Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 122 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

“ he “0: Geo er= Ne lt ll el ete te + rm me ae eee eee ee ee _ Ome ot me gol Only cease your efforts to de- ptroy me!” ‘| gan sorry to find,” he responded, “that you are il bavping oO that string. epee understand havb mit tid seat eke ar Cp oes agen R ‘wr confrontin hin, “It is because I see your hand at work im, all m: utions. It was at Liverpool, who wrote me a] coyed mé on board that dread ngents who imprisoned me during a ocean voy- age. Itwas your agents that drugged me into in- sensibility, and that sought to drown me. And they ty would have succeeded, only for—” . Bho paused irebotaialy, turning somewhat pale. rn Ve our agents, letter, and de- _ It was your “T will not betray my rescuer into your hands. He too may be, m ‘ed,”’ A hard @ passed over his face as he answered: “y know him. So you need not be so careful. f that he will not do much more rescuing.”’ . '|.Have you already murdered him?’ she ask a scared look, | , “Well, if you are not the most unpleasant woman IT have ever. : ,” he answered, shrugging his shoulders. ‘ Your brain must be 4 little wrong on the subject of putting people out of the way. Reassure qaraelt. I have not the most remote in- —— of doing any murdering, as you so bluntly rm it. **And what more polite term have you for your effort to take my life?’’ she sarcastically asked. “There is enough of this,” he sternly replied. 6 eens is not all enduring, Alice Homer.”’ **Let me go!’’ she cried, nervously turning the latch. ‘Iwill say no more. I will never speak of you again. Ouly let me go!” * You shall go—but it shall be where I will,” he ceplied, striding toward her and seizing her wrist in his strong led a moment ineffectually, her face flushed with anger. Then she suddenly grew pale and tottered cward, She would have fallen but that he caught her. The scene through which she had passed ts been too much for her powers or endurance, She had fainted ‘** Deuced lucky,” he grimly said. ‘It will eod to a scene that | was getting tired of. dispose of her before she comes to.” e proceeded to the rear of the house.on the sec- ond floor, Here was a room whose windows had been lightly but ped barred against any strengih that she could splay. The sash were drawn down a few inches at the top for ventilation, but otherwise they were tightly fastened, “This wili make a good nest for my bird,’’ he solil- ut an ai LO | oquized, as he laid her slender form on a lounge. “I will inane her there to come to; and if she” never come to, Raza: 1 the better,” .. stood loo down on her with a very dark _ expression, cme bes Oy y stealing toward | pocke vest. ¥ 1 tered, “She must be disposed —— we eee we of. I could doit safely now. But then there remains the body; that inconvenient result. And I have not todoit. I must give it to those brutes on the Strongbow. And then, if they, should be discover they ha’ tha on ve thing stronger than their word to con- me \ it, itis Botnater plan.”’ was di it ie about her pockets as he spoke these last words. “TH owen if she hasn't ejeontet ed. “Thatis b it in the carriage.” behind him he hastened down- Lacking the, | he eaving Allee unged in a deep insensibility. ot rid of that letter!’ he ut she may have dropped ce lay thus for Onre, her lifelessness graduall g fnto & more natural sleep. . : It was late night when she awoke. The room was in utter darkness. It was some time before she nn a a, realizing sense of her situation. Bat u the whole horror of the position in which she was came upon her, Her pulse throbbed with bitter FP naigy A fear of the darkness mingled with the deep of her enemy. In unconiuallaiala terror she ee up and rau madly across the room, beat- ue th all her strength on the door she encoun- It was all in vain. was no i to r ~ be eall he =e Ww ae she sant ringlng hro the house. eathly stillness ru over all, and failed to yield to her wild appeal. “My God! what will become of me?” moaned. Alice, feebly, as she staggered and fell prone upon the BOOP o5.