The scar stood out white as chalk.
"No?" said the Wolf. He took another drink, then with a sudden motion hurled Asa back in his chair and tied him there. Round and round the thin figure he twisted the rope, until Asa could not move a muscle. The Wolf propped the boy"s feet up on a box, and took off his shoes. Asa watched him curiously. He remembered the wild Indian stories he had read. Was this going to be a trial by fire, he wondered. The Wolf lighted a huge cigar and smoked it until the end glowed red. Then he drew his chair close to Asa"s feet. He showed him the cigar.
"That would hurt on your bare feet, wouldn"t?" he asked silkily.
"So much pain--and all because you want to be stubborn! Well, I have taught stubborn boys--and men--many times many times! So you had better tell me who suspects the Wolf."
A sound at the door caused him to turn. Ledermann entered.
"What"s this, Excellency?" asked Ledermann. "Whom have we here?"
"A stubborn little boy," said the Wolf. "A stubborn little boy, who is going to think better of his course of action in just a few minutes, and who is then going to tell me ever so many things that I want to know."
Asa stared at the Wolf"s wicked eyes and shivered. The Wolf turned away.
"What news to-night, Ledermann?" he asked.
"Adolph is dead for one thing," said Ledermann coolly. "He had one of his convulsions on the street, and it finished him."
"We were about through with him," said the Wolf heartlessly. He dismissed the subject. "What else?" he demanded.
"I have all the papers," answered Ledermann. "And as I could not get here until dark, I took a room in a safe little hotel where I would be undisturbed, and I made the copy for you." He handed over a tiny square of paper.
The Wolf carefully unfolded it. Then he laughed gleefully.
"Fine; fine, Ledermann! This finishes our work."
He crossed his leg over his knee, took a peculiar looking wrench from his pocket, fitted it round the heel of his shoe, and turned it. The other man caught his arm, and spoke rapidly in German.
"What possesses you, Excellency; are you mad? This boy--"
"Bah! What does it matter whether I finish him now or an hour later?" he asked. "We can"t let him go. I was obliged to punish the Weasel to-night and he saw it. It seemed to affect him unpleasantly. These American children know nothing of the value of discipline. He is going to tell me all he knows before I finish. The little rat--think of him defying me!"
The heel came off. Asa looked curiously. It was hollow and was neatly packed with papers like the one in the Wolf"s hand. The Wolf turned out the precious packets, and looked them over carefully. Ledermann looked from the Wolf intent on his papers, to Asa, bound in the chair. He looked at the Wolf again. He swayed a little; the drinks had gone to his head just enough to make him unsteady and reckless. He had not intended to take so much; the Wolf was always careful; but to-night--well, the day had been a hard one, and the end was so near. For months he had been under a terrific strain--Ledermann shook his head.
"See how I trust you," said the Wolf in English, looking up from his papers, "I know you will never, never tell. Oh no, that would be impossible! Isn"t that a fine little place to hide things?" he chuckled, and replaced the packets, screwed the heel in place, and stamped his foot on the floor. Then he turned to his bottle.
Ledermann had placed it beyond his reach.
"Give me that!" he demanded violently.
Ledermann obeyed.
The Wolf turned to him.
"Now, Ledermann, no fooling here; turn in all your accounts.
Destroy everything that could give a clew to us. Pack the bombs in the vault under the cellar floor. We may come back some day, when we land with our men on the sh.o.r.es of Long Island." He turned away. "Go and pack. We must be away from here before dawn."
Ledermann shrugged his shoulders, looked curiously at Asa, then turned and left the room.
The Wolf got up, threw a few things in a small suit-case, arranged some papers, took off his coat, and stood looking at Asa. Directly behind him, against the wall, was a large, old-fashioned wardrobe. Its dark, heavy, walnut doors threw the lean, muscular figure of the Wolf out as though carved in granite. He took a step toward the boy, and rolled up his sleeves.
"Now, young man, I"ll attend to you," he said.
Hope died in Asa"s heart.
CHAPTER IX
TIMELY AID
When the Wolf, holding fast to Asa"s shoulder, slipped into the shadows of the Park, Beany raced across the asphalt drive and knelt beside the little Weasel. He lay a crumpled, limp heap, and at first Beany thought him dead. There was a faint flutter, however, as Beany felt his heart, and, turning him gently over, Beany opened his shirt and uncovered the vicious looking wound where the Wolf"s dagger point had entered.
Across the square, an auto stopped, and a familiar figure jumped out and looked around. Beany joyfully recognized his friend the Sergeant. He knew that they were hidden by the gateway post so he whistled. Hen came running toward him.
"Who"s this?" he demanded.
"One of them," said Beany. He looked anxiously at the Weasel"s ashen face. "The Wolf stabbed him. We have got to get him to a hospital."
"I"ll get the car," said Hen, and was off like a flash.
They lifted the Weasel into the car and laid him back on the cushions; the boys rolled up the rugs, and their coats to prop him up. Again he opened his eyes.
"Don"t start," he said feebly. "I must tell you something."
He turned his head toward Beany. "I know you," he said. "What made you leave the Wolf and the little chap? I saw you tracking them. You ought to have kept right after them."
"That was my brother," explained Beany. "We look just alike."
He kept a careful hand on the wound.
"Let"s get to a hospital," said Hen.
"Don"t you move!" commanded the Weasel. "If you want to save that kid, the one with the Wolf, you have about half an hour to do it in. Don"t mind me. He has done for me. I knew he"d get me, but I will bite yet. Tell him that, will you? Tell him the Weasel has bitten; bitten to the bone. Lift me a little," he asked, then continued brokenly:
"The Wolf is head of a system of spies in America. They have headquarters in Mexico, St. Louis and "Frisco, as well as here.
The Wolf is the head; he is master of them all. I don"t know who he is. n.o.body knows. They all call him Excellency or the Wolf.
He has a submarine-base laid out on the coast of Long Island.
There is a powerful wireless station in the attic of the house where we meet. That"s where he has gone with that kid. He"ll kill that kid. I know him! He is all ready to leave the country. That"s why he did for me. He wants to shut us all up before he leaves--I"ll fix him--I told him I"d bite."
He stopped, and breathed heavily.
"I"m going to drive lickity-split for the hospital," said Hen in a low tone to Beany.
"Don"t you stir!" commanded the weak voice. "When you get to the house, go around back, and through the yard to the next house.
There is an outside iron fire-escape on it. Go up that to the level of the roof of the corner house. It is a story lower than the house that has the fire-escape. There is a trap door in the middle of the roof. Lift that, and climb down the ladder into the attic. The wireless is there. If there is a man there working the wireless, shoot him. He will shoot you if he can. Got a revolver?"