the trio went on with their preparations to leave the asylum.

old king brady was powerless to prevent it.

moreover, he had all he could do now to keep out of sight and assure his own safety.

it was long past midnight.

what had become of harry?

it seemed full time for him to return. yet he did not come.

old king brady knew that it would require some time to arouse the neighbors and organize a relief band.

but yet, it would seem that this had already ought to have been accomplished.

old king brady grew nervous.

he was half tempted to essay the conflict single handed. but he knew that it could only result in failure.

so he tried to remain patient and hopeful. the trio were now all ready to leave the asylum.

yet harry did not return.

a fear came to the old detective that some mishap might have overtaken the young detective.

the three crooks now took their leave. old king brady felt the hands of his watch.

it was two o’clock.

he heard the crooks leave by way of the big front door. he did not dare to follow them.

but he was consoled with one reflection.

it might not be difficult to overtake them when harry should arrive, for the trio had no snowshoes and must leave a plain trail.

so the old detective was patient.

it was half-past three before the long-looked-for summons came. the dogs were confined, so they gave no warning.

but there came a loud knock on the door.

scraggs, who had retired to sleep, scrambled out of bed and thrust his head out of a window.

“who is it?” he asked. “and what do you want?”

“it’s yer neighbor,” said the voice of paine, the farmer. “come down, scraggs, we want to see ye!”

“what do you want?” demanded the asylum keeper.

“you’ll find out when you git down hyar.”

“well, i’m not to be aroused from my bed at this hour of the night,” replied scraggs, angrily. “if you want to see me, come around in the daytime.”

“we want to see ye now,” insisted paine.

“well, you won’t see me!” replied scraggs, hotly. “get off my premises or i’ll fire on you!”

“no, ye won’t!” gritted the angry farmer. “ye’ve run your rig hyar, scraggs. we air goin’ to run you out of this kentry. if ye don’t come down we’ll come up after ye!”

“curse you! what does this mean?”

“come down!”

scraggs closed the window and then went down to the door. he met john paine backed by a score of armed men.

these pushed by scraggs and entered the asylum.

they instantly took possession of the place.

harry brady was foremost and gave directions what to do.

scraggs was stunned.

“look here!” he cried. “this is an outrage. i’m a peaceable, law-abiding citizen, and——”

“oh, come off!” cried one of the invaders. “you’re a swindling old hypocrite, you are!”

“where are those crooks who came up here yesterday?” asked harry. “i mean burke, collins and van?”

scraggs looked desperate.

“i don’t know ’em!” he said.

“come now, that lie won’t save you. search the place, men! we’ll find them and——”

harry ceased talking. old king brady had appeared.

in a moment the two detectives were comparing notes.

“i reached paine’s all right,” said harry, “and the girl is safe. it took a long while to get these men together.”

“too bad!” said old king brady. “for our birds are gone!”

“gone?” gasped the young detective.

“yes.”

“where?”

“for the nearest railway station. but i think we can overtake them.”

“we must do so!” cried the young detective. “we have staked too much to lose now.”

“you are right we have. but one of our men is still here!”

25

“who?”

“napoleon blood!”

“the old scoundrel! i have the town constable with me. we will arrest him and scraggs, too.”

“very good!”

“paine will look out for miss grimm until we want to take her back to new york. everything is working all right.”

“splendid! let us then give chase to the trio at once!”

scraggs was arrested at once and easily frightened into revealing the hiding place of blood.

the latter was handcuffed and left in the care of the constable.

then the bradys organized the party to pursue the trio.

the best men in the party were selected. only those with snowshoes were taken.

then the pursuit began.

it was now almost daylight.

there was little difficulty in following the trail of the fugitives.

but as they went on the bradys were impressed with one startling fact.

the villains had made wonderfully rapid progress through the snow.

it was not so easy to overtake them.

at six o’clock it was daylight.

this brought the party to a railroad track. it was cleared of snow and far down the line a semaphore was seen.

the station was just around the curve and the bradys pushed on.

“perhaps they are in the station waiting for a train,” said harry.

“in that case,” declared old king brady, “we had better deploy and surround the place.”

this was done.

gradually the party of searchers drew in about the railway station.

they finally reached the platform.

the station agent had just come out.

he stared at them.

“what’s this?” he asked. “do you want a train?”

“we want three men who are here waiting for a train,” said old king brady. “where are they?”

“i am sorry,” replied the station agent, “but they are gone!”

“gone?”

“yes. they left on the five-forty train for boston.”

the bradys were beaten.

there was nothing left but to return to the asylum.

there was no use in wiring ahead to make the arrest in boston, for the train had reached that city long ere this.

so back to the asylum they went.

the case against scraggs was left in the hands of the local constable.

but the bradys took napoleon blood with them back to boston.

here he was delivered to state officers to await requisition papers.

then the bradys scoured boston for a clew to the trio.

meanwhile, evelyn grimm had gone back to new york in the care of friends who were bound to see her wrongs righted.

it is needless to say that a tremendous sensation was created when the facts concerning evelyn grimm’s experience were made known.

it was known now, as overheard by old king brady, that the bones found in the tenement ruins were those of the last of martin van’s innumerable wives.

he had killed her in a fit of anger and by the suggestion of napoleon blood, had arranged clews to suggest that evelyn was the victim instead.

certainly the plot had for a time worked well.

even such keen detectives as the bradys had certainly been deceived.

the case had now simmered down to one thread and this the bradys were taking up.

it consisted namely in the chase and capture of the tough trio.

a murder had certainly been committed.

it was just as necessary as ever, therefore, for the detectives to capture the trio of villains.

evelyn grimm and her rascally uncle were now entirely out of the case.

the young girl’s friends took hold of her affairs, with the assurance that much of the inheritance would be saved for her.

as for napoleon blood, he was held for trial on a number of criminal charges.

scraggs, the asylum keeper, was also jailed and his asylum closed.

the case simmered rapidly down to the problem of running down the tough trio.

or rather to the running down of the bradys by this clique of rogues.

for that they had not abandoned their purpose of assassinating the detectives was proved by the following startling message received by old king brady one day.

thus it read:

“to the bradys:

“mebbe you think you hev scared the trio. butt you will find thet death is on your track an’ you can’t escape it. an’ don’t you fergit it, either! wakin’ or sleepin’ it don’t make no diffrunce which, we are rite after you. so look out!

“thet’s all fer just now from,

the trio.”

old king brady carefully studied the post-mark on the envelope. it was mailed at station c, new york.

the bradys were assured that their birds were in the big city, so they had returned to new york.

for a week they groped blindly in vain for a clew.

then one day almost a grim accomplishment of the threat uttered by the villains occurred.

the two detectives stood on the platform of an elevated station.

26

they were waiting for an uptown train. suddenly as the train came thundering up a man with muffled features sprang out of the crowd.

with all his force he rushed against old king brady and hurled him from the station platform down in front of the train which was rushing in at the moment.