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Updated: June 1, 2025
It was not a pleasant thought, the one of being left alone in the dark there, with the blood of his victim trickling through the floor upon him. "Mercy! what a dismal place. I must get out of this instanter, and what was that?" The sound of a step creaking on the floor above! An awful horror took complete possession of Barkswell at that moment.
"Well, so long as the hounds are on the scent there's danger to Andrew, that to you must be plain enough; and danger to yourself as well. Now, why not fix the crime on some one, and thus make it safe for Andrew and you beyond peradventure? That is the plan, and until that is carried out my friend Barkswell doesn't propose to pay out any money."
Barkswell raised his head and glared at the speaker in evident amazement. "Yes, one myself." "I deny it." "I think I can convince you." With the words, the peddler's hand went to his head, a few passes were made, and the man stood transformed. It was a complete metamorphosis. On the ground lay red wig and black patch. An exclamation fell from many lips. Andrew Barkswell uttered a great cry.
Jounce had been thoroughly posted by Andrew Barkswell, and knew that in the disguised man before him the noted detective was presented. "So," muttered Jounce, as he touched a spring with his foot that sent the weight back to its place in the ceiling, "I reckon you won't trouble us gents agin."
Now that the man-tracker was off the trail, Barkswell felt better. He had concocted a tremendous plot that his theft of the diamonds came near despoiling. It was not his wish to have Rose know of the existence of his wife. If necessary, the villain had resolved to put that wife out of the way forever.
Weakened though he was, the detective proved no mean adversary, and he might have conquered had not a third party appeared upon the scene, who at once went to the assistance of Barkswell, and by beating Keene over the head with the butt of a revolver he succeeded in quieting him so that he could be secured.
"You shall not live to thwart me, Perry Jounce," hissed Barkswell, as he pressed his companion in crime to the floor, and crushed his knee down upon his breast. "Mercy!" again gasped Jounce. "No. You would grant none to me. It would not be safe for me to permit you to live." "But, hasn't I did my duty by you, pardner?
I hear that her father will soon return. I must complete the work by a marriage before that. It was a confounded mean affair, that meeting in the garden. I suppose it'll require a good deal of shrewd lying to convince Rose that that woman was not my wife." Then the villain walked back to the little shanty. A light still burned within. Barkswell paused at the door.
"Even the service of a brother-in-law hain't allus to be despised; eh, Andrew?" "No. You did me a good turn just now, and I'll not forget it." Detective Keene heard these remarks, and tried to profit by them. "This man is fooling you, Mr. Jounce," cried Keene, faintly. "Shut up." This from Barkswell. "I tell you that this man is fooling you. He is not "
The ugly eyes of the tramp regarded the disguised detective in a way that was not pleasant. Was the tramp really the guilty person in that tragedy? If so, how much or how little did Andrew Barkswell know of the affair? The letter that had been found with the dead girl would indicate that she had been on somewhat intimate terms with either Barkswell or Bordine.
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