The Bradys' Chinese Clew: or, The Secret Dens of Pell Street

Unhitching the boat, Ed pulled to the standing ladder.

Securing the boat here he climbed upon the pier.

The boy, after some further hesitation, descended to the boat again and undressed.

At last having located his seventh pile, Ed took a dive and swam towards it.

Springing up he dove and swam near to the bottom, where he began his search.

It was soon rewarded.

The other box was where he had left it but it had taken longer to locate it than he expected, and it was necessary now to ascend to the surface again.

The boat was where he had left it and Ed swam to it and climbed in.

That he was far from being master of himself even yet was certain.

But he knew enough to stick to his purpose and presently he made another dive and went down again.

And this time he easily secured the other case.

As his head came above the surface of the water Ed saw something which made his heart stand still.

Two Chinamen were peering down over the stringpiece.

They certainly saw him but they instantly pulled back out of sight.

"The same outfit," thought Ed. "They have captured Tom Quee, that's what. Now I am in the soup."

He dropped under the water, thankful that he had not allowed the hand which held the case to come into view.

Swimming under water to the standing ladder he hastily attached the rope, which still remained fastened to the case, to one of the submerged rungs.

Again Ed came to the surface and all breathless from his exertions, climbed into the boat.

And now again the boy ventured to look up, but he could see nothing of the two Chinamen.

"They are on the job all right though," thought Ed, "and they are watching me now. What on earth shall I do?"

It was indeed a problem.

Sitting quiet for a few minutes, Ed began to dress.

He had no sooner got the undershirt on which Tom Quee had provided for him than the two Chinks appeared at the top of the standing ladder.

"Hello, boy!" called one. "You gettee dlat blox?"

It was Dock Hing all right and he held a big revolver in his hand.

Ed was in despair.

"You again!" he gasped.

"Yair! Me comee 'gain," chuckled Dock Hing, and he came down the ladder, his companion holding Ed covered while Hing descended.

The other came down after him.

Ed was a prisoner once more.

"You gettee blox?" demanded Dock Hing.

"Whatever happens, you shan't get it," thought Ed, and so he denied it.

"You lie," said Dock Hing. "You go dlown into water twice. Me see you. Me tlink you gettee blox."

"No!" persisted Ed. "There is no box."

The Chinaman laughed softly.

"Allee light," he said. "Dlen you dlive again and again and again till you gettee blox, see?"

"It's no use," declared Ed. "There is no box, I tell you. I've looked and I can't find it."

They did not mention Tom Quee. They never asked him how he came to be there.

All they seemed interested in was the box. "You dive again," ordered Dock Hing. "Come now, you be good boy and we give you money so we find money in blox, see?"

He ordered Ed to take off his shirt and make another dive.

There was no help for it.

"This time I'll give them the slip," thought Ed, and as he dove he swam away under the pier, coming up on the other side.

But the wily Chinks were too many for the boy.

As he rose to the surface a voice called, and looking up he saw Dock Hing grinning down over the stringpiece.

"Go back!" cried the Chinaman. "Go back or me shootee you. Go back, you little flaud."

They were everywhere.

Ed was in despair.

Yielding to the inevitable he turned and swam back under the pier.

CHAPTER XII

CONCLUSION

Old King Brady thought that Harry was dead.

They carried him out of the secret door only with the greatest difficulty.

The worst was when it came to getting Harry up the narrow stairs, but even this was managed and they landed him in the ambulance at last.

The young doctor in charge lent them little encouragement.

"He is certainly gone, Mr. Brady," he said as he looked Harry over. "I wish I could hold out more hope to you, but I can't."

Alice, who was in the ambulance, suddenly turned to the old detective and said:

"Really, Mr. Brady, it is useless to take Harry to the hospital. If he is not dead now he will die before he gets there. The only possible chance to save him is to get a Chinese doctor."

"Nonsense!" mused the ambulance surgeon. "What do Chinese doctors know? They are the worst kind of quacks."

"Why, no."

"Don't be in such a hurry to pronounce on what you don't understand. Alice, your suggestion is a good one. Doctor, we will take my partner to No. – Chatham Square."

The place to which Old King Brady prepared to take Harry was Quong Lee's opium joint.

This is located in a basement on Chatham Square.

Quong Lee, who is a man advanced in years, reckons himself a particular friend of the old detective.

Alice went in first and saw Quong Lee, coming out with word that they were to bring Harry right in.

"I am going for the doctor," she said. "He has given me the address."

She hurried away, leaving Old King Brady to assist in carrying Harry down the stone steps.

Quong Lee was on hand at the foot. "Bling him to my loom," he said and he led the way.

And once again poor Harry had to be dragged up a flight of narrow stairs.

When they got him on Quong Lee's bed and loosened up his clothes the old divekeeper made a personal examination.

"What do you think, Quong?" demanded Old King Brady when at last he pulled away.

"Him velly bad," was the reply. "Me muchee flaid, Blady."

"You consider him dead?"

Quong Lee nodded.

It was despairing, but as the old detective had already come to the same conclusion he said nothing and at last the Chinese doctor came.

Instead of being the old man they had expected to see, he was quite a youthful looking proposition.

Moreover, he wore American clothes and spoke perfect English.

His name was High Lung, he informed Old King Brady.

