CHAPTER III.
THE GREAT SWAMP MYSTERY.
Heavy banks of dark clouds were flying across the lowering sky.Occasionally the big silvery moon burst from the rifts and flooded thelandscape with its mellow light.
During one of these intervals the two detectives gazed around.
The train had disappeared in the distance.
Not far away from where the Bradys stood they saw the big box lyingbeside the track, turned over on its side.
They ran back and hastily examined it.
"Empty!" ejaculated Harry, in some surprise.
"What has become of the man it contained?" asked Old King Brady.
"Search. He may have fallen out."
They carefully examined the ground within a wide radius.
But they found nothing of the missing body.
"Mysterious, what became of him!" Old King Brady exclaimed.
Harry was completely at his wits' end.
"I'm afraid we are beyond our depth, Old King Brady," he remarked."This mystery keeps growing all the time, and we can't seem to fathomit."
Just then the moon appeared again.
It showed them a river on one side and a broad expanse of gloomy swampland on the other.
Night insects were chirping amid the weeds, and frogs were croakingdismally among the waving reeds and rushes.
Off in the centre of the swamp were some tangled trees and bushes,heaps of rocks overgrown with moss and trailing vines, and an objectwhich had the dim outline of being an old rookery of some sort.
It was a dismal, lonesome scene.
Young King Brady moved along the edge of the boggy ground with itslittle pools of water, tufts of coarse grass and tracts of black,oozing mud.
An old, rotten board walk from the railroad bed to the trees, caughthis view and he suddenly called to the old detective:
"I see a light among those trees. Here's a path. Let's follow it intothe swamp."
"Be cautious!" warned the old detective. "If those rascals have carriedthe body from the box to the midst of those trees, they will be on thelookout for any possible pursuers and may give us a warm reception."
"We need not let ourselves be seen," replied the boy.
"How are you going to avoid it?"
"By creeping along the path on our hands and knees. The reeds on eachside will hide our bodies from view."
"Go ahead, then."
They went down on their haunches and crept along in single file, outinto the dismal swamp, and drew near the oasis.
In a few minutes they reached firm land.
From behind a clump of bushes they beheld an old wooden shanty, in thewindows of which there glowed a dim light.
The detectives keenly watched it, hoping they might catch view of somehuman beings about the place.
At the end of quarter of an hour, they were suddenly startled byhearing a wild, piercing cry in human tones, of:
"Help! Police! Murder!"
The Bradys were intensely startled.
It was the same voice, using the very same words they had heard thenight before in West Thirty-sixth street, New York!
"Good gracious! That's queer!" exclaimed Old King Brady, in tones ofintense astonishment. "Did you hear it, Harry?"
The boy was thinking.
A startling idea flashed across his mind and he muttered:
"That cry was uttered by the same person we heard in New York, and I'mconvinced that it was the man called Albert Reid."
"But he was murdered----"
"You only suppose so. There was circumstantial evidence that he was.But after all he may yet be alive."
This was a startling view to take of the matter.
Old King Brady shot a quick glance at Harry and exclaimed:
"You may be right. The man in the box may not have been dead after all.Perhaps he was alive, under the influence of a drug. The man whodrugged us may have drugged him, too, you know.
"Hark!"
A chorus of fierce cries came from the hut.
There was the noise of a scuffle, then a voice which sounded very muchlike that of a negro roared in furious tones:
"Keep still, or I'll kill you!"
Old King Brady rose to his feet, very much agitated.
"I can't stand this much longer, Harry!" he muttered.
"Come on to the hut and we'll investigate the row," replied the boy.
Casting aside all caution, they rushed toward the old building.
Not half the intervening distance had been covered, when suddenly thenoise ceased and the light went out.
The detectives halted.
"Were we seen?" panted Harry.
"Perhaps. Listen a moment."
They remained perfectly still and the trees cast a dark shadow over thescene which the moon could not dispel.
Five minutes passed.
Hearing and seeing nothing unusual, Harry said:
"Come on."
"Wait till I light my lantern."
"I'll stand guard with my pistol."
Old King Brady drew out a match and lit his bull's-eye.
Moving forward, they reached the hut and made a circuit of it.
The door was wide open.
They boldly entered the building.
It contained only one room, and to the amazement of the officers, itwas empty.
Staring around, Old King Brady observed that there was only one doorand the two windows they had been watching--one at the rear and theother at the side of the little building.
The door was at another side.
"Gone!" ejaculated the old detective.
"Where?" asked the astonished boy.
"Heaven only knows."
"Search outside."
Old King Brady dashed out the door.
He saw by the moonlight that the little island on which the hut stoodwas in the midst of the swamp.
If any one left it, he was bound to see them.
But not a soul met his view.
No one could leave the hut, cross the swamp and reach the mainland soquick that he could not see them escaping in such a short space oftime.
Yet he failed to see any one in the swamp.
That convinced him that no one left the oasis.
And nobody was on the solid island of earth.
He could not have failed to observe them if they were there.
"What the deuce does this mean?" he gasped in bewilderment.
Then he finally returned to his partner.
"See any one?" eagerly asked the boy.
"Not a soul. And you?"
"I've searched this place, but no one is here."
"Then where did they disappear to so mysteriously?"
"Blessed if I know."
"You heard two human voices here, didn't you?"
"Of course I did."
"Have you thoroughly examined this place?"
"Every inch of it, and couldn't find them."
Old King Brady made a round of the room and came back.
He plainly saw that the walls were not double, and that the floor wasmerely covered with common dirt.
There was not a piece of furniture nor a lamp in the place.
Yet the detectives had seen a light distinctly.
"They ain't here, sure enough," said the old detective, "and theydidn't leave here. Now, how could they vanish, and where did they go?"
"I'm completely rattled. Beyond my depth entirely."
"So am I. This mystery is too much for me to solve."
"See! Daylight is breaking."
"Let's search the place again."
They went at it with renewed zest, and spent two hours vainly searchingfor the means those speakers employed to drop out of sight.
Finally they desisted.
The great swamp mystery was too much for them.
By this time the sun had risen and flooded the scene, dispelled thevapors that hung over the bog and lighted up the surrounding country.
"We'd better get out o
f here," said Old King Brady. "I see a fine oldresidence over there on the mainland. Let's get over there and get ourbreakfast. I'm going to keep at this swamp till I solve that mystery."
Crossing the board walk, they made a detour and reached the house.
It was a fine country residence with many acres of ground, part ofwhich was formed by the swamp.
They Saw a big negro in overalls standing at the gate and Harry askedhim:
"Say--who lives here?"
"Oliver Dalton, the Broad street broker, sir," replied the colored man.
This reply startled the detectives, for the owner was the very manwhose case of mail robbery had been placed in their hands.
They glanced significantly at each other, and that look spoke volumes.
The Bradys Beyond Their Depth; Or, The Great Swamp Mystery Page 3
