“No; good-night.”
Without another word Ike skipped away. He went direct to his home and to bed. He was tired and did not attempt to think or plan that night, but on the following morning he was out bright and early. He had quite a good deal of business on hand.
Ike proceeded to the hotel where the two men lodged whom he had twice dogged. He saw nothing of them until late in the afternoon, then they came forth. He fell to their trail and saw them meet Fellman, with whom they held a long consultation. He tried to get near enough to overhear what was said, but no opportunity offered. When the men separated he fell to the banker’s trail and saw him go to his hotel. The lad lay around. After having secured a quick meal he lay around the hotel for a long time until he saw Fellman come forth. It was about eight o’clock in the evening. He followed the man and saw him enter a house quite a distance up town. He hung around for a couple of hours but the man did not reappear and Ike concluded to postpone an investigation of the house to some future time, and he proceeded down to the house where he knew Burlein was a constant visitor, or at least so he had concluded. In fact the lad had worked up a complete theory as to the whole situation and was determined to be on hand when anything occurred. He saw Burlein go to the house and a little later the two men put in an appearance, and he saw several other singular occurrences which led him to conclude that the scoundrels had determined to put their scheme, whatever it was, in execution that very night, and he muttered:
“I reckon Burlein will not think I am a fraud when this whole affair is over.”
The charge of being a fraud rankled in the young man’s mind. He felt it unjust, and again he muttered:
“I will make him eat his words before morning, you bet.”
Ike lay around until midnight and saw young Burlein come from the house and walk up the street. The men had disappeared and the boy did not know their exact position, so he followed some distance behind, when suddenly a most startling incident occurred. Burlein had reached the corner. He appeared to be walking along in deep thought. He had passed the corner and was stepping from the curb to the crosswalk when suddenly two men leaped forward and ran at him from behind. Ike ran forward giving a shout, but his warning call came too late. The young man had received a blow on the head which felled him to the ground. Ike drew his pistol. He raised it to fire at one of the two men, when suddenly everything swam round in his head and as quickly everything became a blank. How long Ike remained unconscious he never knew exactly, but some time later he concluded that he must have been out of his senses fully an hour. When he returned to consciousness he was in a dark apartment. He made an effort to move and could not, nor could he discern an object a foot from his face. He lay still—it was his only way. He determined to go slow, very slow, and consider and if possible recall. He was, as the incident we are about to relate will prove, an extraordinary fellow. He first strove to line back his thoughts and if possible recall all that had happened. He was certain something had occurred—something very extraordinary. He picked up his line of thought just where the extraordinary incident must have occurred. He recalled how he had seen Burlein knocked down. He recalled how he had attempted to draw his pistol, and then all recollection ceased up to the moment he found himself in the dark apartment, and chained to the floor, as he discovered.
Ike was perfectly cool. His brightest and keenest wit had returned to him, and he muttered:
“I see it all. Just as I was getting ready to shoot I received a crack on the head. But where am I now?”
He felt around and discovered that he was chained by his ankles—his hands were free.