THE STAIRCASE AT HEART'S DELIGHT
In the spring of 18--, the attention of the New York police wasattracted by the many cases of well-known men found drowned in thevarious waters surrounding the lower portion of our great city. Amongthese may be mentioned the name of Elwood Henderson, the noted teamerchant, whose remains were washed ashore at Redhook Point; and ofChristopher Bigelow, who was picked up off Governor's Island afterhaving been in the water for five days, and of another well-knownmillionaire whose name I cannot now recall, but who, I remember, wasseen to walk towards the East River one March evening, and was not metwith again till the 5th of April, when his body floated into one of thedocks near Peck's Slip.
As it seemed highly improbable that there should have been a concertedaction among so many wealthy and distinguished men to end their liveswithin a few weeks of each other, and all by the same method ofdrowning, we soon became suspicious that a more serious verdict thanthat of suicide should have been rendered in the case of Henderson,Bigelow, and the other gentleman I have mentioned. Yet one fact, commonto all these cases, pointed so conclusively to deliberate intention onthe part of the sufferers that we hesitated to take action.
This was, that upon the body of each of the above-mentioned personsthere were found, not only valuables in the shape of money and jewelry,but papers and memoranda of a nature calculated to fix the identity ofthe drowned man, in case the water should rob him of his personalcharacteristics. Consequently, we could not ascribe these deaths to adesire for plunder on the part of some unknown person.
I was a young man in those days, and full of ambition. So, though I saidnothing, I did not let this matter drop when the others did, but kept mymind persistently upon it and waited, with odd results as you will hear,for another victim to be reported at police headquarters.
Meantime I sought to discover some bond or connection between theseveral men who had been found drowned, which would serve to explaintheir similar fate. But all my efforts in this direction were fruitless.There was no bond between them, and the matter remained for a while anunsolved mystery.
Suddenly one morning a clue was placed, not in my hands, but in those ofa superior official who at that time exerted a great influence over thewhole force. He was sitting in his private room, when there was usheredinto his presence a young man of a dissipated but not unprepossessingappearance, who, after a pause of marked embarrassment, entered upon thefollowing story:
"I don't know whether or no I should offer an excuse for thecommunication I am about to make; but the matter I have to relate issimply this: Being hard up last night (for though a rich man's son Ioften lack money), I went to a certain pawnshop in the Bowery where Ihad been told I could raise money on my prospects. This place--you maysee it some time, so I will not enlarge upon it--did not strike mefavourably; but, being very anxious for a certain definite sum of money,I wrote my name in a book which was brought to me from some unknownquarter and proceeded to follow the young woman who attended me intowhat she was pleased to call her good master's private office.
"He may have been a good master, but he was anything but a good man. Inshort, sir, when he found out who I was, and how much I needed money, hesuggested that I should make an appointment with my father at a place hecalled Groll's in Grand Street, where, said he, 'your little affair willbe arranged, and you made a rich man within thirty days. That is,' heslily added, 'unless your father has already made a will, disinheritingyou.'
"I was shocked, sir, shocked beyond all my powers of concealment, not somuch at his words, which I hardly understood, as at his looks, which hada world of evil suggestion in them; so I raised my fist and would haveknocked him down, only that I found two young fellows at my elbows, whoheld me quiet for five minutes, while the old fellow talked to me. Heasked me if I came to him on a fool's errand or really to get money; andwhen I admitted that I had cherished hopes of obtaining a clear twothousand dollars from him, he coolly replied that he knew of but oneway in which I could hope to get such an amount, and that if I was toosqueamish to adopt it, I had made a mistake in coming to his shop, whichwas no missionary institution, etc., etc.
"Not wishing to irritate him, for there was menace in his eye, I asked,with a certain weak show of being sorry for my former heat, whereaboutsin Grand Street I should find this Groll.
"The retort was quick. 'Groll is not his name,' said he, 'and GrandStreet is not where you are to go to find him. I threw out a bait to seeif you would snap at it, but I find you timid, and therefore advise youto drop the matter entirely.'
