Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 122 — page 10: what you’re looking at

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

~ eo - _ with a sudden 10 a~—— - ——— ro a several hnudred years ago in England— oh . It was a faint exclamation that escaped her lips, barely audible to her companion. But the latter tunned to find her very pale, and in the act of draw- ing her vail down over her face. “Why, Miss Alice,” said Susy, anxiously, “what aa happened? Are you sick? You look so very ale,” . ‘*Tsearcely know, child. A sudden attack, Let us be going home.”’ She essayed to rise, but hastily reseated herself, Her eyes had been turned to the opposite side of the Mall. Susy quickly looked over in that direc- tion, and saw a gentleman who had turned and was walking across toward them, He was a tall, well-built man, elegantly attired, with a face which many would have ed hand- some, his eyes keen and cold. “You will not object to my taking this seat, miss?” he asked, addressing Susy. . ‘“‘I am rather tired.” “Why certainly not,’ replied Susy, moving so that he might have the end of the bench they occupied. “Do not let me disturb you.” “You do not disturb me at all,” she rejoined, look- ing at him with her clear Pua eyes. ‘Do you live in New York?” he asked, addressing the child, but fixing his keen glance on the vail face beyond her. os Why of course, I haye always lived in New ork.’ “Indeed. I thought your fresh face spoke of the country,’ he smilingly replied. ‘* And in what part of New York has my young friend always lived?”’ Susy was on the point of, innocently Sage | the directions of her residence, when she felt the hand that lay by her side clutched in a convulsive clasp. She was quick-witted enough to take it as a warn- ing, and equally quick enough to feel that it was not advisable to show distrust of her questioner. “T have not always lived in the same place,” she replied. ‘We have moved about a great deal.”’ ‘On!’ he said, with a look of amusement. “ Then your presentresidence— But I forgot, you have not said where it is.” “And I do not intend to,’’ replied Susy, with im- mense dignity of manner. “I do not see why a fine entleman like you wants to know whereéa poor lit- fle thing like me lives,” Her questioner laughed loudly, and yet it struck the observant child that there was not much merri- ment inthe laugh. He rose and looked down upon her with a comical expression, his sharp eyes glanc- ing at the thinly vailed face that was turned away from him. Susy felt a strong tremor in the hand that still held hers. ‘“‘T suppose it is an idle man’s curiosity, which is often as bad asa woman's curiosity, my child,’’ he resently remarked. ‘* And as for your being ot cag little thing, you do not seem to know your we “My wealth!” cried Susy, opening wide indeed. “Yes, wealth in good looks, and innocence, and charmingness. For you are a charming little girl. Good-day, my dear,” and he walked away with a smile on his face. ** And you area Mgagzcoable big man,”’ said Susy under her breath. ‘I dont like to be talked to that wie And I dont like you, at all.”’ here was great vigor in the way in which the child brought this out. “Ts he gone, Susy?” spoke a whispering voice beside her—a voice that shook with emotion. “* Yes,’ said Susy, after a pause, ‘*He is some distance off.—Now he is going down the steps to the fountain—to the lake, I mean.” “Then we must go! Instantly! He must not see my face for the world!” ere was intense eagerness and anxiety in her tone. She seized Susy’s hand, and drew the child rapidly down the walk, stepping with a hasty, nerv- ous tread. “He looked close at me. Do you think he could have seen my face through the vail?’ she asked, throwing it back to get a breath in her excited walk. “i dont think he could,” said Susy, “Is he one ot the men you fear?” “Yes! yes! {have not seen him for years. Yet er eyes very a knew him at a glance. Look back, child. See if he is co a by us.” Susy took a long look behind, but failed to catch any sign of the person in question, **T hope you are mistaken,” she replied. “ He is not following us.”’ “T am never mistaken in a face,’ was the excited rejoinder. “‘He will follow! He will not let me escape! Let us hasten, child!” People turned to look with surprise at the pale face and rapid movements of the woman, who almost zseed her young companion. She was a swift walker, and it taxed Susy to keep pace with her. Leaving the Park, they took a car for the city, and then first drew a free breath. ‘**lam sure 1 have escaped him now,” she said, with a strong, nervous trembling. ‘I cannot see him.