-9 afin liauts; ag was 1o9 weak to,rise, and lay in 1.2Ipless mis- ery for what seemed hours, her senses gradually yielding to that blessed boon, of sleep, which brings relief to somany weary souls. : Day had dawned when she again recovered con- scioummess. It was a long and, miserable day, its monotony only broken ny the appearance with ‘her — of + pag whom she recognized as the agent of hera stor. , But she had no wish to eat, and left her food un- | Out of sha two windows.of the room could garden tiful with flowers and foliage. At f happier. time ‘would have been charmed with it. . w Sbe.b y Rave itaglance. _ Af the supper-hour bee greremmne her listless- ‘ ate I a dec aranerkt There was.no response. There food t 5 Be hy ee ke Ty og kg wines eactiteer senase dapertion: 7 despite her ut- most wor to retain consciousness, The beverage had been strongly drugg and she was br niger ps e irresistibly overcome the same pes Mec ps which had Gaices locked wig senses in a) on. 7 LL LL LL ets teat tt tC LLL LLL LL LLL LL LLL LL LLL LL A LR LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LDL LLL A Darivaess had long fallen when the door of her . cc A a ET Phil Hardy, the Boss Boy. ——o room was cautiously opened and Cunningham entered. seen “Tt has.morked,," he said, tri hantly, as he saw paent form stretched prone and motionless on the oor. Hastily calling down the stairs the boy Will ap- pe : oa chases ready?’ he asked. *Allri ht. ‘That will do.”’ As Will retired Mr. Cunningham quickly envelo ed Alice’s insensible frame in a dark cloth, andlif and bore her hastily down-stairs. Five afterward the sound of wheels de- noted the rapid departure of a cari | ‘‘Now for the spy,’’ said with an € Cunning air of deep satisfaction, as he returned to the house. “If I can shoot the goung hound as a burglar it will be a glorious riddance.”’ It was an hour afterward when the light figure of Phil Hardy cautiously approached the house from the garden, followed at a distance by Mr, Russell. T don’t quite like the looks of th ngs said Phil, dubiously. ‘‘ Let me work up a little closer.”’ At that instant a shrill whistle, three times repeat- ed, sounded from the direction of the road. **D ck’s signal, by all that’s blue!” cried Phil. ‘“* Down with you, and crawl out lively.” Phil’s fall to his hands and knees was not an in- stant too soon, for the same moment a pistol-shot resounded, and a ball swept past the space which he had just occupied. CHAPTER XVII, A DOUBLE CHASE, Pum. Harpy’s fall had been so nearly simultane- ous with the report of the pistol, that it was natural to suppose that he had been shot and had fallen in consequence, Such was Cunningham’s idea, and he stood Jook- ing with great satisfaction at the dark spot.in which he fancied that he could trace the outlines of the fallen boy. ‘‘Not bad for an after dark aim,’ he said. ‘I think that boy is out of my woy- he little yeaa would have put me to a deuced lot of trouble if I hadn’t settled him.—The ball must have hit him hard. ‘here was not acry, nor @ groan even.”’ Sos g, with as much unconcern of manner as if he had simply killed a wasp, he left the house and walked out toward the dark spot in the shrub- bery which he imagined to be Phil’s body, To his amazement it proved to be only the shadow of a bush, There was no Phil there. ‘“Tll swear if that isn’t odd!’ he muttered, look- ing eagerly around with theidea that the boy might have been wounded and have crept a short ance away. | | * But look as he would he could find no trace of the OY. fe lit a match and flashed its light on the sur- roun sward. There was no sign of blood, ** Can it be ble that he has escaped again?” he asked himself, ‘It looks like it. The boy must have a charmed life.” At this moment the boy, Will, appeared, with an excited look. “*T heard a pistol go off, sir,” he explained. “Yes. I aly ah aoe Si lie a ham, spereeee, Oe 2m to the house and stir u arry. The twoof you search the grounds. He must, be hid somewhere in the bushes.’ , | Their search was destined to prove unsuccessful, Phil and his companion were site grounds, and were proceeding rapidly in the tion of the signal they had heard, Mis “There's somethin’ mighty gueer "bout. that bul- let,” said Phil, refiectiyely, ‘Jf I hadn't jist slid down I'd been toppled over like a stray pigeon. What's your notion ‘bout it, Mr. Russell?” “Tthink,’? was the quiet reply, ‘that, Cunning- ham knew you this afternoon, and has been on the watch.. Ha may have ampersee our return to-night.” “He moveht, that’s a fact,’ answered Phil reflec- tively.. ‘‘It was awarrer squeak, anyhow, . That's twice I've got away by a half-inch. The third time’s got tocome. Hope I'll only have the same luck.” ‘**T hope you will.—But where are yon going now?”’ ‘‘ After the little chap that whistled. Dirty Dick we call him.