"I was quite willing to do so, and answered him to this effect;whereupon, with a side glance I did not understand, but which made memore or less uneasy in regard to his intentions towards me, he motionedto the men who held my arms to let go their hold, which they at oncedid.
"'We have your signature,' growled the old man as I went out. 'If youpeach on us or trouble us in any way we will show it to your father andthat will put an end to all your hopes of future fortune.' Then raisinghis voice, he shouted to the girl in the outer office, 'Let the youngman see what he has signed.'
"She smiled and again brought forward the book in which I had sorecklessly placed my name, and there at the top of the page I read thesewords: 'For moneys received, I agree to notify Rube Goodman, within themonth, of the death of my father, so that he may recover from me,without loss of time, the sum of ten thousand dollars as his part of theamount I am bound to receive as my father's heir.'
"The sight of these lines knocked me hollow. But I am less of a cowardmorally than physically, and I determined to acquaint my father at oncewith what I had done, and get his advice as to whether or not I shouldinform the police of my adventure. He heard me with more considerationthan I expected, but insisted that I should immediately make known toyou my experience in this Bowery pawnbroker's shop."
The officer, highly interested, took down the young man's statement inwriting, and, after getting a more accurate description of the houseitself, allowed his visitor to go.
Fortunately for me, I was in the building at the time, and was able torespond when a man was called up to investigate this matter. Thinkingthat I saw a connection between it and the various mysterious deaths ofwhich I have previously spoken, I entered into the affair with muchspirit. But, wishing to be sure that my possibly unwarranted conclusionswere correct, I took pains to inquire, before proceeding upon my errand,into the character of the heirs who had inherited the property of ElwoodHenderson and Christopher Bigelow, and found that in each case there wasone among the rest who was well known for his profligacy and recklessexpenditure. It was a significant discovery, and increased, ifpossible, my interest in running down this nefarious trafficker in thelives of wealthy men.
Knowing that I could hope for no success in my character of detective, Imade an arrangement with the father of the young gentleman beforealluded to, by which I was to enter the pawnshop as an emissary of thelatter. Accordingly, I appeared there, one dull November afternoon, inthe garb of a certain Western sporting man, who, for a consideration,allowed me the temporary use of his name and credentials.
Entering beneath the three golden balls, with the swagger and generalair of ownership I thought most likely to impose upon the self-satisfiedfemale who presided over the desk, I asked to see her boss.
"On your own business?" she queried, glancing with suspicion at my shortcoat, which was rather more showy than elegant.
"No," I returned, "not on my own business, but on that of a younggent----"
"Any one whose name is written here?" she interposed, reaching towardsme the famous book, over the top of which, however, she was careful tolay her arm.
I glanced down the page she had opened and instantly detected that ofthe young gentleman on whose behalf I was supposed to be there, andnodded "Yes," with all the assurance of which I was capable.
"Come, then," said she, ushering me without more ado into a den ofdiscomfort where sat a man with a great beard and such heavy overhangingeyebrows that I c
ould hardly detect the twinkle of his eyes, keen andincisive as they were.
Smiling upon him, but not in the same way I had upon the girl, I glancedbehind me at the open door, and above me at the partitions, which failedto reach the ceiling. Then I shook my head and drew a step nearer.
"I have come," I insinuatingly whispered, "on behalf of a certain partywho left this place in a huff a day or so ago, but who since then hashad time to think the matter over, and has sent me with an apology whichhe hopes"--here I put on a diabolical smile, copied, I declare to you,from the one I saw at that moment on his own lips--"you will accept."
The old wretch regarded me for full two minutes in a way to unmask mehad I possessed less confidence in my disguise and in my ability tosupport it.
"And what is this young gentleman's name?" he finally asked.
For reply, I handed him a slip of paper. He took it and read the fewlines written on it, after which he began to rub his palms softlytogether with an unction eminently in keeping with the stray glints oflight that now and then found their way through his bushy eyebrows.
"And so the young gentleman had not the courage to come again himself?"he softly suggested, with just the suspicion of an ironical laugh."Thought, perhaps, I would exact too much commission; or make him paytoo roundly for his impertinent assurance."
