“Why, the dub thought that just as soon as we had taken down his declaration, we would drop him at the doctor’s and bid him a fond farewell. He went on like a madman when he found himself at the station, and told me I had lied to him.”
“Where is he now?” asked Mrs. Wolfe.
“At the Infirmary at the jail. Under guard, too. We don’t want anything to happen to him. He is too valuable a witness. I think he would kill himself if he found a chance, but two men are watching him night and day.
“We sent the other Secret Service men back to headquarters, with copies of the lists, and couriers are being dispatched in airplanes to all cities noted. It will be a great scoop.”
“Did you have a scrap when you arrested the three men and the woman at the Seelbach?” asked Walter.
“Only one man tried to put up a fight,” said the detective. “The big one who drove the car out to Knox. We went up to the room and knocked. The lady in the case called, 'Come,’ and we two went in. We simply grabbed her before she could do anything, and put the bracelets on her. My, but she was mad! She never said a word, but if looks could kill we would all have been dead. She was alone, and we shut the door and waited, after warning her to keep still.
“Presently someone came down the hall. The carpet is so thick that you could not hear footsteps, but we heard the key-check jangle. And the woman started to let out a yell. We beat her to it, and gagged her. Then we waited awhile longer, first moving her chair around where it could not be seen from the door.
“After awhile someone came to the door and came in. It was the thin man, and we stacked him up beside the lady. All at once I noticed her little foot tapping the floor, and there she was sending messages right under our noses. Then I put the anklets on her and, to make sure, placed a cushion under her feet. It wasn’t long before the other two whom we expected came along. We were ready for them with revolvers, but the big one wanted to fight the worst way.
“The management didn’t want us to take a bunch of prisoners out the front, so we had to take them down the freight elevator. It seems they have been splurging round the hotel for six weeks, the woman wearing wonderful clothes, and the men posing as oil men from the west.”
“Where are they now?” asked someone.