Goulard pitched face forward on the floor, shot through the heart.
It was the last step of a downward career, the last act of a man gone hopelessly to the bad.
The arrest of the others was easily accomplished, with nothing more sensational than imprecations and curses. Nine o’clock that evening saw all that remained of the gang securely lodged in the Tombs.
The same hour saw Helen Mantell restored to her husband’s arms, and the cloud of fear that had hung over the Mantell mansion was dispelled forever.
Though uninjured by the experience she had suffered, Helen could only state that, after riding away with the man she had supposed to be her father-in-law, he had almost immediately seized her and plunged a needle into her neck, evidently impregnated with some powerful and quick-acting drug. She knew no more until she revived in the old Corson place, scarce a half hour before Nick Carter’s arrival.
The gratitude of the Mantells, as well as their reward to the detectives for their splendid work, were all that the Carters could ask, and Patsy made sure that Frank Steel got his for the services rendered.
The crooks suffered the extreme penalty for their crime, including Nick’s partner in knavery—but the detective made sure that the Buckley plunder was restored to its owner.
It was found in the secret cellar under the Corson stable—with the hidden fruits of several previous robberies.
"Taken as a whole," Nick Carter remarked that evening; "it was the round-up and wind-up of a very bad gang."
THE END.