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(ER cr at ha ge Sale
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Tt was then if ever. that Nick Carter’s great strength
stood for him.
The staple gave—slowly at first, then, more, and at
last, with a pop, it came loose from the floor, and the
detective leaped to his feet. The iron collar was still
around his neck, and there were six inches of chain hang-
ing to it, but he was free.
Instantly he seized the bar again and leaped to Shaw’s
side, and in another two‘ minutes the landlord was also
on his feet. .
“Come!” said Nick then.
Ichi, Chick.”
They passed fifty fect | or more through a narrow cor-
tidor into another chamber of the cavern, where they
found Ten-Ichi, chained in the same manner, and here it
required the united strength of Shaw and the detective to
“Show us the way to Ten-
move the staple.
- But it was accomplished.
“And now,” said the detective, seizing a fem from
. the wall, “let us see if we can find our weapons.’8
‘But although they searched that” part of the cavern
thoroughly, and consumed as much time as they dared,
they could find no trace of them, and at last Nick ordered
a return to the entrance to the cavern, where he said
they would await the return of Codman. -
_ “What is the matter with you, Chick? And of Ten-
. Ichi?” asked Nick. “You do not seem to be wounded.”
- “No; we are not wounded. It is Codman’s drugs. I
am as weak as a rat, and so is Ten-Ichi.” .
“Well, I’m not. Neither is Shaw. We will wait at the
entrance to the cavern and tackle Codman when he re-
turns—if he ever does. It may be that he left us there
to starve and did not intend to return at all.”
They made their way slowly to the entrance, and, hav-
ing taken up their positions, waited with what patience
they could for the return of the poisoner.
They had waited more than an hour, and Shaw, for-
: . . . . *
' getting the caution that had been given him to remain
silent, had just remarked that he had begun to believe
that Codmari did not intend to return at all when they
were all startled by a “Ho! ho! hol!” from the depths
‘of the cavern behind them. The laughter was followed
‘instantly by two pistol-shots, and two, bullets whistled
ominously close to their heads. .
At the same instant Nick leaped toward the sounds,
-regardless of the consequences, and he was closely. fol-
lowed by the landlord. Chick and Ten-Ichi remained
‘where they were. i ’
NEW NICK CARTER WEEKLY. et 27
Ahead of them,,Nick and Shaw could hear Codman
retreating through the darkness. . Now: and then he
turned and sent a bullet crashing through the cavern, but
Nick and his companion kept doggedly on.
There was no light to guide them; only. the sound of
Codman’s running feet as he fled from them.
But that was sufficient to guide them, and if they. could
not make rapid progress, neither could the man -they
were pursuing.
An interminable distance that run seemed to the detec- .
tive, and his face and hands were bleeding from contact .
© with the rocky walls, when at last they saw a glimmer of
light-ahead of them which was, a moment later, blotted
out for an instant as the form of Codman passed through
it and so into the open daylight beyond.
Nick increased his speed now.. He bounded forward
and rushed out.of the cavern to find: himself. upon the
precipitous side of a mountain—or rather a hill—and to
“see Codman, twenty rods away, running with all the
speed he could command toward the ridge of the hill.
If Nick had~ possessed a pistol then, he. could ‘have
stopped Codman with a bullet in the leg; but as it was he
could only make an effort to increase his own speed in
order to overtake and capture the fugitive.
“At the crest of the hill Codman turned and fired again,
but the shot went wild, and. Nick did not slacken his
pace. And then Codman disappeared.
But when Nick reached the top of the hill he saw Cod-
man again. He saw also that the doctor was running
directly toward the edge of a precipice which formed one
side of a deep gulf in the mountains, “
Nick saw him arrive at the very edge of the precipice;
he saw him turn and wave his hand mockingly; he saw
him turn, then, and raise his hands above his head after
the manner of a person who is about to dive; and then he
saw him leap outward into the gulf and disappear, head
downward, like an arrow sprung from a bow.
/ . -
In another moment he was at the edge of the abyss
‘himself, and gazing down into the depths below him, and
presently Shaw was at his side.
Below them, at a distance of sixty or more feet, was.a
round, black pool of water which appeared to be swirling
round and round with almost the speed of an electric fan.
It was perhaps thirty feet in diameter,’and the water
seemed to rise and then fall again inside the huge, well-
like hole it had-worn in the rocks during the ages of its
agitation.