CHAPTER XVII.
NELL IN THE TOILS.
The instant after Professor Ruggles fired, the masked face in thedoorway disappeared, and the sound of swift-moving feet was heard.
Still clutching his weapon, the Professor strode to the door and flungit open, gazing into the alley, which framed no reply to the questionthat trembled unspoken on his lips.
"Did you hit him, Professor?"
"I fear I didn't."
Professor Ruggles then made an examination of the alley that assuredhim that his bullet had not been stopped by flesh and bone--instead,it lay on the ground where it had fallen, flattened, from the brickwall above.
"So much for being a poor shot," sneered the woman.
"So much for your condemned carelessness in not locking the door," heretorted with equal severity.
"Well, maybe you'd better see that it is fastened now."
Professor Darlington Ruggles turned the key in the lock, and thenassumed a seat once more.
"Let me see. Where did we leave off?"
"In a mighty important place," answered the woman. "If that sneak hadbeen at the door long, he must have heard something of our plans."
"And it makes you feel uneasy?"
"Don't it you?"
"A trifle. I can't imagine who the sneak was."
"Nor I."
"It might have been one of the boys playing a joke," said Ruggles.
"I hope it's nothing more serious."
"I shall dismiss the sneak from my mind at any rate," returned Mr.Ruggles. "To-morrow night you may look for your guest, Mrs. Scarlet.Remember, whatever plans for vengeance you may have formed will bemore than gratified in placing this detective's sister completely inthe power of a man who knows how to use it."
The Professor's eyes snapped at the last, and he lifted and smoothedhis hat rapidly with one long arm.
"I understand. Nothing can be too harsh and awful for one of thebreed," hissed Madge Scarlet, in a way that made even ProfessorRuggles' flesh creep.
Then he rose to go.
"I will see you again ere long."
Mrs. Scarlet locked the door after the retreating form of the tallProfessor, and then, going to the little table, she sat down, andresting her thin cheeks between her hands, she cried:
"It is coming, it is coming! At last I am to avenge the insults heapedupon me and mine by that scoundrel, who sends men to prison for money,for pay doled out to him by the minions of the law. Dan'l, if you canlook down on your old widow to-night, from your home among the stars,you will see her with tears of joy in her old eyes at thought of howshe will avenge herself on your enemies. When once that girl comesinto my hands, I will execute vengeance to suit myself, without regardto Professor Ruggles, or any other man."
So it would seem that even the Professor did not fully comprehend thedepth of Mrs. Scarlet's vindictiveness toward Dyke Darrel.
It was Professor Darlington Ruggles who penned the letter to NellDarrel that sent the unsuspecting girl to Chicago to meet her brother.
She was not a little surprised at not finding Dyke at the depot tomeet her, and consequently felt a thrill of alarm at seeing so manystrange faces.
Why had he not come?
While standing meditating on what course to pursue, a gentleman inrather seedy garments, yet withal not bad looking, stepped up andtouched the girl's arm.
"Is this Miss Darrel?"
"Yes, sir," answered the girl, promptly, at the same time regardingthe tall, sunset-haired gentleman, who bowed and lifted his tall hat,with no little curiosity.
"I am Oscar Sims, a friend to the great detective, and ever ready toserve his handsome sister."
"But, sir, I do not think that it will be at all necessary. I expectmy brother at any minute, now," returned Nell, with a cool hauteur,meant to be freezing.
Nell had heard of the villainous sharks of the great city, who lie inwait for unsuspecting maidens, and she did not mean to be taken in byone of them. Mr. Sims, however, seemed to be a kind gentleman, andwhen he looked hurt at her remark she hastened to apologize forseeming rudeness.
"It is not at all necessary," said Mr. Sims, with a bland smile. "Mr.Darrel requested me to visit the depot, and look after a young ladywhom he expected on the evening train from Woodburg. I hope you willnot distrust one who has the best interests of the great detective atheart."
Again the red-haired gentleman bowed, and looked smilingly into theface of the young girl.
For the time, Nell was thrown off her guard.
"I--I expected to meet my brother," she articulated. "He said nothingabout you--a stranger--meeting me at the depot."
"No; and good reason why. He did not know when he wrote that it wouldbe impossible for him to get to the depot. A slight accident----"
"Accident! Dyke injured? Then let me go to him at once," cried theimpulsive girl, before the man could complete his sentence.
"It is not so very bad," said Mr. Sims, as he led the way to the walkwithout, and placed his fair charge on the cushions of a hack. Givinglow instructions to the driver, he vaulted to the side of Nell Darrel,and the hack rattled away.
Nell sat flushed and silent for some minutes, her heart throbbingpainfully.
"Tell me about it," she finally said to her companion. "How did ithappen?"
"I can't give you the particulars, since they were not given to me,"answered he. "I only know that Dyke met with a fall on the stonepavement, and Dr. Boneset says that his leg is broken. He is inconsiderable pain, but cheerful withal, and will be mighty glad to seeNell, as he calls you."
Again the man smiled in the face of the girl at his side, and up tothis time no suspicion of the truth flashed upon her brain.
Although the hack moved rapidly, it seemed to the anxious girl a longtime in reaching its destination.
"Mr. Darrel is at my house," said the gentleman, "and I live at leasttwo miles from the depot."
This was said to silence the growing uneasiness manifested by MissDarrel.
When at length the hack came to a halt, Mr. Sims quickly alighted andlifted Nell Darrel to the curb; then the hack sped swiftly into thenight.
Nell gazed about her with a shudder.
The low, dingy buildings and bad smell pervading the place startledher.
"It cannot be that this is the place," she cried, standing firm, as heattempted to lead her toward a door, over which glimmered a faintlight.
"Oh, yes it is."
"But I will not go in there."
"We'll see about that," he growled, suddenly lifting her in his armsand striding forward.
Dyke Darrel the Railroad Detective; Or, The Crime of the Midnight Express Page 17
