be able to prove who placed it there this we accomplished by the very obvious device of announcing that the moat would be dried tomorrow which had of course the effect that whoever had hidden the bundle would certainly withdraw it the moment that darkness enabled him to do so we have no less than four witnesses as to who it was who took advantage of the opportunity and so Mr. Barker I think the word lies now with you Sherlock Holmes put the sopping bundle upon the table beside the lamp and undid the cord which bound it from within he extracted a dumbbell which he tossed down to its fellow in the corner next he drew forth a pair of boots American as you perceive he remarked pointing to the toes then he laid upon the table a long, deadly sheathed knife finally he unraveled a bundle of clothing comprising a complete set of underclothes socks, a grey-tweed suit and a short yellow overcoat the clothes a common place remarked Holmes save only the overcoat which is full of suggestive touches he held it tenderly towards the light here as you perceive is the inner pocket prolonged into the lining in such a fashion as to give ample space for the truncated fouling piece the tailor's tab is on the back Neil Outfitter Vermissa, USA I've spent an instructive afternoon in the Rector's Library and have enlarged my knowledge by adding the fact that Vermissa is a flourishing little town at the head of one of the best known coal and iron valleys in the United States I have some recollection, Mr. Barker that you associated the coal districts with Mr. Douglas's first wife and it would surely not be too far-fetched an inference that the VV upon the card by the dead body might stand for Vermissa Valley or that this very valley which sends forth emissaries of murder may be that valley of fear which we have heard so much is fairly clear and now, Mr. Barker I seem to be standing rather in the way of your explanation it was a sight to see Cecil Barker's expressive face during this exposition of the great detective anger amazement consternation and indecision swept over it in turn finally he took refuge in a somewhat acrid irony you know such a lot, Mr. Holmes perhaps you had better tell us some more, he sneered I have no doubt that I could tell you a great deal more, Mr. Barker but it would come with a better grace from you oh, you think so, do you? well, all I can say is that it's not my secret here it's not my secret and I am not the man to give it away well, if you take that line, Mr. Barker said the inspector quietly we must just keep you in sight until we have the warrant and can hold you you can do what you damn please about that said Barker defiantly the proceedings seem to have come to a definite end so far as he was concerned for one had only to look at that granite face as that no penfort or dure would ever force him to plead against his will the deadlock was broken, however, by a woman's voice Mrs. Douglas had been standing listening at the half open door and now she entered the room you have done enough for now, Cecil said she whatever comes of it in the future you have done enough enough and more than enough remarked Sherlock Holmes gravely I have every sympathy with you, madam and should strongly urge you to have some confidence in the common sense of our jurisdiction and to take the police voluntarily into your complete confidence it may be that I am myself at fault for not following up the hint which you conveyed to me through my friend Dr. Watson but at that time I had every reason to believe that you were directly concerned in the crime now I am assured that this is not so at the same time there is much that is unexplained and I should strongly recommend that you ask Mr. Douglas to tell us his own story Mrs. Douglas gave a cry of astonishment at Holmes's words the detectives and I must have echoed it when we were aware of a man who seemed to have emerged from the wall who advanced now from the gloom of the corner in which he had appeared Mrs. Douglas turned in an instant her arms were round him Barker had seized his outstretched hand it's best this way Jack his wife repeated I'm sure that it is best indeed yes Mr. Douglas said Sherlock Holmes I am sure that you will find it best the man stood blinking at us with the dazed look of one who comes from the dark into the light it was a remarkable face bold grey eyes a strong short clipped grizzled moustache a square projecting chin and a humorous mouth he took a good look at us all and then to my amazement he advanced to me and handed me a bundle of paper I've heard of you said he in a voice which was not quite English and not quite American but was altogether mellow and pleasing you are the historian of this bunch well Dr. Watson you've never had such a story as that pass through your hands before and I'll lay my last dollar on that tell it your own way but there are the facts and you can't miss the public so long as you have those I've been cooped up two days and I've spent the daylight hours as much daylight as I could get in that rat trap in putting the thing into words you're welcome to them you and your public valley of fear that's the past Mr. Douglas said Sherlock Holmes quietly what we desire now is to hear your story of the present you'll have it sir said Douglas may I smoke as I talk well thank you Mr. Holmes you're a smokey yourself if I remember right and you'll guess what it is to be sitting for two days with Tobacco in your pocket and afraid that the smell give you away he leaned against the mantelpiece and sucked at the cigar which Holmes had handed him I've heard of you Mr. Holmes I never guess that I would meet you but before you threw with that he nodded at my papers you will say I brought you something fresh Inspector McDonald had been staring at the newcomer with the greatest amazement well this fairly beats me he cried at last if you're Mr. John Douglas then whose death have we been investigating for these two days and where in the world have you sprung from now you seem to come out of the floor like a jack in a box ah Mr. Mack said Holmes shaking a reproving forefinger you would not read that excellent local compilation which described the concealment of King Charles people did not hide in those days without excellent hiding places and the hiding place that had once been used may be used again I had persuaded myself that we should find Mr. Douglas under this roof and how long have you been playing this trick upon us Mr. Holmes said the Inspector angrily how long have you allowed us to waste ourselves upon a search that you knew to be an absurd one not one instant my dear Mr. Mack only last night did I form my views of the case that you could not be put to the proof until this evening I invited you and your colleagues to take a holiday for the day pray what more can I do when I found the suit of clothes in the moat it at once became apparent to me that the body we had found could not have been the body of Mr. John Douglas at all but must be that of the bicyclist from Tunbridge Wells no other conclusion was possible nor I had to determine where Mr. John Douglas himself could be and the balance of probability was that with the connivance of his wife and his friend he was concealed in a house which had such conveniences for a fugitive and awaiting quieter times when he could make his final escape well, you've figured it out about right said Douglas approvingly I thought I'd dodge your British law for I was not sure how I stood under it and also I saw my chance to throw these hounds once for all off my track mind you, from first to last I've done nothing to be ashamed of and nothing that I would not do again but you'll judge that for yourselves when I tell you my story never mind warning me, Inspector I'm ready to stand pat upon the truth I'm not going to begin at the beginning that's all there he indicated my bundle of papers and a mighty queer yarn you'll find it it all comes down to this that there are some men that have good cause to hate me and would give their last dollar to know that they had got to me so long as I'm alive and they are alive there is no safety in this world for me they hunted me from Chicago to California then they chased me out of America but when I married and settled down in this quiet spot I thought my last years were going to be peaceable I never explained to my wife how things were why should I pull her into it she would never have a quiet moment again but would always be imagining trouble I fancy she knew something for I may have dropped a word here or a word there but until yesterday after you gentlemen had seen her she never knew the rights of the matter she told you all she knew and so did Barker here for on the night when this thing happened there was a mighty little time for explanations she knows everything now and I would have been a wiser man if I had told her sooner but it was a hard question dear he took her hand for an instant in his own and I acted for the best well gentlemen the day before these happenings I was over in Tumbridge Wells and I got a glimpse of a man in the street it was only a glimpse but I have a quick eye for these things and I never doubted who it was it was the worst enemy I had among them all one who has been after me like a hungry wolf after a caribou all these years I know there was trouble coming and I came home and made ready for it I guess I'd fight through it all right on my own my luck was a proverb in the States about 76 I never doubted that it would be with me still I was on my guard all that next day and never went out into the park it's as well or he'd have had the drop on me with that bookshot gun of his before ever I could draw on him after the bridge was up my mind was always more restful when that bridge was up in the evenings I put the thing clear out of my head I never dreamed of his getting into the house and waiting for me but when I made my round in my dressing gown as was my habit I had no sooner entered study than I centered danger I guess when a man has had dangers of his life and I've had more than most in my time there's a kind of sixth sense that waves the red flag I saw the signal clear enough and yet I couldn't tell you why next instant I spotted a boot under the window curtain and then I saw why plain enough I just the one candle that was in my hand but there was a good light from the hall lamp through the open door I put down the candle on the mantle at the same moment he sprang at me I saw the glint of a knife and I lashed at him with the hammer I got him somewhere for the knife tinkled down on the floor he dodged around the table as quick as an eel and a moment later he'd got his gun from under his coat I heard him cock it but I got hold of it before he could fire I had it by the barrel and we wrestled for it all ends up for a minute or more it was death to the man he lost his grip he never lost his grip but he got it butt downward for a moment too long maybe it was I that pulled the trigger maybe we just jolted it off between us anyhow he got both barrels in the face and there I was staring down at all that was left of Ted Baldwin I'd recognized him in the township and again when he sprang for me but his own mother wouldn't recognize him I'm used to rough work but I fairly turned sick at the sight of him I was hanging on the side of the table when Barker came hurrying down I heard my wife coming and I ran to the door and stopped her it was no sight for a woman I promised I'd come to her soon I said a word or two to Barker he took it all in at a glance and we waited for the rest to come along but there was no sign of them then we understood that they could hear nothing and that all that had happened was known only to ourselves it was at that instant that the idea came to me I was fairly dazzled by the brilliance of it the man's sleeve had slipped up and there was the branded mark of the lodge upon his forearm see here the man whom we had known as Douglas turned up his own coat and cuff to show a brown triangle within a circle exactly like that which we'd seen upon the dead man it was the sight of that which started me on it I seemed to see it all clear at a glance there were his height and hair and figure about the same as my own no one could swear to his face poor devil I brought down this suit of clothes and in a quarter an hour Barker and I had to put my dressing gown on him and he lay as you found him we tied all things into a bundle and I waited them with the only weight I could find and put them through the window the card he'd meant to lay upon my body was lying beside his own my rings were put on his finger but when it came to the wedding ring he held out his muscular hand you can see for yourselves that I had struck the limit I have not moved it since the day I was married and it would have taken a file to get it off I don't know anyhow that I should have cared to part with it I wanted to I couldn't so we just had to leave that detail to take care of itself on the other hand I brought a bit of plaster down and put it where I'm wearing one myself at this instant you slipped up there Mr. Holmes clever as you are for if you had a chance to take off that plaster you'd have found no cut underneath it well that was the situation if I could lie low for a while and then get away we should have a chance at last of living in peace for the rest of our lives these devils would give me no rest so long as I was above ground but if they saw in the papers that Baldwin had got his man there would be an end of all my troubles I had much time to make it all clear to Barker and to my wife but they understood enough to be able to help me I knew all about this hiding place so did Ames but it never entered his head to connect it I retired into it and it was up to Barker to do the rest I guess you can fill in for yourselves what he did he opened the window and made the mark on the sill to give an idea of how the murderer escaped it was a tall order that but as the bridge was up there was no other way then when everything was fixed he rang the bell for all he was worth what happened afterward you know and so gentlemen you can do what you please but I've told you the truth and the whole truth so help me God what I ask you now is how do I stand by the English law there was a silence which was broken by Sherlock Holmes the English law is in the main adjust law you'll get no worse than your desserts from that Mr. Douglas but I would ask you how did this man know that you lived here or how to get into your house or where to hide to get you I know nothing of this Holmes's face was very white and grave the story is not over yet I fear said he you may find worse dangers than the English law or even than your enemies from America I see trouble before you Mr. Douglas you'll take my advice and still be on your guard and now my long-suffering readers I'll ask you to come away with me for a time far from the Sussex Manor House of Burlston and far also from the Year of Grace in which we made our eventful journey which ended with the strange story of the man who had been known as John Douglas I wish you to journey back some twenty years in time and westward some thousands of miles in space but I may lay before you a singular and terrible narrative so singular and so terrible that you may find it hard to believe that even as I tell it even so did it occur do not think that I intrude one story before another is finished as you read on you will find that this is not so and when I have detailed those distant events and you have solved this mystery of the past we shall meet once more in those rooms on Baker Street where this like so many other wonderful happenings will find its end end of chapter 7 and part 1 of the Valley of Fear part 2 chapter 1 of the Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle this Librivox recording is in the public domain part 2 the Scourers chapter 1 the