Old Specie, the Treasury Detective; or, The Harbor Lights of New York — page 134: what you’re looking at

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

126 . OLD SPECIE. It took him one minute to do this. He proceeded cautiously. As he slowly pushed his legs inside he kept feel- ing about him. Presently he touched the coal. Now his caution redoubled. Should he suddenly allow his weight to press upon the pile of small, hard coal, it would, of course, give way under him. This would result in a sudden noise, and tumble his air castles to the ground, for he would have to make his exit more hasty than his entree, lest he wanted to feel the sting of a bullet. Worse than that would be the thought that he had ruined his plans. No wonder then he was careful. By degrees he found out just how the land lay down there, and was enabled to work his way along without noise. It took him just five minutes of hard labor to ac: complish this. At length he stood upon the cellar floor. All around him was darkness. So impenetrable was this that one could not have seen his hand within three inches of his eyes. and | hence it was impossible for him, once he had quitted the vicinity of the coal hole, to more than guess where it lay. He listened. There was nothing to guide him. Under these circumstances it became absolutely necessary for him to have a light. A match was struck. This showed him a door and a flight of narrow wooden stairs. & GComicbooks: co =