The Return 
 Night Wind
 
 t > * V
 
 THE RETURN OF 
 THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 A SEQUEL TO 
 "ALIAS THE NIGHT WIND" 
 
 BY 
 
 VARICK VANARDY 
 
 M. A. DONOHUE & COMPANY 
 
 CHICAGO NEW YORF
 
 1913, BT 
 THE FRANK A. MUNSEY CO. 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY 
 G. W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY 
 
 ffe Return of the Night Wind 
 
 Made in U. S. A.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. LADY KATE OF THE POLICE 7 
 
 II. The GAUNTLET THROWN DOWN .... 16 
 
 III. THE INSPECTOR'S PRIVATE OFFICE ... 25 
 
 IV. THE NIGHT WIND'S PROPHECY .... 37 
 V. A STRATEGIC VICTORY 47 
 
 VI. "BREAKING" A COP 54 
 
 VII. A MIDNIGHT CALL 63 
 
 VIII. RODNEY RUSHTON'S ORDEAL .... 70 
 
 IX. PLAYING THE GAME 81 
 
 X. A "SYSTEM" AND A "KEY" 90 
 
 XI. LADY KATE'S MISFORTUNE 102 
 
 XII. THE LITTLE DOOR 112 
 
 XIII. PUTTING ONE OVER ON RUSHTON . . . 119 
 
 XIV. INTO JAIL AND OUT 133 
 
 XV. FRIENDS IN NEED 142 
 
 XVI. THE NIGHT WIND'S INCREDIBLE SWIFTNESS . 152 
 
 XVII. RUSHTON SHOWS His COLORS . . . . 161 
 
 XVIII. THE BANKER'S DILEMMA 171 
 
 XIX. THE MASQUERADER 181 
 
 XX. THE HOUSE ON THE ROOF 188 
 
 XXI. BATTING A TRAP 19$ 
 
 2138642
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XXII. A NET FOR RUSHTON 203 
 
 XXIII. WHEN LADY KATE MADE READY . . , 210 
 
 XXIV. THE NIGHT WIND'S CLOSEST CALL . . . 220 
 XXV. THE "SOCIETY OF CRIPPLED COPS" . . . 230 
 
 XXVI. FOR THE HONOR OF THE SERVICE . . . 240 
 
 XXVII. THE GOOD THAT MEN Do . . . , . 249 
 
 XXVHL THE GREAT WHITE LIGHT 258 
 
 XXIX. FINDING A BANKER'S HEART 267 
 
 XXX. THE CIPHER 276 
 
 XXXI. IN FRONT OF CHESTER'S HOUSE .... 286 
 
 XXXII. LADY KATE'S DISGUISE UNCOVERED . . . 296 
 
 XXXni. THE WAY THE MONEY WENT .... 306 
 
 XXXIV. TAKING THE "THIRD DEGREE" .... 316 
 
 XXXV. THE AFTERMATH 323
 
 THE RETURN OF THE 
 NIGHT WIND 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 LADY KATE OF THE POLICE 
 
 "What are you doing here? How did you get 
 in? Who are you?" 
 
 Lady Kate lifted a pair of inscrutable, fathom- 
 less eyes to meet the perplexed, half-angry gaze of 
 Banker Chester, and she replied with utter calm, 
 while the ghost of a smile flitted across her perfect 
 features. She answered each of the questions in 
 their order. 
 
 "I have been," she said, "waiting for you. I 
 entered with a key. I am or was Lady Kate of 
 the Police." 
 
 Another suggestion of a smile glowed for the 
 briefest instant upon her face, and was gone as soon 
 as it appeared. She did not alter her attitude of 
 relaxed ease by so much as the movement of a 
 finger. She continued to lean back comfortably in 
 the depths of the huge, leather-upholstered chair 
 she occupied. 
 
 The banker looked down upon her with a frown 
 7
 
 8 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 upon his face and growing anger in his eyes. The 
 multitudinous affairs of his daily life in the world 
 of finance had crowded out all recollection of the 
 name she had used; and yet it stirred something 
 of memory within him, too. 
 
 And her face? He knew that somewhere he 
 had seen it before, and the vague acknowledgment 
 of the fact to himself stirred him uneasily. 
 
 Of the three replies she made to his three ques- 
 tions, only one sank into his understanding as being 
 of paramount and immediate importance; and he 
 replied instantly: 
 
 "You entered with a key! Whose key? What 
 key?" 
 
 "With a key ; yes. A latch-key to the front door 
 of this house. Whose key, you ask, Mr. Chester? 
 I came in with the key which you had made ex- 
 pressly for, and gave to Bingham Harvard." 
 
 She straightened and stiffened in her chair when 
 she uttered the name, bending slightly forward to- 
 ward the man who stood before her. Her eyes, 
 half quizzical, partly smiling until then, were sud- 
 denly hard as flint; and her mobile lips, without 
 apparent motion, seemed also to harden. 
 
 And the banker! 
 
 The mention of that name shocked him into im- 
 potency. He stood like a statue while the blood 
 slowly receded from his face, leaving it white and 
 drawn and frightened.
 
 LADY KATE OF THE POLICE 9 
 
 Lady Kate watched him with the calmness of a 
 stoic; waited for him to recover from the shock 
 of that announcement, which had been even more 
 severe than she had anticipated. 
 
 She saw him put out a hand toward the library 
 table, which occupied the middle of the room, to 
 steady himself. She saw him moisten his lips 
 with the tip of his tongue and thrust out his chin, 
 as if the intaking of his breath were an effort. 
 She relaxed into the depths of the chair again, but 
 the hardness that had come into her exquisite face 
 remained. 
 
 "Bingham Harvard!" the banker gasped in a 
 shrill whisper when it was given him again to 
 articulate. 
 
 "Yes," Lady Kate said calmly. 
 
 "Where where is he?" 
 
 "At least he is not here now, Mr. Chester. Of 
 that you may be sure." 
 
 Then the blood surged back into Chester's face 
 with apoplectic force, changing it from white to a 
 lesser tint of purple. 
 
 His wrath mounted with it like boiling water in 
 a kettle over a hot fire. He forgot his dignity, 
 his gentility, his native courtesy. He stormed at 
 her in an outburst of passion that was like the 
 popping of a safety-valve of a locomotive; and 
 Lady Kate listened without a change of expression,
 
 10 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 without comment, without resentment, until the 
 storm had passed. 
 
 "How dare you enter my house in the middle 
 of the night, like a thief, and with a key that I 
 once gave to a thief, not knowing that he was one? 
 How dare you sit here in my library? 
 
 "Your insolence, your effrontery, and your pres- 
 ence here are alike insufferable intolerable. And 
 how dare you you, whoever you are utter that 
 name in my presence?" 
 
 He sprang to the door and threw it open. "Out, 
 woman! Out, I say, while there is time while I 
 can retain some measure of control over myself. 
 Be off with you before I use the telephone to sum- 
 mon the police and send you where I have no doubt 
 you belong where you most certainly do belong 
 if you are, as you imply, hand in glove with that 
 despicable and consummate scoundrel whose name 
 you have spoken! Begone! Leave this house at 
 once, and never dare to enter it again ! And give 
 me that key ! Now!" 
 
 This is not all that he said 'but it is enough of 
 it. There was much more like it, save only that 
 it was worse. But the effect of it all boomeranged 
 upon himself. 
 
 At the end of his tirade, his passion spent, his 
 face became livid again. His head bent forward 
 until his chin touched the bosom of his shirt. He 
 tottered where he stood, and clung desperately to
 
 LADY KATE OF THE POLICE 11 
 
 the door that he had opened for Lady Kate's egress. 
 
 Involuntarily he closed it again. Then, weakly, 
 with uncertain steps, he half crossed the room and 
 sank down upon a chair opposite her, with the li- 
 brary table between them. 
 
 Throughout all of it Lady Kate neither moved 
 nor spoke; and now she did not when he seated 
 himself beyond the table. 
 
 But her eyes never left his face ; and when, cow- 
 eringly, half fearfully, he ventured to lift his own, 
 they encountered hers, fixed full upon him, with a 
 calm, judicial scrutiny that was contemptuous be- 
 yond words, but, above all else, dismaying. 
 
 Lady Kate did not offer to speak; she waited 
 for the banker to do so, knowing that presently he 
 would. 
 
 Gradually, and with apparent effort, Chester re- 
 covered his mental equilibrium. Behind the nar- 
 rowness and hardness of his mathematical life as 
 a banker, outside the limited environment of his 
 two-plus-two existence, beyond the horizon of the 
 sordid dollar and what a dollar could earn, he was 
 gentle and kind and good. 
 
 His instincts and aspirations were of the highest 
 order; and he had loved Bingham Harvard as a 
 father loves a favorite son. He loved him still, 
 although he did not know it. 
 
 Little by little he recovered his normal poise, and 
 at last, in a tone that was entirely calm and com-
 
 12 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 posed in the tone that he would have used in his 
 private office at the bank he asked : 
 
 "Why are you here, madam? What is the pur- 
 pose of this midnight call upon me?" 
 
 She left the deep chair in which she had been 
 seated and drew up a straight-backed one at the 
 opposite side of the table. She seated herself upon 
 it, and bending slightly forward with her elbows 
 on the table and her hands clasped together just 
 beneath her shapely chin, replied: 
 
 "I came here in the interest of Bingham Har- 
 vard, Mr. Chester. The purpose of my call upon 
 you is to insist that you make an earnest effort now 
 at once to discover the identity of the thief who 
 robbed your bank, and by doing so establish for- 
 ever the innocence of Bingham Harvard. That is 
 why I am here." 
 
 "I will make no such effort as you demand," 
 was the banker's calm reply. "It would be utterly 
 useless. Bingham Harvard is guilty." 
 
 "That," Lady Kate replied slowly and without 
 emphasis, "is a falsehood, and you know in your 
 heart that it is one." 
 
 "Madam!" 
 
 "Mr. Chester, I did not come here to mince 
 words or to paraphrase with facts. Whosoever 
 says unequivocably that Bingham Harvard was 
 guilty of that theft at your bank lies !" 
 
 She waited an instant. "But somewhere there is
 
 LADY KATE OF THE POLICE 13 
 
 a guilty man, and that guilty man must be found; 
 and you, sir, must help with all the power and 
 force that you possess to find him. The innocence 
 of Bingham Harvard must be shall be estab- 
 lished. His birthright of integrity and honesty 
 must be restored to him." 
 
 "His birthright!" The contempt which the 
 banker managed to inject into the utterance of those 
 two words brought a hot flush for the first time to 
 Lady Kate's cheeks. But she replied with the same 
 absence of all emotion, nevertheless : 
 
 "Yes, his birthright, for whoever his unknown 
 parents might have been, they endowed him with a 
 lofty soul, a sterling character, a strong heart, and 
 an upright, unsulliable mind. You, Mr. Chester, 
 more than any other man, should know all 
 that." 
 
 "I know," the banker replied, coldly calm in 
 another man his manner might have been called 
 coldly insolent "that I played the part of a father 
 to him from his early youth until the hour came 
 when he turned upon me and bit the hand that had 
 fed him ; and, of all despicable things on earth, that 
 is the most base and unforgivable. I would not 
 No, / will not lift one finger in any effort to estab- 
 lish an innocence which would be a lie. Bingham 
 Harvard is guilty." 
 
 "And are you, Mr. Chester, content to accept 
 the word of such a creature as Lieutenant Rodney
 
 14 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 Rushton in preference to the word of my of Bing- 
 ham Harvard?' 1 
 
 "Yes. Or the word of any other man, no matter 
 whom >rather than his. And, madam" the banker 
 glanced at his watch "permit me to suggest that 
 the hour is late. It is now a quarter to one. No 
 possible good can come by prolonging this inter- 
 view, which, I must insist, is distinctly abominable 
 to me. I must ask you to restore that latch-key 
 and to go away." 
 
 Lady Kate pinched open her mesh-bag and laid 
 the key on the table. Chester started to rise; but 
 she spoke again, in that same calm tone she had 
 been using: "One moment, please." 
 
 Chester resumed his seat and Lady Kate picked 
 up the telephone, which was within reach of her 
 hand. "With your permission, sir," she added, as 
 if it were the most natural thing in the world that 
 she should do what she did do. And then, before 
 he could reply or offer an objection, she called for 
 a number. There was a short wait, and then : 
 
 "Has Mr. Clancy returned? Thank you. Will 
 you please ask him to come to the telephone? He 
 must have found a letter from me awaiting him 
 when he returned. Say that the person calling is 
 Mrs. Bingham Harvard." 
 
 There was a crash at the opposite side of the 
 table as the banker in starting to his feet over- 
 turned his chair.
 
 LADY KATE OF THE POLICE 15 
 
 "What?" he cried out. "You you are that 
 man's wife? His wife? You?" 
 
 "Even I," she replied smilingly, putting one small 
 palm over the transmitter while she raised her eyes 
 to his across the table. "I am Bingham Harvard's 
 wife, and I find time every day I live to thank the 
 good God for it." 
 
 "And that that man you are calling now is Tom 
 Clancy? His friend? And the son of my friend? 
 Is it Torn Clancy whom you are calling?" 
 
 "Yes, Mr. Chester One moment, please. 
 Hello, Mr. Clancy! This is Mrs. Harvard. Did 
 you receive my letter ? I am with Mr. Chester now 
 at his home. How soon do you think you can 
 get here? Thank you." Lady Kate hung up the 
 receiver. 
 
 "Do you mean to tell me that that man is coming 
 here to my house now and by your invitation ?" the 
 banker demanded, beside himself with rage for the 
 second time that night; and, without waiting for 
 her reply, he almost shouted : "It is an outrage ! 
 I will not permit it! You must go now, at once!" 
 
 "Mr. Chester," she replied calmly "Mr. Clancy 
 will be here within ten minutes and you will admit 
 him. You would scarcely use force to eject me 
 from your house, would you? For, unless you do 
 that, we will wait here together until Mr. Clancy 
 arrives."
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE GAUNTLET THROWN DOWN 
 
 The banker did not admit Thomas Clancy. 
 
 When the bell rang he sat stubbornly immova- 
 ble; and Lady Kate, after regarding him in silence 
 for a brief moment, went calmly to the outer door 
 herself and admitted her friend the only friend 
 that had been left to Bingham Harvard, alias the 
 Night Wind, when all the world had turned against 
 him and he had been hunted like a wild thing with 
 a price upon his head, dead or alive. 
 
 "My dear Mrs. Harvard ' Clancy began im- 
 pulsively the instant he crossed the threshold, for 
 they had not seen each other until that moment 
 since her return ; but she put a finger quickly to her 
 lips, commanding silence, and, turning abruptly 
 after one brief hand-clasp, led the way into the li- 
 brary. 
 
 Apparently the banker had not moved a finger, 
 and he did not when Tom Clancy entered the room. 
 He did not raise his eyes or offer anything at all 
 in the way of a greeting to the son of his old friend. 
 
 "How are you, Chester?" Clancy remarked gen- 
 16
 
 THE GAUNTLET THROWN DOWN 17 
 
 ially, and then smiled grimly at the banker's atti- 
 tude. 
 
 "Mr. Chester," said Lady Kate, "I will make a 
 short explanation of the present circumstance so 
 that you may quite understand how it has come 
 about. My husband and I have been abroad since 
 the happening of the unpleasant incidents with 
 which you are familiar. It is approximately six 
 months since we went away. During that time 
 we have sent brief messages infrequently to Mr. 
 Clancy. For obvious reasons we gave him no ad- 
 dress whereby he might have communicated with 
 us. He did not know of my intention to return, 
 and had no knowledge of my presence in the city 
 until he received and read a letter which I sent 
 to his home late this afternoon by a messenger. 
 I hope you are heeding what I say; it would be 
 more comprehensive possibly if you would raise 
 your eyes occasionally unless, indeed, you are 
 ashamed to do so." 
 
 Chester raised his eyes with a jerk, opened his 
 mouth as if to speak, but closed his jaws like a 
 trap. Nevertheless, after that moment he kept his 
 gazed fixed upon the Night Wind's wife with more 
 or less intensity although he could not avoid shift- 
 ing them at times when her own regard became too 
 scrutinizing for his comfort. She continued : 
 
 "In that letter I told Mr. Clancy of my return 
 and of the purpose that brought me here. I came
 
 18 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 ashore soon after one o'clock this afternoon. I ex- 
 plained to him that my first duty was to talk with 
 you, and that it was imperative that the interview 
 should be private and devoid of the possibility of 
 an interruption. In a word, I told him of my pos- 
 session of a key to this house, and that I had de- 
 cided to be here in your library, awaiting you when 
 you should return from a banquet which you were 
 to attend to-night." 
 
 "Then it was you who telephoned to the bank 
 this afternoon?" the banker exclaimed, speaking 
 for the first time since Clancy's entrance. 
 
 "The telephoning was done at my direction. It 
 was necessary that I should know of your plans 
 for to-night. I was determined to see you before 
 I slept, and in such a manner that there could be 
 no interruption." 
 
 Chester did not reply, and after a moment Lady 
 Kate went on : 
 
 "In my letter to Mr. Clancy I asked him to hold 
 himself in readiness to come to me and to you, 
 sir here, when I should telephone." 
 
 For the first time Chester turned his eyes upon 
 Clancy. Tom's father had been his closest business 
 associate, and his life-long friend ; and he had been 
 fond of Tom since the latter's infancy. 
 
 The banker's eyes were cold and hard. His lips 
 were drawn into firm, unyielding lines. There was 
 no sign or indication of compromise, or even of
 
 THE GAUNTLET THROWN DOWN 19 
 
 kindness, about him. His entire attitude was one 
 of utter relentlessness. His voice, when he spoke, 
 was his most austere "banker's voice," cold, dis- 
 tant, expressionless, leaving naught but the naked 
 words he uttered to express what he wished his 
 companions to know. 
 
 "Tom Clancy," he said, "you have intruded here 
 without invitation and without permission. When 
 I have finished with what I have to say I want you 
 to leave my house and never to enter it again ; and 
 when you go, you must take this woman with you." 
 
 Clancy started and bent forward as if to inter- 
 rupt, but at a sign from Lady Kate he relaxed again, 
 and waited. The banker continued: 
 
 "One hundred and thirty-six thousand dollars dis- 
 appeared from the paying teller's cage at my bank 
 almost a year ago. Bingham Harvard, my foster 
 son, although I never adopted him legally, thank 
 God, was the paying teller. A detective from police 
 headquarters whom I called in, and who had done 
 much good service for me before that, succeeded 
 in fastening the theft of that money upon him. 
 When Harvard was called upon to surrender to the 
 law right here in this room he changed into a 
 wild man on the instant ; he used his great strength 
 to maim and cripple the three officers who were 
 here to take him and he made his escape. After 
 that he continued to defy the law until he became
 
 20 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 a terror to the whole city, and an abomination in 
 the sight of every law-abiding citizen. 
 
 "You know the history of it all as well as I do. 
 I mention it now because I want you and this 
 woman who says she is his wife " 
 
 "Chester, by >" 
 
 Another quick gesture from Lady Kate silenced 
 Clancy's hot anger at the slur. The banker went 
 on imperturbably in the same colorless voice : 
 
 " to understand my attitude thoroughly. Un- 
 til that thing happened I loved Bingham Harvard 
 as if he were my own son. After it happened, 
 after what he did, and now and j or evermore, 
 he has ceased to exist so far as I am concerned. 
 There can be no compromise." Chester got sud- 
 denly upon his feet and stepped backward, away 
 from the chair he had been occupying. "And now 
 
 I want you to go. If you do not " He took 
 
 a quick step forward and reached for the telephone. 
 
 But Lady Kate was quicker than he. She bent 
 forward and seized it, then leaned back in her chair 
 again with an odd little smile in her eyes as she 
 looked up at the banker across the table. 
 
 Clancy was on his feet now, facing the thor- 
 oughly incensed Chester; and he was scarcely less 
 angry than the older man, because of those slurs 
 which the latter had dared to cast upon the wife 
 of his friend. 
 
 "You contemptible little money-grub!" he ex-
 
 THE GAUNTLET THROWN DOWN 21 
 
 claimed hotly. "Why, Chester, I am ashamed to 
 remember that my father ever called you his friend. 
 You are not even a friend to yourself. Your soul 
 is so small that it wouldn't weigh in the balance 
 against a fleck of fog." 
 
 "Get out of my house!" the banker ordered. 
 "Both of you." 
 
 "Oh, we will go in a moment. We'll be glad to 
 go. You needn't worry. But first I have got some- 
 thing to say to you, and I'm going to say it if I 
 have to adopt Bing Harvard's methods to compel 
 you to listen. Do you understand that?" 
 
 "Say it, then, and begone." 
 
 "I haven't been idle since the Night Wind blew 
 away, six months ago. I haven't accomplished very 
 much as yet, but I'm going to accomplish every- 
 thing that I set out to do then. That is, we are. 
 And I want to tell you one thing: there is not a 
 move you make or a thing you do that is not re- 
 ported to me; and as sure as there is justice in 
 Heaven, Bing Harvard and Bing Harvard's wife 
 and I will nail you and your smooth unctuousness 
 to the cross of bitter retribution before we have done 
 with you. And by Heaven, Chester!" he came 
 a step nearer, pounding his left hand with his right 
 one as he did so "we'll make you get down on 
 your knees and grovel to the man you have wronged 
 before we are done with you. Come, Katherine, 
 let's get out of here. I'm nauseated."
 
 22 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "Wait," she replied quickly. "Just one more 
 word. Mr. Chester, think once more, please. Help 
 us to right this great wrong that has been done 
 to my husband." 
 
 "Not by so much as the turning of a finger," the 
 banker replied in an even tone. 
 
 "Listen: Bingham did not wish to return here, 
 ever. He wanted to go far away, to the other side 
 of the world, and begin his life anew. Being his 
 wife, I would not consent to that. I forced him to 
 consent to return, to clear himself of that horrible 
 stigma that you and Rodney Rushton put upon 
 him, and I promise you, now that I am here, it 
 shall be done to the very last balance in the scales 
 of justice and right. With your willing assistance 
 it might be accomplished much more quickly and 
 easily than otherwise. So, Mr. Chester, once more 
 I plead with you : won't you help us ?" 
 
 "No. Do I understand you to say that Bingham 
 Harvard has returned also? That he is here in 
 the city now? Rest assured, madam, that I shall 
 lose no time in acquainting the police with that in- 
 teresting bit of news." The banker made a grimace 
 which he intended to be a smile of derision. 
 
 "Oh, how unspeakable you are," Katherine re- 
 turned evenly, but with somber, burning eyes. "No. 
 He is not here. I came alone ; came to take up 
 this work with the assistance of Mr. Clancy." 
 
 "Where is he? Perhaps you will tell me that."
 
 THE GAUNTLET THROWN DOWN 23 
 
 "He is on the other side; let us say that he is in 
 London, if that interests you. When I have need 
 of him I will cable him, and he will come. I think, 
 when he does come, that you, Mr. Chester, will be 
 the first man he will seek even as I sought you. 
 But he might not be as gentle with you as I have 
 been." 
 
 A deathlike pallor spread slowly over the face 
 of the banker, and he caught his breath in a sharp 
 gasp that had in it something akin to terror. 
 
 "Do you dare to threaten me in his name?" 
 Chester demanded huskily. 
 
 "Yes. But with exposure; not with violence." 
 
 "He will not dare to come here again. He will 
 not dare!" the banker cried out. 
 
 Lady Kate smiled at him across the table. 
 
 "Did you ever know of anything that Bingham 
 Harvard wanted to do that he did not dare to do?" 
 she asked evenly. "Did he hesitate to go about, at 
 his own pleasure and will, when the entire police 
 force of this city was seeking him? Did he hesi- 
 tate to defend himself when he was attacked? Did 
 the men who attacked him once venture to do so 
 a second time? Did those men drive him away, or 
 did he go away of his own free will and accord? 
 Oh, you miserably little man, how impossible it is 
 for you to understand or to comprehend a man 
 who is big and great, and good, and honest! I am 
 here to find the thief who stole that money, Mr.
 
 24 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 Chester, and I am beginning to believe that I have 
 not far to look." 
 
 "Indeed no, madam. You have only to look at 
 the man you call hus < " 
 
 "Stop where you are, sir. I have only to look 
 across this table at you to see the real thief. You 
 are that thief! You! Even though you did not 
 steal the actual cash, you are the thief! You are 
 the real thief!" 
 
 "Yes, by Heaven, and we'll brand it on your 
 forehead, Chester, before we have done with you !" 
 Clancy exclaimed. "Come on, Lady Kate, let's 
 get out of this." 
 
 She left her place beside the table and drew 
 nearer to Clancy. Chester sprang forward sud- 
 denly and seized upon the telephone. Clancy darted 
 after him and would have torn it from his grasp, 
 but Katherine seized his arm and held him back. 
 
 "Wait," she said calmly. "Let him telephone to 
 police headquarters now, if he so desires. He 
 would do so in any event as soon as we are gone. 
 But he does not know (neither do you, Mr. Clancy) 
 of other things I have done in preparation for this 
 moment. I shall not wait for the police to seek me. 
 I shall seek them. They shall know of the Night 
 Wind's return when he shall have returned." 
 
 Lady Kate and Thomas Clancy passed out of 
 the house together, leaving Chester at the telephone, 
 wildly calling for police headquarters.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 THE INSPECTOR'S PRIVATE OFFICE 
 
 Tom Clancy had been inside his own home but 
 a few moments when there came a peremptory 
 summons at his front door, and he went in person 
 to open it, knowing well that the police would have 
 lost no time in seeking him, after the announce- 
 ment that Chester had doubtless made to them over 
 the telephone. 
 
 It was Lieutenant Rodney Rushton who con- 
 fronted him when he did throw the door ajar; 
 and beside Rushton, at the top of the steps, was 
 Coniglio, one of the two headquarters men who 
 had accompanied Rushton on that memorable oc- 
 casion to which the banker had referred, when the 
 attempt was made, approximately nine months be- 
 fore, to arrest Bingham Harvard at Chester's house. 
 
 Rushton thrust himself forward with the same 
 aggressive air he always adopted; belligerent, in- 
 solent of tone and manner. 
 
 "Where is she?" he demanded without preface, 
 25
 
 26 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 stepping over the threshold. "We want her, Clancy, 
 and we want her right now. Hedging won't go 
 this trip." Coniglio followed him into the house. 
 
 Clancy moved backward a pace and gestured 
 toward the parlor door, and with a queer little half 
 smile upon his face. 
 
 "Step into the parlor, gentlemen, and be seated," 
 he said. "I was expecting you. In fact I was 
 awaiting you ; although" he let his glance rest for 
 an instant upon Rushton's pig-eyes "I hardly an- 
 ticipated that you would come, Rushton." 
 
 "You didn't, eh? Why not?" Rushton de- 
 manded in reply as they passed through the open 
 doorway into the parlor. 
 
 "Oh, well" Clancy permitted himself a broad 
 smile this time "I have always given you credit 
 for plenty of gall, Rushton; but, on the level, I 
 didn't think it was quite equal to this." 
 
 "That will be about all from you, Mr. Clancy," 
 the lieutenant replied savagely. "We are officers 
 of the law, and as such " 
 
 "As such, you have no more privilege inside of 
 this house than a pan-handler of the streets. Don't 
 forget that. Now, what do you want ?" 
 
 Clancy's apparently easy-going manner was sud- 
 denly changed to sharp directness. 
 
 "We want Lady Kate. That's what we want," 
 Rushton retorted, standing with one hand grasp- 
 ing the back of the chair upon which he had been
 
 THE INSPECTOR'S PRIVATE OFFICE 27 
 
 about to seat himself. "We're going to get her, 
 too." 
 
 "Did you expect to find the lady here, at my 
 house?" Clancy inquired. 
 
 "Well, why not? She was with you less than 
 three-quarters of an hour ago, at Chester's, and you 
 came away from there together. That's what he 
 told the inspector over the telephone. Ain't she 
 here?" 
 
 "Certainly not. These are bachelor quarters, 
 lieutenant. The only woman in the house is Scipio's 
 he is my valet grandmother; and even she is a 
 late importation ; but I found that I needed a house- 
 keeper and cook. Won't you sit down?" 
 
 "No, I won't. If Lady Kate isn't here, where is 
 she?" Rushton answered angrily. He knew that 
 Clancy was taunting him and making silent fun of 
 him and he hated Tom Clancy almost as much as 
 he did the Night Wind. 
 
 "Really, lieutenant, I haven't the least idea where 
 she is," Clancy replied. 
 
 "That's a a likely story, that is. If she ain't 
 here you know where she went to after you parted 
 with her." 
 
 "On the contrary, I do not know. She was quite 
 willing to tell me, and started to do so, but I stopped 
 her, because I was quite well aware that inquiries 
 would be made of me. So, I don't know, any more 
 than you do, Rushton."
 
 28 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "Say, Clancy, I've got more'n half a notion to 
 clap the irons onto you and take 
 
 "Oh, no you haven't. Don't bluff, Rushton 
 not with me. I'm more than seven, and am quite 
 able to walk alone." 
 
 "Say, Clancy" Rushton came a step nearer and 
 thrust out his chin aggressively "Miss Katherine 
 Maxwell is in the city, an' the inspector wants to 
 see her, right now. If you don't tell us where to 
 find her " 
 
 "If that is all," Clancy interrupted, "you are only 
 wasting your time seeking her." 
 
 "What do you mean by that?" 
 
 "It is quite as much her desire to see the inspector 
 as it is his to see her," Tom replied. "That is what 
 I mean, exactly." 
 
 "Huh! Tell it to Sweeny." 
 
 "I am telling it to you. It is the present inten- 
 tion of Lady Kate to call at police headquarters in 
 the morning. You might convey that message to 
 the inspector and to all whom it may concern, lieu- 
 tenant." 
 
 "Say, do you mean that, Clancy? Is that on the 
 level?" 
 
 "Certainly." 
 
 "Blowed if it ain't just like her, at that. What 
 time? Huh!" 
 
 "The lady did not admit me that far into her con- 
 fidence," Clancy replied.
 
 THE INSPECTOR'S PRIVATE OFFICE 29 
 
 "Anyhow, I believe you. Say?" 
 
 "Well, lieutenant?" 
 
 "Where is he at? The Night Wind, I mean. 
 That's what we want to know." 
 
 "Naturally. It is, at least, what you want to 
 know, Rushton, and what you are a little bit afraid 
 to hear told, too. To the best of my belief, lieu- 
 tenant, Mr. Bingham Harvard is somewhere in the 
 city of London awaiting a message which will sum- 
 mon him here, and you can play it a hundred to 
 one that it won't take him long to get here when 
 he receives that message." 
 
 Rushton left the chair where he had been stand- 
 ing and started for the front door, uttering a curt 
 command to his companion to follow. At the front 
 door he turned. 
 
 "When the Night Wind does come here we'll get 
 him, good and plenty ; you take it from me, Clancy. 
 If he pokes his nose into little old New York just 
 once more he'll get what is coming to him, and 
 then some; and so, if you've got any means of 
 sendin' word to him, you'd better advise him to 
 travel in the other direction. There won't be any 
 foolin', if he shows up here again," he said. "Be- 
 sides bein' a thief, he has done enough other acts 
 to send him away for a century." 
 
 The lieutenant passed through the doorway to- 
 ward the street, and Clancy's pleasantly derisive 
 voice followed him, and the sting of the words that
 
 80 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 Clancy uttered made him halt at the top of the steps 
 outside. 
 
 "I think, Rushton," the young broker said, "that 
 you and Coniglio, and the others who have suffered 
 at the hands of Bing Harvard, should organize a 
 secret order for the purpose of hunting him down. 
 Don't you? You might call it 'The Society of Crip- 
 pled Cops.' Eh? What? Good night, or, rather, 
 good morning to you." Clancy closed the door be- 
 fore Rushton could reply. 
 
 The air of subdued excitement which pervaded 
 police headquarters the following morning might 
 be likened to that breathless interval of elemental 
 suspense which obtains just before the descent of a 
 tropical tornado. 
 
 Information had somehow gone forth and had 
 been passed from lip to ear throughout the depart- 
 ment that the Night Wind had returned; or, if he 
 had not actually returned as yet, he was on the 
 point of coming back ; and, anyhow, Lady Kate was 
 back. 
 
 And Lady Kate was due to arrive at headquarters 
 during the forenoon by her own invitation. She 
 intended to face all of them, from the inspector 
 down; and, while it was not known for a fact, it 
 was nevertheless generally believed Lady Kate had 
 gone away with the Night Wind when he disap- 
 peared. (Banker Chester had not informed head-
 
 THE INSPECTOR'S PRIVATE OFFICE 31 
 
 quarters that Miss Katharine Maxwell had become 
 Mrs. Bingham Harvard. He had kept that bit of 
 information to himself, either because he deemed 
 it unimportant, or because he did not believe it. ) 
 
 She arrived at precisely eleven o'clock. 
 
 In the big room of the detective bureau there fell 
 a decided hush upon all who were present the 
 moment she entered it; and there was an unusual 
 gathering in that same big room. Excuses and 
 actual permission to be present had been sought by 
 many of the men, uniformed and otherwise, who 
 had in the past been in more or less violent contact 
 with the dreaded Night Wind. 
 
 The coming of Lady Kate portended something, 
 and nobody could guess what that something might 
 be. 
 
 She halted for an instant just outside the door. 
 Her eyes, with the swiftness of a humming bird, 
 flew from face to face. An inscrutable smile lin- 
 gered in her expression. Then she crossed the room 
 to one of the flat-topped desks and said to the offi- 
 cer who was seated behind it : 
 
 "How do you do, Lieutenant Courtleigh ? I wish 
 to see the inspector. Will you tell him that I am 
 here?" 
 
 "It isn't necessary," was the quick reply, as Court- 
 leigh started to his feet and extended his right hand 
 which Lady Kate accepted with hearty good will. 
 Courtleigh was one of several for whom she re-
 
 32 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 tained a respectful and personal liking. "He is 
 expecting you. The deputy commissioner is with 
 him. You may go right inside, Lady Kate." 
 
 "Thank you," she said; and did so. 
 
 Both men got upon their feet when Lady Kate 
 entered the private office, although neither had in- 
 tended to do so. But there was some indefinite 
 compelling force in her presence that made them 
 rise involuntarily. Each, also, one after the other, 
 extended a hand in greeting. She accepted each 
 one gravely, then relaxed upon a chair which the 
 deputy commissioner pulled forward for her ac- 
 commodation. 
 
 "This is an unexpected pleasure, Miss Maxwell," 
 the inspector announced, also with gravity. And 
 Katherine permitted the name to pass without cor- 
 rection while she replied : 
 
 "Are you quite sure that it is a pleasure, in- 
 spector?" 
 
 "Yes. Or, at least, it can easily be made so if 
 you are prepared to return to us and to aid us in 
 the dearest wish we have. I assume that both of 
 those reasons will account for your presence here 
 to-day." 
 
 She smiled into his eyes enigmatically. "The 
 assumption of conditions that are not established 
 is the beam in the eye of the detective bureau, is it 
 not?" she asked whimsically. "I have returned; I 
 am here as the personal representative of Mr. Bing-
 
 THE INSPECTOR'S PRIVATE OFFICE 33 
 
 ham Harvard, alias the Night Wind, whom, I be- 
 lieve, you will remember, inspector. I have no idea 
 of returning to the bureau, if that is what you 
 mean." 
 
 "Where is Bingham Harvard now, Miss Max- 
 well?" the deputy commissioner interposed. 
 
 "It is perhaps sufficient answer to reply that he 
 is not here," she responded coolly. 
 
 "Mr. Chester, the banker, informed this depart- 
 ment last night that the man is in London awaiting 
 a summons from you to come here. Is that cor- 
 rect?" 
 
 "This department is so in the habit of accepting 
 Mr. Chester's statements without a question that it 
 would ill become me to add to or detract from any 
 statement that he might make," she retorted with 
 easy irony. 
 
 "We play with words, Miss Maxwell." 
 
 "No; you play with truth, which can never be 
 successfully denied for long. / am here, Mr. Com- 
 missioner, as the agent of destiny, in the person 
 of Bingham Harvard, alias the Night Wind." 
 
 "Are we to understand that he has sent you here 
 to interpose for him to make terms with us with 
 this department?" the inspector interjected. 
 
 Lady Kate lifted her chin and turned her eyes 
 coolly upon the chief of the bureau. 
 
 "I am here as much in your own interests as in 
 his," she replied; "to demand that justice be done
 
 34 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 to a man who has been foully wronged. I am here 
 to insist that this department take up the case of 
 the year-old theft at Chester's bank as if it hap- 
 pened yesterday; to compel you, in one way or an- 
 other, to seek and find the real thief, so that the 
 name of Bingham Harvard may be cleansed of 
 the stigma that rests upon it." 
 
 "That is a pretty big order, isn't it?" the deputy 
 inquired with half a sneer. 
 
 "No. It is a simple one. You both know in 
 your hearts that he is innocent, and that Rushton 
 deliberately framed the whole case against him," 
 she replied. 
 
 "One moment, Lady Kate !" The inspector bent 
 forward in his chair. "That is a serious charge 
 for you to make in this office. We won't stand 
 for it." 
 
 She bent forward, too, toward him. "You will 
 have to stand for it, inspector, just as you will 
 have to take the consequences of what you have 
 already stood for in this matter. I am not here 
 to supplicate. I came to offer you an opportunity 
 to escape from a serious difficulty in which you and 
 every man connected with this bureau are involved. 
 And you had better accept that opportunity before 
 it is too late, for as surely as you are you, every 
 man among you who has aided and abetted the 
 outrage that has been done will be made to pay, 
 pay, pay!"
 
 THE INSPECTOR'S PRIVATE OFFICE 35 
 
 "Your statement has the sound of a threat, Miss 
 Maxwell," said the deputy. 
 
 "It is a prophecy, Mr. Commissioner." 
 
 "Do I understand that you went abroad with this 
 man whom we call the Night Wind?" 
 
 "Yes," she replied. 
 
 "And that he is over there on the other side now, 
 awaiting a message from you?" 
 
 "You may assume that if you like." 
 
 "Are you aware that in the light of that con- 
 fession you are liable to arrest?" 
 
 She only smiled at him in reply. He continued : 
 
 "You have given aid and succor and sustenance 
 to a man who stands indicted for a felony to a 
 fugitive from justice; and as such " 
 
 Lady Kate got slowly upon her feet, and her man- 
 ner was such that the deputy commissioner paused 
 without completing the sentence. 
 
 "It is you who threaten, not I," she said delib- 
 erately; "but you do not realize how helpless you 
 are when you make that threat. Did you suppose 
 that Katherine Maxwell went abroad with Bing- 
 ham Harvard as his companion, merely; as his 
 mistress, perhaps? Shame on you both for har- 
 boring such a thought! I have given you ample 
 opportunity to address me by my right name, and 
 you have chosen to ignore it. Very well. Know, 
 then, that I am Bingham Harvard's wife; that we 
 were married in the State of Connecticut two weeks
 
 36 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 before we left this country together. Put me under 
 arrest now, if you like, and see what comes of it. 
 But you will not ! You dare not ! Therefore, know 
 this: I shall send a cable to my husband this very 
 day, summoning him to return and he will come. 
 You may figure it out for yourselves when he is 
 due to arrive, and you may meet the incoming 
 steamships in the hope of getting him. 
 
 "But, gentlemen, you will not get him. He will 
 get you."
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE NIGHT WIND'S PROPHECY 
 
 Six and one-half days later, that is to say at 
 eleven o'clock at night of the sixth day after Lady 
 Kate made her call at police headquarters, some- 
 thing happened. 
 
 The inspector left his chair in his private office, 
 seized his hat, and with a curt nod here and there 
 as he passed through the big room, went outside. 
 In the corridor he encountered the deputy commis- 
 sioner. Both came to a halt. The deputy com- 
 missioner said: 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 "The Golgotha has passed Fire Island light. 
 She'll dock in the morning," was the reply of the 
 inspector. "I have sent two men down on the pilot- 
 boat that will pick her up ; two others will meet her 
 at quarantine. I have let Rushton pick his own 
 men to meet the ship at the pier and I shall be 
 there myself, of course." 
 
 "Perhaps the Night Wind isn't aboard of the 
 37
 
 38 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 Golgotha. Maybe he didn't obey the summons of 
 Lady Kate," the commissioner suggested. 
 
 "That is possible, of course though I doubt it. 
 If he isn't aboard the Golgotha, he will come on 
 the next ship, or by another one, later. The Gol- 
 gotha is the first one he could have caught after the 
 receipt of her cable." 
 
 "It's strange that Scotland Yard wasn't able to 
 spot him going aboard of the ship, after our urgent 
 messages," the commissioner grumbled. 
 
 "He's too slick for that bunch," the inspector re- 
 plied. 
 
 "You are, then, of the opinion that he is on the 
 Golgotha?" 
 
 "It is the very first ship he could have taken. 
 Yes; I've got a hunch that he is aboard of her." 
 
 "Your wireless messages haven't uncovered him, 
 inspector." 
 
 "Oh, well, he's disguised, of course and he 
 wouldn't do such a thing unless he did it thor- 
 oughly. Harvard isn't an ordinary man, commis- 
 sioner ; he's a marvel, with a big M." 
 
 The commissioner shook his head as if still in 
 doubt, said "Good night," swung about, and de- 
 parted. The inspector gazed after him grimly for 
 a moment, then went on his own way. 
 
 His destination was home, and he was tired. 
 The strain of the past week in preparing for the 
 possible event of to-morrow had told upon him.
 
 THE NIGHT WIND'S PROPHECY 39 
 
 He wished above all things to be fresh and clear- 
 headed for the possible ordeal of the coming day. 
 
 He boarded a Broadway car and rode to Colum- 
 bus Circle. From there he strode briskly up Cen- 
 tral Park West for several blocks, then turned into 
 .a side street, and mounted the brown-stone steps of 
 his own residence. 
 
 He had inserted the latch-key and was about to 
 turn it when he heard the sound of his own name 
 uttered in a low tone, close behind him, and he 
 wheeled around with surprising suddenness while 
 his right hand flew to the pocket where he carried 
 his gun. 
 
 His wrist was seized and held before he could 
 draw; then the grasp that held it was slowly re- 
 laxed. A pair of earnest eyes, half smiling but 
 infinitely serious, looked calmly into his own startled 
 ones. His hands dropped to his sides. 
 
 "Good God!" he breathed, but not profanely, and 
 scarcely above a whisper. 
 
 "You have not forgotten me, I see," said the 
 other man. "The Night Wind has returned, in- 
 spector. Are you perhaps pleased to see me? 
 Don't tremble so, man alive! You are not afraid. 
 I know that. You are only knocked out of your 
 natural orbit. Besides, I did not come here to hurt 
 you unless you attempt to hurt me; and I don't 
 believe you will do that now." 
 
 "How in How the How'd you get
 
 40 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 here, Harvard? Have you got wings?" the in- 
 spector managed to articulate. His surprise was 
 profound. It had overwhelmed him for the mo- 
 ment. 
 
 "My wife summoned me. I came. That is all. 
 It is enough, isn't it?" 
 
 "But the Golgotha! She was the first ship you 
 could have taken after that cable was sent. Bah! 
 You have been here all the time." 
 
 "Oh, no, I have not; and no, I did not. Look 
 at this, inspector, if you would be convinced." 
 
 The Night Wind produced a folded message from 
 one of his pockets and passed it to the inspector. 
 It was dated six days back the day of Lady Kate's 
 call at headquarters, and it read : 
 
 Come now. Catch Golgotha if possible. 
 
 KATHERINE. 
 
 "Do you mean to tell me that you sailed from 
 Southampton on board the Golgotha?" the inspector 
 demanded hotly. 
 
 The Night Wind shrugged his shoulders. "It 
 isn't necessary to reply to that question, is it?" he 
 made answer. "At all events, I am here, as you 
 see. Knowing that you would have a couple of 
 men on the pilot-boat to meet the Golgotha, and 
 that there would be others at quarantine, and still 
 others probably including yourself at the pier, I
 
 THE NIGHT WIND'S PROPHECY 41 
 
 chose to anticipate them. I had an intense longing 
 to see you and to talk with you, inspector. That 
 explains why I am standing with you now on your 
 own door-step. Odd, isn't it, that we should meet 
 in this friendly manner at this time ?" 
 
 "What do you want?" the inspector demanded 
 gruffly. 
 
 "Justice. Nothing more nor less; but full and 
 complete justice. That is what I have come here 
 to get, and that is what I am going to have," was 
 the slow and carefully worded but emphatic reply. 
 
 "You'll get it, all right; more than you want of 
 it." 
 
 "Thank you. I will accept that prophecy as it 
 sounds, not as you imply it." 
 
 "What do you want of me?" 
 
 "First, that you quell the itching of that right 
 palm of yours, which seems to have a tendency to 
 glide closer to the pocket where you carry a weapon. 
 Shall I relieve you of the gun, inspector you know 
 that I can do so or shall we talk together ami- 
 cably?" 
 
 The officer grinned in spite of himself. The 
 situation was not without its humorous aspect, and 
 he was quite conscious of it. 
 
 "We'll declare a truce for the present meeting, 
 Harvard," he said. "Will you come inside? I can 
 offer you a cigar and a swallow of Scotch."
 
 42 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "I neither smoke nor drink, thank you. We will 
 talk here. Shall we sit down on the steps?" 
 
 "Yes. That brings me back to my last question, 
 Harvard. What do you want of me?" 
 
 "Inspector, I came here to ask a manly favor at 
 your hands ; but one which you will probably deny. 
 If you do deny it, then to give you a warning 
 not a threat, understand. If you decline to heed 
 the warning, it will become my duty in that case 
 to read you a short prophecy which will not be 
 pleasant to hear, nor in its fulfilment." 
 
 They were seated side by side on the top step 
 by then. The inspector had lighted a cigar and 
 was puffing vigorously upon it. He shrugged his 
 shoulders. 
 
 "What's the favor?" he demanded briefly. 
 
 "That you grant me six weeks' immunity or 
 truce, if you prefer that word from outlawry, 
 during which time I shall be free to go and come 
 as I see fit, unmolested; and that you assist me 
 with all the power of your department to find the 
 man who stole the one hundred and thirty-six thou- 
 sand dollars from Chester's bank; and that, in the 
 mean time, and during those six weeks, Lieutenant 
 Rodney Rushton be relieved from duty," was the 
 calm reply. 
 
 The inspector removed the cigar from his mouth 
 and turned to stare at the man beside him. Then
 
 THE NIGHT WIND'S PROPHECY 43 
 
 he laughed aloud derisively, but with genuine 
 amusement, too. 
 
 "Is that all?" he exclaimed. "You don't want 
 much, do you? Why don't you demand my job 
 during those six weeks, while you are about it? 
 That isn't gall, Harvard; that's gizzard; no less; 
 and it's full of gravel at that. What's the warn- 
 ing?" 
 
