_ CHAPTER XVIII. A WOMAN'S WAY
The masked man stepped forward, snarling behind his mask, his hands closing, and the two thugs stepped forward also, as if to use Murk roughly if the other gave the command.
But there was an interruption. Kate Gilbert came in from the adjoining room.
The masked man whirled to meet her.
"You should not--" he began.
"It makes no difference," Kate Gilbert said. "This man knows me, or he would not have been set to spying on me. Sidney Prale knows that I am associated with his enemies, since I was talking to him to-day. It is not necessary for
me to mask my face!"
"It really was not necessary for you to come," said the masked man. "This fellow refuses to have anything to do with us."
"I cannot blame him. You used violence to get him here. I am afraid that I should refuse to have business relations with a man who knocked me on the head."
"It was the only way. We couldn't approach him on the street very well. We have him here now and perhaps may be able to force him to see the light."
"I shall not countenance more violence!" Kate Gilbert said. "I told you in the beginning that force was not to be used. This man is not to be blamed in any way. He merely is an employee of the man we are fighting."
"I think it justifiable to use any method that will get results," the masked man told her. "You seem to forget----"
"I do not forget!" Kate Gilbert cried. "Who has a better right to hope to see Sidney Prale punished? Who has suffered more than I and mine? But I do not wish to see violence used. This man may be made to help us, but I fear you have taken the wrong method. And what do you intend doing now?"
"Perhaps it will be as well for you to return home and allow us to handle this part of the affair," the masked man told her. "No woman likes violence, of course, but at times it is necessary. We are going to leave him here to-night to think things over. He will be stiff and sore and hungry in the morning."
"But----" Kate Gilbert protested.
"It is the better way, I assure you--and quite necessary. This thing is so big that it must be handled with firmness and decision. You have aided us greatly, but I think it will be a mistake to let you take command of the situation."
Kate Gilbert's eyes flashed angrily, and her face flushed.
"Very well, sir," she said. "But let me talk to this man alone. Perhaps common sense and kindness will prevail where violence did not. I sincerely hope so."
"I am willing to let you talk to him, but you are to be guarded in your speech. Tell him nothing about the real affair; we want to be sure of him before we take him fully into our confidence. All we wish him to do is to keep us informed about Prale and Jim Farland, and any others who may be helping Prale."
"I understand, and I am not quite a fool!" Kate Gilbert told him, still angry.
The masked man motioned the two thugs out of the room, and then followed them, closing the door behind him. Kate Gilbert sat down in the chair before the sofa, and looked at Murk.
"First, I want you to know that I had nothing to do with the blow you received," she said. "That was going a bit too far. I knew nothing of it until I received a telephone message saying that you were spying on the place where I live, and that you had been captured and brought here."
"I understand that, lady," Murk replied.
"I know that you have been with Mr. Prale only a few days. If he were in your place now, I might be inclined to turn my back and let those men handle him. But you are not to be blamed for the faults of your employer."
"No, ma'am," said Murk.
"I am going to tell you only this much: Sidney Prale committed a great wrong against several persons. Those persons have banded together to have vengeance. Sidney Prale deserves everything that can happen to him."
"I think you've got him wrong, ma'am," said Murk. "He's even accused of murder, and I know he ain't guilty."
"Neither do I believe that he is guilty of that crime, but that has nothing to do with this other affair. The persons who are banded together against Sidney Prale have nothing to do with the murder charge, I am sure."
"I reckon he'll be glad to know that. But you've got him wrong in this other thing, lady. Mr. Prale is worried almost to death because he don't know who his enemies are, or why they are causin' him a lot of trouble."
"He has led you to believe that?" she asked.
"I know he's tellin' the truth, ma'am. He's got a detective workin' tryin' to find out what it all means."
"Then he is fooling you, and the detective also. Sidney Prale knows who his enemies are, and why they are troubling him. He tried to tell me that he did not know, and almost in the same breath he told me something that convinced me he did know. You have received an offer to help us. Are you willing?"
"I don't intend to turn against Mr. Prale!" Murk declared. "I ain't a man like that! These gents can keep me here and starve me and beat me up, and that's all the good it'll do 'em. I know a man when I see one, and Mr. Prale's a man, and a square man, and I'm goin' to stand by him!"
