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Delbras we must identify through Bob, or as we best could; and the third member of the 'gang' well, a great deal must be left to chance, as usual. This much we knew of Delbras: he was 'handsome, educated, familiar with the ways of good society, and not an easy bird to catch. This from the French police commissaire.
'Masters, Lossing said, 'I want to be with the man that attacks Delbras. I owe it to him. When Jeffrys had heard him he declared Delbras his prey. But I also had my word to say. Jeffrys might serve his warrant and bear off the captive from the city, but he could only take him when I had failed; and so it was arranged.
And when thinking of 'the gang, I could not but note how both Dave and myself had reversed our first order in naming them, and now spoke, invariably, not of 'Greenback Bob and the rest, but of 'Delbras and Company. Somehow, Delbras seemed to have taken the foremost place in our thoughts, as I fully believed he was foremost in all the plots, plans and undertakings of the mysterious and elusive three.
'Well, had been Dave's comment as we reperused this summary of M. Delbras, 'he may disguise himself in many ways, but he can't change his height very much, nor the colour of his eyes, nor his "regular features" Dave's features were not strictly regular, and it was a weakness of his always to resent this descriptive phrase 'nor his slim fingers, nor the scar on his temple close to the roots of the hair.
With lantern in one hand and pistol in the other, I made a forward step as I saw by the ray thrown across the bed the form and face of Delbras; and then, suddenly, beneath my foot, something cracked and burst with a sharp explosion. Only a parlour match, but it brought the sleeper to a sitting posture, and broad awake in a moment.
The man had maintained a stolid indifference and a stubborn silence after his arrest, even when he learned how complete was his exposure both as Voisin and Delbras. Before his departure for New York a complete record of his misdeeds, so far as we knew them, was made and put into the hands of Jeffrys.
Besides, you remember, Delbras is said to have crossed at the time many of these fellows were coming over, and he had plenty of chance to make himself solid on the way, or even before they crossed the water. Who knows how much fine work he has done among these Turks, Syrians, Algerians, Egyptians, Japs, and so on? 'Jove! you're right enough.
One thing was assured; Jeffrys must wait and move with us; any effort of his to secure Delbras alone would endanger our chances for securing the rest. Before going further with Jeffrys I felt that I must consult Dave. He had left me at noon to go back to Stony Island Avenue, where half a dozen places, each more or less 'shady, were being constantly watched.
Of Delbras we knew, first, that he was and had been for years the occasional partner or confederate of the counterfeiter, and presumably a counterfeiter also; next, that he was set down in the records of the London police as 'dangerous'; and last, that he had crossed the ocean, leaving Paris, which had grown 'too hot to hold him, and was avowedly en route for the World's Fair, it was thought upon mischief intent.
But there's no proof of any sort pointing toward the rest of the gang; and so, old man, before we put another fellow on the track of Delbras, Bob, Smug and Company, we will satisfy ourselves that we are not smart enough to run them down alone.
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