With Links of Steel | Page 8

be done, sir," the famous detective bluntly rejoined. "I
accept the case, Mr. Venner, and will do my best with it. When I have
anything to report, you shall hear from me."
"But--"
"There really is nothing more to be said, gentlemen, and the sooner I

get to work the better," Nick gravely interposed.
"But will you advise me of any steps that you may take?" persisted
Venner, briefly detaining him by the arm.
"Very probably," nodded Nick, though really he probably would do
nothing of the kind. "And now good-day, gentlemen. If reporters call
upon you, you may give them all of the facts, and state that Nick Carter
is at work on the case. I want this Kilgore diamond gang to know at the
outset that I am after them--and fully resolved to land them where they
belong."
"Behind prison bars, eh?" inquired Venner, with an odd smile.
"Yes, sir! Behind prison bars!" declared Nick, forcibly. "Again,
gentlemen, good-day. You will hear from me later."
Mr. Rufus Venner, with his partner at his elbow, stood in the office
door and silently watched the two celebrated detectives as they strode
quickly through the elegant store, from which they presently vanished
into Fifth Avenue.
There was a smile of subtle cunning, combined with cruel and
malicious determination, on Venner's dark face and he muttered under
his breath, as the store door closed upon Nick's imposing figure:
"Hear from you later, eh? Very good. Very good, indeed, Mr. Detective
Carter! Hear from you again--that is precisely what I want! Early and
often, Detective Carter; early and often, if you please! It is precisely for
what the little robbery of this April morning was invented!"
"But was it necessary--was it really necessary, Rufus?" whispered
Garside, who alone had overheard, and whose paler face and tremulous
figure betrayed fears which his swarthy senior partner would have
scorned to feel. "This Carter is a most artful and discerning man. I am
so afraid you have barked up the wrong tree. Was it necessary, really
necessary, Rufus?"

Venner turned upon him with a half-smothered snarl of contempt.
"Bah! You'd be afraid of your own shadow, Garside, if left alone with
it," he sneered, between his white, even teeth. "Necessary--of course it
was necessary! Otherwise, I should not have adopted the ruse. We are
about to attempt a big game--an infernally big game! When it matures,
when it is finally launched, the very first concern that finds itself bitten
will rush to Nick Carter for aid."
"There is no doubt of that, Rufus."
"Surely no doubt of it! He is the greatest detective in the country--and
the greatest will be none too clever, nor too expensive, for those who
find themselves duped by our unparalleled design."
"I should say so."
"What will be the result, Philip?--what will be the result?" added
Venner, with a curious mingling of exultation and asperity. "If our
victims appeal to Nick Carter for help--are we not also already in his
good graces? Have we not insured his confidence in us by this little
move of to-day? Will he not reveal himself and his suspicions to us,
just as I have designed, and keep us posted about his every move, and
so forewarned and forearmed? Of course he will--to be sure he will!"
"But he is such a crafty and daring--"
"Bah! Is he more crafty than Dave Kilgore?" demanded Venner,
significantly. "Is he more daring than Spotty Dalton, or more
determined than anyone of the Kilgore gang? Not by a long chalk,
Philip, and I know of them of whom I speak. Ay, as much and more of
them than does Detective Nick Carter."
"Perhaps you are right, Rufus," murmured Garside, nodding. "We
certainly are about launching a tremendous, an utterly unparalleled,
swindle. The like of it was never, never known. There should be
millions in it. Yes, yes, Rufus, you are right. It was wise to preface our
gigantic operations by getting well in touch with Nick Carter."

"To be sure, it was wise, Philip, or I should not have taken the trouble
to do so," said Venner, with much less acrimony. "So be a man always,
Philip, and never a flunky. You have played your part admirably this
morning. Let it be played as well, Philip, even to the finish--even to the
last ditch!"
Philip Garside's color had returned, and he smiled confidently and
nodded in approval.
Plainly enough, this hushed yet emphatic intercourse between these two
indicated one fact--that Detective Nick Carter was up against a far
deeper game than he then imagined.
CHAPTER IV.
GETTING DOWN TO WORK.
"Well, Nick, old man, what have you made of it?"
The question came from Chick Carter, in his familiar and cheerful
fashion, several hours after the interview held by the two detectives