In the Name of the People

by Arthur W. Marchmont

It turned out that he was in the same uncertainty about me; but he saw that the man who had crossed the room was going to switch on the electric light, and to prevent this he sprang on him and shouted to me to seize the other fellow.

I might as well have tried to seize a stroke of lightning. Before my companion had half finished his sentence, the man was out of the room and over the balcony railing, and it would have been sheer folly to attempt any pursuit.

Meanwhile, Burroughs, who was as strong as a bullock, had collared his man, holding his hands behind him in a grip of iron.

I closed the jalousies and fastened them, and then shut the window and fastened that, and then switched up the light.

I recognized the prisoner immediately. It was Henriques—the brute who had been going to strike Inez that night in the Rua Catania.

“Run your hands over him and draw his teeth,” said my friend.

He had both a revolver and a knife, and I took these from him and then turned out his pockets. Among the miscellaneous contents I found, to my intense surprise, an envelope addressed to Vasco, the name being given in full.

I was careful not to show my keen interest at this, and something like a flash of intuition warned me that I must learn the contents of the letter without Henriques knowing that I had read it. As the envelope was fastened, this was a little difficult. “These things may be wanted by the police and may or may not be important,” I said to Burroughs. Then I fetched a sheet of paper from my desk, wrapped up the envelope and the small things and sealed the packet, placing the revolver and knife by them. I did it very deliberately so that Henriques should see, and then I said to him: “I don’t mean to give you a chance to deny that these thing were found on you.”

“Shall I send for the police?” asked Burroughs, who was considerably perplexed by what I had done.

“That depends upon this scoundrel. You needn’t hold him. He can’t do any harm. But don’t let him get near these toys of his,” and I pointed to his weapons. I had my plan by that time. I meant to trick him, and it was part of my plan that he should believe that the packet was not out of his sight the whole time.