The Safe Breakers' Gang — page 25: what you’re looking at

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

: ¥ oF fi Pa . iL s. be “iv ‘ ap WalsPa' sary Pr. ‘ { ’ se ad iw La »* hy = : ie it vy Pe ts f id se f rat bi -" . ? / - ai 4 P n,m . iG gl re Se abd . ’ a va W MS re ae) i > F ‘. * + . Pie" iP ae a” : £ 4, ” 3 i LP rh th ; gas te dict ne me Veer oN : all nner! THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY. “Well, int do you see?” | Then he ‘dune himself down upon the earth, with his Nothin’ but the darndest, blackest hole that I ever! face downward, and his limbs drawn up as though in the to look inter,” was the reply. contortions of death. Pa must be something there, whether you can see it| In this posture he remained during the suspenseful 9 * not. y moments that ensued, without stirring a muscle. “Why don’t ye look for yerself, if ye think my eyes are} He had not long to wait. § 60 lasted dull!” “The torch is ready,” announced the _ safe-breaker. “Look again, and keep looking till your eyes become |“ Now toss it to the bottom of the pit, and use your eyes é ecustomed to the gloom. We just came from where there; to good purpose while the flame lights up the place. Then ree a light, and your eyes haven’t got used to the | report to me what you see.” change. 4 ihe Why in blazes don’t you look for yourself——” Tad _ Again the big, round face of Tad Silsby appeared at the began, but Jepworth cut him short. opening, and this time it remained for fully two minutes.} ‘Because I’m giving the orders and you are obeying | Then it was withdrawn. them. Do you see the point?) Come !—toss the torch down _ “Can’t see a thing,” he declared. into the pit, and if the idiot at the bottom has any life in “Did you hear anything 9” him, and is not shamming he will let us know he is there _ “Nary a thing.” if the blaze singes his hair a “The whole of the plank fell in, and that wouldn’t have} Tad hesitated no longer. Despite his great physical 1appened unless something disturbed it. IJ arranged it so|strength, and his frequent boasts that he would never take ti nat it would prove a trap to any would-be eavesdroppers, |orders from any man, he realized that he was at this and the fact that the trap was sprung is sufficient to prove| moment as completely under the thumb of this invincible that I have caught some game in it.” idesperado as he could have beenif he were the man’s sit might be adog run across it,” suggested Tad, in| slave. Ww rhose tones there was a nervous tremor which showed] Kirk Hyde, of the “three H’s,” in the meantime breath- t hat he was getting deeper into the affair than he fully|lessly awaited the outcome of the safe-breaker’s scheme relished. for bringing him to terms. oy “No, it wasn’t!” was the sharp relpy. He heard the swish of the flaming torch as it was tossed _ “How d’ye know ?” downward; and he could see the duil-red glare as it fell _ “Look here !—and here—and see the tracks ! upon the heap of earth within a foot of his face; he could Tad was silent, and the invincible tones of the desper-| even feel the heat and smell the smoke from the burning h 1?) ‘‘A close call!” was his thought. “For if it had bit my head, or even lodged upon my back, I could hardly have had the nerve to lie still and let it cook me by inches!” ‘‘There’s somebody down there!” cried Tad, in a shrill whisper. ‘“T supposed there was,” Jepworth coolly returned. is But I guess his neck is broke! He’s curled up as if it was.’ ‘Light me another fagot and we’ll soon see whether he is shamming or not!” ordered the safe-breaker. And in that order Kirk Hyde felt that his doom was sealed. At the same time he felt that the fierce gaze of Jules Jep- worth was fixed upon him! CHAPTER XVI. y “ZT tell you some fool was trying to spy upon us, and if he got alook into the cabin he knows that Tad Silsby, the young game-cock who is ambitious to be a champion fighter ora king of the Lazy Gang, is having a private confab with one whom the detectives and police of the whole country would givea year of their lives for the gL glory of catching. How does that strike you, young man ?” hg ‘Do— do you really think a detective was spying on 4 ey know it!” “Good land!—then I’m lost! He'll be for tellin’ that dwarf detective that I promised to stand by, and I reckon e’ll puta bullet through’ my head the first chance he » = Prnpleton !’ rasped the bitter voice of the bape bi eaker. “How do you think that a man at the bottom of ORT JEXPERIENCE. FO} THE! SANDWICH, 7 t] hat pit can give you away, or harm you in any manner, until he gets out? And besides, perhaps the fall broke his Quimby Hall did not lack shrewdness; and surely he me ck! If it did it may be the best thing that could happen | was not deficient in courage. But he possessed one human to him, for a man who follows the trail of Jules Jepworth, | weakness, else he would have been more than a human wi that trail is too warm, is walking on a bridge of | char acter, which 1t is not my design to depict. ass un He was sometimes too headlong i in his pursuit of a foe. ~ “Maybe his neck was broke!” remarked Tad, while a| From the moment of receiving the telegram purporting gleam of dismal hope begun to steady his nerves. to be from Rexford Hunt, there had been vague misgiv- Wy But if he lives, and there isa good chance, at least, | ings as to its genuineness in his mind. that he wasn’t lucky enough to be killed, we have himin| Whenhe approached the mill, and saw there no signs 3) “trap which we’re not obliged tolet him out of till he|of anything unusual having occurred, his suspicion of zive 2s a pledge to act on the square after he is out. But] fraud became stronger; yet, the moment that he saw Rex e have no time for idle discussion. The light of day will| Hunt entering the stock-shed, he did not pause to consider ae be here, and then you and I will not care to be seen! whether even this might not be some cleverly concorted too. much by the sons of men. Yonder is a dry fagot;|scheme to hoodwink him. here are matches. Fetch me the stick, and we’ll soon| The blow that felled him upon the threshold of the know what lies at the bottom of that hole !” building was a deadly one, and had it struck him fairly Kirk Hyde, “tail-ender” of the “three H’s,” heard dis-| where it was aimed it might have ended his career inctly every word that had passed between the safe-| entirely. res Ker and his weak-minded tool. As it was, for a brief period he lost consciousness The concluding suggestion of Jepworth aroused Hyde} wholly; and when he was aroused it was by the murmur a keener sense of the perilous situation in which ill-| of low, gruff voices. : ort ine had placed him, just when a greater success had; His wits were not slow to act, even though his head eem red. to be within his grasp. . still spun dizzily under the thump. it had received. “A eis going to light the fagot and toss it down there| He had been genuinely unconscious; and now he ee who sprung his trap!” was the realization that] feigned a continuation of the same condition, although hed through the mind of the detective. . every sense was keenly alert. ‘or ‘a moment he thought with a swiftness and inten-| ‘‘A clean sweep!” he heard one of the voices declare. y such as only the direst straits can make the human| “Yes, a clean sweep, and if only Jules himself has done in capable of. his part of the work as well as we have done ours, we'll It is man to man—wit against wit!” he thought. have mighty little more to fear from the three H’s. sending quickly, he scooped a quantity of the caved-in| “They were all on deck twenty-four hours ago,” the h eo a heap, using his hands, and working with a} other resumed ; “but now every mother’s son of them are ty that soon accomplished his purpose. down in the hold, as it were.” ac 0 continued : fagot. oe ,? is» » * . ‘i i 2 . e - 4 / 1 a. | } ! a . soe ‘a EF: t, See os. 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