"Yes."
"Then get upon your feet again. Here, I will help you. There. Now, are you prepared to reply to the questions I shall ask you?"
"Yes, sir."
"Answer the one I asked before then. Are you in the employ of Baron Mustushimi?"
"Yes."
"Since when?"
"Two years."
"In this country all the time?"
"No; I have been in Russia most of the time. I just come here."
"He sent for you?"
"Certainly."
"In what capacity do you serve him?"
"I am his assistant."
"His lieutenant?"
"If you choose to call it so-yes."
"You are literally second in his command, are you?"
"Yes."
"In his absence, you are chief over the men?"
"Yes."
"Do you know the baron's secrets?"
"I am supposed to know them."
"Do you know where he lives? The place that he calls home, in this city?"
"Yes."
"Where is it?"
"In D Street, southwest."
"Can you direct us so that house without difficulty?"
"Yes."
"You know that he made his escape when you all entered this house-but, no; I am forgetting. You were not here, When your men here entered this house, and were caught by the same sort of electric current that you have just now tested, Baron Mustushimi made his escape. He managed to break away, for he was too great a personal coward to enter the house with his men, and hung in the background so that he only got what came to him through the knob of the door. He got away from it and fled, leaving all his men to suffer while he escaped. Now, I want to know where he was likely to go, to hide himself."
"He has a house in the country-in Virginia."
"I know that, and he knows that I do. I was there once. He will recall the circumstance, and will not go there. Where else?"
"The house in D Street, southwest."
"Do you think he would be likely to go there?"
"More likely than elsewhere, sir."
"Why?"
"Because I think I am the only one of his men who knows about that place."
"Answer, you others! Did any of you know about that house, until you heard this man speak of it just now?"
They replied by a chorus of negatives.
"It is likely, then, that he will go there," said Nick; "unless he stops to recall the fact that you, Dumont, are a prisoner, and are likely to betray him. Where is there another place that he might go?"
"I only know of one."
"Where is that?"
"To the Japanese legation."
"Do you think he would dare go there, under the circumstances?"
"I don't know. When he is frightened he does desperate things- and he is a coward. But I hardly think that the ambassador would consent to receive him. I happen to know that he is not on good terms with the ambassador."
"Perhaps the ambassador doesn't of Mustushimi's methods."
"I know that he does not."
"Then it is not likely that he has attempted to go there. I think we will look for him at the house in D Street. Now, Dumont?"
"Yes, sir. I have answered so far, and I might as well now tell you all you wish to know. I suppose I will be allowed my liberty if I do?"
"You will be set free, when I have done with you, providing you leave the country at once."
"I will do that only too gladly."
"Very well. Now reply."
"Yes."
"There are twenty-one of your men in this room, besides yourself. There are twenty more in another house near here. All are prisoners. Now, how many more are there, in Mustushimi's employ, in the city of Washington?"
"He has fifty men in all, now, besides himself and me."
"So there are nine who are still at liberty?"
"Yes; if you have counted those who are prisoners correctly."
"You are sure that there are no more?"
"Yes, sir."
"Is there a place of meeting, a headquarters?"
"Yes."
"Where is it?"
"Across the long bridge, in Virginia. It is a gambling-house but there is no game there now, and has not been for a long time. That is the meeting-place."
"Don't you think it possible that Mustushimi might have gone there to hide, instead of the house in D Street?"
"It is possible."
"And those other nine men you referred to-do you think it is likely that we would find any of them there, if we should go there at once, in search of them?"
"It is more than likely. They sleep there-most of the men-and Mustushimi drew on the reserves for tonight's work."
The detective turned to the captain of police who was in charge of the uniformed men who were there, and said to him:
"That is all, I think. You may take these men away now, if you will, and ask the major to hold them all for me until I send word from the official who is my authority in this matter. I know that you and your men cannot go to Virginia to make an arrest, and so I shall take the law into my own hands, and trust to luck not to disturb any of those Virginia officials who are at the other end of the long bridge. My own friends will accompany me, if you will take charge of the prisoners.Tell the major to expect me at any moment."
CHAPTER XI.
NICK CARTER SWINGS THE AX.
Nick Carter and the senator, with Chick and Patsy, entered the carriage at the door, a few moments later, leaving the house and the prisoners in charge of the officers, and were driven rapidly toward D Street, southwest, for Nick had determined to stop at the house Dumont had mentioned, while on his way to the long bridge. It was almost directly in his course, and it would consume only a little time to do so. If Mustushimi were there, so much the better. The rest would be comparatively easy.
That neighborhood of the Capital city does not bear a savory reputation, and it was just the place of all others, for Mustushimi to have selected as a place for hiding, if he should be pursued too closely at any time; and, the house and its location were so perfectly described to the detective by Dumont, before they separated, that Nick knew he could find it with ease.
It was a low, two story brick house, painted white; and there were lace curtains at the windows and lights behind some of them, so that it did not appear unlike its neighbors in that locality notwithstanding the fact that the time was now two in the morning.
As the hack drew up in front of the door, the detective leaped down and rang the bell; and after a moment's delay a negro appeared and looked at him through a narrow crack.
But Nick slammed the door open instantly, sending, the negro sprawling upon his back; then he seized him by the collar, and stood him on his feet before he could recover from his surprise.
"Where is your master"- demanded the detective.
"He's done gone out, sah," was the trembling reply.
"I am referring to the Japanese baron Mustushimi by name."
"Yassir; dat's my marster, sho' 'nuff."
"Are you telling the truth when you say that he has gone out?"
"I shore is sah. I shore is."
"Where has he gone?"
"I specs, sah, 'cross de ribber."
"The long bridge."
"Yassir."
"How long has he been gone?"
"Well, sah, it cayn't be mo' dan an houah; it cayn't nohow, sah."
"Was he alone?"
"Yassir."
"Did he say anything to, you about returning, before he left?"
"He done say'd, sah, dat he couldn't come back yar befo' to-morrow, nohow. Dat's all."
"I wonder if you are telling me the truth, nigger?"
"'Yas, sah, I is."
"Are you alone in the house now, or are there others here?"
"I's alone, sah. Dere ain't nobody here, nohow."
"Don't you know the house to which your master has gone, nigger?"
"Yassir, I does."
"What house is it?" Nick wished to have confirmation, if possible, regarding what Dumont had, told him.