 "The warning is this : if you deny me the favor 
 I ask, it will mean that you, and others who are 
 near to you down-town, will be compelled, before 
 very long, to hand in your resignations from the 
 police department in order to avoid summary dis- 
 missal." 
 
 The inspector chuckled audibly. 
 
 "Bully!" he exclaimed. "You're a corker, Har- 
 vard. No wonder they called you the Night Wind ; 
 although it strikes me that Hot Air would have 
 been more appropriate. Now and be as gentle as 
 you can about it what's the prophecy?" 
 
 "This: There will be, within the year in your 
 department, and throughout the entire service which 
 you, and men like Rushton, do so much to discredit, 
 the greatest upheaval in its history. I have been 
 absent six months, but I have not been idle nor 
 have my best friends been inactive; and I have 
 four such friends." 
 
 "Is that all?" 
 
 "No. Some among you will be indicted, tried.
 
 44 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 convicted, and sent to prison. Some will be dis- 
 missed. Some will resign. Are you so blind, in- 
 spector, that you cannot see the writing on the 
 wall? Or won't you see it?" 
 
 "Does that end the prophecy?" the inspector in- 
 quired, ignoring the questions. 
 
 "Yes. And now I have a short statement to 
 make." 
 
 "Fine. What is it? A confession of guilt? It 
 is time for that, I think." 
 
 Harvard got upon his feet and stood four steps 
 lower down, facing the inspector. His back was 
 toward the street; but he had seen, before he 
 changed his position, that a patrolman on his beat 
 had turned the corner and was slowly approaching 
 them. Nevertheless, he gave no sign that he had 
 seen, although he knew that the inspector had made 
 the same discovery or had been anticipating it. 
 
 "I am going to the root of things, inspector," the 
 Night Wind said with slow emphasis. "I am not 
 the only victim of a frame-up. There are others 
 hundreds of them; there have been thousands. I 
 have come back here to fight you with your own 
 weapons, and to a finish. Your 'system' denied to 
 my wife the favor she sought, and you have de- 
 nied me; so henceforth there shall be no favors 
 asked or granted. 
 
 "Your men named me the Night Wind months 
 ago because I moved swiftly and silently, and be-
 
 THE NIGHT WIND'S PROPHECY 45 
 
 cause God gave me sinews and muscles greater and 
 stronger than most men's. But I thank God for 
 them, although they are as much a phenomenon to 
 me as they are to you. 
 
 "But if I have been a Night Wind in the past 
 I will be a hurricane, a tornado, a veritable tempest, 
 in the future ; and so take heed lest you walk blindly 
 into the vortex of it and are destroyed. That is, 
 I believe, all that I have to say. And please under- 
 stand that these several appeals have been made to 
 you, not with any idea or hope that they would be 
 granted, but solely because I have conceived it to 
 be my duty to make them." 
 
 He was silent for a moment, watching the in- 
 spector narrowly; and that officer sat immovable 
 upon the step, but with a certain intensity about 
 his pose which indicated plainly enough the nearer 
 approach of the patrolman. 
 
 "I know who is coming," the Night Wind said 
 quietly; and the inspector started guiltily. "You 
 will sit very still, inspector, and permit him to pass." 
 
 "But he won't pass; that's the trouble. He will 
 see me and he'll stop to talk." 
 
 "In that case you will tell him that you don't 
 wish to be interrupted," the Night Wind said 
 quietly. 
 
 "Suppose he comes up the steps, and sees you, 
 and recognizes you?"
 
 46 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "So much the worse for him and for you. But 
 you can prevent it if you will." 
 
 The patrolman came nearer. He discovered the 
 inspector seated upon the steps and stopped, call- 
 ing out a "How are you, inspector?" as he did so. 
 Then he put a foot upon the lowest step, as if to 
 ascend them. 
 
 Harvard heard that footfall. His back was to- 
 ward the policeman, and he could not see him; 
 but he took one step upward and forward, bring- 
 ing himself beside the inspector, who made no at- 
 tempt to rise or to speak. Then Harvard turned 
 and faced the newcomer. 
 
 It was Compton, an acquaintance of those other 
 days, and the recognition between him and the 
 Night Wind was mutual and instant. 
 
 Compton gasped. Then he swore. Then, like 
 the popping of a safety valve, he cried out: 
 
 "The Night Wind, by all that's- 
 
 Then, without completing the sentence, he sprang 
 upward. 
 
 The inspector, at the same instant, started to 
 his feet.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 A STRATEGIC VICTORY 
 
 The Night Wind's method of meeting this sud- 
 den attack upon him was perhaps the most amaz- 
 ing of all his acts. 
 
 He inevitably did the surprising thing the un- 
 expected. He certainly performed one at that try- 
 ing moment when it was given to him to act quickly 
 and finally, or to be captured. For, be it known 
 here and now, Bingham Harvard, alias the Night 
 Wind, had returned to New York, fully determined 
 to maim no more cops and to break no more bones, 
 as he had done in that former experience of his 
 unless it should become imperatively necessary in 
 order to escape premature arrest. 
 
 It will be recalled that he had spoken to the in- 
 spector just at the instant when the officer had in- 
 serted the key in the latch of the door, and that 
 the inspector had wheeled about and reached for 
 his gun, startled by hearing a voice so near to him. 
 
 And so the officer's key had been left in the door- 
 47
 
 48 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 latch; and Bingham Harvard had taken note of 
 that fact. Not with a thought of making use of 
 it, for that did not occur to him, but merely as an 
 incident. His career as a fugitive from justice had 
 taught him to observe closely the most trivial things. 
 
 Patrolman Compton started to mount the steps, 
 Harvard sprang to the top of them and turned 
 half about almost behind the inspector, and the 
 inspector started to his feet all at the selfsame in- 
 stant. 
 
 And this is what happened then: 
 
 The Night Wind pushed the inspector forward 
 with sudden force into the arms of the patrolman, 
 and in the brief instant while they struggled to 
 free themselves from each other an instant which 
 could have occupied little more than a natural sec- 
 ond of time he wheeled, turned the latch-key 
 which the inspector had left in the door, withdrew 
 it, and pushed the door open at the same time, clos- 
 ing it swiftly and silently behind him. 
 
 Confusion sometimes attacks the most sensible 
 of men; it fell upon both of those police officers 
 then. 
 
 The Night Wind had disappeared, and neither 
 of them had seen him go. One of them Comp- 
 ton could not even guess where or how he had 
 gone. 
 
 A second thought, however, brought the solu- 
 tion of the problem to the inspector's mind, for
 
 A STRATEGIC VICTORY 49 
 
 he remembered that he had left the key in the door ; 
 and he smiled grimly at the mingled consternation 
 and fright that was depicted upon the face of the 
 patrolman. 
 
 Compton actually gasped. 
 
 During the instant that the inspector had strug- 
 gled in his arms, shutting off his view, the Night 
 Wind had apparently flown away. 
 
 "Say, inspector," he breathed hoarsely, "that guy 
 ain't human." 
 
 The inspector laughed aloud, and intended the 
 laugh to be as much a reassurance to the Night 
 Wind, who he had no doubt was waiting just in- 
 side the vestibule, as a relief to his own emotions 
 of the moment and Compton's, likewise. 
 
 "He's just as human as we are, Compton," he 
 replied, loudly enough for the man inside the vesti- 
 bule to hear. "He's a little bit quicker in his mo- 
 tions and a good deal stronger in his muscles than 
 most of us; that is all. You beat it now, and see 
 that you forget everything that has happened here 
 to-night; forget even that you saw either of us." 
 
 "But"' Compton hesitated "where is he? 
 Where'd he go to?" 
 
 The inspector jerked his thumb toward the house 
 door. 
 
 "Beat it," he ordered again, "and don't forget 
 what I said about this affair."
 
 50 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "I I didn't know that he was back here," Comp- 
 ton replied, still hesitating. 
 
 "Nor I until less than half an hour ago. I'll 
 phone to your captain to send you down to see me 
 some time to-morrow. See that you keep your 
 mouth shut till then. Duck now, and see how quick 
 you can get around that next corner, out of sight." 
 
 A moment or two later, when Compton had 
 turned the corner and disappeared, the inspector 
 addressed the closed vestibule door. 
 
 "All right, Harvard," he said. "The truce still 
 goes. My gun remains in my pocket and my arms 
 are folded. Come out." 
 
 Harvard opened the door and stepped outside. 
 He was smiling, and there was an unmistakable 
 grin depicted upon the face of the inspector. 
 
 "Say," he said, not without enthusiasm at the 
 thought, "I'd give a lot if I had you down at the 
 bureau working with us. You'd make a peach of a 
 man for us." 
 
 "Oh, no, I would not!" Harvard replied. "I'm 
 honest." 
 
 "Do you think that a man has got to be dis- 
 honest in order to be a policeman or a detective?" 
 the inspector demanded. "Do you think every man- 
 jack of us is a crook?" 
 
 "By no means. The dishonest cop, the crooked 
 detective the men like Rushton are the excep- 
 tions, inspector. I believe the rank and file of your
 
 A STRATEGIC VICTORY 61 
 
 department to be about the best and finest men in 
 the world, take them all in all. But the trouble 
 is that when one of them who is not on the level 
 does something like what Rushton did to me, you 
 all stand for him and for his act, even though 
 you know him to be wrong. It is your mistaken 
 sense of loyalty to one another." 
 
 "Oh, well, we'll let it go at that. Sit down here 
 for another moment. I want to ask you three or 
 four questions." 
 
 "I can reply to them quite as well standing." 
 
 "You have made me like you to-night. I never 
 did before." 
 
 "That isn't a question." 
 
 "How do you suppose that Rushton convinced 
 me and others of your guilt in regard to that miss- 
 ing money at the bank where you were paying- 
 teller?" 
 
 "If I should reply frankly to that question you 
 would not consider it complimentary, inspector." 
 
 "Nevertheless, reply. We're talking straight 
 from the shoulder now." 
 
 "Then you must have been a fool or a knave to 
 have been convinced by so shallow a frame-up as 
 that was; and, inspector, I know that you are not 
 a fool." 
 
 "That is plain speaking, at least." 
 
 "You asked for it." 
 
 "Look here, Harvard, why don't you give your-
 
 52 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 self up and stand your trial? If you will do 
 that " 
 
 "I will not do it, so save your breath." 
 
 "Well, then, I will say this, and I ask you to be- 
 lieve me, for I am in earnest : I accepted the evi- 
 dence that Rushton supplied in exactly the same 
 way that your banker friend Chester accepted it. 
 If it was a frame-up, which I still doubt, I had no 
 knowledge of it, and have none now. I am only 
 the skipper on the bridge of that big ship that we 
 call the detective bureau and it is a big ship to 
 handle. I can't always tell if the lookout in the 
 crow's nest is seeing things as they are, or as he 
 would like to see them. I have to take his word 
 for it and accept the evidence he brings to me ; and 
 I'd be a poor officer if I didn't have faith in my 
 men, wouldn't I?" 
 
 Harvard looked intently into the eyes of the in- 
 spector before he replied. Then he said : 
 
 "Do I understand now that you are beginning 
 to be willing to give me the benefit of the doubt?" 
 
 "No. I still believe that you are guilty. I've 
 got to. But I want you to understand that I be- 
 lieve it honestly." 
 
 "Then you are a fool, after all." 
 
 The inspector flushed hotly and did not reply. 
 
 "Do you believe, inspector, that Lieutenant Rod- 
 ney Rushton Oh, what's the use? We only 
 play with words. Shall I tell you the literal truth
 
 A STRATEGIC VICTORY 
 
 regarding your present position in regard to this 
 matter? I will, anyhow. You dare not disbelieve 
 Rushton, because the very fact of doing so would 
 lead to the uncovering of certain things connected 
 with your own career which you very much prefer 
 to keep hidden. Your system is so involved that 
 a man like yourself, who would like to be honest 
 and square, can't be; and there are a lot more like 
 you. But, also, there are others who are unlike 
 you, who will keep on the level at any cost; and, 
 inspector, this nozu somewhat celebrated case of 
 Bingham Harvard is going to be the indirect 
 means of weeding out every dishonest official from 
 your department.'' 
 
 Harvard ran down the steps and went swiftly 
 away, without once turning his head to look back; 
 and the inspector sat quite still where he was for 
 several moments before he went into the house. 
 
 Down at the corner a black-bodied taxicab 
 awaited the coming of the Night Wind; and there 
 was a black chauffeur seated under the steering- 
 wheel. 
 
 Inside of the taxi, patiently waiting, was Lady 
 Kate.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 "BREAKING" A COP 
 
 Patrolman Compton chose to disobey the inspec- 
 tor. 
 
 He believed that the end would justify the means. 
 He figured it out that he could effect the capture 
 of the Night Wind, and that by doing so he would 
 not only win the forgiveness of the chief of the 
 detective bureau, but that he would achieve promo- 
 tion as well. He took a "chance," and he lost. 
 
 Compton knew that, just around the corner, he 
 was due to meet his roundsman, and that only one 
 block away there would be a third man on "peg." 
 Another patrolman was about due at the opposite 
 side of the avenue he was approaching, and that 
 would make four men on the job if only the 
 Night Wind elected to come that way when he 
 should part with the inspector. It all depended 
 upon that circumstance. 
 
 He noticed a black taxi standing near the corner/ 
 54
 
 "BREAKING" A COP 55 
 
 as he passed hurriedly along, but he gave it no 
 attention. He was too intent upon the working of 
 the plan he had formed. 
 
 But the black chauffeur of the taxi noticed him, 
 nevertheless and kept a wary eye on him without 
 appearing to do so. 
 
 The black chauffeur saw him meet the rounds- 
 man just around the corner; saw them engage in 
 a hurried and somewhat excited whispered conver- 
 sation; saw them both start rapidly away toward 
 the nearest peg-post; saw the three return together 
 at the opposite side of the avenue and meet still 
 another patrolman, with whom there was another 
 whispered exchange of confidence. 
 
 The chauffeur was Lady Kate's loyal servant, 
 Black Julius, and the taxicab was not a taxicab at 
 all, but Lady Kate's own powerful car, which had 
 been long ago transformed into an imitation of one. 
 
 Julius lost no time in reporting to his mistress 
 all that he had seen and noted. 
 
 "We will wait as we are," she told him. "Those 
 policemen will cross over to this side when they 
 see Mr. Harvard coming, but they will wait just 
 around the corner, to avoid being seen by him. 
 Evidently they do not suspect us." 
 
 It was Lady Kate's perfect knowledge of police 
 methods which enabled her to prophesy so correctly, 
 and she figured it out to her own satisfaction that 
 Harvard would have ample time to leap into the
 
 56 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 car before any of the policemen could get nea? 
 enough to lay a hand upon him. 
 
 Once he was inside the car Julius could be trusted 
 to do the rest. There might be a bullet or two 
 fired at them, as they made their escape, but such 
 bullets usually went wild. 
 
 She held the door slightly ajar, when she saw her 
 husband approaching, and she waited until he was 
 almost at the corner before she threw it wide open 
 and called to him: 
 
 "Quick, Bingham! On guard!" 
 
 The policemen who waited behind the corner 
 heard her, and started forward. 
 
 But Harvard had also heard her, and understood 
 exactly what was meant. 
 
 That wonderful swiftness of motion of which 
 he was a master did not desert him nor his cus- 
 tomary clear-headed perception of things. 
 
 The men were a trifle closer to the corner than 
 Katherine had anticipated, and they moved more 
 quickly than she had believed possible. Compton 
 was in the lead, with his weapon drawn, ready for 
 use. 
 
 But he was a trifle too much in the lead ; and the 
 Night Wind had moved forward more quickly 
 than he had expected. Then, it all happened in 
 the briefest interval ; and it was over and the Night 
 Wind had gone before the other three amazed cops 
 realized what had happened.
 
 "BREAKING" A COP 57 
 
 Harvard, warned by Katharine's call to him, 
 knowing from his knowledge of Compton what to 
 expect, met that officer face to face as he rounded 
 the corner, seized the wrist of the hand that held the 
 gun that was already pointed at him and tore the 
 weapon from Compton's grasp with the other hand. 
 Then he wheeled Compton sharply around, and held 
 him hugged tightly against his own body, while he 
 backed swiftly toward the open door of the car, 
 pointing to Compton's own weapon over Compton's 
 shoulder at the other three cops as he did so. 
 
 And they stopped in their tracks, outgeneraled. 
 
 They could not shoot at the Night Wind with- 
 out hitting their comrade and they knew that he 
 would not shoot at them unless, perchance, they 
 should force him to do so. 
 
 So Harvard backed in at the open doorway of 
 the car, pulling Compton in after him; and he 
 laughed aloud as he tossed Compton's gun to the 
 pavement in front of the other three officers. 
 
 Then the door was slammed shut and the car, 
 driven by black Julius, shot swiftly away, bearing 
 the now utterly discomfited Compton a sorry pris- 
 oner inside of it. 
 
 "For the love of Mike!" the roundsman who 
 had been left at the corner with the remaining two 
 policemen, exclaimed. "What do you know about 
 that! Say! It's him all right. I'd give up three 
 months' pay rather than have had this happen."
 
 Inside the imitation taxicab, Compton found 
 himself to be extremely uncomfortable. 
 
 Harvard forced him down upon the small front 
 seat, facing himself and Katherine. Then delib- 
 erately, he removed Compton's belt and shield. 
 
 "You disobeyed orders, Compton," the Night 
 Wind said with mock gravity. "I heard the in- 
 spector direct you to forget what you had seen 
 and heard." 
 
 "I wish to the Lord I had," Compton replied 
 dubiously. "Say, let me out of this, won't you? 
 I'm off my post." 
 
 "Certainly; and you are going to remain off it 
 for quite some time. I'm done with breaking 
 bones, Compton; henceforth I shall give my at- 
 tention to 'breaking' cops, when they interfere with 
 me as you have done. We will take you for a lit- 
 tle ride, and we will leave you, presently, minus 
 your belt and shield, to make your way back as best 
 you can, to report;" and Harvard called an order 
 to Julius through the open window. 
 
 "I'll be 'broke' for this!" Compton muttered 
 miserably. 
 
 "Maybe not if you go directly to the inspector 
 with your story. I shall send the belt and shield to 
 him in the morning. I rather liked you until this 
 thing happened to-night, Compton. Do you re- 
 member when you last saw me?" 
 
 "Sure I do."
 
 "BREAKING" A COP 59 
 
 "Well, I saw you, too; and officer Casey was 
 with you ; and two plainclothes men from headquar- 
 ters. It was down at the pier, when I went away, 
 six months ago. I thought, at the time, that you 
 and Casey held those two plainclothes men back 
 when they would have attempted to stop me. Is 
 that right?" 
 
 "Sure it is." 
 
 "Well, I rather liked you for that. It is too 
 bad that you disobeyed the inspector's specific or- 
 ders to-night. You would have avoided all this." 
 
 ''Say, Mr. Harvard, on the level, won't you let 
 me out of this and give me back my belt and shield, 
 and let me go? I'll be 
 
 "No. If you had succeeded in capturing me, 
 would you have let me go? Swallow a little of 
 your own medicine, Compton. It will be good for 
 you." 
 
 Compton became sullen after that. Half an 
 hour later they dropped him at an isolated point 
 in the Bronx, a mile or more from the nearest 
 trolley line; and still later when Julius had driven 
 them back into the city, they stopped for a moment 
 before an all-night district messenger office where 
 Julius left a neatly wrapped package addressed to 
 the inspector, and bearing the legend, "to be de- 
 livered immediately." It contained Compton's belt 
 and stick and shield. 
 
 "What about the inspector, Bingham?" Kather-
 
 60 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 ine asked her husband while they were on their 
 way back. 
 
 "Oh, it turned out exactly as we thought it 
 would," he replied. "Still, I am not sorry that I 
 made the effort. I have had the satisfaction of do- 
 ing what I considered to be my duty. I have given 
 the 'system' its chance. Now, it is war." 
 
 "Still," she said slowly, "I regret just a little, 
 that you would not consent to work it without let- 
 ting them know that you were back." 
 
 "I don't, Katherine. I'd much rather fight it in 
 the open or as near to the open as I can arrive, 
 under the circumstances. They know what they 
 are up against now." 
 
 "Tom Clancy thinks 
 
 "Oh, I know perfectly well that Tom thinks 
 God bless him! He is what you might call single- 
 thoughted, if I may coin a word. There are two 
 things certain, my dear: we are going to find the 
 man who stole that hundred and thirty-six thou- 
 sand dollars, and we are going to put the 'system' 
 that tried to fasten the crime on me, everlastingly 
 on the blink. But that is not what concerns me 
 most at the present moment." 
 
 "What is, then?" 
 
 "Your own safety, dear. They will hound the 
 life out of you now, if you give them half a 
 chance." 
 
 "I'm not going to give them half a chance, or a
 
 "BREAKING" A COP 61 
 
 tenth part of one if you will adhere to your 
 agreement that we shall see each other only rarely 
 while this problem is being worked out." 
 
 "I will stick to it, Katherine, if only for your 
 own sake although it will be hard; but it won't 
 be long." 
 
 "No, dear, it won't be long; and I have selected 
 my own method and plans for working. You and 
 Tom can work together as you see fit, and see as 
 much of each other as you both deem wise. All 
 that I ask is that you will both leave me entirely to 
 my own resources, and that you will not seek to 
 see me, unless I send word to you. I must work 
 alone. Only, don't forget that I will always have 
 Julius near me." 
 
 Harvard nodded in acquiescence, and was silent. 
 Presently she asked: 
 
 "How did you explain your presence here to 
 the inspector, with the fact that the Golgotha will 
 not arrive for many hours yet?" 
 
 "I didn't explain it. He thinks I came ashore in 
 a flying machine, or that I have been here all the 
 time or that I came on the same steamer with 
 you. It doesn't matter what he thinks." 
 
 "You have not seen Rushton yet?" 
 
 "No, dear." 
 
 "You intend to see him?" 
 
 "Yes; before I sleep again," was the decided re- 
 ply.
 
 62 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "You you will not do anything to to 
 
 Harvard smiled reassuringly into her eyes while 
 he put an arm around her and drew her closer to 
 him. 
 
 "No, little mascot," he said. "Rushton is 
 merely the personification of the charge against 
 me; nothing more. Once, I intended to kill him, 
 but your love for me has crowded all thoughts of 
 hatred out of my heart and soul. Rushton will 
 work out his own condemnation"; and the Night 
 Wind bent forward and called to Julius to stop. 
 
 "I will get down here," he told his wife. "I am 
 going to see Tom Clancy. He is expecting me, 
 and I have the key to his house that you gave me. 
 In the morning the actual campaign begins. Re- 
 member, sweetheart, that I must hear from you 
 every day, through Tom, or Julius, or by letter, 
 as agreed. In a fortnight, more or less, within a 
 month at most, we will be able to face the world 
 together for I have a plan or two, also, which I 
 have not disclosed." 
 
 We will draw the curtain over their parting, 
 after which Julius drove the car away, while the 
 Night Wind stood quite still and watched it go 
 from him, bearing the woman he loved with all his 
 heart and soul and who loved him. 
 
 Then he hurried away to seek his friend Tom 
 Clancy.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 A MIDNIGHT CALL 
 
 Clancy had given Katherine a key to his home, 
 to be delivered to Harvard at the first opportunity, 
 and the message that went with the key was : 
 
 Tell Bing to come to me the moment he has that 
 key in his possession, no matter what hour of the 
 day or night it may happen to be. If it is daylight, 
 he can go to the house and wait there till I get 
 home; if it is night well, he knows the location 
 of my room. 
 
 Thus Thomas Clancy was awakened during the 
 small hours of the morning to discover that his 
 room was brilliantly alight, and that a man was 
 seated on the bed beside him. 
 
 "You sleep like a dead man, Tom," was Har- 
 vard's greeting. "I could have taken the furni- 
 ture out of the room without rousing you." 
 
 "Hello, Bing! Gee, but it's good to see you 
 63
 
 64 RETURN. OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 again"; and the two friends grasped hands in the 
 manner that only real friendship knows and feels. 
 Then Tom tumbled out of bed and began to clothe 
 himself. "I can't think properly unless I've got a 
 bale or two of dry goods wrapped around me, 
 Bing!" he explained cheerily. "Habit, I suppose; 
 and habit is the greatest slave-driver in the world. 
 Where have you been ? What have you been doing 
 all this time? And say!" He paused with one 
 shoe suspended in the air preparatory to pulling 
 it on his foot. "How the devil did you get here, 
 anyhow? Did I get a false report? Did the Gol- 
 gotha come up the bay last night, after all ?" 
 
 "No, Tom. I believe that she is somewhere out- 
 side of Sandy Hook, right now." 
 
 "H-m! Well, I don't care, so long as you are 
 here. There! Now I am human again; and be- 
 ing clothed, I'm also in my right mind. Have you 
 seen Ka Of course you have otherwise you 
 would not have had the key." 
 
 "Oh, I have had a comfortably busy night, 
 Tom," Harvard replied, laughing lightly. His 
 heart felt very light just then, for it seemed as if 
 there was at last a rift in the clouds that had en- 
 veloped him so long. 
 
 Clancy bent forward in his chair. 
 
 "I want to tell you one thing, Bingham Har- 
 vard," he remarked solemnly. "You are the lucki- 
 est felon that ever fell; you're the guy that put
 
 A MIDNIGHT CALL 65 
 
 the hap in happiness. Why, say, I would be willing 
 to have a murder charge framed up against me if 
 I was dead certain that it would bring me a wife 
 like yours. It's lucky for you that I'm your 'buz- 
 zim' friend, so to speak I'll tell you that. Talk 
 about women! Why, Bing, Katherine is just the 
 apex of the most splendid womanhood that has 
 been created." 
 
 Harvard laughed softly and happily. 
 
 "I don't suppose you have seen Rushton yet, have 
 you?" Clancy asked. 
 
 "No ; but I have seen and talked with the inspec- 
 tor and with an officer named Compton. I waited 
 for the inspector at his own door," Harvard re- 
 plied; and then, rapidly, he related the incidents of 
 the night as we already know them ; and the room 
 rang with Tom Clancy's laughter while the story 
 was being told. 
 
 "They won't call you the bone-breaker any more, 
 after this incident!" he exclaimed, when Harvard 
 had finished. "They will call you the heart- 
 breaker, for if you didn't break that cop's heart 
 and the inspector's, too, for that matter I'm a 
 Dutchman. Now, it is time to get down to busi- 
 ness. Have you got any plans?" 
 
 "I have got one general one upon which all the 
 lesser ones depend, of course," Harvard replied; 
 "to find the thief who stole that money. But the 
 great difficulty is " He paused.
 
 66 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "Is what, Bing?" 
 
 "Well, it is the same as if you hid something in 
 that other room and then came outside of it and 
 locked the door so that I couldn't get in, and told 
 me to find it. The thief is inside of that bank, 
 Tom. If I could get into it again and stay in it 
 for a week or so " 
 
 "Go on. You haven't finished." 
 
 "Oh, yes, I have, for, of course, it is utterly im- 
 possible for me to do that. Say, Tom, I wonder if 
 it is true that some of those theatrical guys can 
 disguise a fellow so that his best friends won't 
 recognize him. Is it?" 
 
 "Hardly. Anyhow, you couldn't disguise your- 
 self so that a blind man wouldn't know you. 
 You've got too much 'presence' about you too 
 much Bing Harvard. But you needn't worry about 
 that. I have had a man working inside of Ches- 
 ter's bank for the last three months," Clancy 
 concluded coolly. 
 
 "You have?. You have done that?" 
 
 "Surest thing you know, Bing." 
 
 "And for the last three months! Then nothing 
 has turned up as yet, or you would have told me 
 of it the first shot out of the box." 
 
 "Nope. Nothing has materialized, so far. You 
 see, we needed you here, to tell us what to do, and 
 where to look, and all that. We can accomplish 
 more in three weeks, with you close at hand to
 
 A MIDNIGHT CALL 67 
 
 make suggestions, than in three years without you. 
 That's what!" 
 
 "Who else do you mean by that word 'we/ 
 Tom?" 
 
 "My friend whom I call Mr. Redhead, because 
 that isn't his name ; the main guy of the only bunch 
 of real detectives in this glorious country ; the head 
 and front of the one great detective agency that 
 does things. He is just itching to see you, too." 
 
 "Do you mean Bu " 
 
 "I mean Mr. Redhead. I told you that." 
 
 "Is it one of his men that is at the bank ?" 
 
 "You betcher life it is." 
 
 "What is he doing there? What is his posi- 
 tion?" 
 
 "Oh, he is one of the bookkeepers." 
 
 "I should like to have a talk with that man." 
 
 "You will have the opportunity before you are 
 twenty-four hours older, Bing. And now I want 
 to drop that part of the subject for a few minutes. 
 What are you going to do about Rushton?" 
 
 "Put that question a little plainer, Tom." 
 
 "Have you still got a bug that you want to get 
 his gore or anything like that?" 
 
 "No, Tom. There is no room for hate of any 
 sort where love like mine abounds. My attitude 
 toward Rushton now is one of sorrow mingled, 
 perhaps, with a grain of contempt." 
 
 "Well, maybe that is all right. I cannot deny,
 
 68 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 though, that I'd rather like to see you break him in 
 two and throw the pieces away. However, you're 
 not going to let up on him, are you, when the time 
 comes to give him what's coming to him?" 
 
 "I think he will get it without its being given 
 to him. But I am going to see him, Tom, and 
 give him his chance, just the same as I saw and 
 gave it to the inspector. I have promised myself 
 that much." 
 
 "Good! When are you going to see him, and 
 how are you going to see him?" 
 
 Harvard looked at his watch. 
 
 "It is just two o'clock in the morning," he said. 
 "I want to be ready for work to-morrow. I shall 
 go to see him now at his own home. I'll give 
 him his chance." 
 
 "Well I'll be Say! You will kill him, 
 
 Bing. You will scare him to death. You don't 
 really mean it, do you?" 
 
 "Of course I mean it." 
 
 "Then I'm going with you." 
 
 "Oh, no, you're not. I am not going to' permit 
 you to destroy your usefulness to me by any such 
 foolishness. I know the way to his house. It 
 won't be the first time I have seen the inside of it, 
 for I did go there to kill him once. I promised 
 myself that I would give him his chance, Tom. It 
 won't do any good, of course, but it will satisfy 
 my own ideas of what is right."
 
 A MIDNIGHT CALL 
 
 "Won't you let me go as far as the door with 
 you and wait there till you come out ?" Tom Clancy 
 pleaded; but Harvard shook his head emphatically 
 while he got out of his chair and reached for his 
 hat. 
 
 "I'll meet you anywhere you say, at any time 
 you choose, to-morrow night, Tom," he said; "and 
 I would like to see your friend Redhead, too. 
 During the day I will have certain small things to 
 attend to " 
 
 "And one very big thing, Bing; which is, to 
 keep yourself out of sight. Don't forget who you 
 are, and that you have already pretty well adver- 
 tised the fact that you have returned. Every cop 
 in New York will be on the lookout for you in the 
 morning." 
 
 "I know. I am prepared for that, too." 
 
 Clancy crossed the room toward his desk. He 
 returned in a moment with an envelope in his hand, 
 which he gave to Harvard. 
 
 "You will find in this full written directions 
 concerning where you are to go and what you are 
 to do to-morrow night, in order to meet me and 
 Redhead. But say, I wish you would pass up this 
 Rushton call; anyhow, for to-night." 
 
 "It can't be done, Tom," Harvard replied, smil- 
 ing. "I am going there now."
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 RODNEY RUSHTON'S ORDEAL 
 
 The Night Wind paused for a moment at the 
 bottom of the steps that led to the door of the 
 house where Lieutenant Rodney Rushton lived. 
 He looked at his watch and saw that the hour was 
 half past two. 
 
 Lights gleamed from the windows of the top 
 floor it was a three-story house and announced 
 that the headquarters man was still awake. They 
 suggested also that he might not be alone. 
 
 Harvard thought over that possibility for a mo- 
 ment, then shrugged his shoulders indifferently, 
 mounted the steps, selected the electric button 
 which would ring the bell in Rushton's quarters, 
 and pressed upon it. Then he stood quite close 
 to the inner door and waited. The house was 
 Rushton's own property, and he reserved the top 
 floor of it for his own uses, letting out the others. 
 
 Harvard could hear heavy footsteps descending 
 the stairs inside. Then the door was jerked open, 
 
 70
 
 RODNEY RUSHTON'S ORDEAL 71 
 
 and Rushton, with an angry scowl upon his fore- 
 head, stood just beyond it. 
 
 He could not see Harvard's face distinctly in the 
 half light, and certainly Bingham Harvard was 
 the last man on earth that he might have expected 
 to find there, so there was no instant recognition 
 on his part. 
 
 The Night Wind, being prepared, stepped inside 
 the doorway the instant it was opened. 
 
 Every muscle, every sinew and nerve, every en- 
 ergy he possessed, was tense, and ready for action 
 if he should be called upon to make use of any of 
 them. 
 
 He stepped inside the hallway so quickly, with 
 that unaccountable swiftness of action that was his 
 characteristic, that he had passed the threshold 
 and had closed the door behind him before Rush- 
 ton could blurt out the profane question that he 
 had determined to put to the person who had dared 
 to disturb him at that hour, after he had been on 
 duty all the day and part of the night. 
 
 "The Night Wind has returned, Rushton," was 
 Harvard's greeting; "and I did not come here to 
 hurt you unless you attempt to hurt me." 
 
 It was said coolly enough, but with unmistakable 
 emphasis, nevertheless. Rushton started backward, 
 almost staggering, and caught at the post of the 
 balustrade for support. His face went gray, his 
 eyes widened, and the pupils dilated. Although he
 
 72 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 was called a man who was unafraid, he was fright- 
 ened then for an instant. 
 
 "You!" he managed to say in a hoarse whisper. 
 "They said they said that you were on the Gol- 
 gotha. She hasn't docked yet. I telephoned the 
 
 very last thing before Say! You've got a gall, 
 
 comin' here, you have!" He sought to gain a lit- 
 tle courage by bluster. 
 
 "Softly, Rushton, softly. Lead the way up- 
 stairs. I want to talk to you." 
 
 "I won't. You beat it out a here." 
 
 The Night Wind bent forward nearer to the 
 frightened man, boring him with his eyes. 
 
 "Lead the way to your rooms, Rushton," he said 
 quietly. "I'm not going to hurt you, unless you 
 force me to it. When I have had my say I will go 
 away as I came, quietly, and you will be none the 
 worse for my call upon you. You may be some 
 better. That is up to you. You are not hanker- 
 ing after any more broken bones, are you?" 
 
 Rushton still hesitated, glaring into the eyes of 
 the man he so hated and feared. 
 
 "You are unarmed just now, Rushton," the 
 Night Wind said, with a half smile. "I am always 
 armed with these." And he stretched out his 
 arms toward the man from headquarters until his 
 fingers were so close to Rushton's throat that the 
 man shrank away from them in terror. 
 
 Then, without further objection or hesitation, he
 
 RODNEY RUSHTON'S ORDEAL 73 
 
 began slowly to mount the stairs; and Harvard 
 followed after him. 
 
 So they entered the front room of the top floor, 
 where two lights were burning brightly. 
 
 Upon a couch at one side were Rushton's wea- 
 pons a police revolver, a Colt automatic, and a 
 loaded "billy." Rushton would have made a leap 
 toward them had not the Night Wind's hand fallen 
 heavily upon his shoulder just as he was about to 
 do so. The man knew himself to be helpless then. 
 
 Harvard stepped past him, appropriated the wea- 
 pons, and dropped them inside the table drawer, 
 which he pulled open. There was a key in the lock 
 of the drawer, and he turned it, after which he 
 threw it behind the couch. 
 
 "Now, Rushton," he said coldly, "I don't think 
 you will try to get gay with me. I am not in the 
 mood to be gay just now. Sit down over there 
 in that chair. You will be away from the tempta- 
 tions of guns and telephones and such things over 
 there." 
 
 "Say, Harvard, what do you mean by this high- 
 handed business, anyhow?" Rushton had found 
 his voice at last. He had assured himself that the 
 Night Wind had not come there to kill him, as he 
 had at first surmised for he remembered how 
 near to death he had been on one occasion at this 
 man's hands.
 
 74 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "I am here to fulfil a promise that I made to 
 myself some time ago, lieutenant," Harvard replied. 
 
 "Oh, you are, are you? It's a good thing to 
 keep your word with somebody, I suppose." 
 
 "I promised myself that I would give you a 
 chance an opportunity to redeem yourself and 
 the last one, Rush ton." 
 
 Rushton sneered openly. "I ain't in the re- 
 deemin' business, Mister Harvard," he said. 
 
 Harvard bent forward, studying the man before 
 him much as he might have given curious attention 
 to a gila monster or to any poisonous reptile. Then 
 he shook his head and murmured, more to himself 
 than to the officer : 
 
 "You are not even human. Something I won- 
 der what it was was left out of you when you 
 were made. Rushton, don't you know what a sim- 
 ple fool you are? Haven't you any idea of it? 
 Is your crooked conceit so great that you cannot see 
 your own reflection?" 
 
 "I think I'll smoke, if you don't mind," Rushton 
 said, half rising from his chair; but Harvard in- 
 terrupted him sharply, and he dropped back upon 
 it again. 
 
 "You will sit where you are. You can do your 
 smoking after I have gone away," Harvard an- 
 nounced coldly. 
 
 "Well, you can't go any too soon to suit me, 
 mister. You know the way out," was the sneering
 
 RODNEY RUSHTON'S ORDEAL 75 
 
 reply. "Say, what did you come here for, any- 
 how?" 
 
 "Pay close attention for a moment and I will 
 tell you. I told you a moment ago that I came here 
 to give you a chance. I meant that. The chance 
 is this: If you will admit, in the presence of the in- 
 spector in charge of the detective bureau, of Mr. 
 Chester, Mr. Clancy, and myself, that I am inno- 
 cent of that theft at the bank, and that the evi- 
 dence which you produced against me was a frame- 
 up, you will probably be given an opportunity to 
 redeem yourself at headquarters, and you will have 
 the satisfaction of knowing that you have per- 
 formed at least one good deed of knowing that 
 for once you have done what is right." Harvard 
 chose his words carefully and slowly. He said 
 them earnestly. Rushton laughed outright and 
 brutally. 
 
 "Now whadda you know about that!" he ejacu- 
 lated derisively. "Little Bingie Harvard, who 
 never had no father nor mother " 
 
 Rushton got thus far and stopped. His jaw fell 
 open. His eyes started and stared. He trembled 
 with sudden cold. He huddled down into the 
 depths of the chair, more frightened than he had 
 ever been in all his crooked life before. 
 
 The Night Wind had leaped to his feet and was 
 standing over the man who had taunted him with 
 his unknown birth. His eyes were blazing. His
 
 76 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 face had gone white with rage. His furious tem- 
 per, ungovernable when roused, was nearly loosed. 
 
 But he controlled himself, and after a moment 
 returned to his chair; and for several moments 
 after that there was utter silence between the two 
 men. There would be no danger that Rushton 
 would again transgress in the manner he had done. 
 
 "I did not expect that you would consider what 
 I had to offer," the Night Wind said colorlessly 
 after a time. "It takes a big man to admit that he 
 has done wrong, and you are the littlest man that 
 ever lived. Well, so be it. I have done my part, 
 and you will have to take the consequences, Rush- 
 ton." 
 
 "Huh! Consequences! What consequences?" 
 
 "Dismissal from the force, for one thing. 
 Prison, for another. Utter and entire ostracism 
 at the hands of all decent men, for still another. 
 Restitution, reprisal, ignominy, self-scorn, the con- 
 tempt of others will go to make up the sum total." 
 
 "You make me tired, Harvard. What do you 
 think I am, anyhow? A boob? Even if all that 
 you say was so, do you think I would be fool 
 enough to admit it?" 
 
 "It is so, and you are fool enough not to ad- 
 mit it." 
 
 "Well, if that is all that you came here to say 
 to me, you'd better chase yourself." 
 
 "Rushton" Harvard bent forward again, with
 
 RODNEY RUSHTON'S ORDEAL 77 
 
 a sudden thought that came into his understanding 
 like a flash of light "I believe that you know 
 have known all the time who did take that 
 money/' 
 
 "Of course I know. Of course I have known all 
 the time. You took it." 
 
 "You know that that is not what I mean." 
 
 "I ain't no mind-reader, Harvard. If you have 
 come back to this burg with any idea that you're 
 going to throw it into me, you've got another guess 
 comin', that's all. I suppose you think you're 
 smart, comin' here to my house in the dead of night 
 an' givin' me all this hot air. I s'pose you think 
 that you can go around this old town the same way 
 you done the act once before, breakin' bones an' 
 raisin' hell generally; but you can't. The net'll be 
 out for you in the morning, and it will be put out 
 in such a way that you will wish before you're 
 twenty- four hours older that you'd stayed where 
 you was. 
 
 "And there's another thing, too, that you can put 
 into your pipe and smoke. We ain't goin' to take 
 no ' foolishness from Lady Kate. They tell me 
 downtown that she has married you. Well, that 
 fact ain't goin' to protect her none; it's goin' to 
 do her a lot of harm, if anybody should ask you. 
 
 "There's more'n one way to kill a cat, Mr. Bing- 
 ham Harvard, as you'll find out, and I'll tell you 
 right now (and I ain't say in' it for myself alone;
 
 78 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 I'm sayin' it for the whole bunch down at head- 
 quarters), if that wife of yours don't walk in a 
 mighty straight and narrow path she'll find herself 
 up against it so hard that she won't know what 
 has happened to her when it does happen. 
 
 "You talk about frame-ups. Say! you ain't the 
 only guy that has made that yell, and you ain't 
 likely to be, either. You take it from me, you'd 
 better send her back to where you've been stayin', 
 unless you want to see her takin' a trip up the 
 river for an extended stay. And that warnin' ain't 
 no idle dream, either." 
 
 "Rushton, are you threatening to 'frame' some- 
 thing on my wife?" There was deadly menace in 
 the tone in which that question was asked. 
 
 "No, I ain't. I ain't threatenin' nothin'. I'm 
 givin' you warning." 
 
 Harvard was silent for a moment after that, 
 thinking. 
 
 That flash of light that had fallen upon him a 
 moment ago when he charged Rushton with hav- 
 ing known from the beginning who was the real 
 thief called up other flashes by sequences. 
 
 A new idea possessed him now. One that had 
 never even remotely occurred to him before that 
 night. But it was a promising one; and, if there 
 were promise in it, the search for substantiation 
 must be begun in that very room. He knew that.
 
 RODNEY RUSHTON'S ORDEAL 79 
 
 Harvard produced a pair of handcuffs. Then 
 he crossed again to Rushton. 
 
 "Lean forward," he ordered, "and put your 
 hands together, behind you." 
 
 "Say, what are you up to, anyhow ? I ain't " 
 
 "You had better do as I tell you, Rushton," was 
 the quiet interruption; and Rushton did. Then he 
 leaned backward again with his wrists locked 
 tightly together behind his back, and with an ugly 
 scowl on his face and a furious gleaming in his 
 eyes. 
 
 Next, Harvard jerked a rope from the curtains 
 at one end of the room and tied Rushton securely 
 to the chair. 
 
 "That won't render you uncomfortable, Rush- 
 ton, unless you attempt to get up in which case 
 you will find that it will choke you a little," he 
 said. "The notion has seized me to go through your 
 desk and the papers it contains, and I want you to 
 be quiet while I do so." 
 
 Rushton's face turned livid. Then the blood 
 rushed into it again, until it was nearly purple in 
 hue. He ground his teeth together, and he swore 
 frightfully; and to not one of the things he said 
 did Harvard pay the slightest attention until the 
 language became utterly intolerable. Then he 
 turned from his occupation at the desk long enough 
 to say, with calm decision :
 
 80 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "If I hear you utter one more word, Rushton, 
 I will put a gag between your jaws." 
 
 There was silence after that, save for the flut- 
 ter and rattle of paper as Harvard searched the 
 desk. 
 
 From time to time he glanced at his watch, and 
 then each time the search went forward again, for 
 he had already discovered enough to establish the 
 importance of making it a thorough one ; and Har- 
 vard had no doubt that there were other places 
 than the desk to be examined also before he com- 
 pleted the task he had set himself. 
 
 Then a startling thing happened. The telephone 
 bell rang out sharply. 
 
 For a moment the Night Wind hesitated, glanc- 
 ing at Rushton while he did so. And then, with 
 sudden decision, he went to the telephone and lifted 
 the receiver from the hook.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 PLAYING THE GAME 
 
 Rushton gave an eager start when the telephone 
 call rang out. Then, as the Night Wind lifted the 
 receiver from the hook and put it against his ear, 
 the lieutenant, with an assumption of carelessness 
 that was plainly evident, remarked : 
 
 "I guess maybe you'd better let me answer that 
 call, if you'll bring the phone over here. More'n 
 likely they'll recognize your voice, Harvard." 
 
 But Harvard paid no attention to the sugges- 
 tion. 
 
 And then Bingham Harvard smiled broadly, for 
 he recognized the voice at the other end of the 
 wire; and he was mentally glad that he had been 
 sufficiently thoughtful in the "Hello" he had given 
 to render his own voice as low and guttural as pos- 
 sible. 
 
 The following conversation followed, it being 
 remembered that Rodney Rushton could hear only 
 that part of it uttered by Harvard. 
 
 81
 
 82 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 The voice at the other telephone was unmistak- 
 ably the voice of the inspector. 
 
 "That you, Rushton?" he inquired; and with- 
 out waiting for a reply to the question, continued : 
 "I called you up to tell you that the Night Wind 
 is back. He's in town now. As likely as not he's 
 been here some time. That was all rot about his 
 corning on the Golgotha, because she is outside of 
 Sandy Hook yet. Do you get me?" 
 
 "Sure," said Harvard. 
 
 "What's the matter? Got a cold?" 
 
 "A little" ; and Harvard coughed. The inspector 
 continued : 
 
 "I know he is here, because I saw him and spoke 
 to him. He's looking for blood, too, so you had 
 best keep an eye out. I wasn't going to say any- 
 thing about it until morning, but about half an hour 
 ago a messenger came to my house bringing a belt 
 and stick and shield that belong to Compton ; and a 
 few minutes later Compton telephoned to me from 
 somewhere out in the Bronx to say that the Night 
 Wind took them away from him and then dropped 
 him out there among the goats." 
 
 "Uh-huh," said Harvard, noncommittally. 
 
 "It doesn't seem to interest you very much, Rush- 
 ton. Or, are you scared stiff?" 
 
 "Both," Harvard replied. And he coughed again 
 badly. 
 
 "You have got a cold, haven't you?" the in-
 
 PLAYING THE GAME 83 
 
 spector said sympathetically. "Well, forget it. 
 You won't have any time to nurse colds now. You 
 slip on your clothes and beat it up here to my house 
 as soon as you can make it. I want to see you 
 now." 
 
