The Complete Sherlock Holmes

come right down to the waiting room at the depot
and stay there till I come for you.”
“Day or night, I’ll come at the word, Jack.”
Somewhat eased in mind, now that his own
preparations for escape had been begun, Mc-
Murdo went on to the lodge. It had already assembled,
and only by complicated signs and countersigns
could he pass through the outer guard and
inner guard who close-tiled it. A buzz of pleasure
and welcome greeted him as he entered. The long
room was crowded, and through the haze of tobacco
smoke he saw the tangled black mane of the
Bodymaster, the cruel, unfriendly features of Baldwin,
the vulture face of Harraway, the secretary,
and a dozen more who were among the leaders of
the lodge. He rejoiced that they should all be there
to take counsel over his news.
“Indeed, it’s glad we are to see you, Brother!”
cried the chairman. “There’s business here that
wants a Solomon in judgment to set it right.”
“It’s Lander and Egan,” explained his neighbour
as he took his seat. “They both claim the
head money given by the lodge for the shooting of
old man Crabbe over at Stylestown, and who’s to
say which fired the bullet?”
McMurdo rose in his place and raised his hand.
The expression of his face froze the attention of the
audience. There was a dead hush of expectation.
“Eminent Bodymaster,” he said, in a solemn
voice, “I claim urgency!”
“Brother McMurdo claims urgency,” said
McGinty. “It’s a claim that by the rules of this
lodge takes precedence. Now Brother, we attend
you.”
McMurdo took the letter from his pocket.
“Eminent Bodymaster and Brethren,” he said,
“I am the bearer of ill news this day; but it is better
that it should be known and discussed, than
that a blow should fall upon us without warning
which would destroy us all. I have information
that the most powerful and richest organizations in
this state have bound themselves together for our
destruction, and that at this very moment there is a
Pinkerton detective, one Birdy Edwards, at work in
the valley collecting the evidence which may put a
rope round the necks of many of us, and send every
man in this room into a felon’s cell. That is the
situation for the discussion of which I have made
a claim of urgency.”
There was a dead silence in the room. It was
broken by the chairman.
“What is your evidence for this, Brother Mc-
Murdo?” he asked.
The Valley Of Fear
731
“It is in this letter which has come into my
hands,” said McMurdo. He read the passage
aloud. “It is a matter of honour with me that I
can give no further particulars about the letter, nor
put it into your hands; but I assure you that there
is nothing else in it which can affect the interests
of the lodge. I put the case before you as it has
reached me.”
“Let me say, Mr. Chairman,” said one of the
older brethren, “that I have heard of Birdy Edwards,
and that he has the name of being the best
man in the Pinkerton service.”
“Does anyone know him by sight?” asked
McGinty.
“Yes,” said McMurdo, “I do.”
There was a murmur of astonishment through
the hall.
“I believe we hold him in the hollow of our
hands,” he continued with an exulting smile upon
his face. “If we act quickly and wisely, we can cut
this thing short. If I have your confidence and your
help, it is little that we have to fear.”
“What have we to fear, anyhow? What can he
know of our affairs?”
“You might say so if all were as stanch as you,
Councillor. But this man has all the millions of the
capitalists at his back. Do you think there is no
weaker brother among all our lodges that could
not be bought? He will get at our secrets—maybe
has got them already. There’s only one sure cure.”
“That he never leaves the valley,” said Baldwin.
McMurdo nodded. “Good for you, Brother
Baldwin,” he said. “You and I have had our differences,
but you have said the true word to-night.”
“Where is he, then? Where shall we know
him?”
“Eminent Bodymaster,” said McMurdo,
earnestly, “I would put it to you that this is too
vital a thing for us to discuss in open lodge. God
forbid that I should throw a doubt on anyone here;
but if so much as a word of gossip got to the ears
of this man, there would be an end of any chance
of our getting him. I would ask the lodge to choose
a trusty committee, Mr. Chairman—yourself, if I
might suggest it, and Brother Baldwin here, and
five more. Then I can talk freely of what I know
and of what I advise should be done.”
The proposition was at once adopted, and the
committee chosen. Besides the chairman and Baldwin
there were the vulture-faced secretary, Harraway,
Tiger Cormac, the brutal young assassin,
Carter, the treasurer, and the brothers Willaby,
fearless and desperate men who would stick at
nothing.