I shrugged my shoulders, but vouchsafed no immediate reply, and he sawthat he had to open the business himself. He did it warily and with manyan incisive question which would have tripped me up if I had not beenvery much on my guard; but it all ended, as such matters usually do, inmutual understanding, and a promise that if the young gentleman waswilling to sign a certain paper, which, by the way, was not shown me, hewould in exchange give him an address which, if made proper use of,would lead to my patron finding himself an independent man within a veryfew days.
As this address was the one thing I was most desirous of obtaining, Iprofessed myself satisfied with the arrangement, and proceeded to huntup my patron, as he was called. Informing him of the result of my visit,I asked if his interest in ferreting out these criminals was strongenough to lead him to sign the vile document which the pawnbroker wouldprobably have in readiness for him on the morrow; and being told it was,we separated for that day, with the understanding that we were to meetthe next morning at the spot chosen by the pawnbroker for the completionof his nefarious bargain.
Being certain that I was being followed in all my movements by theagents of this adept in villainy, I took care, upon leaving Mr. L----,to repair to the hotel of the sporting man I was personifying. Makingmyself square with the proprietor I took up my quarters in the room ofmy sporting friend, and the better to deceive any spy who might belurking about, I received his letters and sent out his telegrams, which,if they did not create confusion in the affairs of "The Plunger," mustat least have occasioned him no little work the next day.
Promptly at ten o'clock on the following morning I met my patron at theappointed place of rendezvous; and when I tell you that this was noother than the ancient and now disused cemetery of which a portion isstill to be seen off Chatham Square, you will understand the uncannynature of this whole adventure, and the lurking sense there was in it ofbrooding death and horror. The scene, which in these days is disturbedby elevated railroad trains and the flapping of long lines ofparti-coloured clothes strung high up across the quiet tombstones, wasat that time one of peaceful rest, in the midst of a quarter devoted toeverything for which that rest is the fitting and desirable end; and aswe paused among the mossy stones, we found it hard to realise that in afew minutes there would be standing beside us the concentrated essenceof all that was evil and despicable in human nature.
He arrived with a smile on his countenance that completed his ugliness,and would have frightened any honest man from his side at once. Merelyglancing my way, he shuffled up to my companion, and leading him aside,drew out a paper which he laid on a flat tombstone with a gesturesignificant of his desire that the other should affix to it therequired signature.
Meantime I stood guard, and while attempting to whistle a light air, wascarelessly taking in the surroundings, and conjecturing, as best Imight, the reasons which had induced the old ghoul to make use of thisspot for his diabolical business, and had about decided that it wasbecause he was a ghoul, and thus felt at home among the symbols ofmortality, when I caught sight of two or three young fellows who werelounging on the other side of the fence.
These were so evidently accomplices that I wondered if the two sly boysI had engaged to stand by me through this affair had spotted them, andwould know enough to follow them back to their haunts.
A few minutes later, the old rascal came sneaking towards me, with agleam of satisfaction in his half-closed eyes.
"You are not wanted any longer," he grunted. "The young gentleman toldme to say that he could look out for himself now."
"The young gentleman had better pay me the round fifty he promised me,"I grumbled in return, with that sudden change from indifference tomenace which I thought best calculated to further my plans; andshouldering the miserable wretch aside, I stepped up to my companion,who was still lingering in a state of hesitation among the gravestones.
"Quick! Tell me the number and street which he has given you!" Iwhispered, in a tone quite out of keeping with the angry andreproachful air I had assumed.
He was about to answer, when the old fellow came sidling up behind us.Instantly the young man before me rose to the occasion, and putting onan air of conciliation, said in a soothing tone:
"There, there, don't bluster. Do one thing more for me, and I will addanother fifty to that I promised you. Conjure up an anonymousletter--you know how--and send it to my father, saying that if he wantsto know where his son loses his hundreds, he must go to the place on thedock, opposite 5 South Street, some night shortly after nine. It wouldnot work with most men, but it will with my father, and when he has beenin and out of that place, and I succeed to the fortune he will leave me,then I will remember you, and----"
"Say, too," a sinister voice here added in my ear, "that if he wishes toeffect an entrance into the gambling den which his son haunts, he musttake the precaution of tying a bit of blue ribbon in his buttonhole. Itis a signal meaning business, and must not be forgotten," chuckled theold fellow, evidently deceived at last into thinking I was really one ofhis own kind.