 "What for?" Harvard trusted himself to say. 
 
 There was a moment of hesitation at the other 
 end of the wire. Then : 
 
 "I can't talk it over the wire that is why I want 
 you to come here to see me before we meet down 
 at the office. But I'll say this much we've got to 
 separate that bunch of busybodies Clancy, Lady 
 Kate, and the Night Wind. We've got to get her, 
 anyhow, and 'send her away and Clancy, too, if 
 possible." 
 
 "Frame something?" Harvard asked suggest- 
 ively. 
 
 "We've got to get rid of them somehow." 
 Just then Rushton took a large chance. Driven 
 to desperation by hearing only one end of a con- 
 versation that he knew was intended for himself, 
 he yelled at the top of his voice : 
 
 "That ain't me talkin' it's the Night Wind !" 
 Harvard knew that the inspector must have heard 
 that shout and the words that were uttered ; and he 
 smiled broadly when he heard the inspector swear; 
 then, before the choice selection of words was quite 
 finished, he said in his natural tones :
 
 84 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "Hello, inspector how are you feeling about 
 now?" 
 
 "Curse you, Harvard I wish I could get at you," 
 came the reply. 
 
 "Oh, I shall be gone from here long before you 
 could get here or send others, inspector. I am nearly 
 through for the night. That was very kind of you 
 to give me that bit of information in regard to 
 Mrs. Harvard and my friend Clancy." 
 
 "Say, what are you doing in Rushton's rooms?" 
 
 "Searching his papers and so forth." 
 
 "Where's Rushton?" 
 
 "He is here, sitting with his hands behind his 
 back like a good little boy that has been naughty. 
 He is harmless. Would you like to have me deliver 
 that message of yours to him?" 
 
 "I would like to speak to him if you will let me 
 do it." 
 
 "Certainly on the condition that you will speak 
 loud enough for both of us to hear what you say. 
 If you do not, I shall hold the receiver so that he 
 can't hear." 
 
 "All right," came the reply ; and Harvard stepped 
 across to the chair where Rushton was seated, 
 stretching the telephone cord to its full length in 
 doing so. Then he held the receiver down so that 
 both of them could hear what might be said through 
 it.
 
 PLAYING THE GAME 85 
 
 "Hello, inspector," Rushton called hoarsely. 
 "This " 
 
 Harvard lifted the transmitter and receiver out 
 of his reach. "None of that, Rushton," he said. 
 Then he put them down again for Rushton to talk. 
 
 "Tell me what has happened, Rushton," the in- 
 spector said. "He will let you do that." 
 
 "Aw, he rung my bell an' I went down like a 
 jackass, with nothin' on me that is, no gun 'r 
 nothin' ; an' he got me dead to rights down in the 
 lower hall. And now he's got my own irons onto 
 me, and he's goin' through my papers. It ain't 
 nice to tell, but it's so." 
 
 "Tell Rushton about that idea of yours for a 
 new frame-up, inspector," Harvard interposed; and 
 the inspector replied : 
 
 "I'll tell him all right, Harvard, only I will go 
 down there to do it. Just now I prefer to talk with 
 you a little more. You see " 
 
 That was all that Harvard heard, for he hung 
 the receiver upon the hook instantly. The thought 
 struck him suddenly that the inspector was talk- 
 ing to kill time, and that if he did that it was not 
 without a purpose. 
 
 It was not unlikely that another person was in 
 the room with the inspector when he called Rush- 
 ton's number, and if that happened to be true, signs 
 and signals would have sufficed to send that second 
 person into the street to find another telephone. If
 
 86 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 that were the case, headquarters and then the near- 
 est station house would be speedily notified. 
 
 The fact of the matter was even more ominous, 
 if Harvard had but known it; for, in addition to 
 the regular telephone service, the inspector had a 
 private, /direct wire between his house and his own 
 office at headquarters, and that private wire was 
 working even while the inspector was talking with 
 Harvard. 
 
 For one brief interval Bingham Harvard thought 
 deeply when he replaced the receiver on the hook. 
 
 He had not completed his search of Rushton's 
 papers, and there might never be another oppor- 
 tunity. He decided that he would allow himself 
 ten minutes more. 
 
 He sprang to the desk again and pulled out the 
 contents of the two remaining pigeonholes that he 
 had not searched, and stuffed them into his pockets 
 regardless of what they might be. Then he pulled 
 out the drawers, one after another, and fumbled 
 rapidly among the contents of them. 
 
 There was a package of small memorandum 
 books, held together by a rubber band, and a glance 
 into one of them told him that they might possibly 
 be of value, so he dropped the entire package into 
 his side pocket. 
 
 He looked into a closet and discovered a very 
 small iron safe, but it was locked, and he did not 
 care to search Rushton's pockets for the key.
 
 PLAYING THE GAME 87 
 
 Then he snapped off the lights, leaving Rush- 
 ton in darkness, and passed into the hall, and thence 
 into the rear room; 'but a quick search around it 
 was unfruitful of results. 
 
 He knew that time was passing that it would 
 not be long, after headquarters was once notified 
 of what was happening, before officers would come 
 a-running from the nearest precinct station house, 
 so he abandoned the idea of further search, and 
 started down the stairs. 
 
 It had been an adventurous night thus far, and 
 he did not care to have it end disastrously. He 
 was assured, too, that he had collected some valua- 
 ble information from Rushton's desk or, at least, 
 the beginning of things that would prove to be of 
 value. 
 
 As he opened the street door and stepped into 
 the vestibule he could hear the sound of running 
 feet approaching the house, and he had no doubts 
 about what that meant. 
 
 But he paused an instant, nevertheless, for his 
 trained ear told him that men were running to- 
 ward him from either direction; and then, too, the 
 rumble of a heavy wagon and the pounding of 
 horses' hoofs on the pavement announced the rapid 
 approach of the patrol wagon. 
 
 It did not occur to him that he would be unable 
 to get through them and escape; the thought that 
 was uppermost in his mind at that moment was
 
 88 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 one of dread lest he should be compelled to hurt 
 somebody before he would be able to do so 'for he 
 had determined, if it were possible, to carry out the 
 task he had set himself to do in clearing his own 
 name, without injuring anybody. 
 
 The noise of running feet came nearer from 
 both directions, and with sudden resolution the 
 Night Wind stepped outside of the door and closed 
 it tightly after him. 
 
 Then, perceiving that he had no time to make a 
 getaway, he turned about and began to shake the 
 door, apparently with all his strength, although he 
 really used but little of it and then half a dozen 
 cops dashed up the steps behind him. 
 
 He did not wait for them to question him; he 
 shouted orders at them; and he did it in a manner 
 so peremptory that they very naturally mistook 
 him for a plain clothes man who had "beat them 
 to it." 
 
 "Quick, now. All together," he ordered. "Smash 
 in the door. One, two there you are !" 
 
 There was a rending crash. The door gave way 
 before the onslaught of the several men who threw 
 themselves against it. There was a smashing splin- 
 tering of wood, the clinking of broken glass, the 
 harsh rending of iron and the Night Wind passed 
 into the darkness of the hall in the very forefront 
 of those uniformed men. 
 
 It was then that he managed to step to one side
 
 PLAYING THE GAME 89 
 
 while they passed him and stumbled and ran up the 
 stairway. 
 
 Somebody shouted an order for somebody else 
 to remain on guard at the door, and for still an- 
 other somebody or two to perform the same ser- 
 vice outside on the pavement. The people who 
 lived on the parlor floor of the house, and on the 
 second floor also, opened their doors in affright, 
 yelled murder and fire and other things, and 
 slammed them shut again. 
 
 The patrol wagon deposited its quota of men 
 at the curb, and they came tumbling into the house 
 and just as the major part of them passed him 
 the Night Wind stepped outside and ran quickly 
 down the steps. 
 
 One of the uniformed men who was on guard 
 stepped toward him, and the Night Wind seized him 
 by the arm and dragged him rapidly along the side- 
 walk, exclaiming as he did so: 
 
 "Come here a moment! I've got something to 
 say to you ! You other fellows stay where you are !" 
 
 It worked. 
 
 A few doors farther along the street the Night 
 Wind seized his man and dexterously relieved him 
 of his gun, which he threw into the middle of the 
 street ; and as he did so he said smilingly : 
 
 "I am the Night Wind, my friend. You can go 
 back there now and tell them that you saw me. 
 They will be pleased to hear it."
 
 CHAPTER X 
 A "SYSTEM" AND A "KEY" 
 
 There was a small and select gathering of police 
 officials in the private office of the inspector the 
 following day at noon. It is a notable fact, and 
 one worthy of record, that the deputy commis- 
 sioner was not among them. 
 
 The inspector had summoned them one by one, 
 and when the few were present whom he desired 
 orders were given that he was not to be disturbed 
 on any account for half an hour, and the door was 
 locked to make sure. 
 
 Just how we know about that conference in order 
 to report it at this time of the story should be ex- 
 plained as demonstrative of the thoroughness with 
 which Tom Clancy was working in the interests of 
 his friend Harvard, and as showing how wisely he 
 had made his selection of the detective agency that 
 was to perform much of the work that agency 
 which was directed by the master mind to whom 
 Tom referred as "Redhead." 
 
 90
 
 A "SYSTEM" AND A "KEY" 91 
 
 There were present, besides the inspector, Lieu- 
 tenants Rushton, Coniglio, and Masters; and De- 
 tective-sergeants Boynton, Potowski, and Connor; 
 and please don't forget Connor, for, as it happens, 
 he had worked side by side with Redhead in a 
 Western State long before he became a member 
 of the New York police department, and was still 
 working for him. Are we wise now? Redhead 
 had long ago found it important that he should keep 
 posted concerning the inside workings of police de- 
 partments in various cities, and hence 
 
 Rushton delivered a short speech. He said (con- 
 densed) : 
 
 "You guys all know enough about the Night 
 Wind an' what he has done to us, an' what he's 
 likely to do to us unless we put the kibosh onto 
 him, so it ain't necessary for me to go into par- 
 ticulars." Rushton looked from face to face in that 
 gathering to make sure that they each appreciated 
 the significance of what he had said; then he con- 
 tinued : 
 
 "The Night Wind has come back, and he's worse 
 than ever take it from me; and from the skipper, 
 too. Both of us saw him last night, and both times 
 he saw us first. Some of you know by experience 
 what that means ; some of you know only by hear- 
 say, but you may as well put it down in your 
 memoranda that when the Night Win4 sees you 
 first there ain't nothin' doin' for you.
 
 92 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "The skipper 'n me ain't personally ashamed of 
 what happened to us last night, because this Bing 
 Harvard ain't really human. He is something su- 
 pernatural. He's chain lightning in his motions, 
 a panther in his tread on the streets, the tongue of 
 a toad in his agility, and a veritable Samson in 
 strength. He's the strongest and the quickest man 
 I ever heard of. There ain't no man livin' that 
 can stand up against him, so it ain't no dishonor to 
 have him get the best of you. Them that's been 
 up against him know that. 
 
 "He says he has stopped breaking bones an' 
 maiming us cops, an' maybe he has. But it wouldn't 
 be safe to bank too heavily on that proposition if 
 one or two of you should undertake to tackle him. 
 It's a cinch that if he had to do it in order to make 
 a getaway he'd be right there on the job. 
 
 "When he moves he don't make no more noise 
 than a shadow and how he does it I don't know. 
 He says he has come back here to clear his name, 
 but I happen to be the guy that got the goods on 
 him for that Centropolis bank affair, and so I know 
 that unless he frames something on somebody else 
 he's the guilty man. Anyhow, there's an indictment 
 out against him, and we've got to get him. We've 
 got to or go out of business. 
 
 "Now I'm comin' to the point of this here state- 
 ment. 
 
 "The Night Wind didn't come back to New
 
 A "SYSTEM" AND A "KEY" 93 
 
 York alone. He brought Lady Kate her that used 
 to be down here with us back with him. She says 
 she's his wife now; and he says so, too; but I ain't 
 seen no marriage certificate, and, so whether it's 
 true 'r not, we ain't got no call to take official no- 
 tice of it. 
 
 "And that ain't all. He has got a friend in this 
 burg who is some friend name of Tom Clancy 
 a down-town stock broker, comfortably rich, and 
 willin' to spend his last dollar for Bing Harvard. 
 He is something of a sport, as slick as grease, ain't 
 afraid of nothin', and as busy as a cat that has been 
 smeared over with lard. 
 
 "Well, we've got to get them two, an' get 'em 
 good and plenty! 
 
 "That is what you guys are here to be told. It 
 don't make much difference how we get 'em, so long 
 as we do it, for the skipper and me are about agreed 
 that we ain't likely to put the irons onto the Night 
 Wind's wrists as long as them two are runnin' 
 around loose. 
 
 "There are seven of us here in this bunch, and 
 what passes between us seven don't go no farther 
 see? We've got to work together for the good of 
 the community and for the force, and the one thing 
 that we've got to do right off the reel is to find 
 some means of sendin' them two Lady Kate and 
 Clancy away. 
 
 "I ain't askin' you to frame nothin'. That ain't
 
 94 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 my way. But it's a cinch that if you look close 
 enough into the history of any man 'r woman you'll 
 find something that will do the trick. I guess that's 
 all, inspector." 
 
 The inspector took his feet from the desk and 
 brought them down solidly upon the floor. 
 
 "I guess you understand Lieutenant Rushton well 
 enough so that I need add nothing to what he has 
 said," he told them. "Coniglio, you and Masters, 
 with Boynton and Potowski on the side, are as- 
 signed to Clancy. The rest of us will take care of 
 the girl. I want quick action if I can get it. That 
 is all only I want to be kept thoroughly posted all 
 the time." 
 
 Behind closed doors in another private office 
 farther down-town there was also a consultation. 
 It took place at approximately the same hour, and 
 was between two persons, of whom one was Red- 
 head and the other Lady Kate. 
 
 It was the first meeting between these two; but 
 Clancy had arranged for it, and Katherine was 
 expected, when Black Julius drove her there in the 
 imitation taxicab. 
 
 There was some preliminary talk between them 
 which need not be recorded, and then: 
 
 "It might have been better, Mrs. Harvard, if you 
 had returned directly to your old job at headquar- 
 ters instead of going to Chester as you did. No
 
 A "SYSTEM" AND A "KEY" 95 
 
 doubt the inspector would have taken you back, 
 and well, there might have been possibilities 
 eh?" 
 
 "Perhaps. But they never would have trusted 
 me again. They were morally certain that I went 
 away with Mr. Harvard; indeed, some of them 
 knew the fact. Bingham and I saw and recognized 
 four members of the force at the pier the day we 
 sailed, and we were reasonably certain that they 
 saw and recognized us. No; I think I did right, 
 chief." 
 
 "Are you aware that under the circumstances, 
 as they now exist, you are in constant danger, Mrs. 
 Harvard?" he asked her. 
 
 "Quite so," she smiled back at him. 
 
 "They will want to get you out of the way, and 
 at once ; and Clancy, too. But you, even more than 
 he. You are an active menace to them and to every- 
 thing that they stand for. Rushton and a few of 
 his cronies will not hesitate to frame something 
 on you, and the very fact that you have been one 
 of them will render that an easy task. Really, Mrs. 
 Harvard, you should keep out of sight. This is a 
 man's job, not a woman's." 
 
 "I shall pass out of sight, chief, the moment I 
 leave this office. I determined upon that much, and 
 exactly how I would accomplish it, before I landed 
 in New York. And that is the real reason for my 
 presence here, to consult with you. I used to think,
 
 96 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 when I was connected with headquarters, that I 
 would much rather have been here with you than 
 there." 
 
 "I heartily wish you had been," he replied earn- 
 estly. 
 
 "And now I want your promise of secrecy con- 
 cerning me. I mean that I do not wish my hus- 
 band to know where I may be, or what I am doing. 
 I wish him to be kept in entire ignorance. Is that 
 agreed upon?" 
 
 "Certainly." 
 
 "I will report directly to you from time to time, 
 and you will make such use as you see fit of what 
 I may be able to tell you. Only, I wanted to be 
 sure of your approval and your cooperation." 
 
 "Of my cooperation, surely. Of my approval 
 I will first have to know something more about 
 what you think of undertaking." 
 
 "Chief, I have thought and dreamed and planned 
 for this opportunity constantly, ever since I left 
 New York. I have worked out countless ideas, only 
 to dismiss each one as being, for one reason or an- 
 other, impracticable. I will tell you what I have 
 decided upon presently, but, first, will you reply to 
 a few questions that I wish to ask?" 
 
 "Gladly if I can." 
 
 "Who took that money? I do not mean, what 
 person took it. But was it an inside job, or was 
 it accomplished from the outside, in some inex-
 
 A "SYSTEM" AND A "KEY" 97 
 
 plicable manner ? What is your opinion as to that ? 
 Mr. Clancy has told me that you have had one of 
 your men acting as an employee at the bank for 
 some time." 
 
 "That is true, Mrs. Harvard. I cannot answer 
 your question, however, more than to say that I am 
 personally satisfied that neither of the two assist- 
 ant tellers was the thief. My operative at the bank 
 has accomplished absolutely nothing. I have kept 
 every man who is employed there (who might have 
 stolen the money) under rigid surveillance with 
 no result whatever. And if one of those men had 
 taken it, there would have been a result." 
 
 "So you incline to the theory of an outside job?" 
 
 "If there was a job. But one confronts greater 
 difficulties in the theory of an outside worker than 
 in the other one." 
 
 "What do you mean when you say 'if there was 
 a job'?" 
 
 "Sometimes I am on the point of believing that 
 the money was never stolen at all." 
 
 "But that is absurd. Don't forget that it was 
 Bingham who discovered the loss." 
 
 "Precisely. You have made use of the right 
 word loss. Was the money stolen or was it lost?" 
 
 "But it couldn't have been lost, chief, inside of 
 that cage. Of course it was stolen. And I believe 
 it was stolen from the outside. And I believe that 
 Rodney Rushton knows who stole it, and has ap-
 
 98 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 propriated a very large portion of it to his own 
 uses since he found out that interesting fact. And, 
 also, what Rodney RusMon was able to find out 
 you can discover as well as he unless 
 
 "Unless what, Mrs. Harvard?" The chief was 
 suddenly interested in her suggestions. 
 
 "Unless Rushton knew, before the money dis- 
 appeared, that it would disappear" she replied with 
 slow emphasis. 
 
 "By Jove!" he exclaimed, and leaned back in his 
 chair. "A double frame-up, eh ? The idea is worth 
 a lot of careful thought, Mrs. Harvard. But an 
 outsider could not have taken the packages of money 
 from the paying teller's cage without help from the 
 inside." 
 
 "Certainly not. And expert help, at that." 
 
 "Which fact brings us up against it just as hard 
 as we were before. We are backed up into the 
 same corner." 
 
 Katherine took a folded sheet of paper from her 
 mesh bag and spread it open on the desk between 
 them, and the chief bent down over it. 
 
 "This," she said, "is a detailed plan of the inside 
 of that cage, drawn to a scale, and by my husband. 
 And here" she produced a second paper -"is a 
 floor plan of the bank itself prepared in the same 
 manner. The red cross on this one shows the spot 
 from which the packages of bills actually disap- 
 peared. The black circles with numbers inside of
 
 A "SYSTEM" AND A "KEY" 99 
 
 them, on both plans, indicate the positions of the 
 various workers in the bank at the time of the theft, 
 or approximating it as nearly as possible. Below, 
 and against each of the numbers, are the names 
 and occupations of the workers. Chief, I have 
 studied those plans until I can close my eyes and 
 see each of them or both of them as plainly as you 
 see them now." 
 
 "I have no doubt of it. They make an interest- 
 ing study, too." 
 
 Katherine leaned back in her chair again. 
 
 "Ever since the first day of my association with 
 the New York police," she said, "I have heard the 
 word 'system' dinned into my ears. Also, in study- 
 ing over those plans so constantly, I was reminded 
 that there never was a mathematical problem to be 
 worked out for which a system was not necessary. 
 And a 'key.' And so I have searched my intelli- 
 gence to discover the system by which those pack- 
 ages of money were stolen and to find the key that 
 would open that system and make it available. 
 I think, chief, that I have discovered both." 
 
 "You do?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Then the task is already accomplished, Mrs. 
 Harvard." 
 
 "No. It must yet be proven. My theories and 
 there are nothing more than theories as yet must
 
 100 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 be established; and there is the possibility that I 
 may be utterly in error." 
 
 "But, tell me " 
 
 "Please do not ask me to do that, chief ; not yet. 
 You see, I haven't the courage of my own convic- 
 tions in this matter and that is why I wish to work 
 alone, unaided and unimpeded, until I have discov- 
 ered something to uphold and sustain my opinions. 
 I have seen one innocent man terribly wronged; 
 and the man inside of that bank who is, I believe, 
 the key to this mystery may be as innocent as my 
 husband was and is. I utterly refuse to cast even 
 the shadow of a doubt upon him until I have satis- 
 fied myself that I have a fairly good reason for 
 doing so. 
 
 "But you may keep the plans, and you can study 
 them as I have done. If you should arrive at the 
 same solution that appeals to me well, then, we 
 will consult together in regard to it. In the mean 
 time, I shall probably have established it or shat- 
 tered it." 
 
 "And your method? That is what you came 
 here to consult with me about, isn't it ?" 
 
 "Yes." Katherine hesitated a moment, and then, 
 with a whimsical smile, said : "I am perfectly well 
 aware, chief, that the detective in disguise is largely 
 a creature of romance; but nevertheless I have de- 
 termined upon a disguise which I believe will be 
 effective. It is absolutely necessary that I should
 
 A "SYSTEM" AND A "KEY" 101 
 
 find a place inside of that bank, and I have found a 
 way to accomplish it, with your aid." 
 
 She leaned forward and laid a card upon the 
 desk before him. It bore a name (not her own) 
 and an address. 
 
 "Will you come to that address at ten o'clock to- 
 night, and ask for that person?" Katherine con- 
 tinued. 
 
 He glanced at the card, then uttered a low whis- 
 tle. "Will that person be you, Mrs. Harvard?" he 
 asked; and when she nodded her head brightly in 
 assent he added: 
 
 "You will be obliged to sacrifice something in 
 order to play that part; and I am afraid that you 
 will find it more difficult than you imagine. How- 
 ever, if you have decided, there is nothing more 
 to be said, I suppose. I will be there, Mrs. Har- 
 vard, and I will give you an hour." 
 
 As Lady Kate descended to the street in one of 
 the elevators Detective-Sergeant Connor, fresh 
 from that conference at headquarters, ascended in 
 another. He was on his way to report to his real 
 chief, Redhead; but he did not know that Rodney 
 Rushton had followed him, and was, even then. 
 waiting outside of the building. 
 
 Still less did Lady Kate, on her way to the street, 
 anticipate the possible proximity of Lieutenant 
 Rushton.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 LADY KATE'S MISFORTUNE 
 
 Rushton saw Lady Kate. Lady Kate did not 
 see Rushton. 
 
 If Black Julius had been there with his car, wait- 
 ing at the curb where his mistress left him, the 
 things that happened so quickly after Katherine 
 emerged from the entrance to the tall building 
 might have been avoided; but the traffic regula- 
 tions had forced Julius to take his car around the 
 corner to wait. 
 
 Only a moment before Lady Kate come out of 
 the building Rushton met and spoke to one of the 
 regular plain clothes men who were attached to 
 that precinct, and they were still talking together 
 when she appeared. 
 
 Rushton could think quickly on occasion. He 
 did it then, and acted with the thought. 
 
 "Quick, Hardner !" he exclaimed under his breath 
 with sudden inspiration. "If you'll do what I tell 
 you to now, and do it right, I'll get you a promo- 
 
 102
 
 LADY KATE'S MISFORTUNE 103 
 
 tion and I know what I am talking about. D'ye 
 see that woman there, at the curb ? Looks as though 
 she was lookin' f 'r a cab 'r something. I want her 
 pinched now, quick! Y'understand ? Here; take 
 this" and he shoved something that he took from 
 one of his own pockets into Hardner's hand "an' 
 plant it on her before she is searched. She's a 
 dip see? Run her around to your own station 
 house an' hold her there. Stay with her yourself, 
 an' don't let anybody talk to her or her talk to any- 
 body an' no telephoning either. And you stay 
 right on the job with her till further orders. Hurry ! 
 She is moving off. You'll have the big chief stuck 
 on you if you do this job right." 
 
 Rushton withdrew into a doorway behind a stand- 
 ing show case and watched. 
 
 Hardner, a big brute of a man who had "bull" 
 and plain clothes man written all over him, and 
 who had been "bouncer" in a dance hall before he 
 became a cop, did not hesitate. 
 
 He shoved himself forward through the throng 
 of people who were moving in either direction, and 
 he dropped a great paw roughly upon Katherine's 
 shoulder and whirled her around so that she faced 
 him, before she had taken half a dozen steps to- 
 ward the corner around which Julius had taken his 
 car. 
 
 "I want you, my little lady," Hardner said 
 brutally, with a grin and a leer. "I saw you pinch
 
 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 one leather a minute 'r two ago, and I guess you've 
 got more'n that on you. Gee! but you're a peach, 
 ain't you? With a pair of lamps like yours, you 
 ain't got no call to be a common dip. Not you. 
 Come along." 
 
 He seized her roughly by the arm and forced 
 her along the street beside him, in the direction op- 
 posite the corner around which Julius was waiting. 
 
 Lady Kate was so amazed by the attack and the 
 suddenness of it, so utterly nonplussed, that she had 
 been led along the street twenty feet or more be- 
 fore she recovered her natural wit and poise; and 
 then she sought to wrench her arm free from 
 Hardner's grasp. 
 
 But the effort was unavailing. Also, a dozen peo- 
 ple had witnessed the arrest, and a crowd was rap- 
 idly forming around them; and at that instant 
 Hardner threw back one side of his coat and ex- 
 hibited his shield of authority. 
 
 Katherine thoroughly understood how futile it 
 would be to attempt resistance there; and she real- 
 ized, also, that she had walked into a trap or had 
 fallen into one. She could see Rushton's hand in 
 what was taking place as plainly as if it had been 
 held before her eyes. 
 
 And so she walked along quietly beside Hardner 
 without resistance or announced objection. And 
 presently they arrived at the station house, which 
 was not far distant, where she hoped and believed
 
 LADY KATE'S MISFORTUNE 105 
 
 she would find somebody who knew her, who would 
 identify her, and whom she could persuade to be- 
 friend her. 
 
 But Rushton anticipated any such event. 
 
 No sooner had Hardner started away with her 
 before Rushton hurried to a telephone, and he had 
 that particular station house on the wire long be- 
 fore the plain clothes man and his charge reached 
 there. 
 
 The instructions that he gave were explicit and 
 emphatic; and they were accompanied by threats 
 that were not to be doubted in their general char- 
 acter. Thus, when Lady Kate did arrive at the 
 station house, a sergeant whom she did not know 
 had taken the lieutenant's place at the desk, she was 
 roughly questioned, a pretense was made of enter- 
 ing the record of the case in the "blotter," and she 
 was rushed into the captain's room, where Hard- 
 ner stood guard over her until a patrol wagon came 
 and took her away; for Rushton had done more 
 telephoning than merely to call up the station house. 
 
 If anybody supposes that a policeman in New 
 York City cannot do pretty nearly as he pleases 
 with a private citizen, in spite of magistrates and 
 the law and so-called justice, provided that police- 
 man is abetted in his act by one of the men "higher 
 up," Mr. Anybody has got another guess coming; 
 and Lady Kate speedily found herself in a position 
 that was by no means enviable.
 
 106 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 The "wagon" did not take her to headquarters, 
 as she had confidently believed it was intended to 
 do for she surmised that she would have some 
 kind of a frame-up to face, and she was prepared 
 to resort, as a last extremity, to certain influences 
 that she possessed to get her out of her difficul- 
 ties ; influences and associations which she had never 
 revealed even to her husband. 
 
 She had reserved that part of her history the 
 part that had always surrounded her with a cloak 
 of mystery until such time as Bingham Harvard 
 would be enabled to face the world as an honest 
 man. 
 
 That wagon was met by another, and, still later, 
 the second one was met by a third ; and in the course 
 of time, after having been driven across Queens- 
 boro Bridge, Lady Kate realized that she was to 
 be given no opportunity whatever to escape from 
 the predicament she was in. 
 
 When she was at last locked up, guarded by a 
 matron whose face was as hard and uncompromis- 
 ing in a feminine way as Hardner's, she knew only 
 that she was somewhere out in Queens, but she had 
 no idea as to the exact location. 
 
 Her cell was comfortable enough more like a 
 small room than a cell; but she understood per- 
 fectly well that she would not have been sent out 
 to that remote place unless the persons who had 
 her sent there knew what they were about.
 
 LADY KATE'S MISFORTUNE 107 
 
 There would be no hope for her now unless she 
 could manage an actual escape, and that possibility 
 appeared to be exceedingly vague and remote. 
 
 In the mean time, Black Julius, always patient 
 where his loved mistress was concerned, became 
 alarmed. 
 
 Katherine had implicit faith in her servitor, and 
 usually told him more or less of her plans, whenever 
 he drove her about in the imitation taxicab, so that 
 he could meet her halfway in carrying them into 
 effect. 
 
 She had told him that day where she was going, 
 and how long a time she expected to be detained; 
 so, when almost an hour more than that time had 
 elapsed, Julius left his car where it was, entered the 
 tall building, and sought the office where he knew 
 she had gone. 
 
 For reasons of his own he adopted, when he en- 
 tered it, the dialect of a Southern negro; and for- 
 tune favored him so far that at the moment he en- 
 tered the reception office of the suite Redhead came 
 into it through another door at the opposite side. 
 
 "I's lookin' fo' de lady what I done druv down 
 yere in ma cab, boss," Julius announced with a bow. 
 "She said she was comin' out mos' an houah ago, 
 an' she ain't come yet. If she's yere, boss, will you 
 jes' tell her that I's waitin' ?" 
 
 Chief Redhead eyed the negro narrowly, then 
 stepped closer to him.
 
 108 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "Do you know the lady's name?" he asked in a 
 low tone. 
 
 "Yassir. I's heered her called Mis' Maxwell," 
 Julius replied. 
 
 "She left here almost an hour ago. Haven't you 
 seen her?" 
 
 "No, sah; an' if she done left de buildin' she'd 
 have come straight as a string to me unlessen 
 somethin' stopped her." Julius was genuinely 
 alarmed by that time. 
 
 "You go into my private office and wait until 
 I " the chief began; but Julius interrupted. 
 
 "No, sah," he said. "I'll go down to my cab an' 
 wait dere jes' a lil' while. You kin fin' me aroun' 
 de corner." 
 
 The chief had no difficulty when he reached the 
 street, and by deft questioning, in discovering what 
 had happened. There were several loiterers about 
 who had seen a young woman arrested about an 
 hour before for picking pockets. 
 
 The man at the cigar-stand just inside the en- 
 trance to the building had witnessed part of the 
 incident; and there were others also. 
 
 The chief hurried around the corner to Julius. 
 He had made a close surmise as to the real char- 
 acter of the negro. 
 
 "Are you Mrs. Harvard's servant?" he asked 
 abruptly. "I am her friend and confidant. You 
 need not be afraid to tell me."
 
 LADY KATE'S MISFORTUNE 109 
 
 "Yes, sir," Julius replied, dropping the assumed 
 dialect. 
 
 "I thought so. She was arrested on a false charge 
 when she came out of the building. An officer in 
 plain clothes took her away. I want you to wait 
 here a few moments until I return, and then drive 
 me to the nearest station house." 
 
 He hurried away without waiting for an answer. 
 
 Inside of his own office he summoned one of his 
 own men aside and rapidly recounted what had hap- 
 pened. 
 
 "Find Connor," he added, "and tell him all I have 
 told you. Tell him to get me all the particulars of 
 what has happened, even if he has to queer him- 
 self over there to do it. I'm afraid he is queered 
 anyhow. Somebody must have followed him when 
 he came here to report, and while waiting outside 
 for him saw Lady Kate go out. More than likely 
 it was Rushton himself. Tell Com;or that if he 
 gets a move on him he can find out wbat I want to 
 know before Rushton has had time to tell of his 
 suspicions. I am going around to the station house, 
 but I don't expect to get such information there." 
 
 Nor did he. 
 
 He was permitted to examine the blotter him- 
 self. There was no entry concerning such a case as 
 he inquired about. No pickpocket male or female 
 had been brought in that day. (He did not make 
 use of her name in making his inquiries.) Every
 
 110 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 cop at the station house was profoundly ignorant 
 of any such circumstances as he described. 
 
 The face of Julius was very grave when the chief 
 returned to him outside. 
 
 "I've got to find her, sir, right away, somehow," 
 he said helplessly. 
 
 "We will find her right away somehow, Julius," 
 was the quick reply. "There is one chance that I 
 may learn where she has been taken within an hour 
 or two. It is almost certain that they would not 
 take her to headquarters, or to a near-by station 
 house." 
 
 "I want to help, sir. I've got to help." 
 
 "You shall help. Take me back to my office, 
 then return for me in two hours. I will have de- 
 termined upon some course by that time." 
 
 "I won't come back, sir. I'll wait, or maybe I'll 
 just drive around the streets and keep my eyes open, 
 and if I happen to see that man Rushton get in my 
 way I'll run over him with the car." 
 
 "Why? What do you know about Rushton?" 
 the chief asked quickly. 
 
 "I know that he has made Miss Kitty every bit 
 of trouble she's ever had, and I know that I saw 
 him go up the street past me while I was waiting 
 around the corner for her; and if she has been ar- 
 rested, as you say, it is his doings, and he knows 
 where she is to be found. And if I happen to see 
 him, he's got to tell me, sir."
 
 LADY KATE'S MISFORTUNE 111 
 
 "No, Julius, not that. You would only betray 
 the fact to him that you are her servant, and she 
 doesn't wish him to know that. Do as I have di- 
 rected, and leave the rest to me. We will find her."
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE LITTLE DOOR 
 
 Exactly midnight. 
 
 The Night Wind paused in the doorway he had 
 been seeking and looked up and down the street by 
 which he had approached it. There was no person 
 in sight. He turned, then, to look more closely 
 at the building. 
 
 It presented every outward aspect of a ware- 
 house. The windows were grimy, and he as- 
 sumed cobwebbed, although it was much too dark 
 just there for him to determine that. They were 
 protected by heavy wire-screens that were almost 
 as effective as bars might have been. 
 
 The door was a huge one, through the open- 
 ing of which truck horses, three abreast, could have 
 passed ; but there was a very small door in the mid- 
 dle of it, faintly determinable, which, he assumed, 
 was the one which would be opened for him from 
 the inside at twelve-ten precisely, according to the 
 directions that Tom Clancy had given him. 
 
 112
 
 THE LITTLE DOOR 118 
 
 It was the night following his interview with the 
 inspector and with Rushton; the night that fol- 
 lowed upon the day of Katherine's disappearance. 
 But he had, as yet, heard nothing of that. 
 
 He turned his back to the little door the better 
 to be watchful for the approach of strangers along 
 the street, and so did not hear it when it was 
 opened and then Tom Clancy's voice brought him 
 sharply around again. 
 
 "Hello, Bing. Come in," was the greeting. 
 
 Harvard stepped through the narrow doorway 
 into impenetrable blackness. He felt Tom's grasp 
 upon his arm, and was led blindly forward through 
 a thick wall of darkness until at last a faint glim- 
 mer of light could be seen. 
 
 It looked as if it were a mile away, but they came 
 to it in another moment, after which they mounted 
 some stairs, traversed another considerable dis- 
 tance (Tom carried the candle now that he had left 
 waiting on the stairs), ascended to a third floor 
 where they presently came to an iron ladder at the 
 top of which there was an opening through which 
 the stars could be seen. 
 
 There was a structure on the roof, square and 
 roomy, once a combination of cupola and watch- 
 tower, but now transformed into a place of resi- 
 dence. 
 
 The door stood invitingly open, a student-lamp 
 with a green shade was on the center-table of the
 
 114 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 one room, there were rugs on the floor, a three- 
 quarter bed in one corner, a couch in another, sev- 
 eral comfortable chairs, two well-filled bookcases, 
 and a genial air of comfort and hominess. 
 
 "Behold your future residence, Mr. Night 
 Wind," Clancy exclaimed as he closed the door. 
 There had not been a word passed between them 
 since the first greetings at the street. 
 
 "You are to live here, Bing, until we catch that 
 thief. Wait a minute, now, till I finish. I've got 
 to get this off of my chest." 
 
 "Go on, then." 
 
 "There are four ways out of the building down 
 on the ground floor, one on each of the four sides. 
 One opens upon the street, as you know ; the others 
 give upon narrow alleyways, which in turn will 
 take you to one of the two streets. Up there in 
 the corner is a coil of knotted rope, and out on the 
 cornices, yonder, and yonder" -he pointed in two 
 directions "are iron hooks, in case you should 
 happen to want to take to the street from the roof. 
 Right there, on the table, is a telephone. It is a 
 private wire into Redhead's office, which nobody 
 but himself and ourselves and the telephone com- 
 pany know about." 
 
 "Oh. So this place is his, eh?" Bingham asked. 
 
 "Yes. He calls it his think-shop. Whenever the 
 world and worldly things get on his nerves he 
 chucks the world and comes here; and he has put
 
 THE LITTLE DOOR 115 
 
 the place at your disposal as long as you may need 
 it. It is better than the fly-by-night existence that 
 you would otherwise have to lead, isn't it?" 
 
 "Decidedly. I'm very grateful. But where is 
 he? You said he was to be here, Tom." 
 
 "He couldn't make it, Bing. Something else de- 
 manded his attention. He sent me word of it at 
 the last moment. But he will be here before day- 
 light, if possible." 
 
 "Where is he? What has happened?" Harvard 
 asked suspiciously. Something about Clancy's man- 
 ner warned him that there was a reason which con- 
 cerned himself. 
 
 "I have got some bad news for you, Bing. The 
 chief told me not to tell you about it till he got 
 here, because he believed there would be no reason 
 for telling it afterward. But I don't think it's right 
 to withhold it." 
 
 "Well? Well? What is it?" 
 
 "Katherine has been arrested." 
 
 Harvard started to his feet, stood still and rigid 
 for a moment, then succeeded in controlling him- 
 self and sat down slowly again. 
 
 "Tell me about it," he said with forced calm. 
 "Every word of it; all that you know about it." 
 
 And so Clancy told him everything that he 
 knew at the time, and Harvard listened in utter 
 silence. 
 
 At the end of the recital he was still silent for
 
 116 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 so long a time that Clancy twice raised his eyes 
 expectantly, but wisely kept still, waiting for his 
 friend to speak. 
 
 Then Harvard left his chair, went to the door 
 and passed outside on the roof which covered a 
 considerable area and was dipped toward the rear 
 of the building just enough to allow for drainage; 
 otherwise it was flat. 
 
 "I am not going to wait here for the arrival of 
 your friend Redhead," he said to Tom when the 
 latter followed him outside. "I am going to find 
 {Catherine." 
 
 "But how? Where will you go? How will you 
 find her, Bing?" 
 
 "I will find her by seeking the men who are re- 
 sponsible for her arrest and compelling them to tell 
 me where she is. Great Heaven, Tom, don't you 
 understand what this move of theirs means? Why, 
 it is even a worse frame-up than Rushton put over 
 on me. Unless I get her out of their clutches, and 
 do it at once, Katherine will be railroaded to prison 
 on a false charge, and there won't be a ghost of a 
 show for her. Don't you see it?" 
 
 "Yes ; of course I do see it. But the chief " 
 
 "The chief will do everything in his power, of 
 course. Let him keep on doing it. If he succeeds 
 in finding her and rescuing her before I do, so 
 much the better. But I will tell you one thing, 
 Tom. It is this : if those fellows keep up this sort
 
 THE LITTLE DOOR 117 
 
 of thing they will force me back again into the 
 condition of mind I was in before I went away, 
 and if that happens I will take the law into my own 
 hands in a manner that won't be good for the sev- 
 eral men who are responsible for this business." 
 
 "Be careful, Bing." 
 
 "Oh, I am cool enough. I haven't lost my tem- 
 per, and I'm not going to. Take me down to the 
 street and let me out. Then give me the key that 
 will admit me here again when I wish to return." 
 
 "Tell me what you are going to do, Bing." 
 
 "I don't know all that I shall do. But I will 
 go, first, to Chester's house to see him. What I 
 may do after that will depend largely upon Ches- 
 ter." 
 
 "He won't admit you. Katherine gave up your 
 key to him, you know." 
 
 "I have another one. I had a duplicate made of 
 that one long ago. I am going straight from here 
 to Chester's house, and to his bedside. It is high 
 time that I had a personal interview with him, any- 
 how. I will make him find out for me where they 
 have taken Katherine." 
 
 "Do you think you can do that?" 
 
 "I will do it, Tom. You may tell the chief, as 
 you call him, to telephone to me, here, at noon to- 
 morrow. Give me his number, and in case I am not 
 here, or able to get here in time I will telephone to 
 him a little before twelve."
 
 118 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 At the little door through the big one, which 
 gave upon the street, Clancy put one hand on his 
 friend's shoulder and said : 
 
 "I know there is no stopping you, Bing, so I 
 won't try. But there is something more I wish to 
 say to you before you go." 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 "In the interview that Katherine had with the 
 chief she advanced some sort of a theory he did 
 not explain it to me so I cannot tell you what it 
 was which has got him going on an entirely new 
 tack. He said, 'Clancy, that girl is a wonder. She 
 has struck the key-note of the whole thing, I be- 
 lieve" ; and that is all he would tell me. Think that 
 over, Bing, while you are on your way to Chester's ; 
 that is, if you are going there." 
 
 "Oh, I am going there, Tom, right now!" Har- 
 vard replied as he stepped through the little door- 
 way to the street.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 PUTTING ONE OVER ON RUSHTON 
 
 Sterling Chester, the banker, awoke with a start. 
 The glare of many electric lights in his room where 
 he had been sleeping dazzled him ; and then he half 
 started to a sitting posture in the bed, but fell back- 
 ward upon the pillows again with a cry of amaze- 
 ment and fright when the tall figure of a man 
 stepped into view. 
 
 "Bingham! You?" he cried out, and yet his 
 voice was raised but little. 
 
 "Yes. It is I, Mr. Chester," Harvard replied 
 calmly. "Stay where you are. You need not leave 
 your bed; and don't attempt to call for help or to 
 give any sort of alarm. It would not avail." 
 
 "What what are you going to do? Why are 
 you here? Don't please don't do anything that 
 you will be sorry for, Bingham." The banker was 
 beside himself with terror in the presence of this 
 man who had been so grievously wronged. 
 
 "I did not come here to injure you in any way," 
 119
 
 120 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 Mr. Chester," Harvard replied slowly. "Do you 
 know me so little that you fear I might do that?" 
 
 "How how did you get in? She that woman 
 who came here one night and waited for me in the 
 library gave me the key that you had." 
 
 "I had two, sir. I gave her only one of them. 
 And please to remember that 'that woman' is my 
 wife. She is Mrs. Bingham Harvard, if you have 
 occasion to refer to her again. It is on her account 
 that I am here now." 
 
 "On her on Mrs. Harvard's account, you say?'' 
 The banker was endeavoring with all his power to 
 speak composedly; but he was horribly afraid; he 
 did not know what this man might yet do to him. 
 He feared to do or say anything which might try 
 that temper of which he had seen more than one 
 exhibition. 
 
 "Yes. Your friends whom you have taken to 
 your bosom, whom you permitted and assisted to 
 perpetrate the foul wrong against me, have turned 
 their attention and their activities against my wife. 
 Failing to 'get' me, they believe that they can reach 
 me through her. She was arrested yesterday, in 
 the early afternoon, and has been spirited away to 
 one of the distant precincts of the city, I imagine. 
 I have come here to ask you to find out for me 
 now where they have taken her." 
 
 "I? If My dear Bingham, how in the world 
 can I do that?"
 
 PUTTING ONE OVER ON RUSHTON 121 
 
 "I will tell you presently how you must do it, 
 Mr. Chester. Rushton, your chosen coadjutor, in- 
 stigated her arrest. She is charged with picking 
 pockets. It is another one of his scoundrelly 
 frame-ups. Whatever they found upon her was 
 'planted/ as they call it. She will not have a ghost 
 of a chance to clear herself. Unless I interfere be- 
 fore she can be taken into some distant magistrate's 
 court this morning a case will be made out against 
 her; she will be arraigned, tried, convicted, sen- 
 tenced railroaded to prison before I can do a thing 
 to prevent it." 
 
 Harvard hesitated in his speech for just a mo- 
 ment, and while he did so the banker gradually re- 
 covered his mental poise. He was still in fear of 
 what Harvard might do if anything should occur 
 to rouse that terrible temper; but the banker had 
 not seen Bingham Harvard in so long a time that 
 the mere sight of him, whom he had loved so well 
 as child and boy and man, gradually got the better 
 of his fears. 
 
 Chester was conscious, in that moment, that he 
 still loved Bingham Harvard; that still, to all in- 
 tent and purpose, the man who stood beside his 
 bed was the grown-up boy to whom he had given 
 the affection and devotion of a father. 
 
 Yet he gave no sign of all this. 
 
 He felt less fear, more self-assurance as to true 
 outcome of this mysterious midnight call. And
 
 122 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 as if in confirmation of that thought, Harvard spoke 
 again, in a changed tone in a voice that had in it 
 something of the old thrill of respect, esteem, and 
 love that he had always so freely bestowed upon 
 his lifelong benefactor. 
 
 "Mr. Chester," he said, bending slightly forward, 
 "cannot you understand why I am here? Don't 
 you see that I had to come ? Isn't there any of that 
 old love for me left in your heart to bestow at this 
 crucial moment? Don't answer me now. Listen 
 to me, instead. She whom you know as Lady Kate 
 is my wife. She is my world my all. The machi- 
 nations of Rushton, which began when he first suc- 
 ceeded in convincing you of my guilt, have grown 
 and spread until they have reached out and seized 
 upon her, my wife. 
 
 "I was desperate before, sir, when I saw my good 
 name taken from me by the falseness of manufac- 
 tured evidence worse than all when I realized that 
 the act had stolen away your love for me; for I 
 will not believe that it was killed." 
 
 He straightened himself and took a step farther 
 away from the bedside. 
 
 "I know that it was not destroyed, sir. I know 
 now, better than you know it yourself, that in your 
 inmost heart there still glows that father-love 
 which you gave so freely to me through so many 
 years of my life. 
 
 "Listen, Mr. Chester listen, gov'nor, for that
 
 PUTTING ONE OVER ON RUSHTON 
 
 is what I used to call you, and what you liked to 
 have me call you it is to that father-love that you 
 had for me that I appeal now. Won't you help me, 
 sir? But even if you are reluctant to help me, 
 won't you help her in this extremity?" 
 