man it was the 4th of February in the year 1875 it had been a severe winter and the snow lay deep in the gorges of the Gilmerton Mountains the steam plows had however kept the railroad open and the evening train which connects the long line of coal mining and ironworking settlements was slowly groaning its way up the steep gradients which led from Stagville on the plain to Vermissa the central township which lies at the head of Vermissa Valley from this point the track sweeps downward to Barton's Bussling, Helmdale and the purely agricultural county of Merton it was a single track railroad but at every siding and they were numerous long lines of trucks piled with coal and iron ore told of the hidden wealth which had brought a rude population and a bustling life to this most desolate corner of the United States of America for desolate it was little could the first pioneer who had traversed it have ever imagined that the fairest prairies and the most lush water pastures were valueless compared to this gloomy land of black crag and tangled forest above the dark and often scarcely penetrable woods upon their flanks the high bare crowns of the mountains white snow and jagged rock towered upon each flank leaving a long winding tortuous valley in the center of this the little train was slowly crawling the oil lamps had just been lit in the leading passenger car a long bare carriage in which some twenty or thirty people were seated the greater number of these were workmen returning from their days toil in the lower part of the valley at least a dozen by their grime faces and the safety lanterns which they carried proclaimed themselves miners they sat smoking in a group and conversed in low voices glancing occasionally at two men on the opposite side of the car whose uniforms and badges showed them to be policemen several women of the laboring class and one or two travelers who might have been small local storekeepers made up the rest of the company with the exception of one young man in a corner by himself it is with this man that we are concerned take a good look at him for he is worth it he's a fresh complexioned middle-sized young man not far one would guess from his thirtieth year he has large shrewd humorous gray eyes which twinkle inquiringly from time to time as he looks round through his spectacles at the people about him it is easy to see that he is of a sociable and possibly simple disposition anxious to be friendly to all men anyone could pick him at once as gregarious in his habits and communicative in his nature with a quick wit and a ready smile and yet the man who studied him more closely might discern a certain firmness of jaw and grim tightness about the lips which would warn him that there were depths beyond and that this pleasant brown-haired young Irishman might conceivably leave his mark for good or evil upon any society to which he was introduced having made one or two tentative remarks to the nearest miner and receiving only short gruff replies the traveller resigned himself to uncongenial silence staring moodily out of the window at the fading landscape it was not a cheering prospect through the growing gloom there pulsed the red glow of the furnaces on the sides of the hills great heaps of slag and dumps of cinders loomed upon each side with the high shafts of the collieries towering above them huddled groups of mean wooden houses the windows of which were beginning to outline themselves in light were scattered here and there along the line and the frequent halting places were crowded with their swathe inhabitants the iron and coal valleys of the Vermissa district were no resorts for the cultured everywhere there were stern signs of the crudest battle of life the rude work to be done and the rude strong workers who did it the young traveller gazed out into this dismal country with a face of mingled repulsion and interest which showed that the scene was new to him at intervals he drew from his pocket a bulky letter to which he referred and on the margins of which once from the back of his waist he produced something which one would hardly have expected to find in the possession of so mild mannered a man it was a navy revolver of the largest size as he turned at slant-wise to the light the glint upon the rims of the copper shells within the drum showed that it was fully loaded he quickly restored it to his secret pocket but not before it had been observed by a working man he handed himself upon the adjoining bench hello mate said he you seem healed and ready the young man smiled with an air of embarrassment yes said he we need them sometimes in the place they come from and where may that be I'm last from Chicago a stranger in these parts yes you may find you need it here said the workman hello the young man seemed interested have you heard nothing of doings hereabouts nothing out of the way why I thought the country was full of it you'll hear quick enough what made you come here I heard there was always work for a willing man are you a member of the union sure then you'll get your job I guess have you any friends not yet are you making them how's that then I am one of the eminent order of Freeman there's no town without a lodge and where there's a lodge I'll find my friends the remark had a singular effect upon his companion he glanced around suspiciously at the others in the car the miners were still whispering among themselves the two police officers were dozing he came across seated himself close to the young traveller and held out his hand put it there he said a hand-grip passed between the two I see you speak the truth said the workman but it's well to make certain he raised his right hand to his right eyebrow the traveller at once raised his left hand to his left eyebrow dark nights are unpleasant said the workman yes, for strangers to travel the other answered that's good enough I'm brother Scanlon lodge 341 Vermissa Valley glad to see you in these parts thank you I'm brother John McMurdo lodge 29 Chicago bodymaster J.H. Scott but I'm in luck to meet a brother so early well there are plenty of us about you won't find the order more flourishing anywhere in the States in Vermissa Valley but we could do with some lads like you I can't understand a spry man of the Union finding no work to do in Chicago I found plenty of work to do said McMurdo then why did you leave McMurdo nodded toward the policemen and smiled I guess those chaps would be glad to know he said Scanlon groaned sympathetically in trouble in a whisper deep a penitentiary job and rest not a killing it's early days to talk of such things seg McMurdo with the air of a man who'd been surprised into saying more than he intended I've my own good reasons for leaving Chicago and let that be enough for you who are you that you should take it on yourself to ask such things his grey eyes gleamed with dangerous anger from behind his glasses alright mate no offence meant the boys will think none the worse of you whatever you may have done where are you bound for now Vermissa that's the third halt down the line where are you staying McMurdo took out an envelope and held it close to the murky oil lamp here is the address Jacob Shafter Sheridan Street recommended by a man I know in Chicago well I don't know it but Vermissa is out of my beat I live at Hobson's Patch and that's here where we're drawing up to now but say there's one bit of advice I'll give you before we part if you're in trouble in Vermissa go straight to the union house and see Boss McGinty he's the bodymaster of Vermissa Lodge and nothing can happen in these parts unless Black Jack McGinty wants it so long mate maybe we'll meet in Lodge one of these evenings but mind my words if you're in trouble go to Boss McGinty Scanlan descended and McMurdo was left once again to his thoughts Knight had now fallen and the flames of the frequent furnaces were roaring and leaping in the darkness against their lurid background dark figures were bending and straining twisting and turning with the motion of winch or of windless to the rhythm of an eternal clank and roar I guess Hell must look something like that said a voice McMurdo turned and saw that one of the policemen had shifted in his seat and was staring out into the fiery waste for that matter said the other policeman I allow that Hell must be something like that if there are worse devils down yonder than some wicked name it's more than I'd expect I guess you're new to this part young man well what if I am? McMurdo answered in a surly voice just this mister that I should advise you to be careful in choosing your friends I don't think I'd begin with Mike Scanlan or his gang if I were you what the hell is it to you? who are my friends? Rod McMurdo in a voice which brought every head in the carriage round to witness the altercation did I ask you for your advice or did you think me such a sucker that I couldn't move without it you speak when you're spoken to and by the Lord you'd have to wait a long time if it was me he thrust out his face and grinned at the patrolman like a snarling dog the two policemen heavy good natured men were taken aback by the extraordinary vehemence with which their friendly advances have been rejected no offence, stranger said one it was a warning for your own good seeing that you are by your own showing new to the place I'm new to the place but I'm not new to you and your kind cried McMurdo in cold fury I guess you're the same in all places shoving your advice in when nobody asks for it maybe we'll see more of you before long said one of the patrolmen with a grin you're a real hand-picked one if I'm a judge I was thinking the same remarked the other I guess we may meet again I'm not afraid of you and don't you think it cried McMurdo my name's Jack McMurdo see, if you want me you'll find me at Jacob's Shafters on Sheridan Street, Vermissa so I'm not hiding from you, am I any mystic about that there was a murmur of sympathy and admiration from the miners at the dauntless demeanour of the newcomer while the two policemen shrugged their shoulders and renewed a conversation between themselves a few minutes later the train ran into the ill-lit station and there was a general clearing for Vermissa was by far the largest town on the line McMurdo picked up his leather gripsack and was about to start off into the darkness when one of the miners accosted him by gar, mate you know how to speak to the cups he said in a voice of awe it was grand to hear you let me carry your grip and show you the road I'm passing Shafters on the way to my own shack there was a chorus of friendly good-nights from the other miners as they passed from the platform before ever he had set foot on it McMurdo the turbulent had become a character in Vermissa the country had been a place of terror but the town was in its way even more depressing down that long valley there was at least a certain gloomy grandeur in the huge fires and the clouds of drifting smoke while the strength and industry of man found fitting monuments in the hills which he had spilled by the side of his monstrous excavations but the town showed a dead level of mean ugliness and squawor the broad street was churned up by the traffic into a horrible rutted paste of muddy snow the sidewalks were narrow and uneven the numerous gas-lamps served only to show more clearly a long line of wooden houses each with its veranda facing the street unkempt and dirty as they approached the centre of the town the scene was brightened by a row of well-lit stores and even more by a cluster of saloons and gaming houses in which the miners spent their hard-earned but generous wages that's the union house said the guide pointing to one saloon which rose almost to the dignity of being a hotel Jack McGinty is the boss there what sort of man is he? McMurdo asked what? have you never heard of the boss? how could I have heard of him I know that I'm a stranger in these parts well, I thought his name was known clear across the country it's been in the papers often enough what for? well, the miner lowered his voice over the affairs what affairs? good lord, mister you are queer if I must say it without offence there's only one set of affairs that you'll hear of in these parts and that's the affairs of the scourers why? I seem to have read of the scourers in Chicago a gang of murderers are they not? hush! on your life! cried the miner standing still in alarm and gazing in amazement at his companion man he won't live long in these parts if you speak in the open street like that many a man has had the life beaten out of him for less well, I know nothing about them it's only what I've read and I'm not saying that you've not read the truth the man looked nervously round him as he spoke peering into the shadows as if he feared to see some lurking danger if killing is murder and God knows there's a murder and to spare but don't you dare to breathe the name of Jack McGinty in connection with it stranger for every whisper goes back to him and he's not one that is likely to let it pass now that's the house you're after that one, standing back from the street you'll find old Jack of Shafter that runs it as honest a man as lives in his township I thank you said McMurdo and shaking hands with his new acquaintance he plotted grip sack in hand up the path which led to the dwelling-house at the door of which he gave a resounding knock it was opened at once by someone very different from what he had expected it was a woman young and singularly beautiful she was of the German type blond and fair-haired with the picante contrast of a pair of beautiful dark eyes with which she surveyed the stranger with surprise and a pleasing embarrassment which brought a wave of colour over her pale face framed in the bright light of the open doorway it seemed to McMurdo that he had never seen a more beautiful picture the more attractive for its contrast with the sordid and gloomy surroundings a lovely violet growing upon one of those black slag-heaps of the mines would not have seemed more surprising so entranced was he that he stood staring without a word and it was she who broke the silence I thought it was father said she with a pleasing little touch of a German accent did you come to see him he's downtown I expect him back every minute McMurdo continued to gaze at her in open admiration until her eyes dropped in confusion before this masterful visitor no miss, he said at last I mean no hurry to see him but your house was recommended to me for board I thought it might suit me and now I know it will you are quick to make up your mind said she with a smile anyone but a blind man could do as much the other answered she laughed at the compliment come right in sir she said I miss Etelchafter Mr.chafter's daughter my mother's dead and I run the house you can sit down by the stove in the front room until father comes along ah here he is so you can fix things with him right away a heavy elderly man came plodding up the path in a few words McMurdo explained his business a man of the name of Murphy had given him the address in Chicago he in turn had had it from someone else old Shafter was quite ready a stranger made no bones about terms agreed at once to every condition and was apparently fairly flush of money for seven dollars a week paid in advance so it was that McMurdo the self-confessed fugitive from justice took up his abode under the roof of the Shafters the first step which was to lead to so long and darker train of events ending in a far distant land end of part two chapter one part two chapter two of the valley of fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is in the public domain chapter two the body master McMurdo was a man who made his mark quickly wherever he was the folk around soon knew it within a week he had become infinitely the most important person at Shafters there were ten or a dozen borders there but they were