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By PAUL AND MABEL THORNE
_Authors of "The Sheridan Road Mystery"_
NEW YORK DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 1922
COPYRIGHT, 1922 BY DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY, INC.
THE PLIMPTON PRESS, NORWOOD, MASS PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I--THE TOLL IS EXACTED CHAPTER II--"FRIENDS OF THE POOR" CHAPTER III--ENGINEERING-CRIMINOLOGY CHAPTER IV--THE CAR IN THE FOG CHAPTER V--THE HAUNTED TREE CHAPTER VI--THE FLAMING HAND CHAPTER VII--SPIRIT CLUES CHAPTER VIII--THE GIRL ON THE HORSE CHAPTER IX--LUCY CHAPTER X--CROSSED THEORIES CHAPTER XI--TELEPHONE CALLS CHAPTER XII--SATURDAY CHAPTER XIII--A PUZZLING WARNING CHAPTER XIV--THE INTRUDERS CHAPTER XV--THE MASK OF DEATH CHAPTER XVI--THE FATAL DANCE CHAPTER XVII--AT THE DOORSTEP CHAPTER XVIII--TRIANGULATION CHAPTER XIX--FACE TO FACE CHAPTER XX--THE INVISIBLE DETECTIVE
THE SECRET TOLL
CHAPTER I--THE TOLL IS EXACTED
"I'm damned if I give up a cent! I'll die first!"
"You very likely will. Others have. To refuse these people is the firststep toward suicide."
"But are the police so impotent that a gang like this one can operateunmolested right under their very noses?"
"The police are efficient in ordinary cases. These people, however,operate mysteriously. So far, the police have been helpless."
The two men who thus discussed a criminal clique which was extortingmoney from prominent and wealthy citizens were seated in an exclusiveMichigan Avenue club. From their deeply upholstered leather chairs theylooked out across the busy street, with its hundreds of automobiles andstrolling pedestrians, to the green lawns and leafing trees of GrantPark, awakened into renewed life by the soft breezes and warm sunshineof early June.
To the first speaker, Robert Forrester, lately returned from armyservice in Europe, and familiar with the privations, struggles andhorrors of the great war, it seemed ridiculous that a band of criminalscould endanger life in the heart of this bustling, crowded, well-policedcity. Yet the threat was in his hand, and his older and presumably wisercompanion assured him that they could make good the threat.
Robert Forrester was a young man of thirty--tall, dark and broadshouldered; his face deeply tanned by long army service. As a member ofan old and wealthy family, of which he was the sole male survivor andhead, Forrester might have followed the path selected by many of hisboyhood chums and spent his life in the pursuit of pleasure or more orless indifferent occupations. He had chosen, however, to become a civilengineer; was graduated with honors, and had taken active part in thecompletion of several big railroad projects before the great war.
When the United States entered the war he at once enlisted and went toFrance as an army engineer. He had been home now for several months andwas planning to resume work in his profession at the first opportunity.The financial and business condition of the country did not favor largeconstruction work at this time, so he was still lingering in Chicago,spending much of his time at the club, where he could keep in closetouch with some of the far-sighted and influential men who planned andmade possible the big undertakings which would give him the opportunityhe sought.
His companion and confidant of the moment, Frederick Prentice, was pastmiddle age. The possessor of large, inherited wealth, he was totallyunlike the younger and more energetic man. He had never enteredbusiness, and the only times he ever condescended to visit a businessoffice were occasioned by infrequent plunges into speculation through abroker friend, or the necessity of calling on his lawyer.
In his easy-going, well-financed existence he had had few problems orworries. To Prentice the easiest way out was the logical course.
Forrester knew this as well as any man, and was therefore littleinclined to heed the well-meant advice which Prentice was giving him--toyield without a murmur to the outrageous and exorbitant demand that hadbeen made upon him.
The young man opened the clenched hand in which he had crushed thewarning message when making his vehement declaration. He smoothed outthe offending paper on his knee and glared at it--reading again thewords that enraged him more each time he studied them. The message wascrudely hand-printed on a square of ordinary wrapping paper such as canbe found in any store. At the top was the rough drawing of a humanskull. Forrester read the words aloud.
In Jasper lane two hundred feet west of Sheridan Road you will see a great oak tree on the left side. Before midnight Saturday place$10,000 in the opening you will find in this tree. Failure to comply means death. Be warned! _Friends of the Poor_
"On the other side," declared Forrester, "we lived and tramped andfought with spies and informers at our elbows. Enemy agents, ready toturn a dastardly trick at any moment, were on every hand. Thoughconditions were just ripe for them, sooner or later we spottedthem--practically every one. Do you mean to tell me that here, in apeaceful, law-abiding city, with trained police and intelligentdetectives, we can't run down a blackmailing crew like this one?"
"That is exactly what has happened," said Prentice.
"And you want me to believe that every one of the victims has given upwithout a fight; that no real effort has been made to apprehend thesedesperadoes?"
"My, no!" exclaimed Prentice. "Several of the men threatened went to thepolice. The police put their best men on the case for weeks, but so faras I know, they never discovered a worth while clue."
"What happened to those men who resisted?" inquired Forrester.
"They either finally acceded to the demands, or were found dead. That iswhy I warned you to pay and say nothing. Remember, Bob, you have beenaway for a long period, while I have stayed on right here in the city agreater part of the time. I know exactly what has transpired in thismatter; I speak from _actual experience_."
"Experience?" questioned Forrester, noting something significant in thestress which Prentice laid on his last words.
"Young man," said Prentice, shaking a finger at Forrester, "you may havehad wider experience with some angles to life than I have had. On theother hand, I possess the calmer judgment that comes with advancingyears. And I know more about _this_ situation than you do. I advise youto draw ten thousand dollars from that ample bank account of yours, putit in that tree before midnight Saturday, and consider yourself lucky toget off so easily."