 "But how, Bingham? I do not understand you 
 at all. How can I be of help?" the banker de- 
 manded, with just a little show of petulance. The 
 fear within him was nearly gone by that time, and 
 yet there was a touch of it left, too. Harvard had 
 touched the right cord of memory when he ap- 
 pealed to the father-love. "In what way can I be 
 of assistance? I confess that I do not see how that 
 can be." 
 
 "Mr. Chester gov'nor you place honesty of 
 purpose and of conduct above all things else, I 
 know. Justice, impartially meted out to all, is your 
 creed. I know that, too. Then, sir my more 
 than friend in the past no matter how you may 
 regard me, I ask you in the name of your love of 
 honesty to be just to Katherine." 
 
 "Well, well, well, Bingham, what is it that you 
 wish me to do? But, before you tell me that, try 
 to remember that you have no right to be here in 
 my bedroom now. In the name of that justice you 
 talk about I should, by rights, go straight to the 
 
 telephone, summon the police, and turn you over 
 ,
 
 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 Harvard raised a hand in warning. The banker 
 stopped with the sentence unfinished. 
 
 "Wait," Harvard said. "I had to come here 
 to the city first; to you now. If I had followed 
 my own inclinations I would have taken Katherine 
 away to the farthest corner of the world, to start 
 life all over again. I would never have returned 
 here, even to establish my innocence, if she had 
 not insisted upon it, if she had not made me do it. 
 
 "I had to come. My birthright, mysterious and 
 unknown though it is, in so far as my parentage 
 is concerned my birthright is honesty. That 
 birthright I must not, will not, lose. Whoever 
 gave it to me does not matter; it is none the less 
 my own. 
 
 "And I have not come to you to-night to threaten 
 you or to harm you in any way. God forbid. 
 Whatever has happened, whatever may yet hap- 
 pen, I love you as a son should love his own father. 
 If you will not help me to do justice to myself, then 
 help me to do justice to another. Can you refuse 
 such a plea as that, sir?" 
 
 "But how? How? What do you wish me to 
 do? You have not told me that." 
 
 "I have told you that Katherine is even now in 
 the power of that scoundrel, Rodney Rushton. I 
 have told you that he has framed up a charge 
 against her of picking pockets. I have told you 
 that in order to make that charge good they have
 
 PUTTING ONE OVER ON RUSHTON 125 
 
 probably not hesitated to 'plant' articles upon her 
 to convict her. I have told you that they have 
 spirited her away to some station-house or jail 
 where I cannot hope to find her in time to save her 
 from this terrible danger. I have told you that 
 Rushton has done this, and that therefore Rush- 
 ton knows where she is hidden. I want you to 
 make no, induce is the word I want you to in- 
 duce Lieutenant Rushton to tell you where she is." 
 
 "My dear Bingham" the banker nearly forgot 
 himself for the moment "I do not know where 
 Lieutenant Rushton may be now. I cannot dress 
 and go to him at such an hour; and if I did so, he 
 would refuse to give me the information you want." 
 
 "I know where Rushton may be found right 
 now." 
 
 "But " 
 
 "And there is the telephone. You have only to 
 throw your bath-robe around you and to go down 
 with me to the library." 
 
 "To telephone to him? To telephone to Lieu- 
 tenant Rushton at this hour of the night?" 
 
 "Yes. He is barely more than arrived home. 
 More than likely he will not yet have gone to bed. 
 He will answer the telephone. And if you couch 
 your request in the right words and manner he will 
 tell you." 
 
 "But I do not know what to say to him," Ches- 
 ter protested, nevertheless rising from the bed and
 
 126 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 reaching for an elaborately quilted dressing-gown 
 and by that act Bingham Harvard knew that he 
 had won, although he was not certain whether it 
 was through love or fear that he had done so. 
 
 "You will say," said Harvard, speaking rapidly 
 and rinding the banker's slippers for him as he did 
 so, "that you have only just now learned of the 
 arrest of Lady Kate. You will say that your in- 
 formation came through Tom Clancy, and that will 
 be the truth, for I got the news from him. Are 
 you listening, sir?" 
 
 "Yes, yes. Goon." 
 
 <T f he should ask you how Clancy came to know 
 about it, say truthfully that he did not tell you 
 that. Then, Mr. Chester and here is the point! 
 you must congratulate Rushton upon the arrest; 
 you must make him think that you approve of it. 
 You must give him to understand that you consider 
 it the best move he has made yet. You must rub 
 him metaphorically down the back for all of it. Do 
 you understand?" 
 
 "Yes. But I cannot " 
 
 "Mr. Chester, you must. There are no two ways 
 about it. You must. And there is more." 
 
 "Well? Well?" 
 
 "You must tell Rushton that you wish to see 
 Lady Kate the first thing in the morning. You 
 must make Rushton think that you believe you can 
 induce her to betray my hiding-place. Remind
 
 PUTTING ONE OVER ON RUSHTON 127 
 
 him of the fact that she came here to your home 
 one night and practically forced her way inside. 
 Suggest to him that you will frighten her into tell- 
 ing you what you wish to know about me by hold- 
 ing over her the threat of another indictment for 
 burglary. You can do it and you must do it, Mr. 
 Chester. Come. You are ready. Let us go down." 
 
 They did not speak again until they were in the 
 library and the telephone was before them. But 
 the banker's thoughts had evidently been upon Har- 
 vard's last utterances. 
 
 "And then ?" he asked. "What then if He does 
 tell me where she is now?" 
 
 "Then, sir, you must dress yourself and go with 
 me to find her." 
 
 "But at this hour of the night, and when I 
 do not know where it may be " 
 
 "Listen once again, sir. I have not ceased to 
 love you. Even at this moment my filial impulses 
 toward you are uppermost. And yet you must do 
 what I ask. It hurts me more than I can say to 
 seem to threaten but you must. My life, Kath- 
 erine's, our whole future and your contented fu- 
 ture, too, sir depend upon it, and I would be 
 worse than a weakling if I did not force you to it. 
 Would I not? You know that I would." 
 
 The banker took another step toward the tele- 
 phone, and halted again. 
 
 "Go ahead, sir," Harvard said. "Take your
 
 128 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 seat at the telephone. I will hold the receiver so 
 that we both may hear what is said. When neces- 
 sary I will prompt you in what to say. Have no 1 
 fear. All will be well. It will not be as difficult as 
 you think. You will find that he will fall into the 
 trap. Come, sir; you must do it; and you know 
 that you can and will do it." 
 
 Seated at the telephone, before he raised the re- 
 ceiver from the hook, Chester, more disturbed than 
 he had ever been in his life before, asked once again : 
 
 "Suppose he won't tell me what I want to 
 know, Bingham?" 
 
 "He must tell you. You must make him do it 
 somehow. For I tell you plainly, Mr. Chester, if 
 this scheme of theirs is carried out I shall hold you 
 as responsible as the others; and I will, with these 
 two hands of mine, kill every man who has been 
 instrumental in bringing disgrace upon my wife. 
 That is the last word, sir. Remember that you 
 will not be talking half so much to save her as to 
 save yourself." 
 
 There was an intensity in that last utterance of 
 Bingham Harvard's that the banker could not mis- 
 take. 
 
 Harvard lifted the receiver from the hook and 
 asked for the number; and after a wait of several 
 moments the answer came. 
 
 Harvard was holding the receiver so that both 
 could hear it. His left cheek was in touch with
 
 PUTTING ONE OVER ON RUSHTON 129 
 
 Chester's left one as he faced away from the trans- 
 mitter, while Chester's lips were close to it. 
 
 "Hello, there!" they heard the voice of Rushton 
 exclaim angrily. "What's the matter with you 
 fellows? Can't you ever let a fellow sleep?" 
 
 "This this is Mr. Chester speaking Chester, 
 of the Centropolis Bank, lieutenant," the banker 
 managed to announce tremblingly. "I I felt that 
 I had to call you up at once, on account of some 
 news I have just heard " 
 
 "Some splendid news," Harvard breathed softly. 
 
 "Some really splendid news, lieutenant," the 
 banker added. 
 
 "Oh! It's you, is it, Chester?" Rushton growled 
 from the other end. "What's the matter with you ? 
 Your voice sounds as if you were scared to death." 
 
 "You are eager," the Night Wind breathed as 
 softly as before. 
 
 "I am only eager extremely eager, lieutenant. 
 I have just heard, through Clancy, of the er ar- 
 rest of er that woman yesterday afternoon. 
 That was a masterly stroke, lieutenant. I er " 
 
 "You must see her," Harvard prompted. 
 
 " must see her at once, you know, so I want 
 
 you to tell me where she is, and " 
 
 "You must see her! What for?" Rushton de- 
 manded. 
 
 "Felonious entrance," Harvard prompted in a 
 whisper.
 
 130 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "Why, don't you see?" Chester went on, re- 
 membering his instructions. "She came here to 
 my house one night and forced her way inside. 
 Couldn't that be construed into an attempted bur- 
 glary? And couldn't I make an additional charge 
 against her when she is arraigned in the morning?" 
 
 "Say, Chester," Rushton replied, "I didn't think 
 you had it in you. You're wakin' up, you are. 
 Now, that ain't a bad idea at all. But what do you 
 want to see her about? You don't have to do no 
 talkin' to her first in order to make that charge 
 against her." 
 
 "Induce her to betray me," Harvard whispered 
 quickly. 
 
 "Why er you see, lieutenant, I had an idea 
 about that," the banker continued slowly, choosing 
 his words with care, for he was in dread lest he 
 should offend the man whose left cheek he could 
 feel touching his own. "You see er that the 
 charge I shall make against her is a felony. It is 
 quite er a serious matter, is it not?" 
 
 "Betcher life it is, Chester." 
 
 "And er she will be correspondingly dis- 
 mayed by it, I assume ; especially coming as it will 
 in addition to the other one." 
 
 "Say, Chester, I'm gittin' to be real proud of 
 you!" Rushton exclaimed over the wire. 
 
 "Use it as a lever against me," Harvard 
 prompted in a whisper.
 
 PUTTING ONE OVER ON RUSHTON 131 
 
 "And ahem it has occurred to me, Rushton," 
 the banker continued, "that it may be used as a 
 sort of a cudgel over her head, don't you see, to 
 
 induce her to tell us something about Harvard, and 
 er er , 
 
 "If you had the power to offer her immunity," 
 Harvard whispered. 
 
 "Go on, Chester," Rushton demanded impa- 
 tiently. 
 
 "And well, if I had the power from you, you 
 know to offer her immunity; to let her go free, 
 provided she would tell me something about Har- 
 vard why er don't you see, Rushton? She is 
 only a woman, after all; and it seems to me that 
 the idea might work." 
 
 "You would have to see her alone go there 
 where she is alone," Harvard prompted. 
 
 "I think it's a cinch of an idea, Chester," Rush- 
 ton said. "I'll take you over there the first thing 
 in the " 
 
 "No, no, no, Rushton; that would not do at all. 
 I must go to her alone. She must have no sus- 
 picion whatever that you have any knowledge of 
 what I am doing. It would make her suspicious 
 and might spoil everything." 
 
 "I guess that's right, too. You're wakin' up, 
 Chester. But how'll she think you got onto the 
 fact of her arrest at all eh?"
 
 132 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "Why, I'll tell her the truth; that I heard it 
 through Clancy." 
 
 "Bully! That'll be an additional lever, at that. 
 What time will you go to see her if I tell you where 
 to find her? You'll have to get there early, you 
 know." 
 
 "At seven," Harvard prompted; and Chester re- 
 peated the two words over the wire. 
 
 "All right. I'll fix it for you," Rushton replied. 
 "I'll telephone out there right now. And I'll be 
 there myself along about a quarter past or half 
 past seven, after you have gone inside to talk to 
 
 her. You will find Lady Kate at the " And 
 
 here Rushton gave a clear description of the lo- 
 cality of the place where Katherine was confined 
 and how the banker was to get there by the most 
 direct route ; and he added many cautions and much 
 advice regarding Chester's methods of procedure 
 when he should see her. 
 
 "Say good-by and hang up quickly," Harvard 
 ordered ; and the banker obeyed. 
 
 "And now, Mr. Chester, get into your clothes 
 and be ready to start at once," Harvard directed 
 then. "While you are doing that I will telephone to 
 the garage and order your car, for I will need it 
 badly as soon as we get Katherine. Hurry, now, for 
 there isn't any time to waste." 
 
 Thirty minutes later, at exactly two o'clock in 
 the morning, they started.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 INTO JAIL AND OUT 
 
 The new county jail in Queens had not been 
 built when this happened. The old one, since re- 
 placed, needs no comment here. Nor were the 
 local officials celebrated for perspicacity or astute- 
 ness. 
 
 When the banker, accompanied by the Night 
 Wind, arrived at the jail the latter knew that he 
 ran a considerable risk of being recognized, but he 
 counted upon the very boldness of his act to offset 
 that in a great degree; and for the rest, he deter- 
 mined to make constant use of his handkerchief 
 and to keep his head turned away as much as pos- 
 sible while they were passing the guard. 
 
 Also, he figured that at that hour in the morn- 
 ing between three and four o'clock the turnkey's 
 eyes would be heavy with sleep, and that doubtless 
 his mental capacities would be proportionately stu- 
 pefied. 
 
 Harvard had planned exactly what he would do 
 133
 
 134 HETURN OF THE XIGHT WIND 
 
 once they were inside the prison and the door of 
 Katherine's cell had been unlocked or in case the 
 turnkey should decline to unlock it, as he would be 
 more than apt to do. In furtherance of those plans 
 the Night Wind had provided himself with some 
 stout cord and two of the banker's towels before 
 they started. 
 
 There was some difficulty in arousing the guard, 
 who was supposed to be wide awake ; but he came to 
 the door presently and glared at Chester a moment 
 before he demanded gruffly : 
 
 "Well, what do you want?" 
 
 "I am Mr. Chester, of the Centropolis Bank," 
 was the prompt and pompous reply, for the banker 
 was quite himself by that time. "No doubt Lieu- 
 tenant Rushton has already telephoned to you re- 
 garding me. I am to be admitted at once at once, 
 do you understand? to see the woman who is de- 
 tained here under the name of Kate Maxwell, alias 
 Lady Kate." Harvard had prompted him exactly 
 what to say at the start. 
 
 "Huh!" the turnkey replied. "You ain't due 
 here till seven o'clock, and there wasn't anything 
 said about two of you. You were to come alone." 
 
 "Those are mere details, Mr. Turnkey. If you 
 have any doubts about the matter, you can call up 
 Lieutenant Rushton although I don't think he 
 would thank you for doing it after he has given 
 you explicit orders."
 
 INTO JAIL AND OUT 135 
 
 "More'n likely she's undressed and in bed," the 
 turnkey replied, as he admitted them grumblingly. 
 
 "In that case she will have to dress again," Ches- 
 ter announced, as he brushed his way inside. It 
 would seem, indeed, as if he was suddenly imbued 
 with something of the spirit of the adventure. But 
 he did not fear the turnkey, while the man who 
 clung so closely beside him and half a pace to the 
 rear inspired him with constant terror lest he should 
 do some act which would provoke Bingham Har- 
 vard's wrath. 
 
 Katherine's cell was the largest and best one in 
 the woman's part of the prison. A screen had been 
 pulled down over the barred doorway, but, never- 
 theless, Katherine had removed none of her cloth- 
 ing. Nor was she asleep which is not strange, 
 under the circumstances. 
 
 "Two gents to see you, Kate," the turnkey an- 
 nounced with maddening familiarity. Harvard 
 could have choked him then as he meant to do 
 presently. 
 
 "Unlock that door and let her step outside," he 
 commanded, speaking for the first time and care- 
 less now whether the turnkey should recognize him 
 or not. But he did want Katherine to hear his 
 voice, and so to be prepared for what should fol- 
 low. 
 
 He heard her gasp when he did speak. Then 
 she came forward quickly and grasped the bars of
 
 136 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 the heavy door as she peered out at them. Her 
 astonishment then was profound. 
 
 "Why, Mr. Chester " she exclaimed, and 
 
 stopped, fearful lest she should say too much. 
 
 The turnkey had paid no attention to Harvard's 
 order. Instead, he was studying the Night Wind's 
 face, as if it were faintly suggestive of something 
 that he ought to remember ; and Harvard repeated : 
 
 "Unlock the door, turnkey." 
 
 "Who told you to give orders in this place, mis- 
 ter?" the turnkey demanded with a leer. "I guess 
 you can talk through them bars all right, and Lieu- 
 tenant Rushton didn't say nothin' about unlockin' 
 no doors. You'll have to do your " 
 
 His speech ended in a gasp and a gurgle. 
 
 Harvard's left hand had seized him by the throat 
 and effectually shut off further utterance. Har- 
 vard's right hand forced a towel between his 
 jaws as they fell open because of the choking he 
 was receiving; and one of Harvard's feet tripped 
 him, and he was forced backward and down upon 
 the flagged flooring, with one of Harvard's knees 
 upon his chest and with that merciless hand still 
 clutching at his throat. 
 
 He struggled mightily, of course, flaying with 
 his arms, and kicking out with his legs and feet; 
 and he made ineffectual guttural noises as he at- 
 tempted to cry out for help.
 
 INTO JAIL AND OUT 137 
 
 But the struggles soon became spasmodic and 
 almost ceased. 
 
 He was very nearly unconscious before Harvard 
 was able to make use of both hands to knot the 
 twisted towel behind the turnkey's head, thus mak- 
 ing the gag effectual; and after that it required 
 only a moment to use the cord, and to bind his 
 ankles together and to tie his wrists behind his 
 back. 
 
 The turnkey's keys had been in his grasp when 
 he was attacked. Harvard picked them up where 
 they had fallen to the floor and then turned his 
 eyes for an instant upon the banker. 
 
 Chester was shaking as if with a palsy. His 
 teeth were chattering and he was mumbling inco- 
 herently : 
 
 "Don't kill him, Bingham! For God's sake, 
 don't kill him!" 
 
 "Shut up!" Harvard ordered peremptorily. 
 
 Then he sprang to the cell door, unlocked it, and 
 threw it open, and in another instant Lady Kate was 
 in his arms. 
 
 But not for long. 
 
 He held her so for a moment, then thrust her 
 aside and turned his attention to the work in hand ; 
 and in regard to that, also, he had decided while on 
 the way over exactly what he would do. 
 
 He lifted the burly form of the turnkey from the 
 floor and bore him inside of the cell, dropping him
 
 138 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 upon the cot that was there; and then he turned 
 and spoke sharply to the banker. 
 
 "Come here, Chester," he said; and the banker 
 passed inside of the cell. 
 
 No sooner had he entered it than Harvard 
 stepped quickly outside, closing the door after him 
 and locking it; and while that was being done, 
 Chester looked on dumbly and apparently without 
 understanding of the fact that it was Harvard's 
 intention to leave him there. 
 
 But Katherine understood, and she put one hand 
 upon her husband's arm in protest. 
 
 "Is it necessary, Bingham?" she asked softly. 
 
 "Yes," he replied shortly. "It will be a lesson 
 to him. He will find out something of what it 
 means to an innocent man to be locked in a cell ; 
 and he will have time to do some real thinking 
 under circumstances that may lead him to think 
 straight." 
 
 Then he turned to Chester and spoke to him 
 through the bars. 
 
 "I am going to leave you here, Mr. Chester," he 
 said calmly. "I do it because I believe it will be 
 good for you. You won't be locked up more than 
 two or three hours, at the most. Somebody will 
 be here by that time. And I don't think they will 
 dare to do anything to you for assisting in the es- 
 cape of a prisoner because I believe that as yet 
 there has been no official record made of that
 
 7A T TQ JAIL AND OUT 139 
 
 prisoner. And, anyhow, it will be best for you to 
 be found here. You can lay it all to me to the 
 Night Wind," he added coldly. 
 
 "Oh, Bingham ! Please " 
 
 But Harvard had already grasped Katherine by 
 the arm and was leading her away along the cor- 
 ridor; and because Katherine's cell had been lo- 
 cated in an isolated part of the women's section 
 of the prison, as well as on account of the quiet 
 with which the Night Wind had accomplished the 
 coup, they passed outside of the jail without any 
 sort of an alarm being given, unlocking and relock- 
 ing the several doors they were obliged to pass with 
 the guard's keys. 
 
 Harvard dropped them upon the steps outside the 
 building and led his wife to the waiting limousine. 
 
 "Mr. Chester will remain here for several hours," 
 he told the chauffeur, who was new in the employ 
 of the banker, and therefore did not know Bing- 
 liam Harvard. "You are to drive us directly to 
 New York. When you have crossed the bridge I 
 will direct you where to go." 
 
 Inside the security of the closed car Katherine 
 threw herself into Bing Harvard's arms and wept 
 for the first time since the indignity of the arrest, 
 with its false charge, was put upon her. But she 
 recovered very soon and raised a pair of smiling 
 eyes to her husband's face. 
 
 "How did you do it?" she asked earnestly.
 
 140 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "Oh, Chester and I just did it; that's all, dear," 
 he replied. "The old gentleman was almost in a 
 state of collapse from abject terror all the time he 
 was with me. I think he was actually relieved to 
 be left in that cell only I don't think he will en- 
 joy his company if he should venture to remove that 
 turnkey's gag and bonds"; and Harvard chuckled. 
 He was happier at that moment than he had been 
 in a long time. 
 
 "Did you ride over here together?" she asked. 
 "And did you try to reason with him, to convince 
 him that you are innocent? He would listen to 
 you and believe you, would he not, dear?" 
 
 "No, girlie. We came over together, of course, 
 but the ride was taken in utter silence. Chester 
 was too frightened to talk, and I wanted to think. 
 And I knew how utterly useless it would be to rea- 
 son with him." 
 
 It was very nearly daylight by the time they 
 had crossed Queensboro Bridge, where they were 
 confronted by the problem of where they should go 
 for concealment during the day. 
 
 Harvard told Katherine of the retreat on top of 
 the warehouse, to which he held the key, and sug- 
 gested that they might go there, but she shook her 
 head with emphasis. 
 
 "No, dear," she said; "and we must part here. 
 We must not be together, and you must not know 
 where to find me for I know that if you could do
 
 INTO JAIL AND OUT 141 
 
 that you would not remain away; and we would 
 both be in constant danger. Remember, you prom- 
 ised me that, Bingham." 
 
 "Yes. I know." 
 
 "And now we are both outlaws for the time be- 
 ing. And I have my plans, which I am determined 
 to carry out to the end. Besides, I have a safe re- 
 treat to go to. And I will find Julius there, await- 
 ing me, I know. Oh, Bingham, isn't it wonderful 
 that you got me out of that terrible place so 
 quickly? Tell the man to drive us to Columbus 
 Circle. I will get down there and take a car. And 
 you " 
 
 "I'll get down, too, and put you on the car. 
 Then- 
 
 "No; you must not." 
 
 " and then I will go to that warehouse over 
 
 on the East Side." 
 
 "Please, Bingham, let me get down alone. See ; 
 I have a veil to cover my face, and it is almost light 
 now. I will be perfectly safe. And you have the 
 man drive you to a place somewhere near that 
 warehouse." 
 
 There was no resisting her when she pleaded 
 with him like that. With all his great strength of 
 muscle and will, Bingham Harvard was as putty 
 in the hands of Lady Kate.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 FRIENDS IN NEED 
 
 The Night Wind made use of Chester's car to 
 take him only a part of the distance to his desti- 
 nation, and when he dismissed it he told the chauf- 
 feur: 
 
 "You may drive back now to that jail in Queens. 
 Wait in front of the door until Mr. Chester comes 
 out. That is all." 
 
 He watched it until it disappeared around a 
 corner, then turned abruptly to hasten to the safe 
 refuge for the day on the roof of the old ware- 
 house, and in turning came face to face with a 
 man between whom and himself the recognition was 
 mutual and instant. 
 
 "Harvard, by thunder!" the other man ex- 
 claimed. 
 
 "Hello, Mordaunt !" Bing greeted, and stopped 
 in his tracks. 
 
 Of two men whom he had determined to see at 
 the earliest possible moment this man was one 
 
 142
 
 FRIENDS IN NEED 143 
 
 Benton Mordaunt; one of the assistant paying- 
 tellers who had been inside the cage with him that 
 day when the money had so mysteriously disap- 
 peared. They had discussed the subject of the lost 
 packages of bills many times immediately after the 
 incident occurred, but they had never seen each 
 other since the framed-up charge was made against 
 Bingham Harvard. 
 
 "By Jove, I'm glad to see you, Bing!" Mordaunt 
 said with genuine feeling, reaching out his hand, 
 which Harvard did not hesitate to accept. "Say, 
 you're a crackajack, all right! You didn't do a 
 thing to that bunch of cops that was trying to run 
 you in, did you? But isn't it a little risky for you 
 to be gallivanting around town like this?" 
 
 "I suppose so, Ben/' Harvard smiled. "The 
 fact is I was just hunting cover." 
 
 "Then come around to the house with me. I've 
 moved since I saw you; thought I'd like it better 
 farther down town. The wife will be tickled to 
 death to see you, Bing. You know neither of us 
 ever took any stock in all that rot about your taking 
 that cash. I live just around the next corner; and 
 you're just in time for breakfast. Come along." 
 
 Harvard hesitated, then accepted the invitation, 
 and the two started off together, side by side. 
 
 "What got you out of bed so early?" he asked 
 Mordaunt. 
 
 "Oh, I have formed the habit of turning out for
 
 144. RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 a long walk before breakfast. It is good for me, 
 too. I get through the day a heap better since I 
 began it." 
 
 "Who is teller, now, Ben you or Atkinson? 
 Which one of you took my place ?" 
 
 "Atkinson. I kind-a thought I'd land it, but he 
 got around the old man somehow, and so pulled it 
 off." 
 
 "Ben, who got those packages of bills? Who 
 stole that money?" 
 
 "Search me, Bing. To me it is just as great a 
 mystery as ever. There is only just one thing about 
 that whole business that I'm certain about, and 
 there are a lot more down at the bank just like me." 
 
 "What is that?" 
 
 "That Bingham Harvard did not do it." 
 
 "Do you mean that, Ben? And do some of the 
 others agree with you in that opinion ?" 
 
 "Some of them! There aren't half a dozen em- 
 ployees in the whole place, counting old Chet him- 
 self, who have ever thought for a moment that you 
 were guilty. It is a sore subject with most of them, 
 too. It isn't safe to suggest to any of them that 
 you did it" 
 
 "Ben, that is the best news I have heard in a long 
 time. Is this your home?" 
 
 "Yes. Come along inside. Cora will be just as 
 glad to see you as I am; you can bank on that."
 
 FRIENDS IN NEED 145 
 
 "Wait just a moment here at the bottom of the 
 steps. I want to ask two or three questions first." 
 
 "Go ahead, then." 
 
 "Who are the fellows down there who believe me 
 guilty? Is Jim Atkinson one of them?" 
 
 "Well er he scry.? he isn't. He swears that he 
 doesn't believe you did the act, but I think he is 
 willing to be convinced that you did. Honestly, at 
 heart, I believe he does think so." 
 
 Harvard nodded. "Who are the others?" he 
 asked. 
 
 "Well, the big watchman outside the screens 
 doesn't make any bones of laying it to you. I'd 
 a punched his jaw for him one day if he wasn't so 
 infernally big, and if I hadn't known that I'd lose 
 my job if I did do it." 
 
 "Don't punch anybody's jaw on my account, 
 Ben," Harvard said, smiling. "Tell me the names 
 of the others who believe that I am the guilty man." 
 
 "Oh, what's the use ? They don't admit it openly ; 
 the sentiment there is too strong in your favor for 
 that. They only look it, and think it; but it's easy 
 enough to read them." 
 
 "Of course. Who are they? I want to know; 
 and I have got a good reason for wanting to know." 
 
 "I won't tell you another word until you are in- 
 side the house, Bing. Look yonder, up the street. 
 There is a cop coming this way now. If he should
 
 146 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 happen to spot you -well, we'd both be in trouble, 
 I reckon. Eh?" 
 
 He ran up the steps, and Harvard followed, per- 
 force ; but inside the vestibule he seized his friend's 
 arm before the latter could open the door; and he 
 said: 
 
 "I had forgotten for the moment the risk that 
 you run in taking me into your home, old fellow. 
 It won't do, you know. Chester would fire you 
 in a minute if he ever heard of it; and that cop 
 may have recognized me even at that distance." 
 
 "Tut, tut, and piffle, and fudge, Bing Harvard!" 
 Mordaunt replied, and threw the door ajar. Then, 
 as soon as it was closed again he called loudly for 
 his wife to come down quickly and find out whom 
 he had brought back to breakfast with him. 
 
 "Those names, quick, Ben!" Harvard insisted. 
 "You can mention them before your wife gets here ; 
 and I must know them, provided you are reasonably 
 certain that you are right concerning their atti- 
 tude." 
 
 "Lacey, the note-teller, and Powell, Seixas, and 
 Quinn, bookkeepers," Mordaunt replied rapidly. 
 "Then there is one more. He is non-committal, 
 and doesn't say much, but he is one of that bunch 
 if I am any judge. That's Lucius Graff, the assist- 
 ant receiving teller. Here she is. Look, Cora! 
 See who I have brought home with me? Do you 
 know him?"
 
 FRIENDS IN NEED 147 
 
 "Why, Bing-ham Har-vard ! Oh ! I am so glad 
 to see you! So very glad. I believe I'm going to 
 cry." And, indeed, there were very palpable tears 
 in the young woman's eyes. 
 
 It was, in fact, as much as Harvard could do to 
 keep back his own at this wholly unexpected sym- 
 pathy and confidence. And there was no mistak- 
 ing the genuineness of it. He began to realize that 
 the world was not wholly bad and mistrustful, after 
 all. 
 
 Breakfast tasted particularly good to Bingham 
 Harvard that morning. He had not felt quite so 
 normal since the awful cataclysm had so shaken the 
 very foundations of his being. 
 
 And the one subject under consideration through- 
 out the meal was the lost packages of bills with the 
 theft of which Harvard had been charged. 
 
 "Ben and I have thought about it and talked 
 about it ever since it happened," Mrs. Mordaunt 
 said as they left the table. "And we can't agree 
 about it, either ; so, whether he likes it or not, I am 
 going to tell you what we each think that is, if 
 you want to hear our opinions." 
 
 "Certainly I do, Mrs. Mordaunt," Harvard re- 
 plied eagerly. "And for some reason I believe that 
 I would rather have your judgment of the matter 
 than Ben's." 
 
 "Now, look here, Cora," her husband started to
 
 148 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 remonstrate; but she made a funny little face at 
 him, so that he laughed and subsided. 
 
 "Ben thinks that Jim Atkinson could tell a lot 
 about the mystery if he chose to do so," she went 
 on, speaking with great seriousness. "But I don't. 
 From what little I have seen of him I should say 
 he is more fool than knave ; but maybe I'm wrong, 
 at that. I don't mean to say that Ben actually 
 thinks that Atkinson took it," she continued hastily ; 
 "but well it's pretty close to that, when all is 
 said." 
 
 "What is your own opinion, Mrs. Mordaunt? 
 Really, I would like to hear it." 
 
 "I haven't got a decided opinion; only a general 
 one." 
 
 "All the better. We will weed it out by the 
 process of elimination." 
 
 "Well, there are a number of the employees down 
 at the bank who either believe that you are guilty 
 or who are willing to believe it. If 7 was a detec- 
 tive / would look for the guilty person among that 
 lot. And it wouldn't surprise me if every one of 
 them had a hand in it, or knows something about 
 it now. The idea that anybody in his right senses 
 could believe that you were the guilty man, B ing- 
 ham Harvard ! That very fact speaks a lot against 
 the character of any man who thought it. So, 
 there!" 
 
 "You have got a champion in Cora, all right,
 
 FRIENDS IN NEED 149 
 
 Bing," Mordaunt said, laughing. "What do you 
 think about her opinion and mine?" 
 
 "I don't know, Ben. I haven't decided yet. But 
 they have offered a suggestion which I shall follow." 
 
 "What is that?" 
 
 "You have mentioned five names to me of em- 
 ployees at the bank who are satisfied of my guilt; 
 or, at least, who are not convinced of my inno- 
 cence." 
 
 "Seven, Bing, if you include Atkinson and the 
 watchman the special officer, outside the screen." 
 
 "Six, then Atkinson, Lacey, Powell, Seixas, 
 Quinn, and Graff. Lon Badger, the watch, hardly 
 counts. He never goes inside of the screen, and he 
 is too big to get into the paying teller's cage unless 
 there was a special door made for him." 
 
 "All the same, Bing, he is the most outspoken of 
 the whole bunch." 
 
 "That is because he is merely stupid and likes to 
 hear himself express an opinion. Men of his cali- 
 ber don't often have an opportunity to express one, 
 you know." 
 
 "I suppose so. But what is that suggestion you 
 spoke about?" 
 
 "This I am going to seek an interview with each 
 and every one of them, from Atkinson, all the way 
 down the list. I am going to talk with each one, 
 straight from the shoulder, and form my own judg- 
 ment about them, one by one."
 
 150 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "Look here, Bing. Have you thought about the 
 risk you will run in doing that?" 
 
 "No ; and I shall not think about it. I will merely 
 do it." 
 
 "There isn't one in the whole bunch who wouldn't 
 give you dead away in a holy minute if you gave 
 him half a chance." 
 
 "I know that, and I shall be prepared for it 
 and govern myself accordingly. And now, Mrs. 
 Mordaunt, I must be going. I have remained too 
 long as it is. As a matter of fact I really should 
 not have consented to come here at all. It was 
 putting you both to needless risk. But the tempta- 
 tion was great. I haven't many friends now." 
 
 "More than you think, Mr. Harvard," she re- 
 plied. "And you must not leave the house in the 
 daytime. You will be seen and recognized. Make 
 yourself comfortable here, for the day; and to- 
 night, when it is dark My goodness, who do 
 you suppose that is, Ben?" 
 
 The front door bell had been rung sharply three 
 times. Mordaunt leaped to his feet before his wife's 
 question was fairly out. 
 
 "I'll soon know," he announced; and then, as he 
 left the room, he added, for Harvard's informa- 
 tion: "I've got an arrangement of mirrors in the 
 window on the second floor which enables me to 
 see who is at the door when the bell rings." 
 
 He was gone only two or three moments, and
 
 FRIENDS IN NEED 151 
 
 returned down the stairs, taking two steps at a 
 time, so great was his haste, for the doorbell had 
 been rung twice more while he was gone. 
 
 "Bing!" he exclaimed excitedly, "there are two 
 cops in uniform on the front steps, and there is an- 
 other chap with them who looks as if he might be 
 a detective in plain clothes. What do you know 
 about that? What shall we do? Eh? Cora, you 
 suggest something, can't you? I'll bet a hundred 
 to one that the cop we saw on the street knew you. 
 Or say ? I know what's done it. I have been fol- 
 lowed everywhere I have gone lately, and I plumb 
 forgot all about it when I met you. Cora, why in 
 the world don't you suggest something? It looks 
 to me as if Bing is up against it, just about now!"
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE NIGHT WIND'S INCREDIBLE SWIFTNESS 
 
 The Night Wind's decision was instantly taken. 
 
 Whatever might happen he could not sacrifice 
 his friends. They should be protected, at all haz- 
 ards, and he thought he saw a way to accomplish it. 
 
 They were in that room, which in an ordinary 
 city house of the old style is called the "back par- 
 lor," and there was a large closet, the door of which 
 was standing partly ajar. Harvard could see that 
 the closet was spacious and roorny. Moreover, the 
 key was in the lock of the door. 
 
 "Quick!" he said. "Get inside of that closet- 
 both of you" ; and he seized upon them, each by an 
 arm, and forced them through the doorway which 
 he kicked wider with one swing of his foot and 
 he accomplished it before either of them had the 
 least idea of his intention. "I'm going to lock you 
 both in there," he added. "The cops will let you 
 out, if you pound loud enough. It's up to you to 
 make them think that you tried to send a telephone 
 
 message to betray me." 
 
 152
 
 NIGHT WIND'S SWIFTNESS 153 
 
 Then he closed the door with a bang and turned 
 the key. 
 
 The telephone was fastened against the wall be- 
 side the door, and he seized upon it and tore it from 
 its fastenings. 
 
 Surely, he thought, with all that evidence, the 
 police could not but be of the opinion that the Night 
 Wind had discovered that he was being betrayed 
 and had acted with his customary whirlwind en- 
 ergy. 
 
 The doorbell was still pealing its summonses, and 
 more insistently than ever, and without hesitation 
 he hurried through the hall toward it. 
 
 "There are three of them out there," was his 
 thought. "Surely I must be able to get past them. 
 The only trouble is that I will probably have to 
 hurt somebody." 
 
 The men outside were adding loud rappings to 
 their bell ringing by that time, and Harvard had 
 not a doubt that in another moment one of them 
 would thrust his stick through the glass of the door, 
 so that he might reach inside and open it. 
 
 But he did not give them an opportunity to do 
 that. Instead, he seized the knob of the door and 
 opened it with a jerk, stepping nimbly aside behind 
 the other half of the door as he did so. 
 
 One of the men rushed inside, and Harvard 
 thrust out a foot and tripped him, so that he plunged 
 headlong to the floor, half the length of the hall.
 
 154 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 The second man the one in plain clothes was 
 close behind the first, but the fate of his companion 
 made him pull himself up when he was just in the 
 act of crossing the threshold. 
 
 But Harvard's right hand shot out and seized 
 the detective by the collar, and a mighty jerk for- 
 ward, given with a whirling motion, sent him 
 sprawling after the first one who was already at- 
 tempting to get upon his feet. They collided and 
 went to the floor together, and very much mixed as 
 to just how it happened. 
 
 The third man another in uniform was just 
 inside the vestibule. 
 
 He was in the act of rushing forward also, but 
 managed to catch himself in time ; and he attempted 
 to reach for his police whistle and his revolver at 
 the same time. He had found the former and was 
 lifting it toward his lips when the Night Wind seized 
 him, pulled him through the doorway, and then 
 actually lifted him off of his feet and threw him 
 bodily at the other two, who were rapidly getting up 
 again. 
 
 Harvard did not wait to see what came of that 
 effort. 
 
 He sprang outside and pulled the door shut after 
 him, and put one hand upon the iron balustrade to 
 vault it into the areaway, well knowing that bullets 
 would now be sent whizzing after him, since there
 
 NIGHT WIND'S SWIFTNESS 155 
 
 was no longer any danger of the policemen shoot- 
 ing one of their own number. 
 
 There was the sound of a shot from inside the 
 house, followed by the tinkle of breaking glass just 
 as he grasped the iron rail over the steps; and at 
 the same instant a woman, evidently a servant, 
 rushed out upon the front steps from the house 
 adjoining. 
 
 There were brownstone ledges before the parlor 
 windows of that next house, and, instead of jump- 
 ing into the area, Harvard sprang upon one of them, 
 and from that to the next one, and then over the 
 rail to the top of the steps where the servant girl 
 had come to a halt, paralyzed with fright for two 
 more shots followed the first one, even while the 
 Night Wind crossed over the two ledges to the 
 steps of the adjoining house. 
 
 "I am not going to harm you," he said as he 
 grasped her by both of her arms and forced her 
 back again through the open doorway through 
 which she had appeared; and he added, by way of 
 warning : "Unless you make a noise." 
 
 He closed the door and waited, still retaining his 
 hold upon the girl. 
 
 Just what happened outside after that he could 
 only conjecture, but this is what actually occurred: 
 
 The two policemen and the plain clothes man fol- 
 lowed their bullets into the street with all the speed 
 they could summon.
 
 156 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 They dashed from the house and down the steps, 
 glancing up and down the street as they did so in a 
 vain search for a sign of the fugitive. But the 
 street was deserted, save for a few who had heard 
 the shots and had rushed to their doors or windows 
 to discover what was happening and the Night 
 Wind had moved so quickly, and so soon after the 
 sound of the first shot, that not one of these had 
 seen him cross over the window ledges and enter 
 the house adjoining. 
 
 The street corner was quite near. 
 
 It seemed impossible to the policemen that the 
 Night Wind could have reached it in that short in- 
 terval, but nevertheless there was no other way to 
 account for his complete disappearance; and they 
 ran to it and looked e^ach way along the avenue, 
 and questioned persons who were near enough to 
 be questioned. But not a soul had seen a sign of 
 any man running away. 
 
 They looked into each other's faces then rather 
 sheepishly. One of them felt of himself tenta- 
 tively, as if to be assured that none of his bones 
 was broken. Then they shook their heads and re- 
 turned to the house where Benton Mordaunt made 
 his home. 
 
 Once inside of it, they went through the hall into 
 the back parlor and discovered the wrecked tele- 
 phone; and then, from behind the closet door be- 
 side it they heard the voices of a man and a woman
 
 NIGHT WIND'S SWIFTNESS 157 
 
 calling for help, and pounding and kicking against 
 the door. 
 
 The key was in the lock, and one of the cops 
 turned it and released the two prisoners and Mor- 
 daunt and his wife came forth in a pitiable plight; 
 considering how immaculately and carefully both 
 had been attired when Harvard thrust them so 
 gently inside of their temporary prison. 
 
 Mordaunt's collar had been literally torn away 
 from his neck, his hair was rumpled and disheveled 
 (he had done it all himself, of course, during those 
 few moments of waiting as he had also performed 
 much the same service for his wife) ; Mrs. Mor- 
 daunt's abundant hair was down her back, and she 
 managed to assume a countenance that was thor- 
 oughly terrorized. 
 
 "What happened here, Mordaunt?" the plain 
 clothes man demanded. "You may as well tell the 
 truth now, 'cause I know part of it already. I've 
 been trailing you for some time, and I suspected 
 that that guy was the Night Wind when I saw you 
 stop and shake hands with him. I wasn't sure 
 then. But I took a chance, and pulled these two 
 officers along with me to make sure. Now, what 
 happened? Give it to me straight." 
 
 "I should think you could tell what has happened 
 without my explaining," Mordaunt retorted with 
 assumed anger. "I guess it was pretty near to being
 
 158 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 the same thing that happened to you fellows, to 
 judge by the looks of you." 
 
 "Cut out the flourishes, Mordaunt. I want to 
 know why you brought that human cyclone home 
 with you the way you did." 
 
 "Maybe that will answer your question," Mor- 
 daunt replied, pointing at the wrecked telephone. 
 "When I left him down in the basement with my 
 wife and came up here to try to use the telephone 
 
 to get headquarters Aw, what's the use ? Can't 
 
 you see what happened? Doesn't the condition of 
 that telephone tell you ? Look at me! Look at my 
 wife. What happened? I've been in an earth- 
 quake and a house fell on me; that's what hap- 
 pened. Say, why didn't you fellows get him? You 
 were three to one and he had to get past you, 
 didn't he?" 
 
 Then it was that Mrs. Mordaunt staggered, 
 caught hold of a chair back, and called faintly for 
 water. It was quite evident to her that the ruse 
 had worked, and she thought it best to cap the 
 climax with a partial fainting spell. 
 
 In the mean time the Night Wind was still stand- 
 ing just inside the closed door of the adjoining 
 house, retaining his hold upon the servant girl's 
 arm. But he questioned her in a kindly voice 
 and Bingham Harvard could be extremely gentle 
 and persuasive when he chose to exert himself to 
 that end.
 
 NIGHT WIND'S SWIFTNESS 159 
 
 "You must not be frightened, really," he told her 
 reassuringly. "I wouldn't harm you for the world ; 
 and I am not a robber, nor a thief, nor a bad man 
 at all. Look up at me. Do I look like a desperate 
 character ?" 
 
 "N-no, sir," she replied falteringly. 
 
 "Those men were after me because they thought 
 I had done something that I did not do at all. You 
 have heard of such things, haven't you?" 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "Well, that is the case now. I only want to stand 
 here until they go away, and then I will go, too; 
 and let me see here is a five-dollar bill for you, 
 for letting me do it. Now shall we be good 
 friends?" 
 
 "Please, sir. Yes, sir ; and thank you very much. 
 I don't believe you are bad. You don't look bad 
 at all. But, you see, sir, I was all alone in the 
 house. Mr. and Mrs. Tucker went away at day- 
 light this morning to Trenton to see their son, who 
 is sick; and I got awfully scared when I kept hear- 
 ing that bell ringing next door the way it did. And 
 then when they began to pound and kick against 
 the door, as well as ring, I couldn't stand it any 
 longer, so I rushed out. And then you grabbed 
 me, and " 
 
 "Yes, yes. I understand," Harvard interrupted 
 her. He discovered that she had a tongue, after 
 all. "If one of those policemen should ring the
 
 160 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 bell at this house, and I should permit you to go 
 to the door to answer it, what would you say to 
 him if he asked you if you had seen me?" 
 
 "I'd tell him that I don't know anything at all 
 about you ; and no more I do except that I'd take 
 my oath that you're a gentleman/' 
 
 "Well, I like your face, too, and I am going to 
 prove it by trusting you. I want you to go outside 
 and stand on the steps so you can tell me when 
 those men go away from the next house. And 
 leave the door open, so I can see you all the time. 
 I don't think they will ask you any questions when 
 they see you standing there, with the door open 
 behind you." 
 
 And so it proved when, a little later, the officers 
 came from Mordaunt's house. The Night Wind had 
 made another of his miraculous escapes, due to his 
 incredible swiftness of motion and his superhuman 
 strength ; and they were thoroughly crestfallen. But 
 they knew that they would have to make a report of 
 it, because the two uniformed men had been called 
 off of their beats by the plain clothes man; one of 
 them into another precinct, the boundary being 
 through the middle of the avenue. 
 
 An hour later the Night Wind opened the little 
 door through the greater one of the old warehouse, 
 and stepped inside into darkness that was the same 
 as night ; and he was quite certain that he had suc- 
 ceeded in approaching it unseen.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 RUSHTON SHOWS HIS COLORS 
 
 The varied sensations experienced by Sterling 
 Chester, the banker, when he found himself locked 
 inside of a prison cell with the bound and gagged 
 and helpless turnkey, defy description. 
 
 Impotent anger and outraged dignity partly over- 
 came the terror that had mastered him ever since 
 the moment when he discovered the Night Wind 
 standing beside his bed and the absence of that 
 dreaded individual helped. 
 
 Nevertheless he kept perfectly still where he was 
 standing, until he felt assured that Harvard and 
 his wife had left the jail; and then, slowly, he 
 turned his gaze upon the prostrate figure on the 
 cot. 
 
 He started guiltily and nervously. 
 
 The eyes of the turnkey were staring up at him 
 with a savage glare, while behind the gag the 
 man made nonunderstandable noises in his throat, 
 although it was not difficult to imagine the words 
 that those noises were intended to convey. 
 
 161
 
 162 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 Chester untied the towel which Harvard had 
 used for a gag, but the minute it was removed he 
 started backward in dismay, for in all his unevent- 
 ful life Chester had never before heard such a tor- 
 rent of words, uttered by one man, as poured from 
 the mouth of that thoroughly enraged but still help- 
 less turnkey. 
 