honest foremen or commonplace clerks from the stores of a very different caliber from the young Englishmen of an evening when they gathered together his joke was always the readiest his conversation the brightest and his song the best he was a born boon companion with a magnetism which drew good humour from all around him and yet he showed again and again as he had shown in the railway carriage a capacity for sudden fierce anger which compelled the respect and even the fear of those who met him for the law too and all who were connected with it he exhibited a bitter contempt which delighted some and alarmed others of his fellow borders from the first he made it evident by his open admiration that the daughter of the house had won his heart from the instant that he had set eyes upon her beauty and her grace he was no backward suitor on the second day he told her that he loved her and from then onward he repeated the same story with absolute disregard of what she might say to discourage him someone else he would cry well the worst luck for someone else let him look out for himself I might lose my life's chance and all my heart's desire for someone else you can keep on saying no Etty the day will come when you'll say yes and I'm young enough to wait he was a dangerous suitor with his glib Irish tongue coaxing ways there was about him also that glamour of experience and of mystery which attracts a woman's interest and finally her love he could talk of the sweet valleys of County Monachan from which he came of the lovely distant island the low hills and green meadows of which seemed more beautiful when imagination viewed them from this place of grime and snow then he was versed in the life of the cities of the north of Detroit and of the lumber camps of Michigan and finally of Chicago where he had worked in a planing mill and afterwards came the hint of romance the feeling that strange things had happened to him in that great city so strange and so intimate that they might not be spoken of he spoke wistfully of a sudden leaving a breaking of old ties a flight into a strange world ending in this dreary valley and Etty listened her dark eyes gleaming with pity and with sympathy those two qualities which may turn so rapidly and so naturally to love McMurdo had obtained a temporary job as bookkeeper for he was a well educated man this kept him out most of the day and he had not found occasion yet to report himself to the head of the lodge of the eminent order of Freeman he was reminded of his omission, however by a visit one evening from Mike Scanlon the fellow member whom he had met in the train Scanlon, the small sharp-faced, nervous black-eyed man seemed glad to see him once more after a glass or two of whiskey he broached the subject of his visit Say, McMurdo said he I remembered your address so I made bold to call I'm surprised that you've not reported to the bodymaster why haven't you seen Boss McGinty yet? Well, I had to find a job I've been busy you must find time for him if you've none for anything else Good Lord man you're a fool not to have been down to the Union House and registered your name the first morning after you came here if you run against him well, you mustn't, that's all I showed my old surprise I've been a member of the lodge for over two years Scanlon, but I've never heard that duties were so pressing as all that maybe not in Chicago well, it's the same society here is it? Scanlon looked at him long and fixedly there was something sinister in his eyes isn't it? you'll tell me that in a month's time I hear you had a talk with the patrolman after I left the train how did you know that? oh, it got about things do get about for good and for bad in this district well, yes, I told the hounds what I thought of them by the Lord you'll be a man after McGinty's heart what? does he hate the police too? Scanlon burst out laughing you go and see him, Milad said he as he took his leave it's not the police but you that he'll hate if you don't now take a friend's advice and go at once a chance that on the same evening McMurdo had another more pressing interview which urged him in the same direction it may have been that his attentions to Etty had been more evident than before or that they had gradually obtruded themselves into the slow mind of his good German host but whatever the cause the boarding housekeeper beckoned the young man into his private room and started on the subject without any circumlocution it seems to me, Mr. said he that you are getting set on my Etty ain't that so or am I wrong? yes, that is so the young man answered well, I want to tell you right now that it ain't no manner of use there's someone slipped enough for you she told me so well, you can lay that she told you truth but did she tell you who it was? no, I asked her but she wouldn't tell I dare say not it was a little baggage perhaps she did not wish to frighten your way frighten? McMurdo was on fire in a moment ah, yes, my friend you need not be ashamed to be frightened of him I don't know I don't know I'm ashamed to be frightened of him it is Teddy Baldwin and who the devil is he? he is the boss of Scourers Scourers? I've heard of them before it's Scourers here and Scourers there and always in a whisper what are you all afraid of? who are the Scourers? the boarding housekeeper instinctively sank his voice as everyone did who talked about that terrible society the Scourers said he was the eminent order of free men the young man stared why? I'm a member of that order myself you I would never have had you in my house if I'd known it not a few words have paid me a hundred dollars a week what's wrong with the order? it's for charity and good fellowship the rules say so maybe in some places not here what is it here? it's a murder society that's what it is McMurdo laughed incredulously how can you prove that? he asked prove it are there not fifty murders to prove it? what about Millman and Von Schorscht and the Nicholson family and old Mr. Hyam and little Billy James and the others is there a man or a woman in this valley that does not know it? see here said McMurdo honestly I want you to take back what you said or else make it good one or the other you must do before I quit this room put yourself in my place here I am a stranger in the town I belong to a society that I know only as an innocent one you'll find it through the length and breadth of the states but always as an innocent one now when I'm counting upon joining it here you tell me that it's the same as a murder society called the Scourers I guess you owe me either an apology or else an explanation Mr. Schafter I can but tell you that the whole world knows Mr the bosses of the one are the bosses of the other if you offend the one it is the other that will strike you you have proved it too often that's just gossip I want proof said McMurdo if you live here long you will get your proof but I forget that you are yourself one of them you will soon be as bad as the rest but you will find other lodgings Mr. I cannot have you here is it not bad enough that one of these people come courting my Etty and that I dare not turn him down and that I should have another for my border yes indeed you shall not sleep here after tonight McMurdo found himself under sentence of banishment both from his comfortable quarters and from the girl whom he loved he found her alone in the sitting room that same evening and he poured his troubles into her ear sure your father is after giving me notice as little I would care if it was just my room but indeed Etty I want to warn you you're the very breath of life to me and I can't live without you oh hush Mr. McMurdo don't speak so said the girl I've told you have I not that you're too late there's another and if I have not promised to marry him at once at least I can promise no one else suppose I had been first Etty would have had a chance the girl sank her face into her hands and if you had been first she sobbed McMurdo was down on his knees before her in an instant for God's sake Etty let it stand at that he cried will you ruin your life and my own for the sake of this promise follow your heart tis a safer guide than any promise before you knew what it was what you were saying he had seized Etty's white hand tell me that you'll be mine and we'll face it out together not here yes here no, no Jack his arms were round her now he could not be here could you take me away a struggle passed for a moment over McMurdo's face but it ended by setting like granite no here he said I'll hold you against the world Etty why should we not leave together no Etty I can't leave here but why I'd never hold my head up again if I felt that I'd been driven out besides what is there to be afraid of are we not free folks in a free country if you love me and are you who dare to come between us you don't know Jack you've been here too short a time you don't know this Baldwin you don't know how McGinty and his cowards no I don't know them and I don't fear them and I don't believe in them said McMurdo I've lived among rough men my darling and instead of fearing them it has always ended that they feared me always Etty it's mad on the face of it if these men as your father says have done crime after crime in the valley and if everyone knows them by name how come is that none of brought to justice for that Etty because no witness dares to appear against them he would not live a month if he did also because they have always their own men to swear that the accused one was far from the scene of the crime but surely Jack you must have read all this I had understood that every paper in the United States was writing about it well I've read something it is true but I thought it was a story maybe these men have some reason in what they do maybe they're wronged and have no other way to help themselves oh Jack don't let me hear you speak or so that is how he speaks is the other one Baldwin he speaks like that does he and that is why I loathe him so oh Jack how can I tell you the truth I loathe him with all my heart but I fear him also I fear him for myself but above all I fear him for my father I know that some great sorrow would come upon us if I dared to say what I really felt that is why I've put him off with half promises it was in real truth our only hope but if you would fly with me Jack we could take father with us and live for ever far from the power of these wicked men again there was the struggle upon McMurdo's face set like granite no harm shall come to you Eddie nor to your father either as to wicked men I expect you may find that I'm as bad as the worst of them before you're through no no Jack I would trust you anywhere McMurdo laughed bitterly good lord how little you know of me your innocent soul my darling could not even guess what is passing in mine but hello who's the visitor the door had opened suddenly and a young fellow came swaggering in with the air of one who is the master he was a handsome dashing young man of about the same age and build as McMurdo himself under his broad brimmed black felt hat which he had not troubled to remove a handsome face with fierce domineering eyes and a curved hawk-bill of a nose especially at the pair who sat by the stove Eddie had jumped to her feet full of confusion and alarm I'm glad to see you Mr. Baldwin said she you're earlier than I thought come and sit down Baldwin stood with his hands on his hips looking at McMurdo who is this he asked curtly it's a friend of mine Mr. Baldwin a new border here Mr. McMurdo may I introduce you to Mr. Baldwin the young men nodded in surly fashion to each other maybe Miss Eddie has told you how it is with us said Baldwin I don't understand that there was any relation between you didn't you well you can understand it now you can take it from me that this young lady is mine and you'll find it a very fine evening for a walk thank you I'm in no humour for a walk aren't you the man's savage eyes were blazing with anger maybe you're in a humour for a fight Mr. Border that I am cried McMurdo springing to his feet you never said a more welcome word for God's sake Jack oh for God's sake Jack cried poor distracted Eddie oh Jack Jack oh it's Jack is it said Baldwin with an oath you've come to that already have you oh Ted be reasonable be kind for my sake Ted if ever you loved me be big hearted and forgiving I think Eddie that if you were to leave us alone we could get this thing settled said McMurdo quietly or maybe Mr. Baldwin you'll take a turn down the street with me it's a fine evening and there's some open ground beyond the next block I'll get even with you without needing to dirty my hands said his enemy you'll wish you'd never set foot in this house before I'm through with you no time like the present cried McMurdo I'll choose my own time Mr. you can leave the time to me see here he suddenly rolled up his sleeve and showed upon his forearm which appeared to have been branded there it was a circle with a triangle within it do you know what that means I neither know nor care well you will know I'll promise you that you won't be much older either perhaps Miss Eddie can tell you something about it as to you Eddie you'll come back to me on your knees do you hear girl and then I'll tell you what your punishment may be you've sowed and by the Lord I'll see that you reap he glanced at them both in fury then he turned upon his heel and an instant later the outer door had banged behind him for a few moments McMurdo and the girl stood in silence and she threw her arms around him oh Jack how brave you were no use you must fly tonight Jack tonight it's your only hope you will have your life I read it in his horrible eyes what chance of you against a dozen of them with Boss McGinty and all the power of the lodge behind them McMurdo disengaged her hands kissed her and gently pushed her back into a chair there Akushla there don't be disturbed or fear for me I'm a freeman myself I'm after telling your father about it maybe I am no better than the others so don't make a saint of me perhaps you hate me too now that I've told you so much hate you Jack while life lasts I could never do that I've heard that there is no harm in being a freeman anywhere but here so why should I sing the worst of you for that but if you are a freeman Jack why would you not go down to boss McGinty oh hurry Jack hurry get your virgin first or the hounds will be on your trail I was thinking the same thing said McMurdo I'll go right now and fix it you can tell your father that I'll sleep here tonight and find some other quarters in the morning the bar of McGinty's saloon was crowded as usual for it was the favourite loafing place of all the rougher elements of the town it was popular for it a rough jovial disposition which formed a mask covering a great deal which lay behind it but apart from this popularity the fear in which he was held throughout the township and indeed down the whole 30 miles of the valley and past the mountains on each side of it was enough in itself to fill his bar for none could afford to neglect his goodwill besides those secret powers he obviously believed that he exercised in so pitiless a fashion he was a high public official a municipal councillor and a commissioner of roads elected to the office through the votes of the ruffians who in turn expected to receive favours at his hands assessments and taxes were enormous the public works were notoriously neglected the accounts were slurred over by bribed auditors and the decent citizen was terrorised into paying public blackmail and holding his tongue less some worse thing before him thus it was that year by year boss McGinty's diamond pins became more obtrusive his gold chains more weighty across a more gorgeous vest and his saloon stretched farther and farther until it threatened to absorb one whole side of the market square McMurdo pushed open the swinging door of the saloon and