Page:Arthur Stringer--The House of Intrigue.djvu/249

Rh "You mean a confederate," corrected the Chief. And I saw that he didn't intend to give me the chance I was fighting for.

"Then you're not going to listen to me!" I said it in almost a scream, for my nerves were on edge and I saw my last hope vanishing.

"All I know, young woman, is that you're under arrest. And that's about all I want to know just now!" As he said this he brought my wrists together with a movement that was as quick as it was clever, and clicked a pair of nickeled handcuffs over them.

I stared down at them rather stupidly. It was my first experience with such things. And it took the fight out of me, for the moment, as completely as the thump of a night-stick could.

"And what are you going to do with me?" I asked, still staring down at the imprisoning rings of polished metal.

"We're going to put you where you'll be safe until we can get you, you and one or two others in this house, down to headquarters!" Big Ben explained as he followed the shifty-eyed old weasel up the stairway.

I had no choice in the matter. I had to go. I had to submit to the steady tug of that big brute as