The Complete Sherlock Holmes

“I guess you’ll pay for this, Captain Marvin,”
said McGinty. “Who are you, I’d like to know, to
break into a house in this fashion and molest honest,
law-abiding men?”
“You’re standing out in this deal, Councillor
McGinty,” said the police captain. “We are not out
after you, but after this man McMurdo. It is for
you to help, not to hinder us in our duty,”
“He is a friend of mine, and I’ll answer for his
conduct,” said the Boss.
“By all accounts, Mr. McGinty, you may have to
answer for your own conduct some of these days,”
the captain answered. “This man McMurdo was a
crook before ever he came here, and he’s a crook
still. Cover him, Patrolman, while I disarm him.”
“There’s my pistol,” said McMurdo coolly.
“Maybe, Captain Marvin, if you and I were alone
and face to face you would not take me so easily.”
“Where’s your warrant?” asked McGinty. “By
Gar! a man might as well live in Russia as in Vermissa
while folk like you are running the police.
It’s a capitalist outrage, and you’ll hear more of it,
I reckon.”
“You do what you think is your duty the best
way you can, Councillor. We’ll look after ours.”
“What am I accused of?” asked McMurdo.
“Of being concerned in the beating of old Editor
Stanger at the Herald office. It wasn’t your
fault that it isn’t a murder charge.”
“Well, if that’s all you have against him,” cried
McGinty with a laugh, “you can save yourself a
deal of trouble by dropping it right now. This man
was with me in my saloon playing poker up to
midnight, and I can bring a dozen to prove it.”
“That’s your affair, and I guess you can settle
it in court to-morrow. Meanwhile, come on, Mc-
Murdo, and come quietly if you don’t want a gun
across your head. You stand wide, Mr. McGinty;
for I warn you I will stand no resistance when I
am on duty!”
So determined was the appearance of the captain
that both McMurdo and his boss were forced
to accept the situation. The latter managed to have
a few whispered words with the prisoner before
they parted.
“What about—” he jerked his thumb upward
to signify the coining plant.
“All right,” whispered McMurdo, who had devised
a safe hiding place under the floor.
The Valley Of Fear
722
“I’ll bid you good-bye,” said the Boss, shaking
hands. “I’ll see Reilly the lawyer and take the defense
upon myself. Take my word for it that they
won’t be able to hold you.”
“I wouldn’t bet on that. Guard the prisoner,
you two, and shoot him if he tries any games. I’ll
search the house before I leave.”
He did so; but apparently found no trace of the
concealed plant. When he had descended he and
his men escorted McMurdo to headquarters. Darkness
had fallen, and a keen blizzard was blowing
so that the streets were nearly deserted; but a few
loiterers followed the group, and emboldened by
invisibility shouted imprecations at the prisoner.
“Lynch the cursed Scowrer!” they cried.
“Lynch him!” They laughed and jeered as he was
pushed into the police station. After a short, formal
examination from the inspector in charge he
was put into the common cell. Here he found Baldwin
and three other criminals of the night before,
all arrested that afternoon and waiting their trial
next morning.
But even within this inner fortress of the law
the long arm of the Freemen was able to extend.
Late at night there came a jailer with a straw bundle
for their bedding, out of which he extracted
two bottles of whisky, some glasses, and a pack
of cards. They spent a hilarious night, without an
anxious thought as to the ordeal of the morning.
Nor had they cause, as the result was to show.
The magistrate could not possibly, on the evidence,
have held them for a higher court. On the one
hand the compositors and pressmen were forced
to admit that the light was uncertain, that they
were themselves much perturbed, and that it was
difficult for them to swear to the identity of the
assailants; although they believed that the accused
were among them. Cross examined by the clever
attorney who had been engaged by McGinty, they
were even more nebulous in their evidence.
The injured man had already deposed that he
was so taken by surprise by the suddenness of the
attack that he could state nothing beyond the fact
that the first man who struck him wore a moustache.
He added that he knew them to be Scowrers,
since no one else in the community could possibly
have any enmity to him, and he had long
been threatened on account of his outspoken editorials.
On the other hand, it was clearly shown by
the united and unfaltering evidence of six citizens,
including that high municipal official, Councillor
McGinty, that the men had been at a card party
at the Union House until an hour very much later
than the commission of the outrage.