The Mardi Gras Mystery Page 5

  CHAPTER V

  _The Masquer Unmasks_

  In New Orleans one may find pensions in the old quarter--the quarterwhich is still instinct with the pulse of old-world life. These pensionsdo not advertise. The average tourist knows nothing of them. Even if heknew, indeed, he might have some difficulty in obtaining accommodations,for it is not nearly enough to have the money; one must also have theintroductions, come well recommended, and be under the tongue of goodrepute.

  Gramont had obtained a small apartment _en pension_--a quiet andseverely retired house in Burgundy Street, maintained by a very proudold lady whose ancestors had come out of Canada with the Sieurd'Iberville. Here Gramont lived with Hammond, quite on a basis ofequality, and they were very comfortable.

  The two men sat smoking their pipes before the fireplace, in whichblazed a small fire--more for good cheer than through necessity. It wasSunday evening. Between Gramont and Hammond had arisen a discussionregarding their relations--a discussion which was perhaps justified byGramont's quixotic laying down of the law.

  "It's all very well, Hammond," he mused, "to follow custom andprecedent, to present to the world a front which will not shock itsproprieties, its sense of tradition and fitness. In the world's eye youare my chauffeur. But when we're alone together--nonsense!"

  "That's all right, cap'n," said Hammond, shrewdly. To him, Gramont wasalways "cap'n" and nothing else. "But you know's well as I do it can'tgo on forever. I'm workin' for you, and that's the size of it. I ain'tgot the education to stack up alongside of you. I don't want you to getthe notion that I'm figuring on takin' advantage of you----"

  "Bosh! I suppose some day I'll be wealthy, married, and bound in thechains of social usage and custom," said Gramont, energetically. "Butthat day isn't here yet. If you think I'll accept deference andservility from any man who has endured the same hunger and cold andwounds that I endured in France--then guess again! We're friends in ademocracy of Americans. You're just as good a man as I am, and viceversa. Besides, aren't we fellow criminals?"

  Hammond grinned at this. There was no lack of shrewd intelligence in hisbroad and powerful features, which were crowned by a rim of reddishhair.

  "All that line o' bull sounds good, cap'n, only it's away off," hereturned. "Trouble with you is, you ain't forgot the war yet."

  "I never will," said Gramont, his face darkening.

  "Sure you will! We all will. And you ain't as used to this country as Iam, either. I've seen too much of it. You ain't seen enough."

  "I've seen enough to know that it's my country."

  "Right. But I ain't as good a man as you are, not by a long shot!" saidHammond, cheerfully. "You proved that the night you caught me comin'into the window at the Lavergne house. You licked me without halftryin', cap'n!

  "Anyhow," pursued Hammond, "America ain't a democracy, unless you'rerunnin' for Congress. It sounds good to the farmers, but wait tillyou've been here long enough to get out of your fine notions! Limousinesand money ain't got much use for democracy. The men who have brains,like you, always will give orders, I reckon."

  "Bosh!" said Gramont again. "It isn't a question of having brains. It'sa question of knowing what to do with them. All men are born free andequal----"

  "Not much!" retorted the other with conviction. "All men were born free,but mighty few were born equal, cap'n. That sort o' talk sounds good inthe newspapers, but it don't go very far with the guy at the bottom, northe top, either!"

  Gramont stared into the flickering fire and sucked at his pipe. Herealized that in a sense Hammond was quite correct in his argument;nonetheless, he looked on the other man as a comrade, and always woulddo so. It was true that he had not forgotten the war. Suddenly he rousedhimself and shot a glance at Hammond.

  "Sergeant! You seem to have a pretty good recollection of that night atthe Lavergne house, when I found you entering and jumped on you."

  "You bet I have!" Hammond chuckled. "When you'd knocked the goggles offme and we recognized each other--hell! I felt like a boob."

  Gramont smiled. "How many places had you robbed up to then? Three,wasn't it?"

  "Three is right, cap'n," was the unashamed response.

  "We haven't referred to it very often, but now things have happened."Gramont's face took on harsh lines of determination. "Do you know, itwas a lucky thing that you had no chance to dispose of the jewels andmoney you obtained? But I suppose you didn't call it good luck at thetime."

  "No chance?" snorted the other. "No chance is right, cap'n! And I wassore, too. Say, they got a ring of crooks around this town you couldn'tbust into with grenades! I couldn't figure it out for a while, but onlythe other day I got the answer. Listen here, and I'll tell you somethingbig."

  Hammond leaned forward, lowered his voice, and tamped at his pipe.