I answered by a wink, and taking care to attempt no furthercommunication with my patron, I left the two, as soon as possible, andwent back to the hotel, where I dropped "the sport," and assumed acharacter and dress which enabled me to make my way undetected to thehouse of my young patron, where for two days I lay low, waiting for asuitable time in which to make my final attempt to penetrate thismystery.
I knew that for the adventure I was now contemplating considerablecourage was required. But I did not hesitate. The time had come for meto show my mettle. In the few communications I was enabled to hold withmy superiors I told them of my progress and arranged with them my planof work. As we all agreed that I was about to encounter no commonvillainy, these plans naturally partook of finesse, as you will see ifyou follow my narrative to the end.
Early in the evening of a cool November day I sallied forth into thestreets, dressed in the habiliments and wearing the guise of the wealthyold gentleman whose secret guest I had been for the last few days. As hewas old and portly, and I young and spare, this disguise had cost me nolittle thought and labour. But assisted as I was by the darkness, I hadbut little fear of betraying myself to any chance spy who might be uponthe watch, especially as Mr. L---- had a peculiar walk, which, in myshort stay with him, I had learned to imitate perfectly. In the lapel ofmy overcoat I had tied a tag of blue ribbon, and, though for all I knewthis was a signal devoting me to a secret and mysterious death, I walkedalong in a buoyant condition of mind, attributable, no doubt, to theexcitement of the venture and to my desire to test my powers, even atthe risk of my life.
It was nine o'clock when I reached South Street. It
was no new regionto me, nor was I ignorant of the specified drinking den on the dock towhich I had been directed. I remembered it as a bright spot in a mass ofship-prows and bow-rigging, and was possessed, besides, of a vagueconsciousness that there was something odd in connection with it whichhad aroused my curiosity sufficiently in the past for me to have onceformed the resolution of seeing it again under circumstances which wouldallow me to give it some attention. But I never thought that thecircumstances would involve my own life, impossible as it is for adetective to reckon upon the future or to foresee the events into whichhe will be hurried by the next crime which may be reported at policeheadquarters.
There were but few persons in the street when I crossed to The Heart'sDelight--so named from the heart-shaped opening in the framework of thedoor, through which shone a light, inviting enough to one chilled by thekeen November air and oppressed by the desolate appearance of the almostdeserted street. But amongst those persons I thought I recognised morethan one familiar form, and felt reassured as to the watch which hadbeen set upon the house.
The night was dark and the river especially so, but in the gloomy spacebeyond the dock I detected a shadow blacker than the rest, which I tookfor the police boat they had promised to have in readiness in case Ineeded rescue from the waterside. Otherwise the surroundings were asusual, and saving the gruff singing of some drunken sailor coming from anarrow side street near by, no sound disturbed the somewhat lugubrioussilence of this weird and forsaken spot.
Pausing an instant before entering, I glanced up at the building, whichwas about three stories high, and endeavoured to see what there wasabout it which had once arrested my attention, and came to theconclusion that it was its exceptional situation on the dock, and theghostly effect of the hoisting-beam projecting from the upper story likea gibbet. And yet this beam was common to many a warehouse in thevicinity, though in none of them were there any such signs of life asproceeded from the curious mixture of sail loft, boat shop, and drinkingsaloon, now before me. Could it be that the ban of criminality was uponthe house, and that I had been conscious of this without being able torealise the cause of my interest?
Not stopping to solve my sensations further, I tried the door, and,finding it yield easily to my touch, turned the knob and entered. For amoment I was blinded by the smoky glare of the heated atmosphere intowhich I stepped, but presently I was able to distinguish the vagueoutlines of an oyster bar in the distance, and the motionless figures ofsome half-dozen men, whose movements had been arrested by my suddenentrance. For an instant this picture remained; then the drinking andcard playing were resumed, and I stood, as it were, alone, on the sandedfloor near the door.