made his way amid the crowd of men within through an atmosphere blurred with tobacco smoke and heavy with the smell of spirits the place was brilliantly lighted and the huge heavily gilt mirrors upon every wall reflected and multiplied the garish illumination there were several bartenders in their shirt sleeves hard at work mixing drinks for the loungers who fringed the broad brass trimmed counter at the far end with his body resting upon the bar and a cigar stuck at an acute angle from the corner of his mouth stood a tall strong heavily built man who could be none other than the famous McGinty himself he was a black mained giant bearded to the cheekbones and with a shock of raven hair which fell to his collar his complexion was as swarthy as that of an Italian and his eyes were of a strange dead black which combined with a slight squint gave them a particularly sinister appearance all else in the man his noble proportions his fine features and his frank bearing fitted in with that jovial man-to-man manner which he affected here one would say is a bluff honest fellow whose heart would be sound however rude his outspoken words might seem it was only when those dead dark eyes deep and remorseless were turned upon a man that he shrank within himself feeling that he was face-to-face with an infinite possibility of latent evil with a strength and courage and cunning behind it which made it a thousand times more deadly having had a good look at this man McMurdo elbowed his way forward with his usual careless audacity and pushed himself through the little group of courtiers who were forning upon the powerful boss laughing up roriously at the smallest of his jokes the young stranger's bold grey eyes looked back fearlessly through their glasses at the deadly black ones which turned sharply upon him well young man I can't call your face to mind I knew here Mr. McGinty you are not so new that you can't give a gentleman his proper title he's counsellor McGinty young man said a voice from the group I'm sorry counsellor I'm strange to the ways of the place but I was advised to see you well you see me this is all there is what do you think of me well it's early days if your heart is as big as your body and your soul as fine as your face then I'd ask for nothing better said McMurdo by God you've got an Irish tongue in your head anyhow cried the saloon keeper not quite certain whether to humor this audacious visitor or to stand upon his dignity so you are good enough to pass my appearance sure said McMurdo and you were told to see me I was and who told you brother Scanlon of large 341 for missa I drink your health counsellor and to our better acquaintance he raised a glass with which he had been served to his lips and elevated his little finger as he drank it McGinty who'd been watching him narrowly raised his thick black eyebrows oh it's like that is it said he I'll have to look a bit closer into this mister McMurdo a bit closer Mr. McMurdo for we don't take folk on trust in these parts nor believe all were told neither come in here for a moment behind the bar there was a small room there lined with barrels McGinty carefully closed the door and then seated himself on one of them biting thoughtfully on his cigar and surveying his companion with those disquieting eyes for a couple of minutes he sat in complete silence McMurdo bore the inspection cheerfully one hand in his coat pocket the other twisting his brown moustache suddenly McGinty stooped and produced a wicked looking revolver see here my joker said he if I thought you were playing any game on us it would be short work for you this is a strange welcome McMurdo answered with some dignity for the bodymaster of a large of freeman to give to a stranger brother ah but it's just the same that you have to prove said McGinty and God help you if you fail where were you made large 29 Chicago when June 24th 1872 what bodymaster James H. Scott who is your district ruler Bartholomew Wilson hmm you seem glib enough in your tests what are you doing here working the same as you but a poorer job you have your back answer quick enough yes I was always quick of speech are you quick of action I have had that name among those that knew me best well we may try you sooner than you think have you heard anything of the lodge in these parts I've heard that it takes a man to be a brother true for you Mr. McMurdo why did you leave Chicago I'm damned if I'll tell you that McGinty opened his eyes he was not used to being answered in such fashion and it amused him why won't you tell me because no brother may tell another a lie then the truth is too bad to tell you can put her that way if you like see here Mr you can't expect me as bodymaster to pass into the lodge a man for whose past he can't answer McMurdo looked puzzled then he took a worn newspaper cutting from an inner pocket you wouldn't squeal on a fella said he I'll wipe my hand across your face if you say such words to me cried McGinty hotly you're right counselor said McMurdo Meekly I should apologize I spoke without thought well I know that I'm safe in your hands look at that clipping McGinty glanced his eyes over the account of the shooting of one Jonas Pinto in the Lake Saloon Market Street Chicago in the New Year Week of 1874 your work he asked as he handed back the paper McMurdo nodded why did you shoot him I was helping Uncle Sam to make dollars maybe mine were not as good gold as his but they looked as well and were cheaper to make this man Pinto helped me to shove the queer to do what seems to pass the dollars out into circulation then he said he would split maybe he did split I didn't wait to see I just killed him and lighted out for the coal country why the coal country because I'd read in the papers that they weren't too particular in those parts McGinty laughed ha you're first a coiner and then a murderer and you came to these parts because you thought you'd be welcome that's about the size of it McMurdo answered well I guess you'll go far say can you make those dollars yet McMurdo took half a dozen from his pocket those never passed the Philadelphia Mint said he you don't say McGinty held them to the light in his enormous hand which was hairy as a gorilla's I can see no difference you'll be a mighty useful brother I'm thinking we can do with a bad man or two among us friend McMurdo for there are times when we have to take our own part we'd soon be against the wall if we didn't shove back at those that were pushing us well I guess I'll do my share of shoving with the rest of the boys you seem to have a good nerve you didn't squirm when I shoved this gun at you not me that was in danger who then it was you, counselor McMurdo drew a copped pistol from the side pocket of his P-jacket I was covering you all the time I guess my shot would have been as quick as yours by God McGinty flushed an angry red and then burst into a roar of laughter say we've had no such holy terror come to hand this many a year I reckon the lodge will learn to be proud of you well what the hell do you want and can't I speak alone with a gentleman for five minutes but you must butt in on us a bartender stood abashed I'm sorry counselor but it's Ted Baldwin he says he must see you this very minute the message was unnecessary for the set cruel face of the man himself was looking over the servant's shoulder he pushed the bartender out and closed the door on him so said he with a furious glance at McMurdo you got here first did you I have a word to say to you counselor about this man then say it here and now before my face cried McMurdo I'll say it at my own time in my own way tut tut said McGinty getting off his barrel this will never do we have a new brother here Baldwin and it's not for us to greet him in such fashion hold out your hand man and make it up never cried Baldwin in a fury I've offered to fight him if he thinks I've wronged him said McMurdo I'll fight him with fists or if that won't satisfy him I'll fight him any other way he chooses now I'll leave it to you counselor as a bodymaster should what is it then a young lady she's free to choose for herself is she? cried Baldwin as between two brothers of the lodge I should say that she was said the boss oh that's your ruling is it yes it is Ted Baldwin said McGinty with a wicked stare is it you that would dispute it you would throw over one that has stood by you this five years in favor of a man that you never saw before in your life you're not bodymaster for life Jack McGinty and by God when next it comes to a vote the counselor sprang at him like a tiger his hand closed round the other's neck and he hurled him back across one of the barrels in his mad fury he would have squeezed the life out of him if McMurdo had not interfered easy counselor for heaven's sake, go easy he cried as he dragged him back McGinty released his hold and Baldwin cowed and shaken gasping for breath and shivering in every limb as one who has looked over the very edge of death sat up on the barrel over which he had been hurled you've been asking for at this many a day Ted Baldwin now you've got it cried McGinty his huge chest rising and falling maybe you think if I was voted down from bodymaster you'd find yourself in my shoes it's for the lodge to say that but so long as I'm the chief I'll have no man lift his voice against me or my rulings I have nothing against you mumbled Baldwin feeling his throat well then cried the other relapsing in a moment into a bluff joviality we're all good friends again and there's an ending of the matter he took a bottle of champagne down from the shelf and twisted out the cork see now he continued as he filled three high glasses let us drink the quarrelling toast of the lodge after that as you know there can be no bad blood between us now then the left hand on the apple of my throat I say to you Ted Baldwin what is the offence, sir? the clouds are heavy answered him Baldwin but they will forever brighten and this I swear the men drank their glasses and the same ceremony was performed between Baldwin and McMurdo there cried McGinty rubbing his hands that's the end of the black blood you come under lodge discipline if it goes further and that's a heavy hand in these parts as brother Baldwin knows and as you will damn soon find out brother McMurdo if you ask for trouble faith I'd be slow to do that said McMurdo he held out his hand to Baldwin I'm quick to quarrel I'm quick to forgive it's my heart Irish blood they tell me but it's over for me and I bear no grudge Baldwin had to take the prophet hand for the baleful eye of the terrible boss was upon him but his sullen face showed how little the words of the other had moved him McGinty clapped them both on the shoulders turt these girls these girls he cried to think that the same petticoat should come between two of my boys it's the devil's own luck well it's the Colleen inside of them that it must settle the question for it's outside the jurisdiction of a bodymaster and the law be praised for that we have enough on us without the women as well you'll have to be affiliated to lodge 341 brother McMurdo we have our own ways and methods different from Chicago Saturday night is our meeting and if you come then we'll make you free forever of the Vermissa Valley End of chapter 2 part 2 chapter 3 of the valley of fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle this Librivox recording is in the public domain chapter 3 Lodge 341 Vermissa on the day following the evening which had contained so many exciting events McMurdo moved his lodgings from old Jacob Shafters and took up his quarters at the widow McNamara's on the extreme outskirts of the town Scanlan the original acquaintance aboard the train had occasion shortly afterwards to move into Vermissa and the two lodged together there was no other border and the hostess was an easygoing old Irish woman who left them to themselves so that they had a freedom for speech and action welcome to men who had secrets in common Shafter had relented to the extent of letting McMurdo come to his meals there when he liked so that his intercourse with Etty was by no means broken on the contrary it drew closer and more intimate as the weeks went by in his bedroom at his new abode McMurdo felt it safe to take out the coining moulds and under many a pledge of secrecy a number of brothers from the lodge were allowed to come in and see them each carrying away in his pocket some examples of the false money so cunningly struck that there was never the slightest difficulty of a stranger in passing it why with such a wonderful art at his command McMurdo should condescend to work at all was a perpetual mystery to his companions though he made it clear to anyone who asked him that if he lived without any visible means it would very quickly bring the police upon his track one policeman was indeed after him already but the incident as luck would have it did the adventurer a great deal of good and harm after the first introduction there were few evenings when he did not find his way to McGinty's saloon there to make closer acquaintance with The Boys which was the jovial title by which the dangerous gang who infested the place were known to one another his dashing manner and fearlessness of speech made him a favourite with them all while the rapid and scientific way in which he left his antagonist in an all-in bar room scrap and the respect of that rough community another incident however raised him even higher in their estimation just at the crowded hour one night the door opened and a man entered with the quiet blue uniform and peeked cap of the mine police this was a special body raised by the railways and colliery owners to complement the efforts of the ordinary civil police who were perfectly helpless in the face of the organised ruffianism which terrorized the district there was a hush as he entered and many a curious glance was cast at him but the relations between policemen and criminals are peculiar in some parts of the states and McGinty himself standing behind his counter showed no surprise when the policeman enrolled himself among his customers a straight whiskey for the night is bitter said the police officer I don't think we've met before counselor you'll be the new captain said McGinty that's so we'll look into you counselor and to the other leading citizens to help us in upholding law and order in this township Captain Marvin is my name we do better without you Captain Marvin for we have our own police we have the township and no need for any imported goods what are you but the paid tool of the capitalists hired by them to club or shoot your poorer fellow citizen well well we won't argue about that said the police officer good humbly I expect we all do our duty same as we see it but we can't all see it the same he drunk off his glass and had turned to go when his eyes fell upon the face of Jack McMurdo who was scowling at his elbow hello hello he cried looking him up and down he is an old acquaintance McMurdo shrank away from him I was never a friend to you nor any other cursed copper in my life said he an acquaintance is not always a friend said the police captain grinning you're Jack McMurdo of Chicago right enough and don't you deny it McMurdo shrugged his shoulders I'm not denying it said he do you think I'm ashamed of my own name you've got good cause to be anyhow what the devil do you mean by that he roared with his fist clenched no no Jack bluster won't do with me I was an officer in Chicago before ever I came to this darned coal bunker and I know a Chicago crook when I see one McMurdo's face fell don't tell me that you're Marvin of the Chicago Central he cried just the same old Teddy Marvin at your service we haven't forgotten the shooting of Jonas Pinto up there I never shot him did you not that's good impartial evidence ain't it well his death came in an uncommon handy for you or they would have had