Their host had placed whisky upon the table, and they had hastened toprime themselves for the work before them. Baldwin and Cormac werealready half-drunk, and the liquor had brought out all their ferocity.Cormac placed his hands on the stove for an instant--it had beenlighted, for the nights were still cold.
"That will do," said he, with an oath.
"Ay," said Baldwin, catching his meaning. "If he is strapped to that,we will have the truth out of him."
"We'll have the truth out of him, never fear," said McMurdo. He hadnerves of steel, this man; for though the whole weight of the affairwas on him his manner was as cool and unconcerned as ever. The othersmarked it and applauded.
"You are the one to handle him," said the Boss approvingly. "Not awarning will he get till your hand is on his throat. It's a pity thereare no shutters to your windows."
McMurdo went from one to the other and drew the curtains tighter. "Sureno one can spy upon us now. It's close upon the hour."
"Maybe he won't come. Maybe he'll get a sniff of danger," said thesecretary.
"He'll come, never fear," McMurdo answered. "He is as eager to come asyou can be to see him. Hark to that!"
They all sat like wax figures, some with their glasses arrested halfwayto their lips. Three loud knocks had sounded at the door.
"Hush!" McMurdo raised his hand in caution. An exulting glance wentround the circle, and hands were laid upon hidden weapons.
"Not a sound, for your lives!" McMurdo whispered, as he went from theroom, closing the door carefully behind him.
With strained ears the murderers waited. They counted the steps oftheir comrade down the passage. Then they heard him open the outerdoor. There were a few words as of greeting. Then they were aware of astrange step inside and of an unfamiliar voice. An instant later camethe slam of the door and the turning of the key in the lock. Their preywas safe within the trap. Tiger Cormac laughed horribly, and BossMcGinty clapped his great hand across his mouth.
"Be quiet, you fool!" he whispered. "You'll be the undoing of us yet!"
There was a mutter of conversation from the next room. It seemedinterminable. Then the door opened, and McMurdo appeared, his fingerupon his lip.
He came to the end of the table and looked round at them. A subtlechange had come over him. His manner was as of one who has great workto do. His face had set into granite firmness. His eyes shone with afierce excitement behind his spectacles. He had become a visible leaderof men. They stared at him with eager interest; but he said nothing.Still with the same singular gaze he looked from man to man.
"Well!" cried Boss McGinty at last. "Is he here? Is Birdy Edwards here?"
"Yes," McMurdo answered slowly. "Birdy Edwards is here. I am BirdyEdwards!"
There were ten seconds after that brief speech during which the roommight have been empty, so profound was the silence. The hissing of akettle upon the stove rose sharp and strident to the ear. Seven whitefaces, all turned upward to this man who dominated them, were setmotionless with utter terror. Then, with a sudden shivering of glass, abristle of glistening rifle barrels broke through each window, whilethe curtains were torn from their hangings.
At the sight Boss McGinty gave the roar of a wounded bear and plungedfor the half-opened door. A levelled revolver met him there with thestern blue eyes of Captain Marvin of the Mine Police gleaming behindthe sights. The Boss recoiled and fell back into his chair.
"You're safer there, Councillor," said the man whom they had known asMcMurdo. "And you, Baldwin, if you don't take your hand off yourpistol, you'll cheat the hangman yet. Pull it out, or by the Lord thatmade me--There, that will do. There are forty armed men round thishouse, and you can figure it out for yourself what chance you have.Take their pistols, Marvin!"
There was no possible resistance under the menace of those rifles. Themen were disarmed. Sulky, sheepish, and amazed, they still sat roundthe table.
"I'd like to say a word to you before we separate," said the man whohad trapped them. "I guess we may not meet again until you see me onthe stand in the courthouse. I'll give you something to think overbetween now and then. You know me now for what I am. At last I can putmy cards on the table. I am Birdy Edwards of Pinkerton's. I was chosento break up your gang. I had a hard and dangerous game to play. Not asoul, not one soul, not my nearest and dearest, knew that I was playingit. Only Captain Marvin here and my employers knew that. But it's overto-night, thank God, and I am the winner!"
The seven pale, rigid faces looked up at him. There was unappeasablehatred in their eyes. He read the relentless threat.
"Maybe you think that the game is not over yet. Well, I take my chanceof that. Anyhow, some of you will take no further hand, and there aresixty more besides yourselves that will see a jail this night. I'lltell you this, that when I was put upon this job I never believed therewas such a society as yours. I thought it was paper talk, and that Iwould prove it so. They told me it was to do with the Freemen; so Iwent to Chicago and was made one. Then I was surer than ever that itwas just paper talk; for I found no harm in the society, but a deal ofgood.
"Still, I had to carry out my job, and I came to the coal valleys. WhenI reached this place I learned that I was wrong and that it wasn't adime novel after all. So I stayed to look after it. I never killed aman in Chicago. I never minted a dollar in my life. Those I gave youwere as good as any others; but I never spent money better. But I knewthe way into your good wishes and so I pretended to you that the lawwas after me. It all worked just as I thought.
"So I joined your infernal lodge, and I took my share in your councils.Maybe they will say that I was as bad as you. They can say what theylike, so long as I get you. But what is the truth? The night I joinedyou beat up old man Stanger. I could not warn him, for there was notime; but I held your hand, Baldwin, when you would have killed him. Ifever I have suggested things, so as to keep my place among you, theywere things which I knew I could prevent. I could not save Dunn andMenzies, for I did not know enough; but I will see that their murderersare hanged. I gave Chester Wilcox warning, so that when I blew hishouse in he and his folk were in hiding. There was many a crime that Icould not stop; but if you look back and think how often your man camehome the other road, or was down in town when you went for him, orstayed indoors when you thought he would come out, you'll see my work."
"You blasted traitor!" hissed McGinty through his closed teeth.
"Ay, John McGinty, you may call me that if it eases your smart. You andyour like have been the enemy of God and man in these parts. It took aman to get between you and the poor devils of men and women that youheld under your grip. There was just one way of doing it, and I did it.You call me a traitor; but I guess there's many a thousand will call mea deliverer that went down into hell to save them. I've had threemonths of it. I wouldn't have three such months again if they let meloose in the treasury at Washington for it. I had to stay till I had itall, every man and every secret right here in this hand. I'd havewaited a little longer if it hadn't come to my knowledge that my secretwas coming out. A letter had come into the town that would have set youwise to it all. Then I had to act and act quickly.
"I've nothing more to say to you, except that when my time comes I'lldie the easier when I think of the work I have done in this valley.Now, Marvin, I'll keep you no more. Take them in and get it over."
There is little more to tell. Scanlan had been given a sealed note tobe left at the address of Miss Ettie Shafter, a mission which he hadaccepted with a wink and a knowing smile. In the early hours of themorning a beautiful woman and a much muffled man boarded a specialtrain which had been sent by the railr