 It had been Chester's intention to release the man 
 from his bonds also ; but, in the face of the threats 
 that were hurled at him, once those cords should be 
 removed, he dared not do it. 
 
 Instead, he went to the barred door and shook 
 it, discovering that it was hopelessly locked; then 
 he returned to a solitary chair which the cell con- 
 tained, and sat down despondently. 
 
 "Say, you blankety-blank-blank, blankety-blank, 
 ain't you going to cut these cords and let me loose ?" 
 the turnkey roared at him then, the explosions of 
 his wrath having spent themselves. 
 
 "I was intending to do so, of course," Chester 
 returned helplessly, "but you have made such terri- 
 ble threats against me that I am afraid to. We 
 will remain as we are until somebody comes." 
 
 Then the turnkey wheedled and begged, and he 
 swore and threatened again, all to no purpose. 
 Chester had remembered that Lieutenant Rushton 
 was due to arrive at the jail by a little after seven, 
 and he had irrevocably decided to wait for that
 
 RUSHTON SHOWS HIS COLORS 163 
 
 moment, unless some other person should appear 
 before that. 
 
 "What I won't do to you when I do get out of 
 this fix won't be worth mentioning," the turnkey 
 swore at him at last, and lapsed into a sullen silence 
 afterward ; nor did he utter another sound until the 
 interruption came. 
 
 Rushton had had no intention of permitting the 
 banker to arrive at the jail ahead of him, notwith- 
 standing the agreement made over the telephone; 
 and it never once occurred to him that Chester 
 would seek to go there before the appointed time; 
 rather, it was supposable that he would be late. 
 
 It was a quarter to seven when Rushton got there, 
 and for five minutes he rang the bell at the outer 
 door fruitlessly; and then a half-dressed day-guard 
 pulled open the wicket and peered out at him. 
 
 He knew Rushton, as it happened, and instantly 
 opened the door; and they both asked the same 
 question at once: 
 
 "Where's Mullen?" they demanded of each other 
 as with one voice. (Mullen was, of course, the 
 turnkey, at that moment locked in a cell with Ches- 
 ter.) 
 
 "I thought he was here," said the day-guard. 
 "I relieve him at seven. It's most that now." 
 
 "He ought to be here. Where is he? Has any- 
 body been here this morning?"
 
 164. RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "How do I know? I'm just out of bed, lieuten- 
 ant" 
 
 "There is something wrong," Rushton exclaimed. 
 "Never mind Mullen. Take me into the women's 
 wing. You've got keys, haven't you?" 
 
 "Sure." 
 
 The man was in the act of turning to lead the 
 way through the prison when he chanced to glance 
 again through the open doorway, and discovered 
 something lying on the steps. It was the ring of 
 keys that the Night Wind had thrown down out- 
 side the door. 
 
 Rushton was speechless. He sensed rather than 
 understood what those keys, found outside the 
 prison, might indicate ; and there was precious little 
 time lost after that in traversing the corridors and 
 reaching the cell wherein Lady Kate had been 
 locked. 
 
 The spectacle that greeted Rushton when he 
 peered through the bars touched his sense of humor, 
 notwithstanding his anger, and he roared with de- 
 risive laughter while he unlocked the door, threw 
 it open, and stepped inside. 
 
 Chester attempted at once to explain, and had 
 not said a dozen words before Rushton thoroughly 
 comprehended what had happened, and rather cor- 
 rectly how it had happened; and he glared down 
 upon poor Chester so savagely that the latter 
 stopped in the middle of his explanation.
 
 RUSHTON SHOWS HIS COLORS 165 
 
 "So you put one over onto me, did you?" Rush- 
 ton demanded of him. "All the while you was 
 givin' me that guff over the wire the Night Wind 
 was settin' right there beside you tellin' you what 
 to say, and you didn't have sense enough or sand 
 
 enough to give me the tip! I feel like " He 
 
 stopped, and an odd gleam came into his eyes as he 
 added in a different tone : "I'll talk privately with 
 you about this later, Chester." 
 
 Then Rushton turned on his heels and cut the 
 cords that held the turnkey captive. 
 
 Mullen leaped to his feet with a furious expletive 
 and instantly rushed at Chester, who had risen to 
 his feet and stood beside the chair where he had 
 been seated. 
 
 There was no doubt regarding Mullen's inten- 
 tion. The banker would have been knocked sense- 
 less in another instant if a smashing blow from 
 Rushton's fist, delivered behind the turnkey's ear, 
 had not prevented it. And Rushton was known as 
 the strongest man on the force. 
 
 "None of that, Mullen !" he growled as the turn- 
 key slowly picked himself up, for he dared not 
 fight back against Rushton. "I've a good notion 
 to have you fired for what's happened; and if you 
 ever say a single word about it to anybody, I will. 
 It's your fault, every bit of it. You had no call to 
 let anybody but Chester into the jail. Now, what
 
 166 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 time was it when the Night Wind was here and 
 made that getaway?" 
 
 "Maybe about four, or after that. I don't know. 
 I ain't got over the chokin' he gave me yet." 
 
 "Served you right. I wish he'd finished the job 
 while he was at it. Come on, Chester." 
 
 Chester and Rushton passed outside of the jail 
 together, and found the banker's limousine car 
 awaiting them at the door. It had arrived shortly 
 after Rushton went inside. 
 
 The chauffeur, being questioned, could give the 
 lieutenant almost no information at all, as we know; 
 so the two entered the car, and Rushton directed 
 that they be taken directly to headquarters, in Man- 
 hattan. 
 
 "Say, Chester," the lieutenant remarked, as if 
 casually, after they had ridden in silence for some 
 distance, "I'm needin' a couple uh thousand mighty 
 bad in my business just about now. You don't hap- 
 pen to have that much with you in your clothes, 
 have you?" 
 
 "Why, no, lieutenant," the banker responded 
 mildly. "I rarely carry money about with me in 
 sums of more than a few dollars at a time. But I 
 can accommodate you, of course, if you will come 
 around to the bank some time to-day. What er 
 what security have you to offer for the loan, Mr. 
 Rushton?" 
 
 "Security! Loan! Say, what do you take me
 
 RUSHTON SHOWS HIS COLORS 167 
 
 for, anyhow? Oh, never mind. We'll call it that, 
 if you prefer. But the 'loan' '11 be a gift; take it 
 from me, Chester; and the security will be a closed 
 mouth. And I want the two thousand to-day. You 
 ought to be ticklin' yourself under the chin that I 
 didn't ask for five." 
 
 "Really, lieutenant, I cannot see why you should 
 expect me to give you that amount of money," the 
 banker expostulated, honestly amazed by the de- 
 mand. 
 
 "You don't, eh? Say! Haven't you got any 
 notion at all what you're up against, and what I'm 
 standin' to save you from? Don't you know what 
 would happen to you if I should make a holler 
 about what happened last night an' this mornin'?" 
 
 "I am quite sure that I do not know what you 
 are talking about, lieutenant." 
 
 "Well, you are young and innocent and guileless. 
 Ain't you helped a prisoner to escape? Ain't you 
 laid yourself liable to the law? It would be Sing 
 Sing prison for yours, if I should squeal on you. 
 That's what would happen to you." 
 
 "Why, lieutenant, I have done nothing abso- 
 lutely nothing at all." 
 
 "Aw, can it, Chester. You're up against it now 
 as hard as the Night Wind is himself; and if you 
 don't know it, take it from me, 'cause I'm tellin' it 
 to you; see? I've got you where I want you now, 
 and you've got to come across unless you want to
 
 168 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 find yourself indicted by the grand jury, and stand- 
 in' trial in general sessions. That's exactly what'll 
 happen to you if I squeal. Now, do I get that 
 three thousand, or don't I?" 
 
 "Why, you said two thousand only a moment 
 ago." 
 
 "Did I? Well, I'm say in' four now. Do I get 
 it?" 
 
 "Really, Rushton, this is equivalent to blackmail," 
 the now exasperated banker exclaimed. "I pro- 
 test." 
 
 "That makes it five thousand. I don't like to be 
 called names, Chester. Why do you suppose I told 
 that guy of yours out in front to take us to head- 
 quarters, unless I intended to leave you there in 
 case you wouldn't come across? Now, which is it 
 goin' to be? Five thousand cash for me or a cell 
 at police headquarters for you? What's the an- 
 swer?" 
 
 "I I suppose I must submit, if what you say is 
 true," the banker replied weakly. 
 
 "You'll find out that it's true, all right, if you 
 go to askin' questions. It's a serious job, helpin' 
 prisoners to escape, 'specially when they're charged 
 with felonies. We had Lady Kate where we wanted 
 her, an' now you've up and set her free. We'd 
 have got the Night Wind in another twenty-four 
 hours if you hadn't interfered, and I wouldn't won- 
 der if that couldn't be held up against you, too.
 
 RUSHTON SHOWS HIS COLORS 169 
 
 But I can make it all right with the inspector. 
 Fortunately we kept the fact of Lady Kate's arrest 
 a secret. But that won't help you none, once it 
 leaks out. Five thousand is cheap. I'm almost in- 
 clined " 
 
 "Lieutenant, if you will come to me at the bank 
 as soon as it opens you shall have it," said the now 
 helpless and thoroughly frightened Chester. 
 
 "That's the way to talk. I'll be there. Betcher 
 life on that." 
 
 "But you make me think, lieutenant, that " 
 
 The banker hesitated. 
 
 "Think what, Chester? Go on. What do I 
 make you think?" Rushton asked with a coarse 
 laugh. 
 
 "I I really don't know, lieutenant." 
 
 "I guess you don't. I guess you're right about 
 that. Well, you've got more of them thinks corn- 
 in' to you." 
 
 There were several moments of silence between 
 them after that, and then : 
 
 "Lieutenant," the banker asked timidly, "now 
 that there appears to be no longer any necessity for 
 us to go to police headquarters, will you tell Gus- 
 tave to take me directly to my home ? I would like 
 to go there before I go to the bank. He may drive 
 you down-town afterward if you wish him to do 
 so." 
 
 "Sure," was the quick reply. "And I won't need
 
 170 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 Gustave; and I'll meet you at the bank at ten, to 
 get that money. That is understood, isn't it?" 
 
 "Certainly. Certainly." 
 
 When, somewhat later, the banker entered his 
 own house he was told that a lady and gentleman 
 were waiting in the library to see him, and, having 
 no idea who it might be, he hurried to that room. 
 
 Lady Kate rose to receive him as he entered it. 
 Tom Clancy was standing near one of the windows, 
 with his back toward them, and did not turn around.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE BANKER'S DILEMMA 
 
 When Lady Kate confronted Chester so unex- 
 pectedly in the library of his own house, and he dis- 
 covered Tom Clancy standing at his ease and much 
 with the manner of a man who was perfectly at 
 home in that room, the banker was so overcome 
 with utter amazement that he could not speak. 
 
 Incidents had fallen so swiftly upon him since 
 he was awakened in the middle of the night by 
 Bingham Harvard, and one disaster after another 
 had so unnerved him, that he could only gasp his 
 astonishment, clinging with heavy hand to the back 
 of the nearest chair to steady his tottering phy- 
 sique. 
 
 "Pray be seated, Mr. Chester," Katherine said, 
 much as if she were mistress of the house and the 
 banker an expected guest. "Mr. Clancy and I have 
 been awaiting your return, feeling certain that you 
 
 would come here before you went to the bank." 
 
 171
 
 172 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 Dumbly he complied, sinking upon the chair the 
 back of which he had already grasped. 
 
 Clancy swung himself slowly around, came for- 
 ward to the table in the middle of the room, threw 
 one leg across a corner of it, and, with a counte- 
 nance as solemn as that of a judge who is about to 
 pronounce sentence, waited. 
 
 Katherine's expression was solemnity itself, too. 
 The banker could not guess that these two had 
 entirely agreed between themselves upon the course 
 of procedure they would adopt when Chester ar- 
 rived and discovered them awaiting him. 
 
 For Lady Kate, when she parted with Harvard, 
 earlier that morning, had gone straight to a tele- 
 phone to call Tom Clancy from his bed, and to 
 ask him to meet her with the least possible delay. 
 She had had an inspiration during that early ride 
 across Queensboro Bridge, beside her husband, that 
 morning, and she lost no time in carrying it into 
 effect the moment it was possible to do so; and it 
 had required only a few words of explanation to 
 Clancy to make him "catch on with every one of 
 his ten fingers," as he expressed it. 
 
 Lady Kate had been a woman detective at police 
 headquarters long enough to understand what the 
 possibb consequences might be to a person who 
 assisted in the escape of an important prisoner. 
 She believed that she had at last discovered a lever- 
 age by which the banker could be pried out of his
 
 THE BANKER'S DILEMMA 173 
 
 state of complacency, and when she explained it to 
 Torn he thought so, too. 
 
 So they went together to Chester's house and 
 waited, for both were certain that Chester would 
 not be detained very long at that Queens County 
 jail. 
 
 She remained silent for a time, also, after re- 
 questing the banker to be seated. He gazed fur- 
 tively around him, peering this way and that, half 
 expectantly, half timorously. 
 
 "Mr. Harvard is not present, Mr. Chester," Kath- 
 erine announced, reading his thought; and a sigh 
 from the greatly troubled man told her that the 
 assurance had been received gratefully. 
 
 "I suppose, sir, that you are wondering why Mr. 
 Clancy and I have sought this interview," she said 
 presently. 
 
 Chester nodded his head without words. 
 
 "We have come here to have a last word with 
 you before we take a decided action in regard to 
 what happened during the early hours of this morn- 
 ing/' she told him, still with that solemn visage 
 while Tom Clancy wore the expression of a pall- 
 bearer at a state funeral. 
 
 The banker fidgeted in his chair and raised his 
 head and eyes expectantly to Katherine. 
 
 "Of course," she went on slowly, "it is not en- 
 tirely becoming in me to interest myself in procur- 
 ing an indictment against you for aiding in the
 
 174 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 escape of a prisoner who is charged with a felony 
 particularly since I am the beneficiary in that es- 
 cape but, all the same, Mr. Chester, I shall not 
 hesitate to do that very thing, if you force me to 
 it. And Mr. Clancy quite agrees with me in that 
 decision." 
 
 "Most certainly I do," said Tom sepulchrally. 
 "It is a grave offense, Chester most grave, in- 
 deed." 
 
 "And we are working for very great results, sir," 
 Katherine added. 
 
 "Nothing short of complete vindication for Bing 
 Harvard will satisfy me," said Tom. 
 
 "While all we shall demand of you, sir, is an op- 
 portunity the right kind of an opportunity, of 
 course to establish his innocence," Lady Kate sup- 
 plied. 
 
 "And that opportunity, Chester, as you should 
 know, is directly inside of the walls of the Cen- 
 tropolis Bank," Tom announced solemnly. 
 
 It is doubtful if the banker had a full under- 
 standing of these explanatory remarks made by his 
 unwelcome callers; but he did have a most vivid 
 recollection of that last interview with Rodney 
 Rushton, of the lieutenant's threats, of his demand, 
 and of the consequences which might be expected 
 to ensue if he, Chester, were defiant. 
 
 And here were two people the very last in the 
 world from whom he would have been led to expect
 
 THE BANKER'S DILEMMA 175 
 
 such an announcement threatening him with pre- 
 cisely the same sort of dire calamities that Rushton 
 had held over his head 'indictment and all the hor- 
 rors that went with it. 
 
 He wondered dumbly what they could want, what 
 they would demand of him. 
 
 Then something of the absurdity of the present 
 situation occurred to him at least it struck him as 
 absurd at the moment but only for a moment. 
 
 "Do you mean to tell me that you, the prisoner 
 who has escaped, can make this nonsensical charge 
 against me of aiding in that escape?" he demanded 
 of Katherine, with a touch of his old spirit. But it 
 faded very quickly when she replied, with concise 
 calmness : 
 
 "Certainly not for I have no intention of giving 
 myself up. But Mr. Clancy, as a citizen who de- 
 mands that the laws be upheld, and that justice be 
 done to all alike, can demand that the grand jury 
 shall take cognizance of what you have done. He, 
 ,as a citizen, can force an indictment against you. 
 You would be brought to trial at General Sessions, 
 and there is not the slightest doubt that you would 
 be convicted. And that, Mr. Sterling Chester, 
 president of the Centropolis Bank, would mean Sing 
 Sing prison for you. Or, even if you should escape 
 the full penalty for your offense, you would find 
 yourself the subject of a great deal of unpleasant 
 notoriety."
 
 176 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 Chester drummed upon the arms of the chair 
 where he was seated. He was very pale. Little 
 beads of sweat stood out upon his forehead. His 
 lips were dry, and he attempted to moisten them 
 with the tip of his tongue. 
 
 "What do you want?" he managed to cry out, 
 like one who is in pain. "What did you two come 
 here to demand of me?" 
 
 "Justice," said Clancy. 
 
 "An opportunity to seek full justice," Katherine 
 amended. 
 
 "Do you want me to lie to myself and to all the 
 world and announce that I believe in the innocence 
 of Bingham Harvard? Is that what you want?" 
 Chester demanded with more spirit than he had 
 yet shown. "I cannot do that, because I do not 
 
 believe it. That is " He paused himself and 
 
 came to a full stop. 
 
 Katherine asked mildly : "What were you about 
 to add to that statement, Mr. Chester?" 
 
 "I was going to say that I have never once had 
 the slightest doubt of the guilt of Bingham Har- 
 vard until until certain things happened this morn- 
 ing until certain things were said to me this morn- 
 ing, which have which have impressed me. You 
 are not the only person who has threatened me since 
 I was forced to go out upon that unfortunate er- 
 rand this morning, Mrs. Harvard." 
 
 Clancy spoke up quickly.
 
 THE BANKER'S DILEMMA 177 
 
 "No! Rushton has been threatening you, too, 
 has he?" he demanded. 
 
 "Yes; and almost in the words that have been 
 used here," the banker replied. 
 
 "I'll bet a brick watch against a whole panful of 
 doughnuts that he made you pay for it, too, Ches- 
 ter." 
 
 "I am to pay him five thousand dollars at the 
 bank at ten o'clock this morning or as soon as I 
 arrive there," Chester announced without emotion. 
 
 "For his silence eh?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "And he agreed to make it all right with the 
 inspector and all that sort of rot, didn't he?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 Tom Clancy looked at his watch. The time was 
 already nearly half past nine. He reached out for 
 the telephone and pulled it across the table toward 
 him. Then he called the number of the Centropolis 
 Bank, which was familiar to him; and Chester 
 looked on in amazement, and kept silent. 
 
 "Hello?" Clancy's two companions in the room 
 heard him say. "The Centropolis Bank I want to 
 speak to the cashier, if he has arrived. Hello the 
 cashier? I am talking at the home of Mr. Ches- 
 ter your president. Mr. Chester is not well this 
 morning and wishes me to say that he will not be 
 at the bank until noon to-day. Oh, no, it is not 
 serious at all. Merely a temporary indisposition.
 
 178 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 His rest was broken last night. He will be down 
 about noon. In the mean time, he asks me to say 
 that he has an appointment with Lieutenant Rush- 
 ton this morning at ten. You are to see Rushton 
 in person, when he calls, and say to him that if 
 he will return at three o'clock, or a quarter past, this 
 afternoon, the business arrangement between them 
 will be consummated. Who am I ? Oh, I quite for- 
 got to tell you that. I am a doctor. Dr. Thomas 
 C . Good-by." 
 
 He put down the telephone and turned to Kath- 
 erine. 
 
 "If I don't get Mr. Rodney Rushton good and 
 plenty, where the hair is mighty short, before this 
 day is over, you may lock me up as an incom- 
 petent!" he announced. Then he wheeled toward 
 Chester. "And you've got to help, understand? 
 You have got to. You will pay him that five thou- 
 sand in bills marked bills, Chester ; and Chief Red- 
 hea^ and a few others will do the rest." 
 
 "It seems to me," said Katherine, "that we are 
 neglecting the purpose that brought us here." 
 
 "So we are. Look here, Chester, this is what we 
 want provided you don't want to face an indict- 
 ment, a trial, and a prison sentence. We want a 
 chance 'just a chance." 
 
 "I don't understand you at all, Tom," the banker 
 replied wearily. 
 
 "I'll explain. You are shy just one assistant pay-
 
 THE BANKER'S DILEMMA 179 
 
 ing teller down at your bank, and you have been 
 shy that one ever since Bing Harvard got out. Oh, 
 I know what I'm talking about. You shove one of 
 your note tellers into the cage during the rush hours 
 and get along with Atkinson and Mordaunt the 
 rest of the time. That's right, isn't it?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Well, we want you to put another assistant pay- 
 ing teller to work when the bank opens for business 
 to-morrow morning. You are the whole push down 
 there, and you don't have to consult your directors 
 about it. I know that, too." 
 
 "But, who is it, Tom? Who and what is he? 
 I cannot appoint a teller unless I know " 
 
 "Yes you can and in this case you've got to do 
 it. He is a young man that I am going to send 
 to you, and I will go on his bond for any sum you 
 want. So will the Gibraltar Security Company. I 
 have arranged for that or will, to-day." 
 
 "You must inform me who and what he is, Tom," 
 Chester announced firmly. 
 
 "His name" Tom cast a covert glance toward 
 Katherine out of the corner of his eyes "is Caton. 
 Erin Caton. That's Irish, of course. He is a pay- 
 ing teller, naturally, or I wouldn't be sending him to 
 you. Incidentally he will be laboring in the inter- 
 ests of Mr. and Mrs. Bingham Harvard, and he is 
 going to stay right there inside of that cage during 
 .business hours until he finds out who lifted that
 
 180 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 one hundred and thirty-six thousand dollars which 
 you have made yourself think that Bing Harvard 
 stole." 
 
 "Do you mean that he is a detective?" Chester 
 asked, feeling that he would have to submit. 
 
 "He will be one when he gets there, Chester 
 and the best ever. I'll guarantee that you will be 
 charmed with him, and that you will see the time 
 when you will bless the day that you took him into 
 your employ." 
 
 Then Tom Clancy turned slowly around and 
 winked one eye deliberately at Lady Kate and for 
 some unknown reason she smiled brightly and 
 nodded her head with emphasis.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE MASQUERADER 
 
 "Can you do it, Lady Kate? Can you?" Clancy 
 asked, when half an hour later they came away 
 from the house of the banker. 
 
 "Of course I can do it," she replied with decision 
 as he stood aside while she got into the black taxi- 
 cab which Julius was to drive for them, for Kath- 
 erine had lost no time in communicating with her 
 faithful servitor that morning as soon as she had 
 telephoned to Tom. 
 
 Clancy followed and seated himself beside her. 
 
 "It is a big undertaking," he said, shaking his 
 head dubiously. "I tremble for you, Katherine." 
 
 "Nonsense," she retorted. "I will carry it off 
 with flags flying and banners waving. There isn't 
 a thing about it that I cannot do. I am quick at 
 figures*! know how to handle money. Oh, I am 
 not a bit afraid I have been preparing for this 
 opportunity for months." 
 
 "But your appearance, little lady. Do you really 
 think that you can disguise that sufficiently well?" 
 
 181
 
 182 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "Certainly I can." 
 
 "I don't know about that. You are a mighty 
 feminine sort of a woman. There isn't anything 
 mannish about you at all. To be sure, your voice 
 is a contralto, but it is very far from being a heavy 
 one." 
 
 "Listen to it now," she said, dropping it to a 
 much deeper tone and then they both laughed. 
 
 "But your hair," he went on, in the effort to find 
 more objections to the plan she had proposed that 
 morning, and which he had now carried to a point 
 where it would have to be fulfilled. 
 
 "I will have to sacrifice that, naturally." 
 
 "It's too bad. It is so beautiful." 
 
 "Nonsense. It will grow out again." 
 
 "And then" he wondered if he was blushing, 
 and decided that he was, so he half turned his head 
 away "there is your figure." 
 
 "Oh, I know how to fix that," she responded, 
 laughing gaily, for the spirit of adventure was upon 
 her. "I used to be quite a star at private theatricals. 
 I have often taken masculine parts. I'm not a bit 
 afraid that I will be discovered. I shall keep my- 
 self very much aloof from the others, for, to my 
 mind, that will be the best way to find out. what I 
 want to know. It will be much better than to seek 
 to ingratiate myself with them. Don't you agree 
 with me?" 
 
 Tom nodded.
 
 THE MASQUERADER 183 
 
 "One cannot help agreeing with you, Katherine, 
 when you insist upon it. You would make a bully 
 good crook yourself you have such a taking way 
 with you. Now, how am I to get the necessary 
 papers to you? Your personal recommendations 
 I'll have the chief secure those and the bonds and 
 my letter to Chester, introducing you, which he 
 will want to show to his directors?" 
 
 "You can do that by leaving your house to-mor- 
 row morning at half past eight o'clock and turn- 
 ing toward Columbus Avenue. You will find Julius 
 waiting at the corner with this car. Engage him to 
 drive you somewhere, and give the papers to him. 
 That will be sufficient." 
 
 "You ought to be at the bank by nine or a little 
 before." 
 
 "I will be there," she assured him. "I was rather 
 surprised, Tom, at the readiness with which Mr. 
 Chester agreed to the arrangement." 
 
 "Well," Clancy said, "we had him dead scared, 
 for one thing. For another, that play of Rushton's 
 for the five thousand plunks sort of jarred him. 
 It set him to thinking, too. You see, lady, bankers 
 are queer fishes when all is said. Once you arouse 
 their suspicions, they will swallow the whole tackle 
 hook, line, bob, and sinker. It never occurred 
 to Chester to doubt Rushton until he found that 
 Rushton could be bought and if there is anything 
 on earth that a banker is shy of and hates consti-
 
 184 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 tutionally it is a man who can be bought. That 
 conversation he had with Rushton jarred him so, 
 that now he is more than half willing to believe that 
 Rushton did frame up the case against Bing." 
 
 "Yes I thought so, too." 
 
 "Only he has got to take time to think it over. 
 If all men were bankers, Katherine, I would thor- 
 oughly sympathize with the Pharisee who went into 
 the temple with the publican." 
 
 "Speaking of Rushton," she said, "just what are 
 you to do this afternoon at three o'clock when he 
 goes to the bank for that money?" 
 
 "I don't know yet. I haven't decided. I shall 
 consult the chief before I do decide. But my im- 
 pression is that we will have a warrant sworn out 
 for him, and then have him pinched when he comes 
 out of the bank with that marked money in his 
 jeans. That is the way it looks to me just now." 
 
 "Don't you think that will be premature, Tom? 
 And doesn't it weaken us a little bit with Mr. 
 Chester? He would have to appear against Rush- 
 ton, and that would mean giving the whole thing 
 away. He would discover then that he had not 
 committed such a great offense, after all. You 
 know there was no official charge entered against 
 me." 
 
 "Maybe you are right about that, Lady Kate. 
 Anyhow, I'll talk it over with Redhead." 
 
 "Let me make a suggestion."
 
 THE MASQUERADER 185 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 "Mr. Chester promised that he would have the 
 bills marked that he is to give to Rushton. Very 
 well, let Rushton carry them 'away from the bank 
 with him only have him trailed. He will deposit 
 that money somewhere the first thing to-morrow 
 morning won't he?" 
 
 "Very likely." 
 
 "Well, one of the chief's men can follow him 
 into the bank where he makes the deposit, and can 
 step to the window the minute Rushton leaves it; 
 and I believe that the bank, at the chief's request, 
 will consent to lay aside those identical bills that 
 Rushton deposits and to put an affidavit from the 
 receiving teller with them, that Rushton did de- 
 posit them there. Why, Tom, if your friend should 
 have five thousand dollars with him to reimburse 
 the bank I think they would hand over those very 
 bills with such an affidavit." 
 
 "Lady Kate, I take off my hat to you. In purely 
 classic phraseology you're a corker!" 
 
 "Thank you. And now I am going to drop you 
 at the next corner. I have a great deal to do in 
 order to make myself ready for to-morrow." 
 
 "That is no idle jest, I take it, Lady Kate." 
 
 "Tell me, do you think you will see Bingham to- 
 day or to-night?" 
 
 "Give it up, little lady. I shall stop at the office 
 of the chief on the way down, and I'll telephone to
 
 186 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 the top of the old warehouse from there. I as- 
 sume that he will be there." 
 
 "You are not going to tell him " 
 
 "Certainly not. That is understood." 
 "He would not consent to it, I know." 
 "Especially to your sacrificing your hair. I don't 
 blame him. I wouldn't, either." 
 
 "Make him understand that he must not try to 
 see me again until I send for him; for don't you 
 see we must not meet while I am masquerading 
 as a young man. He would spoil the whole thing." 
 "Again, I do not blame him. I would, too." 
 "Why? Don't you believe that I can do it?" 
 "I believe that you can do anything on earth 
 that you start out to do." 
 "Then why- 
 
 "Well, I expect it is because I admire you so 
 much as you are. I don't like to think about the 
 things that you may be up against in this under- 
 taking. Do you know, I think it is rather tough 
 that Bing should have seen you first before I did, 
 I mean." 
 
 Katherine laughed lightly as Tom opened the 
 door to get out 
 
 "It wouldn't have made a particle of difference," 
 she said happily. "Bingham is my God of Abra- 
 ham, Tom. He is my king. He is everything. 
 And, oh, he is such a splendid fellow !"
 
 THE MASQUERADER 187 
 
 "Isn't he, though? Well, here goes! So long, 
 little lady!" 
 
 "Good-by, Tom!" 
 
 "Keep your eyes peeled when you go to work 
 in that bank." 
 
 "I will." 
 
 Tom Clancy strode away in one direction the 
 cab rolled away in another. 
 
 That morning's work had accomplished much.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE HOUSE ON THE ROOF 
 
 Bing Harvard had been in the little house on the 
 roof rather more than half an hour when the tele- 
 phone rang. Remembering that it was the detec- 
 tive chief's private wire only that communicated 
 there, he replied to it, and was delighted when he 
 recognized Tom Clancy's voice. 
 
 "Hello, Tom!" he said. 'This is bully to be 
 able to speak to you like this. Are you quite sure 
 that there are no eavesdroppers on this wire?" 
 
 "Perfectly sure, Bing," came the reply. "Say, 
 that was a pretty good joke you played on our good 
 chief, Redhead, this morning." 
 
 "How is that? I don't understand. I am not 
 aware that I have played any joke on him." 
 
 "Aren't you? He says that you are the only 
 original combination of chain lightning and per- 
 petual motion. You know, I suppose, that he has 
 got one of his own men working on the regular 
 force down at the bureau a chap named Connor ?" 
 
 188
 
 THE HOUSE ON THE ROOF 189 
 
 "I think you told me as much, Tom." 
 
 "Well, last night he sent Connor to find out 
 where they had taken Lady Kate after she was ar- 
 rested by a detective named Hardner. Connor did 
 find out and reported. This morning, bright and 
 early, the chief beat it for the wilds of Queens, got 
 there at eight o'clock, and well, you know the rest. 
 You got there first. That's the joke. Now, one 
 more word, and then the chief wants to talk to 
 you." 
 
 "Go ahead." 
 
 "Lady Kate telephoned to me this morning 
 after she parted with you. I had quite a long talk 
 with her. She wanted me to tell you that she is 
 all right, and to give you her love ; and to say, with 
 my own indorsement, that she has hit upon a theory 
 and a scheme which she is going to work out right 
 away. I am going to help her; so is Redhead, a 
 little, and we both approve. But you are not to 
 know about it at the present time, and are to ask no 
 questions. I reckon she is the boss, and those are 
 her orders. See?" 
 
 "All right, Tom; only I don't see 
 
 "You don't have to. The chief wants to talk to 
 you now." 
 
 "I want to talk to him, too. I have something 
 to tell him. I am dead tired. I feel as though I 
 hadn't slept for a month. My inclination was to 
 turn in the moment I got here this morning, but
 
 190 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 I had some papers that I took from Rushton's 
 room when I made that call upon him; and some 
 memoranda also. I want to tell him about all 
 that." 
 
 "All right" 
 
 "Say, Tom!" 
 
 "Yes?" 
 
 "I ran into Mordaunt this morning. He used to 
 be one of my assistants at the bank." 
 
 "I know him. What about it?" 
 
 Then rapidly and concisely, Harvard related the 
 incidents of the morning as we know them ; and at 
 the end of the story Clancy replied: 
 
 "Splendid, all of it, Bing. I have been holding 
 the receiver so the chief could hear what you said. 
 It fits in beautifully with something that he is going 
 to do to-day; and he thinks that those papers and 
 the memoranda you took from Rushton's rooms 
 will help a lot, too. And now I'm going to turn 
 the phone over to him. I am not going to try to 
 see you to-night ; but I will to-morrow night. Good- 
 by." 
 
 "Hello, Harvard!" another voice called over the 
 wire. "This is the chief speaking. We have not 
 made each other's acquaintance as yet, but we soon 
 will. You might give me a bare outline of what 
 those papers and the memoranda consist, if you 
 will. That will be sufficient for the present. After 
 that you can put them under a paper-weight on the
 
 THE HOUSE ON THE ROOF 191 
 
 table and turn in. When you wake up you will 
 probably find me sitting there, examining them. I 
 want to have a talk with you before night." 
 
 "All right, chief." 
 
 "Now, what is that stuff? Give me just an 
 outline of it." 
 
 "The memoranda I made were taken from bank 
 books exchange and savings banks, both that I 
 discovered in Rushton's desk. They were kept in 
 cipher, and I have not had time to work on that 
 yet; but working out ciphers is a fad of mine, and 
 I have no doubt that I can read this one." 
 
 "All right so far. Go ahead." 
 
 "It is plain enough to see that the total amount 
 of the various deposits will go well into six fig- 
 ures." 
 
 "Good. Give me the names of the several banks, 
 slowly, so that I can jot them down as you call them 
 off. I may want to use that information before I 
 have an opportunity to talk with you." 
 
 Harvard called off the names of four exchange 
 banks and of two savings banks. 
 
 "Now, what about the papers you brought away 
 with you, Harvard?" the chief asked when that 
 was done. 
 
 "They are mostly figures, made on scraps of 
 paper; sums added to other sums, with the dates 
 jotted down. They are all rather blind, but there 
 is no doubt that they have reference to the de-
 
 192 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 posits that is, to the receipt of various sums be- 
 fore the deposits were made. In some instances 
 there are initials against the sums, which may in- 
 dicate the sources of the receipts. In one instance 
 there is a name unknown to me. One of the 
 scraps bears my name, Harvard, plainly written, 
 and on that one there is more figuring; but it is 
 done in lettered cipher, like the bank books." 
 
 "Anything more?" 
 
 "Just a small package of vest-pocket memoran- 
 dum books, held together by a rubber band. Every- 
 thing inside of them is in cipher. I haven't yet 
 had time to examine them thoroughly." 
 
 "How many of these little books are there?" 
 
 "Six." 
 
 "That would be one for each bank you have men- 
 tioned." 
 
 "That's so. I had not thought of that." 
 
 "Is that all?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "You are not going out on the streets to-day, 
 are you?" the chief asked. 
 
 "I had not intended to do so." 
 
 "Well, don't at least, not until after I have been 
 there to see you; and I cannot say just how soon 
 that will be. And now I want to congratulate you 
 on that play you made in getting your wife out of 
 the jail across the river. You have got the police
 
 THE HOUSE ON THE ROOF 193 
 
 department 'going' pretty nearly as badly as you 
 did it before you went away, Harvard." 
 
 "That reminds me, chief; I wonder if Chester 
 will get into any serious trouble on account of my 
 leaving him locked up in that cell the way I did?" 
 
 "Not a bit of it, Harvard. There was no offi- 
 cial record of the arrest of Lady Kate, and you 
 can bet your life there won't be any now. Rush- 
 ton got over there before I did, and he took Ches- 
 ter away with him. He tried to touch Chester, too, 
 for a little graft. That is the lay I am on this 
 morning. If I can get the 'goods' on Rushton 
 and it looks now as if I could we won't do a thing 
 to him, I don't think ! Good-by." 
 
 "I say, chief!" 
 
 But the chief had replaced the receiver, and after 
 a moment's thought Harvard decided not to call 
 him again. 
 
 He was weary with his exertions and from lack 
 of sleep, and it did not take him very long after 
 that to throw aside his clothing and to seek the rest 
 that he needed so badly. 
 
 In the mean time, Chief Redhead was as busy 
 as a hive of bees. 
 
 The information that Clancy had taken to him, 
 and that which Harvard had just given him to go 
 with it, opened up a new phase of the case which 
 was very promising. 
 
 And Harvard slept, blissfully unconscious that
 
 194 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 his wife was at that very time engaged in the prep- 
 aration for the duties she was to begin the follow- 
 ing morning, when, in the guise of a man, she in- 
 tended to appear at the Centropolis Bank to begin 
 her new duties as an assistant paying teller. 
 
 And she expected that great things would come 
 of it and great things did.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 BAITING A TRAP 
 
 Mordaunt, the assistant paying teller at the Cen- 
 tropolis Bank, talked matters over very fully with 
 his wife before he started down-town that morn- 
 ing, and they agreed, entirely, that the subterfuge 
 which had been practised upon the policemen at 
 their home should not be continued at the bank. 
 
 "Suppose you do lose your position, Ben," his 
 rosy-cheeked wife said to him at parting; "you will 
 soon be able to find another one. We have got some 
 money saved up to keep us going for a time and 
 I can't bear the thought of your telling lies. And 
 it would not be fair to Bingham Harvard, either, 
 for you to make it appear, even for a moment, that 
 we have ever believed him guilty. He is back here 
 to clear himself, and let us do everything in our 
 power to help." 
 
 Thus it was that as soon as Mordaunt arrived 
 at the bank he asked to see the president, who was 
 usually in his place among the first; but Mr. Ches- 
 
 195
 
 196 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 ter had not appeared, and when the clock pointed 
 to a quarter of an hour before the doors would 
 be opened for the business of the day Mordaunt 
 sought the cashier. 
 
 "Mr. Cheever," he began, "I have got a con- 
 fession to make. I hoped to make it to Mr. Ches- 
 ter, in person, but he has not arrived 'and it is my 
 duty to tell you what is on my mind before I begin 
 my work for the day." 
 
 Cheever, the cashier, was a quiet, silent, taciturn 
 man, past middle age, forbidding in a way, but, 
 nevertheless, thoroughly well liked by every em- 
 ployee who came in contact with him. 
 
 He looked up keenly, under his bushy brows, at 
 Mordaunt, and replied : 
 
 "The president will not be down till noon, Mor- 
 daunt. You may tell me what is on your mind, 
 or you can save it until he comes, as you please. 
 That is up to you." 
 
 "I think I would rather tell you about it than 
 him, sir," Mordaunt replied, relieved. 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 "I met Bingham Harvard on the street near my 
 home early this morning." 
 
 He paused, expecting some reply but there was 
 none. 
 
 Cheever was one of those rare men who never 
 express surprise at anything. He merely nodded 
 his shaggy head, and Mordaunt continued:
 
 BAITING A TRAP 197 
 
 "I was honestly glad to see Harvard. I have 
 never believed him guilty of that thing he was 
 charged with. As soon as he understood that this 
 morning he was glad to see me. I insisted upon 
 taking him home to breakfast with me, and he went. 
 There was, however, an officer trailing me, 
 and " 
 
 Mordaunt gave a clear and a full account of all 
 that had happened at his house that morning, omit- 
 ting nothing, so far as his knowledge went. 
 
 "Now, sir," he concluded, "if you think I had 
 better keep out of the teller's cage until Mr. Ches- 
 ter has been informed of this matter, I am quite 
 willing to do so." 
 
 "Nonsense, Ben," was the quick, almost savage 
 retort, for that was Cheever's manner when he was 
 very much in earnest. "Get into the cage and go 
 to work. You did perfectly right. I am glad that 
 you came to me, though, for already I have received 
 a written report of all of it from the police." 
 
 "Thank you, sir," Mordaunt replied, and was 
 turning away when a sharp word from the cashier 
 stopped him. 
 
 "Your opinion of Harvard and mine exactly co- 
 incide," Cheever said shortly, fussing with some 
 papers on his desk. "You may tell him that, if you 
 should happen to see him again." 
 
 Mordaunt returned to his duties very much elated.
 
 198 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 Atkinson, the paying teller who had succeeded Har- 
 vard, looked up with a sneering smile and inquired : 
 
 "Business with the chief this morning, Mor- 
 daunt?" 
 
 "I merely told him something that he already 
 knew about," was the reply ; and the business of the 
 day began. 
 
 Lieutenant Rushton strode into the bank at ex- 
 actly five minutes past ten. 
 
 There was not an employee there who did not 
 know him by sight, and more than one curious 
 glance was cast in his direction as he made his 
 way toward the raised office of the president. 
 
 But Badger, the watch, stopped him, and thrust 
 out a huge paw of a hand which Rushton, for 
 some reason of his own, chose to ignore. 
 
 "Cheever, the cashier, told me to tell you to go 
 straight to see him when you came in, lieutenant," 
 Badger said; "so I guess you're expected, all right." 
 
 A moment later Rushton was listening to the 
 message that Tom Clancy had telephoned to the 
 bank from the library of Chester's house; and he 
 was also scowling. It did not fit in exactly with his 
 plans for that day. 
 
 "Is that all that Chester said?" he demanded. 
 "Didn't he give you anx directions about payin' 
 me a bill he owes me ?" 
 
 "Not a word, lieutenant," was the reply. 
 
 "Well, what does he want me to be here at a
 
 BAITING A TRAP 199 
 
 quarter past three for the banks close at three? 
 Didn't he say what time he was comin' down, him- 
 self?" 
 
 "The message was that Mr. Chester would be 
 down about noon." 
 
 "Huh! Then what does he want me to wait till 
 three for? Say you just tell him when he gets 
 here that I'll be back to see him between one and 
 two ; an' that I wanta close up that matter between 
 us, right away, will you?" 
 
 "Certainly, lieutenant." 
 
 "I expect that mebby he was a little off his feed 
 this mornin'," Rushton volunteered, with a grin. 
 "However, that ain't neither here nor there. You 
 give him my message, will you ?" 
 
 "I will." 
 
 "Say, Cheever, did you know that the Night 
 Wind that guy Harvard is back in town again?" 
 Rushton asked suddenly. 
 
 "Oh, yes, I had heard of it," was the reply. 
 
 "Well, has headquarters notified you that one of 
 your men here in the bank saw him and talked 
 with him this morning?" 
 
 "Yes. I have been informed of that, also." 
 
 "Well, what are you goin' to do about it?" 
 
 "Nothing, lieutenant. It is a matter entirely for 
 Mr. Chester to decide. The employee to whom you 
 refer has already made his report to me about it." 
 
 "Huh ! Well, / don't take any stock in his story
 
 200 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 about trying to notify the police that Harvard was 
 in his house. He can tell that to Sweeney. You'd 
 better keep an eye on that fellow Mordaunt. That's 
 all. I'll be here between one an' two." And Rush- 
 ton left the bank. 
 
 Shortly before twelve o'clock of that day Ches- 
 ter's limousine car drew up at the door of his house 
 to take the banker down-town. 
 
 Ten minutes later Chester issued from the front 
 door, and as he began to descend the steps a man 
 with red hair and extraordinarily keen eyes and 
 manner stepped quickly forward from nowhere in 
 particular, and met him at the bottom of them. 
 
 "Good day, Mr. Chester," he said cordially. "I 
 am a messenger from Mr. Thomas Clancy. He 
 asked me to meet you here and to ride down-town 
 with you in your car. Perhaps he mentioned my 
 name to you? He usually refers to me as the 
 'chief or as 'Redhead.' " 
 
 The banker paused at the bottom of the steps. 
 
 "Yes," he replied. "You are, I understand, at 
 the head of a detective agency. What do you want 
 with me, sir?" 
 
 "I wish to arrange with you the plan for mark- 
 ing the bills that you are to pay over to Rodney 
 Rushton some time to-day, Mr. Chester; and, also, 
 to agree upon some plan by which those same bills 
 may be isolated and identified at whatever bank 
 Rushton may decide to deposit them. I know of
 
 BAITING A TRAP 201 
 
 a plan by which that can be accomplished perfectly, 
 but it will require your cooperation." 
 
 "Very well, sir; very well. You may get into 
 the car." 
 
 "It is morally certain, Mr. Chester, that Rush- 
 ton will not wait till three o'clock, as Clancy pro- 
 posed, to go to the bank for that money. He will 
 wish to deposit it in one of the banks where he does 
 business this afternoon," the chief said as soon as 
 they were in the car. "I have here a list of the 
 banks he uses. He will deposit the five thousand 
 dollars you will give him in one of them. You, of 
 course, understand that the payment you make to 
 him is in the character of blackmail?" 
 
 "Certainly." 
 
 "Well, sir, for many reasons I deem it unwise 
 to proceed against Rushton, in any manner, to-day; 
 and, therefore, I have thought out the following 
 plan, which will be entirely successful at any time 
 we may choose to spring the trap on him. But it 
 will require your hearty cooperation." 
 
 Chester nodded; and then the chief recited in 
 detail exactly what he wished to have the banker 
 do in the matter. 
 
 A block away from the Centropolis Bank the 
 chief said good-by to the banker and got down; 
 but he hastened to the nearest telephone and called 
 up Clancy, to whom he said, briefly : 
 
 "We have got him, Clancy, where he can't squirm
 
 302 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 and we can nail him at any time we choose, after 
 he has accepted that money and made the deposit. 
 Chester is leaning very much our way now, although 
 he doesn't quite realize it yet."
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 A NET FOR RUSHTON 
 
 Sterling Chester, president of the Centropolis 
 Bank, was deep in consultation with three men 
 who, themselves, looked as if they might be bank- 
 ers, when Lieutenant Rodney Rushton strode down 
 the space between the screen and the outer win- 
 dows toward the president's office at twenty-five 
 minutes past one o'clock that day. 
 
 Rushton paused just outside the brass swing gate, 
 and Chester, raising his eyes, saw him. 
 
 "Just a moment, Lieutenant Rushton," he said. 
 Then, addressing the three men who were seem- 
 ingly in consultation with him, he added, and so 
 that Rushton could overhear him: "I will have to 
 ask you to excuse me for one moment, gentlemen 
 if you will just step aside for a second. My busi- 
 ness with the lieutenant will not occupy more than 
 two or three minutes. Come inside, Rushton." 
 
 Rushton, with a scowl on his face, because it was 
 habitual with him, but with no loss of assurance, 
 
 203
 
 204 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 passed through the gateway and seated himself upon 
 a chair that one of Chester's callers had occupied 
 and which the banker indicated to him with a 
 slight gesture. 
 
 Rushton's back was toward the three men who 
 had withdrawn partly across the office space, but 
 who, nevertheless, watched covertly all that took 
 place. 
 
 Chester pulled open a drawer and took from it 
 a package of bills, each of the denomination of a 
 thousand dollars; and he counted them over slowly 
 five of them on the desk. 
 