you for shoving the queer let that be baggons four between you and me and perhaps I'm going further than my duty in saying it they could get no clear case against you and Chicago's open to you tomorrow I'm very well where I am well I've given you the pointer and you're a sulky dog not to thank me for it well I suppose you mean well and I do thank you said McMurdo in no very gracious manner it's mom with me so long as I see you living on the street said the captain but by the Lord if you get off after this it's another story so good night to you and good night counselor he left the bar room but not before he created a local hero McMurdo's deeds in far Chicago had been whispered before he'd put off all questions with a smile as one who did not wish to have greatness thrust upon him but now the thing was officially confirmed the bar loafers crowded round him and shook him heartily by the hand he was free of the community from that time on he could drink hard and show little trace of it but that evening had his mate Scanlon not been at hand to lead him home the fated hero would surely have spent his night under the bar on a Saturday night McMurdo was introduced to the lodge he'd thought to pass in without ceremony as being an initiate of Chicago but there were particular rights in Vermissa of which they were proud and these had to be undergone by every postulant the assembly met in a large room reserved for such purposes at the Union House some sixty members assembled at Vermissa but that by no means represented the full strength of the organization several other lodges in the valley and others across the mountains on each side who exchanged members when any serious business was afoot so that a crime might be done by men who were strangers to the locality altogether there were not less than five hundred scattered over the coal district in the bare assembly room the men were gathered round a long table at the side was a second one laden with bottles and glasses on which some members of the company were already turning their eyes McGinty sat at the head with a flat black velvet cap upon his shock of tangled black hair and a coloured purple stole round his neck so that he seemed to be a priest presiding over some diabolical ritual to right and left of him with a higher lodge officials the cruel, handsome face of Ted Baldwin among them each of these wore some scarf or medallion as emblem of his office they were for the most part men of mature age that the rest of the company consisted of young fellows from eighteen to twenty-five the ready and capable agents who carried out the commands of their seniors among the older men were many whose features showed the tigerish, lawless souls within but looking at the rank and file it was difficult to believe that these eager and open-faced young fellows were in very truth a dangerous gang of murderers whose minds had suffered such complete moral perversion that they took a horrible pride in their proficiency at the business and looked with deepest respect at the men who had the reputation of making what they called a clean job to their contorted natures it had become a spirited and chivalrous thing to volunteer for service against some man who had never injured them and whom in many cases they had never seen in their lives the crime committed they quarrelled as to who had actually struck the fatal blow and amused one another and the company by describing the cries and contortions of the murdered man at first they had shown some secrecy in their arrangements but at the time which this narrative describes their proceedings were extraordinarily open for the repeated failure of the law had proved to them that on the one hand no one would dare to witness against them and on the other they had an unlimited number of starch witnesses upon whom they could call and a well-filled treasure chest from which they could draw the funds to engage the best legal talent in the state for ten long years of outrage there had been no single conviction and the only danger that ever threatened the scourers lay in the victim himself who, however outnumbered and taken by surprise might and occasionally did leave his mark upon his assailants McMurdo had been warned that some ordeal lay before him but no one would tell him in what it consisted he was led now into an outer room by two solemn brothers through the plank partition he could hear the murmur of many voices from the assembly within once or twice he caught the sound of his own name and he knew that they were discussing his candidacy then there entered an inner-guard with a green and gold sash across his chest the body-master orders that he shall be trust, blinded and entered, said he the three of them removed his coat turned up the sleeve of his right arm and finally passed a rope around above the elbows and made it fast they next placed a thick black cap right over his head and the upper part of his face so that he could see nothing he was then led into the assembly-hall it was pitch-dark and very oppressive under his hood he heard the rustle and murmur of the people round him and then the voice of McGinty sounded dull and distant through the covering of his ears John McMurdo, said the voice are you already a member of the ancient order of Freeman? he bowed his assent is your lodge number 29 Chicago he bowed again dark nights are unpleasant said the voice yes for strangers to travel he answered the clouds are heavy yes, a storm is approaching are the brethren satisfied? asked the bodymaster there was a general murmur of assent we know, brother by your sign and by your counter-sign that you are indeed one of us said McGinty we would have you know, however that in this county and in other counties of these parts we have certain rights and also certain duties of our own which call for good men are you ready to be tested? I am are you of stout heart? I am take a stride forward to prove it as the words were said he felt two hard points in front of his eyes pressing upon them so that it appeared as if he could not move forward without a danger of losing them nonetheless he nerved himself to step resolutely out and as he did so the pressure melted away there was a low murmur of applause he is of a stout heart said the voice can you bear pain? as well as another he answered test him due to keep himself from screaming out for an agonizing pain shot through his forearm he nearly fainted at the sudden shock of it but he bit his lip and clenched his hands to hide his agony I can take more than that said he this time there was loud applause a finer first appearance had never been made in the lodge hands clapped him on the back and the hood was plucked from his head he stood blinking and smiling amid the congratulations of the brothers one last word brother McMurdo said McGinty you have already sworn the oath of secrecy and fidelity and you are aware that the punishment for any breach of it is instant and inevitable death I am said McMurdo and you accept the rule of the bodymaster for the time being under all circumstances I do then in the name of lodge 341 Vermissa I welcome you to its privileges and debates you will put the liquor on the table brother Scanlon and we will drink to our worthy brother McMurdo's coat had been brought to him but before putting it on his right arm which still smarted heavily there on the flesh of the forearm was a circle with a triangle within it deep and red as the branding iron had left it one of the two of his neighbors pulled up their sleeves and showed their own lodge marks we've all had it said one but not all as brave as you over it it was nothing said he came when the drinks which followed the ceremony of initiation had all been disposed of the business of the lodge proceeded McMurdo accustomed only to the prosaic performances of Chicago listened with open ears and more surprise and he ventured to show to what followed the first business on the agenda paper is to read the following letter from division master Wendell of Merton County Lodge 249 he says dear sir there is a job to be done on Andrew Ray of Ray and Sturmish co-owners near this place you will remember that your lodge owes us a return having had the service of two brethren in the matter of the patrolman last fall you will send two good men they will be taken charge of by treasurer Higgins of this lodge whose address you know he will show them when to act and where yours in freedom J. W. Wendell D. M. A. O. F. Wendell has never refused us when we have had occasion to ask for the loan of a man or two and it's not for us to refuse him McGinty paused and looked round the room with his little malevolent eyes who will volunteer for the job several young fellows held up their hands the bodymaster looked at them with an approving smile you'll do Tiger Cormack if you handle it as well as you did the last you won't be wrong and you Wilson I've no pistol said the volunteer I mean a boy in his teens it's your first is it not well you have to be blooded some time it'll be a great start for you as to the pistol you'll find it waiting for you or I'm mistaken if you report yourselves on Monday it'll be time enough you'll get a great welcome when you return any reward this time asked Cormack a thick-set dark-faced brutal-looking young man whose ferocity had earned him the nickname of Tiger never mind the reward you just do it for the honor of the thing maybe when it's done there'll be a few odd dollars at the bottom of the box what has the man done asked the young Wilson sure it's not for the likes of you to ask what the man has done he's been judged over there that's no business of ours all we have to do is to carry it out for them same as they would for us speaking of that two brothers from the Merton lodge are coming over to us next week to do some business in this quarter who are they asked someone Faith it is wiser not to ask if you know nothing you can testify nothing and no trouble can come of it but they are men who will make a clean job when they're about it and time, too, cried Ted Baldwin folk are getting out of hand in these parts it was only last week that three of our men were turned off by Forman Blaker it's been owing him a long time and he'll get it full and proper get what?  McMurdo's criminal soul seemed to have already absorbed the spirit of the vile association of which he was now a member I like it well, said he it is a proper place for a lad of metal several of those who sat around heard his words and applauded them what's that? cried the black mained bodymaster from the end of the table it is our new brother, sir who finds our ways to his taste McMurdo rose to his feet for an instant I would say eminent bodymaster that if a man should be wanted I should take it as an honor to be chosen to help the lodge there was great applause at this it was felt that a new son was pushing its rim above the horizon to some of the elders it seemed that the progress was a little too rapid I would move, said the secretary Harroway, a vulture faced old greybeard who sat near the chairman that brother McMurdo should wait until it is the good pleasure of the lodge to employ him sure that was what I meant I'm in your hands, said McMurdo your time will come, brother said the chairman we have marked you down as a willing man and we believe that you will do good work in these parts there is a small matter to night in which you may take a hand if it so pleases you I'll wait for something that is worthwhile you can come to night anyhow and it will help you to know what we stand for in this community I will make the announcement later meanwhile he glanced at his agenda paper I have one or two more points to bring before the meeting first of all I will ask the treasurer as to our bank balance there is the pension to Jim Conaway's widow he was struck down during the work of the lodge and it is for us to see that she is not the loser Jim was shot last month when they cried to kill Chester Wilcox of Marley Creek, McMurdo's neighbour informed him the funds are good at the moment said the treasurer with the bank book in front of him the firms have been generous of late 500 to be left alone Walker Brothers sent in 100 but I took it on myself to return it and asked for five if I do not hear by Wednesday their winding gear may get out of order we had to burn their breaker last year before they became reasonable then the west section Colling Company has paid its annual contribution we have enough on hand to meet any obligations what about Archie Swindon asked a brother he has sold out and left the district the old devil left a note for us to say that he had rather be a free crossing sweeper in a New York than a large mine owner under the power of a ring of blackmailers by gar it was as well that he made a break for it before the note reached us I guess he won't show his face in this valley again an elderly, clean-shaved man with a kindly face and a good brow rose from the end of the table which faced the chairman Mr. Treasurer he asked may I ask who has bought the property of this man that we have driven out of the district yes, brother Morris it has been bought by the state and Merton County Railroad Company and who bought the mines of Todman and of Lee that came into the market in the same way last year the same company, brother Morris and who bought the ironworks of Manson and of Schumann and of Van Der and of Atwood which have all been given up of late they were all bought by the West Gilmourton General Mining Company I don't see, brother Morris said the chairman that it matters to us who buys them since they can't carry them out of the district with all respect to you, eminent bodymaster I think it may matter very much to us this process has been going on now for ten long years we are gradually driving all the small men out of trade what is the result we find in their places great companies like the railroad or the general iron who have their directors in New York or Philadelphia and care nothing for our threats we can take it out of their local bosses but it only means that others will be sent in their stead and we are making it dangerous for ourselves the small men could not harm us they had not the money nor the power so long as we did not squeeze them too dry they would stay on under our power but if these big companies find that we stand between them and their profits they will spare no pains and no expense to hunt us down and bring us to court there was a hush at these ominous words and every face darkened as gloomy looks were exchanged so omnipotent and unchallenged had they been at the very thought that there was possible retribution in the background had been banished from their minds and yet the idea struck a chill to the most reckless of them it is my advice the speaker continued that we go easier upon the small men on the day that they have all been driven out the power of this society will have been broken unwelcome truths are not popular they were angry cries as the speaker resumed his seat McGinty rose with gloom upon his brow Brother Morris said he you were always a croaker so long as the members of this lodge stand together there is no power in the United States that can touch them have we not tried it often enough in the law courts I expect the big companies will find it easier to pay than to fight same as the little companies do and now Brethren McGinty took off his black velvet cap and his stole as he spoke this lodge has finished its business for the evening save for one small matter which may be mentioned when we are parting the time has now come for fraternal refreshment and for harmony strange indeed is human nature here were these men to whom murder was familiar who again and again had struck down the father of the family some man against whom they had no personal feeling without one thought of compunction or of compassion for his weeping wife or helpless