Page:The Valley of Fear.pdf/284

Rh of us all. God help me, but I am near out of my wits over it!”

McMurdo looked at the man earnestly. He was trembling in every limb. He poured some whisky into a glass and handed it to him. “That’s the physic for the likes of you,” said he. “Now let me hear of it.”

Morris drank, and his white face took a tinge of color. “I can tell it to you all in one sentence,” said he. “There’s a detective on our trail.”

McMurdo stared at him in astonishment. “Why, Man, you’re crazy,” he said. “Isn’t the place full of police and detectives, and what harm did they ever do us?”

“No, no, it’s no man of the district. As you say, we know them, and it is little that they can do. But you’ve heard of Pinkerton’s?”

“I’ve read of some folk of that name.”

“Well, you can take it from me you’ve no show when they are on your trail. It’s not a take-it-or-miss-it government concern. It’s a dead earnest business proposition that’s out for results and keeps out till by hook or crook it gets [282]