 "Here are the five thousand dollars you require 
 of me, Rushton," he said, so that the others could 
 hear him. 
 
 Rushton objected in a whisper. "You needn't 
 talk quite so loud about this business. Who are 
 them guys, anyhow?" 
 
 "Oh, those gentlemen? They are merely busi- 
 ness acquaintances. I thought it best not to keep 
 you waiting," Chester replied, still in a tone that 
 the others could hear. And he added quickly : 
 "As for the receipt that is, of course, customary 
 in business transactions." 
 
 "Well, I ain't goin' to sign no receipt," Rushton 
 whispered sharply into the banker's ear. "Do I 
 get that dough or don't I? And you needn't tell 
 anybody in the bank what your answer is, neither." 
 
 "Very well; very well, lieutenant," Chester re-
 
 A NET FOR RUSHTON 205 
 
 plied, lifting his other hand away from the money. 
 "But I hope I sincerely hope that you will keep 
 silent about what happened you know. Here is 
 the money. Take it, Rushton and I hope you will 
 not venture to make any more such demands upon 
 me." 
 
 His voice was pitched quite low, and yet Rush- 
 ton was not at all' sure that it was sufficiently so for 
 the others not to hear. 
 
 He took the money greedily and thrust it into 
 one of his pockets. Then he leaned forward. 
 
 "Oh, I won't bother you no more about this af- 
 fair," he said in a low tone; and raising his own 
 voice a trifle he added: "This squares the present 
 account to date, Mr. Chester. And I promise to 
 have the rest of the work done without delay." 
 
 Then he went out of the bank, and without a 
 glance to the right or the left as he did so. 
 
 The three men who had been in the president's 
 office during the short interview stepped quickly 
 forward to the desk, examined the receipt which 
 Rushton had declined to sign, watched Chester 
 while he made an indorsement on the back of it, 
 after which all four placed their signatures under 
 that indorsement. 
 
 Immediately after that one of the three strangers 
 seated himself at the president's desk and did some 
 writing on another sheet of paper, which each of 
 the four persons likewise signed. And then the
 
 206 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 official notary public, who acted for the bank, was 
 summoned, so that each man could attest his own 
 signature. 
 
 Outside the building, when Rushton stepped from 
 the doorway to the street, there were three more 
 men who were interested in his movements. 
 
 They were posted at three of the four corners 
 of the two streets; and it would have been appar- 
 ent to anybody watching them that they were thor- 
 oughly versed in their occupations. 
 
 There is no man easier to trail in the streets of 
 New York than a professional detective. 
 
 Besides, it probably never once occurred to Rush- 
 ton that he was being trailed that afternoon. Least 
 of all would he have suspected that the occupants 
 of any one of the three taxicabs that kept within 
 sight of him for the next half hour and more was 
 particularly interested in him. 
 
 Nevertheless, when he entered a bank a mile 
 further up-town, and after making out a deposit 
 slip at one of the side desks, took his place in the 
 line before the window of the receiving teller, one 
 of those three men was directly behind him, also 
 with a bank book in one hand, from the ends of 
 which a package of bills could be seen protruding. 
 
 And another of the three had hurried through 
 the bank to the cashier's desk, while the third one 
 got into the line so that he was the third behind 
 Rushton.
 
 A NET FOR RUSHTON 207 
 
 The cashier of the bank discovered (as soon as 
 the second "shadow" spoke to him) that he had 
 business inside of the receiving teller's cage, and 
 went there; and he was there, with the receiving 
 teller and the two assistants, at the moment when 
 Rushton made his deposit and took himself off. 
 
 He was also there when the man behind Rush- 
 ton pushed his book through the window. 
 
 That book contained fifty one-hundred-dollar 
 bills; and after passing it through the window the 
 man walked on to the cashier's department and 
 waited ; and in the course of time the cashier joined 
 him and gave him a sealed envelope, which he car- 
 ried away with him ; and the envelope, fastened with 
 wax, bore the official seal of the bank, with the at- 
 tested date and hour added to it. 
 
 It would seem that the net which Chief Redhead 
 had thrown around Lieutenant Rodney Rushton 
 that day was a strong one, indeed, and would prove 
 so when the time should come to draw it. 
 
 An hour later six men reported to their chief in 
 the tall building down-town, and each party of three 
 gave into his hands a large envelope sealed with 
 wax, stamped with a bank seal, dated and attested; 
 and these the chief presently deposited in an inner 
 receptacle of a vault-like safe that was concealed 
 behind one of the walls of his private office. 
 
 "There wasn't any hitch anywhere?" he asked 
 of all of them generally.
 
 208 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "Not a one," came the reply from the foremost ; 
 and the others nodded their acquiescence in that 
 statement. 
 
 "This envelope," one of the operatives announced, 
 indicating to which one he referred, "contains the 
 affidavits of Chester, Jocelyn, Butler, and myself, 
 of all that occurred at the Centropolis Bank; and 
 this one" indicating the other "holds the five 
 marked one-thousand-dollar bills, with the affidavits 
 of the deposit and the circumstances of it, made by 
 the two receiving tellers who saw it, by the cashier, 
 and by Holt, Harper, and Perry, of all that took 
 place at the other bank. That is pretty clear and 
 clean, isn't it, chief ?" 
 
 "It's bully," was the hearty response. "Now, I 
 shall put both of these envelopes into another, larger 
 one, and seal it ; and we will all make a short, joint, 
 sworn statement on the back of it. That will be 
 clinching the nails in Rushton's coffin, I think." 
 
 When the six operatives had gone the chief 
 stepped into a closet and used a telephone that was 
 there. 
 
 "Hello, Harvard," he said over the wire. "I 
 thought I would call you up to tell you that I have 
 got the goods on Rushton at last. I have got a 
 trap already to spring at any time we want to 
 do it, and it will get him good and plenty, where 
 he can't squirm out. Never mind what it is just
 
 A NET FOR RUSHTON 209 
 
 now. I will explain it all to you in due time 
 who did it? 
 
 "Oh, your wife did most of it, Harvard. She 
 and Clancy really did it together. Surest thing 
 you know, Harvard. That wife of yours is a won- 
 der, as you will discover before long. What's that? 
 Found it out already? Nonsense! You haven't 
 found out half of it yet. No. Don't stir out to- 
 day or to-night. That talk I had with you to-day 
 helped me a lot. Stick to that cipher of Rushton's 
 and work it out. 
 
 "I think you can do it, and it will, no doubt, 
 prove of very great value in the end. All right. 
 I'll tell Clancy what you say. He will go around to 
 see you as soon as possible, but I think that you 
 had better stick close to that roof until to-morrow 
 night, anyhow. Good-by."
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 WHEN LADY KATE MADE READY 
 
 That was Tom Clancy's busy day, too, and he gave 
 very slight attention to his own business affairs. 
 
 First, he applied to the president of the Gibraltar 
 Security & Casualty Company for the bond which 
 was to guarantee the faithful performance of duty 
 as a paying teller, of one Erin Caton and because 
 the said president was Clancy's particular friend he 
 had no difficulty in obtaining it, particularly after 
 he had guaranteed the company against loss by a 
 hypothecation of some of his own securities. 
 
 Then he added to that a bond over his own name, 
 as he had promised Chester he would do, to satisfy 
 still further the directors of the Centropolis Bank ; 
 and he prepared the letters and such other papers 
 as were necessary to perfect the installation of the 
 new assistant paying teller. 
 
 He could not deny to himself, all the time that 
 he was thus engaged, that he had many misgivings 
 concerning the propriety of the act that Lady Kate 
 contemplated; but he went ahead with it, as he 
 always did with everything that he undertook to do. 
 
 Late in the afternoon, approximately at five 
 o'clock, he sought the office of the chief to tell him 
 
 210
 
 WHEN LADY KATE MADE READY 911 
 
 that everything was in readiness, and that he had 
 the papers in his pockets, ready to deliver to Julius 
 in the morning, as arranged by Katherine. 
 
 The chief heard him through without a smile; 
 and then said : 
 
 "I think, Clancy, that you had better leave those 
 papers with me and let me meet Black Julius in the 
 morning." 
 
 "Why?" Clancy demanded in surprise. 
 
 "Because my operative, Connor, has told me 
 enough of what they are up to over at the stone 
 building, to render it pretty certain to my mind 
 that you are not personally safe for a minute when 
 you are on the streets." 
 
 "Aw, get off of the pony, chief it's bucking. 
 What's the matter with you?" 
 
 "It was all fixed up between a few of them down 
 there to frame something on you, Tom, and they will 
 do it if there is a ghost of a chance particularly 
 since they have got onto Connor and given him the 
 cold mitt. His usefulness is past down there." 
 
 "So? Well, what of it?" 
 
 "Simply this : If they should pinch you some- 
 where even if it should be for only a short time 
 they'd go through you. If it happened to-night 
 they'd find those papers and that would give the 
 whole snap away." 
 
 "I'd like to know what they could frame up on 
 me, chief. Why, they wouldn't dare "
 
 212 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "My dear Tom, they will dare anything now. 
 Even I have received a delicate kind of a warning 
 in a left-handed way to-day to keep my hands off. 
 You give me those papers. I will pass them along 
 to Julius. Hand them over!" 
 
 Clancy did so reluctantly. 
 
 "I think it is all nonsense," he said, "but it is just 
 as well not to take any chances when there is so 
 much at stake. To tell you the truth, I wanted to 
 have a look at Lady Kate in her make-up before 
 she gets plumb inside of this job." 
 
 "I'll do that. She called me on the telephone an 
 hour ago. I have got an appointment with her 
 to-night. If there is an opportunity I will pass the 
 papers directly to her at that time, instead of wait- 
 ing to deliver them to Julius." 
 
 "Gee ! I wish I could see her, too." 
 
 "Well, you can't." 
 
 "I have got to be doing something, chief." 
 
 "Then make yourself busy in keeping out of the 
 clutches of Rushton and Coniglio and Masters. 
 Those are the three men who are on your trail. 
 Walk in the middle of the sidewalk when you are 
 on the street, stay indoors at night, and keep your 
 eyes peeled for a few days, Clancy. They will get 
 you if you don't." 
 
 Tom laughed, shook hands with the chief, and 
 went out. 
 
 He descended in one of the express elevators and
 
 WHEN LADY KATE MADE READY 818 
 
 spoke to the man who operated it, who had once 
 worked in the building where he had his own office. 
 
 That man remembered that the time was five- 
 forty when Mr. Clancy left the building. 
 
 Outside, he walked to a station of the elevated 
 road, because he preferred it to the subway, and 
 it was just as convenient. At the corner where 
 the station was located he encountered an acquaint- 
 ance, and stood there talking with him two or three 
 minutes. 
 
 That acquaintance happened to be one of the 
 operatives of Redhead's agency, although the fact 
 was unknown to Clancy; and he saw Tom begin 
 the ascent of the stairway toward the station. 
 
 And right there Tom Clancy passed out of sight. 
 
 At nine o'clock that evening the chief called at 
 Clancy's house, accompanied by a gentleman whom 
 he wished to introduce to Tom a man who bore 
 the name of Erin Caton; but was informed that 
 Mr. Clancy had not returned from his office, and 
 had sent no word when he would be at home. 
 
 "It looks as if they had pinched him, in spite of 
 my warnings, Mr. Caton," the chief remarked as 
 they turned away together. "But we won't have 
 to get as busy as we did in your case. There isn't 
 quite so much at stake. All the same, I will have 
 him traced from the time he left my office. It 
 won't take very long to find him."
 
 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "And in the mean time " his companion asked 
 
 him. 
 
 "In the mean time he is a man, and it won't hurt 
 him to swallow a little medicine." 
 
 "Nevertheless, I cannot help feeling anxious about 
 him, chief." 
 
 "My dear young man, they won't hurt him 
 that is, it is not likely that they will. The 'System' 
 is very anxious to get him and a certain young 
 woman of our acquaintance temporarily out of the 
 way. 
 
 "They won't be able to get hold of the young 
 woman now, because she has disappeared, and in a 
 manner which renders it utterly impossible for them 
 to get a trace of her. Clancy, it seems, they have 
 got at least that is the way it looks to me but 
 they won't be able to railroad him to prison with- 
 out my knowledge they dare not injure him, and 
 it won't do any harm to anybody to let him rest 
 for a while. So, for the present, we will let it go 
 at that. Now, let us talk about yourself." 
 
 "There isn't any more to say, is there?" 
 
 "Only this, my dear sir" and the chief chuckled 
 '"As a new employee at the bank you will be 
 watched and trailed very closely, every minute of 
 the time while you are awake, by the regular de- 
 tectives for the Bankers' Association. That is a 
 rule that is never neglected. 
 
 "So, after to-morrow morning, when you go
 
 there to work, there must be no more meetings 
 between us. Neither should you telephone to me, 
 for a time, at least. Even letters would be unsafe 
 for a week or so. Therefore, it looks to me as if 
 you would have to play the game very much alone." 
 
 "And that is precisely what I most desire to do." 
 
 "But, all the same," he continued as if he had 
 not noticed the interruption, "I shall wish to know 
 at once of anything you may accomplish." 
 
 "I will find a way to keep you informed," Lady 
 Kate told him for, of course, we know that the 
 chief's companion was Lady Kate. "If I make a 
 discovery, which I think you ought to know about 
 immediately, I will find a way to get the informa- 
 tion to you." 
 
 "Very well. I will leave it to you. Now, one 
 other point and we will part. What have you de- 
 cided to do with Black Julius during the time you 
 are located at the bank? You understand, of 
 course, that it would be unwise to keep him about 
 you?" 
 
 "Naturally. I shall send him to his brother, over 
 in Jersey. He has a brother over there who prac- 
 tises medicine during the week and is a minister on 
 Sundays." 
 
 "Julius is devoted to Mr. Harvard, is he not?" 
 
 "Absolutely so." 
 
 "Then I will suggest that you write a letter to 
 your husband to-night, which you will give to Julius
 
 216 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 to deliver. Julius will come to me, and I will show 
 him how to deliver it. In that letter you should 
 explain to Mr. Harvard that you are going to keep 
 very quiet, and also very much in one place, for a 
 time, and that you will have no need of the services 
 of the negro. I think that Harvard and myself 
 and possibly Clancy, if we find out what has hap- 
 pened to him can make good use of Julius and his 
 car." 
 
 "Very well that is understood, then. I shall 
 live in a boarding-house in Twenty-first Street," 
 she replied, giving the number. "I doubt if I shall 
 have occasion to go out at all, after dinner in the 
 evening. If you have women operatives you might 
 send one of them to call upon me from time to 
 time." 
 
 With that understanding they parted. 
 
 But the chief turned after he had taken a few 
 steps and stood watching Katherine as she swung 
 along the street with the assured stride of a man 
 whose years have accumulated a sufficient number 
 to give him supreme confidence in his ability to face 
 the world. 
 
 Her disguise was perfect, and the chief nodded 
 his approval several times while he watched her. 
 
 Truth to tell he had until he saw her that night, 
 doubted her ability to make the disguise sufficiently 
 perfect to warrant the undertaking which she had
 
 WHEN LADY KATE MADE READY 217 
 
 set herself to do; but the moment he did see her he 
 was satisfied. 
 
 Katherine had not made the mistake of attempt- 
 ing to pose as a very young man. She had adopted 
 the middle course that of a man nearing middle 
 life, who still had the appearance of youth in his 
 face. 
 
 And she neither wore a wig nor attempted to dye 
 her own hair unless a partial process of bleaching 
 could be called dyeing it. 
 
 Directly over the temples she had bleached it 
 white. 
 
 Above her forehead, where she brushed it 
 straight back after parting it well down on the side, 
 it was also white. Spectacles, rimmed with tortoise- 
 shell, altered, very considerably, the expression ami 
 naturalness of her eyes. 
 
 A very delicate, blue-black stain, lightly painted 
 upon her cheeks and jaw and chin and upper lip, 
 and put on with studied care, gave her face the ap- 
 pearance of having been shaved clean and close just 
 a little while before. Her ears, fortunately, had 
 never been pierced for ornamentation. 
 
 She wore a loose-fitting sack-suit of tweeds, well 
 padded at the shoulders, and inside the shoes, which 
 made her feet appear to be two or three sizes larger 
 than they really were, she wore a pair of heelless 
 house-slippers, from which she had cut most of 
 the tops away.
 
 g!8 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 A brown fedora hat, gloves, a cane, a striped 
 shirt, and an unostentatious tie completed her out- 
 ward appearance. 
 
 Katherine was a good actress, too. 
 
 There was nothing about her carriage or walk or 
 in any of her motions to suggest that she was other- 
 wise than what she appeared to be a man who 
 might be anywhere in the thirties, but who looked 
 even younger than that, despite his gray hairs. 
 
 He was somewhat anemic and delicate from lead- 
 ing too much of an indoor life, and who was very 
 slightly deformed, having the suggestion of the 
 beginning of a hump on his back, between the 
 shoulders, and being just a trifle chicken-breasted, 
 to offset it. 
 
 "She will do," was the mental comment of the 
 chief as he watched her go. "She would have been 
 able to fool me, or anybody else who was not look- 
 ing for a deception; and nobody will be expecting 
 that down at the bank. Her voice is all right, 
 her motions are as correct as could be, her walk is 
 perfect. She will win out, too!" 
 
 He turned away to start on again, and was 
 startled into an exclamation of surprise when he 
 discovered Bingham Harvard standing directly in 
 his path, and only a few paces away and the 
 Night Wind seemed to have been waiting for him 
 to turn around.
 
 WHEN LADY KATE MADE READY 819 
 
 "Hello, chief?" he said, smiling. "Who is your 
 friend?" 
 
 For once in his career the chief of the "best de- 
 tective agency in the world" was thoroughly non- 
 plused. He did not know how to reply, for he 
 could not tell whether Harvard had recognized his 
 own wife or not
 
 CHAPTER XXI\ 
 
 THE NIGHT WIND'S CLOSEST CALL 
 
 Fortunately, perhaps, for all concerned, the 
 Night Wind did not wait for a reply to his question, 
 which had little interest for him. 
 
 He had merely observed that another man one 
 of small stature was with the chief, and he had 
 waited in an areaway, out of sight, until the chief 
 was alone. 
 
 "I am on my way to pay a call," he announced 
 smilingly. "Save for your call upon me to-day, I 
 have slept the clock pretty nearly around. I am 
 going to see Atkinson. He is the teller now, you 
 know. He used to be my assistant." 
 
 "Where does he live? Near here?" the chief 
 asked. 
 
 "No. In the lower edge of Harlem a couple of 
 miles north of where we are now. But the walking 
 is good and I like it." 
 
 "Isn't it rather late to make such a call, Harvard ? 
 And isn't it risky, too?" 
 
 220
 
 THE NIGHT WIND'S CLOSEST CALL 221 
 
 "It isn't late, because I happen to know some- 
 thing of Atkinson's habits. His mother and old 
 maid sister will have gone to bed, and he will be 
 working out mathematical problems in the back 
 parlor of the old frame house where they live. 
 That's his hobby mathematical problems. As for 
 the risk, I don't see that there is any in this visit." 
 
 "Why are you going there, Harvard?" the chief 
 asked. 
 
 "Because I intend to make a call upon each one 
 of that bunch who were so ready to believe that I 
 stole that money, and I thought I'd tackle Atkin- 
 son first. By the way, have you seen anything of 
 Tom?" 
 
 "He called at my office about five," was the eva- 
 sive reply. "I have just been to his house, but he 
 isn't home yet." 
 
 "No? That's funny. Well there comes a cop, 
 chief. Good night." 
 
 The Night Wind wheeled in his tracks and was 
 gone. 
 
 Thirty minutes later he pulled the knob of the 
 old-fashioned door-bell at the frame house in Har- 
 lem where James Atkinson lived. 
 
 When the door was partly opened after a slight 
 delay, Harvard stepped forward quickly, pushed it 
 wider open and stepped into the lighted hall before 
 the man inside could do aught to prevent the act; 
 and at the same time he observed in the most casual
 
 222 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 manner, as if it had been his nightly habit to make 
 just such calls: 
 
 "How are you, Jim? I thought I would drop 
 around and have a chat with you." 
 
 Atkinson was made of different stuff from most 
 men. 
 
 At the bank he was surreptitiously known as 
 "Frozen- face" ; and for all the emotion it ever ex- 
 pressed, the cognomen was quite apt. 
 
 Beyond a slight but sharp intake of his breath 
 when he heard Harvard's voice and saw his face, he 
 manifested no surprise at the presence of his for- 
 mer chief. 
 
 "Come in," he said, without expression; and, 
 turning, he led the way through the hall, leaving 
 Harvard to close the door. 
 
 Bing followed him very quickly, for all that. He 
 was not entirely sure that Atkinson was alone, al- 
 though there was no other person present when they 
 entered the back parlor. 
 
 There, in the middle of the room, was a low table 
 littered with pads and torn sheets of paper cov- 
 ered with figures, where Atkinson found his chief- 
 est joys or said that he did. 
 
 It all looked as if Atkinson had been busily en- 
 gaged with his problems when he had heard the 
 door-bell; and yet Harvard had the uneasy sensa- 
 tion that another person had been present in that 
 room at the time.
 
 THE NIGHT WIND'S CLOSEST CALL 223 
 
 Besides, there was the taint of cigar smoke in 
 the air, and Harvard knew that his former asso- 
 ciate did not smoke unless he had acquired the 
 habit within the last year. 
 
 Atkinson had not offered Harvard his hand; he 
 did not do so then. Nor did he extend the cour- 
 tesy of saying, "Sit down, won't you?" or words 
 to that effect. He merely dropped upon a chair 
 himself, and said, in his usual colorless tones : 
 
 "Well, Harvard, what do you want of me?" 
 
 Bing crossed the room and turned about so that 
 he would command a view of the entire room and 
 its entrances before he replied. Even then he did 
 not sit down. 
 
 He had the feeling without in the least knowing 
 why he had it that another pair of ears than theirs 
 would be able to hear what was said in that room. 
 
 "I don't know whether Ben Mordaunt has told 
 you or not that I saw him this morning, Atkinson," 
 he said. "I came here to ask you if you believe 
 that / took that hundred and thirty-six thousand 
 dollars. But since your question to me, and the 
 manner of it, I don't have to ask." 
 
 Atkinson shrugged his shoulders without reply- 
 ing; and Harvard, studying him with narrowed 
 eyes, and bending slightly forward, said slowly, 
 more to himself than to the other man : 
 
 "I wonder, Atkinson, after all, if you stole it?" 
 
 It was established then that Atkinson could be
 
 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 roused out of that frozen calm, which was, after 
 all, a pose. 
 
 He started to his feet, fury expressed in his eyes 
 and upon his features. His lips parted, but he did 
 not speak. Evidently he thought better of what 
 he was on the point of saying. 
 
 Doubtless he suddenly recalled some of the start- 
 ling feats of amazing strength that this man who 
 faced him had performed. But he remained stand- 
 ing, and for a moment the two men eyed each other 
 in silence. Then: 
 
 "I wish, Harvard, that you would go away," At- 
 kinson said. 
 
 "I think, first, that I will, after all, insist upon an 
 answer to the question I came here to ask of you," 
 Bing replied. "Do you believe that I am guilty of 
 that theft?" 
 
 "There was evidence enough to convince any- 
 body, wasn't there?" 
 
 "That is not an answer." 
 
 "Would you have acted as you have done if you 
 had been an innocent man?" 
 
 "Neither is that an answer." 
 
 "What more do you want, I'd like to know?" 
 
 "Do you believe that I took that money, Jim 
 Atkinson ?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Since when have you believed that?" 
 
 "From the first moment after the packages were
 
 THE NIGHT WIND'S CLOSEST CALL 225 
 
 missed; from the moment that you discovered the 
 loss, if you must know." 
 
 "Since before the time when Rushton supplied 
 the supposed evidence that I did take it?" 
 
 "As far as that is concerned, I do not know to 
 this day what that evidence was only in a general 
 way. The old man has never told exactly what it 
 was, more than in a general way, and that it satis- 
 fied him. But " 
 
 "Go on, Atkinson." 
 
 "Well, I have never thought that Mordaunt took 
 it; I know that / did not: and therefore it is quite 
 apparent that you did. You are the only one who 
 could have stolen it, if we did not. It was you who 
 discovered the loss. When you did discover it you 
 said nothing to Mordaunt or to me, but instead you 
 went straight to Cheever, and with him to old Ches- 
 ter himself to report it. 
 
 "That showed that you were 'then quite wil- 
 ling to make it appear that one of us had taken it. 
 It is a lot more logical for me to believe that you 
 are guilty, now, than for you to have thought, then, 
 that either Mordaunt or I was the thief." 
 
 It was a long statement for Atkinson to make. 
 He was not given to them. Still, Harvard believed 
 that he should justify his acts that Atkinson had 
 mentioned. He passed a hand wearily across his 
 brow and said : 
 
 "It did not occur to me then that the money had
 
 226 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 been stolen. I thought that it had been mislaid, or 
 that an error had been made." 
 
 Atkinson shrugged his shoulders in a gesture 
 which said as plainly as words could have done it: 
 "You are lying now." 
 
 Harvard flushed under the wordless taunt. 
 
 "Jim Atkinson," he said slowly, "if I did not 
 know that it was next to the impossible for you 
 to have made away with those packages of bills, I 
 should be of the opinion, after your words and 
 manner to-night, that you are the thief." 
 
 He had taken a step nearer to Atkinson while 
 he was speaking. Inadvertently he had turned his 
 back toward the portieres which were draped over 
 the wide doorway between that room and the par- 
 lor in front of it. 
 
 He had forgotten for the moment his sensation 
 that he and Atkinson were not alone. 
 
 But something in the expression of Atkinson's 
 eyes made him turn, and he did so just as the huge 
 bulk of a man of great size and weight came upon 
 him with a rush and seized him with both arms 
 around his body, holding him helpless for the brief- 
 est instant. 
 
 Even in that instant Harvard recognized the man, 
 although he had never before seen him without his 
 uniform of gray. 
 
 He knew that it was Badger, the giant watchman
 
 THE NIGHT WIND'S CLOSEST CALL 227 
 
 at the bank, who was supposed to be a Goliath in 
 strength as well as in stature. 
 
 Never, in all of Harvard's experiences, had he 
 stood more in need of his own great powers of 
 muscle and physique than then, for the man who 
 opposed him and who now attacked him so viciously 
 stood five inches more than six feet tall, was built 
 in proportion, and boasted that he carried not an 
 ounce of superfluous flesh. 
 
 He was the guard outside the screen at the bank. 
 
 His huge arms, like the legs of an ordinary man, 
 wrapped themselves around Harvard in a grip that 
 made him think of a steamboat hawser around a 
 snubbing post. 
 
 And even as the grip tightened he heard Badger 
 call out to Atkinson: 
 
 "Use your telephone, Jim, and call the police. 
 I'll hold this guy. He can't get away from me." 
 
 Could he not ? 
 
 That boast of Badger's galvanized and electrified 
 every muscle and nerve that Bing Harvard pos- 
 sessed. 
 
 His arms, held helplessly at his sides for an in- 
 stant, began to swell with the strength that he 
 forced into them. They twisted and writhed be- 
 neath the pressure that the giant forced down upon 
 them. 
 
 He brought his hands up slowly but surely behind 
 Badger's back until he could lock them together,
 
 228 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 and then he squeezed with all his strength, at the 
 same moment lifting one of his feet and bringing 
 his heel down heavily upon Badger's toes. 
 
 The shock was sudden and unexpected. 
 
 For the briefest fraction of an instant Badger's 
 hold around Harvard's body relaxed with the pain 
 of it; and in that instant Harvard jerked one of his 
 own arms so nearly free that he was able to reach 
 upward, around the watchman's shoulder, and to 
 get the palm of his right hand beneath Badger's 
 chin. 
 
 The advantage of the "hold" was now trans- 
 ferred to Harvard, and he forced the giant's chin 
 upward and his head backward until he could feel 
 the arms that were around him relaxing; and then, 
 with a dexterous twist of a leg, Harvard tripped 
 him. 
 
 The crash of two hundred and sixty pounds and 
 one hundred and eighty odd falling to the floor to- 
 gether was some crash ; but the hundred and eighty 
 were on top. 
 
 Harvard, by main strength, forced his own body 
 upward and backward out of the grip of Badger, 
 and he sprang to his feet just as Atkinson rushed 
 forward toward them from the telephone to take a 
 hand in the struggle. 
 
 Harvard laughed in his face. It was an unplea- 
 sant and a dangerous laugh, too, and Atkinson 
 stopped; and Harvard sprang past him, darted
 
 THE NIGHT WIND'S CLOSEST CALL 
 
 through the hallway, and passed outside into the 
 street. 
 
 Then, as he went swiftly away, he thought, in 
 unuttered words : 
 
 "That was about the closest call I have had yet!"
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 THE "SOCIETY OF CRIPPLED COPS" 
 
 In the mean time, it is quite necessary for the 
 proper working out of the involved problems that 
 we should know something about the things that 
 happened to Tom Clancy after he had left the office 
 of the chief in that tall downtown building, shortly 
 after five o'clock that same afternoon. 
 
 For it was the ultimate focusing of the events of 
 the twenty-four hours which began with the libera- 
 tion of Lady Kate from the jail in Queens that 
 finally uncovered the trail of the real thief. 
 
 Tom exchanged greeting with the man in the 
 elevator, and spoke to his acquaintance at the cor- 
 ner near the stairs to the "L" road. 
 
 Two or three moments later, as he stepped past 
 the box of the ticket-chopper, he heard his name 
 spoken. 
 
 "This is Mr. Clancy, ain't it?" was the inquiry; 
 and Tom nodded, not recognizing the man who ad- 
 dressed him, although the features were oddly 
 familiar. 
 
 230
 
 THE "SOCIETY OF CRIPPLED COPS" 231 
 
 "You've got me guessing," he said. "Who are 
 you?" 
 
 The man chuckled. "I have shaved off my mus- 
 tache, and I'm without a uniform," he said. "I 
 guess that's why you don't know me. I'm off the 
 force, Mr. Clancy. I handed in my shield to-day." 
 
 "Still, I do not seem to remember you," Tom 
 said, and turned toward the train that was pulling 
 in at the station. 
 
 "Wait for the next train, Mr. Clancy," the man 
 suggested. "There is something that I want to 
 say to you if you will let me. My name is Comp- 
 ton. The first time I ever saw you was also the 
 first time that I ever saw the Night Wind; and 
 that was nearly a year ago. Got me now?" 
 
 "Sure," said Tom, laughing. "Speaking of the 
 Night Wind, didn't he take you out to the Bronx 
 somewhere, and drop you, a night or so ago?" 
 
 "He did, sir. That is why I handed in my shield 
 to-day. I'd have been called up for trial and I'd 
 have got the worst of it, so I thought I'd just get 
 out. I'm a joiner by trade, and a good one. I can 
 easily get all the work I want. Why, I helped to do 
 the inside work of that very bank where the Night 
 Wind used to be teller; only that was nearly ten 
 years ago." 
 
 They had withdrawn to the platform rail. Tom 
 leaned his elbows upon it. Compton stood facing 
 him.
 
 S32 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "What is it that you wished to say to me, Comp- 
 ton?" Clancy asked. 
 
 The ex-policeman glanced warily around him 
 before he replied. Then he said : 
 
 "This a'in't just exactly the place to talk about it, 
 Mr. Clancy; but say! Have you got any idea 
 how many cops Bingham Harvard has put out of 
 business since he has been 'Alias the Night Wind' ? 
 Of course, he ain't hurt nobody since he got back; 
 but I mean before he went away?" 
 
 "There ought to be quite a bunch of them," Tom 
 replied, smiling with amusement. 
 
 "There are between twenty and thirty, counting 
 in Brooklyn and the Bronx. I've got a full list of 
 them at home, but that is a close estimate." 
 
 "Well, what of it? What about it, Compton?" 
 "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. A 
 lot of them guys got together about a week ago, 
 when they heard that Lady Kate was back agc*in, 
 and before they knew that he was; and this is 
 what I'm gettin' at they have formed an associa- 
 tion. We thought- 
 Tom Clancy interrupted Compton by laughing 
 aloud and with hearty amusement; and the ex- 
 policeman, after watching him a moment, laughed 
 also, although he remarked, a trifle testily: 
 
 "Maybe it is funny only we didn't see it in just 
 that way. Maybe you remember who Lieutenant 
 Banta is or was. Do you?"
 
 THE "SOCIETY OF CRIPPLED COPS" 238 
 
 "Yes. He was one of the three who made that 
 first attempt to arrest Harvard at Chester's house 
 when he was first charged with the theft. Banta 
 was with Rushton and Coniglio. -'What about 
 him?" 
 
 "He is off the force, too same as I am. And 
 he is the one who suggested organizing this asso- 
 ciation." 
 
 "The Society of Crippled Cops!" Clancy ex- 
 claimed, laughing again. "Is that what you call it, 
 Compton 'The Society of Crippled Cops'?" and 
 he laughed again. 
 
 "No, it ain't. But it wouldn't be no lie at that. 
 But, say, Mr. Clancy, this ain't no joke that I'm 
 talkin' about. I want to tell you right now, straight 
 off of the reel, that Banta is as square as they make 
 'em, that he ain't got no use and never had any for 
 any sort of a frame-up, and that he has just about 
 made up his mind that the case against the Night 
 Wind was a frame-up. And that's why he got 
 the bunch together that has felt the weight of the 
 Night Wind's hand. And you can just understand 
 one thing about it, too, which is, that Banta hasn't 
 included all of them not by a long shot! 
 
 "Rushton ain't in it, and Coniglio ain't in it, and 
 there are a few others that ain't in it; and I only 
 got into it myself since his nibs took me out to the 
 Bronx and dropped me. And that society that you 
 make such fun of ain't out for the Night Wind's
 
 284 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 gore, either it is out for the purpose of helping 
 him to square himself. 
 
 "That's what! And in helping him to square 
 himself that* bunch of cops and ex-cops means to 
 square themselves at the same time. And they 
 ain't doing it for any particular love that they feel 
 for the Night Wind, either, but for the love that 
 they do feel for the whole blooming police force of 
 the city of New York, which is 'in' mighty bad 
 because of this business. 
 
 "They just want to prove to the satisfaction of 
 everybody that the dishonest cop is an exception, 
 and that ninety-eight or ninety-nine per cent, of 
 the police force is as fine a lot of men as ever 
 walked a street or wore a uniform. And you can 
 put that into your pipe and smoke it, Mr. Clancy !" 
 
 Compton had talked so rapidly and so excitedly, 
 but, more than all else, with such genuine earnest- 
 ness, that Tom Clancy's laughter stopped, thq smile 
 faded from his lips, and he bent forward to listen 
 to every word that the ex-policeman uttered. 
 
 It was almost unbelievable ; and yet Clancy sensed 
 the truth of it all. 
 
 "Look here, Compton," he said soberly at the 
 close of the statement, "I would like to see that 
 man Banta and have a talk with him. 
 
 "That is exactly why I wigwagged you, Mr. 
 Clancy. I thought maybe you'd like to do that 
 very thing."
 
 THE "SOCIETY OF CRIPPLED COPS" 235 
 
 "Car. I see him?" 
 
 "Surest thing you know, sir." 
 
 "When?" 
 
 "To-night within a few hours if you want to 
 go with me to do it." 
 
 "Where?" 
 
 "There is to be a meeting to-night of part of us 
 as many as can get there. I ain't at liberty to 
 tell you just where it's at, but you'll find out when 
 you get there. We will have about a dozen of us 
 present, I guess. Are you on?" 
 
 "Am I on? You bet your sweet life I'm on, 
 Compton. I wouldn't miss it for a farm. And, 
 say, I want to shake hands with you." Then he 
 hesitated a moment and added: "But what I can- 
 not understand is this just why the very chaps 
 that* Harvard has laid up or maimed or put down 
 and out should be the ones to do this thing. I'm 
 not onto those curves; not yet." 
 
 "Maybe there are a lot of reasons, when all is 
 said, Mr. Clancy," Compton replied a trifle thought- 
 fully. "Lieutenant Banta says that we all ought 
 to be thankful that the Night Wind didn't lay us 
 out cold when he had a chance, considering the fact 
 that it was us that always tackled him, and that he 
 never lit into any of us at the start. 
 
 "He says, too, that there are about nine chances 
 out of ten that the Night Wind is innocent, because 
 he claims that no guilty man has ever acted just
 
 236 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 as he has done. And he says that Rushton is a 
 crook, anyhow, and Banta knows it, althpugh he 
 can't prove it. But the whole bunch of reasons 
 boiled down into one is this that the honest cops 
 want to square themselves, and they want to make 
 it so uncomfortable for the dwhonest ones that 
 they'll get off the force. And there you are, Mr. 
 Clancy." 
 
 "That's bully, Compton perfectly bully. Here 
 comes another train. Shall we take it?" 
 
 "Not if you're going with me, sir. We will go 
 in another direction. I only chased you up the 
 stairs to tell you all of this." 
 
 "Which way, then?" 
 
 "We will take a surface car across the bridge and 
 walk a little ways after we get to the other end of 
 it But there's a couple of hours yet before we get 
 together." 
 
 "Good. Then we will go somewhere and have 
 dinner. Do the others know that you are to take 
 me to their meeting?" he asked as they descended 
 the stairway to the street. 
 
 "Nope. The idea has been suggested, but was 
 never acted upon," Compton replied. "What they 
 would like to do would be to have the Night Wind 
 himself show up at one of their confabs. And that 
 is what I thought that maybe you could arrange 
 when I made up my mind all in a minute to tackle 
 you."
 
 THE "SOCIETY OF CRIPPLED COPS" S3T 
 
 "Eh? Harvard himself?" Clancy stopped stock- 
 still in the middle of the sidewalk. "Why not?" he 
 added. 
 
 Then he turned and faced Compton, and there 
 was a dangerous look in his eyes as he said slowly : 
 "Compton, if there is anything like a trap to catch 
 him about this business I know that I will live long 
 enough to kill you for it. I know it." 
 
 Compton smiled reassuringly. 
 
 "I have been wondering why you didn't raise 
 that objection, Mr. Clancy. It is the most natural 
 one in the world under the circumstances, and you 
 haven't got anything but my word to go on. But 
 you ain't nobody's fool, and if you'll just look me 
 straight in the eyes while I'm sayin' all this I guess 
 you'll believe me." 
 
 Clancy did stare into Compton's eyes for several 
 seconds ; then he said : 
 
 "You go ahead over to Brooklyn, Compton. 
 Wait for me in the office at the Clarendon Hotel. 
 We will eat there. I will be there inside an hour 
 and a half." And he turned and ran back to the 
 elevated station, leaving Compton gaping after 
 him. 
 
 He rode only a few stations. When he descended 
 he speedily found a "vacant" taxicab, and in a very 
 short time abandoned it in the middle of a block 
 where he ordered the driver to wait. 
 
 Ten minutes after that he entered the door of the
 
 238 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "little house on the roof," where he had hoped to 
 find Bingham Harvard. 
 
 But Harvard was not there. As it happened, he 
 had gone out into the streets only a short time be- 
 fore Clancy arrived, and there was no telling where 
 he had gone nor when he might return. So Clancy 
 seized upon a sheet of paper and wrote: 
 
 DEAR BING : 
 
 If you see this in time meet me exactly at mid- 
 night, at the corner of Congress and Adams Streets, 
 in Brooklyn. If I am not there in fifteen minutes, 
 don't wait. It may be important and it may not. 
 If I think I am followed I won't show up. A new 
 wrinkle has developed. It looks all right, but it 
 may be a plant. 
 
 TOM. 
 
 He found Compton awaiting him at the Claren- 
 don when ho got there, and they went into the 
 cafe for dinner. 
 
 "Is that meeting-place of the Crippled Cops any- 
 where near here?" he asked while they were at 
 table. 
 
 "Yes," Compton replied. "It is between here 
 and Fulton Ferry; and that is all I can tell you at 
 the present time. Banta will tell you everything 
 bout it when you get together." 
 
 There was little more said between them until
 
 THE "SOCIETY OF CRIPPLED COPS" 239 
 
 > 
 
 they left the table and started for the outer door; 
 but then Clancy remarked soberly : 
 
 "Compton, I'm trusting you a whole lot if any- 
 body should ask you. I have sent word to the 
 Night Wind since our talk. Maybe I will see my 
 way clear to bring you together. I don't know yet. 
 But if any funny business develops, that society 
 of Crippled Cops will be a society of dead ones be- 
 fore we are through with you."
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 FOR THE HONOR OF THE SERVICE 
 
 "I am going to ask you to stroll slowly down the 
 street while I skip on ahead and let the bunch know 
 who's coming," Compton remarked before they had 
 traversed a block together. "What do you say 
 to that?" 
 
 "You are asking me to put a heap of trust m you, 
 Compton," Clancy replied slowly; "but I dort't 
 think anybody would want me for anything and, 
 besides, I'm taking chances to-night. Go ahead. 
 As long as I am in the game I'll play the limit." 
 
 "Keep straight ahead on this side of the street 
 until I meet you, if it takes you all the way to the 
 old ferry," Compton called back as he started. 
 
 But Clancy had not gone more than half that 
 distance when he saw Compton returning; and he 
 was all eagerness when they met. 
 
 "It's all right," he said. "Banta is there, and 
 he's mighty glad you are coming. He says it'll be 
 the first chance he has had to put himself right 
 though just what he means by that I don't know. 
 It is only a little way farther now." 
 
 240
 
 FOR THE HONOR OF THE SERVICE 24.1 
 
 "Did you tell Banta what I told you about the 
 Night Wind that I had sent word to him?" Tom 
 asked. 
 
 "No. I thought I would leave that to you. You 
 can suggest it or not, as you choose, after you have 
 seen enough of the bunch to satisfy yourself that 
 we are on the level. You can bet your bottom dol- 
 lar that / am on the level, Mr. Clancy." 
 
 "I somehow believe that, Compton, although I 
 do not see exactly why I should do so, at that. 
 Hello! Is this the place?" 
 
 "Yes. Up two flights. Denton, one of the 
 Brooklyn cops the Night Wind busted an arm for 
 him once lives here. He hasn't got any family 
 only a brother who works nights in the composing- 
 room of a newspaper; and they keep house for 
 themselves and get their grub outside, I guess." 
 
 It was one of the old-fashioned three-story brick 
 houses which may still be seen in the lower part of 
 Fulton Street, Brooklyn. 
 
 A door stood open at the top of the stairs, and as 
 Clancy approached it, slightly in advance of Comp- 
 ton, Lieutenant Banta appeared at the threshold. 
 
 "You are Mr. Clancy," he said, extending his 
 hand. "I have seen you often, although I don't 
 suppose you have ever noticed me. I used to be at 
 the Oak Street Station in the days of Ed Sleven. I 
 knew you when you were a youngster around your 
 father's office."
 
 242 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "Glad to renew the acquaintance," Tom replied, 
 accepting the proffered hand. 
 
 He glanced around the room into which he was 
 drawn and smiled grimly. Counting himself and 
 Compton, there were exactly thirteen men pres- 
 ent, and every one of them save himself had experi- 
 enced the mightiness of Bingham Harvard's 
 strength of muscle. 
 
 Banta conducted him around the room, introduc- 
 ing him to each man in turn and making some ap- 
 propriate comment as he did so, such as: 
 
 "This is Maddox, Mr. Clancy. He used to be 
 stationed at Coney Island. He hasn't much to com- 
 plain about only a crushed toe, which was well 
 long ago. This is Denton, our host to-night; he 
 had a broken arm. And this is Morris; he got a 
 black eye when the Night Wind slammed Conover's 
 head against it. It broke Conover's nose, as you 
 can see, for this is Conover sitting next to him." 
 
 And so on throughout the list. The names and 
 what happened to each one are not necessary. Only 
 it was funny or at least Tom Clancy thought so, 
 for he wore a wide grin all the way around the 
 group. 
 
 "Banta," he said when the introductions were 
 over, "if I had been suddenly taken up in an aero- 
 plane and dropped down into the tree-tops of Tim- 
 buctoo, I wouldn't have been half so much sur- 
 prised as I am at this minute. Why, these chaps
 
 FOR THE HONOR OF THE SERVICE 2 
 
 seem to be actually proud of their er what-you- 
 may-call-ems." 
 
 "Call them experiences, Mr. Clancy. They are. 
 They learned something. We are not regularly or- 
 ganized, understand. We have simply got together 
 in a common cause; and that common cause is to 
 square ourselves with ourselves and incidentally, 
 of course, with Mr. Bingham Harvard, if he is, as 
 many of us believe, innocent." 
 
 "He is, Banta. I know it," Tom replied with 
 feeling. 
 
 "And I believe it. The reason why I believe it is 
 manifold. Principally it is because I have had a long 
 experience with criminals and crooks of all de- 
 scriptions, and I have yet to know of one who 
 would conduct himself exactly as Harvard has done 
 since the beginning of this affair. 
 
 "The next most important one is that I know 
 Rushton and Rushton's methods, and while I do 
 not know anything to prove that he framed up 
 that case against Harvard, I do know that he is 
 quite capable of doing it." 
 
 "We will get the goods on him before we are 
 through with him, Banta," Tom replied. 
 
 "And this bunch here, every one, will help if 
 there are 'goods' to be delivered," was the instant 
 reply. "All the same, some of us are not entirely 
 satisfied that Harvard did not get that wad ; and
 
 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 we would like to have a straight talk with him in 
 person. How does that strike you?" 
 
 "lean see no objection provided, always, that Har- 
 vard can be convinced that you are playing fair." 
 
 "If he is the man I think he is, it won't be a very 
 difficult matter to convince him of that, Mr. Clancy." 
 
 "I am not so sure. His opinion of the police is 
 somewhat severe just at present." 
 
 "Naturally. That is what we want to remedy. 
 Do you think that you can induce him to come here 
 to see us?" 
 
 "When?" 
 
 "At any time you will fix. To-night now, if 
 he is within summoning distance." 
 
 "I will hear more of what you have to tell me 
 before I make up my mind to summon him, lieu- 
 tenant," Tom replied. 
 
 "Suppose you question me, then? What is it 
 that you wish to know further ?" 
 
 "This, first of all : What is the real reason for this 
 organization ? It is not for any especial interest you 
 have in the affairs of Bing Harvard. When all is 
 said, you chaps don't care a whoop whether he is 
 guilty or innocent. So, what is the real reason ?" 
 
 "It is for the individual honor of every honest 
 cop in the city of New York," was the straightfor- 
 ward and emphatic reply. "This getting together 
 was my idea in the first place. I found that the 
 others fell for it on the spot. We don't care a
 
 FOR THE HONOR OF THE SERVICE 245 
 
 picayune whether Bingham Harvard is Bingham 
 Harvard or John Jones ; but we do care if we have 
 been put into the position of hunting down an in- 
 nocent man, if our superior officer knew all the 
 time that he was innocent." 
 
 Tom nodded. 
 
