain enough. Colonel Richmond was
commanded to restore the jewels to Millie Stevens.
This point was made so exceedingly clear, and his promise was demanded
in such stringent terms that Nick was no longer able to doubt that the
interests of the Stevenses were being very carefully attended to by
these "spook-compellers."
In view of the facts already known, it was hardly possible to reach any
other conclusion than that Millie Stevens had hired this medium to do
the whole job.
That it was being done "to the queen's taste," Nick was forced to admit.
Yet he couldn't help being sorry to believe that such a charming and
beautiful girl as Millie Stevens should be mixed up in such a dirty
business.
He waited till Colonel Richmond had completed his solemn protestations,
and then suddenly slid the panel and passed through.
There was another person in the cabinet, who was, of course, instantly
aware of Nick's entrance.
But the place was so dark that at first the bogus ghost did not know
that Nick was not one of the regular company of spirits.
He had a chance to get his bearings before the discovery was made.
The shade of Aunt Lavina was just retreating toward the cabinet making
that absurd series of nods and gestures which such spirits always use.
Nick could see this performance through an aperture in the side of the
cabinet.
He instantly leaped out, and grappled with the spook.
Then there was an uproar. The whole room was in indescribable confusion.
Somebody turned up the light. For an instant Nick, grappling with the
spirit, saw Colonel Richmond.
The colonel had not been given a private seance. Possibly he had not
desired it. He had come with a dozen other victims of the same delusion.
He had been given a seat a little in the rear.
Before him, as is usual, was a row of persons who were "in the game."
The space where the spirits appear is always encircled by such a line as
a guard against possible attempts at exposure.
Of course, everybody in the room was on his feet.
Some of the front-row people were rushing upon Nick.
Others had crowded around Colonel Richmond so closely that Nick was
afraid he might not fully see the exposure of this fake.
The person whom Nick had seized was not a woman, as might have been
expected, but a man. He was of short stature, but surprising strength.
Even in the mighty arms of the detective, he managed to struggle
vigorously, and for a moment prevented Nick from tearing away the white
and ghostly wrappings.
But a complete expose could not have been long delayed. In spite of the
odds against him, Nick was certain to come out ahead.
He called out to Colonel Richmond:
"Look! Look at this! It's a man!"
Just at that instant a tall man who had been standing beside the female
"medium," and acting as master of ceremonies, seized an ornament from
the mantelpiece, and hurled it not at Nick, as the detective expected,
but at the lamp in the corner of the room.
This lamp had been turned up by one of the timid believers as soon as
the row began.
The missile which the spiritualistic "bouncer" hurled was well directed.
It smashed the lamp to fragments, and the room for a minute was dark.
Then another light flashed up. The broken lamp had set fire to the
window curtains.
The scene hadn't been what one would call peaceful before, but it had
been nothing at all to what it became when the fire leaped up.
Pandemonium broke loose. Doors and windows were burst out, and everybody
rushed toward the outer air.
Among the last to emerge was Nick.
He held the "bouncer" in one hand and the ghost of Aunt Lavina in the
other.
Both of them were very badly used up. When the detective dropped them on
the lawn they made no attempt to rise.
Some of the medium's stool-pigeons were beginning to get their wits
together, and were making preparations for putting out the fire.
Nick yelled to them, and pointed to a line of garden hose on the lawn.
There was a head of water in this pipe, and with the aid of its stream
the fire was extinguished.
The detective did not assist. He turned his attention to discovering
what had become of Colonel Richmond.
The colonel had disappeared. The carriage in which he had come was gone.
Doubtless the person who had driven him over had hustled him into the
carriage at the earliest possible moment.
"A shrewd move," muttered Nick, "and a bad one for me. However, I've got
this gang cornered, and if they've been doing the job at the colonel's
house, their operations are over."
There was an excited group of people by the main door of the house. In
the midst of them stood the medium, a fat and coarse woman, whom Nick
had seen before in the same crooked business.
Those around her were the real believers in spiritualism, who had come
to the show.
They had witnessed the exposure, and were ready to mob the medium.
Nick took his two prisoners to this group. He tied them securely, and
then turned to one of the dupes:
"Why don't you have these people arrested?" he whispered. "Charge them
with taking money under false pretenses."
"Good!" said the man. "There's a warrant for some of them already. I'll
get the constable, who lives over across the fields, and he'll pull 'em
all in."
A half-hour later the whole gang was under arrest and on the way to the
nearest lock-up.
The detective felt that his evening's work was not in vain. Whatever
might be the facts about the connection of this gang with the affair at
Colonel Richmond's, it was a good thing to get them all out of the way.
The colonel's presence among them proved that they were the
spiritualistic crowd which was after him. Their removal would simplify
matters.
Moreover, the colonel's presence, and his questioning of the spook,
showed that any theory connecting him with the disappearance of the
jewels was wrong.
It was evident that he had asked the questions in all sincerity,
believing that he was really in the presence of his aunt's spirit.
He could hardly be crazy enough to do that, supposing that his lunacy
had led him to abstract the jewels.
Having witnessed the arrest of the gang, Nick procured a horse and drove
rapidly toward Colonel Richmond's house. He arrived there about
half-past eleven o'clock.
There was a light in the parlor, and through the open window Nick beheld
an unusual scene.
The colonel, Mrs. Pond and Horace were present. Mr. Pond was not in the
house. He had returned to New York.
Besides the persons named, there were in the parlor nearly all the
servants connected in any way with the establishment.
It looked as if the colonel was holding court.
One of the servants seemed to be giving testimony. The expressions on
the faces of the others showed deep interest and superstitious terror.
Nick had no doubt about what was going on. The colonel was getting to
the bottom of the ghost stories. There must have been more
manifestations that night.
The detective was in doubt whether to enter the house in his own
character. Finally he decided not to do so.
He disguised himself in the character of John Gilder, the coachman, who
was not present in the parlor.
It seemed best to gain access to the room from an entrance toward the
old part of the house instead of from the main hall.
So Nick passed around the corner of the house. As he did so he was aware
of a dark figure crouching in the shadow.
He instantly grappled with it, and the figure was not less prompt in
grappling with him.
The struggle was very brief. It ended with Nick on top, and no harm
done.
The detective instantly leaped to his feet again.
"Patsy!" he exclaimed. "What brings you here?"