"Some one is coming," uttered Nell.

"It seems so."

Then the sound of an opening door startled them.

"It's strange that Madge has left everything in such a careless way,"

said a masculine voice. "Ho! Madge, where are you?"

"Hold up thar," uttered another voice. "I reckin the old gal know'd what she was doin'. Thar's some skulduggery goin' on down here, or my name ain't Nick Brower. I seed an old bloke come in, and 'twixt me an you, Professor, it was the man you'n me would give more to see out of the world than in it."

"You mean d.y.k.e Darrel, the detective?"

"I couldn't mean anybody else."

"Come on, then, let's investigate."

"Extinguish your light, Nell," cried d.y.k.e Darrel, in a thrilling whisper.

The girl did so at once, but the men above flashed a light into the bas.e.m.e.nt room, and soon steps were heard descending the stairs. d.y.k.e felt over his person to discover that Mother Scarlet had been prudent enough to deprive him of arms.

Nell, white as death, yet with a determined look in her eyes, clinched her derringer firmly, and with close-shut teeth waited the denouement.

"If we could only get under the stairs," said the detective, in a low voice.

They made a move to carry out his suggestion, but it was too late.

"Ha!"

This exclamation fell from the lips of the foremost man of three who were descending the narrow stairs. The outcry was caused at seeing two forms gliding across the stone floor toward the stairs.

"Quick! Hold up there, or we fire!" cried a sharp voice. Then the three men rapidly descended to the floor and confronted Nell and the detective. Three revolvers were leveled, and death literally stared brother and sister in the face.

"Caught, by the powers," sneered lips above a ma.s.sive red beard, and Professor Darlington Ruggles' eyes glittered with intense satisfaction as they peered into the face of the famous railroad detective.

Had d.y.k.e Darrel been in the full vigor of his manly strength, and Nell not by to unnerve him, his chances for escape would have been tenfold greater.

As it was, a terrible weakness oppressed him. His fall into the bas.e.m.e.nt had jarred him terribly, and it was with difficulty that he could stand alone. The walls seemed to whirl about in a mad waltz, and the faces of the three villains seemed one ma.s.s of grinning demons.

"Halt!"

Nell Darrel, white as death, yet with the fires of a resolute purpose blazing in her eyes, thrust forward her pistol.

"It's pretty Nell on a lark!" exclaimed Professor Ruggles. "It will be better for you not to make any resistance, for the moment you attempt it, that moment death will come to both of you. Be wise in time."

The Professor advanced a step.

"Stop there," sternly ordered the girl.

"Aye! stop there," repeated d.y.k.e, in a voice husky from very weakness.

"We will not be taken alive. Do you know on what dangerous grounds you are treading? This block is surrounded by members of the force, and any harm offered to Nell or myself speedily avenged."

A jeering laugh answered the detective.

"It is wrong to tell such a whopper, Mr. Darrel, especially when one is on the verge of eternity," said Ruggles, showing his teeth.

The situation was interesting.

"Will you permit us to depart from here?" questioned the detective, suddenly.

This speech brought a laugh to the lips of Darlington Ruggles.

"You do not seem to know me!" he said.

"I know that you pretend to be a professor of some sort, but I believe that you are in disguise. I think, if you would cast aside that red hirsute covering, we should see----"

"Zounds! Go for him, boys," cried Professor Ruggles in a loud voice, completely drowning the faint accents of d.y.k.e Darrel.

The two men who kept the Professor company, made a quick move to seize the twain in front of them. On the instant came a flash and sharp report.

One of the villains staggered and sank with a groan against the stairs.

"I--I'm shot!" he gasped.

"The she jade!"

It was Nick Brower who uttered the hissing cry of rage, and the next instant the villain's revolver flashed.

"My G.o.d! You have killed Nell!"

It was a cry expressive of the deepest agony, as the weak and reeling detective caught the form of his sister in his arms, as she fell backward, with the blood streaming down her face.

Poor Nell!

She hung a dead weight in the arms of d.y.k.e Darrel--murdered by the hand of a brutal a.s.sa.s.sin.

No wonder the bruised and almost helpless man-hunter groaned with inward anguish at the sight.

He fell no easy prey into the hands of his enemies, however.

Staggering backward, and easing his bleeding relative to the ground, he turned with a mad cry and dashed at the throat of Professor Darlington Ruggles.

Both men staggered across the floor against the stairs.

"I will strangle you for this," hissed the enraged detective.

"Help!" gasped Ruggles.

Brower came to his a.s.sistance with a vengeance, and rained terrific blows upon the head of d.y.k.e Darrel with the b.u.t.t of his revolver. Soon the mad grip relaxed from the throat of Ruggles, and d.y.k.e Darrel sank a bleeding and insensible ma.s.s to the floor.