corporations had set themselves the task of clearing out the
Scowrers; but, whatever his reason, his actions were those of a man
who is preparing for the worst. Every paper which would incriminate
him was destroyed before he left the house. After that he gave a long
sigh of satisfaction; for it seemed to him that he was safe. And yet
the danger must still have pressed somewhat upon him; for on his way
to the lodge he stopped at old man Shafter's. The house was forbidden
him; but when he tapped at the window Ettie came out to him. The
dancing Irish deviltry had gone from her lover's eyes. She read his
danger in his earnest face.
"Something has happened!" she cried. "Oh, Jack, you are in danger!"
"Sure, it is not very bad, my sweetheart. And yet it may be wise that
we make a move before it is worse."
"Make a move?"
"I promised you once that I would go some day. I think the time is
coming. I had news to-night, bad news, and I see trouble coming."
"The police?"
"Well, a Pinkerton. But, sure, you wouldn't know what that is,
acushla, nor what it may mean to the likes of me. I'm too deep in
this thing, and I may have to get out of it quick. You said you would
come with me if I went."
"Oh, Jack, it would be the saving of you!"
"I'm an honest man in some things, Ettie. I wouldn't hurt a hair of
your bonny head for all that the world can give, nor ever pull you
down one inch from the golden throne above the clouds where I always
see you. Would you trust me?"
She put her hand in his without a word. "Well, then, listen to what I
say, and do as I order you, for indeed it's the only way for us.
Things are going to happen in this valley. I feel it in my bones.
There may be many of us that will have to look out for ourselves. I'm
one, anyhow. If I go, by day or night, it's you that must come with
me!"
"I'd come after you, Jack."
"No, no, you shall come with me. If this valley is closed to me and I
can never come back, how can I leave you behind, and me perhaps in
hiding from the police with never a chance of a message? It's with me
you must come. I know a good woman in the place I come from, and it's
there I'd leave you till we can get married. Will you come?"
"Yes, Jack, I will come."
"God bless you for your trust in me! It's a fiend out of hell that I
should be if I abused it. Now, mark you, Ettie, it will be just a
word to you, and when it reaches you, you will drop everything and
come right down to the waiting room at the depot and stay there till
I come for you."
"Day or night, I'll come at the word, Jack."
Somewhat eased in mind, now that his own preparations for escape had
been begun, McMurdo went on to the lodge. It had already assembled,
and only by complicated signs and counter-signs could he pass through
the outer guard and inner guard who close-tiled it. A buzz of
pleasure and welcome greeted him as he entered. The long room was
crowded, and through the haze of tobacco smoke he saw the tangled
black mane of the Bodymaster, the cruel, unfriendly features of
Baldwin, the vulture face of Harraway, the secretary, and a dozen
more who were among the leaders of the lodge. He rejoiced that they
should all be there to take counsel over his news.
"Indeed, it's glad we are to see you, Brother!" cried the chairman.
"There's business here that wants a Solomon in judgment to set it
right."
"It's Lander and Egan," explained his neighbour as he took his seat.
"They both claim the head money given by the lodge for the shooting
of old man Crabbe over at Stylestown, and who's to say which fired
the bullet?"
McMurdo rose in his place and raised his hand. The expression of his
face froze the attention of the audience. There was a dead hush of
expectation.
"Eminent Bodymaster," he said, in a solemn voice, "I claim urgency!"
"Brother McMurdo claims urgency," said McGinty. "It's a claim that by
the rules of this lodge takes precedence. Now Brother, we attend
you."
McMurdo took the letter from his pocket.
"Eminent Bodymaster and Brethren," he said, "I am the bearer of ill
news this day; but it is better that it should be known and
discussed, than that a blow should fall upon us without warning which
would destroy us all. I have information that the most powerful and
richest organizations in this state have bound themselves together
for our destruction, and that at this very moment there is a
Pinkerton detective, one Birdy Edwards, at work in the valley
collecting the evidence which may put a rope round the necks of many
of us, and send every man in this room into a felon's cell. That is
the situation for the discussion of which I have made a claim of
urgency."
There was a dead silence in the room. It was broken by the chairman.
"What is your evidence for this, Brother McMurdo?" he asked.
"It is in this letter which has come into my hands," said McMurdo. He
read the passage aloud. "It is a matter of honour with me that I can
give no further particulars about the letter, nor put it into your
hands; but I assure you that there is nothing else in it which can
affect the interests of the lodge. I put the case before you as it
has reached me."
"Let me say, Mr. Chairman," said one of the older brethren, "that I
have heard of Birdy Edwards, and that he has the name of being the
best man in the Pinkerton service."
"Does anyone know him by sight?" asked McGinty.
"Yes," said McMurdo, "I do."
There was a murmur of astonishment through the hall.
"I believe we hold him in the hollow of our hands," he continued with
an exulting smile upon his face. "If we act quickly and wisely, we
can cut this thing short. If I have your confidence and your help, it
is little that we have to fear."
"What have we to fear, anyhow? What can he know of our affairs?"
"You might say so if all were as stanch as you, Councillor. But this
man has all the millions of the capitalists at his back. Do you think
there is no weaker brother among all our lodges that could not be
bought? He will get at our secrets--maybe has got them already.
There's only one sure cure."
"That he never leaves the valley," said Baldwin.