  "When I was a young fellow I lived in a little town up North--I ain'tsayin' where. My old man had a livery stable there, see? Well, one nighta guy come along and got the old man out of bed, and slips him fifteenhundred for a rig and a team, see? I drove the guy ten miles through thehills, and set him on a road he wanted to find.

  "Now, that guy was the biggest crook in the country in them days--stillis, I guess. He was on the dead run that night, to keep out o'Leavenworth. He kep' out, all right, and he's settin' in the game tothis minute. Nobody never pinched him yet, and never will."

  Gramont's face had tensed oddly as he listened. Now he shot out a singleword:

  "Why?"

  "Because his gang runs back to politicians and rich guys all over thecountry. You ask anybody on the inside if they ever heard of MemphisIzzy Gumberts! Well, cap'n, I seen that very identical guy on the streetthe other day--I never could forget his ugly mug! And where _he_ is, nooutside crooks can get in, you believe me!"

  "Hm! Memphis Izzy Gumberts, eh? What kind of a crook is he, sergeant?"

  "The big kind. You remember them Chicago lotteries? But you don't, o'course. Well, that's his game--lotteries and such like."

  Gramont's lips clenched for a minute, then he spoke with slowdistinctness:

  "Sergeant, I'd have given five hundred dollars for that information aweek ago!"

  "Why?" Hammond stared at him suddenly. Gramont shook his head.

  "Never mind. Forget it! Now, this stunt of yours was clever. You showedbrains when you got yourself up as an aviator and pulled that stuff,sergeant. But you handled it brutally--terribly brutally."

  "It was a little raw, I guess," conceded Hammond. "I was up against it,that's all--I figured they'd pinch me sooner or later, but I didn'tcare, and that's the truth! I was out for the coin.

  "When you took over the costume and began to get across with the Rafflesstuff--why, it was a pipe for you, cap'n! Look what we've done in amonth. Six jobs, every one running off smooth as glass! Your notion ofgoing to parties ready dressed with some kind of loose robe over theflyin' duds was a scream! And then me running that motor with the cutouton--all them birds that never heard an airplane think you come and go byair, for certain! I will say that I ain't on to why you're doing it;just the same, you've got them all fooled, and I ain't worried aparticle about the cops or the crooks, either one. But watch out for theGumberts crowd! They're liable to show us up to the bulls, simplybecause we ain't in with 'em. Nobody else will ever find us out."

  Gramont nodded thoughtfully.

  "Yes? But, sergeant, how about the quiet little man who came along lastnight at the Maillard house and asked about the car? Perhaps he haddiscovered you had been running the engine."

  "Him?" Hammond sniffed in scorn. "He wasn't no dick."

  "Well, I was followed to-day; at least, I think I was. I could spotnobody after me, but I felt certain of it. And let me tell you somethingabout that same quiet little man! His name is Jachin Fell."

  "Heluva name," commented Hammond, and wrinkled up his brow. "Jachin,huh? Seems like I've heard the name before. Out o' the Bible, ain't it?Something about Jachin and Boaz?"

 
"I imagine so." Gramont smiled as he replied. "Fell is a lawyer, but henever practises law. He's rich, he's a very fine chess player--andprobably the smartest man in New Orleans, sergeant. Just what he does Idon't know; no one does. I imagine that he's one of those quiet men whostay in the backgrounds of city politics and pull the strings. You know,one administration has been in power here for nearly twenty years--it'ssomething to make a man stop and think!

  "This chap Fell is sharp, confoundedly sharp!" went on Gramont, whilethe chauffeur listened with frowning intentness. "He's altogether toosharp to be a criminal--or I'd suspect that he was using his knowledgeof the law to beat the law. Well, I think that he is on to me, and istrying to get the goods on me."

  "Oh!" said Hammond. "And someone was trailin' you? Think he's put thebulls wise?"

  Gramont shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. He almost caught me lastnight. We'll have to get rid of that aviator's suit at once, and of theloot also. I suppose you've reconciled yourself to returning the stuff?"

  Hammond stirred uneasily, and laid down his pipe.

  "Look here, cap'n," he said, earnestly. "I wasn't runnin' a holdup gamebecause I liked it, and I wasn't doing it for the fun of the thing, likeyou are. I was dead broke, I hadn't any hope left, and I didn't care adamn whether I lived or died--that's on the dead! Right there, you comealong and picked me up.