"He has fooled you! You do not know him for the scoundrel that he is."
"Maybe it's you that's bein' fooled, lady."
"No. If you knew all, you would understand."
"Well, why don't you tell me, then? If you prove to me that Mr. Prale is a crook or somethin', and that you people ain't, maybe I'll change my mind about some things."
"I can tell you nothing now, except that I am right and that Sidney Prale is fooling you," Kate Gilbert said.
"Then I'll stay right here and take my beatin' at the hands of them thugs."
"You will do nothing of the kind," she said. "I will not see them use violence toward you."
"I don't see how you're goin' to help it, ma'am."
"I am going to have you released. You may return to Sidney Prale and tell him that we intend to punish him, but that I, for one, will not resort to violence. He may fight unfairly, but we do not." She lowered her voice and bent toward him. "I'll attract their attention, and send my maid to release you," she said. "Remain where you are."
"Yes'm."
Without another word, Kate Gilbert got up and left the room, closing the door behind her. In the other room were the masked man, the two thugs, and Marie, the maid.
"I have talked to him, and I have a plan," Kate Gilbert told the others. "Marie, I wish you to do something for me. Take the taxicab and go on the errand, and after I am done here I will go home in another car."
She stepped across to the maid and gave her whispered instructions, while the men waited. Marie left the room, walked through the hall, and left the house. Kate Gilbert sat down at the table and called the others to her.
"That man is loyal to Prale," she explained. "Prale has fooled him. He honestly believes that Prale does not know his enemies or why he is being bothered, and he is grateful to Prale for what Prale has done for him. So, naturally, he refuses to turn against his employer."
"If you will leave the matter in my hands----" the masked man suggested.
"I may do so after we have had this little talk. Come closer, so I can speak in a low tone and he will not hear."
They pulled their chairs up to the table.
"This man is stubborn," she said. "You could starve him or beat him, and it would do you not the slightest good. It would only make him the more determined to be faithful to Prale. We would gain nothing. We've got to convince him that we are in the right."
"I object to telling him the whole truth," said the masked man.
"He could do nothing except tell it to Prale--and Prale knows it already, doesn't he?" Kate Gilbert asked.
"You want to let the fellow go?" the masked man cried. "Why, we can use him as a sort of hostage!"
"As if Sidney Prale would care if he never saw his valet again!"
"He is more than a valet; he is one of Prale's spies! If we can hold this man prisoner, and attend to Jim Farland, that detective, Prale would stand alone. There are not many men he would trust to help him. And, if he stands alone, it will be easier for us to torment him, cause him trouble, drive him away!"
"Sometimes I regret that we started this thing," Kate Gilbert said. "What will it avail us to make Prale's life miserable?"
"You seem to forget--"
"I forget nothing! I know how I have suffered, how my father and others have suffered. But I am not sure that retribution will not visit Sidney Prale even if we keep our hands off."
"You're a woman; that is why!" the masked man accused. "You have a soft heart, as is right and proper in a woman. But when you remember your father----"
"I am not quitting!" she declared. "I will continue the game. But I will not permit violence toward anybody, least of all to a poor fellow who has nothing to do with the affair except that he is working for Sidney Prale. We can accomplish our aims without becoming thugs and breaking laws ourselves. I understood that we always were to keep inside the law."
"Well, what have you to suggest?" the masked man asked.
"Let Prale's valet go, for he can do us no harm. Prale knows that I am against him, but he can make no move unless we break the law and his detective has us apprehended. We play into Sidney Prale's hands if we do that. Can't you see it? We do not want to give him an advantage, do we? If we use violence or break a law, we do just that. We must break him down cleverly."
"I see that point, all right."
"I am astonished that you did not see it before. You appear to be very vindictive lately, yet you did not suffer as some others suffered."
"I have my reasons. I always have hated Sidney Prale."
"Then you are making this fight for personal reasons?"
"Do not forget that some very good friends of mine suffered because of Prale. But, about the valet----"
"Let him go, I say. What harm can he do?"
"We slugged him to get him here. He can report it to the police, and have you arrested, and these two men."
