The Bradys and the Girl Smuggler Part 26

"Mr. Brady, you are very much mistaken."

"Why am I?"

"I'll show you, sir."

She gave utterance to a cough. It was a signal. Instantly the door of an ante-room flew open. In the opening stood four men. They were the spies.

Each one was armed with a revolver.

These weapons were aimed at the Bradys and the girl laughed outright when she saw the involuntary expressions of astonishment that swept over their features.

"Quite a surprise, isn't it?" she asked in grim tones.

"We are in a trap!" Harry muttered.

"That's the situation!" said the girl, quietly. "If you move hand or foot, you'll get shot. Those men never miss their mark. At such short range they could kill you even if they were not expert shots."

The Bradys saw the force of her reasoning.

In a word, they were helpless.

Neither attempted to draw a weapon in self-defense.

To do so would be to seal their doom.

An awkward silence ensued.

Old King Brady finally asked in gruff tones:

"Well, what are you going to do about it?"

"Make prisoners of you and hold you until we have disposed of the diamonds," quickly replied Clara.

The detectives looked disgusted.

"Shall we resist?" muttered Harry, desperately.

"No. It would be folly to attempt it," his partner replied.

Old King Brady was not so fiery and impetuous as the boy; he was more slow, deliberate and cool in the face of danger.

He saw that the smugglers had concluded to throw off the mask and make no further pretenses.

That meant bitter warfare.

He had no plan to suggest, and the girl exclaimed:

"Come in and bind them, Jean."

One of the men entered.

He was the man who had done the smuggling.

Walking over to the detectives, he said to them in low tones:

"If you resist, my friends will fire."

"We don't intend to," replied Old King Brady.

"Then I'll relieve you of your own handcuffs to secure you."

He felt in the old detective's pocket, brought out the steel bracelets and snapped them on the detective.

Young King Brady was very restless.

To submit without a fight was more than he could bear.

His obstinacy suddenly got the best of his good judgment, and he made up his mind to give them a tussle.

Leaping beside the girl he seized her, swung her around between himself and the other men and cried:

"If you fire, you'll hit this girl!"

Clara gave a shriek.

"Harry!" roared Old King Brady in some dismay.

The men in the doorway dared not fire.

Jean, fearing an attack, plunged across the room in tending to get out of danger in the hall.

"Let me go!" gasped the girl.

"Give up my advantage? Never!" panted the boy, a reckless, daring light gleaming in his eyes.

He was close to the open window.

At a glance he saw a way to escape.

Unaided, he could not expect to arrest these men and the girl, for Old King Brady was rendered powerless.

The yard was only eight feet below.

"Can you jump out the window?" he asked his partner.

"They'll fire if I budge."

This remark was certainly true.