  "You give me a job. What's more, you've treated me white, cap'n. I guessyou seen that I was just a man with the devil at his heels, and youchased the devil off. You've given me something decent to live for--tomake good because you got some faith in me! Why, when you went out onthat first job of ours, d'you know it like to broke me up? It did. Only,when we got home that night and you said it was all a joke, and you'dsend back the loot later on, then I begun to feel better about it. Evenif you'd gone into it as a reg'lar business, I'd have stuck withyou--but I was darned glad about its bein' a joke!"

  Gramont nodded in comprehension of the other's feeling.

  "It's not been altogether a joke, sergeant," he said, gravely. "To tellthe truth, I did start it as a joke, but soon afterward I learnedsomething that led me to keep it up. I kept it up until I could hit theMaillard house. It was my intention to turn up at the Comus ball, onTuesday night, and there make public restitution of the stuff--butthat's impossible now. I dare not risk it! That man Fell is too smart."

  "You're not goin' to pull the trick again, then?" queried Hammond,eagerly.

  "No. I'm through. I've got what I wanted. Still, I don't wish to returnthe stuff before Wednesday--Ash Wednesday, the end of the carnivalseason. Suppose you get out the loot and find me some boxes. And be surethey have no name on them or any store labels."

  Hammond leaped up and vanished in the room adjoining. Presently hereturned, bearing several cardboard boxes which he dumped on the centretable. Gramont examined them closely, and laid aside a number that werebest suited to his purpose. Meantime, the chauffeur was opening asteamer trunk which he pulled from under the bed.

  "I'm blamed glad you're done, believe me!" he uttered, fervently,glancing up at Gramont. "Far's I'm concerned I don't care much, but I'dsure hate to see the bulls turn in a guy like you, cap'n. You couldn'tever persuade anybody that it was all a joke, neither, once they nabbedyou. They're a bad bunch o' bulls in this town--it ain't like Chi orother places, where you can stand in right and do a bit o' fixing."

  "You seem to know the game pretty well," and Gramont smiled amusedly.

  "Ain't I been a chauffeur and garage man?" retorted Hammond, as thoughthis explained much. "If there's anything us guys don't run up against,you can't name it! Here we are. Want me to keep each bunch separate,don't you?"

  "Sure. I'll be writing some notes to go inside."

  Gramont went to a buhl writing desk in the corner of the room, and satdown. He took out his notebook, tore off several sheets, and from hispocket produced a pencil having an extremely hard lead. He wrote anumber of notes, which, except for the addresses, were identical incontent:

  DEAR SIR:

  I enclose herewith certain jewellery and articles, also currency, recently obtained by me under your kind auspices.

  I trust that you will assume the responsibility of returning these things to the various guests who lost them while under your roof. I regret any discomfort occasioned by my taking them as a loan, which I now return. Please convey to the several owners my profound esteem and my assurance that I shall not in future appear to trouble any one, the carnival season having come to an end, and with it my little jest.

  THE MIDNIGHT MASQUER.

  Gathering up these notes in his hand, Gramont went to the fireplace. Hetossed the pencil into the fire, following it with the notebook.

  "Can't take chances with that man Fell," he explained. "All ready,sergeant. Let's go down the list one by one."

  From the trunk Hammond produced ticketed packages, which he placed onthe table. Gramont selected one, opened it, carefully packed thecontents in one of the boxes, placed the proper addressed note on top,and handed it to the chauffeur.

  "Wrap it up and address it. Give the return address of John Smith, BayouTeche."

  One by one they went through the packages of loot in the same manner.Before them on the table, as they worked, glittered little heaps ofrings, brooches, watches, currency; jewels that flashed garishly withcoloured fires, historic and famous jewels plucked from the aristocraticheart of the southland, heirlooms of a past generation side by side withplatinum crudities of the present fashion.

  There had been heartburnings in the loss of these things, Gramont knew.He could picture to himself something of what had followed hisrobberies: family quarrels, new purchases in the gem marts, bitterreproaches, fresh mortgages on old heritages, vexations of wealthydowagers, shrugs of unconcern by the _nouveaux riches_; perchance livesaltered--deaths--divorces----

  "There's a lot of human life behind these baubles, sergeant," hereflected aloud, a cold smile upon his lips as he worked. "When theycome back to their owners, I'd like to be hovering around in aninvisible mantle to watch results! Could we only know it, we're probablyaffecting the lives of a great many people--for good and ill. Thesethings stand for money; and there's nothing like money, or the lack ofit, to guide the destinies of people."

  "You said it," and Hammond grinned. "I'm here to prove it, ain't I? Iain't pulling no more gunplay, now I got me a steady job."

