There was a mutter of conversation from the next room. Itseemed interminable. Then the door opened, and McMurdoappeared, his finger upon his lip.
He came to the end of the table and looked round at them. Asubtle change had come over him. His manner was as of one whohas great work to do. His face had set into granite firmness. Hiseyes shone with a fierce excitement behind his spectacles. He hadbecome a visible leader of men. They stared at him with eagerinterest; but he said nothing. Still with the same singular gaze helooked from man to man.
“Well!” cried Boss McGinty at last. “Is he here? Is BirdyEdwards here?”
“Yes,” McMurdo answered slowly. “Birdy Edwards is here. I amBirdy Edwards!”
There were ten seconds after that brief speech during whichthe room might have been empty, so profound was the silence.
The hissing of a kettle upon the stove rose sharp and stridentto the ear. Seven white faces, all turned upward to this man whodominated them, were set motionless with utter terror. Then,with a sudden shivering of glass, a bristle of glistening rifle barrelsbroke through each window, while the curtains were torn fromtheir hangings.
At the sight Boss McGinty gave the roar of a wounded bearand plunged for the half-opened door. A levelled revolver methim there with the stern blue eyes of Captain Marvin of the MinePolice gleaming behind the sights. The Boss recoiled and fell backinto his chair.
“You’re safer there, Councillor,” said the man whom they hadknown as McMurdo. “And you, Baldwin, if you don’t take yourhand off your pistol, you’ll cheat the hangman yet. Pull it out, orby the Lord that made me—There, that will do. There are fortyarmed men round this house, and you can figure it out for yourselfwhat chance you have. Take their pistols, Marvin!”
There was no possible resistance under the menace of thoserifles. The men were disarmed. Sulky, sheepish, and amazed, theystill sat round the table.
“I’d like to say a word to you before we separate,” said the manwho had trapped them. “I guess we may not meet again until yousee me on the stand in the courthouse. I’ll give you something tothink over between now and then. You know me now for what Iam. At last I can put my cards on the table. I am Birdy Edwards ofPinkerton’s. I was chosen to break up your gang. I had a hard anddangerous game to play. Not a soul, not one soul, not my nearestand dearest, knew that I was playing it. Only Captain Marvin hereand my employers knew that. But it’s over to-night, thank God,and I am the winner!”
The seven pale, rigid faces looked up at him. There wasunappeasable hatred in their eyes. He read the relentless threat.
“Maybe you think that the game is not over yet. Well, I take mychance of that. Anyhow, some of you will take no further hand,and there are sixty more besides yourselves that will see a jail thisnight. I’ll tell you this, that when I was put upon this job I neverbelieved there was such a society as yours. I thought it was papertalk, and that I would prove it so. They told me it was to do withthe Freemen; so I went to Chicago and was made one. Then I wassurer than ever that it was just paper talk; for I found no harm inthe society, but a deal of good.
“Still, I had to carry out my job, and I came to the coal valleys.
When I reached this place I learned that I was wrong and thatit wasn’t a dime novel after all. So I stayed to look after it. Inever killed a man in Chicago. I never minted a dollar in my life.
Those I gave you were as good as any others; but I never spentmoney better. But I knew the way into your good wishes and so Ipretended to you that the law was after me. It all worked just as Ithought.
“So I joined your infernal lodge, and I took my share in yourcouncils. Maybe they will say that I was as bad as you. They cansay what they like, so long as I get you. But what is the truth?
The night I joined you beat up old man Stanger. I could not warnhim, for there was no time; but I held your hand, Baldwin, whenyou would have killed him. If ever I have suggested things, so asto keep my place among you, they were things which I knew Icould prevent. I could not save Dunn and Menzies, for I did notknow enough; but I will see that their murderers are hanged. I gaveChester Wilcox warning, so that when I blew his house in he and hisfolk were in hiding. There was many a crime that I could not stop;but if you look back and think how often your man came home theother road, or was down in town when you went for him, or stayedindoors when you thought he would come out, you’ll see my work.”
“You blasted traitor!” hissed McGinty through his closed teeth.
“Ay, John McGinty, you may call me that if it eases your smart.
You and your like have been the enemy of God and man in theseparts. It took a man to get between you and the poor devils ofmen and women that you held under your grip. There was justone way of doing it, and I did it. You call me a traitor; but I guessthere’s many a thousand will call me a deliverer that went downinto hell to save them. I’ve had three months of it. I wouldn’thave three such months again if they let me loose in the treasuryat Washington for it. I had to stay till I had it all, every man andevery secret right here in this hand. I’d have waited a little longerif it hadn’t come to my knowledge that my secret was coming out.
A letter had come into the town that would have set you wise to itall. Then I had to act and act quickly.
“I’ve nothing more to say to you, except that when my timecomes I’ll die the easier when I think of the work I have done inthis valley. Now, Marvin, I’ll keep you no more. Take them in andget it over.”