"And what evidence would he have?" she asked. "Who would testify that he was telling the truth? These two men can keep out of sight for the present. He has not seen your face because of your mask. And to charge me with slugging him would be ridiculous."
"This house----"
"Is vacant, so far as the neighbors know; it is owned by a man whose wife died, and who has been gone for more than a year. The agent who rented it to us furnished, is one of us. We can simply close it up and not come here again. If he complained, and the police investigated, they would find the house closed, and the nearest neighbors would declare that it had been closed since the owner went away. The furniture is not even dusted."
"That part is all right."
"And that attack on Prale in the Park during the afternoon!" she went on. "That was a mistake. Suppose Detective Farland managed to connect that with us. I tell you we must not break a law, or Sidney Prale may get the advantage!"
"We can't handle an affair like this with kid gloves!" the masked man declared.
"We do as I say, or I shall go to Sidney Prale and tell him everything and rob you of your vengeance!"
"You would do that!" the masked man cried, springing from his chair.
"I'll do it if there is any more violence!" she declared. "It was understood that no rough tactics were to be used, and I demand that we carry out the original plan!"
"We'll see about this!" the masked man cried. "I'll talk to some of the others----"
"And I'll leave the game if there is any more violence--do not forget that!" Kate Gilbert cried.
She continued to talk and plan, for she was fighting for time. She had known that, at the last moment, this man would refuse to release Murk.
Marie, the big maid, had hurried from the house, which sat far back from the street and was surrounded by trees. But she had returned after watching for a few minutes.
Murk, sitting on the sofa, heard somebody at one of the windows. He watched the sash being raised slowly and cautiously, and after a time saw the head of Marie. She motioned him for silence, listened a moment, and then crawled inside.
Marie hurried across to Murk and fumbled with the cords that bound his wrists together behind his back. The bonds slipped away, and Murk made quick work of the one around his ankles. He hurried across the room, got through the window, and helped the big maid through. Marie led him toward the street.
"Come right along with me!" she commanded, when they were some distance from the house.
"Thanks for helpin' me out, but I guess I'll hang around," Murk replied. "I'm right eager to get a look at the face of the man who was wearing the mask."
"I supposed you'd want to do that," the big maid told him. "And that's what I've got orders to keep you from doing. You come along with me!"
Murk got a surprise. Marie gripped his shoulder with her left hand--and it was no gentle grip. Then he saw that she was holding an automatic pistol in her right hand.
"There is a taxi at the corner," she informed Murk. "We are going to get into it and drive back to the city. You may be able to find this house afterward, but I doubt it."
"Suppose I take a notion not to go?" Murk asked.
"I'm not afraid to shoot," Marie informed him.
"Aw, let me go!" he exclaimed. "You're in wrong in this deal; see? I tell you that Mr. Prale, my boss, is an all-right man, and you people are makin' some kind of a mistake."
"I like to see a man stick up for his boss," replied the gigantic Marie. "And I'm stickin' up for mine right this minute, and she told me to see that you went to town. Why don't you quit that man Prale and get a real job with a gentleman? You're not a bad-looking man at all."
Murk felt himself blushing at this unexpected announcement. Praise from the lips of a woman was something new in his life. He glanced at the amazon beside him.
"And you're sure some woman!" he said. "And that ain't just nice talk--I sure mean it! But you ain't got this from the right angle. I've got to work for Mr. Prale. I'd be a dead one this minute if it wasn't for him. If I didn't stick by him now, I'd never be able to look at myself in a shavin' mirror again. You don't want me to be an ungrateful pup, do you? You see----"
Having directed her attention to another topic for a moment, Murk put his plan into action. He made a quick lunge forward as he spoke, springing a bit to one side as he did so, and trying to seize the automatic and tear it from her grasp.
But the gigantic Marie had been anticipating something like that, despite Murk's speech and his manner that said he was a willing captive. She lurched forward and hurled Murk back, sprang after him, crashed the butt of the weapon against the side of his head, and then, while he was a trifle groggy from the blow, she grasped him with her powerful hands and piloted him toward the street with strength and determination.
"Never try to play them child's tricks on me!" she announced.
Murk regarded her with mingled admiration and chagrin, and spoke with enthusiasm.
"Some woman!" he commented. _