The Complete Sherlock Holmes

“Ay,” said Baldwin, catching his meaning. “If
he is strapped to that, we will have the truth out
of him.”
“We’ll have the truth out of him, never fear,”
said McMurdo. He had nerves of steel, this man;
for though the whole weight of the affair was on
him his manner was as cool and unconcerned as
ever. The others marked it and applauded.
“You are the one to handle him,” said the Boss
approvingly. “Not a warning will he get till your
hand is on his throat. It’s a pity there are no shutters
to your windows.”
McMurdo went from one to the other and drew
the curtains tighter. “Sure no one can spy upon us
now. It’s close upon the hour.”
“Maybe he won’t come. Maybe he’ll get a sniff
of danger,” said the secretary.
“He’ll come, never fear,” McMurdo answered.
“He is as eager to come as you can be to see him.
Hark to that!”
They all sat like wax figures, some with their
glasses arrested halfway to their lips. Three loud
knocks had sounded at the door.
“Hush!” McMurdo raised his hand in caution.
An exulting glance went round the circle, and
hands were laid upon hidden weapons.
“Not a sound, for your lives!” McMurdo whispered,
as he went from the room, closing the door
carefully behind him.
With strained ears the murderers waited. They
counted the steps of their comrade down the passage.
Then they heard him open the outer door.
There were a few words as of greeting. Then they
were aware of a strange step inside and of an unfamiliar
voice. An instant later came the slam of
the door and the turning of the key in the lock.
Their prey was safe within the trap. Tiger Cormac
laughed horribly, and Boss McGinty clapped his
great hand across his mouth.
“Be quiet, you fool!” he whispered. “You’ll be
the undoing of us yet!”
There was a mutter of conversation from the
next room. It seemed interminable. Then the door
opened, and McMurdo appeared, his finger upon
his lip.
He came to the end of the table and looked
round at them. A subtle change had come over
him. His manner was as of one who has great
work to do. His face had set into granite firmness.
His eyes shone with a fierce excitement behind
his spectacles. He had become a visible leader of
men. They stared at him with eager interest; but
The Valley Of Fear
735
he said nothing. Still with the same singular gaze
he looked from man to man.
“Well!” cried Boss McGinty at last. “Is he here?
Is Birdy Edwards here?”
“Yes,” McMurdo answered slowly. “Birdy Edwards
is here. I am Birdy Edwards!”
There were ten seconds after that brief speech
during which the room might have been empty, so
profound was the silence. The hissing of a kettle
upon the stove rose sharp and strident to the ear.
Seven white faces, all turned upward to this man
who dominated them, were set motionless with utter
terror. Then, with a sudden shivering of glass,
a bristle of glistening rifle barrels broke through
each window, while the curtains were torn from
their hangings.
At the sight Boss McGinty gave the roar of a
wounded bear and plunged for the half-opened
door. A levelled revolver met him there with the
stern blue eyes of Captain Marvin of the Mine Police
gleaming behind the sights. The Boss recoiled
and fell back into his chair.
“You’re safer there, Councillor,” said the man
whom they had known as McMurdo. “And you,
Baldwin, if you don’t take your hand off your pistol,
you’ll cheat the hangman yet. Pull it out, or
by the Lord that made me—There, that will do.
There are forty armed men round this house, and
you can figure it out for yourself what chance you
have. Take their pistols, Marvin!”
There was no possible resistance under the
menace of those rifles. The men were disarmed.
Sulky, sheepish, and amazed, they still sat round
the table.
“I’d like to say a word to you before we separate,”
said the man who had trapped them. “I
guess we may not meet again until you see me on
the stand in the courthouse. I’ll give you something
to think over between now and then. You
know me now for what I am. At last I can put my
cards on the table. I am Birdy Edwards of Pinkerton’s.
I was chosen to break up your gang. I had a
hard and dangerous game to play. Not a soul, not
one soul, not my nearest and dearest, knew that I
was playing it. Only Captain Marvin here and my
employers knew that. But it’s over to-night, thank
God, and I am the winner!”
The seven pale, rigid faces looked up at him.
There was unappeasable hatred in their eyes. He
read the relentless threat.
“Maybe you think that the game is not over yet.
Well, I take my chance of that. Anyhow, some of
you will take no further hand, and there are sixty