"I'll not do it!" declared Forrester.
Prentice extended his hand. "Let me see that paper, Bob," he requested.The paper was handed over and Prentice studied it carefully.
"Yes," commented Prentice, slowly, as he handed back the message. "It isunquestionably from the same people. That is a duplicate of the warningwhich I received."
"Did you get one, too?" exclaimed Forrester.
"A year ago--just about this time," divulged Prentice. "In fact, so faras I know, I was the first man upon whom the demand was made. When Iwent to the police about it, they claimed that it was the first timeanything of the kind had come to their attention."
"Tell me about it, Prentice," urged Forrester.
"I will," agreed Prentice. "After you have heard _my_ experience, youwill realize more fully why I have told you to pay and say nothing.
"As I said before, it was just about this time last year that aduplicate of that notice was fastened to my front door with a knife. Amaid found it when she w
ent to bring in the morning paper, and presentedit to me at the breakfast table. I had much the same feeling that youhave regarding it; although I did not take it quite so seriously. As amatter of fact, I regarded it as a joke, until a few days later a secondwarning came in the mail.
"I had, of course, destroyed the first warning, but the second I took tothe police, and laid the matter before them. They arranged with me totry to trap these people. The night that my time expired I took a dummypackage and placed it in that tree. The police kept watch in the woodsall night without seeing or hearing anyone. In the morning, they foundthe package still in the tree, but attached to it was a note statingthat these people were not to be fooled, and allowing me three days inwhich to pay or take the consequences.
"For two weeks after that the police watched the tree, and a detectiveaccompanied me whereever I went. There was no attack upon me, and thepolice assured me that it was undoubtedly the practical joke of somefriend. They withdrew my detective guard and I thought the matter hadended.
"A few days later, however, as I was returning home along the NorthShore in my car one night, a figure leaped upon each running board. Theywore long black hoods with nothing save their eyes visible throughopenings cut in the hoods. These men pointed revolvers at me and orderedme to stop. They said that they represented the 'Friends of the Poor,'and told me that the time had come to pay the penalty for not complyingwith their demands. You can imagine my state of mind. I saw that thematter was really serious, and not a practical joke after all. I toldthem that I had thought it a joke and pleaded with them. They finallyallowed me to go upon my promising to place the money in the tree thefollowing evening.
"After drawing the money from the bank, I informed the police about myadventure, and they arranged to watch the tree again that night. Iplaced the money in the tree, and although five detectives remained allnight only a little distance away, they heard and saw nothing. _In themorning the money was gone!_
"During last summer several other wealthy men received demands formoney. So far as I have knowledge of the matter, they either paid themoney, or were later found dead. With the first fall of snow theactivities of this band ceased. A detective, detailed to the case, toldme he thought they had stopped operations because of the snow. When theyapproached the tree, he explained, they would naturally leave tracks inthe snow, in that way giving some hint to the police. I was inclined tobelieve, on the other hand, that they had obtained all the money theywished; or else had concluded that the police were aroused to such anextent that it would be dangerous to keep on. This notice to you,however, seems to indicate that the detective with the snow-theory waspretty nearly right. Probably this warning to you is the beginning ofanother war to be waged upon the wealthy men of the city this summer."
"Your story is certainly interesting, Prentice," said Forrester, "butsomething really ought to be done. If these men are allowed to prey uponwealth in this mysterious way, there is no limit to the harm which theymay accomplish. Why, just think of it! Unmolested, they might becomebolder and bolder, and by steadily levying this secret toll, practicallyruin every wealthy man in Chicago."
"Well," returned Prentice, "probably sooner or later the police will getthem. So far as I am concerned, however, I would pay over the money atany time rather than have another experience such as the one I describedto you. If you want to hire detectives, Bob, or stir up the police as Idid, do so, by all means, but in the meantime take my advice and pay themoney."
At this moment an attendant approached, informing Forrester that he waswanted on the telephone. Excusing himself to Prentice, Forrester went tothe telephone to find that his mother was calling him.
"Son," she said, "Mr. Nevins has met with a serious accident. Josephineand I are going over to see Mrs. Nevins. She has just telephoned, askingus to call and stay with her the rest of the day; so we shall not behome to dinner. I wanted you to know so you would not worry about us."
"All right, Mother," replied Forrester. "I'll phone the house later andif Charlie is going to be in this evening I'll run over and bring youhome. Good-bye."
The Nevins family and his own had been close friends for years. Thisfriendship was about to be turned into relationship through the recentlyannounced engagement of Forrester's sister, Josephine, to CharlesNevins, the banker's son.
Forrester hung up the receiver and returned to the lounging room torejoin Prentice. As he crossed the room he saw that Prentice was readingone of the sensational evening papers, for even from a distanceForrester could read the glaring headlines:
"FRIENDS OF THE POOR" COMMIT NEW MURDER
Prentice held the paper out for Forrester to see when the young manjoined him, with the remark, "Evidently you did not get the firstwarning of the season, Bob, as I thought. Here's a man who received anotice two weeks ago, and assumed the same attitude that you did thisafternoon toward this mysterious band."
"Who was he?"
"George Nevins, the banker!"
"George Nevins!" repeated Forrester, aghast at the news.
"Yes, old George Nevins--the tightest man in Chicago. I'll wager _he_fought as hard as any one could, but see what happened!" Prentice pauseda moment, then added, impressively, "Do _you_ still want to fight?"
"Harder than ever now!" asserted Forrester.
This was bringing it very close to home. Forrester wanted to be alone tothink it over, so he gave his telephone call as an excuse, and tookleave of Prentice.
"'Failure to comply means death!'" quoted Prentice, warningly, asForrester turned to go.
The Secret Toll Page 1