"There's your patient, Doctor," said the old detective. "He has been drugged by some of your people. To me he seems dead. Save him if you can and I'll write you a check for a thousand dollars."

High Lung made no answer but proceeded to examine Harry.

He took a long time about it, too. Old King Brady began to think he never would let up.

At last Dr. High Lung pulled away.

"He is not dead," he said, quietly. "I can save him."

"Good!" cried Old King Brady. "Go ahead."

High Lung then ordered Alice from the room and Harry was stripped.

The Chinese doctor's treatment certainly was peculiar at the start.

He climbed in the bed and lay down flat on top of Harry, breathing in his mouth and at the same time kneading his back with his hands.

The ambulance surgeon looked on with no attempt to conceal his disgust.

At last the Chinaman got off the bed and began opening a bag which he had brought along.

"Examine him now, Doctor," he said.

The surgeon did so.

"Upon my word it is a fact that he is breathing," he admitted. "I wouldn't have believed it."

The Chinese doctor then produced just such another box and vial as the old detective had seen the Chinamen handling in the secret den.

Calling for a cup he put into it a portion of a grayish powder out of the box and poured a bright blue liquid upon it out of the vial.

The mixture immediately foamed up.

"Doctor, do you know the drug which has been used on my partner?" asked Old King Brady.

"Perfectly well," replied the doctor.

"Does it act on the heart?" demanded the surgeon.

"Both on the heart and lungs," was the reply, and this was all they could get out of High Lung, who now proceeded to administer the mixture to Harry.

It promptly did its work. Within ten minutes Young King Brady opened his eyes.

"Oh! I have had such queer dreams!" he muttered.

"Dream some more," said High Lung; and taking Old King Brady aside he said:

"They gave him an overdose. He was almost gone. He must not be moved out of here under two days. I shall want to see him twice again."

"The case is yours," said Old King Brady. "I shall stay right here with him."

But he did not.

Harry here spoke again.

"Governor," he said, "you want to get right up to that pier. Never mind me. I dreamed that I saw you there and that you got – you know what. Go now."

And Harry was so earnest about it that Old King Brady went, leaving him in charge of Alice and Quong Lee.

It was well towards midnight before Old King Brady again found himself approaching the old fertilizer factory.

He was not alone.

Feeling that he might need help he confided the details of his case to Wardman Connors and took him along.

"I don't see a soul," remarked Connors as they approached the pier. "I am afraid it is all Harry's imagination."

They started down the pier and had gone but a short distance before they made a discovery.

It was a Chinaman lying gagged and bound upon the pier.

"Why, I know this Chink!" exclaimed Connors. "He is a notorious Pell street highbinder. Name is Tom Quee."

The imprisoned Chinaman was regarding him with a disgusted stare.

They set him free at once and Connors started to question him.

"Know Dock Hing?" said Tom Quee. "Well, he did it. He's hanging around here somewhere in a boat along with another fellow."

"Why?" demanded Old King Brady.

"I don't know," retorted Tom Quee. "We had a quarrel – that's all."

They started across the pier thinking that Tom Quee would follow them.

Suddenly they heard the patter of feet and looking back saw the Chinaman on the run.

They went on the stringpiece then, making as little noise as possible.

Looking down they saw a boat at some distance ahead in which sat two Chinamen.

They were looking down into the water.

"Sure enough they are the men now!" muttered Old King Brady. "Connors, these are the ones we want. Upon my soul I believe that boy is diving for them now."

He was right.

At the same moment up came Ed out of the water.

He was empty-handed.

One of the Chinamen seized an oar and would have struck at him but Old King Brady raised a shout.

The Chinamen looking up and seeing the detectives, instantly pulled their boat in under the pier.

"That you, Ed Butler?" cried Old King Brady, hurrying forward. "Oh, Mr. Brady! I'm so thankful you have come!" Ed cried. "I've had such a time of it since I parted with you."

"There go the Chinks!" exclaimed Connors, pointing to the boat which was pulling away from the pier.

"I found two metal cases down there. One last night those Chinamen opened. There was nothing in it but a lot of papers," said Ed.

"And the other?"

"That I got to-night, and oh, Mr. Brady, I have had the time of my life to keep it out of the hands of those Chinamen."

"But where is it now?" demanded the old detective impatiently.

"I tied it to the lowest rung of that ladder under the water," said Ed.

"Go for it!" cried the old detective. "Don't keep us any longer in suspense."

Ed instantly took a header into the water.

Ed's head came popping up in a minute.

He raised a hand out of the water and it held a square tin case, with a rope attached.

"It's the duplicate of the one I fetched up last night," he said. "I don't know what's in it, I'm sure."

"Bring it up here and we'll soon find out," called Old King Brady.

Ed came up with his prize, but it was not so easy settling the all important question after all.

Old King Brady had all kinds of trouble opening the thing, but at last the lid was pried back, and sure enough money was revealed.

It proved to be the Albany pension money and the Government got it.

Old King Brady saw to it that Ed came in for a share of the reward. The boy went back to Albany but his mother and Ethel failed to return. The last Ed heard of them they were in San Francisco, where the misguided girl had married another Chinaman.

Harry was under the weather for a week but he entirely recovered and wants nothing more to do with the secret dens of Pell street.

And thus the case was rushed to a successful finish the night following up the Brady's Chinese Clew.

THE END