  "And a steady friend, old man," added Gramont. "Did it occur to you thatmaybe I was as much in need of a friend as you were?"

  He had come to the last box now, that which must go to Joseph Maillard.On top of the money and scarfpins which he placed in the box he laid athin packet of papers. He tapped them with his finger.

  "Those papers, sergeant! To get them, I've been playing the whole game.To get them and not to let their owner suspect that I was after them!Now they're going back to their owner."

  "Who's he?" demanded Hammond.

  "Young Maillard--son of the banker. He roped me into an oil company;caught me, like a sucker, almost the first week I was here. I put prettynear my whole wad into that company of his."

  "You mean he stung you?"

  "Not yet." Gramont smiled coldly, harshly. "That was his intention; hethought I was a Frenchman who would fall for any sort of game. I fellright enough--but I'll come out on top of the heap."

  The other frowned. "I don't get you, cap'n. Some kind o' stock deal?"

  "Yes, and no." Gramont paused, and seemed to choose his words with care."Miss Ledanois, the lady who was driving with us this afternoon, is anold friend of mine. I've known for some time that somebody was fleecingher. I suspected that it was Maillard the elder, for he has had thehandling of her affairs for some time past. Now, however, those papershave given me the truth. He was straight enough with her; his son wasthe man.

  "The young fool imagines that by trickery and juggling he is playing thegame of high finance! He worked on his father, made h
is father sell landowned by Miss Ledanois, and he himself reaped the profits. There arenotes and stock issues among those papers that give his whole game away,to my eyes. Not legal evidence, as I had hoped, but evidence enough toshow me the truth of things--to show me that he's a scoundrel! Further,they bear on my own case, and I'm satisfied now that I'd be ruined if Istayed with him."

  "Well, that's easy settled," said Hammond. "Just hold him up with thempapers--make him come across!"

  "I'm not in that sort of business. I stole those papers, not to use themfor blackmail, but to get information. By the way, get that tin box outof my trunk, will you? I want to take my stock certificates with me inthe morning, and must not forget them."

  Hammond disappeared into the adjoining room.

  Gramont sat gazing at the boxes before him. Despite his words toHammond, there was a fund of puzzled displeasure in his eyes, sheerdissatisfaction. He shook his head gloomily, and his eyes clouded.

  "All wasted--the whole effort!" he murmured. "I thought it might lead tosomething, but all it has given me is the reward of saving myself andpossibly retrieving Lucie. As for the larger game, the biggerquarry--it's all wasted. I haven't unravelled a single thread; the firstreal clue came to me to-night, purely by accident. Memphis IzzyGumberts! That's the lead to follow! I'll get rid of this MidnightMasquer foolishness and go after the real game."

  Gramont was to discover that it is not nearly so easy to be rid of follyas it is to don the jester's cap and bells; a fact which oneSimplicissimus had discovered to his sorrow three hundred years earlier.But, as Gramont was not versed in this line of literature, he yet hadthe discovery ahead of him.

  Hammond reentered the room with the tin box, from which Gramont took hisstock certificates issued by Bob Maillard's oil company. He pocketed theshares.

  "Does this here Miss Ledanois," asked Hammond, "play in with you in thegame? Young Maillard's related to her, ain't he?"

  "She's quite aware of his drawbacks, I think," answered Gramont, drily.

  "I see." Hammond rubbed his chin, and inspected his employer with atwinkle denoting perfect comprehension. "Well, how d'you expect to comeout on top of the heap?"

  "I want to get my own money back," explained Gramont. "You see, youngMaillard thinks that he's cleaned me up fine. I've invested heavily inhis company, which has a couple of small wells already going. As Iconceive the probable scheme, this company is scheduled to fail, andanother company will take over the stock at next to nothing. Maillardwill be the other company; his present associates will be the suckers!It's that, or some similar trick. I'm no longer interested in theaffair."

  "Why not, if you got money in it?"

  "My son, to-morrow is Monday. Proteus will arrive out of the seato-morrow, and the Proteus ball comes off to-morrow night. In spite ofthese distractions, the banks are open in the morning. Savvy?

  "I'll go to Maillard the banker--Joseph Maillard--first thing in themorning, and offer him my stock. He'll be mighty glad to get it at adiscount, knowing that it is in his son's company. You see, the sondoesn't confide in the old man particularly. I'll let the father win alittle money on the deal with me, and by doing this I'll manage to savethe greater part of my investment----"

  "Holy mackerel!" Hammond exploded in a burst of laughter as he caughtthe idea. "Say, if this ain't the richest thing ever pulled! When thecrash comes, the fancy kid will be stinging his dad good and hard, eh?"