McMurdo nodded. "Good for you, Brother Baldwin," he said. "You and I
have had our differences, but you have said the true word to-night."
"Where is he, then? Where shall we know him?"
"Eminent Bodymaster," said McMurdo, earnestly, "I would put it to you
that this is too vital a thing for us to discuss in open lodge. God
forbid that I should throw a doubt on anyone here; but if so much as
a word of gossip got to the ears of this man, there would be an end
of any chance of our getting him. I would ask the lodge to choose a
trusty committee, Mr. Chairman--yourself, if I might suggest it, and
Brother Baldwin here, and five more. Then I can talk freely of what I
know and of what I advise should be done."
The proposition was at once adopted, and the committee chosen.
Besides the chairman and Baldwin there were the vulture-faced
secretary, Harraway, Tiger Cormac, the brutal young assassin, Carter,
the treasurer, and the brothers Willaby, fearless and desperate men
who would stick at nothing.
The usual revelry of the lodge was short and subdued: for there was a
cloud upon the men's spirits, and many there for the first time began
to see the cloud of avenging Law drifting up in that serene sky under
which they had dwelt so long. The horrors they had dealt out to
others had been so much a part of their settled lives that the
thought of retribution had become a remote one, and so seemed the
more startling now that it came so closely upon them. They broke up
early and left their leaders to their council.
"Now, McMurdo!" said McGinty when they were alone. The seven men sat
frozen in their seats.
"I said just now that I knew Birdy Edwards," McMurdo explained. "I
need not tell you that he is not here under that name. He's a brave
man, but not a crazy one. He passes under the name of Steve Wilson,
and he is lodging at Hobson's Patch."
"How do you know this?"
"Because I fell into talk with him. I thought little of it at the
time, nor would have given it a second thought but for this letter;
but now I'm sure it's the man. I met him on the cars when I went down
the line on Wednesday--a hard case if ever there was one. He said he
was a reporter. I believed it for the moment. Wanted to know all he
could about the Scowrers and what he called 'the outrages' for a New
York paper. Asked me every kind of question so as to get something.
You bet I was giving nothing away. 'I'd pay for it and pay well,'
said he, 'if I could get some stuff that would suit my editor.' I
said what I thought would please him best, and he handed me a
twenty-dollar bill for my information. 'There's ten times that for
you,' said he, 'if you can find me all that I want.'"
"What did you tell him, then?"
"Any stuff I could make up."
"How do you know he wasn't a newspaper man?"
"I'll tell you. He got out at Hobson's Patch, and so did I. I chanced
into the telegraph bureau, and he was leaving it.
"'See here,' said the operator after he'd gone out, 'I guess we
should charge double rates for this.'--'I guess you should,' said I.
He had filled the form with stuff that might have been Chinese, for
all we could make of it. 'He fires a sheet of this off every day,'
said the clerk. 'Yes,' said I; 'it's special news for his paper, and
he's scared that the others should tap it.' That was what the
operator thought and what I thought at the time; but I think
differently now."
"By Gar! I believe you are right," said McGinty. "But what do you
allow that we should do about it?"
"Why not go right down now and fix him?" someone suggested.
"Ay, the sooner the better."
"I'd start this next minute if I knew where we could find him," said
McMurdo. "He's in Hobson's Patch; but I don't know the house. I've
got a plan, though, if you'll only take my advice."
"Well, what is it?"
"I'll go to the Patch to-morrow morning. I'll find him through the
operator. He can locate him, I guess. Well, then I'll tell him that
I'm a Freeman myself. I'll offer him all the secrets of the lodge for
a price. You bet he'll tumble to it. I'll tell him the papers are at
my house, and that it's as much as my life would be worth to let him
come while folk were about. He'll see that that's horse sense. Let
him come at ten o'clock at night, and he shall see everything. That
will fetch him sure."
"Well?"
"You can plan the rest for yourselves. Widow MacNamara's is a lonely
house. She's as true as steel and as deaf as a post. There's only
Scanlan and me in the house. If I get his promise--and I'll let you
know if I do--I'd have the whole seven of you come to me by nine
o'clock. We'll get him in. If ever he gets out alive--well, he can
talk of Birdy Edwards's luck for the rest of his days!"
"There's going to be a vacancy at Pinkerton's or I'm mistaken. Leave
it at that, McMurdo. At nine to-morrow we'll be with you. You once
get the door shut behind him, and you can leave the rest with us."
CHAPTER VII
The Trapping of Birdy Edwards
As McMurdo had said, the house in which he lived was a lonely one and
very well suited for such a crime as they had planned. It was on the
extreme fringe of the town and stood well back from the road. In any
other case the conspirators would have simply called out their man,
as they had many a time before, and emptied their pistols into his
body; but in this instance it was very necessary to find out how much
he knew, how he knew it, and what had been passed on to his
employers.
It was possible that they were already too late and that the work had
been done. If that was indeed so, they could at least have their
revenge upon the man who had done it. But they were hopeful that
nothing of great importance had yet come to the detective's
knowledge, as otherwise, they argued, he would not have troubled to
write down and forward such trivial information as McMurdo claimed to
have given him. However, all this they would learn from his own lips.
Once in their power, they would find a way to make him speak. It was
not the first time that they had handled an unwilling witness.
