CHAPTER XXII.
AN UNTIMELY OCCURRENCE--CALEB HOOK DISCOVERED.
"Hist--hist, Jerry Buck!" whispered Detective Hook as he slippedthrough the door opened by the newsboy. "You are a smart lad--a brightlad--to track those fellows as you have. I watched you do it, but,having got them into close quarters, we must put our heads together andfind out what's going on in the room below."
Both Jerry Buck and the woman drew back in startled surprise.
The appearance of the detective thus unexpectedly, was, to judge fromthe countenances of both, anything but welcome to them.
For the moment even the ready wit of the Bat seemed to desert him, andhe glanced from the face of the woman, who stood motionless behind thestove with her foot covering the hole in the floor, to that of CalebHook with an appearance of deep perplexity, not unmingled with fear.
"I don't know what you mean, mister. I----"
"Stop, Jerry. This is no time to lie. You know me well enough. Have youforgotten the morning at the Catherine Market--my visit to the Bats inthe Wall?"
"Well, s'pose I hain't? What's that got to do with it? This here's aprivate room. What call have you got to run your nose in here?"
"One moment, Jerry," said the detective, coolly pushing the boy asideand advancing into the room.
"Madam, your most obedient," he continued, bowing respectfully to thewoman. "My name is Hook. I am a police detective and the best friendFrank Mansfield has got. May I trouble you to tell me who and what youare?"
The woman trembled before him.
A wild, hunted look overshadowed her face; her eyes wandered restlesslyabout the room.
"I harm no one, sir," she murmured. "I only wish to be let alone that Imay complete the work of vengeance which I have begun against the manwho has brought so much misery to me and mine."
"Just so, madam, just so," answered Caleb Hook, soothingly. "You referto Mr. Callister, no doubt, who is now in the room below. I stand readyto help you in your work if I can."
"But you are the detective who arrested my--Frank, I mean."
"I did, but I have stood his friend from that night until now. I amanxious to help him and all belonging to him. Are you not the personto whom I spoke at the Trinity church-yard wall on the night of thearrest? Did you not tell me that Frank Mansfield was your son, and thathe robbed the Webster bank?"
"No, no, I was mistaken. I was mad!" exclaimed the woman, springingforward wildly. "I have no son, he robbed no bank. Go away and leave mealone."
"'Tain't no use to make him mad, missus," whispered the newsboy. "Franktrusts him an' I guess the best thing will be for us to trust him too."
"You are right, Jerry," said the detective quietly. "Neither this goodlady nor yourself have anything to fear from me."
"Ha! ha! ha! Ha! ha! ha! You can just bet your life the detective willnever get into this little racket--never in the world."
From the room below these words, accompanied by loud and boisterouslaughter, suddenly burst forth, the sound finding easy passage throughthe uncovered stove pipe hole in the floor.
The effect upon the woman was electrical.
Advancing quickly toward Caleb Hook, she grasped him by the hand.
"That's his voice," she whispered wildly. "Help me to bring that man tothe hangman's scaffold and I'll fall down and bless you on my bendedknees. It is Elijah Callister that robbed me of my husband; it is hewho robbed me of my reason, and would have robbed me of my son. Oh, ifI could only trust you, sir! If I could only trust you! How can a weakwoman like myself, with no other help than that of this faithful boy,hope to bring justice upon his sinful head alone."
"You may trust me fully, madam. I too have a grievance against ElijahCallister. Will you help me to bring him into the grasp of the lawwhich he has so long defied?"
"Yes--yes! Let them hang him as high as Haman! Oh, that I could onlydance on his grave!"
She spoke wildly--excitedly. That her mind was far from clear wasplainly to be seen.
That she hated Elijah Callister with a deep and bitter hatred wasequally plain.
Caleb Hook, watching her closely, saw all this, and understanding thathis opportunity had come, proceeded to grasp it at once.
"Tell me what you know, and you shall do it!" he said, emphatically."I swear that your desire shall be fulfilled! Who and what is thissmooth-spoken Callister--that's what I want to know?"
"Who is he?" cried the woman. "He is a hypocrite, a liar, a murderer,a thief! I have been watching him for weeks, and I know what I say istrue. He is the man who concocted the robbery at the Webster bank, andtried to throw the crime upon my son."