 "I understand all that," he said. "Here is an- 
 other thing : Compton tells me that he turned in his 
 shield to-day and quit. He says that you have quit 
 also. If all that is true, what interests have you 
 still in the police department?" 
 
 "Compton can answer for himself ; or perhaps he 
 has already done so. As for me, I have served my 
 twenty years, and I have long intended to retire 
 when that was done. But I love the 'force' and a 
 lot of the men who are on it. I have got just as 
 much respect for the rank and file as I ever had. 
 
 "And here is the point, Mr. Clancy there isn't 
 any doubt whatever that a good many 'frame-ups' 
 have been worked on innocent men and women in 
 the past; but, within the knowledge of these men 
 here, there never has been a probable or even a pos- 
 sible frame-up that has attained the celebrity of 
 this Bingham Harvard case. Don't you see the 
 point I am making?" 
 
 "Go ahead I'm all attention.'' 
 
 "If the Harvard case was a frame-up, and it can 
 be proved that it was, and if the man who did the 
 'framing' can be nailed and punished as he should
 
 246 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 be, it will put the everlasting kibosh on any more 
 such practises in the New York police department. 
 And it is to the distinct personal interest of every 
 cop in New York to assist in bringing that very 
 thing about. Do you get me now?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Do you think that the Night Wind Harvard 
 will be willing to meet us and to reply to a few 
 questions we would like to ask him to his face ?" 
 
 "I do think so; yes." 
 
 "Will you undertake to arrange such a meeting, 
 Mr. Clancy?" 
 
 "I will put it up to Mr. Harvard himself." 
 
 "That is all that we can ask. You see, there are 
 several things about the affair that get our goats, 
 so to speak." 
 
 "What, for example?" 
 
 "Well, for one thing, before he went away he 
 had to spend a lot of money. Where did he get it 
 to spend, if he didn't have that dough that was 
 swiped from the Centropolis Bank? Then " 
 
 "Wait a minute, Banta." 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 "I was going to say that / could reply to that 
 question for him; but, on second thought, I'll let 
 him do it for himself. But I know this much: / 
 know that what he did spend was his own money! 
 and that it was merely an accident that he hap- 
 pened to have a large sum with him in cash that
 
 FOR THE HONOR OF THE SERVICE 247 
 
 night when he made his getaway from you and 
 Coniglio and Rushton." 
 
 "That sounds all right, only we would like to 
 hear him explain it, Mr. Clancy." 
 
 "Of course. And if you have got any more 
 such questions, keep them under your hat until I 
 bring him here before you, just so you won't think 
 that I could post him about what to expect." 
 
 "That's all right. We wouldn't think that. 
 Don't forget we are all cops, and that some of us 
 are detectives as well. We think we know some- 
 thing about men, too. Do I understand that you 
 will bring the Night Wind here to us ?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "When?" 
 
 "Soon after midnight, I think if he receives a 
 message that I left for him. That is, if you and 
 the others can wait till then," Tom replied. 
 
 Banta looked about him. 
 
 "Four of this bunch will have to go before that," 
 he said; "but there will be several others here by 
 that time to take their places. He will have about 
 the same number present as are here now. It is now 
 nine o'clock. I will expect you back here between 
 twelve and one. Is that correct?" 
 
 "Entirely." 
 
 Clancy left them soon after that 
 
 Once outside, he decided that he would not await 
 the appointment at the corner of Congress and
 
 248 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 Adams Streets, but would return to the "little house 
 on the roof" of the old warehouse, in the hope that 
 he would find Harvard there, and so hasten the hour 
 for the appointment. 
 
 And so it happened that when the Night Wind 
 returned from his somewhat exciting call upon At- 
 kinson he found Tom Clancy awaiting him with an 
 eagerness that was very quickly explained. 
 
 Nevertheless, when Clancy made known all that 
 had happened, Harvard shook his head in grave 
 doubt. 
 
 "It looks all right on the face of it, Tom," he 
 said; "but I haven't much confidence in the police, 
 and it is just as likely to be a 'plant' as not. How- 
 ever, since you approve of it, I will go there with 
 you. But, old chap, if it is a put-up job if it 
 should prove to be a trap I'll give that bunch such 
 a run for their money as they never dreamed of in 
 all their lives." 
 
 It was twelve o'clock precisely a trifle earlier 
 than he was expected when Tom Clancy rapped 
 upon the door beyond which he knew that Banta 
 and the others were awaiting the Night Wind. 
 
 And for the first time since the arrangement was 
 made Tom had misgivings of his own.
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 THE GOOD THAT MEN DO 
 
 Former Lieutenant Banta was standing expec- 
 tantly beside a small table near the middle of the 
 room, and fourteen policemen a few of them in 
 uniform, but the majority in citizen's clothes were 
 seated in various attitudes around it when Tom 
 Clancy entered in response to the summons "Come 
 in!" " 
 
 Tom was alone, and the face of Banta expressed 
 some surprise; but one glance around that room 
 and at the faces of the men who waited there satis- 
 fied Harvard's friend that there was nothing to 
 fear. He half turned about and called out: 
 
 "Come ahead, Bing!" 
 
 Bingham Harvard, alias the Night Wind, stepped 
 across the threshold and halted there, facing them 
 all. 
 
 Every man of all of them had anticipated that 
 moment and was prepared for it, and yet it came 
 in the nature of a surprise, after all. 
 
 There is no doubt that each one had wondered 
 what ne would do or say when the Night Wind 
 should actually appear and the remarkable thing 
 
 249
 
 250 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 about it was that for a brief space nobody moved 
 or uttered a word. 
 
 And then it was the Night Wind who broke the 
 odd silence. 
 
 "It strikes me, gentlemen," he said, "that this is 
 rather an unprecedented event." 
 
 Banta stepped forward quickly, with enthusiasm 
 in his face and eyes. 
 
 "Mr. Harvard," he said in his deep and resonant 
 voice, "this is one of the most satisfactory moments 
 of my entire career as a policeman. Every ques- 
 tion that we would ask you is, in effect, answered 
 by the fact of your presence. None but an inno- 
 cent man would have ventured to come here to face 
 us. I want to shake hands with you." 
 
 As they stood so for a moment, with their right 
 hands clasped together, while they looked earnestly 
 into each other's eyes, Banta remarked, half whim- 
 sically and with a friendly smile : 
 
 "Those fingers you are holding, Mr. Harvard, 
 are the same ones that you crushed for me, up at 
 Chester's house, that time when Rushton and Co- 
 niglio and I attempted to put you under arrest. 
 Perhaps it will please you to know now that not 
 one of them is a bit the worse for that expedience." 
 
 "I am very glad of that," Bingham replied sim- 
 ply. 
 
 "And there is not a man here who has not some 
 personal recollection of you of the same sort," Banta
 
 THE GOOD THAT MEN DO 251 
 
 continued. "Of course, they are not all here. There 
 are others who are on duty and could not come." 
 
 Harvard nodded. It was a trying moment He 
 did not know just what to say. 
 
 "I think," Banta went on, "that all who are here 
 would like to shake hands with you as well as I." 
 
 "I am sure that I will be mighty glad to shake 
 hands with them," Harvard replied instantly and 
 looking smilingly from face to face, "and to ask 
 one and all of them to try to forgive me for the 
 injuries I have done them." 
 
 "Forgive you !" Cregan, of the Bronx, exclaimed, 
 stepping quickly forward, while the others crowded 
 around him. "Why, I'm proud of that collarbone 
 you busted up for me ; and there isn't a guy in this 
 bunch that don't brag on the quiet of how he 
 got his" 
 
 "You wished to ask me some questions, Lieu- 
 tenant Banta," Harvard said as soon as the general 
 hand-shaking was over and the men had resumed 
 their seats. 
 
 Banta nodded. 
 
 "The necessity for the replies to them has passed 
 now," he said. "It has become merely a matter of 
 perfunctory duty. The very fact that you are here, 
 and the manner in which you have come among us, 
 satisfies every man here as to the main fact." 
 
 "Nevertheless, lieutenant, I prefer to hear the 
 questions, and to answer them."
 
 52 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "All right. Here is one: where did you get the 
 money that you have used and you have spent 
 considerable since you became an outlaw and a 
 hunted man? I have got to ask these questions 
 straight from the shoulder, you know," he added, 
 half apologetically. 
 
 "I much prefer that you should do so, lieutenant. 
 It was my own money that I spent. Perhaps all 
 of you have been informed that I do not know who 
 my parents were. I was a foundling. 
 
 "Mr. Sterling Chester took me in and cared for 
 me. He gave me the privileges of a son. He was 
 always extremely kind and affectionate to me. I 
 loved him; I love him now as well as if he were 
 my own father. Wait, please; let me finish in my 
 own way. 
 
 "From my early youth he gave me an allowance. 
 As I grew older he increased it. I was never a 
 spendthrift, nor extravagant in my tastes and de- 
 sires. I saved much of that allowance. Later, 
 after I left college where Mr. Clancy here was 
 my chum I went to work in the Centropolis Bank, 
 and as I progressed and was promoted from one 
 position to another my salary was increased. I 
 saved a great portion of it. 
 
 "Such sums as I had laid by I invested from time 
 to time in real estate in the outlying sections of the 
 city. Then, just before this thing happened to me, 
 I had arranged to take up all of those investments,
 
 THE GOOD THAT MEN DO 253 
 
 save one or two small ones, and to group them all 
 together into one big one at least I called it a big 
 one. 
 
 "It happened that my agent telephoned for me to 
 go to his office after banking hours that very day 
 that Mr. Chester asked me to go to his house in the 
 evening that afternoon before the evening of the 
 attempted arrest at his house, in which you partic- 
 ipated, lieutenant." 
 
 Banta nodded. The others were paying the clos- 
 est attention. 
 
 "I went to the office of my agent as soon as I 
 was free from the bank that day. He gave me the 
 money that was due me in cash, as is often the 
 whim and habit of real-estate dealers. It was in 
 bills, contained in a large envelope, which I put 
 into the inner pocket of my coat. It was still there, 
 lieutenant, when you and the others attacked me in 
 the library of Chester's house. The amount was 
 twenty-eight thousand four hundred and sixty-nine 
 dollars; and it represented very nearly all the sav- 
 ings as well as the accrued profits of my life up to 
 that day." 
 
 "It was almost as if fate had directed that you 
 should have that money with you, Mr. Harvard," 
 said Lieutenant Banta. 
 
 "I attribute it to a much higher power than mere 
 fate, lieutenant," Harvard replied with a smile. 
 "What is the next question?"
 
 254 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "All of the others are unimportant; possibly at- 
 tributable to curiosity and interest rather than to 
 the case itself." 
 
 "Nevertheless, ask them." 
 
 "What, in your own opinion, did become of those 
 packages of bills that were lost or stolen from the 
 bank?" 
 
 "Concerning that I am as much in doubt as any 
 person in this room." 
 
 "But you have suspicions?" 
 
 "If I have such, they have been formed since my 
 return to New York. I had not one before I went 
 away." 
 
 "Are you willing to tell us those suspicions?" 
 
 "No. They are not sufficiently direct; and my 
 own experiences demand that I shall not divulge 
 them until I am very certain that they are, in the 
 main, correct." 
 
 "Are you now engaged in an effort to discover 
 who the real culprit is?" 
 
 "Yes. That is why I returned." 
 
 "We are here to assist you in that effort, Mr. 
 Harvard." 
 
 Bingham Harvard raised his head proudly. His 
 eyes shone, and there was a suggestion of moisture 
 in them as he replied with deep feeling: 
 
 "I thank you, gentlemen. This moment, and 
 what it brings to me, repays me for all that I have 
 suffered. It does more, for it restores my confi-
 
 THE GOOD THAT MEN DO 255 
 
 dence in my fellow men and my belief that jus- 
 tice must finally triumph. I want to say now that I 
 regret more than I can express the physical inju- 
 ries I have inflicted upon so many policemen for 
 here before my eyes I can see the living proof that 
 the New York City policemen are the finest and 
 the best lot of men who were ever enlisted under 
 one direct command." 
 
 Everybody was silent for a moment after that; 
 then Harvard asked: 
 
 "Are there more questions, lieutenant?" 
 
 "I'd like to ask one!" Officer Casey exclaimed 
 from the background. "I'd like to know how the 
 blazes you do it, sir?" 
 
 "Do what?" Harvard inquired smilingly. 
 
 "Well, you chucked me down some elevated 
 steps once on a time, an' then you went up in smoke 
 or something; annyhow, you disappeared mighty 
 suddint. Rushton is called the strongest man on the 
 force; Coniglio ain't far behind him, and Lieuten- 
 ant Banta could handle anny two of us if he set 
 out to do it; yet you wance put all three of thim 
 guys in the soup at once. How'd you do it ? That's 
 what / wanta know." 
 
 "I don't know. I was born that way. The 
 strength is inherited from my unknown parents. I 
 only know that I have it, and that I am sometimes 
 afraid of it myself. It is a gift in just the same 
 way that some persons can sing while others can-
 
 not ; some can paint pictures and others cannot. 
 
 "Just in proportion, Casey, as you are stronger 
 than the average man you meet on the streets, and 
 as Rushton, Coniglio, and Lieutenant Banta are 
 stronger than you are, so have I been given more 
 physical strength than they possess." 
 
 "How did you get from Boston to New York, 
 once, when there wasn't any train to bring you?" 
 Brainard, of the Forty-third, asked. "That was 
 the time when you took my gun and stick away 
 from me at the corner of Park Avenue and One 
 Hundred and Twenty-eighth Street. How did you 
 do that?" 
 
 "I came on the fast mail, which carries no pas- 
 sengers. I rode all the way over between the en- 
 gine tender and the first car, which was 'blind.' 
 That was easy, although it was uncomfortable." 
 
 "How did you get here, the other day, from the 
 steamship Golgotha when she was somewhere be- 
 tween Fire Island and Sandy Hook?" Lieutenant 
 Banta asked, smiling. "I confess that that has 
 puzzled me." 
 
 "I was not aboard the Golgotha, lieutenant. I 
 left the other side two days after Mrs. Harvard 
 sailed. I came on the Pretoria. I arrived here four 
 days after she did. That cablegram that I showed to 
 the inspector, if you know about that, was faked 
 for the purposes of that little joke. So, you see, 
 there is nothing supernatural about it after all."
 
 THE GOOD THAT MEN DO 257 
 
 "Well, Mr. Harvard, we have done with the 
 questioning. We are all in line to help you to 
 square yourself, because we want to square our- 
 selves. There are some of us here who are going 
 to work on the inside of that thing that you call 
 the 'system' to that end. I am one of them; and, 
 now that I have retired, I am in a position to do 
 perhaps more than I otherwise could. Are you 
 willing to keep in touch with us with me?" 
 
 "Most certainly. I " 
 
 "Hold on a minute, Bing!" Tom Clancy inter- 
 rupted him. "I have held my breath so long that 
 I'll bust if I don't let it out." 
 
 He turned toward Banta. 
 
 "I have been thinking of a plan since this confab 
 began," he said. "I have decided to stick with 
 Harvard from this out until the game is finished. 
 I need a vacation, anyhow. 
 
 "I'm going to let a few friends of mine worry 
 about me, thinking that I have disappeared. / will 
 keep in touch with you, Banta, and I will put some 
 others in touch with you, too. We won't lose any 
 tricks, either. How does that strike you?" 
 
 "Very favorably, Mr. Clancy," was the reply. 
 
 "All right. Then I'll give you a pointer. You 
 get busy down at headquarters, and find out exactly 
 the method that Rushton used in that frame-up. 
 And you can do it. And if you can get anything 
 on the inspector in the mean time get it!"
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 I THE GREAT WHITE LIGHT 
 
 "Say, Chester, who is that new guy you've got 
 inside of the payin'-teller's cage?" 
 
 Rushton had walked into the bank and through 
 it.directly to the office of the president, shortly after 
 one o'clock on the second day of Lady Kate's in- 
 cumbency as an assistant teller under the name of 
 Erin Caton. 
 
 He had barely glanced toward the cage as he 
 passed it. One would have supposed that he had 
 not noticed the presence of a new employee there. 
 Nevertheless he seemed to be thoroughly aware of 
 the fact. 
 
 The thing that Chester noticed concerning him, 
 however, was an utter absence of the half reluctant 
 and partly respectful formality with which Rush- 
 ton had addressed him heretofore. Since the ex- 
 periences in Queens County and the payment of 
 the five thousand dollars the lieutenant's manner 
 toward the president of the Centropolis Bank had 
 undergone an entire change. 
 
 258
 
 THE GREAT WHITE LIGHT 259 
 
 "He is the new assistant paying-teller," the 
 banker replied. "We have been short-handed since 
 the Harvard affair. Why do you ask?" 
 
 "Oh, nothin'. Only you wanta look out that he 
 don't get into you for a wad, the same as Harvard 
 did. That's all. It ain't always safe to put a new 
 man into a responsible job like that, is it? I 
 thought you boosted 'em from one place to an- 
 other." 
 
 "We do, as a rule. However, Mr. Caton is very 
 highly recommended." 
 
 "Caton's his name, eh ? Why don't you call him 
 in here and let me look him over?" 
 
 "That would be quite an unnecessary proceed- 
 ing, lieutenant. Why should you want to look him 
 over, as you express it?" 
 
 "Oh, just to take his measure. If I am going to 
 keep tabs for you on things down here, it's just as 
 well to start in right, you know." 
 
 "But I was not aware that you were going to 
 perform any such service for me, Mr. Rushton." 
 
 "Wasn't you?" Rushton grinned. "I guess if 
 you think about it a minute you will remember that 
 we made that arrangement the other mornin' when 
 we took that ride together. You don't mean to tell 
 me that you have forgotten it, Chester?" he de- 
 manded in mock surprise. 
 
 "I haven't the slightest recollection of " 
 
 "Say, now, look here, what's the matter with
 
 260 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 you? Of course you remember when you stop to 
 think about it. I was to keep tabs generally on 
 everything that's doin' around the bank and to 
 give you all the spare time I could from my regular 
 duties down below, and act as a sort of 'specially 
 privileged detective right along, and you was to 
 pay me the small sum of twenty-five hundred a 
 year for doin' it. See?" 
 
 Chester could only stare his amazement 
 
 His wit was nimble enough so that he instantly 
 comprehended that Rushton was indulging in an- 
 other form of "touch," cloaked although it was 
 in a pretense of a previous business arrangement. 
 
 There were so many emotions in his mind at the 
 moment that it would have been difficult even for 
 himself to have told which one was uppermost 
 disgust, anger, or outraged dignity that he should 
 be compelled into juxtaposition with such a char- 
 acter as Rushton was fast proving himself to be. 
 
 If Rodney Rushton had put down on the desk in 
 front of Chester the proofs of his own "frame- 
 up" against Bir.gham Harvard they would not have 
 been more convincing to the exact mathematical 
 mind of the banker than the revelation of Rush- 
 ton's true character as it gaped him in the face at 
 that moment. 
 
 And, oddly enough, it brought him the first sense 
 of real relief, the first emotion of joy, that he had
 
 THE GREAT WHITE LIGHT 261 
 
 experienced during all the year and more since his 
 loss of faith in Harvard. 
 
 He raised his eyes slowly to Rushton's face, and 
 if they had been X-ray eyes the banker could not 
 have seen more clearly into the fleshless skeleton 
 of the police lieutenant's character. 
 
 Sterling Chester, according to his own methods 
 of business life, was as shrewd and deft in the 
 manipulation of affairs as anybody. Given a propo- 
 sition which required only the exercise of his own 
 judgment for a decision, it was a rare thing in- 
 deed when that judgment was wrong. It was only 
 when he was forced to rely upon the judgments of 
 others as in police matters, or anything extrane- 
 ous to his own business, for example that he 
 erred. 
 
 The condition at that moment and it all came 
 with the suddenness of a flash of light was as if 
 Bingham Harvard had been standing before him 
 covered from head to feet in a cloak of guilt and 
 Rushton had sprung into the room and torn the 
 cloak aside. And yet the steady calmness in the 
 mildly cold eyes of the banker never wavered for 
 an instant while he looked into the police lieuten- 
 ant's eyes. 
 
 Rushton saw nothing, realized nothing, of what 
 was passing in the banker's mind. 
 
 Not once, in all the effort that Bingham Har- 
 vard and his friends were making to establish his
 
 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 innocence, had so great a step forward been made 
 as that one which Rodney Rushton inadvertently 
 compelled the banker to take at that moment. 
 
 Sterling Chester suddenly knew that Bingham 
 Harvard was innocent. 
 
 It was not belief merely; it was knowledge. 
 
 As one may gaze upon a moving picture while 
 it is thrown upon a screen before one's eyes, so 
 Chester saw revealed the moving drama of his own 
 misjudgments of his foster-son as they had been 
 enacted during the past year; and yet not a trace 
 of all this showed upon his face or in his eyes. 
 
 Nor, in spite of all this explanation that has been 
 given here, was there a noticeable hiatus in the con- 
 versation between the two men. 
 
 If the banker appeared to hesitate while he 
 searched for a reply to Rushton's remarkable state- 
 ment, it was but a natural hesitation under the 
 circumstances; or, at least, the lieutenant so re- 
 garded it. 
 
 When the banker did reply it was with the calm 
 directness which might be expected of him. 
 
 "Let me understand you perfectly if that is 
 possible, Rushton," he said coldly. "I will make 
 no pretense of recalling a conversation which never 
 occurred between us; but I do hear, and under- 
 stand also, all that you have just said. Stated as 
 a plain, cold fact, the situation is this: In order to 
 avoid the unpleasant possibilities which might
 
 THE GREAT WHITE LIGHT 263 
 
 arise if you choose to reveal the circumstances of 
 my call at the jail in Queens County, I must hence- 
 forth pay you the sum of twenty-five hundred dol- 
 lars a year for some sort of pretended service 
 which you will be supposed to perform for me at 
 this bank or in connection with it. Is that correct?" 
 
 Rushton never batted an eye. 
 
 "Oh, I will perform the services right enough, 
 when there are any to perform," he replied. 
 
 "Nevertheless, in the main my statement is cor- 
 rect, is it not?" 
 
 Rushton nodded, and there was a perceptible 
 sneer on his face. 
 
 "You have just received five thousand dollars 
 from me to pay for silence on your part. I had 
 supposed that that ended the matter. Now you 
 come here and demand an additional sum which 
 amounts, approximately, to fifty dollars a week. 
 How long a time will it be before you make further 
 demands upon me, lieutenant?" 
 
 "Aw, there won't be any more, Chester. That 
 five thousand was a retainer. This here twenty- 
 five hundred a year is to be my regular salary 
 and I'll earn that; you see if I don't. Only, it's 
 got to go, and that settles it." 
 
 "Very well. If I must, I must, I suppose. How 
 do you want it paid to you?" 
 
 Rushton's eyes gleamed avariciously. He had not 
 anticipated quite such an easy victory as this was.
 
 264 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 The very ease of it should have warned him, but 
 it did not. 
 
 "You just now arranged for that part of it when 
 you said something about payin' me fifty a week," 
 he replied. 
 
 "Then, if you come here every Saturday " 
 
 "Make it Mondays, Chester." 
 
 "Very well; if you come to me here every Mon- 
 day I will pay over to you the sum of fifty dollars. 
 Is that understood? And also that there will be 
 no further demands made upon me?" 
 
 "Sure." 
 
 "Because there is a limit to my endurance. And 
 now, if you will glance behind you, you will dis- 
 cover that there are two gentlemen outside the rail 
 waiting to see me; so I will ask you to excuse me." 
 
 "Oh, I'll go in a second or so. Don't you want 
 me to take a look at that young fellow you call 
 Caton first?" 
 
 "No. It is not necessary." 
 
 "All right. Just as you say. I'll take a squint 
 at him through the window of the cage as I pass 
 outside. That'll do just as well." Rushton got 
 upon his feet. "I guess we'd better shake hands 
 on it, Chester," he said, extending his own, which 
 the banker pretended not to see. "Shake hands, 
 Mr. Chester," Rushton repeated, and there was a 
 suggestion of menace in his tone. "There's a few
 
 THE GREAT WHITE LIGHT 865 
 
 guys lookin' this way, and it won't do no harm to 
 have 'em see us part real friendly." 
 
 Chester rose to his feet. For an instant he per- 
 mitted his right hand to rest limply upon Rushton's. 
 Then, as the lieutenant went from the office, the 
 president turned and actually hurried into his pri- 
 vate lavatory, where he let the cold water run upon 
 his hands for several minutes. 
 
 The despatch with which he transacted the busi- 
 ness of those waiting men was unusual with him; 
 and they sensed that there was something new and 
 eager in the banker's manner and attitude. There 
 was a new light in his eyes, an unusual alertness 
 in his methods, which they regarded as unusual 
 Had they but known it, Sterling Chester had not 
 been so happy as then for more than a year; be- 
 cause he knew that Bingham Harvard was inno- 
 cent. 
 
 As soon as the business of the moment was 
 dismissed Chester pressed a button beneath the edge 
 of his desk and directed that the new assistant 
 paying-teller be requested to come to the president's 
 office immediately. 
 
 Then he leaned back in his chair and waited, and 
 there was an unusual and unreadable expression 
 upon his kindly face that had been absent from it 
 for a long, long time. 
 
 Lady Kate, when she received the summons, ex- 
 perienced a thrill of consternation. She had seen
 
 266 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 Rush ton pass into the bank and out of it again. 
 She knew that he had stopped near the window in 
 going out and had stared long and hard at her 
 through the screen of steel. She wondered if he 
 had penetrated her disguise. 
 
 "Don't be afraid of the old man, Caton," Mor- 
 daunt cautioned as she started away. "His bark 
 is worse than his bite as a rule." 
 
 Nevertheless, she entered the private office in 
 some perturbation; and the first remark addressed 
 to her by the president was not calculated to allay 
 her uneasiness. 
 
 "Mr. Caton," he said, leaning back in his chair 
 and putting the tips of his fingers together, as was 
 a habit with him when he was very much in 
 earnest, "certain matters have just been brought 
 to my attention which renders it necessary for me 
 to question you somewhat closely concerning your- 
 self and your employment in this bank. I must 
 know, and at once, exactly who and what you are, 
 and precisely what you expect to accomplish while 
 you are here with us. Be seated, Mr. Caton."
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 FINDING A BANKER'S HEART 
 
 Lady Kate gasped inwardly; but she stuck to 
 her guns just the same. 
 
 "I supposed, sir/' she replied coolly, notwith- 
 standing the fluttering that was going on inside of 
 her, "that the letter I brought to you, and the other 
 papers, sufficiently explained all that." 
 
 "For your purposes as they stood an hour ago, 
 and for my own part they did," he went on mildly. 
 "But things have happened in the last half-hour or 
 so which entirely change my attitude toward you 
 and your reason for being here. You are, as I 
 was led to understand, a detective. Is that cor- 
 rect?" 
 
 "In the main it is. I am acting in that capacity, 
 sir. Of course, you were made fully aware of that 
 fact before I came here at all." 
 
 "Naturally. I was forced into receiving you here 
 as an employee. I deeply resented that fact, al- 
 though I was powerless to prevent it. Just now 
 I find myself inclined to be glad that you are here." 
 
 267
 
 S68 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 Katharine was more puzzled than ever, but she 
 wisely kept silent. 
 
 "As I look at you closely," the banker went on 
 in that same mild tone, "I find a suggestion of 
 familiarity in your features, although I cannot for 
 the moment place it. But it really makes no differ- 
 ence. I assume, for reasons well known to each 
 of us, that you are more or less well acquainted 
 with Mr. Thomas Clancy. Is that correct?" 
 
 "It is." 
 
 'And with Mr. and Mrs. Bingham Harvard as 
 well? You need have no hesitation in answering." 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "Could you communicate with either of the two 
 persons I last named?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Will you undertake to convey a message to 
 one or both of them from me?" 
 
 "Yes as soon as it may be convenient and ex- 
 pedient to do so." 
 
 "Please say to them, then, that I have this day 
 become absolutely convinced of the entire innocence 
 of Bingham Harvard in the matter of those missing 
 three packages of money." 
 
 Lady Kate started to her feet. For the moment 
 she forgot utterly the part she was playing; and 
 yet she did not betray herself. 
 
 "Oh!" she exclaimed and sat down again. 
 
 The banker continued in that same low, even
 
 FINDING A BANKER'S HEART 269 
 
 tone of finality which left no doubt in the mind of 
 Lady Kate of his entire sincerity: 
 
 "It is not necessary that I should explain now 
 just how this certain knowledge has come to me. 
 I doubt if I quite understand it myself. In fact, 
 I believe that in my heart I have known it all the 
 time, and that I only needed a shock of some sort 
 to uncover it. But it has been given to me to-day 
 to see it all very clearly. I realize the sad mis- 
 takes I have made the almost inexcusable mis- 
 judgments of which I have been guilty. And I 
 will not attempt now or here to excuse them. I 
 have called you into my private office to say to 
 you that I now stand ready to give you every aid 
 in my power in discovering the real thief or thieves. 
 Is all that quite clear to you, Mr. Caton?" 
 
 Lady Kate nodded. She could not have spoken 
 just then to save her life. 
 
 "Will you undertake to convey to Mr. and Mrs. 
 Harvard the full purport of all that I have said on 
 the subject?" 
 
 She nodded again, and still she found it difficult 
 to reply in words. She wanted to leap to her feet, 
 to throw her arms around the old man's neck and 
 kiss him, to rush from the bank and fly to her hus- 
 band, to tell him the wonderful news of the mira- 
 cle that had been wrought and yet she had to sit 
 calmly in her chair in her masculine character,
 
 870 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 while every feminine impulse within her struggled 
 to reach the surface. 
 
 She did not know that her face flushed, and then 
 grew pale, only to flush up again with the suc- 
 ceeding instant. 
 
 She did not realize how intently the banker was 
 regarding her; how he bent forward in his chair 
 to get a closer and a better view of her face and 
 eyes; and she thought it strange that he left his 
 chair, crossed to the door of the directors' room, 
 and called to her to follow him. 
 
 He closed the door as soon as they had passed 
 beyond it. Then he turned and faced her. 
 
 "This information has been too much for you 
 as it almost was for me," he said, with a kindly 
 smile on his face. "It has made you betray your- 
 self, Mrs. Harvard. You are a brave young woman, 
 indeed, to undertake such a task as this. Bingham 
 might well be proud of you as I am also." 
 
 He extended his hand, and she grasped it with 
 both of her own; and so they stood for a passing 
 moment or two in silence. Then, with a whimsical 
 smile on his face, which had become oddly trans- 
 figured since the door was closed, he said: 
 
 "I shall be glad to welcome you as a daugh\er 
 whenever it shall please you to come to me al- 
 though I must confess that you have not much 
 the appearance of a daughter just now. Your
 
 FINDING A BANKER'S HEART 271 
 
 disguise is perfect. But for the emotion which you 
 could not hide I would not have penetrated it." 
 
 "Please tell me what has happened to bring about 
 this miracle," she asked, smiling happily. 
 
 "I cannot. I don't know. As I said a little while 
 ago, I think I have known it all along, but would 
 not admit it even to my inner consciousness. Rush- 
 ton has laid bare his true character. I have looked 
 upon it, stripped of all concealment. Bankers are 
 mathematical creatures. Two and two make four 
 with them always never more nor less. That very 
 fact is possibly my excuse if there can be one 
 for the attitude I have persevered in so long. The 
 mask was suddenly pulled aside from the search- 
 light of truth, and I saw it revealed. I am happier 
 at this moment, Mrs. Harvard, than I have been 
 for more than a year. You and Bingham must 
 come to my desolate home at once and make it 
 your own. I will straighten out this tangle " 
 
 "You forget, Mr. Chester," she interrupted 
 him, "that the thief has not been found." 
 
 "We will find him in good time. Just now " 
 
 "Bingham can never appear in the open; he can 
 never again hold his head high among men until 
 his innocence is established to all the world. There 
 are others than yourself to be convinced, sir." 
 
 'Yes, yes, that is true. I was forgetting all that" 
 
 "But you must not forget." 
 
 "No. You are right." The banker was silent
 
 S72 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 a moment, then: "Will you tell me what you ex- 
 pected to accomplish by your presence here in the 
 bank?" 
 
 "Yes," she replied, and her eyes took on a dreamy 
 expression as she raised them toward the embossed 
 and figured and ornately decorated ceiling over 
 their heads, in an effort at concentration. That 
 ceiling was a continuation of the one outside which 
 canopied the greater room of the bank proper. 
 
 "Well?" Chester asked her. 
 
 "I expected," she answered slowly, "to find out 
 how those three packages of bills were removed 
 from the paying teller's cage. I hoped to be able 
 to discover the method by which they were taken. 
 I have believed all along that if that much were 
 made clear, the next step that of rinding out who 
 did it would be a simple one." 
 
 "You have been here two days, very nearly. Has 
 anything developed yet?" 
 
 "Nothing." 
 
 "Do you know of any way in which I can be 
 of assistance to you without making that fact ap- 
 parent to others to the guilty party or parties, 
 for example?" 
 
 "No. Just at this moment I do not. But, now 
 that I am assured of your aid, all things are made 
 possible." 
 
 "Have you in mind any plan by which "
 
 FINDING A BANKER'S HEART *78 
 
 She started eagerly, and he stopped with the 
 <juestion incomplete. 
 
 "Well?" he said. 
 
 "Your words suggested something to me, Mr. 
 
 Chester. I wonder Can you tell me when this 
 
 building was erected?" 
 
 "Certainly. Ten years ago." 
 
 "Were you here then? Were you president of 
 the bank at that time?" 
 
 "Yes; I have been its president a much longer 
 time than that." 
 
 "A moment ago you made use of the word 'plan,' 
 although with a different meaning than I will now 
 apply to it. Have you got in your possession now, 
 or can you procure for me, the architect's plans 
 all of them elevations, sections, everything that 
 were finally accepted and approved for the con- 
 struction of this building in every detail?" 
 
 "Most assuredly. They are " 
 
 "It does not matter where they are. Will you 
 get them for me and let me have them in my pos- 
 session before I sleep to-night?" 
 
 "I will take them to my home with me when I 
 go there after the bank has closed. You may 
 come there if you will this evening at any hour that 
 best suits your own convenience. I should per- 
 haps inform you that there are certain secrets con- 
 nected with those plans which are known only to 
 myself as the president and to a few of our most
 
 27* RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 important directors secrets which the cashier does 
 not know which no man who is employed on the 
 main floor of the bank is aware of. It is so with 
 all banking institutions of the first class which have 
 erected modern buildings." 
 
 Katherine nodded. "That is exactly why I wish 
 to study them," she said; and added: "I probably 
 will not go to your house alone, Mr. Chester." 
 
 "If you will bring Bingham with you " he 
 
 began, but she interrupted him. 
 
 "I am not sure that I can do that. I have not 
 decided. He does not know of this disguise of 
 mine. He has no suspicion of what I am doing. I 
 would ask Mr. Clancy to go with me if I were sure 
 that I could find him in time. All of that will de- 
 pend upon circumstances. But there is at least one 
 man whom I will want to have with me. I refer 
 
 now to " And she mentioned the name of the 
 
 man whom we have identified through these pages 
 as Chief Redhead. 
 
 "Bring whomsoever you will," Chester replied. 
 "And come to the house whenever you will after 
 eight o'clock and before midnight. And now, Mr. 
 Caton" he smiled happily "I think it is time 
 that you returned to your duties. You may tell Mr. 
 Atkinson that I want him in my office, if you 
 please." 
 
 "Surely, Mr. Chester, you do not intend to con- 
 fide in him, or in anybody, regarding what has
 
 FINDING A BANKER'S HEART 275 
 
 passed between us?" Katherine exclaimed in sud- 
 den alarm. 
 
 "Indeed, no. I shall tell him that I have had a 
 long talk with you, and that I believe you are going 
 to serve us well ; but that I wish him to keep rather 
 a sharp lookout upon you for a time, for all that. 
 Afterward I shall send for Mr. Mordaunt and tell 
 him the same thing. Otherwise they might regard 
 this extended interview between us as unusual, to 
 say the least." 
 
 At the door Katherine paused and addressed the 
 banker again. 
 
 "How shall I ever thank you enough, Mr. Ches- 
 ter?" she asked, with a suggestion of moisture in 
 her eyes. 
 
 "By inducing Bingham to find it in his heart to 
 forgive me, by assuring him that I am hungering 
 for his old-time affection for me and by trying 
 for yourself to give a little love to an old man 
 whose heart is in the right place, even if his head 
 does go wrong sometimes," the banker answered 
 promptly.
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 
 THE CIPHER 
 
 It developed that Lady Kate was obliged to go 
 quite alone to the banker's home that night, and 
 thereby hangs not one but several tales. 
 
 She recalled for one thing the caution that the 
 chief had given her in regard to using the telephone 
 during the first days of her incumbency. 
 
 Also, when she came away from the bank after 
 her duties for the day were over, she was deeply 
 concerned to discover the ominous presence of 
 Rushton, who had posted himself at one of the op- 
 posite corners, and who, she did not doubt, was 
 twaiting her appearance. 
 
 An encounter with Rushton had been the one 
 thing which she most dreaded when she undertook 
 to impersonate a man at Chester's bank, for Lieu- 
 tenant Rushton, with all his crookedness, was 
 shrewd and keen and able. 
 
 Katherine had not a doubt that if she were com- 
 pelled to stand face to face with him he would see 
 
 276
 
 THE CIPHER 277 
 
 through her disguise at once. She had known 
 enough about him when she was down at head- 
 quarters to be aware that he possessed in no small 
 degree that talent which is known to the police 2s 
 the "camera-eye." 
 
 She trembled inwardly lest he would cross the 
 street and attempt to speak to her; but he did not 
 do that. He contented himself by merely trailing 
 along after her and for what reason, or why he 
 should take it upon himself to watch her at all, she 
 could not attempt to guess. 
 
 She went directly to her boarding-house in 
 Twenty-first Street, and, although she was not able 
 after that to see him from any of the windows, she 
 was nevertheless certain that he was on the watch, 
 or that he had arranged for another man to do the 
 watching for him. 
 
 Twice she went to the telephone with the inten- 
 tion of calling up the "chief," but each time aban- 
 doned it; and at last she determined to remain 
 quietly in her own room until ten o'clock, or about 
 that time, and then to summon a taxi and have her- 
 self driven boldly to the banker's house. She would 
 get possession of the plans in that way, and would 
 trust to the opportunities of the morrow to pass 
 them along to the chief. 
 
 In the meantime, as it developed later, the chief 
 would not have been at his office to receive a mes- 
 sage had she sent one, because a little before three
 
 278 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 in the afternoon he had been called on the tele- 
 phone by quite another person, and had gone out 
 soon after that. 
 
 His first destination was the "little house on the 
 roof" of the warehouse, and when he had climbed 
 to it and tapped against the door he did not seem 
 at all surprised to find Tom Clancy, as well as Bing- 
 ham Harvard, apparently awaiting him. 
 
 "We thought you would do one thing or the 
 other, chief" Tom grinned at him "telephone or 
 come here yourself. You were so dead certain that 
 I would be gobbled up by the cops, and have some- 
 thing framed on me and be sent away, that I 
 thought I'd let you sweat for a while over my dis- 
 appearance. That is why I persuaded Bing not 
 to say anything about my being here when you 
 called up at noon to-day. What's on your mind?" 
 
 "I have been talking on the telephone with 
 Banta," he replied, as he settled himself on a chair 
 and lighted a huge black cigar. 
 
 "Oh then you are wise to the game, are you?" 
 
 "Partly. I want you and Harvard to tell me the 
 rest of it. I would like to know everything that 
 occurred. But, first, I will tell you this: Banta 
 told me that he has seen and talked with both of 
 you. He says that he is working now in Harvard's 
 favor and he says a lot more which it is not neces- 
 sary for me to repeat. The main point is this : He 
 wants me to meet him and a retired cop named
 
 THE CIPHER 279 
 
 Compton in room 1046 of the Hotel Mammoth at 
 half past eight o'clock to-night. Get that?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Harvard, I'll take your judgment rather than 
 Clancy's. Banta says that he has got something of 
 vital importance to tell me something that Comp- 
 ton has told him. Now, in your opinion, how far 
 can I trust that chap Banta?" 
 
 "To the limit, I should say," Harvard replied 
 without hesitation. 
 
 "You mean that?" 
 
 "Yes. Listen!" And the Night Wind recited 
 in detail the story of the "society of crippled cops" 
 and of his interview with them in Brooklyn. 
 
 But the chief shook his head in doubt, even after 
 he had heard the story through. 
 
 "That's a foxy bunch," he said. "The whole 
 thing has a sound that is too good to be true. The 
 inspector is a long-headed proposition, and it would 
 be just like him to put up this sort of a job. Any- 
 how, I am going to room 1046 at half past eight 
 to find out what this wonderful news is about." 
 
 "I would like to hear it, too," Harvard said. 
 "Why not send word to Banta and Compton to 
 come down here instead?" 
 
 "And give away your hiding-place?" 
 
 "I will trust both of them, chief, to the limit, 
 as I said a moment ago." 
 
 "All right. "I'll take a chance if you will. You
 
 g8Q RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 have seen them and talked with them; I haven't. 
 Say, Clancy?" 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 "Suppose you chase yourself up to the Mam- 
 moth and find them ? They were in that room when 
 they telephoned to me, and are probably there now. 
 If they are not you can wait around until they show 
 up. You can bring both of them down here as 
 soon as it is dark." 
 
 "Are you going to stay here yourself until I get 
 back?" Tom asked, rising. 
 
 "Yes. I want to go over that cipher memoranda 
 of Rushton's that Harvard has been working on. 
 I'll slip out presently and bring in something to eat ; 
 and, anyhow, we will have enough to talk over to 
 keep us busy. Don't bring them here till after dark ; 
 that's all." 
 
 As soon as Tom was gone Harvard brought out 
 the cipher upon which he had been working and 
 spread the papers on the table. From among them 
 he selected one sheet which he had captioned at 
 the top with the word "Recapitulation." 
 
 "You can put all the others in your pocket, 
 chief," he said. "I'm not going to bother you 
 with the details. You can go over them at your 
 leisure. The cipher is very simple and easy to 
 work out, save for a few arbitrary signs ; and those 
 arbitrary signs in each case refer to the names of 
 persons without a doubt."
 
 THE CIPHER 281 
 
 "Go ahead," the chief replied. "Give me the 
 summary of it all." 
 
 "First, then: Within ten days after those pack- 
 ages of money were taken from the Centropolis 
 Bank Rodney Rushton made significant deposits 
 of cash in four different banks in this city the 
 banks that you already have a list of." 
 
 "All right. Fire away, Harvard!" 
 
 "The four deposits were made two days apart 
 the first one was two days after we lost the money, 
 the last one was ten days after it. Those four de- 
 posits were in sums of seventeen thousand dollars 
 each. Four times seventeen are sixty-eight, and 
 sixty-eight is one-half of one hundred and thirty- 
 six. The amount of money lost in those three stolen 
 packages was one hundred and thirty-six thousand 
 dollars. Does that mean anything to you, chief? 
 Does that suggest anything?" 
 
 "By jingo, Harvard, I should say so!" 
 
 "It looks to me, chief, as if Rodney Rushton 
 knew that that money was to disappear before it 
 was stolen. It looks to me as if he claimed half of 
 all of it as his share of the theft. How does it 
 look to you?" 
 
 "It looks good to me, if anybody should ask 
 you. Rushton got the money; that's a lead-pipe 
 cinch. Anyhow, he got half of it and soaked it 
 away. But, Harvard, it is a sure thing that he 
 didn't steal it out of the cage. Who did that?"
 
 282 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 Harvard referred to his "Recapitulation," and re- 
 plied : 
 
 "A person who is referred to here as *Z. G. f got 
 eighteen thousand, a person known as 'K. N.' got 
 twenty-five thousand, as also did another individ- 
 ual who is entered under the letters *S. X.' ' 
 
 "And you have no idea as to whom those initial 
 letters may refer?" 
 
 "None. They are evidently used arbitrarily." 
 
 "Do not any of them suggest to you the name of 
 any person who is employed at the bank?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "What else have you got there on that sheet of 
 paper ?" 
 
 "Oh, records of other deposits that Rushton has 
 made from time to time. He has evidently been 
 grafting in all directions. Here, take it and put it 
 in your pocket with the rest of them. We are not 
 much nearer the real goal than we were before 
 unless I should pick Rushton up in my arms some 
 fine night and carry him off to a secluded spot and 
 make him talk. I might scare him into telling me 
 the whole thing." 
 
 "No. You could not do that. I have got a list 
 of all the employees at the bank at my office. I 
 will go over it when I get a chance. These initial 
 letters have some, more or less, direct reference 
 to names. They would not be entirely arbitrary." 
 
 "Here is a list that I have made from memory,"
 
 THE CIPHER 283 
 
 Harvard said. "Suppose you light a fresh cigar 
 and sit over there in the corner and try it out now." 
 
 It was ten minutes to nine o'clock that evening 
 when Clancy reappeared, and he brought Banta and 
 Compton with him. The Night Wind and the chief 
 had used up the intervening time in going over and 
 over Rushton's figures and memoranda and also 
 in eating heartily of food which the chief went 
 outside to procure. 
 
 "My suggestion may or it may not impress you 
 as important, Mr. Harvard," Banta said as soon as 
 the preliminary greetings were over. "But here it 
 is for whatever it proves to be worth : 
 
 "Compton, here, was a joiner by trade, and an 
 expert one, before he became a cop. He has told 
 me he says he told Mr. Clancy also that he 
 worked several weeks on the inside of the Centropo- 
 lis Bank Building when it was put up ten years ago. 
 He says that there is a space six feet high between 
 the ceiling over the bank, and another ceiling over 
 that one. He says that the underceiling is littered 
 with what he calls 'watch-holes,' where, at any 
 one of them, a man who is stationed there for the 
 purpose may sit or lie at his ease and observe every 
 slightest motion that takes place beneath him in 
 the bank. Do you get me, chief?" 
 
 Redhead nodded. "I know of a dozen banks 
 between here and Frisco that are equipped in that
 
 *84> RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 manner," he said. "I confess that I had not 
 thought of the Centropolis in that connection. But 
 the idea is full of possibilities, Banta and we can- 
 not settle a single one of them here by ourselves. 
 I understand perfectly what you are driving at. 
 Are you game you and Compton to go with me 
 right now to Chester's house and to stand by me 
 when I put this whole question up to him?" 
 
 "That is what we are here for, chief." 
 
 "You see," the chief remarked, half to himself, 
 "if Chester's bank makes use of those watch-holes 
 right along every day in the week, this discovery 
 won't amount to much ; but if it should happen that 
 they haven't been of much use, and have been there- 
 fore practically abandoned, except perhaps on pay- 
 roll days, like Saturdays, we will be, I should say, 
 on the track of one of the mysteries. Come along, 
 Banta. Come on, Compton." 
 
 "Can Bing and I go along, too, chief?" Clancy 
 asked. 
 