  "Exactly; and I think his dad can afford to be stung much better than Ican," agreed Gramont, cheerfully. "Also, now that I'm certain BobMaillard is the one who was behind the fleecing of Miss Ledanois, I'llfirst get clear of him, then I'll start to give him his deserts. I mayform an oil company of my own."

  "Do it," advised Hammond, still chuckling.

  "Now," and Gramont rose, "let's take those packages and stow them awayin the luggage compartment of the car. I'm getting nervous at thethought of having them around here, and they'll be perfectly safe thereovernight--safer there than here, in fact. To-morrow, you can take thecar out of town and send the packages by parcels post from some smalltown.

  "In that way they ought to be delivered here on Wednesday. You'd betterwear one of my suits, leaving your chauffeur's outfit here, and don'thalt the car in front of the postoffice where you mail the packages----"

  "I get you," assented Hammond, sagely. "I'll leave the car outside town,and hoof it in with the boxes, so that nobody will notice the car orconnect it with the packages, eh? But what about them aviator'sclothes?"

  "Take them with you--better get them wrapped up here and now. You cantoss them into a ditch anywhere."

  Hammond obeyed.

  Ten minutes afterward the two men left the room, carrying the packagesof loot and the bundle containing the aviator's uniform. They descendedto the courtyard in the rear of the house. Here was a small garden, witha fountain in its centre. Behind this were the stables, which had longbeen disused as such, and which were now occupied only by the car ofGramont.

  It was with undisguised relief that Gramont now saw the stuff actuallyout of the house. Within the last few hours he had become intenselyafraid of Jachin Fell. Concentrating himself upon the man, picking upinformation guardedly, he had that day assimilated many small itemswhich increased his sense of peril from that quarter. Straws, no more,but quite significant straws. Gramont realized clearly that if thepolice ever searched his rooms and found this loot, he would be lost.There could be no excuse that would hold water for a minute against suchevidence.

  In the garage, Hammond switched on the lights of the car. By the glowthey disposed their burdens in the luggage compartment of the tonneau,which held them neatly. The car was a large twelve-cylinder,four-passenger Nonpareil, which Gramont had picked up in the used-carmarket. Hammond had tinkered it into magnificent shape, and loved thepiece of mechanism as the very apple of his eye.

  The luggage compartment closed and locked, they returned into the houseand dismissed the affair as settled.

  Upon the following morning Gramont, who usually breakfasted _en pension_with his hostess, had barely seated himself at the table when heperceived the figure of Hammond at the rear entrance of the dining room.The chauffeur beckoned him hastily.

  "Come out here, cap'n!" Hammond was breathing heavily, and seemed to bein some agitation. "Want to show you somethin'!"

  "Is there anything important?" Gramont hesitated. The other regarded himwith a baleful countenance.

  "Important? Worse'n that!"

  Gramont rose and followed Hammond out to the garage, much to hisamazement. The chauffeur halted beside the car and extended him a key,pointing to the luggage compartment.

  "Here's the key--you open her!"

  "What's the matter, man?"

  "The stuff's gone!"

  Gramont seized the key and opened the compartment. It proved emptyindeed. He stared up into the face of Hammond who was watching in doggedsilence.

  "I knew you'd suspect me," broke out the chauffeur, but Gramontinterrupted him curtly.

  "Don't be a fool; nothing of the sort. Was the garage locked?"

  "Yes, and the compartment, too! I came out to look over that cut tire,and thought I'd make sure the stuff was safe----"

  "We're up against it, that's all." Gramont compressed his lips for amoment. Then he straightened up and clapped the other on the shoulder."Buck up! I never thought of suspecting you, old fellow. Someone musthave been watching us last night, eh?"

  "The guy that trailed you yesterday, most like," agreed Hammond, dourly."It ain't hard to break into this place, and any one could open thatcompartment with a hairpin."

  "Well, you're saved a trip into the country."

  "You think they got us, cap'n? What can we do?"

  "Do?" Gramont shrugged his shoulders and laughed. "Nothing except towait and see what happens next! If you want to run, I'll give you enoughmoney to land you in New York or Frisco----"

  "Run--hell!" Hammond sniffed in scorn. "What d'you think I am--a boche?I'll stick."


  "Good boy." Gramont turned toward the house. "Come along in and getbreakfast, and don't touch that compartment door. I want to examine itlater."

  Hammond gazed admiringly after him as he crossed the garden. "If youain't a cool hand, I'm a Dutchman!" he murmured, and followed hismaster.