The Secret of Shangore: Nick Carter Among the Spearmen

"No, Carter! I shall not go back until I have got my hands on that wretched crook, William Pike, and I don't care if it leads me into the very heart of this strange country where they say a white man never has come from alive." The speaker was Jefferson Arnold, the multimillionaire shipowner and importer of Oriental goods, whose establishment was one of the best known of its kind in New York City. His firm jaw came together with a snap, and his dark eyes sparkled with determination in the red light of the camp fire, as he looked at the world-renowned detective for approval of his determination. "I am rather glad to hear you say that," was Nick Carter's calm reply. Jefferson Arnold jumped up from the rock upon which he had been sitting and went around to shake the detective by the hand. "I knew you would agree with me," he shouted. "We have found my son Leslie among these rascals, and we've driven them back, over the Himalayas all right. But that is not enough for me. I want to see what these mysteries are that we have heard so much about." "Bully for you, Mr. Arnold!" cried Patsy Garvan. "That's the stuff. I want to lick one or two of those black brutes for what they did to us the last time we had a mix-up." "What do you mean?" put in Chick. "I ask that as first lieutenant of the greatest detective in the world. We licked 'em, didn't we?" "Sure we licked them!" agreed Patsy promptly. "But they blazed away at us with poisoned arrows and tried to dig holes in us with their spears. It wasn't their fault they did not lay out our whole bunch." Nick Carter laughed heartily. "When people get into a fight, Patsy," he reminded his young second assistant, "the object is understood to be to hurt the enemy as much as possible. You should not hold that against anybody who puts up a fair fight." "That's all right!" conceded Patsy. "But this wasn't any fair fightat least on the side of these Indians from the Land of the Goldenwhat is it?" "The Land of the Golden Scarab," supplied Nick. "All right! I'd forgotten that word. It's always a sticker to me," grumbled Patsy. "But, anyhow, when those fellows, with their white turbans and black faces, and their thin shirts and short pants, came surging from behind the rocks, trying to get us by surprise, I hadn't any use for them. What I want is a man to stand up before me and give me a fair-and-square give-and-take. Then I haven't any kick coming if I get the worst of it."

Dettagli