 "No. You two stay where you are. You are 
 both like red rags to a bull when Chester sees either 
 of you," and he led the way out of the little house 
 on the roof. 
 
 Harvard stretched himself and yawned after they 
 had gone. Then he seized his hat. 
 
 "Come on, Tom," he said. "I need exercise. We 
 will trail along and keep tabs on the outside of 
 Chester's house while they are inside. I feel just
 
 THE CIPHER 885 
 
 as though something had happened, or was going to 
 happen mighty soon. Anyhow, I need the air. 
 Come on." 
 
 At approximately the same time Lady Kate came 
 out of the boarding-house in Twenty-first Street 
 and entered a taxicab that she had ordered by tele- 
 phone. 
 
 Her destination, as we already know, was Ches- 
 ter's house. Lieutenant Rushton, in another cab 
 that he had summoned as soon as he saw the first 
 one appear, followed for, while Rushton did not 
 suspect that Erin Caton was Lady Kate, he had 
 discovered the resemblance between them with his 
 camera-eye, and he suspected relationship. 
 
 He was convinced that Erin Caton would lead 
 him to Lady Kate.
 
 CHAPTER XXXI 
 
 IN FRONT OF CHESTER'S HOUSE 
 
 Katharine got there first. She dismissed her 
 cab, telling the driver to return in an hour. 
 
 Chester opened the door for her himself, and 
 did it before she could ring. He had, in fact, been 
 watching from one of the windows for her arrival; 
 and he had taken the precaution to send away the 
 servants who would respond to a summons at the 
 door, though just why he had done that he could 
 not have told. 
 
 He would have greeted Katherine with too ap- 
 parent eagerness if she had not observed instantly 
 who it was that opened the door and warned him. 
 
 "Be careful," she cautioned. "I am afraid that 
 I was followed," and she passed inside and the door 
 was closed. 
 
 Outside, half a block away, Rushton thrust his 
 head out of a cab-window, saw what house Lady 
 Kate had entered, and muttered: 
 
 "I wonder what in thunder that means ? What 
 286
 
 IN FRONT OF CHESTER'S HOUSE 287 
 
 does that guy mean by goin' there to Chester's 
 ranch? for if he ain't some relation to Lady Kate 
 I'll eat a raw dog for my next meal !" 
 
 He called to his chauffeur to stay where he was 
 till further orders, then lighted a cigar, and set- 
 tled himself to the enjoyment of it while he waited 
 and watched. 
 
 Ten minutes later three men swung around the 
 corner nearest to him and walked rapidly up the 
 avenue to Chester's house, where they hurried up 
 the steps; and Rushton, observing them closely as 
 they passed him, opened his jaws to swear his as- 
 tonishment again only this time he made no 
 sound. 
 
 "Banta, by all that's sizzlin'! And with Red- 
 head at that! And them goin' to Chester's house! 
 And together! Now, what do you know about 
 that? And who's that other guy? He looked like 
 
 a cop in plain I've got it! That was Comp- 
 
 ton 'the boob that turned in his shield the other 
 day! Say, Rod, old man" addressing himself 
 audibly "what kind of a stuss game are you up 
 against, anyhow?" 
 
 He waited and watched, wondering the while 
 why the banker did not admit the three men, for, 
 although the minutes passed and they continued to 
 press the button at the door, nobody responded. 
 
 Rushton could see that the three men on the door- 
 step were as greatly surprised as he was that no-
 
 88 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 body answered their ring, and he chuckled to him- 
 self. 
 
 "I guess maybe I don't know just how to read 
 this riddle not all of it," he told himself. "The 
 first part of it is easy enough, unless I'm clear up 
 a tree. Lady Kate has fixed it up somehow so's 
 her brother, 'r cousin, 'r whatever he is, could go 
 to work in the bank, and now they're trying to 
 bring old Chester around to seein' things their way. 
 Much good it'll do 'em. He don't see nothin' down 
 there about that Harvard business that / don't 
 point out to him." 
 
 Down the avenue, a block farther away, and 
 hence behind Rushton, so that he did not observe 
 them, two men sprang over the park wall at the 
 opposite side of the thoroughfare; and one of them 
 said to the other as they hurried to get to where 
 the trees would hide them from view : 
 
 "I guess Chester must be out, Bing." 
 
 "There would be somebody there to answer the 
 bell, even if he is out," Harvard replied. 
 
 "Then he has seen them from a window, recog- 
 nized who it is, and won't admit them." 
 
 "That sounds more like it." 
 
 "Tell you what I'll do, Bing; Til bet a house 
 and lot against a steamboat that Redhead will stay 
 right where he is until he does get inside. Oh, I 
 know him, all right!"
 
 IN FRONT OF CHESTER'S HOUSE 289 
 
 "Who do you suppose is inside of that taxicab?" 
 Harvard asked, after a moment. 
 
 "Give it up, old chap. Nobody, most likely." 
 
 "There is somebody inside of it, all the same. 
 My eyes are accustomed to seeing things in this 
 half-light, and I just saw tobacco smoke coming 
 out of the window of it." 
 
 "The chauffeur is smoking, likely enough, while 
 he waits for his fare." 
 
 "He is smoking a cigarette. I can see him. 
 The other smoke came out of the window." 
 
 "Well, what of it?" 
 
 "Nothing; only I'd like to know who it is, Tom. 
 I have got a hunch that it is somebody who is 
 watching Chester's house." 
 
 "Maybe it is your bosom friend, Rushton," Tom 
 Clancy said, and laughed. He had not the least 
 idea in the world that he had guessed correctly. 
 Neither had Harvard. "Hello!" Tom said, a mo- 
 ment later. "Redhead has camped out. 
 
 "Banta and Compton have seated themselves on 
 the steps, and the chief is still pushing the button. 
 Ah! There you are, Bing! The door has been 
 opened. There they go, all three of them, inside. 
 Now, what, I wonder?" 
 
 "I would give a pair of old shoes to know who 
 is inside of that cab over there," Harvard said, in 
 reply. "For a nickel I'd go across the avenue and 
 find out."
 
 290 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 Calmly, deliberately, and with a broad grin on 
 his face, Tom Clancy took a nickel from the change 
 pocket of his coat and offered it to Harvard. 
 
 In the mean time, inside of the house, Katherine 
 had followed Chester into the same library which 
 had already been the scene of so many incidents in 
 the career of the Night Wind. 
 
 The banker had already prepared the plans for 
 her to see. They were on the library table, and 
 he had been poring over them himself while he 
 awaited her coming. 
 
 "There they are," he said. "There are quite a 
 number of them, as you will see. I have been look- 
 ing them over myself. Look!" He selected one 
 of them and spread it open on the table. "Here" 
 he indicated with his forefinger "is one of the 
 secrets I referred to to-day. Nothing ever came 
 of its use, however. We never use it, only on Sat- 
 urdays, when our depositors are drawing large sums 
 in small bills and in coin to pay off their help." 
 
 "What is it?" Katherine asked, bending down 
 over the plan. 
 
 The banker laughed lightly. 
 
 "We call it the observatory," he replied. "It is 
 a space, six feet high, above the ceiling over the 
 banking room and beneath the floor of the next 
 story. The bank proper, as you may have noticed, 
 is very high, made so for proper ventilation. It 
 takes in two full stories."
 
 IN FRONT OF CHESTER'S HOUSE 291 
 
 "But what is it used for?" Katharine insisted, 
 puzzled; "that space between the ceiling and the 
 floor above it. What use do you make of it ?" 
 
 "Almost none at all, as a matter of fact," he re- 
 plied. "All the same, it is a cleverly devised means 
 for observing all that goes on within the bank, with- 
 out the observers being seen or their presence sus- 
 pected. Many of the larger banks have arrange- 
 ments of the same sort and make constant use of 
 them; to keep watch on their own employees, for 
 the most part. It was used originally in one of 
 the Western cities," he explained. 
 
 "But I do not understand, Mr. Chester. How 
 is the watching done?" 
 
 "Oh, there is a system of holes cleverly arranged 
 so that they cannot be seen from the bank below. 
 They are everywhere. There is one for every book- 
 keeper, every teller, every employee. There are 
 others which command more extensive views, tak- 
 ing in several of the positions below at once. And 
 they are so arranged that the one who is watch- 
 ing may sit at his ease, may even lie down at full 
 length, if he cares to do so, while he sees everything 
 that is taking place beneath him. He can move 
 about at will without making a sound to betray his 
 presence and so forth, and so forth. You 
 see " 
 
 The ringing of the door-bell interrupted him. 
 
 "Now, who can that be?" he said. "At all events,
 
 292 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 I shall not answer it; and I have taken care that 
 there is nobody else here to do so." 
 
 "It may be some person who followed me here," 
 Katherine suggested. 
 
 "Hardly. Such a person would scarcely ring for 
 admittance." 
 
 "Probably not ; unless unless it should be Lieu- 
 tenant Rushton, and he has recognized me in spite 
 of the disguise." 
 
 "Rushton? Rushton? What would he be fol- 
 lowing you for?" 
 
 "I don't know. He was waiting in the street 
 when I left the bank this afternoon. He followed 
 me, I am sure, to my boarding-house. More than 
 likely he remained on the watch, and has pursued 
 me even here. Listen. It is ringing again." 
 
 "Well, let him ring if it is Rushton. There is 
 no reason why I should admit him." 
 
 They attempted to give their attention again to 
 the plans, but the persistent ringing at the door 
 disturbed them both; for the chief, outside, was 
 perfectly satisfied in his own mind that somebody 
 was at home, and that before long somebody would 
 come to the door. 
 
 "I wonder if that is Rushton?" the banker re- 
 marked, when the constant ringing of the bell was 
 beginning to get on their nerves. "I think I will 
 try to find out who it is."
 
 IN FRONT OF CHESTER'S HOUSE 293 
 
 "You won't open the door if it is Rushton, will 
 you? Please don't." 
 
 "No. More than likely I will not open it at all. 
 But from the drawing-room windows I will be 
 able to get a view of the greater part of the steps. 
 Wait here, Mrs. Harvard, till I return." 
 
 She waited, pacing impatiently up and down the 
 room in the mean time. Chester came back very 
 soon. 
 
 "There are two men on the steps whom I do not 
 know, but they seem determined to wait until some- 
 body opens the door. They were just about to seat 
 themselves on the steps as I looked out at them. 
 There must be a third one who is ringing the bell. 
 It is possible it is just possible that there may be 
 something wrong that I really should go to the 
 door," he said rapidly. 
 
 "Wait," she said, beginning to gather the plans 
 into a roll. "I will take these away with me, if 
 I may. I will study them when I get to my room 
 at the boarding-house." 
 
 "But are you going? I wish you would not. 
 There is so much that I wish to say." 
 
 "Really I think I must ; and it is late. I will step 
 into the reception-room while you open the front 
 door. Then, if you will direct your callers to this 
 room, I will slip out as soon as they have entered 
 here. By to-morrow evening I will have studied 
 the plans thoroughly, and will have had time to
 
 294 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 think, too; and if I may, I will come here to see 
 you again." 
 
 She gave him her hand, and he bent gallantly 
 over it, like the gentleman of the old school that he 
 was, and touched his lips to her fingers, entirely 
 forgetful of the fact that she was garbed as a man. 
 
 Katherine passed swiftly through the foyer and 
 into the reception-room at the south side of it. 
 Chester waited until she had partly closed the door 
 and then threw wide the front entrance. 
 
 "Please pass right through into the library, gen- 
 tlemen," Chester said at once, "and then perhaps 
 you will explain to me the reason for this persistent 
 ringing of my door-bell." 
 
 Lady Kate heard the voice of Banta reply to 
 Chester with some casual remark, and she recog- 
 nized it; and, knowing nothing of his change of 
 heart and condition, she had not a doubt that one of 
 the other two men who were with him was Rush- 
 ton. 
 
 She heard the library choor close behind them, and 
 knew that Chester had done that to guard her 
 escape from the house; and so she glided from the 
 obscurity of the reception-room, opened the outer 
 door silently, passed outside, closed it again, and 
 ran hastily down the steps. 
 
 Down the avenue, half a block away, she saw a 
 taxicab, and supposed it to be the one she had or-
 
 IN FRONT OF CHESTER'S HOUSE 295 
 
 dered back again in an hour. It was exactly like 
 it, she thought. At all events, it was a cab. 
 
 She gave a sigh of relief and started toward it, 
 little thinking that her arch-enemy Rushton was 
 seated inside of it, patiently awaiting this very op- 
 portunity.
 
 CHAPTER XXXII 
 LADY KATE'S DISGUISE UNCOVERED 
 
 It will be remembered that Tom Clancy offered 
 the nickel to the Night Wind a moment only after 
 the "chief," followed by Banta and Compton, were 
 admitted to the banker's house. 
 
 Of course, Harvard's expression that for a nickel 
 he would find out who was inside of the cab, and 
 Clancy's tender of the coin, was mere banter on 
 both sides; and yet the mood was upon Harvard 
 to carry out his end of the offer, and so without 
 more ado he started forward through the shrubbery 
 and leaped the park wall at the very moment that 
 Lady Kate, in her guise of Erin Caton, came out 
 of Chester's house. 
 
 Neither Harvard nor Clancy had any idea that 
 the cab was standing idle where it did for any other 
 purpose than to await some customer who was 
 calling at one of the houses near Chester's. 
 
 But we know that Rushton was inside of it; we 
 
 know that he had followed the supposed Erin Ca- 
 
 296
 
 LADY KATE'S DISGUISE UNCOVERED 297 
 
 ton to Chester's house, believing that that person 
 was a man who was related to Lady Kate and would 
 lead him ultimately to her. 
 
 We know how puzzled Rushton was by the com- 
 ing of the chief and Banta who had formerly 
 been one of Rushton's side-partners and Comp- 
 ton. 
 
 While he sat inside of the cab and smoked and 
 waited and watched, he had eyes for nothing save 
 what was going on at that house and on the steps 
 of it; for his mind had been busily engaged in 
 putting two and two together while he waited, and 
 he had already figured it out that the entire cir- 
 cumstance, taken as a whole, was not exactly prom- 
 ising to himself. 
 
 That Erin Caton, the new teller at the bank, 
 should visit the home of the president at ten o'clock 
 at night, and apparently in secret, instead of trans- 
 acting such business as he might have at the bank 
 and during banking hours, was of itself ominous; 
 but that he should be followed there by no less a 
 person than the head of the most important private 
 detective agency in New York and by Banta! it 
 all looked to Rushton as though they were getting 
 something "on him." 
 
 Thus, when Lady Kate came out of the house 
 at almost the same instant that Harvard leaped 
 the park wall, Rushton had eyes only for the figure 
 on the steps, and he did not turn his head to dis-
 
 298 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 cover that a man was crossing the avenue toward 
 him from the direction of the park. 
 
 Harvard always moved with that incredible 
 swiftness which had in the past helped to cloak him 
 in so much mystery. 
 
 He was close to the rear of the cab before Kath- 
 erine had covered half the distance between it and 
 Chester's house; and he peered through the small, 
 square window at the back, prompted, as we know, 
 merely by curiosity. 
 
 Rushton was bending forward with his head 
 close to the cab door, which he had opened a few 
 inches, watching the approach of Erin Caton, other- 
 wise Lady Kate. His profile was clearly outlined 
 against the lights of the street and Harvard recog- 
 nized him instantly. 
 
 Harvard had given no thought to the person who 
 came out of Chester's home. He had not seen that 
 person enter; he supposed if anything at all 'that 
 it was merely an acquaintance of the banker's who 
 had called upon him, and was now going away. 
 
 Harvard drew back quickly and stepped around 
 to the street side of the cab. 
 
 His idea in doing that was twofold; he wished, 
 if possible, to keep out of sight of the person who 
 had just come from the banker's house, and whom 
 he had no doubt would pass on and he determined 
 in that instant to have a word with Rushton.
 
 LADY KATE'S DISGUISE UNCOVERED 299 
 
 In the mean time Lady Kate mistook the waiting 
 cab for her own hired one that had returned. 
 
 She approached it rapidly. She stopped beside 
 the chauffeur and addressed him; and when Har- 
 vard, waiting at the opposite side of the cab, heard 
 the voice, he gasped with amazement. 
 
 Lady Kate had not neglected to deepen it, in ac- 
 cordance with the disguise she wore with the char- 
 acter she was playing; but the ears of love, as well 
 as the eyes of love, are hard to deceive. 
 
 Bingham Harvard, during the last seven months, 
 had listened to that voice in every tone and cadence 
 it could express. He loved every murmur of it. 
 He knew every modulation of it, as Liszt knew 
 every tone of his violin. 
 
 Can you imagine the thrill that ran through him 
 when he heard it when he realized who it was 
 who was drawing near to that cab, and remembered 
 who it was who waited inside? 
 I "I am glad that you returned so soon, chauffeur," 
 Lady Kate began and stopped. A closer look had 
 developed the fact that the man was not the chauf- 
 feur who had taken her there; and before he could 
 reply she supplemented the remark by adding : "Ex- 
 cuse me. I see that I have made a mistake", and 
 she would have passed on. 
 
 Rushton, however, pushed the cab door wide 
 open and stepped outside, confronting her; and she
 
 800 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 started back, and then stood stock-still in her tracks, 
 not knowing for the moment what to do. 
 
 Rushton had noticed the voice, too; but he had 
 not recognized it as Harvard did. His mind was 
 too intent upon the masculine personality of the 
 one who used it. There was not the magic under- 
 standing of Love to identify it. Harvard, in the 
 mean time, found an opportunity to peer through 
 the cab at the two figures, for he could not under- 
 stand how the voice of Katherine could proceed 
 from the mouth of a man. 
 
 "Excuse me, sir," Rushton said in his politest 
 tones. "If you are in need of a cab, I can let you 
 make use of mine." 
 
 "Thank you," Katherine replied in the most mas- 
 culine voice she could assume. "It is not at all 
 necessary." 
 
 She made an attempt to pass on her way then, 
 but Rushton stepped quickly in front of her and 
 barred it; and as he did that he also threw aside 
 the mask of courtesy. 
 
 "I guess I'll ask you to use it whether you want 
 to or not," he said with a half laugh, at the same 
 time throwing back one side of his coat and dis- 
 playing his official shield. "You'll get inside of that 
 cab and take a ride with me, mister, or I'll throw 
 you into it. Take your choice." 
 
 The "mister" reassured Lady Kate. It told her 
 that Rushton had not recognized her as yet.
 
 LADY KATE'S DISGUISE UNCOVERED SOI 
 
 "You have no business to speak to me in that 
 manner," she retorted, trying to bluster, and mak- 
 ing rather a poor success of it ; and she would have 
 made another attempt to pass him had she not re- 
 alized that he would seize her if she did so; and 
 she knew that if once his hands should rest upon 
 her the secret would be out. 
 
 Rushton chuckled. 
 
 "Ain't I ?" he jeered. "I ain't followed you ever 
 since you left the bank this afternoon for nothin', 
 Mr. Erin Caton. I'm onto your curves. It's plain 
 enough to me, even if some others don't see it, that 
 you're a relation of Lady Kate's. And that's what 
 I'm here for. You are going to take me to see her 
 right now. See? She's the gazabo that I wanta 
 get next to. Climb inside of that cab or I'll chuck 
 you into it!" 
 
 He stepped forward toward her threateningly. 
 
 She darted backward out of his reach and away 
 from him and turned to run. But she ran plump 
 into the outstretched arms of Tom Clancy, who 
 appeared at that instant, running likewise, from the 
 opposite side of the avenue. 
 
 Rushton leaped after her when she started to 
 escape from him that is, he attempted to do so. 
 But he did not take even so much as one jump; 
 he only started to make it. 
 
 A hand fell heavily upon his shoulder from be- 
 hind. Resistless fingers grasped his collar and
 
 302 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 jerked him forward. A foot dexterously thrust 
 forward tripped him, and he found himself lying 
 upon his back on the pavement, looking up into the 
 eyes of Bingham Harvard, alias the Night Wind, 
 who was bending over him. 
 
 Rushton's sensations in that instant of discovery 
 can better be imagined than described. Instinc- 
 tively he realized that it was up to him to remain 
 perfectly still, and he did so. 
 
 Lady Kate was no less startled, in one way, than 
 Rushton. 
 
 There is no doubt that the moment might have 
 proved a tragic one for the lieutenant had it not 
 been for the irrepressible humor of Tom Clancy; 
 for Rushton had affronted Katherine, and Harvard 
 had heard it. 
 
 But Clancy saw the funny side of it all, and 
 laughed. That laugh of his saved the situation. 
 
 Katherine laughed also a bit nervously, perhaps 
 and the ripple of it that Harvard so greatly loved 
 to hear brought a smile to his own face. His quick 
 wit, also, brought him to an instant understanding 
 of the situation. 
 
 Almost at the same instant the chauffeur of the 
 cab had a hunch that that immediate vicinity was 
 unhealthy for him. He knew that his fare was a 
 fly-cop and had been suddenly attacked by two men 
 who had appeared from the other side of the park
 
 LADY KATE'S DISGUISE UNCOVERED 303 
 
 wall. He had visions of gunmen getting square on 
 squealers. 
 
 He jumped down from his seat the minute the 
 incipient row began, cranked his engine, sprang 
 back, and the taxicab sped away from the four per- 
 sons on the sidewalk as if it were shot out of a gun. 
 
 Nor did any one of them attempt to stop it. The 
 effort would have been useless at best, and it was 
 unnecessary. 
 
 Harvard frisked the lieutenant for his weapons 
 and relieved him of them. Then he jerked Rush- 
 ton to his feet. But, nevertheless, his eyes stared 
 past the detective toward Erin Caton, while a slow 
 smile appeared again upon his countenance. 
 
 "I heard you addressed as Mr. Erin Caton just 
 now," he said with a half drawl in his tone. "This 
 person here, who thinks he is some detective, 
 seemed to want you to conduct him to the presence 
 of Lady Kate of the Police ; so I guess it is up to 
 you, Katherine, to decide what we will do with him 
 now that we've got him." 
 
 "I think we had better keep him," Katherine re- 
 plied instantly. "He has had rope enough ; and his 
 race is almost run. Wait a moment. There is a 
 taxicab coming around the corner. Perhaps it is 
 the one I used, returning." 
 
 Then they were treated to another surprise, and 
 a most welcome one. The approaching cab drew 
 up at the curb near to them, the driver of it jumped
 
 304 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 down and Katharine uttered an exclamation of 
 pleased surprise. 
 
 The chauffeur was Black Julius, and the cab 
 was not the I. T. O. A. taxi that Katherine had 
 used, but her own car that had been made over in 
 imitation of one. 
 
 "I disobeyed you, Miss Kitty," Julius explained 
 rapidly. "Instead of doing what you told me to do, 
 I was afraid that you would need me near you, and 
 so I waited outside of the house when you sent me 
 away. And, Miss Kitty, I didn't carry you around 
 in my arms when you was a baby and I didn't watch 
 you grow up to what you are now for nothing, 
 or to be fooled by any disguise, either. I hope you 
 will forgive me, Miss Kitty, but I haven't been very 
 far away from you any of the time." 
 
 "But how do you happen to be here now, Julius ?" 
 Clancy asked him. 
 
 "Why, sir, I just hired that chauffeur to let me 
 take his place when he went to the house in Twenty- 
 first Street, where I was watching, to get Miss 
 Kitty ; and I kept my head turned away and my face 
 covered when she gave the order to bring her up 
 here. And then when she told me to come back in 
 an hour I thought she'd be safe for that long, and 
 so I took the other cab back, and went and got 
 Miss Kitty's. You see, sir, I don't like to have her 
 playing the part of a man. It isn't safe. And so 
 I have kept watch."
 
 LADY KATE'S DISGUISE UNCOVERED 305 
 
 "Faithful Julius," Harvard said, resting one 
 hand for a moment upon the black's arm. "You 
 are on hand, as usual, when you are the most 
 needed. You always keep rope and cord in your 
 tool-box. Have you got some there now?" 
 
 "Yes, sir/' 
 
 "Get it. We will tie up this thing we've got here 
 that was born a man and turned into a snake. We 
 will gag him, too, if necessary. Then, Tom, you 
 will get into the cab with him and take him to the 
 'little house on the roof and keep him there for 
 the present. Katherine and I are going to ring the 
 bell at Chester's house again, and we are going in- 
 side to find out what is happening." 
 
 "Oh, Bingham " Katherine began and 
 
 stopped. 
 
 She would let the revelation of Chester's change 
 of heart wait just a little longer.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 THE WAY THE MONEY WENT 
 
 "Who is at the door now?" Chester exclaimed 
 impatiently. 
 
 Then he started quickly to his feet, for it oc- 
 curred to him that it might be Katherine returned ; 
 and now, since the talk he had already had with 
 the chief and his two companions, the banker 
 wished for nothing better than that she should be 
 there to hear it. 
 
 "I will go to the door with you," the chief said, 
 rising ; and so, when Katherine pushed forward into 
 the foyer as soon as me way was open, and was 
 closely followed by Bingham Harvard, the meeting 
 was a mutual surprise all around. 
 
 But if three of the four persons who confronted 
 each other were mildly surprised, the fourth one 
 Was amazed into utter consternation for the mo- 
 ment by the reception that was accorded him. 
 
 For no sooner had Harvard stepped across the 
 threshold, and Chester discovered who it was, than 
 
 306
 
 THE WAY THE MONEY WENT 307 
 
 he rushed forward with his arms outstretched and 
 Harvard found himself the recipient of a convulsive 
 embrace, the genuineness of which could not be 
 counterfeited. 
 
 "My boy! My boy! My boy!" the old man ex- 
 claimed over and over again, with a sob in his 
 voice, but with a joy that was unmistakable. "For- 
 give me, Bingham; I was wrong; all wrong. I 
 know it now; it is all plain. I have been a fool 
 oh, such a fool my boy ! But say that it is all right 
 now. Say that you will forgive me, Bingham. I 
 want you to love me again, just as you used to do. 
 And I want Katherine to love me, too. I want 
 you both. Oh, I am blessed indeed, for now I 
 shall have a daughter as well as a son! And such 
 a daughter, Bingham!" 
 
 He talked so rapidly, so joyously, so contritely, 
 so earnestly, that there was no stopping him; and 
 Bingham, reaching out both hands and resting them 
 upon the old man's shoulders, looked earnestly into 
 his eyes as he replied : 
 
 "Dear old chap! Dear old gov'nor! That is 
 what I used to call you when I was a boy. I knew 
 it would come out all right, sir. I knew that your 
 heart was kind and good and just. My love for 
 you has never faltered, sir; and 'maybe you will 
 have almost as much to forgive as I." 
 
 Katherine stepped forward quickly and threw 
 her arms around Chester's neck, and there was not
 
 one of them who remembered in that moment the 
 garb she was wearing. 
 
 "I will love you, too, Mr. Chester very dearly, 
 if you will let me," she said, and she kissed the old 
 man on the lips. 
 
 "Why," he exclaimed, stepping back a pace away 
 from her, "I feel like a boy again ! I never expected 
 to be as happy as I am at this moment. Chief, why 
 don't you say something, eh?" 
 
 "I will," the chief replied, running his fingers 
 through his red hair. "I think we had better get 
 back to business. Banta and Compton will be won- 
 dering what has happened." 
 
 "There is one thing that I ought to tell you at 
 once," Harvard said as soon as they were all in 
 the library together and greetings had been ex- 
 changed. "Clancy and I, with the assistance of 
 Black Julius, have just tied up Rushton good and 
 snug, and Clancy has taken him to the little house 
 on the roof. I thought, chief, that seeing as we 
 had him, it would not be a bad idea to keep him. 
 What do you think about it ?" 
 
 "I think it is splendid, Harvard. When we get 
 through here we will give Mr. Rodney Rushton a 
 hearty mouthful of one of his own favorite prac- 
 tices." 
 
 "What is that?" Katherine asked. 
 
 "They call it the 'third degree,' " was the sig-
 
 THE WAY THE MONEY WENT 309 
 
 nificant reply. Then the chief turned abruptly to 
 Harvard. 
 
 "You came at the right moment," he said. "We 
 have arrived at a point where we need your per- 
 sonal help. Do you know anything about the so- 
 called observation-room directly above the bank?" 
 
 "No," Harvard replied, and glanced inquiringly 
 toward the banker. But Lady Kate put forward 
 the roll of plans that she had carried from the house 
 with her and from which she had not relinquished 
 her hold throughout all the scenes that had been 
 enacted. 
 
 "Good," said the chief and unrolled the plans, 
 selected two of them, laid them down side by side, 
 and bent over them. "Here we have it," he added 
 presently. "Now, Harvard, come here." 
 
 "I am here already." 
 
 "Well" the chief indicated locations on the 
 plans with the point of his pencil "this is the so- 
 called observation-room over the bank. This part 
 is the floor-plan. Here and here and here and here 
 all of these marks are the watch-holes through 
 the ceiling of the bank." 
 
 "Why, gov'nor, I never knew anything about 
 this!" Harvard exclaimed, turning his eyes toward 
 Chester. 
 
 "Never mind that fact now," the chief said. 
 "Watch me. Compton, who helped to fit up the 
 observation room, has explained it to me in detail,
 
 310 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 and since my talk with him and Mr. Chester these 
 plans make it all very clear. Got that?" 
 
 "Yes," said Harvard. They were all grouped 
 closely around the table by then. 
 
 "This," the chief went on, indicating another of 
 the plans, "is the finished floor-space of the bank 
 itself; and right here is the cage of the paying- 
 teller." 
 
 "I see," Harvard said eagerly. "I understand." 
 
 "Well, if we place these two plans so on the 
 table they fit, one above the other, just the same as 
 to position as the observation-room fits over the 
 bank. Now, here is a foot-rule ; Lere is the teller's 
 cage; and here, according to a drawing that you 
 made yourself and which Mrs. Harvard gave to 
 me, is the spot where the three packages of bills 
 that were stolen disappeared from. So, we put the 
 foot-rule down here, so that it reaches from one 
 plan to the other. We follow along the edge of it 
 from the spot where the packages of bills were 
 lying to this spot in the floor of the observation- 
 room; and Do you see, Harvard, what we 
 
 find?" 
 
 Bingham nodded, intent upon studying the plans. 
 
 The chief continued : 
 
 "We find that by exact measurement the largest 
 of all the watch-holes in the floor of the observation- 
 room is directly over the cage of the paying-teller; 
 and we find, by reducing it to scale, that the watch-
 
 THE WAY THE MONEY WENT 311 
 
 hole is on a plumb-line exactly over the spot from 
 which the packages of bills disappeared." 
 
 The chief straightened himself where he stood 
 and pushed the plans aside. He addressed the 
 banker. 
 
 "Mr. Chester," he said, "do you use the 'in' and 
 'out' checking system for your employees at the 
 bank? I mean, if one of them has occasion to pass 
 outside of the screen for any purpose to go to the 
 wash-room, or to your own office, even is there 
 somebody who takes note of that fact and who 
 marks down the time of his going and the time of 
 his return?" 
 
 "Certainly," Chester and Harvard both replied 
 as one, and Chester added : "In an institution like 
 ours that is quite necessary. The time of every man 
 must be accounted for to the exact minute. Not 
 that the time is important to us of itself, but as 
 in a case like the loss of that money it may be- 
 come necessary that we should know the location 
 of every man at a certain moment during the day ; 
 that is, whether he was actually in the bank and 
 inside the screen at a specified minute." 
 
 "Exactly. Harvard, how nearly can you ap- 
 proximate the minute of the day when that money 
 was taken?" 
 
 "I cannot approximate it at all. The packages 
 of money were not missed until the closing hour." 
 
 "Was there any time that you recall during that
 
 318 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 day of June 13, more than a year ago, when one 
 of the clerks in the bank might have slipped into 
 the cage and out of it again without your knowl- 
 edge?" 
 
 "We talked that aspect of it over Mr. Chester 
 and I before I was charged with the theft," Har- 
 vard replied, and the banker winced, but smiled 
 bravely. "There were possibly, but not probably, 
 two such intervals. One was of two minutes or 
 less; the other was of two or three minutes, but 
 by no possibility more than three." 
 
 "What occasioned those intervals? Do you re- 
 member ?" 
 
 "Perfectly. They happened, in fact, very close 
 together." 
 
 "At what time of the day?" 
 
 "At about half past two." 
 
 "What was it that happened to occasion those 
 two intervals? You have not told me that yet." 
 
 "One the first one was caused by three suc- 
 cessive explosions in the street in front of the bank 
 and quite near to the door. They sounded like 
 pistol-shots. I never knew if they were so or not. 
 But they startled everybody inside of the bank, and 
 naturally everyone there raised his head and craned 
 his neck, and took his eyes momentarily from his 
 respective duty to discover what was happening or 
 had happened. I figured that interval as not ex-
 
 THE WAY THE MONEY WENT 813 
 
 ceeding two minutes at the most while the atten- 
 tion of the employees of the bank was distracted." 
 
 "What was the other incident?" 
 
 "It followed almost immediately after the first 
 one within a moment or two or possibly a little 
 more. It was a fight between two men. One man 
 struck another one and they clenched and fell to 
 the floor." 
 
 "That happened inside of the bank?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Were the two men who fought known at the 
 bank?" 
 
 "I think not. Badger, our watchman, sailed into 
 them immediately. He hustled them both outside 
 literally threw them into the street, I believe. 
 He is a powerful man. I do not know whether 
 they were arrested or not. My impression is that 
 they were not." 
 
 The chief turned back again to the banker. 
 
 "Mr. Chester," he said with slow emphasis, 
 "those three packages of bills were removed from 
 the teller's cage while those two men were fighting 
 and while Badger was putting them outside. They 
 were taken by means of a slender but stout cord, 
 probably black, which was lowered through that 
 largest watch-hole in the floor of the observation- 
 room. 
 
 "The first diversion that happened the pistol- 
 shots in the street was done to excite the nerves
 
 314 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 of your employees generally and to make them all 
 the more ready to give attention to one that would 
 follow. They would naturally associate the two. 
 
 "One of your employees a bookkeeper or any 
 other clerk who was an accomplice in the theft 
 must have gone outside of the screen just a few 
 minutes before either of the two incidents described 
 occurred. He knew about the observation-room, 
 and he made his way to it. At the right moment he 
 dropped the cord, weighted at the end, through the 
 hole, which is large enough to admit of the pas- 
 sage of a man's hand, and hence large enough to 
 pull the bills up through it, notwithstanding the 
 fact that it is so cleverly concealed that it is not 
 visible to the eye from the floor of the bank. 
 
 "Another of your employees Harvard or Mor- 
 daunt or Atkinson, or another clerk who slipped in- 
 side of the cage at the right moment snapped a 
 heavy rubber band around those packages of bills 
 and inserted under it a hook that was attached to 
 the end of the cord. While the fight was going on, 
 while Badger was putting the men outside, the 
 money was pulled up out of the teller's cage through 
 the hole in the ceiling, and the deed was accom- 
 plished. 
 
 "Now, the fight was a fake, of course. Har- 
 vard tells me that he called at Atkinson's house the 
 other night and found Badger there, and had a 
 fight with him; so, in my opinion at least, it is a
 
 THE WAY THE MONEY WENT 815 
 
 safe proposition that Badger was in the game, and 
 that Atkinson is the man who attached the cord to 
 the packages of bills. 
 
 "We do not know yet who lowered the cord 
 through the hole in the ceiling, but your records 
 showing who was absent from behind the screen 
 in the bank at just that time will establish who that 
 was and I will be at the bank at nine o'clock in 
 the morning to get him along with Badger and 
 Atkinson. 
 
 "There is just one more thing that we do know, 
 however, and that is that Rodney Rushton received 
 for his own share one-half of the amount that was 
 stolen; and if I don't make him and Badger and 
 Atkinson give up the whole story to-morrow morn- 
 ing I am very much mistaken. 
 
 "Harvard, I advise you and Lady Kate to stay 
 right here with Mr. Chester to-night and to go to 
 the bank with him in the morning. Mrs. Harvard 
 can send for her dresses and things, I suppose."
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV 
 
 TAKING THE "THIRD DEGREE" 
 
 Bingham Harvard, Lieutenant Banta, Tom 
 Clancy, Compton, President Chester, Chief Red- 
 head, Black Julius, and Lady Kate were seated to- 
 gether in the little house on the roof at eleven 
 o'clock the following morning. 
 
 Outside on the roof, under guard of three of 
 the chief's operatives and handcuffed together, were 
 Atkinson, Badger, and a bookkeeper from the bank 
 whose name was Seixas for his name had been 
 the one discovered as the absentee from the interior 
 of the bank at the crucial moment of that Thurs- 
 day in June more than a year before. 
 
 Over in a corner, bound hand and foot, with a 
 bandage over his eyes and a towel fastened tightly 
 around his jaws, helpless, soundless, beside himself 
 with rage but utterly powerless, was Rushton. 
 
 He was receiving, and was still to receive, a prac- 
 tical demonstration of an art that he had often 
 practiced upon others a demonstration of the third 
 
 degree. 
 
 316
 
 TAKING THE "THIRD DEGREE" 317 
 
 The chief began the proceedings, speaking in 
 cool, even tones, addressing the others generally. 
 
 "It was this way," he said. "Rushton planned 
 the entire affair. Badger, I find, used to be a cop, 
 but was dismissed from the department three years 
 ago on charges. He had been an apt tool of Rush- 
 ton's, and it was partly through Rushton that he 
 received his appointment at the bank from you, Mr. 
 Chester." 
 
 The banker nodded. 
 
 "James Atkinson has a passion for so-called 
 mathematical problems ; but his problems are, when 
 studied, found to be 'systems' for gambling sys- 
 tems which he makes no use of directly, but which 
 he prepares and sells to gamblers, who are the most 
 superstitious people in the world. In order to per- 
 fect those systems to a selling point he often vis- 
 ited gambling-houses and race-tracks, although he 
 has never been known to gamble himself. For 
 that reason the bank detectives let him alone. 
 
 "But Rushton made his acquaintance, followed 
 him up, found that he was selling so-called sys- 
 tems, and used the fact as a lever and finally won 
 Atkinson over to the point of becoming an accom- 
 plice in this theft and in others that would have 
 followed it before very long. 
 
 "In Rushton's memoranda, taken from his room 
 by Mr. Harvard on a memorable occasion, we dis- 
 covered by working out the cipher that one-half of
 
 318 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 the stolen one hundred and thirty-six thousand dol- 
 lars sixty-eight thousand dollars, to be more exact 
 went to Rushton, and was deposited by him in 
 four banks in sums of seventeen thousand dollars 
 to each one. 
 
 "We found that eighteen thousand dollars was 
 paid over to a man who was entered in the memo- 
 randa as Z. G. I find that Z is the most prominent 
 letter in Alonzo and that G takes the same promi- 
 nence in Badger. Alonzo is Badger's given name; 
 so Alonzo Badger got eighteen thousand dollars 
 of the stolen money. 
 
 "Twenty-five thousand dollars went to each of 
 two men one represented by the letters K. N., the 
 other represented by the letters S. X. You will 
 readily see that K. N. bears the same relation to 
 the name Atkinson, and S. X. to the name Seixas, 
 that Z. G. does to Alonzo Badger. 
 
 "Still, we had no proof save only the deciph- 
 ered memorandum-books of Rushton's; and they 
 were hardly sufficient. But I discovered that the 
 man Seixas is a weak proposition. This morning, 
 an hour ago, when I made it plain to him that we 
 had the goods on him, and after I had made him 
 think that Rushton had given up the whole story, 
 he broke down and confessed; and now I have his 
 signed and sworn confession in my pocket. He 
 swears that Rushton cooked up the entire affair." 
 
 Rushton could be seen vainly struggling under his
 
 TAKING THE "THIRD DEGREE" 319 
 
 bonds, but nobody paid the slightest attention to 
 him. 
 
 "Atkinson, confronted by the confession of 
 Seixas, and by the further assurance that we had 
 the goods on Rushton and being told, also, Mr. 
 Chester, of Rushton's attempt to blackmail you, and 
 of how we have the marked money that you paid 
 him, and affidavits from both banks to go with it, 
 so that he is bound to be convicted and sent away 
 on that became defiant and abusive, and finally 
 made a confession, also in the presence of witnesses, 
 although he would not swear to one. 
 
 "Badger, that great hulk of a man, was easy. 
 He seemed glad to tell the whole story about Rush- 
 ton and Rushton's methods, and he knows enough 
 of the back record of Rushton to cause his indict- 
 ment a dozen times over. 
 
 "As a matter of fact, all three of those men are 
 sore at Rushton for taking the lion's share of that 
 stolen money when he did nothing but plan it, and 
 they took all the risk and did all the work. Rush- 
 ton was not anywhere near the bank when the 
 money was actually stolen. 
 
 "Now, there is one more important thing the 
 frame-up. 
 
 "Rushton told Badger all about that. Badger 
 actually assisted him by procuring the stamped 
 paper-slips that are used for wrapping packages of 
 bills at the Centropolis Bank ; those scraps of paper
 
 that Rushton showed to you, Mr. Chester, at the 
 time he succeeded in so nearly convincing you of 
 Harvard's guilt 
 
 "Those scraps were charred and scorched and 
 partly burned at Badger's home, and he was pres- 
 ent with Rushton when it was done. That ex- 
 plains the frame-up; and that, Lieutenant Banta, 
 is what you have been most interested to know 
 about." 
 
 "That's no dream, chief," Banta responded. 
 
 "Now," the chief continued, "just one moment, 
 if you please." 
 
 He went to the door to the roof and threw it 
 open. He signaled to his three operatives who had 
 Badger, Seixas, and Atkinson in charge, and the 
 three men were brought silently into the room. 
 
 Then the chief stepped swiftly behind Rushton, 
 and almost with one motion stripped the bandages 
 from the lieutenant's eyes and jaws; and Rushton, 
 blinking, saw those three men standing in line di- 
 rectly in front of him. 
 
 It was a dramatic moment a perfectly pre- 
 pared climax and it worked. 
 
 The bottled-up, repressed wrath of Rushton was 
 uncorked. 
 
 The tirade of abuse that he heaped upon those 
 three men with his tongue defies description. It 
 could not be repeated. It could not be half told; 
 but, in still another corner of that room behind a
 
 screen, an expert stenographer took down every 
 word, profane or otherwise, that he uttered. 
 
 And when he did at last stop for breath there 
 was nothing more to be desired in the way of a 
 confession from him. 
 
 The names that he did not call his accomplices 
 were few indeed. 
 
 The incidents that would convict him, that he 
 did not refer to in words, were nil. 
 
 He damned them, one after another, to all kinds 
 of perdition to the end of time; and when he had 
 quite finished, and he was breathless, Atkinson re- 
 plied to him calmly by saying: 
 
 "You seem to have told it all, Rushton. I had 
 not confessed to anything; neither had Seixas. 
 Badger had, of course; but there would still have 
 been a fighting chance for us maybe if you had 
 kept your mouth shut. But you are only a com- 
 mon yellow dog, anyhow." He turned to the chief. 
 "Take me away from here, please, and I will write 
 out a full description and confession of the whole 
 thing," he added. 
 
 "And you, Seixas?" the chief asked. 
 
 "Oh, I'll sign it," was the reply, given with a 
 laugh. 
 
 "Badger, how much of that stolen money have 
 you still got in your possession?" the chief asked. 
 
 "All of it," was the reply. 
 
 "How much have you, Atkinson?"
 
 "About fifteen thousand of my share." 
 
 "And you, Seixas ?" 
 
 "Not a cent. I blew it all in on the ponies." 
 
 "Well, Mr. Chester, we will recover about a hun- 
 dred thousand dollars of it at that," the chief said, 
 with a smile. "This is a pretty good morning's 
 work." 
 
 There was a general hand-shaking all around 
 after that that is, after the four prisoners had 
 been sent away for you may be sure that the chief 
 had everything in preparation for that interesting 
 event. 
 
 "I have arranged an appointment for you, Har- 
 vard, at my office," he said a little later. "It is for 
 one o'clock. I want you and Lady Kate, Clancy, 
 and Banta to go with me." 
 
 Lady Kate looked very chic indeed with her 
 closely cropped, boyishly trimmed hair and her 
 tailor-made, perfectly fitting suit of gray as she 
 sat in the chief's office with her husband and his 
 friends, awaiting the return of Redhead, who had 
 gone for a moment into another room. 
 
 Presently the chief came back, and he beckoned 
 to Harvard and Lady Kate and to Banta and Clancy 
 to follow him. 
 
 In that other room which they entered a man 
 was seated, with his face turned toward the win- 
 dow, and he did not look around until the chief 
 spoke to him.
 
 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 323 
 
 But then he got upon his feet and turned about 
 so that he faced them, clinging to the back of the 
 chair upon which he had been seated. 
 
 What they all saw was, in one sense, pathetic, 
 for it was the inspector who faced them the in- 
 spector who had been made a slave of that "sys- 
 tem" which has ruined so many perfectly well-in- 
 tentioned men. 
 
 They were all silent. Not one of them could 
 think of anything to say. It was the chief who 
 spoke first. 
 
 "Tell these friends of ours what you have to say 
 to them, Aaron," he said. 
 
 Again there was a moment of silence. Then the 
 inspector spoke in a low tone and very quietly. 
 
 "I want to congratulate you, Harvard, on the 
 happy ending of your difficulties," he said. "I 
 should have known it and I did know it without 
 knowing it. I might have known by implication 
 that there had been a frame-up, but I refused to 
 know it. I am sorry. 
 
 "Lady Kate, if I may still so address you, I con- 
 gratulate you also. You have a splendid and a 
 good man for your husband, one whom I have 
 learned to honor and respect. I wish to assure him 
 through you that the commissioner has agreed with 
 me already that there will never be any notice taken 
 of the acts of Bingham Harvard in his defiance of
 
 324 RETURN OF THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 police authority; and I ought to tell you both that 
 the commissioner's principal reason for that atti- 
 tude is owing to a signed petition that he received 
 yesterday signed by every man except Rushton, 
 who has felt the weight of Harvard's hand. 
 
 "Mr. Clancy, we have had misunderstandings in 
 the past. I have forgotten them, and I hope you 
 will do the same. 
 
 "Banta, old friend, this is a tough moment. We 
 have always liked each other, and I am more glad 
 than ever now to have called you my friend. Chief, 
 you cannot do better than to take Banta on with 
 you. You couldn't have a better man." 
 
 "He is on already since last midnight," the 
 chief replied. 
 
 "Then I have just one more word to say, and 
 it is addressed to all who are here. I have re- 
 signed from the department, and my resignation 
 has been accepted. It takes effect immediately. 
 The chief, who has proved himself to be my very 
 good friend, advised it ; the commissioner approved 
 of it so there it ends." 
 
 He bowed, reached for his hat, bowed again at 
 the doorway and was gone. 
 
 "Now, what do you know about that?" Clancy 
 exclaimed. "I suppose there are some people who 
 would say that he ought to have got it in the neck, 
 but I'm satisfied as it is. Eh what?"
 
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