The detective knew the man with whom he had to deal, too well.
He realized that Jimmy Duryea would never have placed himself in the present position unless he had been very sure of his ground.
There was no doubt in Nick’s mind that when Jimmy found that Nan had gone to the city, he suspected at once that she would notify Nick Carter of all that had happened at The Birches. The fact that Jimmy had awaited with calmness the arrival of the detective upon the scene was sufficient proof that the former burglar was fairly positive of the ground upon which he stood.
Jimmy denied his identity while admitting it—by implication.
He called himself the ghost of Bare-Faced Jimmy with an irony that was inimitable.
He had stated that Ledger Dinwiddie, the man whom he claimed to be, could establish his identity, with a long line of ancestry, without a doubt, and with very little trouble; and he had asserted that the bones of Jimmy Duryea might be dug up, if necessary, to prove that Jimmy Duryea was really dead.
There is just where the rub came. Jimmy might be bluffing, but again he might be entirely in earnest. Jimmy was a careful one in preparing his coups, and there could be no doubt that he had prepared this one from every available standpoint.
And again, until that meeting with Nan, at the church, Nick Carter himself had believed that Duryea was long since dead and buried.
Nevertheless, Nick Carter was not one to be driven aside from a determination upon which he had studied and decided; and he had decided that this was Jimmy Duryea, and that he must not only give up the stolen property, but must also disappear. If the detective at times appeared to hesitate, it was only because he wished to make himself more sure of his own ground.
“Jimmy,” he said, after a short pause which followed the burglar’s last remark, which was in the nature of a defiance, “you can’t bluff me, and you know you can’t.”