children and yet the tender or pathetic in music could move them to tears McMurdo had a fine tender voice and if he had failed to gain the good will of the lodge before it could no longer have been withheld after he had thrilled them with I am sitting on the style Mary and on the banks of Alan Water in his very first night the new recruit had made himself one of the most popular of the Brethren marked already for advancement and high office quality's needed however besides those of good fellowship to make a worthy Freeman and of these he was given an example before the evening was over the whiskey bottle had passed round many times and the men were flushed and ripe for mischief when their bodymaster rose once more to address them boys said he there's one man in this town that wants trimming up and it's for you to see that he gets it I'm speaking of James Stanger of the Herald you've seen how he's been opening his mouth against us again it was a murmur of assent with many a mutterdose McGinty took a slip of paper from his waistcoat pocket law and order that's how he heads it reign of terror in the coal and iron district twelve years have now elapsed since the first assassinations which proved the existence of a criminal organization in our midst from that day these outrages have never ceased until now they have reached a pitch which makes us the aprobarium of the civilized world is it for such results as this that our great country welcomes to its bosom the alien who flies from the despotisms of Europe is it that they shall themselves become tyrants over the very men who have given them shelter and that a state of terrorism and lawlessness should be established under the very shadow of the sacred folds of the starry flag of freedom which would raise horror in our minds if we read of it as existing under the most defeat monarchy of the East the men are known the organization is patent and public how long are we to endure it to live? sure I've read enough of the slush cried the chairman tossing the paper down upon the table that's what he says of us the question I'm asking is what shall we say to him kill him cried a dozen fierce voices I protest against that said brother Morris the man of the good brow and shaved face I tell you brethren it's too heavy in this valley and that there will come a point where in self-defense every man will unite to crush us out James Stanger is an old man he is respected in the township and the district his paper stands for all that is solid in the valley if that man is struck down there will be a stir through this state that will only end with our destruction and how would they bring about our destruction Mr. Standback cried McGinty is it by the police sure half of them are in our pay and half of them are afraid of us or is it by the law courts and the judge haven't we tried that before now and whatever came of it there is a judge lynch that might try the case said brother Morris a general shout of anger greeted the suggestion I have but to raise my finger cried McGinty and I could put two hundred men into this town that would clear it out from end to end then suddenly raising his voice and bending his huge black brows into a terrible frown see here brother Morris I have my eye on you and have had for some time you've no heart yourself and you try to take the heart out of others it'll be an ill day for you brother Morris when your own name comes on our agenda paper and I'm thinking that it's just there that I ought to place it Morris had turned deadly pale and his knees seemed to give way under him as he fell back into his chair he raised his glass in his trembling hand and drank before he could answer I apologize eminent bodymaster every brother in this lodge if I've said more than I should I am a faithful member you all know that and it is my fear less evil come to the lodge which makes me speak in anxious words but I have greater trust in your judgment than in my own eminent bodymaster and I promise you that I will not offend again the bodymaster's scowl relaxed as he listened to the humble words very good brother Morris it's myself that would be sorry if it were needful to give you a lesson but so long as I am in this chair we shall be a united lodge in word and in deed and now boys he continued looking round at the company I'll say this much that if Stanger got his full desserts there would be more trouble than we need ask for these editors hang together and every journal in the state would be crying out for police and troops but I guess you can give him a pretty severe warning will you fix it brother Baldwin sure said the young man eagerly how many will you take half a dozen and two to guard the door you'll come Gower and you Mansel and you Scanlan and the two Willoughbys I promised the new brother he should go said the chairman Ted Baldwin looked at McMurdo with eyes which showed that he had not forgotten nor forgiven well he can come if he wants he said in a surly voice that's enough the sooner we get to work the better the company broke up with shouts and yells and snatches of drunken song the bar was still crowded with revelers and many of the brethren remained there the little band who had been told off for duty passed out into the street proceeding in twos and threes along the sidewalk so as not to provoke attention it was a bitterly cold night with a half moon shining brilliantly in a frosty star-spangled sky the men stopped and gathered in a yard which faced a high building the words Vermissa Herald were printed in gold lettering beautifully lit windows from within came the clanking of the printing press hear you said Baldwin to McMurdo you can stand below at the door and see that the road is kept open for us Arthur Willoughby can stay with you you others come with me have no fears boys for we have a dozen witnesses that we are in the union bar at this very moment it was nearly midnight and the street was deserted for one or two revelers upon their way home the party crossed the road and pushing open the door of the newspaper office Baldwin and his men rushed in and up the stair which faced them McMurdo and another remained below from the room above came a shout a cry for help and then the sound of trampling feet and of falling chairs an instant later a grey-haired man rushed out on the landing he was seized before he could get farther and his spectacles came tinkling down to McMurdo's feet there was a thud and a groan he was on his face and half a dozen sticks were clattering together as they fell upon him he writhed and his long thin limbs quivered under the blows the others ceased at last but Baldwin his cruel face set in an infernal smile on Baldwin's head which he vainly endeavoured to defend with his arms his white hair was dabbled with patches of blood Baldwin was still stooping over his victim putting in a short vicious blow whenever he could see a part exposed when McMurdo dashed up the stair and pushed him back you'll kill the man, said he drop it Baldwin looked at him in amazement curse you, he cried fear you that are new to the lodge stand back he raised his stick but McMurdo had whipped his pistol out of his pocket stand back yourself he cried I'll blow your face in if you lay a hand on me as to the lodge wasn't it the order of the body master that the man was not to be killed and what are you doing but killing him it's truth he says remarked one of the men by a guy you'd best hurry yourselves cried the man below the windows are all lighting up and you'll have the whole town here inside of five minutes there was indeed the sound of shouting in the street and the little group of compositors and press men was forming in the hall below and nerving itself to action leaving the limp and motionless body of the editor at the head of the stair the criminals rushed down and made their way swiftly along the street having reached the union house some of them mixed with the crowd the anti saloon whispering across the bar to the boss that the job had been well carried through others and among them McMurdo broke away into side streets and so by devious paths to their own homes End of Chapter 3 Part 2 Chapter 4 of the Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle this LibriVox recording is in the public domain Chapter 4 The Valley of Fear When McMurdo woke next morning he had good reason to remember his initiation into the lodge his head ate with the effect of the drink and his arm where he had been branded was hot and swollen having his own peculiar source of income he was irregular in his attendance at his work so he had a late breakfast and remained at home for the morning writing a long letter to a friend he read the Daily Herald in a special column put in at the last moment he read Outrage at the Herald office editor seriously injured it was a short account of the facts with which he was himself more familiar than the writer could have been it ended with a statement the matter is now in the hands of the police but it can hardly be hoped that their exertions will be attended by any better results than in the past some of the men were recognized that a conviction may be obtained the source of the outrage was it need hardly be said that infamous society which has held this community in bondage for so longer period and against which the Herald has taken so uncompromising a stand Mr. Stanger's many friends will rejoice to hear that though he has been cruelly and brutally beaten and though he has sustained severe injuries about the head there is no immediate danger to his life below it stated that the guard of police armed with Winchester rifles had been requisitioned for the defence of the office McMurder had laid down the paper and was lighting his pipe with a hand which was shaky from the excesses of the previous evening when there was a knock outside and his landlady brought to him a note which had just been handed in by a lad it was unsigned and ran thus I should wish to speak to you but would rather not do so in your house you will find me beside the flagstaff upon Miller Hill if you will come there now I have something which is important for you to hear and for me to say McMurder read the note twice with the utmost surprise for he could not imagine what it meant or who was the author of it had it been in a feminine hand he might have imagined that it was the beginning of one of those adventures which have been familiar enough in the past life but it was the writing of a man and of a well educated one too finally after some hesitation he determined to see the matter through Miller Hill is an ill-kept public park in the very centre of the town in summer it is a favourite resort of the people but in the winter it is desolate enough from the top of it one has a view not only of the whole grimy town but of the winding valley beneath with its scattered mines and factories blackening the snow on each side of it and of the wooded and white-capped ranges flanking it McMurdo strolled up the winding path hedged in with evergreens until he reached the deserted restaurant which forms the centre of summer gaiety beside it was a bare flagstaff and underneath it a man, his hat drawn down and the collar of his overcoat turned up when he turned his face McMurdo saw that it was brother Morris he who had incurred the anger of the bodymaster the night before the lodge sign was given and exchanged as they met I want to have a word with you, Mr. McMurdo said the older man speaking with a hesitation which showed that he was on delicate ground it was kind enough of you to come why did he not put your name to the note one has to be cautious, Mr. one never knows in times like these how a thing may come back to one one never knows either who to trust or who not to trust surely one may trust brothers of the lodge no no not always cried Morris with vehemence whatever we say even what we think seems to get back and McGinty look here, said McMurdo sternly it was only last night as you know well that I swore good faith to our bodymaster would you be asking me to break my oath if that is the view you take said Morris sadly I can only say that I am sorry I gave you the trouble to come and meet me things have come to a bad pass when two free citizens cannot speak their thoughts to each other McMurdo who had been watching his companion very narrowly relaxed somewhat in his bearing sure I spoke for myself only said he I am a newcomer as you know and I am strange to it all it is not for me to open my mouth, Mr. Morris and if to think well to say anything to me I am here to hear it and to take it back to Boss McGinty said Morris bitterly indeed then there cried McMurdo for myself I am loyal to the lodge and so I tell you straight but I would be a poor creature if I were to repeat to any other what you might say to me in confidence it will go no further than me though I warn you that you may get neither help nor sympathy I have given up looking for either the one or the other said Morris I may be putting my very life in your hands by what I say but bad as you are and it seemed to me last night that you were shaping to be as bad as the worst still you are new to it and your conscience cannot yet be as hardened as theirs that was why I thought to speak with you well what have you to say if you give me away may a curse be on you sure I said I would not I would ask you then when you joined the Freeman Society in Chicago and swore vows of charity and fidelity did ever it cross your mind that you might find it would lead you to crime if you call it crime McMurdo answered call it crime cried Morris his voice vibrating with passion you have seen little of it if you can call it anything else was it crime last night when a man old enough to be your father while the blood dripped from his white hairs was that crime or what else would you call it there are some would say it was war said McMurdo a war of two classes with all in so that each struck as best it could well did you think of such a thing when you joined the Freeman Society in Chicago no I'm bound to say I did not nor did I when I joined it at Philadelphia it was just a benefit club and a meeting place for one's fellows then I heard of this place cursed the hour that the name first fell upon my ears and I came to better myself my god to better myself my wife and three children came with me I started a dry good store on Market Square and I prospered well the word had gone round that I was a Freeman and I was forced to join the local lodge same as you did last night I have the badge of shame on my forearm and something worse branded on my heart I found that I was under the orders of a black villain and caught in a mesh work of crime what could I do every word I said to make things better was taken as treason same as it was last night I can't get away for all I have in the world is in my store if I leave the society I know well that it means murder to me and God knows what to my wife and children oh man it is awful awful he put his hands to his face and his body shook with convulsive sobs McMurdo shrugged his shoulders you were too soft for the job said he you're the wrong sort for such work I had a conscience and a religion but they made me a criminal among them I was chosen for a job if I back down I knew well what would come to me maybe I'm a coward maybe it's the thought of my poor little woman and the children that makes me one anyway I went I guess it will haunt me forever it was a lonely house twenty miles from here over the range yonder I was told off for the door same as you were last night don't trust me with the job the others went in when they came out their hands were crimson to the wrists as we turned away a child was screaming out of the house behind us it was a boy of five who had seen his father murdered I nearly fainted with the horror of it and yet I had to keep a bold and smiling face for well I knew that if I did not it would