Cad Metti, The Female Detective Strategist Part 13

"You men dare to threaten me?"

"Yes, we dare to threaten. You shall not betray us."

"Aha! I see my conclusions are correct. You are thieves and fear betrayal."

"We only fear being belied by a rascal like you. We're all gentlemen; we have reputations. We do not desire to rest under a false imputation of being gamblers. Now then you have one chance. Tell us just who you are and your purpose and we may spare you; otherwise--" The man stopped.

"What will you do otherwise?"

"Kill you."

"See here; you men cannot double-bank me. I am not here to be robbed. I see through this farce. You rascals cannot scare me."

"Hear!" exclaimed one of the men. "He is insulting."

"Yes, he has insulted every one of us. He must fight."

Oscar laughed and asked:

"Do you wish me to fight the whole gang?"

"Hear him! he denominates us 'the gang'!"

"Certainly, you are a gang of thieves. I can see that I have been inveigled in here. This is a trumped-up charge against me; but I repeat, I defy you. Do your worst."

"Get the swords," called Girard.

"Who will fight him?"

"I will," said the attendant suddenly stepping forward. "Yes, gentlemen, I will fight him. It is not proper that gentlemen like you should besmirch yourselves by fighting with a low-bred scoundrel like this fellow. I am his match; he belongs to my cla.s.s. He and I will meet on equal terms. I will settle him, gentlemen, and afford you some rich and excellent amus.e.m.e.nt."

"Henri," said Girard, "you are not a swordsman."

"I will prove to you, my master, that I am swordsman enough to fight this wretch who has forced himself into your presence to act as a spy.

Yes, sir, I will teach him a lesson."

Oscar could not discern what the real purpose of the men was. It appeared somewhat like a farce to him, and yet their trick was one that has often been played. They could in case of need make out that it was a case of a.s.sault, where one man had sought the life of another. Indeed, there had been several cases of a like character in New York. In one case the men had claimed that a duel had been forced upon another; and again a case had been known where it was made to appear that there had been a murderous a.s.sault, and of course there were plenty of witnesses, and the law is compelled to accept the testimony of unimpeached witnesses. While in both cases alluded to the police were convinced a cold-blooded murder had been committed, they were unable to prove it, however, and the a.s.sa.s.sins went free. Here were four men who could testify as they chose, and the chances were that as far as the courts were concerned they were reputable witnesses. The latter was the game our hero calculated the men meant to work on him. They had deliberately planned his murder, and the chances would have been dead against him but for the little tick-tick, and that singular tick-tick told a wondrous story; but even with this in his favor the chances were against Oscar when he conceived a plan as cunning as the one that was being played against him.

CHAPTER VI.

OSCAR CONCEIVES A PLAN AND A REMARKABLE DENOUEMENT FOLLOWS--COOLNESS AND PLUCK WIN AGAINST SCHEMES AND CUNNING.

Our hero finally decided upon a plan. He determined to convert an impending tragedy into a farce.

The detective smiled when the lackey volunteered to "do him up," and said:

"I see you wish a little amus.e.m.e.nt, you fellows. You shall have it. Get the swords. I am a gentleman and I will enjoy slaughtering this ambitious c.o.c.ky-doodle-doo. He wishes to become mincemeat; I will gratify him. Yes, gentleman, get the swords and the fun shall begin."

The men stared. This was a turn in the affair they had not antic.i.p.ated, but they were evidently prepared to meet the emergency.

"Who will act as this fellow's second?" asked Girard.

"You need not trouble yourselves, gentlemen."

"Oh, no, you must have a second. Although you are not ent.i.tled to any consideration this affair shall be conducted as though you were really a gentleman. Thatford, will you act as the fellow's second?"

"I must respectfully decline," said Thatford. "I am not acting as second in an affair of honor for a low-bred spy and sneak."

The lackey meantime had prepared himself for the affray, and Girard had produced two dueling swords. It looked serious indeed, but there was also an element of farce in the whole affair.

"I will excuse Mr. Thatford from acting as my second."

"Will you accept me?" demanded Girard.

"No, I will not accept you. I antic.i.p.ated that you fellows might be part of a gang of thieves and I prepared to meet you. No, no, gentlemen, you have not got this all your own way. I do not propose to be murdered like a caged rat, I a.s.sure you."

The men glared. There had come a complete change over our hero, and indeed Oscar had laid out his whole campaign.

"You fellows are thieves," he said, "thieves and murderers. I believe you are the parties who murdered a young man who has been missing for some months, and I further believe he was made a victim in some such way as you planned to make a victim of me; but, my dear rascals, I won't have it."

The men began to a.s.sume menacing att.i.tudes, while exchanging glances.

It was evident they were surprised, but a greater surprise was in store for them as our hero exclaimed:

"The opening act is over. We will now bring on the tragedy."

Oscar stamped his foot, the door opened, and to the surprise of the men a boyish-looking youth stepped in the room. Indeed they did stare, and Oscar said:

"See, I antic.i.p.ated your moves. Here is my second; this young man will see that I have fair play."

Girard here spoke up and demanded:

"Who are you? How dare you enter my house uninvited and unannounced?"

The youth a.s.sumed a merry demeanor and said:

"I thought there was going to be some fun here and I dropped in; that's all. I like a fight--a good square fight."

The men were evidently unmanned. There was something going on that they evidently did not understand. They were very shrewd men--great schemers.

They believed they had played a good trick, but suddenly there came a change in their belief. There had followed a succession of strange and remarkable developments which they did not understand. The mystery paralyzed them; the boldness of the move terrorized them. Indeed, Thatford, who was usually a pretty nervy man, edged toward the door, but Oscar called out:

"Hold on, mister, don't go. Remember this lackey here was to afford you some excellent amus.e.m.e.nt. He looks as though he were just the man to keep his word. He shall keep it, and afford you the amus.e.m.e.nt he promised. I will aid him. See, he is all ready; he is stripped for the fun. I do not need to strip. Give him a sword, give me a sword and we'll have gore; yes, we'll have gore. I will punish him, and then, gentlemen, I will be prepared to mix the gore. Yes, we shall have lots of amus.e.m.e.nt; it will be a roaring farce."

One of the men appeared to recover his nerve and said: