New Nick Carter Weekly, No. 39 — page 16: what you’re looking at

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

: le 7 instantly something happened that acted as a revivifier. It was a strange creaking noise over his head. - With an almost superhuman effort he rose to a sitting position and looked up- ward. The darkness prevented seeing anything. But he knew what the noise meant. * It still continued, and soon as he rose | to his feet, and leaned against the wall for support, he felt a wave of cool air strike his oe His strength began to return as it by magic. == In a moment the. means of escape | would be within reach. For the button he had pressed was a part of aconcealed mechanism that was used in lowering and hoisting the floor of the cabinet. With his,hands again raised, this time for the’purpose of grasping the wooden ear, he was congratulating himself that he would soon be face to face with the _ villain who had entrapped we: when a _ jatring noise above, followed by an ex- cited exclamation, told bins that his pur- pose and action had been discovered. ae -_- Instantly the car, as it might be called, “had its movement reversed. It began to rise when it was within a few inches of Nick’s uplifted hands. It was within a foot of the upper - ioe when Billy Silk’s jeering voice i & note Sars the aperture the 2am e's no use, old 1 boy , you can’t make : = it eRe jig’s rep with N ick Carter this dé him from _ ah . ghee. Zs 4 a | ri ry . ¢, 7 a * 2 ' ie i & a J" %. = # | ~_— 9 re , ‘ gf. : + 4 Dm) We Cer ey Bay 3 edi Sere "| - - aed th se haat ane cilmcine iS Nands, but ‘ - , a - — * ; , ’ ‘ a ~~ "- «= ' “ tf ; = NEW NICK CAR! into place, and all sound from above was. cut off. : Nick was no longer in a fainting condi- tion, for the air which had flowed in through the hole had given him a new lease of life. He felt that he was good for active ser- vice for half an hour at least. When the discovery was. made by the villains above that he had learned the secret of the cabinet, and was about to make use of it, Nick felt a sense = of acute disappointment. But hope did not entirely leave him. Pharis Fogg had ascended from the room he was now in. And this was proof to Nick’s mind that the partner of Lafarge had come, originally, from some other apartment in the cellar, and one which communicated with the room he was now occupying against his will. There must, therefore, be a secret door somewhere, which was operated by a concealed spring. er. Before Nick began his search forit, he pressed the button in the corner again. It would not work. ‘Z The gréén-goods men had fastened the car at the top. ; Perhaps they would lock the ‘otha oe door so as to prevent his making effective | use of it in case hevshould find it. lever mind. He must discover. it, af possible, and give it a trial. . At last his search was rewarded., Another button, similar to the one which had moved the machinery which had set the floor of the cabinet in mo- Z 2 tion, was found near anvomaes corner. | He pressed it, and one of. the stones, which proved to be not more than an inch in thickness, swung open, revealing a 3 a narrow corridor, — which was partially — lighted up by a stall. é farther nai?