Part 17 (1/2)
The room had no other furniture than a cot bed on which were a pile of coa.r.s.e blankets, two stools and a sort of shelf that served as a table.
By this time the detectives had come in from the yard with the report that nothing could be found to show when the others left.
The stable was empty, and had evidently been so for several hours.
”One of you stand guard over this fellow, and we will search the house.
Come on, Jet, and show me where you were imprisoned,” Harvey said as he took up the candle and left the room.
The boy obeyed and a thorough search was made of the premises.
To the surprise of all nothing of importance was found.
If the men had had machinery for making counterfeit money, everything had been taken away.
The building contained nothing more than might have been found in any honest dwelling, and Harvey said in a tone of disappointment:
”They must have worked like beavers from the time it was learned the boy had made his escape, and that fellow in the other room was pretty near right when he made his threats, for we have broken into a building without legal right to do anything of the kind.”
”If they had presses here we should be able to find them in the morning, for the whole plant must be buried near by; it couldn't have been carried away in this short time,” the men from Albany suggested.
This seemed reasonable, and Harvey decided to make a thorough search before returning.
The prisoner was secured to the heavy table in the back room on the lower floor, and until daylight the party discussed the matter in all its bearings.
Then Harvey said as he went toward the door:
”Now, let's get to work, and finish this job by night-fall if possible.”
At that instant he stepped outside, and at the same moment the reports of two weapons were heard from the direction of the woods, the bullets striking within an inch of the detective's head.
He leaped back under cover, saying bitterly as he did so:
”The villains are sharper than I gave them credit for, and have got us like rats in a trap. We were allowed to come in, and now they propose to shoot us down at their leisure, for the gang can't afford to let us leave here alive!”
CHAPTER XI
CLOSE QUARTERS
If either of the party had looked at the prisoner when the shots were heard it would have been possible to understand that he was expecting something of the kind.
His face lighted up with an expression of joy, and one could readily fancy he believed the time near at hand when the tables would be turned with a vengeance.
Harvey was more chagrined than frightened.
The fact that he had not suspected something of the kind when it was learned the house had been virtually abandoned, cut deep into his professional pride, and he blamed himself more severely than any other member of the party could have done.
”A child would have had more sense than to fancy they had given us the slip and taken all their stuff with them,” he said, angrily. ”I have simply done what they allowed a fool would do, and now we must pay the piper.”
”But they'll make a mighty poor fist of trying to take us out of here,”