Children of the Whirlwind [110]
toward Larry, when he was trying to balk them by making you give up the plan?"
"They hated him. They are the cause--especially Barney--of all of Larry's trouble with the police and with the old crowd he's quit. To try to clear Larry, that's the most important thing I'm going to try to do."
"And that's where you've got to let me help you!" Dick cried with sudden energy. "Larry's been a mighty good friend to me--he's tried to head me right--and I owe him a lot. And I'd like a chance to show that Barney Palmer I'm not going to keep on being the eternal fool he sized me up to be!"
Maggie was startled by this swift transformation. "Why--why, Dick!" she breathed.
"What's your plan to clear Larry?"
"I hadn't got so far as to have a clear plan. I had only just realized that there had to be a plan. But since they have set the police on Larry, it came to me that the idea behind any plan would be for the police to really capture Barney and Jimmie Carlisle--get them out of Larry's way."
"That's it!" Dick Sherwood had a mind which, given an interesting stimulus, could work swiftly; and it worked swiftly now. "They were planning to trim me. Let's use that plan you outlined to me--use it to-night. You can tell them some story which will make immediate action seem necessary and we'll all get together this evening. I'll play my part all right--don't you worry about me! I'll come with a roll of money that I'll dig up somewhere, and it'll be marked money. When it's passed--bingo!--a couple of detectives that we'll have planted to watch the proceedings will step right up and nab the two!"
She was taken aback by the very idea of him, the victim, after her confession, throwing his lot in with her. "Why, Dick"--she stammered-- "to think of you offering to do such a thing!"
"I owe that much to Larry Brainard," he declared. "And--and I owe that much to your desire to help set him straight. Well, what about my plan?"
Since he seemed eager to lend himself to it, it seemed to her altogether wonderful, and she told him so. They discussed details for several minutes, for there was much to be done and it had all to be done most adroitly. It was agreed that he should come at ten o'clock, when the stage would all be set.
As he was leaving to attend to his part of the play, a precautionary idea flashed upon Maggie.
"Better telephone me just before you come. Something may have happened to change our plans."
"All right--I'll telephone. Just keep your nerve."
With that he hurried out. At about the time he left, Larry was leaving Cedar Crest in handcuffs beside the burly and triumphant Gavegan, and believing that the power he had sought to exercise was now effectually at an end. He was out of it. In his despondency it was not granted him to see that the greatest thing which he could do was already done; that he had set in motion all the machinery of what had taken place and what was about to take place; that all the figures in the action of the further drama of that night were to act as they were to do primarily because of promptings which came from him.
CHAPTER XXXIII
Dick's departure left Maggie to think alone upon an intricate and possibly dangerous interplay of characters in which she had cast herself for the chief role, which might prove a sacrificial role for her. She quickly perceived that Dick's plan, clever as it might be, would bring about, in the dubious event of its success, only one of the several happenings which had to come to pass if she were to clear her slate before her disappearance.
Dick's plan was good; but it would only get rid of Barney and Old Jimmie. It would only rid Larry of such danger as they represented; it would only be revenge upon them for the evil they had done. And, after all, revenge helped a man forward but very little. There would still remain, even in the event of the success of Dick's plan, the constant danger to Larry from the police hunt, instigated by Chief Barlow's vindictive determination to send Larry back to prison for his refusal to be a stool-pigeon; and
"They hated him. They are the cause--especially Barney--of all of Larry's trouble with the police and with the old crowd he's quit. To try to clear Larry, that's the most important thing I'm going to try to do."
"And that's where you've got to let me help you!" Dick cried with sudden energy. "Larry's been a mighty good friend to me--he's tried to head me right--and I owe him a lot. And I'd like a chance to show that Barney Palmer I'm not going to keep on being the eternal fool he sized me up to be!"
Maggie was startled by this swift transformation. "Why--why, Dick!" she breathed.
"What's your plan to clear Larry?"
"I hadn't got so far as to have a clear plan. I had only just realized that there had to be a plan. But since they have set the police on Larry, it came to me that the idea behind any plan would be for the police to really capture Barney and Jimmie Carlisle--get them out of Larry's way."
"That's it!" Dick Sherwood had a mind which, given an interesting stimulus, could work swiftly; and it worked swiftly now. "They were planning to trim me. Let's use that plan you outlined to me--use it to-night. You can tell them some story which will make immediate action seem necessary and we'll all get together this evening. I'll play my part all right--don't you worry about me! I'll come with a roll of money that I'll dig up somewhere, and it'll be marked money. When it's passed--bingo!--a couple of detectives that we'll have planted to watch the proceedings will step right up and nab the two!"
She was taken aback by the very idea of him, the victim, after her confession, throwing his lot in with her. "Why, Dick"--she stammered-- "to think of you offering to do such a thing!"
"I owe that much to Larry Brainard," he declared. "And--and I owe that much to your desire to help set him straight. Well, what about my plan?"
Since he seemed eager to lend himself to it, it seemed to her altogether wonderful, and she told him so. They discussed details for several minutes, for there was much to be done and it had all to be done most adroitly. It was agreed that he should come at ten o'clock, when the stage would all be set.
As he was leaving to attend to his part of the play, a precautionary idea flashed upon Maggie.
"Better telephone me just before you come. Something may have happened to change our plans."
"All right--I'll telephone. Just keep your nerve."
With that he hurried out. At about the time he left, Larry was leaving Cedar Crest in handcuffs beside the burly and triumphant Gavegan, and believing that the power he had sought to exercise was now effectually at an end. He was out of it. In his despondency it was not granted him to see that the greatest thing which he could do was already done; that he had set in motion all the machinery of what had taken place and what was about to take place; that all the figures in the action of the further drama of that night were to act as they were to do primarily because of promptings which came from him.
CHAPTER XXXIII
Dick's departure left Maggie to think alone upon an intricate and possibly dangerous interplay of characters in which she had cast herself for the chief role, which might prove a sacrificial role for her. She quickly perceived that Dick's plan, clever as it might be, would bring about, in the dubious event of its success, only one of the several happenings which had to come to pass if she were to clear her slate before her disappearance.
Dick's plan was good; but it would only get rid of Barney and Old Jimmie. It would only rid Larry of such danger as they represented; it would only be revenge upon them for the evil they had done. And, after all, revenge helped a man forward but very little. There would still remain, even in the event of the success of Dick's plan, the constant danger to Larry from the police hunt, instigated by Chief Barlow's vindictive determination to send Larry back to prison for his refusal to be a stool-pigeon; and