Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 1168 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

eee ee —— en open,” replied Dalrymple, dubiouslv; “and I am afraid the fury of the soldiers will lead them to acts di violence, when this becomes known.” “They will tear me to ; gssand me began the guard bul before he had finished, twoscore of soldiers, car- rying flaming torches, and headed by the Scarlet Wings, came rushing toward the cabin evidently bent upon destruction. -At the door of the cabin they were met by the ruard, with fixed bayonet, and Major Dairymple. They were clamoring for the blood of the prisoner, but were calmly informed by een jor — the subject of their proposed disgrace ud escaped. A cry of dismay and baffled rage escaped every lip, and for a moment their bitter In ation found expression in threats of vengeance and execrations. Major Dalrymple endeavored to explain to them how the prisoner had escaped, and exonerate the guard from aN blame; but his words were answered with cries of derision. 1e guard now became the object of their fury, and the mob was closing in around him when 4 sharp, piercing whistle thrilled through tho chill, crispy air, and startled the Scarlet Wings as though the horn of Gabriel, itself, had suddenly announced the end of time. The whistle, though keen and foe came forth upon the night with a peculiar wavering intonation that would have been rd to imitate; and what called the attention of the Scarlet Wings so particu- larly was its being an exact imitation of Delaware Dick’s wonderful signal, which combined the whole code of the Scarlet Wings’ secret communication, The infuriated mob became motionless, silent, The torches were held aloft—their flickering beams of light throwing a weird, death-like pallor over the three-score of fixed faces around. ‘* Harry,” said one of the Scarlet Wings to young Ba ‘*that was Delaware Dick's signal as true as I ever heard it.” ‘*My God!’ exclaimed Banks, “ can it be possible that he is alive—that he escaped from—” Before he could finish, the veritable Delaware Dick, himself, in blood and flesh, appeared before him. Had the young patriot risen out of his grave to re- buke his followers for their unsoldierly conduct to- ward his brother, i Lg Tom, they would not have been more completely overcome. They started back with wild astonishment and fear upon their faces. A low, pleasant laugh burst from the lips of Dela- ware Dic It broke the horrible spell that was causing his men to recoil before him; and then like a wave they closed in around him, and shouts of joy pealed from their lips. For several minutes the wildest confusion reigned, and when it finally began to subside, Major Dalrym- le, with a torch in one hand and the dispatch taken m the British courier, Loveridge, in the other, mounted a stump and exclaimed: “One moment, feHow-soldiers; I hold in my hand the dispatch taken from the enemy’s courier to- night, and which I had forgotten until this moment, it throw some light on the appearance of Dela- pane Dick here; and the disappearance of Prodigal om.”’ A dead silence fell upon the party. In a clear, metallic voice the major read: **Oaprars WILLIAM WALTON: Srmr—you will lose no time in placing Prodigal Tom under arrest. I have- been convinced beyond a doubt that Delaware Dick and Prodigal Tom are one and the same person, however str; it may appear to ou—one whose conduct, ies and power of eception must brand him the most infamous spy in the service of George Washington. * Your obedient servant, etc., ** Mas-Gen, CORNWALLIS,” A cry of astonishment burst from every lip, and then followed a general rush of torches and men to- ward the spot where Delaware Dick stood; and the excited throng became as wild with enthusiasm and joy as it had been fierce with the spirit of rage and vengeance. CHAPTER XXII. THE SECRPY OF THAT LITTLE CASE, It was an hour before the excitement, occasioned by the return of Delaware Dick, asif from the grave, subsided in the camp at sas Os Point. The let Wings had never quheathins the faintest hope of alive. They felt certain their yopne leader bei that he fallen a victim at the conflict in Samuel Fairmont’s library. However, when all had become uiet, and the Scarlet Wings with- Dick repaired to mee quarters in one of the cabin's, Harry Banks “Dick, you don’t mean to say that there is any truth contained in that dispatch of Cornwallis, do ou?” * * Well, really, Harry, if there was any show of me maslcing the Seat useful in behalf of our cause again, I would be very clear of revealing it; but since the whole has been exploded, I must confess the truth of Cornwallis’s suspicions; I am j Tom, as well as Delaware Dick."’ ‘‘Impossible! impossible!” thundered Surgeon Fleazar Gwynplane; “you don’t favor Pro aa more than the major there does a mud ence,” “'Then you think Iam trying to shield my brother, Tom, do you, s mn?” Pe we ell,” stammered the surgeon, “I did not say 80.”’ “N gk you thought so; but the fact of it is, I never a brother, and the whole secret lies right here,”’ and Delaware Dick produced the very case of instruments end vials of liquids that had been found upon the person of Prodigal Tom. Delaware Dick. —ESESeee en EE —— i . — ee ee _ -_ — 7 + + ee - _-_ - --—_ + - + eS ee i to spend a few months hunting and fishing up among | of my old Tory neighbors would reveal the fact that the northern waters of New York. While there, I became the guest of a young Indian chief, named Hu-ron-ah-wa, who treated me with all the civilities of a high-born gentleman. vealed to me the secret of a great discovery that an old Indian doctor had made. That secret was a pro- cess, and a very simple one too, by which the human cognition by an intimate friend. The idea had been suggested to the old Indian doctor by the sting of a bee, which produced a swelling of the face of the one stung, and a change in his looks. Now, that aaoroy like all progressive doctors, went to thinking, and—’ ‘Hal ha! hal’? laughed Surgeon Gwynplane, facetiously, “talk of progression in an Indian camp —that’s good.” “Well, at any rate,my dear Gwynplane, the old doctor was acquainted with the medical properties of every plant in the vegctable kingdom around him, and I daresay, some of our white doctors could take lessons of him in both medicine and surgery.”’ “ An old root doctor—yes, yes; that’s old women’s ach ag gh protested the surgeon—* old women and 1erbs,”’ “Well, to continue,” ick went on, ‘‘ there was a certain plant known to the old doctor, yielding a thin, watery liquid, a drop of which injected under the skin would produce swelling without any out- ward signs of inflammation or any feeling of pain. And, strange to say, that swelllng would last a month, unless reduced by a counter-irritant, This, of course, the old doctor had no difficulty in obtain- ing, in the juice of another plant. So much for the idea suggested by the sting of a bee, Hu-ron-ah-wa had the old doctor demonstrate his discovery while I was there. A young Indian girl, very pretty and shy, presented herself for the experiment to be tried upon. The doctor put a drop of the liquid in a hol- low, steel needle that he had made himself, and then inserted the point into the skin uader the eyebrows, As the point was withdrawn, the liquid flowed out into the wound, and in a few minutes the delicately- penciled brows of the girl were heavy and beetling— giving her a downcast and sullen look. I would never have known her, had I not seen the operation performed. In the course of a few hours, another needie was filled with the counter-poison and the point inserted under the skin near the first wound, and—well, I was surprised. In ten minutes’ time that girl was herself again. All the swelling had disappeared, and there was no more trace of the operation left than a musketo bite would produce,”’ Surgeon Gwynplane looked reflectively into the fire, while the soldiers with bated breath listened to the young epy's story. “When the war broke out,” continued Dick, “T resolved to serve my country to the best of my ability; and to act in a double capacity—as a spy to Washington and the British, with my sympathies, of course, on the patriot side. In order to do this I must needs disguise myself, and happening to think of the old Indian doctor’s discovery, [ determined to see him and obtain the secret,. So rode up to Hu- ron-ah-wa's lodge, and succeeded in obtai from the old doctor these two vials of liquids. Then I went to New York and had a manufacturer of sur- cal instruments make me thése two hollow needles. turning home, I tested the matter thoroughly. By operating on my eyebrows, my cheeks, lips and nose, I absolutely frightened my mother and sister, They didn’t know me, nor would they believe it was I till lapplied the counter-poison and reduced the swelling. Then they were astonished. I told them what I intended to do—that as Prodigal Tom, I in- tended to serve the enemy or British; and, as Dela- ware Dick, the patriots; and that I wished to'con- vey to the world that there were two Melinott boys, Tom and Dick. Of course, there were some of our neighbors that knew better, and in order to keep the matter away from positive proof as long as anes, Ihad my mother and sister move out of the Dela- ware valley and conceal themselves. Then I went to work; firstI raised my band of Scarlet Wings, and ot them into working order, and made a name— laware we os "i “ “of-the- Wind, naa much accomplished, szul my features e - cess stueeth explained, and went over into a to district in Pennsylvania, and by nbd ape ame ramet as Delaware Dick’s brother, raised and equipped a company of vangers) and for this act I at once be- came known as rodigal Tom by friends and foes.” ‘Then that ot e: why you were absent from us so often,” said a Scarlet Wing; “and why we could never draw Prodigal Tom intoa fight; one man commanded the two battalions,” “It is singular we didn't mistrust something of the kind before,’’ added another, ‘‘for I now. begin to see what Dick meant when he spoke in riddles at different times, about ‘a power behind the throne.’ Ever since our company been organized, I. have noticed that we have been constantly dogged by one strange personage, and that is the Indian vagabond, Doctor Dave, who has been hai around camp hore for a week. Ishouldn’t wonder but that he is the Indian doctor who discovered the means of your di Dick, and that he has heen playing between the ba of ware Dick and Prodigal Tom to as- sist you in the extreme Cases.” ~ inave nothing to say gD Mea surmises, friend Co ” Dick replied evasivel * Washi n, my mother and sister, and ‘the ‘power be the throne,”’ are the ony rsons, save the AI Ree ne Bye, that I know o , that knew aught of my secre up to the time Cornwallis found it out. How he did netrate the secret is a mystery.to me, ought ve always entertained fears of detection. to tell the : I have played the double vol longer than I bad at Orst, for 1 was afraid some ; : | During my stay he re- | | | I had no brother Tom, and thereby lead to my ex- posure. But if I do say so myself, boys, I have ren- dered our cause some good service—so have you, my brave Scarlet Wings, and so has that mysterious friend whose name I cannot mention. But this, my friends, | hope is sufficient explanation as to my ' | presence here alive; but had it not been for that dis- features could be temporarily changed beyond re- | patch of Cornwallis’s, I should never have revealed one word of my cherished secret to you so long ag I could have made it useful to our country and cause, As to how Ll escaped from the cabin a few months azo, I shall not tell you now.”’ “What is settled in my mind,” said Conrad, he who stood guard at the cabin door, “ that old Indian, Doctor Dave, whom some of the boys suggested be drummed out of camp, has not been lurking aroun here the last two days for nothing in his a feet sie, innocence, I daresay, he’s not to be found in camp, now. But, Dick, how did you escape death at Fair. mont Place that memorable night of the conflict?” “Well, during the fight Iwas knocked senseless by a clubbed musket in the hands of a Tory, ° I fell near the open door, and when I come to again, } found myself in the woods. Two persons were by me: One was a negro servant of old Samuel Fair. mont, and the other was—thai noble friend who hag been a guardian angel to me so often when death stared me in the face. ** Well, wishing the report to go abroad that Dela. ware Dick was dead, I concluded to remain in seclu. sion and so joined my band of Tory partisans and went into camp with British Bill. Being located near Fairmont e, I had free admittance to the old man’s house where, come to think of it, dwelt another that knew that Delaware Dick was not slain . the night of the battle. That person was Agnes Melrose, Fairmont’'s lovely grand-daughter.” ‘*hLove, by Jupiter!’ exclaimed eon Gwyn- lane. ‘‘I knew it would end in this.. You remem- r what I told Pa: boys, about that note found on the person of Prod gal Tom the night we captured him, don’t you? Didn’t I say it was some love affair? rare ha! ha! fool old Eleazer Gwynplane. M. D., will you CHAPTER XXIII. DEATH OF AN IMPOSTOR, On the day following British Bill's attack on Major Dalrymple at ee oint, Samuel Fairmont was waited upon by a Tory who requested the old man's immediate presence at the quarters of Captain Wal- ton at Cross Hollows, As the coming evening was the time fixed for the marriage of Agnes with the captain, the colonel rie pe 3 he was Wanted re- garding that affair; and without perp the soldier, he ordered out his carriage and at once drove rapidly to Cross Hollows. t was three hours or more before he returned, and when he did, his face bere the look of hopeless despair ots net him at the a d clasping hi me at the door, and c n m the arm to steady his tottering form, eaxiakned: “J * Grandpapa, what is the matter? Are you sick?” Oh, God!” exclaimed the old man, sinking into a chair; ‘yes, es, yes. I am sick of life—of the whole world and its deception,”' “ What has ha Oh, dear! what has hap- pee rida Bill me cant and I am glad of it,” was the “Glad of iy grandpapay” cried Agnes} "glad that sé Oo a ” es: ‘ your kinsman dead? aoe ** Kinsman!”’ hissed the eld man; ‘he was no kins- man of mine, He was an impostor, the black-heart- ed devil! He confessed all to me before he died.” Agnes's brain grew dizzy with the whirl of excite- ment born of the momert. She sat down on a sofa, and, for a moment, a dead silence reigned in the rior, Presently the colonel turned his chair, and acing her, said: ‘“* Agnes, I shudder when I think of how near I came of ruining your life and nernee by cm, you to wed one who had produced all the evidence could have asked of his being Clement Fairmont. But last night, thank the Lord, British Bill went down to Clay's Point and attacked a party of pro- vincials there, and not only got whipned, butere- ceived a wound of which he died a few minutes ago. Before he died, however, he confessed to me that, on last Wednesday, he intercepted a young British captain on the near here, and upon his effects found that he was Captain Clement Fair- mont, who was.coming to our He had been captured by the Americans at Princeton, but was on parole. As I had in confidence told British Bill all our family secre ly your ment to your cousin, whose coming was davty ex- pected—he resolved take advan of it, and step into Clement’s shoes.and wed you. So he Clement a prisoner until night set in, then he sent him on toward Fairmont; but, with two men, he followed him, évertook him, and, having secured alj and hung his took him out into papers, the w Here the old man broke down and sobbed b ; but he tinued: IN 9) le) ©