CHAPTER XXII
GETTING A CLUE
Roy was so astonished at the sight of his friend, the jewelry salesman,peering out of the window that he nearly let go his hold of the rope.He recovered himself quickly, however, and slid on toward the ground.As he looked up at the casement he could see that De Royster and Wakelywere having some kind of a struggle.
"I must go back and help him," thought Roy. "Mr. De Royster is nomatch for that fellow. I'd like to tackle him on my own account,though he was not cruel to me while he had me a prisoner."
His determination to do this was increased when his friend leaned outof the window, and called:
"Come on up, Roy! Help me!"
"He's plucky to tackle that fellow alone," thought the boy from theranch.
But now he had no time for musings. He must act. As he let go therope, his feet having touched the ground, he found himself in the notvery clean yard of the tenement.
About him were boxes and barrels of rubbish, decaying vegetables wereon all sides, besides tin cans and heaps of refuse. Clearly thetenants in the house were not particular.
Roy looked about him. The yard was surrounded by a high fence, andthere were no persons in sight. To the rear was the electric lightplant, and on either side, the yards of other tenement houses. ThenRoy saw an alley, which, he thought, would lead to the street.
Leaving his lariat dangling, he made a dash for the alley and soonfound himself in front of the tenement house, where he had so recentlybeen a prisoner.
Up the stairs he went on the jump, and, as he came near the room wherehe had been held, he could hear the sound of a struggle.
"They're fighting!" he thought. "I must help De Royster!"
As he entered the apartment he saw the jewelry salesman holding Wakelyby the wrists, while the man was endeavoring to get away.
"Quiet now, my dear fellow!" exclaimed Mortimer De Royster. "I say,old chap, you can't get away, don't you know. I've got you, and I'mgoing to have you arrested."
"You are, eh? I'll see about that!" exclaimed Wakely. "Let go of me!"
At the same time he gave a violent wrench.
"Hold on, my dear fellow," remonstrated De Royster. "You mustn't dothat, don't you know."
In spite of his rather slight built De Royster was proving himselfalmost a match for Wakely. But his strength was not of the lastingkind, while the other's was.
"Let me go!" fiercely demanded Wakely. "If you don't it will be theworst for you!"
At the same time he gave such a yank that he succeeded in freeing onearm. But De Royster was not going to give up so easily. He grabbedWakely around the waist.
At that moment Roy made a rush for Wakely. Just as he was about tograb him, he was thrust aside by some one from behind. Wakely turned,gave one look at the newcomer, and cried:
"Quick! Tell Annister he's escaped!"
Wakely had not yet observed Roy, as the boy from the ranch was back ofhim. Then the man who had taken Roy from the hotel succeeded inbreaking the hold De Royster and Roy had on him. He dashed from theroom, just as the other man, to whom he had called the warning, alsoran out. Both seemed much frightened.
"Hold on!" cried De Royster, as if either of the men would stop forthat. "Hold on! I know you."
"Come on! We'll get 'em!" shouted Roy, turning quickly and startingafter his captor and the confederate.
But he was too late.
Wakely slammed the door of the room shut, and locked it, and Roy knewit would be useless to try and open it.
"Break the door down!" exclaimed Mortimer De Royster. "We can catchthem!"
"The door's too strong," replied Roy.
"Then we're caught!"
"Yes, but don't worry. I can go down the lariat the same as I didbefore."
"Perhaps you can, but I can't my dear fellow."
"Oh, I'll come up the stairs and open the door for you, if the key'sthere. Say, but how did you get here, anyhow?"
"I came after you. I've been tracing you for hours. What does it allmean, Roy? Why did they take you a prisoner?"
"I don't know. Wait until I get my breath and I'll talk."
"That's so. I'm a little troubled that way myself, don't you know. IfI could have held that chap a little longer I would have had him."
"Yes, but he had help at hand."
"Right again, old chap. The other man came in at the wrong time. Youknow who he was, don't you?"
"No. I didn't get a good look at his face. Who was he?"
"One of the four swindlers from out West who got my watch and diamondpin!"
"You don't mean it;" cried Roy, much excited. He began to understandpart of the plot now.
"That's who he was," declared the dudish salesman. "I knew him atonce, but I couldn't warn you. I needed all my breath to hold thatother man. What was his name? I've forgotten."
"He called himself Wakely. I met him at my hotel."
The exciting incidents of the last few minutes, and the surprisecreated by De Royster's announcement that one of the train swindlerswas a friend of Wakely, set Roy to thinking.
"Did you hear what the fellow, whom I was holding, said just before hegot away?" asked Mr. De Royster, after a pause.
"Yes, he said 'Quick! Tell Annister he's escaped!'"
"I wonder what he meant?"
"I reckon I can explain. I might as well tell you the whole story ofwhy I came to New York, and you will understand. Caleb Annister is thename of the man who is agent for some property my father and I own. Itwas this man whose actions I came to investigate. I found him to be aswindler, and I gave him a short time in which to pay back the money hehad wrongfully retained."
"What did he say?"
"He tried to explain, but it was a pretty poor explanation. I caughthim 'with the goods on him', as we say out West."
"But why should this man whom I held--this Wakely--want the other towarn Annister about some one escaping?"
"That 'some one' was me. I believe Annister got these fellows to getme out of the way for a time, until he could work some of his schemes.Perhaps he thought I would be frightened, and go back West, where Icould not bother him any more.
"Are you going?"
"Not a bit. I'm going to keep right after him. I begin to see throughhis plot. This man Wakely came to my hotel purposely to get acquaintedwith me. Then he drugged me, and got me out to this place, where hekept me a prisoner. What was to be the outcome I don't know. But I amsurprised to hear you say that the other man who came into the room wasone of the swindlers who robbed you."
"I am sure of it. I would never forget his face. Wakely, too, seemsfamiliar, but I can't place him."
"Maybe Wakely is a member of their gang, and perhaps Annister, too, isin with them."
"I shouldn't be surprised. What do you think we had better do?"
Neither of them yet recognized Wakely as Tupper.
"I think we'd better get out of this place before they come back withreinforcements," said Roy with a laugh. He was cool, despite what hehad gone through, for he was somewhat used to meeting danger and doinghis best to escape.
"I'll slide down my rope again," he went on, "come up the stairs, andopen the door. Then we can talk it over. I must get my baggage awayfrom here."
It did not take the boy long to repeat his feat with the lariat, andsoon, having found a key, he opened the door from without, releasingMortimer De Royster.
Boy from the Ranch; Or, Roy Bradner's City Experiences Page 22
