Diamond Dick, Jr.: The Boys' Best Weekly — page 27: what you’re looking at

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

DIAMOND DICK, JR. OUT OF SIGHT. 25 on to the bottles, and ere long began to draw near to the boats lying in the water a hundred feet or so out from the _ boat- house. Here he observed caution. Keeping his head low, he swam to one of the boats, having made his selection. Peering round the point of its prow to make sure, as far as possible, that no one was watching him, he reached up and dropped the bottles into it. That done, he examined the painter and found that it was a short chain caught with a hook into aring in the top of a stnall float, which, in turn, was per- manently anchored tiere for that purpose. A touch set the boat free, and the Ace o’ Spades began swiinming with it in the direction of the opposite shore of the lake, going slowly, and asa gentle breeze was blowing in¢hat direction it might be supposed, if the boat was seen, that it had got loose and was drifting. It had not occurred to him to look and see whether the boat contained oars or not. But then, that made no difference. It either did or did not, and he would not have taken the extra risk of trying to find a pair, anyhow. What he had come for was the boat, and having secured that, and having every likelihood now of getting away with it, he was a happy ‘‘nig.”’ But what did concern him was the mystery of the bottles which had bobbed out of the water in such a queer manner. He was eager to get at the papers they contained. CHAPTER VII. BERTIE SEES A BLACK WATER SPRITE. Blackberry avoided the place where the bottles had popped to the surface. There was something uncanny about it all, to his mind, and he had no desire to take any chiances. He did not know what else might come bobbing up out of the water, if he ven- tured near the saine spot again; possibly something worse than bottles. When he had swum nearly across the lake he stopped and reached up and caught hold of the side of the boat, pulling himself up and the boat down till he was able to look in. There were no oars there. As he had taken the chances of that, it made no difference to him. Seeing nobody moving on the shore, he climbed into the boat and lay down to take a little rest. Not that he greatly needed it; he was like a duck in the water; but he was dying to examine those bottles and find out what they contained. He had nothing with which to cut the string that held the cork in place, but he applied his strong ivories to the task, and in amoment the string was severed and he had the stopper out. Then came the task of getting out the paper, and it did not seem an easy thing to do. Huh!” he presently ejaculated. ‘‘Juni- us Brutus Crow, you ain’t got de sense ob a lotse!”’ Taking hold of the bottle by the neck he dashed it across the edge of one of the seats and broke it. He had the paper without any further trouble. Fortunately—for his own satisfaction— he could read, and opening the sheet he read it quickly. It contained these words: ‘To the finder: ‘‘] am a prisoner at the bottom of Lost Lake, in a glass house. Entrance through rear room on ground floor of boathouse. Panel in middle of rear wall, but cannot be detected. Can be broken in with ax, but button that moves it is in center of a Jamp bracket on wall. Yours out of sight, “Diamond Dick, Jr.”’ ‘‘Ma stars an’ Sally Jones!’ cried the Ace o’ Spades. ‘‘Who would eber funk it! Diamond Dick, Junyah, a prisoner in a glass house at de bottom ob dis heal bery lake—go way, trouble! Junius Brutus Crow, vou am stricklv in it, dat’s what you am! Golly! Dey won't believe me when I tell ’em dis storv! Come an’ hug ine, Sally, hug me hahd!”? The little coon was in an ecstacy of delight. To think that he had become one of the aids of his favorite hero, Diamond Dick, Jr., that of itself was enouch to raise him to the seventh heaven. COMICHOOOKS CO