will dispose of him; but what have you gentlemen been doing? Why did
you not dispose of him?"

"We have completed our plans."

Girard proceeded and related all the arrangements for disposing of Oscar
and all the other men who might be working with him. Redalli listened
attentively and finally said:

"That is all right; but, gentlemen, we will make a fortune anyhow. We
can move on while these men are locating us. We are all ready to shoot
forth one of the greatest floods ever sent driving over this or any
other land; in fact we will sweep over Canada and Mexico. I have managed
our affair, I believe, in a satisfactory manner. One day this week all
the agents will be in New York. We will distribute the stuff and send
them abroad. The sweep will commence in three days. Under our present
arrangements we will have gathered in several millions of dollars. No
such plan was ever attempted or worked out."

"How many agents are there?"

"There are eleven men."

"And where are all the documents?"

"Here in New York."

"Where are the plates?"

"The plates are all here in New York."

"Where will the distribution be made?"

"I have secured a furnished house. In that house we will have all the
goods and all the plates. The latter we will bury in the cellar, there
to lie forever until New York shall crumble and some future archaeologist
digs them up from the ruins to be put on the shelves of some future
museum. Yes, everything is complete."

"But these detectives?"

"We will go ahead and dispose of them. There must be no mistake. We will
secure them, take them on board a vessel we can secure, run them out to
sea, hang them and throw their bodies heavily-weighted overboard. That
is the plan; so let our good girl there, Libbie, carry out her plan. I
am here now; there will be no surprises, no rushing in of detectives. I
will have a well-armed and drilled force who will nail them all, and we
will quietly dispose of them. The game is all in our own hands. We have
nothing to fear. Our organization is too large, too far-reaching; and
when once we have made the sweep we will make good our agreements and
free every member of the gang that has been arrested. Yes, we will free
them all, and as to the officers we will say good-by to them after the
sweep and sail away to enjoy a heaven such as Mahomet has described.
Yes, it's all right; let Libbie play her game. In another ten days the
cyclone will have passed and we will all be r