"Did you hear what the fellow, whom I was holding, said just before he got away?" asked Mr. De Royster, after a pause.
"Yes, he said 'Quick! Tell Annister he's escaped!'"
"I wonder what he meant?"
"I reckon I can explain. I might as well tell you the whole story of why I came to New York, and you will understand. Caleb Annister is the name of the man who is agent for some property my father and I own. It was this man whose actions I came to investigate. I found him to be a swindler, and I gave him a short time in which to pay back the money he had wrongfully retained."
"What did he say?"
"He tried to explain, but it was a pretty poor explanation. I caught him 'with the goods on him', as we say out West."
"But why should this man whom I held—this Wakely—want the other to warn Annister about some one escaping?"
"That 'some one' was me. I believe Annister got these fellows to get me out of the way for a time, until he could work some of his schemes. Perhaps he thought I would be frightened, and go back West, where I could not bother him any more.
"Are you going?"
"Not a bit. I'm going to keep right after him. I begin to see through his plot. This man Wakely came to my hotel purposely to get acquainted with me. Then he drugged me, and got me out to this place, where he kept me a prisoner. What was to be the outcome I don't know. But I am surprised to hear you say that the other man who came into the room was one of the swindlers who robbed you."