That
had undoubtedly been the point of communication between the leader
and his subordinates--with Bradley and the men who had taken Jimmie
prisoner.
"That was rather clever," Ned mused, "taking the boy while at the
cave of the counterfeiters in order to give the impression that the
coiners had seized him!"
Ned realized, too; that the capture of the grandson just at that time
had been a master stroke on the part of the conspirators. The lad
would have talked too much when he became satisfied that he was safe
from all coercion.
Ned lay in his hiding place for what appeared to him to be a long
time before he heard anything to indicate that his man-trap had been
set in the right spot. Then the voice he heard caused him to spring
quickly up to his feet. It was the low, soft, plaintive voice of Mary
Brady.
"I haven't seen anything here I could talk about," the old lady was
saying. "I wouldn't think of betraying anyone who put my boy in my
arms. I've seen him with you--I've been waiting about here for a long
time. Bring him out to me and I'll go home and never trouble you any
more."
"Now," thought Ned, "how did the old lady manage to find the boy
here?"
"You shouldn't have come here," a low, well-modulated masculine voice
said.
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