Then, turning the corner of the "Valkyrie," Fritz Braun led the
way along to where a snub-nosed tug lay with her hissing steam
escaping, as she tossed up and down on the frothy waves of the
yacht mooring.
The ringing of bells in the engine-room, the heavy trampling of
feet, aroused the helpless, half-dazed Irma Gluyas, as Fritz Braun
tenderly ordered the men to bear her into the little cabin.
"Give her a spoonful of this mixture," significantly said Braun,
"I must look out for the luggage."
With a delighted grin, the two expressmen received Fritz Braun's
liberal donation.
"Happy voyage, boss," they screamed, as the stout little vessel
twisted around on her hawser and moved out on the blackened waters,
throwing the yeasty spray high up with the saucy thrusts of her
blunt bows.
"Never mind that old trunk," cried Braun, as the sailors busied
themselves with throwing tarpaulins over the traveller's half dozen
boxes.
It was a heavy package left dangerously near the gunwale of the
boat. Mr. Fritz Braun was in a fever of good humor. He had dropped
overboard something which glittered a moment as it disappeared under
the black surges of the freshening waves. The faithless pistol of
the dead cashier now lay twenty fathoms under the dark tide.
While the tug's crew busied themselves with their duties and hastily
cast off the lines, the two women were crouching in the dingy cabin.
Fritz Braun, his cigar gleaming out a red defiance, watched the
light of the Battery glide by him. He had taken a deep draught of
brandy as a final libation to Fortune. "What fools those brewery
fellows are," chuckled Braun. "They imagined that I was only dodging
a few unwelcome legal papers."
"By Heavens! I have turned over a gold mine to them, and they won't
kick. If it had not been for my damned gambling craze I would have
had a cool hundred thousand more.
"And they will surely keep the secret of 192 Layte Street, for they
wish to run their own 'joint' there. All they want is silence, to
change it a little, and no police interference. They are bound to
play my game to save themselves from police interference."
The villain laughed aloud in his glee. "And Emil and Lilienthal,
even Timmins, know nothing. It has been a great stroke of nigger
luck. This fortune is safe. Now for the last touch."
He groped his way aft to where the cheap heavy-looking package lay
with one side balanced upon the rail. It was a huge coarse packing
trunk. The crew were busied in watching the light of the South
Ferry and avoiding the floats and tugs groaning along in front of
Governor's Island.
There was no one aft as the muscular scoundrel seized a handspike
and tilted the rough-looking packing trunk overboard. It sank
instantly, though Braun started as he fancied he heard a crash.
"If the propeller struck it, no matter," he growled. "There's a
hundred pounds of broken stairway irons lashed on him. And I will
soon be thousands of miles away."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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