—Oh! how I fear that dastardly face!” She became silent, falling into a moodiness of manner which the child did not venture to break, though her eyes were fixed with questioning pity on the still, paleface of the frightened woman. They left the car at the City Hall, and hastened forward on foot, They did not observe a carriage which slackened its speed and moved slowly behind them. As they turned into a less frequented street the carriage stop and a gentleman alighted. He moved cautiously on behind them. They were app pulse, looked : pat a glance she recognized her questioner of the ark their home when Susy, sharply backward Phil Hardy, the Boss Boy. Miss Homer felt the quick movement of her hand, and looked inquiringly down. “IT wanted youto come in here with me,” said Susy, prudently, drawing her into a small grocer’s which they were just opposite. The child led her friend hastily to the rear end of the store. “Tf any one asks if you know us, Mrs. Jones, she said to a large woman standing there, ** dont let on. There’s a villain following us.’ ‘“*Come out this way,’’ cried Mrs. Jones, pushing them through a rear door into an alley that led to another street. “I will give the gentleman who 3 sone w ne you my opinion. You can depend on a 99 And the good-natured fat lady looked as fierce as her kindly face would permit of. ‘** Did you see him?’’ asked Miss Homer, excitedly. ; “Yes. But do not fear. He will never pass Mrs. ones.” They reached home quite overcome with the ner- vous excitement of their flight. CHAPTER XII. A TRUSSED RAT. In the cabin of the Strongbow her two chief officers satin earnest consultation. There was no sign of Phil precept & They had put him somewhere out of sight and hearing, and had been considering, with much dread, the possible exposure of their schemes in case the boy should escape them. There seemed to them but one safe course to take. They had al- ready tried it with the woman. To their hardened natures it was a small matter to dispose of this wharf rat of a boy, when their own safety depended upon it, Several hours had now passed since the capture of the venturesome boy. His companion, Dirty Dick, was nowhere to be seen. To appearance he had deserted him. The deliberations of the captain and the mate were interrupted by the yeery! opening of the cabin door, and the sound of a quick step on the floor. They looked hastily around, to see their confeder- a . Cunningham, His face was flushed and angry. He gras his cane with a fierce clutch, and seated himself vigor- re beside the table, looking them both sternly in e face. ‘*So; you have cooked a pretty kettle of fish,” he said, with stinging sarcasm. “I thought if there was ne ey Icould trust it was the captain and mate of the Strongbow. But I'll be hanged if you haven’t muddled matters worse than a couple of apprentices.”’ he two men looked sheepishly at each other, ‘** But blast it!’ cried the captain. ‘‘ You sent the boy back for the check; so he must have shut your eyes up too.” ‘“* And I'l swear if I know how he got on our track and followed us in the boat!’’ exclaimed the mate. Mr. Cunningham looked from one to the other in =, Nesp astonishment, ““ What under the sun are you talking about?” he ejaculated. ‘I sent a boy back for the check?”’ “Yes. There is the card you gaye him,” and the captain pointed to the finely-written card which lay on the table between them. ‘*Why, you idiot!” cried the enraged visitor, “‘ the little rascal said you had forgotten my directions, and had sent him after me to get them.’ “Then I think you were the idiot,’’ replied the choleric captain. ‘I know it wasn’t I that gave him that piece of pasteboard.” _ ‘“‘And did you deliver him the check on such a cock-and-bull story ?”’ i mes He brought a signal which I couldn’t oubt.’ , ‘** Not from me, I'll swear. What was it?” “Tt was this, which he said you had given him for ° ass-word: ‘The Alice Homer has gone to the ottom.,’”’ Cunningham sprung to his feet with a face inflamed with rage and alarm, ‘*Good heavens!” he exclaimed, ‘‘ Where did he learn that name? You have bungled this business sweetly.”’ There was a dark scowl on his face as he looked at them. ‘“‘ And the boy followed you!” he cried suddenly to the mate. ‘That is another bit of revelation. you let yourself be track eh? And were followed by this sharp young hound ina “Tt a devilishly like it,’? Mr. Hendricks surlily n ‘* And if you two men are not lucky you will get our necks in the hangman’s noose yet by your stupid Siundering: Two old pirates like you, who think no more of a man’s life than a cat’s, and yet could not make way with a trussed-up and insensible wo- an. ‘* The blazes we couldn’t!’’ cried the mate. “No. The woman esca your bungling hands, She is alive and well this minute. And if she dont make New York a hot place for all of us soonit wont be your fault.” f “She could not escape!’’ exclaimed Mr. Hendricks, “IT saw her sink like a stone.” “And did not wait to see her rise again like a feather. I tell you this: Isaw Alice Homer, or her ghost, maybe, not an hour ago in the Park.”’ **It cant be so! You aré mistaken!”’ “There is no such good luck as that,” re lied Mr. Cunningham. ‘‘ Why, she knew me as ckly as I knew her. She tried to escape from me. I pursued her through three or four m of the streets, and then was thrown off the track by the stupidity, or the smartness, I dont know which, of a fat old grocer woman.” The three men looked at each other for several minutes without a word. “She must be nabbed again,” said Mr. Hendricks, at length in a tone of desperation. “I will not fail a second time.” “What good will it do to put her out of the way while that boy is at liberty?’ asked Mr. Cunning- ham. ‘She istoo timid a creature to act with any ener But I fear that sharp young rascal.”’ “You needn’t then,’’ explained Captain Monroe. “He is under our thumbs at this minute. If he saves himself he will have more reason to boast than he had in saving the woman.” “Under your thumbs?’ repeated the visitor, in- quiringly. ye Yes. Mr. Hendricks happened to come in and knew him. We nabbed him before he could get away with the check. He has the pleasure of occu- pying very safe quarters,’’ and the speaker signed with his finger over his shoulder toward the door through which Phil had disappeared. i You have him in there?”’ 2 Yes. And he wont gnaw himself out in a hurry. That is lucky. Ifthe boy escapes our plans are not worth pie-crust. A cold water bath for him is our only safety.” And Mr. Cunningham's hand- some face grew wicked as he spoke. ‘ Doyouthink he had any confederates?” “I think not,” replied Mr. Hendricks. ‘All the indications I have seen er to a single person.” ‘*'What were these indications?”’ In response the mate described the vavious cir- cumstances which he had noted implicating Phil in the rescue, — “It is well if it all rests with him,” saic Mr. Cun- ningham, “‘A midnight trip in the boat which I see floating behind your vessel. A fall overboard. A closing of the waves over a rat’s head. And a merry pull back. —That is the whole story.” He was as cooland quiet in his tone asif he had been giving orders for a dinner. Bi captain and mate Jooked significantly at each other. ‘*And what reward are we to have for this new job?” the former asked. ‘‘ We will make our bar- gains in advance now.”’ Safety,” exclaimed Mr. Cunningham, sternly. “That is reward es for you. he difference between a dungeon and the deck of the Strongbow. —But let me have the check. A few dollarsisa ees matter. I will change it to suit your ideas p.*? “We have not got it yet,” answered the captain, with a change of countenance. ** Where is it?” ‘The boy has it.” “Then search him instantly. That is another piece of stupidity. Bring him out here. I want to see him.—Stop!”’ ‘* Well?” asked the mate, pausing. ‘**Do you know that the door is unlocked, and the window is raised! Is this your idea of business?”’ With an angry look Cunningham strode across to the cabin window, which he pulled sharply down. Had he been a little less excited and more cautious, he would have looked out of it first, and would have caught a a ee of a frowzy head just disappearing below the sill. But the spy, whoever he was, es- wae discovery. aptain Monroe locked the cabin door as the mate passed through the portal leading inward to the ship. He returned, after scarcely a minute’s absence, carrying the light form of Phil Hardy. For the young imp of the wharves was quite inca- pable of walking, moving, or speaking. is hands and feet were tied so as almost to stop the circula- tion, and a cloth bound tightly about his mouth effectually hindered speech. Only his eyes were active, and they were as bright and defiant as ever. The three conspirators looked at him with a curi- ous interest. They seemed to question the possi- bility that this boy could have outwitted them all. He looked so small and insignificant, and they so large and full of possibilities. Despite Phil’s disbe- lief in the story of the dwarf and the giants he seem- ed to have exemplified it in his own person. Cunningham’s keen eyes wandered over every de- tail of the boy’s person. Phil’s glance caught his and held it fora moment, enchained. The astute lotter recognized a dangerous foe in the helpless ** Search him,” he said, briefly. , This ‘was done, quickly and thoroughly. But, as the reader is aware, there was no trace of the check to be found on his person. The only thing found, separate from the usual cosmopolitan contents of a boy’s pockets, was a letter, inclosed in a plain en- velope, and directed in a small, elegant handwriting. ‘Let me gee it,” said Cunningham, “This is lucky,” he exclaimed, after a quick look at the envelope. It was directed to ‘‘ Mr. Harvey Russell, 879 Madi- son avenue,” Without a moment’s hesitation he tore it open, and perused its contents. “Tam mueh obliged to our young postman for binging the letter here, instead of taking it to its destination,’ he os remarked, “I know where our lady is now, and I think she has sold her- self into my hands. It is the old story of the fox and the goose over again.—Try the boy again. He must have the check.’ ‘** He has not,” they said, after another search. Cuanisaphens cs ne ao ee of i i am perplexedly, while 8 eyes bu with triumpb. ‘Take the bandage’ from_ his mouth,” he sharply continued. fs it is, . it pe arouse for ial 4 e enveloping cloth was removed, and Phil’s speeeh returned to him, “Now, sirrah,” said Mr. Cunningham, severely, ; ’ ) <€om Ebooks ‘He shall tell us: (ale) i / : } ; = a | & —