Improving the opportunity for a closer inspection of the place, I wasstruck by its picturesqueness. It had evidently been once used as a shipchandlery, and on the walls, which were but partly plastered, therestill hung old bits of marlin, rusty rings, and such other evidences offormer traffic as did not interfere with the present more lucrativebusiness.
Below were the two bars, one at the right of the door, and the other atthe lower end of the room near a window, through whose small, squarepanes I caught a glimpse of the coloured lights of a couple offerryboats, passing each other in midstream.
At a table near me sat two men, grumbling at each other over a game ofcards. They were large and powerful figures in the contracted space ofthis long and narrow room, and my heart gave a bound of joy as Irecognised on them certain marks by which I was to know friend from foein this possible den of thieves and murderers.
Two sailors at the bar were bona fide habitues of the place and so werethe two other waterside characters I could faintly discern in one of thedim corners. Meantime a man was approaching me.
Let me see if I can describe him. He was about thirty, and had thecomplexion and figure of a consumptive, but his eye shone with theyellow glare of a beast of prey, and in the cadaverous hollows of hisashen cheeks and amid the lines about his thin drawn lips there lay, forall his conciliatory smile, an expression so cold and yet so ferociousthat I spotted him at once as the man to whose genius we were indebtedfor the new scheme of murder which I was jeopardising my life tounderstand. But I allowed none of the repugnance with which he inspiredme to appear in my manner, and, greeting him with half a nod, waited forhim to speak. His voice had that smooth quality which betrays thehypocrite.
"Has the gentleman any appointment here?" he asked, letting his glancefall for the merest instant on the lapel of my coat.
I returned a decided affirmative. "Or rather," I went on, with a meaninglook he evidently comprehended, "my son has, and I have made up my mindto know just what deviltry he is up to these days. I can make it worthyour while to give me the opportunity."
"Oh, I see," he assented with a glance at the pocketbook I had justdrawn out. "You want a private room from which you can watch the youngscapegrace. I understand, I understand. But the private rooms are above.Gentlemen are not comfortable here."
"I should say not," I murmured, and drew from the pocketbook a billwhich I slid quietly into his hand. "Now take me where I shall be safe,"I suggested, "and yet in full sight of the room where the younggentlemen play. I wish to catch him at his tricks. Afterwards----"
"All will be well," he finished smoothly, with another glance at my blueribbon. "You see I do not ask you the young gentleman's name. I takeyour money and leave all the rest to you. Only don't make a scandal, Ipray, for my house has the name of being quiet."
"Yes," thought I, "too quiet!" and for an instant felt my spirits failme. But it was only for an instant. I had friends about me and a pistolat half-cock in the pocket of my overcoat. Why should I fear anysurprise, prepared as I was for every emergency?
"I will show you up in a moment," said he; and left me to put up a heavyboard shutter over the window opening on the river. Was this a signal ora precaution? I glanced towards my two friends playing cards, tookanother note of their broad shoulders and brawny arms, and prepared tofollow my host, who now stood bowing at the other end of the room,before a covered staircase which was manifestly the sole means ofreaching the floor above.
The staircase was quite a feature in the room. It ran from back tofront, and was boarded all the way up to the ceiling. On these boardshung a few useless bits of chain, wire, and knotted ends of tarredropes, which swung to and fro as the sharp November blast struck thebuilding, giving out a weird and strangely muffled sound. Why did thissound, so easily to be accounted for, ring in my ears like a note ofwarning? I understand now, but I did not then, full of expectation as Iwas for developments out of the ordinary.
Crossing the room, I entered upon the staircase, in the wake of mycompanion. Though the two men at cards did not look up as I passed them,I noticed that they were alert and ready for any signal I might chooseto give them. But I was not ready to give one yet. I must see dangerbefore I summoned help, and there was no token of danger yet.
When we were about half-way up the stairs the faint light which hadilluminated us from below suddenly vanished, and we found ourselves intotal darkness. The door at the foot had been closed by a careful hand,and I felt, rather than heard, the stealthy pushing of a bolt across it.
My first impulse was to forsake my guide and rush back, but I subduedthe unworthy impulse and stood quite still, while my companion,exclaiming, "Damn that fellow! What does he mean by shutting the doorbefore we're half-way up!" struck a match and lit a gas jet in the roomabove, which poured a flood of light upon the staircase.
