“I will kill him!” hissed the man.
“He killed Billy Young, and I will kill him. ‘Blood for blood’ is my motto.”
“Well, what about that fellow up there?” said the second thug, pointing to Nick’s window.
“We will settle him right away. He has been the cause of Billy Young’s death, Hall and Meloy’s arrest, and a few other things that I shall tell you of later.”
“Well, then, we had better do it now, because it will be daylight pretty soon.”
“The lightest man can climb up the trellis and finish him in the room, while the others wait down here, ready to give him a hand if necessary.”
“I would like to go up and fix him,” said the more slender of Weeden’s companions. “I owe him one, and want to pay it as soon as I can.”
“What has he done to you?” asked the other man.
“Nothing”—sullenly—“but he was the means of sending my brother up for twenty years. The poor boy went to that prison, and the treatment that he received was so harsh that he died in less than three years. It broke my mother’s heart, and it wasn’t long before she followed. You can understand now why I want to be the one to end the life of that cursed detective, Nick Carter.”
The man started toward the trellis.