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Read Ebook: A Woman at Bay; Or A Fiend in Skirts by Carter Nicholas House Name
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Ebook has 1057 lines and 39162 words, and 22 pages
"I'll try to, madam, though I don't know anything about the case. He may be guilty for all I know. What is he charged with?"
"With being a spy."
"If you want me to defend him, I'll do my best."
"Go ahead, then. Let the trial begin," she ordered.
The prosecution took up the case; that is, Cremation Mike got upon his feet and began to make a speech to the jury. He said:
"We've got proof enough that the man is a spy, ain't we, mates? We all know what happened down there in the swamp, the time that Nick Carter got among us, and carried away Black Madge almost before our eyes, and we none the wiser for it. We know how Nick Carter set the cottage afire after drugging Madge, and how then he fixed up a dummy in one of the windows, so that we would think that she was burning up. We know that, don't we, mates?
"And don't we know that there were four men who came to our camp in the swamp at the same time, and who came together? Wasn't one of that four Nick Carter himself? And were not two others of that same four Nick Carter's assistants? And who was the fourth one of that four? Why, it was that cove there, tied to the stake, and waiting for you to hang him.
"Would he have been in that sort of company if he hadn't been made out of the same kind of cloth? Didn't he come there with that other outfit? Didn't we prove--that is, didn't Madge prove that one of the four was Nick Carter; that another of the four was his assistant, who is called Chick? And that still another of the four was another assistant, who is called Ten-Ichi?
"And don't you know that Nick Carter has got still another assistant, and that his other assistant is named Patsy? Haven't you heard of that? It is true. And so is this fellow's name Pat--or Patsy. It is all the same.
"Now, again, didn't they come here together? Didn't Handsome find them camping in the woods, waiting for a chance to get to our camp, and didn't this fellow tell him the first one of the bunch that he was looking for Hobo Harry, the Beggar King--and ain't Hobo Harry and Black Madge one and the same? I tell you, there ain't any doubt that the man is a spy, and that he ought to be hanged.
"Now, do you guns remember what happened the night of the fire, the time when Nick Carter got away with Madge, and took her to jail? I'll remind you of it. Don't you remember that when we found the other two out, they were sent to the quicksand pit? I was one of those who helped to throw them into the quicksand pit. Did you ever hear of anybody's getting out of that pit alive? I never did until that incident; but I have found out since that both those assistants, Chick and Ten-Ichi, are alive and kicking, down in New York, this very day.
"Well, who got 'em out of that quicksand pit, then? Why, this fellow! That is where he was, and what he was doing while we were fighting the fire, and don't you forget it! We was all too busy to remember about the men we had chucked into the sand; but he didn't forget. For why? Because he was one of them himself, and because he had determined all along to go to that pit as soon as ever he could, and get them out of it.
"How'd he get 'em out, you ask? I don't know. I only know that he did get 'em out somehow, for they are out. I know that for certain."
Nick, in the character of Turner, leaped to his feet.
"I object!" he cried out. "This man ain't tryin' this case fair. I don't know who he is, and I don't keer a cuss; I only know that you app'inted me to defend him, and I'm a-goin' to do it till you tell me to stop. I object, ma'am, to the course he is adoptin'. It ain't fair. He's making a lot of statements the which he ain't got a shadow of proof about. I don't know anything about that air fire he speaks about, 'ceptin' what I've heerd down at Calamont. But we ain't got the fire here as a witness; and we ain't got the quicksand here as a witness; and we ain't got the two men as he says was saved from it here as witnesses. And unless he can produce witnesses to testify to what he says about them air escapes, I move that the hull speech he made be strucken out, your honor. Let him call his witnesses to the stand, and swear 'em, or swear at 'em. Let him do suthin, 'cept standing up there and shootin' off his mouth."
Madge smiled grimly. She was getting more enjoyment out of this affair than she had anticipated.
"Call your witnesses, Mike," she said.
"I ain't got none, Madge, to swear to what I have said, but every one here knows it is the solemn truth. I don't need no witnesses. However, I'll put Handsome on the stand fur a minute, about the way the bunch arrived at our camp, if you say so."
"I think it would be a good idea. It would be more regular."
"All right, Madge. Handsome, take the stand. Hold up your right hand, and swear that you'll tell the truth. That's all right. Now, did you hear what I said about your findin' that outfit in the woods north of the track?"
"I did."
"Wasn't it the dead-level truth?"
"It was."
"The hull four was there, warn't they?"
"They were."
"And they was all strangers?"
"They were."
"You never seen any one of them afore that time, had you?"
"Never."
"And, later, wasn't it found out that three of 'em were spies?"
"It was."
"And wasn't one of the spies Nick Carter himself?"
"Yes."
"And weren't the other two his assistants?"
"They were."
"Didn't they confess it?"
"They did."
"And weren't they afterward thrown into the quicksand pit to die?"
"They were."
"Did they die there?"
"I don't think they did."
"Don't you know that they escaped?"
"I'm reasonably certain of it."
"How did they escape?"
"I don't know that."
"I object!" shouted Nick.
"Oh, well," exclaimed Mike, in disgust, "ask him some questions yourself, then."
"I will. Handsome, when did you first see them four in the woods north o' the track?"
"Oh, I don't know. Before dark that night."
"Was they together?"
"Part of the time."
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