Drawing my hand from the pocket in which I had put my revolver, Ihastened after him into the small landing at the top of the stairs. Anopen door was before me, in which he stood bowing, with the half-burntmatch in his hand. "This is the place, sir," he announced, motioning mein.
I entered and he remained by the door, while I passed quickly about theroom, which was bare of every article of furniture save a solitary tableand chair. There was not even a window in it, with the exception of onesmall light situated so high up in the corn
er made by the juttingstaircase that I wondered at its use, and was only relieved of extremeapprehension at the prison-like appearance of the place by the gleam oflight which came through this dusty pane, showing that I was notentirely removed from the presence of my foes if I was from that of myfriends.
"Ah, you have spied the window," remarked my host, advancing toward mewith a countenance he vainly endeavoured to make reassuring andfriendly. "That is your post of observation, sir," he whispered, with agreat show of mystery. "By mounting on the table you can peer into theroom where my young friends sit securely at play."
As it was not part of my scheme to show any special mistrust, I merelysmiled a little grimly, and cast a glance at the table on which stood abottle of brandy and one glass.
"Very good brandy," he whispered; "not such stuff as we give thosefellows downstairs."
I shrugged my shoulders and he slowly backed towards the door.
"The young men you bid me watch are very quiet," I suggested, with acareless wave of my hand towards the room he had mentioned.
"Oh, there is no one there yet. They begin to straggle in about teno'clock."
"Ah," was my quiet rejoinder, "I am likely, then, to have use for yourbrandy."
He smiled again and made a swift motion towards the door.
"If you want anything," said he, "just step to the foot of the staircaseand let me know. The whole establishment is at your service." And withone final grin that remains in my mind as the most threatening anddiabolical I have ever witnessed, he laid his hand on the knob of thedoor and slid quickly out.
It was done with such an air of final farewell that I felt myapprehensions take a positive form. Rushing towards the door throughwhich he had just vanished, I listened and heard, as I thought, hisstealthy feet descend the stair. But when I sought to follow, I foundmyself for the second time overwhelmed by darkness. The gas jet, whichhad hitherto burned with great brightness in the small room, had beenturned off from below, and beyond the faint glimmer which found its waythrough the small window of which I have spoken, not a ray of light nowdisturbed the heavy gloom of this gruesome apartment.
I had thought of every contingency but this, and for a few minutes myspirits were dashed. But I soon recovered some remnants ofself-possession, and began feeling for the knob I could no longer see.Finding it after a few futile attempts, I was relieved to discover thatthis door at least was not locked; and, opening it with a careful hand,I listened intently, but could hear nothing save the smothered sound ofmen talking in the room below.
Should I signal for my companions? No, for the secret was not yet mineas to how men passed from this room into the watery grave which was theevident goal for all wearers of the blue ribbon.
Stepping back into the middle of the room, I carefully pondered mysituation, but could get no further than the fact that I was somehow,and in some way, in mortal peril. Would it come in the form of a bullet,or a deadly thrust from an unseen knife? I did not think so. For, to saynothing of the darkness, there was one reassuring fact which recurredconstantly to my mind in connection with the murders I was endeavouringto trace to this den of iniquity.
None of the gentlemen who had been found drowned had shown any marks ofviolence on their bodies, so it was not attack I was to fear, but somemysterious, underhanded treachery which would rob me of consciousnessand make the precipitation of my body into the water both safe and easy.Perhaps it was in the bottle of brandy that the peril lay; perhaps--butwhy speculate further! I would watch till midnight and then, if nothinghappened, signal my companions to raid the house.
Meantime a peep into the next room might help me towards solving themystery. Setting the bottle and glass aside, I dragged the table acrossthe floor, placed it under the lighted window, mounted, and was about topeer through, when the light in that apartment was put out also. Angryand overwhelmed, I leaped down, and, stretching out my hands till theytouched the wainscoting, I followed the wall around till I came to theknob of the door, which I frantically clutched. But I did not turn itimmediately, I was too anxious to catch these villains at work.
