Jim Cummings; Or, The Great Adams Express Robbery Part 8

"You keep yourself devilish low, then, for I know all the lads, and it's the first time I've clapped these two eyes on you."

"Do ye think I mane to let the fly cops put their darbies on me, that I should be nosin' around in the broad day?"

"You're too fly for them, I see," said the bar-keeper, with a sagacious shake of his head. "You an' Barney are a pair."

"Barney? Ye mane the Irish lad that was just here a bit ago?"

"The same. He's square. He's one of you."

The tramp leaned forward, his eyes fastened on the bloodshot eyes of the drink-compounder, and in an earnest tone, asked:

"Is he a bye that could crack a plant with the loikes o' me?"

Impressed with the tone and manner of the tramp, the bar-keeper gazed quickly around the room, and in a still lower tone, replied:

"He's on a lay himself. Would you like to go his pal?" The tramp slowly nodded his head, and after receiving the whispered invitation to come around later, strolled out of the saloon; and so on up the road.

Turning a corner he nearly ran against Barney himself, who was sitting on a horse-block, enjoying a pipe and the sun.

Not a soul was in sight. Satisfying himself of that fact, Barney gazed at the tramp and said:

"By Jove, Chip, I thought you were a goner when that confounded star fell out."

Chip gave a deep sigh of relief, and taking off his hat, pointed to the perspiration which moistened the band:

"Don't that look as though I thought so, too, Sam?"

"How in the name of all that's lovely, did you happen to be so careless?"

"That's what it was, sheer carelessness. I suffered, though, for it. It would have been all up with me if the gang had not been so deucedly stupid. That Jerry is a villain, and no mistake. I told him that I was a profesh, and he told me that you were another, and had a plan to do some fine work without asking permission of the owners. So I am to meet him again to-night, and see if you will not take me as your pal. You have your cue, and will know how to act."

"Chip, did you notice that man Cook?"

"You mean, did I notice the fifty-dollar bill he threw down?"

"Well, both."

"Seems to me he didn't look like a man that ought to be carrying fifty-dollar bills around so recklessly."

"He's a cooper, runs that little shop over there, and hasn't done a stroke of work for a month."

The cooper-shop pointed out by Sam was a small frame building, having the sign, "Oscar Cook--Barrels and Kegs," painted over the door. It was a tumbled-down, rickety affair, evidently having seen its best days.

Chip surveyed it intently, then turned to Sam, inquired:

"That express tag had on it something about a man named Cook, didn't it?"

"Yes, the words, 'it to Cook.'"

"Supposing that Dan Moriarity, whom we now know had some connection with the robbery, had taken the valise, which was sent from St. Louis to Leavenworth, had obeyed the order, for it was evidently an order which was written on the tag, and given 'it to Cook,' it would be fair to infer that the Cook mentioned had some hand in the pudding, too, and ought to be pretty flush about this time."

"You mean--"

"No, I don't mean that the Cook over in the saloon playing poker and the Cook mentioned on the tag are the same person, but we found no Dan Moriarity or Cook in Leavenworth but what was above suspicion, and I think that the men who were smart enough to plan and carry out a robbery such as this was would be shrewd enough to take every possible precaution against discovery. I mean that neither Moriarity or Cook are Leavenworth people, and for all we know to the contrary, may live here in Kansas City."

As Chip finished speaking, a man appeared in front of the cooper shop, and unlocking the door, entered.

"There is Cook, now," said Sam, making a movement as if to rise.

With a motion of the hand Chip cautioned him to remain where he was, and with lazy steps, lounged toward the shop.

CHAPTER VIII.

CAPTURE AND RESCUE.

The White Elephant was a large gambling hall in Kansas City, situated on one of the princ.i.p.al thoroughfares. It was centrally located, and night after night the brilliant lights and crowded tables bore witness to its rushing business.

On this evening the tiger was out with all its claws. Rouge et noir, roulette, faro, keno, and stud-poker were going in full blast. The proprietor, his elegant diamonds flashing in the light, was seated on a raised platform from whence he could survey the entire company--his face, impa.s.sive as marble and unreadable as the sphinx, was turned toward the faro lay-out, which this evening appeared to be the center of attraction.

Among the players sat one whose tall form and athletic frame would have been noticeable under any circ.u.mstances, but was now more so, as it towered above his fellow-gamesters who crowded around the table.

Before him lay a high pile of chips. He played with the nonchalant air of one who was there merely to pa.s.s away a vacant hour, but his stakes were high and he played every shot. His calm, impa.s.sioned countenance bore the unmistakable stamp of the professional gambler, and, serene as a quiet mill-pond, he bore his losses or pocketed his winnings with the enviable sang froid which results from a long and intimate acquaintance with the green-baized table.

Every night for a week had this man occupied the same seat, and with careless imperturbability had mulcted the bank of several thousands.

Rieley, the proprietor, himself one of the coolest dare-devil gamblers in the West, had recognized a kindred spirit, but to all advances and efforts to make his acquaintance the stranger had turned a cool shoulder, and his ident.i.ty was still a matter of conjecture.

Rieley was watching him closely this evening, so intently, indeed, that the stranger, with a look of annoyance, swept the chips into his hat and stepping up to the banker cashed them in and walked out of the room. As he emerged from the door he came in violent contact with a man just entering.

"I beg your pardon."

"Not at--by Jove! Moriarity, you here too?"

"Blest if it isn't Jim!"

"Hush! you fool, speak lower."

"Been up bucking the tiger?"

"I've been making a d.a.m.ned fool of myself. Rieley watched me too close for comfort, and I am going to vamoose."

"When?"

"None of your business. I want you to come with me to-night. I must see Cook."