be out of my house that they would come next with their bloody hands and it would be my little Fred that would be screaming for his father but I was a criminal then part sharer in a murder lost forever in this world and lost also in the next I am a good Catholic but the priest would have no word with me when he heard I was a scourer and I am excommunicated from my faith that's how it stands with me and I see you going down the same road and I ask you what the end is to be are you ready to be a cold blooded murderer also? or can we do anything to stop it? what would you do? asked McMurdo abruptly you'd not inform God forbid cried Morris sure the very thought would cost me my life that's well said McMurdo I'm thinking that you're a weak man and that you make too much of the matter too much? wait till you have lived here longer look down the valley see the cloud of a hundred chimneys that overshadows it I tell you that the cloud of murder hangs thicker and lower than that over the heads of the people it is the valley of fear the valley of death the terror is in the hearts of the people from the dusk to the dawn wait young man and you will learn for yourself well I'll let you know what I think when I have seen more said McMurdo carelessly what is very clear is that you are not the man for the place and that the sooner you sell out if you only get a dime a dollar for what the business is worth the better it'll be for you what you've said is safe with me but bad gar, if I thought you were an informer no, no cried Morris pitiously well let it rest at that in your mind and maybe some day I'll come back to it expect you meant kindly by speaking to me like this now I'll be getting home one word before you go said Morris we may have been seen together they may want to know what we have spoken about ah that's well thought of I offer you a clerkship in my store and I refuse it that's our business brother Morris and may you find things go better with you in the future that same afternoon as McMurdo sat smoking lost in thought beside the stove of his sitting-room the door swung open and its framework was filled with a huge figure of boss McGinty he passed the sign and then seating himself opposite to the young man he looked at him steadily for some time a look which was as steadily returned I'm not much of a visitor brother McMurdo he said at last I guess I'm too busy over the folk that visit me but I thought I'd stretch a point and drop down to see you in your own house I'm proud to see you here, Councillor McMurdo answered heartily bringing his whiskey bottle out of the cupboard it's an honour that I had not expected that was the arm that's the boss McMurdo made a wry face well I'm not forgetting it, he said but it's worth it yes it's worth it the other answered to those that are loyal and go through with it and they're a help to the lodge what were you speaking to brother Morris about on the Miller Hill this morning the question came so suddenly that it was well that he had his answer prepared he burst into a hearty laugh Morris didn't know I could earn a living here at home he shan't know either for he's got too much conscience for the likes of me but he's a good hearted old chap it was his idea that I was at a loose end and that he would do me a good turn by offering me a clerkship in a dry good store oh that was it yes that was it and you refused it sure couldn't I earn ten times as much to my own bedroom with four hours work that so but I wouldn't get about too much with Morris why not well I guess because I tell you not that's enough for most folk in these parts it may be enough for most folk but it ain't enough for me counselor said McMurdo Baldly if you're a judge of men you'll know that the swarthy giant glared at him and his hairy poor closed for an instant round the glass as though he would hurl it at the head of his companion then he laughed in his loud, boisterous insincere fashion you're a queer card for sure well if you want more reasons I'll give them did Morris say nothing to you against the lodge no nor against me no well that's because he don't trust you but in his heart he's not a loyal brother we know that well so we watch him and we wait for the time to admonish him I'm thinking that the time is drawing near there's no room for scabby sheep in our pen but if you keep company with a disloyal man we might think that you were disloyal too, see there's no chance of my keeping company with him for I disliked the man McMurdo answered asked of being disloyal if it was any man but you you would not use the word to me twice well that's enough said McGinty draining off his glass I came down to give you a word in season and you've had it I'd like to know said McMurdo how you ever came to learn that I'd spoken with Morris at all? McGinty laughed it's my business to know what goes on in this township said he I guess you'd best reckon on my hearing all that passes well time's up and I'll just say but his leave-taking was cut short in a very unexpected fashion with a sudden crash the door flew open and three frowning intent faces glared in at them from under the peaks of police caps McMurdo sprang to his feet and half drew his revolver but his arm stopped midway as he became conscious that two Winchester rifles were levelled at his head a man in uniform advanced into the room a six-shooter in his hand it was Captain Marvin one of Chicago and now of the mine constabulary he shook his head with a half smile at McMurdo I thought you'd be getting into trouble Mr. Crooked McMurdo of Chicago McGinty can't keep out of it can you take your hat and come along with us I guess you'll pay for this Captain Marvin said McGinty who are you I'd like to know to break into a house in this fashion and molest honest law-abiding men you're standing out in this deal Councillor McGinty said to police Captain we're not out after you but after this man McMurdo asked to hinder us in our duty he is a friend of mine and I'll answer for his conduct said the boss by all accounts Mr. McGinty you may have to answer for your own conduct some of these days the Captain answered this man McMurdo was a crook before ever he came here and he's a crook still cover him patrolman while I disarm him there's my pistol said McMurdo coolly maybe Captain Marvin if you and I were alone and face-to-face you would not take me so easily where's your warrant asked McGinty by garr a man might as well live in Russia as in vermouth while folk like you were running the police it's a capitalist outrage and you'll hear more of it I reckon you do what you think is your duty the best way you can Councillor we'll look after ours what am I accused of asked McMurdo of being concerned in the beating of old editor Stanger at the Herald office it wasn't your fault that it isn't a murder charge well if that's all you have against him cried McGinty with a laugh you can save yourself a deal of trouble by dropping it right now this man was with me in my saloon playing poker up to midnight and I can bring a dozen to prove it that's your affair and I guess you can settle it in court tomorrow meanwhile come on McMurdo and come quietly if you don't want a gun across your head you stand wired Mr. McGinty for I'll warn you I'll stand no resistance when I'm on duty so determined was the appearance of the captain that both McMurdo and his boss were forced to accept the situation the latter managed to have a few whispered words with the prisoner before they parted what about he jerked his thumb upward with a coining plant all right whispered McMurdo who had devised a safe hiding place under the floor I'll bid you good-bye said the boss shaking hands I'll see Riley the lawyer and take the defence upon myself take my word for it that they won't be able to hold you I wouldn't bet on that guard the prisoner you two and shoot him if he tries any games I'll search the house before I leave he did so but apparently found no trace of the concealed plant when he descended he and his men escorted McMurdo to headquarters darkness had fallen and a keen blizzard was blowing so that the streets were nearly deserted but a few loiterers followed the group and emboldened by invisibility shouted imprecations at the prisoner lynch the cursed scourer they cried lynch him he was pushed into the police station after a short formal examination from the inspector in charge he was put into the common cell here he found Baldwin and three other criminals of the night before all arrested that afternoon and waiting their trial next morning but even within this inner fortress of the law the long arm of the free men was able to extend late at night there came a jailer with a straw bundle out of which he extracted two bottles of whiskey some glasses and a pack of cards they spent a hilarious night without an anxious thought as to the ordeal of the morning nor had they caused as the result was to show the magistrate could not possibly on the evidence have held them for a higher court on the one hand the compositors and press men were forced to admit that the light was uncertain they were themselves much perturbed and that it was difficult for them to swear to the identity of the assailants although they believed that the accused were among them cross-examined by the clever attorney who had been engaged by McGinty they were even more nebulous in their evidence the injured man had already deposed that he was so taken by surprise by the suddenness of the attack that he could state nothing that the first man who struck him wore a moustache he added that he knew them to be scourers since no one else in the community could possibly have any enmity to him and he had long been threatened on account of his outspoken editorials on the other hand it was clearly shown by the united and unfaltering evidence of six citizens including that high municipal official Councillor McGinty that the men had been at a card party at the union house until an hour very much later than the commission of the outrage needless to say that they were discharged with something very near to an apology from the bench for the inconvenience to which they had been put together with an implied censure of Captain Marvin and the police for their officious zeal the verdict was greeted with loud applause by a court in which McMurdo saw many familiar faces brothers of the lodge smiled and waved but there were others who sat with compressed lips and brooding eyes as the men filed out of the dock one of them a little dark bearded resolute fellow put the thoughts of himself and comrades into words as the ex-prisoners passed him you damned murderers he said we'll fix you yet End of chapter 4 chapter 5 of the valley of fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle this LibriVox recording is in the public domain chapter 5 the darkest hour if anything had been needed to give an impetus to Jack McMurdo's popularity among his fellows it would have been his arrest and acquittal as the man on the very night of joining the lodge should have done something which brought him before the magistrate was a new record in the annals of the society already he had earned the reputation of a good boon companion a cheery reveler and with all a man of high temper who would not take an insult even from the all-powerful boss himself but in addition to this he impressed his comrades with the idea that among them all there was not one whose brain was so ready to devise a bloodthirsty scheme or whose hand would be more capable of carrying it out he'll be the boy for the clean job said the oldsters to one another and waited their time until they could set him to his work McGinty had instruments enough already but he recognized that this was a supremely able one he felt like a man holding a fierce bloodhound in leash there were curves to do the smaller work but some day he would slip this creature upon its prey a few members of the lodge Ted Baldwin among them resented the rapid rise of the stranger and hated him for it but they kept clear of him for he was as ready to fight as to laugh but if he gained favor with his fellows there was another quarter one which had become even more vital to him in which he lost it Etty Shafter's father would have nothing more to do with him nor would he allow him to enter the house Etty herself was too deeply in love to give him up altogether and yet her own good sense warned her of what would come from a marriage with a man who was regarded as a criminal one morning after a sleepless night she determined to see him possibly for the last time and made one strong endeavor to draw him from those evil influences which were sucking him down she went to his house as he had often begged her to do and made her way into the room which she used as his sitting room he was seated at a table with his back turned and a letter in front of him a sudden spirit of girlish mischief came over her she was still only nineteen he had not heard her when she pushed open the door now she tiptoed forward and laid her hand lightly upon his bended shoulders if she had expected to startle him she certainly succeeded but only in turn to be startled herself with a tiger spring he turned on her and his right hand was feeling for her throat at the same instant with the other hand he crumpled up the paper that lay before him for an instant he stood glaring then astonishment and joy took the place of the ferocity which had convulsed his features a ferocity which had sent her shrinking back in horror as from something which had never before intruded into her gentle life it's you said he, mopping his brow and to think that you should come to me heart of my heart and I should find nothing better to do than want to strangle you come then darling and he held out his arms let me make it up to you but she had not recovered from that sudden glimpse of guilty fear which she had read in the man's face all her woman's instinct told her that it was not the mere fright of a man who is startled guilt that was it guilt and fear what's come over you Jack she cried why are you so scared of me oh Jack, if your conscience was at ease you would not have looked at me like that sure I was thinking of other things when you came tripping so lightly on those fairy feet of yours no, no it was more than that Jack then a sudden suspicion seized her let me seize that letter you were writing ah, Etty, I couldn't do that her suspicions became certainties it's to another woman she cried I know it you told it from me was it to your wife that you were writing how am I to know that you are not married man you were a stranger that nobody knows I am not married Etty see now I swear it you're the only one woman on earth to me by the cross of Christ I swear it he was so white with passionate earnestness she could not but believe him well then she cried violin not show me the letter I'll tell you Akushla said he I'm under oath not to show it and just as I wouldn't break my word to you so I would keep it to those who hold my promise it's a business of the large and even to you it's a secret and if I was scared when a hand fell on me can't you understand it when it might have been the hand of a detective she felt that he was telling the truth he gathered her into his arms and kissed away her fears and doubts sit by me then it's a queer throne for such a queen but it's the best you poor lover can find he'll do better for you some of these days I'm thinking now your mind is easy once again is it not how can it ever be at ease Jack when I know that you are a criminal among criminals when I never know the day that I may hear you're in court for murder McMurdo the scourer that's what one of the borders called you yesterday it went through my heart like a knife sure hard words break no bones but they were true well dear it's not so bad as you think we are but poor men that are trying in our own way to get our rights Etty threw her arms