"This is my girl, and one of those fellows tried to steal her," said Burke in a gruff voice. "I was onto the game, and that"s why I had the starter get you ready. She lives on West Seventy-first Street, near West End Avenue. Now, you run along on the right side of the street, and I"ll point out the house."
He was planning a second "double" on his trail. The chauffeur grunted and started the machine again. The girl was moaning with pain in an incoherent way.
As they rolled slowly down West Seventy-first Street Bobbie saw a house which showed a light in the third floor. Presumably the storm door would not be locked, as it would have been in case the tenants were away. He knocked on the window.
The taxi came to a stop.
The chauffeur opened the door and Burke sprang out.
"Here"s a ten-dollar bill, my boy," said Burke. "I"ll have to square her with her mother, so you come back here in twenty minutes and take me down to that restaurant. I"m going to clean out that joint, and I"ll pay you another ten to help me. Are you game?"
The chauffeur laughed wisely.
"Am I game? Just watch me."
Burke lifted Lorna out and turned toward the steps.
"Now, don"t leave me in the lurch. Be back in exactly twenty minutes, and I"ll be on the job--and we"ll make it some job. But, don"t let the folks see you standing around, or they"ll think I"ve been up to some game. Her old man will start some shooting. Come back for me."
The chauffeur chuckled as he climbed into his car and drove away, planning a little himself.
"Any guy that has a girl as swell as that one to live on this street will be good for a hundred dollars before I get through with him," he muttered as he took a chew of tobacco. "And I"ve got the number of that house, too. Her old man will give a good deal to keep this out of the papers. I know my business, even if I didn"t go to college!"
As the chauffeur disappeared around the corner, after taking a look toward the steps up which Burke had carried his unconscious burden, the policeman put Lorna down inside the vestibule.
"Now, this is a dangerous game. It means disgrace if I get caught; but it means a pair of broken hearts if this poor girl gets caught," he thought. "I"ll risk n.o.body coming, and run for another taxi."
He hastened down the steps and walked around the corner, hurrying toward a big hotel which stood not far from Broadway. Here he found another taxicab.
"There"s a young lady sick at the house of one of my friends, and I"m taking her home," said Burke to the driver. "Hurry up, please."
The second automobile sped over the street to the house where Burke had left the girl, and the officer hurried up the steps. He soon reappeared with Lorna in his arms, walked calmly down the steps, and put her into the car.
This time he gave the correct home address, and the taxicab rumbled along on the last stretch of the race.
They pa.s.sed the first car, whose driver was already planning the ways to spend the money which he was to make by a little scientific blackmail.
He was destined to a long wait in front of the brownstone mansion.
After nearly an hour he decided to take things into his own hands.
"I"ll get a little now," he muttered with an accompaniment of profanity. "That guy can"t stall me."
After ringing the bell for several minutes a very angry caretaker came to the door.
"What do you want, my man?" cried this individual in unmistakable British accents. "Dash your blooming impudence in waking me up at this time in the morning."
"I want to get my taxicab fare from the gent that brought the lady here drunk!" declared the chauffeur. "Are you her father?"
The caretaker shook a fist in his face as he snapped back:
"I"m n.o.body"s father. There ain"t no gent nor drunk lady here. I"m alone in this house, and my master and missus is at Palm Beach. If you don"t get away from here I"m going to call the police."
With that he slammed the door in the face of the astounded chauffeur and turned out the light in the hall.
The taxi driver walked down the steps slowly.
"Well, that"s a new game on me!" he grunted. "There"s a new gang working this town as sure as I"m alive. I"m going down and put the starter wise."
Down he went, to face a cross-examination from the starter, and an accounting for his time. He had to pay over seven dollars of his ten to cover the period for which he had the car out. Jimmie the Monk and Baxter had returned from their unsuccessful chase. As they made their inquiries from the starter and learned the care with which the coup d"etat had been arranged they lapsed into angry, if admiring, profanity.
"Some guy, eh, Jimmie!" exclaimed Baxter. "But we"ll find out who it was, all right. Leave it to me!"
"Say, dat bloke was crazy--crazy like a fox, wasn"t he?" answered Jimmie. "He let Shepard do de deal, and den he steals de kitty! Dis is what I calls cut-throat compet.i.tion!"
CHAPTER VII
THE CLOSER BOND
Once in the second taxicab Burke"s difficulties were not at an end.
"I want to get this poor young girl home without humiliating her or her family, if I can," was his mental resolve. "But I can"t quite plan it.
I wish I could take her to Dr. MacFarland, but his office is "way downtown from here."
When the car drew up before the door of Lorna"s home, from which she had departed in such blithe spirits, Bob"s heart was thumping almost guiltily. He felt in some ridiculous way as though he were almost responsible for her plight himself. Perhaps he had done wrong to wait so long. Yet, even his quick eyesight had failed to discover the knockout drops or powder which the wily Shepard had slipped into that disastrous gla.s.s of beer. Maybe his interference would have saved her from this unconscious stupor, indeed, he felt morally certain that it would; but Bob knew in his heart that the clever tricksters would have turned the tables on him effectively, and undoubtedly in the end would have won their point by eluding him and escaping with the girl. It was better that their operations should be thwarted in a manner which would prevent them from knowing how sharply they were watched. Bob knew that these men were to be looked after in the future.
He cast aside his thoughts to subst.i.tute action.
"Here"s your number, mister," said the chauffeur, who opened the door.
"Can I help you with the lady?"
"Thank you, no. What"s the charge?"
The driver twisted the lamp around to show the meter, and Burke paid him a good tip over the price of the ride.
"Shall I wait for you?" asked the driver.
"No; that"s all. I"ll walk to the subway as soon as my friend gets in.
Good night."
The chauffeur lingered a bit as Bob took the girl in his arms. The officer understood the suggestion of his hesitation.
"I said good night!" he spoke curtly.
The taxi man understood this time; there was no mistaking the firmness of the hint, and he started his machine away.