arrested; many of them have been sent to prison; some of them have gone up for long terms; we have proved the cases of robberies against them often enough—but the point is, that the robberies have gone merrily on afterward, just the same."
"Go on," said the detective, nodding his head.
"Eight separate times we have had, as we supposed, Hobo Harry himself in our clutches. Each of those eight separate times the prisoner who was supposed to be Hobo Harry has confessed that he was that individual, and——"
"And so you have arrested eight Hobo Harrys, eh?"
"That is about the size of it. But the point is——"
"The point is that not one of the eight was really Hobo Harry."
"Exactly."
"Very good. Go ahead with your story."
"In each case, after the arrest, as we supposed, of Hobo Harry himself, the robberies and thefts along the line have received an impetus; they have increased in number, and in volume—and also in seriousness. These yeggmen do not confine themselves to breaking into freight cars and stations along the line of the road. They burglarize post offices, and even country banks. They pillage houses. They turn their hands and their talents to anything and everything where there is hope of reward for them. The thing has got beyond endurance."
"Well?"
"We want you, Carter, to find Hobo Harry himself—if you can."
"Well?"
"The matter was discussed thoroughly at a meeting of our board of directors yesterday, and it was determined at that meeting that if you could find Hobo Harry and arrest him, and, having arrested him, could convict him and send him to prison, and, having done that, could prove to our entire satisfaction that the man is Hobo Harry, your reward will be fifty thousand dollars, spot cash. Only, you must understand, we must be certain that your man is the real article."
"Hobo Harry, the King of the Beggars, eh?"
"Yes. Beggars, you know, is supposed to be the name of their organization."
The detective nodded.
"Will you take the case, Carter?"
"I suppose so—if there isn't a time limit set upon it."
"You may take your own time; that is, of course, if it is not too long."
"It will require some time to do the thing thoroughly."
"I suppose so. Well, have it your own way; only succeed. That is all the railroad people desire—success."
"I will get your man; only I won't promise to do it in a day, or a week, or a month. I won't set a time."
"All right. You shall be your own master in the case."
"I will have to be that—absolutely. After I leave this office, when my interview with you is finished, you will not see me again until I have got Hobo Harry in my clutches. You will not communicate with me, or attempt to do so, and I will not communicate with you."
"That is a little hard, isn't it, Carter? We would like to know, from time to time, how you are getting on, and what you are doing."
"That is precisely what you will not do."
"All right. Have it your own way. But what about the other men that are now on the case, Carter?"
"Leave them on it. Add more of them. Appear to increase your vigilance in other quarters. If there are fifty detectives on the case now, add fifty more if you wish. I would prefer that you should do so rather than not. The more the better."
"But suppose that one of them should nab the real Hobo Harry while you are seeking him. You would lose the reward."
"I will take my chances about that. The point is that I must work absolutely independent of all others who are on the case, and that nobody outside of yourself and the board of directors of your company must know that my services have been called into the matter. Will you agree to that?"
"Certainly."
"Increase your vigilance on every side, if you can. If you do so, you will assist me."
"I suppose," said the president slowly, "that it is your plan to become a yeggman yourself, in pursuing this case."
"It does not matter how I may accomplish it, does it?"
"No; I was merely going to say that that very thing has been tried four separate times; once with more or less success. But I ought to warn you that two of the four who attempted it lost their lives; a third is a cripple for life, minus a leg; and only the fourth, who ended by arresting the wrong man, after all, had any degree of success. And now he is frightened almost into imbecility, for his life has been sworn away by the yeggmen, and he expects to be murdered every time he goes out alone."
"All the same," said the detective, "that will not deter me."
"You will want money for your expenses, Carter. If you will tell me how much——"
"I will present my bill of expenses along with my demand for the fifty thousand dollars reward," the detective interrupted quietly.
By more closely questioning the president of the railroad, Nick learned that the depredations and robberies committed by Hobo Harry's gang had been remarkable in their extent and thoroughness; and that every effort to break up the gang had been in vain.
Whenever one of the yeggmen was arrested and sent to prison, two new ones, even more proficient in their thievery, seemed ready to spring up in his place; and so the thing had gone on and on until the people who had been robbed so often became desperate.
And then it was determined to call Nick Carter into the case.
Of Hobo Harry himself, nothing whatever was known beyond the fact that there was such a character, and that he was the head and front of the hobo gang—their chief, to whom absolute and implicit obedience was accorded. His power over them seemed absolute.
Whether it was because of fear of him, or for love of him, it was, nevertheless, true that not one of the fraternity of hoboes who had been arrested could be prevailed upon to betray the master. Neither threats nor offers of bribery had any effect upon them.
Hobo Harry remained as entirely in the dark as ever; and even in the cases of the eight men to whom the president of the railroad had referred as having confessed that each of them was Hobo Harry himself—they had each seemed to get a queer sort of enjoyment in posing, even for a time, as their dreaded chief.
As the president explained to Nick, there were many among the detectives who had been detailed upon the case who insisted that there was no such person as Hobo Harry. It was their belief that the name was merely a fictitious one, to which the hoboes, one and all, had agreed to give obedience.
But the president of the railroad did not believe this; neither did the detective. The completeness of the organization of the gang was a sufficient negative to such a statement. To have a perfect organization there must be a chief; a head; a ruling power.
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