"Ah! Then you are Mrs. Mansfield, the mother of Frank? I thought asmuch from the first."
"Yes--yes; they locked me in an asylum, but I outwitted them and gotaway, but too late to save my boy from harm. They drew the net aroundhim, but I will tear it off. I will live to see those wretches swingfor their crimes when Frank is rich and prosperous. I say it, sir, andI mean it. God will grant a mother's prayer!"
She fumbled at her dress as she spoke these words, and producing apackage of greasy, worn papers, thrust them into the detective's hand.
"Read--read!" she exclaimed, her eyes darting to the right and leftmore wildly than before. "I have written it all down for the world toread when my work is done. But you, who love my boy, shall read it now."
"Say, mister, don't try to talk to her no more," whispered the boy,pulling Hook slyly by the coat. "She always goes on like that when shegets talking about these here things. It's my opinion she's a littleoff."
"I'll read them carefully, and return them in due time, my dear lady,"replied the detective, in a quiet tone, taking the hint. "What we haveto do now is to find out what's going on in the room below if we can.It's my belief those fellows are up to no good."
"You can just bet your life on that, Mr. Hook," whispered the newsboy."They're concocting a scheme to rob the Lispenard bank. I caught on toit through the hole. Just you come over here and listen for yerself.Look a-here, missus, it's all right; you can just set down there and beas quiet as you can. Him an' me'll attend to this here business alone."
Sinking into a chair, the woman, burying her face in her hands, beganmuttering wildly to herself, while Jerry, taking the detective by thearm, drew him toward the hole behind the stove.
"There, boss, just you put your ear down there," he whispered. "There'sa hull raft of them fellers down below, and them that busted the vaultof the Webster Bank's among 'em too. I seed 'em an' I know 'em. I wasa-tryin' fer to foller 'em up meself fer ter help her along"--he gavea jerk with his thumb toward the woman behind them--"but since you'vedropped onto me an' are disposed to help, I'll just turn the hullbusiness over to you, fer you ought to understand it better nor me."
"Quite right, Jerry," whispered Hook, throwing himself flat upon hisstomach and bending over the hole in the floor, while the newsboy, lessclumsily, did the same.
Beneath, voices in earnest discussion could be plainly heard; the voiceof that pious and most excellent man, Mr. Callister, being prominentabove the rest.
"And so it's fixed for the day after to-morrow. We are to meet atCagney's at eleven o'clock, where I shall await your return from thebank with a bigger haul, unless I'm greatly mistaken, than we ever madebefore."
A look of triumph overspread the face of Caleb Hook as those words,spoken in the voice of the stock-broker, fell upon his ear.
"Jerry!" he whispered, softly.
"Well, boss?"
"Run around to the Oak street station and tell Captain McGinty to sendme five of his best men without an instant's delay. Quiet now! Not aparticle of noise as you value your life."
"I'm fly, boss," whispered the boy, drawing himself cautiously into anupright position.
As he did so his legs swept over the hole.
Crash! Bang!
A heavy body had fallen through the stove-pipe hole, into the roombelow.
It was the iron stove-lifter, which a moment befor
e had rested quietlyupon the floor by Jerry's side.
In his movement to rise the legs of the boy had come in contact withit, sweeping it across the hole.
The intervening covering of thin paper was broken on the instant.
With a loud crash the stove-lifter, sweeping down through the opening,had fallen like a bomb-shell into the midst of the men assembled in theroom below.
There was a sudden exclamation in the voice of Callister.
Then all was as silent as the grave.
Like a flash Caleb Hook was upon his feet.
"Take care of her, Jerry," he whispered. "Lock the door after me andopen to no one. I shall head them off at the front entrance. GreatCaesar! how unfortunate! But I'll clap the bracelets on that villainCallister even if the rest escape."
He flung open the door and darted toward the stairs, Jerry Buck lockingit behind him as he passed.
Scarce had he descended half the flight connecting with the floorbelow, when a door was suddenly flung open and four men sprang out intothe passage dimly illuminated by a single hanging lamp.
"There he is!" exclaimed one of the men--the smallest, in whom thedetective instantly recognized his companion on the force, Mr. BillyCutts--"there's the fellow who dropped us his card. Gentlemen, this ismy friend, Detective Hook. He has come to pay us an evening call!"