GETTING A CLUE
Roy was so astonished at the sight of his friend, the jewelry salesman,
peering out of the window that he nearly let go his hold of the rope.
He recovered himself quickly, however, and slid on toward the ground.
As he looked up at the casement he could see that De Royster and Wakely
were having some kind of a struggle.
"I must go back and help him," thought Roy. "Mr. De Royster is no
match for that fellow. I'd like to tackle him on my own account,
though he was not cruel to me while he had me a prisoner."
His determination to do this was increased when his friend leaned out
of the window, and called:
"Come on up, Roy! Help me!"
"He's plucky to tackle that fellow alone," thought the boy from the
ranch.
But now he had no time for musings. He must act. As he let go the
rope, his feet having touched the ground, he found himself in the not
very clean yard of the tenement.
About him were boxes and barrels of rubbish, decaying vegetables were
on all sides, besides tin cans and heaps of refuse. Clearly the
tenants in the house were not particular.
Roy looked about him. The yard was surrounded by a high fence, and
there were no persons in sight. To the rear was the electric light
plant, and on either side, the yards of other tenement houses. Then
Roy saw an alley, which, he thought, would lead to the street.
Leaving his lariat dangling, he made a dash for the alley and soon
found himself in front of the tenement house, where he had so recently
been a prisoner.
Up the stairs he went on the jump, and, as he came near the room where
he had been held, he could hear the sound of a struggle.
"They're fighting!" he thought. "I must help De Royster!"
As he entered the apartment he saw the jewelry salesman holding Wakely
by the wrists, while the man was endeavoring to get away.
"Quiet now, my dear fellow!" exclaimed Mortimer De Royster. "I say,
old chap, you can't get away, don't you know. I've got you, and I'm
going to have you arrested."
"You are, eh? I'll see about that!" exclaimed Wakely. "Let go of me!"
At the same time he gave a violent wrench.
"Hold on, my dear fellow," remonstrated De Royster. "You mustn't do
that, don't you know."
In spite of his rather slight built De Royster was proving himself
almost a match for Wakely. But his strength was not of the lasting
kind, while the other's was.
"Let me go!" fiercely demanded Wakely. "If you don't it will be the
worst for you!"
At the same time he gave such a yank that he succeeded in freeing one
arm. But De Royster was not going to give up so easily. He grabbed
Wakely around the waist.
At that moment Roy made a rush for Wakely. Just as he was about to
grab him, he was thrust aside by some one from behind. Wakely turned,
gave one look at the newcomer, and cried:
"Quick! Tell Annister he's escaped!"
Wakely had not yet observed Roy, as the boy from the ranch was back of
him. Then the man who had taken Roy from the hotel succeeded in
breaking the hold De Royster and Roy had on him. He dashed from the
room, just as the other man, to whom he had called the warning, also
ran out. Both seemed much frightened.
"Hold on!" cried De Royster, as if either of the men would stop for
that. "Hold on! I know you."
"Come on! We'll get 'em!" shouted Roy, turning quickly and starting
after his captor and the confederate.
But he was too late.
Wakely slammed the door of the room shut, and locked it, and Roy knew
it would be useless to try and open it.
"Break the door down!" exclaimed Mortimer De Royster. "We can catch
them!"
"The door's too strong," replied Roy.
"Then we're caught!"
"Yes, but don't worry. I can go down the lariat the same as I did
before."
"Perhaps you can, but I can't my dear fellow."
"Oh, I'll come up the stairs and open the door for you, if the key's
there. Say, but how did you get here, anyhow?"
"I came after you. I've been tracing you for hours. What does it all
mean, Roy? Why did they take you a prisoner?"
"I don't know. Wait until I get my breath and I'll talk."
"That's so. I'm a little troubled that way myself, don't you know. If
I could have held that chap a little longer I would have had him."
"Yes, but he had help at hand."
"Right again, old chap. The other man came in at the wrong time. You
know who he was, don't you?"
"No. I didn't get a good look at his face. Who was he?"
"One of the four swindlers from out West who got my watch and diamond
pin!"
"You don't mean it;" cried Roy, much excited. He began to understand
part of the plot now.
"That's who he was," declared the dudish salesman. "I knew him at
once, but I couldn't warn you. I needed all my breath to hold that
other man. What was his name? I've forgotten."
"He called himself Wakely. I met him at my hotel."
The exciting incidents of the last few minutes, and the surprise
created by De Royster's announcement that one of the train swindlers
was a friend of Wakely, set Roy to thinking.
"Did you hear what the fellow, whom I was holding, said just before he
got away?" asked Mr. De Royster, after a pause.
"Yes, he said 'Quick! Tell Annister he's escaped!'"
"I wonder what he meant?"
"I reckon I can explain. I might as well tell you the whole story of
why I came to New York, and you will understand. Caleb Annister is the
name of the man who is agent for some property my father and I own. It
was this man whose actions I came to investigate. I found him to be a
swindler, and I gave him a short time in which to pay back the money he
had wrongfully retained."
"What did he say?"
"He tried to explain, but it was a pretty poor explanation. I caught
him 'with the goods on him', as we say out West."
"But why should this man whom I held--this Wakely--want the other to
warn Annister about some one escaping?"
"That 'some one' was me. I believe Annister got these fellows to get
me out of the way for a time, until he could work some of his schemes.
Perhaps he thought I would be frightened, and go back West, where I
could not bother him any more.
"Are you going?"
"Not a bit. I'm going to keep right after him. I begin to see through
his plot. This man Wakely came to my hotel purposely to get acquainted
with me. Then he drugged me, and got me out to this place, where he
kept me a prisoner. What was to be the outcome I don't know. But I am
surprised to hear you say that the other man who came into the room was
one of the swindlers who robbed you."
"I am sure of it. I would never forget his face. Wakely, too, seems
familiar, but I can't place him."
"Maybe Wakely is a member of their gang, and perhaps Annister, too, is
in with them."
"I shouldn't be surprised. What do you think we had better do?"
Neither of them yet recognized Wakely as Tupper.
"I think we'd better get out of this place before they come back with
reinforcements," said Roy with a laugh. He was cool, despite what he
had gone through, for he was somewhat used to meeting danger and doing
his best to escape.
"I'll slide down my rope again," he went on, "come up the stairs, and
open the door. Then we can talk it over. I must get my baggage away
from here."
It did not take the boy long to repeat his feat with the lariat, and
soon, having found a key, he opened the door from without, releasing
Mortimer De Royster.