Would I be conscious of the harm they meditated against me, or would Iimperceptibly yield to some influence of which I was not yet conscious,and drop to the floor before I could draw my revolver or put to my mouththe whistle upon which I depended for assistance and safety? It was hardto tell, but I determined to cling to my first intention a littlelonger, and so stood waiting and counting the minutes, while wonderingif the captain of the police boat was not getting impatient, and whetherI had not more to fear from the anxiety of my friends than the cupidityof my foes.
You see, I had anticipated communicating with the men in this boat bycertain signals and tokens which had been arranged between us. But thelack of windows in the room had made all such arrangements futile, so Iknew as little of their actions as they did of my sufferings; all ofwhich did not tend to add to the cheerfulness of my position.
However, I held out for a half-hour, listening, waiting, and watching ina darkness which, like that of Egypt, could be felt, and when thesuspense grew intolerable I struck a match and let its blue flameflicker for a moment over the face of my watch. But the matches soongave out and with them my patience, if not my courage, and I determinedto end the suspense by knocking at the door beneath.
This resolution taken, I pulled open the door before me and stepped out.Though I could see nothing, I remembered the narrow landing at the topof the stairs, and, stretching out my arms, I felt for the boarding oneither hand, guiding myself by it, and began to descend, when somethingrising, as it were, out of the cavernous darkness before me made me haltand draw back in mingled dread and horror.
But the impression, strong as it was, was only momentary, and, resolvedto be done with the matter, I precipitated myself downward, whensuddenly, at about the middle of the staircase, my feet slipped and Islid forward, plunging and reaching out with hands whose frenzied graspfound nothing to cling to, down a steep inclined plane--or what to mybewildered senses appeared such--till I struck a yielding surface andpassed with one sickening plunge into the icy waters of the river, whichin another moment had closed dark and benumbing above my head.
It was all so rapid I did not think of uttering a cry. But happily forme the splash I made told the story, and I was rescued before I couldsink a second time.
It was full half an hour before I had sufficiently recovered from theshock to relate my story. But when once I had made it known, you canimagine the gusto with which the police prepared to enter the house andconfound the obliging host with a sight of my dripping garments andaccusing face. And, indeed, in all my professional experience I havenever beheld a more sudden merging of the bully into a coward than wasto be seen in this slick villain's face, when I was suddenly pulled fromthe crowd and placed before him, with the old man's wig gone from myhead, and the tag of blue ribbon still clinging to my wet coat.
His game was up, and he saw it; and Ebenezer Gryce's career had begun.
Like all destructive things the device by which I had been run into theriver was simple enough when understood. In the first place it had beenconstructed to serve the purpose of a stairway and chute. The latter wasin plain sight when it was used by the sailmakers to run the finishedsails into the waiting yawls below. At the time of my adventure, and forsome time before, the possibilities of the place had been discovered bymine host, who had ingeniously put a partition up the entire stairway,dividing the steps from the smooth runway. At the upper part of therunway he had built a few steps, wherewith to lure the unwary far enoughdown to insure a fatal descent. To make sure of his game he had likewiseceiled the upper room all around, including the inclosure of the stairs.
The door to the chute and the door to the stairs were side by side, andbeing made of the same boards as the wainscoting, were scarcely visiblewhen closed, while the single knob that was used, being transferablefrom one to the other, naturally gave the impression that there was butone door. When this adroit villain called my atten
tion to the littlewindow around the corner, he no doubt removed the knob from the stairs'door and quickly placed it in the one opening upon the chute. Anotherdoor, connecting the two similar landings without, explains how he gotfrom the chute staircase into which he passed on leaving me, to the onecommunicating with the room below.
The mystery was solved, and my footing on the force secured; but to thisday--and I am an old man now--I have not forgotten the horror of themoment when my feet slipped from under me, and I felt myself slidingdownward, without hope of rescue, into a pit of heaving waters, where somany men of conspicuous virtue had already ended their valuable lives.
Myriad thoughts flashed through my brain in that brief interval, andamong them the whole method of operating this death-trap, together withevery detail of evidence that would secure the conviction of the entiregang.