around her lover's neck give it up Jack for my sake for God's sake give it up it was to ask you that I came here today oh Jack see I beg it off your my bended knees kneeling here before you I implore you to give it up he raised her and soothed her with her head against his breast sure my darlin you don't know what it is you're asking how could I give it up when it would be to break my oath and to desert my comrades if you could see how things stand with me you could never ask it of me besides if I wanted to how could I do it you don't suppose that the lodge would let a man go free with all its secrets I thought of that Jack I've planned it all father has saved some money he is weary of this place where the fear of these people darkens our lives he is ready to go we would fly together to Philadelphia or New York where we would be safe from them McMurdo laughed the lodge has a long arm do you think it could not stretch from here to Philadelphia or New York well then to the west or to England or to Germany where my father came from anywhere to get away from the valley of fear McMurdo thought of old brother Morris sure it is the second time I've heard the valley so named said he the shadow does indeed seem to lie heavy on some of you it darkens every moment of our lives do you suppose that Ted Baldwin has ever forgiven us if it were not that he fears you what do you suppose our chances would be if you saw the look in those dark hungry eyes of his when they fall on me by Gar I'd teach him better manners if I caught him at it but see here little girl I can't leave here I can't take that from me once and for all but if you'll leave me to find my own way I will try to prepare a way of getting honourably out of it there is no honour in such a matter well well it's just how you look at it but if you'll give me six months I'll work it so that I can leave without being ashamed to look others in the face the girl laughed with joy the six months she cried is it a promise well it may be seven or eight but within a year at the furthest we will leave the valley behind us it was the most that Etty could obtain and yet it was something there was this distant light to illuminate the gloom of the immediate future she returned to her father's house more light-hearted than she had ever been since Jack McMurdo had come into her life it might be thought that as a member all the doings of the society would be told to him but he was soon to discover that the organisation was wider and more complex than the simple lodge even Boss McGinty was ignorant as to many things for there was an official named the county delegate living at Hobson's patch farther down the line who had power over several different lodges which he wielded in a sudden and arbitrary way only once did McMurdo see him a sly little grey-haired rat of a man with a slinking gate and a side-long glance which was charged with malice Evans Pot was his name and even the great boss of Vermissa felt towards him something of the repulsion and fear which the huge Danton may have felt for the puny but dangerous Robespierre one day Scanlan who was McMurdo's fellow-border received a note from McGinty in closing one from Evans Pot which informed him that he was sending over two good men Lawler and Andrews who had instructions to act in the neighbourhood though it was best for the cause that no particulars as to their objects should be given would the bodymaster see to it that suitable arrangements be made for their lodgings and comfort until the time for action should arrive McGinty added that it was important McGinty added that it was impossible for anyone to remain secret at the Union House and that therefore he would be obliged if McMurdo and Scanlan would put the strangers up for a few days in their boarding-house The same evening the two men arrived each carrying his gripsack Lawler was an elderly man shrewd, silent and self-contained clad in an old black frock-coat Rich with his soft felt hat and ragged grizzled beard gave him a general resemblance to an itinerant preacher His companion Andrews was little more than a boy frank-faced and cheerful with the breezy manner of one who is out for a holiday and means to enjoy every minute of it Both men were total abstainers and behaved in all ways as exemplary members of the society with the one simple exception They were assassins who had often proved themselves to be most capable instruments for this association of murder Lawler had already carried out fourteen commissions of the kind and Andrews three They were, as McMurdo found quite ready to converse about their deeds in the past which they recounted with half-bashful pride of men who had done good and unselfish service for the community They were reticent, however as to the immediate job in hand They chose us because neither I nor the boy here drink, Lawler explained They can count on us saying no more than we should You must not take it amiss but it is the orders of the county delegate that we obey Sure, we are all in it together said Scanlon, McMurdo's mate as the four sat together at supper That's true enough and we'll talk till the end of the killing of Charlie Williams or of Simon Bird or any other job in the past but till the work is done we say nothing There are half-dozen about here that I have a word to say to said McMurdo with an oath I suppose it isn't Jack Knox of Ironhild that you're after I'd go some way to see him get his desserts No, it's not him yet or Herman Strauss No, nor him either Well, if you won't tell us we can't make you but I'd be glad to know Lawler smiled and shook his head He was not to be drawn In spite of the reticence of their guests Scanlon and McMurdo were quite determined to be present at what they called the fun When therefore at an early hour one morning McMurdo heard them creeping down He awakened Scanlon and the two hurried on their clothes When they were dressed they found that the others had stolen out leaving the door open behind them It was not yet dawn and by the light of the lamps they could see the two men some distance down the street They followed them warily treading noiselessly in the deep snow The boarding-house was near the edge of the town and soon they were at the crossroads which is beyond its boundary Here three men were waiting with whom Lawler and Andrews held a short, eager conversation Then they all moved on together It was clearly some notable job which needed numbers At this point there are several trails which lead to various mines The strangers took that which led to the Crow Hill A huge business which was in strong hands which had been able thanks to their energetic and fearless New England manager Josiah H. Dunn to keep some order and discipline during the long reign of terror Day was breaking now and a line of workmen were slowly making their way singly and in groups along the blackened path McMurdo and Scanlon strolled on with the others keeping in sight of the men whom they followed A thick mist lay over them and from the heart of it there came the sudden scream of a steam whistle It was the ten minute signal before the cages descended and the day's labour began When they reached the open space around the mineshaft there were a hundred miners waiting stamping their feet and blowing on their fingers for it was bitterly cold The strangers stood in a little group under the shadow of the engine house Scanlon and McMurdo climbed a heap of slag from which the whole scene lay before them They saw the mine engineer a great bearded Scotchman named Menzies come out of the engine house and blow his whistle for the cages to be lowered At the same instant a tall, loose-framed young man with a clean shaved, earnest face advanced eagerly towards the pithead As he came forward his eyes fell upon the group silent and motionless under the engine house The men had drawn down their hats and turned up their collars to screen their faces For a moment the presentiment of death laid its cold hand upon the manager's heart At the next he had shaken it off and saw only his duty towards intrusive strangers Who are you? he asked as he advanced What are you loitering there for? There was no answer but the lad Andrews stepped forward and shot him in the stomach The hundred waiting miners stood as motionless and helpless as if they were paralyzed The manager clapped his two hands to the wound and doubled himself up Then he staggered away but another of the assassins fired and he went down sideways kicking and clawing among a heap of clinkers Menzies, the Scotchman gave a roar of rage at the site and rushed with an iron spanner at the murderers but was met by two balls in the face which dropped him dead at their very feet There was a surge forward of some of the miners and an inarticulate cry of pity and of anger but a couple of the strangers emptied their six shooters over the heads of the crowd and they broke and scattered some of them rushing wildly back to their homes in Vermissa When a few of the bravest had rallied and there was a return to the mine the murderous gang had vanished in the mists of the morning without a single witness being able to swear to the identity of these men who in front of a hundred spectators had wrought this double crime Scanlan and McMurdo made their way back Scanlan somewhat subdued for it was the first murder job that he had seen with his own eyes and it appeared less funny than he had been led to believe The horrible screams of the dead manager's wife pursued them as they hurried to the town McMurdo was absorbed and silent but he showed no sympathy for the weakening of his companion Sure it is like a war he repeated What is it but a war between us and them and we hit back where we best can There was high revel in the lodge room at the Union House that night not only over the killing of the manager of the Crow Hill Mine which would bring this organization into line with the other blackmailed and terror-stricken companies of the district but also over a distant triumph which had been wrought by the hands of the lodge itself It would appear that when the county delegate had sent over five good men to strike a blow in Vermissa he had demanded that in return three Vermissa men should be secretly selected and sent across to kill William Hales of Stake Royal one of the best known and most popular mine owners in the Gilmerton district a man who was believed not to have an enemy in the world for he was in all ways a model employer he had insisted however upon efficiency in the work and had therefore paid off certain drunken and idle employees who were members of the all-powerful society coffin notices hung outside his door had not weakened his resolution and so in a free civilized country he found himself condemned to death the execution had now been duly carried out Ted Baldwin who sprawled now in the seat of honour beside the body-master had been chief of the party his flushed face and glazed bloodshot eyes told of the sleeplessness and drink he and his two comrades before among the mountains they were unkempt and weather-stained but no heroes returning from a forlorn hope could have had a warmer welcome from their comrades the story was told and retold amid cries of delight and shouts of laughter they had waited for their man as he drove home at nightfall taking their station at the top of a steep hill where his horse must be at a walk he was so furred to keep out the cold that he could not lay his hand on his pistol they had pulled him out and shot him again and again he had screamed for mercy the screams were repeated for the amusement of the lodge let's hear again how he squealed they cried none of them knew the man but there is eternal drama in a killing and they had shown the scourers of Gilmourton that the vermissa men were to be relied upon there had been one contra-tom for a man and his wife had driven up while they were still emptying their revolvers into the silent body it had been suggested that they should shoot them both but they were harmless folk who were not connected with the mines so they were sternly bidden to drive on and keep silent lest a worse thing befall them and so the blood-mottled figure had been left as a warning to all such hard-hearted employers and the three noble avengers had hurried off into the mountains where unbroken nature comes down to the very edge of the furnaces and the slag-heaps here they were safe and sound their work well done and the plaudits of their companions in their ears it had been a great day for the scourers the shadow had fallen even darker over the valley but as the wise general chooses the moment of victory in which to redouble his efforts so that his foes may have no time to steady themselves after disaster so Boss McGinty looking out upon the scene of his operations with his brooding and malicious eyes had devised a new attack upon those who opposed him that very night as the half-drunken company broke up he touched McMurdo on the arm and let him aside into that inner room where they had their first interview see here my lad said he I've got a job that's worthy of you at last you'll have the doing of it in your own hands proud I am to hear it McMurdo answered you can take two men with you Manders and Riley they have been warned for service we'll never be right in this district until Chester Wilcox has been settled and you'll have the thanks of every lodge in the coal fields if you can down him I'll do my best anyhow who is he and where shall I find him McGinty took his eternal half-chewed half-smoked cigar from the corner of his mouth and proceeded to draw a rough diagram on a page torn from his notebook he's the chief foreman of the iron-dike company he's a hard citizen an old color sergeant of the war all scars and gristle we've had two tries at him but had no luck and Jim Conaway lost his life over it now it's for you to take it over that's the house all alone at the iron-dike crossroad same as you see here on the map without another within earshot it's no good by day he's armed and shoots quick and straight with no questions asked but at night well here he is with his wife three children at a hired help you can't pick or choose it's all or none if you could get a bag of blasting powder at the front door with a slow match to it what's the man done didn't I tell you he shot Jim Conaway why did he shoot him what in thunder is that to do with you Conaway was about his house at night and he shot him that's enough for me and you to settle the thing right there's these two women and the children do they go up to they have to else how can we get him it seems hard on them but they've done nothing what sort of fools talk is this do you back out easy counselor easy what have I ever said or done that you should think I would be after standing back from an order of the bodymaster of my own lodge if it's right or if it's wrong it's for you to decide you'll do it then of course I'll do it when well you had best give me a night or two that I may see the house and make my plans then very good said McGinty shaking him by the hand I leave it with you it'll be a great day when you bring us the news it's just a last stroke that'll bring them all to their knees McMurdo thought long and deeply over the commission which had been so suddenly placed in his hands the isolated house in which Chester Wilcox lived was about five miles off in an adjacent valley that very night he started off all alone to prepare for the attempt it was daylight before he returned from his reconnaissance next day he interviewed his two subordinates Manders and Riley reckless youngsters who were as elated as if it were a deer hunt two nights later they met outside the town all three armed and one of them carrying a sack stuffed with the powder which was used in the quarries it was two in the morning before they came to the lonely house the night was a windy one with broken clouds drifting swiftl