Darke Darrell, the Boy Detective — page 59: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

50 DARKE DARRELL. * He was looking at a card, upon which was written the following: F. G. VANDERBILT, SHUMWYCK P. O ‘<That’s nobody’s address,” he reasoned. ‘‘ I never heard of such a post-office as Shumwyck. X stands for Xerxes, the primer says. He knit his brows. ‘* Kvery letter in the alphabet is there except j, q, and z. What does the big O mean? Hah!” with a start, his face flushing. ‘‘It stands for cipher. The card is a key to some writings that are not in the belt. Il just take a copy of it.” He did so, then returned the original.to the belt. | *‘l’m among people who deal in hidden dispatches,” he muttered. ** At least Tim Jordan does, and he visits here. This may be the headquarters of the gang, and Leotine may be the little pigeon. And yet I trust her somehow.” He wound his watch, examined his revolver, and thrust them both under his pillow. He undressed and got into bed. He had not turned out the gas; a faint blue flame glimmered in the burner. A clock in a tower near by struck eleven. “‘T wish I wasn’t so pesky sleepy,” he muttered. ‘It’s — because I’m so tired, and not because I’ve been drugged. He lay awake thinking, the house very still, the noises dying away in the street. “That empty wardrobe might have a shifting panel in the back of it,” he thought. ‘‘ Why didn’t I think of it when I peeped in?” He dropped into a doze, then awoke. ‘<There’s some one in the room,” he thought. comicbooks;com