—Jist wait. Dll stir him up agin,’ Phil whistled, making the same signal they had heard; but in a much lower tone. . It was ansvrered from the road, just before them. A few steps more brought them in sight of a slender figure b ‘the roadside. ** Dick! crich ], cautiously. ““Tt’s that. ide lL person,” answered the boy. “Glad you heeref me, I’ve been goin’ along, here whistlin’ for a good while. Didn’t know which was the house.” ‘And what’s up now?” Phil shortly asked. ** Struck ‘*Guessso. Who's that with you?’ ‘““It is Mr. Russell, Miss Homer’s friend.” __. “Allright. You didn’t go through the house?” ‘‘No, norean’t now, They're on the look-ous. I come mighty near gittin ventilated with a pistol bullet.” ‘‘Heered the shot. Thought somebody had got wakened up,”’ said Dick, as coolly as if he lived in an atmosphere of ‘bullets. ‘Well, there aint no use goin’ th h the house now.” ‘What's the reason ther aint?’ asked Phil, in his ‘Cause the woman’s not there. She's teok down the river agin.”’ ** Down the river!’ cried Mr. Russell, with a quick *. Yes I seed it myself.” “And you're terrible lorg-winded in telling it,” ady outside the direc-, eee ee ee ee ee ~ er mn oe ee we ee eee ue ee ee re ee ee ee growled Phil. ‘‘ We’re wastin’ minutes, and we aint gol none to spare. Who wasit took her? And how was it done?’ “Tu was the captain of the Strongbow. He went up stream jist after dark, with two sailors to row. I follered in Joe Brown’s skiff. Kept him in sight till he landed, a piece above here. Then I come ashore below, and scouted round.”’ ‘* An i what did you learn?” asked Mr. Russell, ex- citedly. ‘Bout half an hour ago a carriage come dashin’ down the shore, It dropped anchor jist at the boat. Then they took out of it somethin’ that I knowed was @ woman, from the size and shape. But she was all wrapped up, so that you couldn’t see a sign of her from head to toe,” - ke ante you might be mistaken,” suggested Mr. ussell. , ‘Mistaken be blowed!” returned Dick, with a sniff of contempt. “Phil and me dont git m en, rpc you reckernise this as wimmen’s fixins?” e drew a vail from his pocket. ““Yes,”’ replied Mr, Russell. : ‘Looks like the one Miss Alice had on,”’ said Phil. “Well, I Mund that where they took her out of the carriage. I'm dead sure of that.” ‘‘We must be alive!’’ cried Phil, with a sudden energy. “Every minute counts. Sure it was the capting ?”’ Yes, and two sailors.” ‘““Then she’s all right yit. The capting’s a timer- some feller alongside that mate. And he wont ven- ture to dip her under afore them sailors.’’ ‘What are we to do?” asked Mr. Russell, yielding Phil the leadership. ‘‘Go fer them like ten thousand bricks!’ exclaim- ed Phil, with great energy. ‘‘ You take the skiff, Dick, and pull hard down the river. Thatis if you aint played out now.” ° Mery a bit,’’ said Dick, vigorously. ‘‘Fetch up about the Stronghow, and keep your eyes and ears open. Mr. Russell and me wili take the kerridge and drive in. Strike out lively, Dick. There aint a minute to be lost.” With few words more they separated, Dick going to his boat, and Mr. Russell and Phil hurrying to the stable at which their carriage had been put up. Their drive back to New York was a rapid one. Through the streets they dashed, the wheels rat- tling noisily in the still night. It would have been a dangerous progress by Gaylene but now the avenues were nearly deserted. olicemen stirred on their posts and seemed half inclined to stop the fast driving of our friends. But it was a warm night, and the exertion might have been considerable, So there was no drawback on Mr. Russell's furious driving, and in a remarkably short space of time they were near the East River wharves, and in the vicinity of the Strongbow. 4 take a different mode of It was necessary now to procedure. Putting up the carriage at a hotel, which was fortunately found open, they hastened to the wharf. It was now past midnight, The. night was well lighted, however, by a moon which had lately risen, and which threw a flood of silvery radiance over stream and city, beautifully bringing out the spars and net-like tracery.of ropes, which lay d ned against the starlit sky. | ‘That is our ship,’’ said Phil, cautiously, polmans to the Strongbow, which now, fully unlo , rose high out of the water. ‘She looks to be fast asleep. ‘ Pt see a live thing the size of a mouse on her eck,” . , | ‘*Can they have arrived yet with the boat?” asked Mr. Russell. “'They’ve had time enough,” replied Phil, confi- dently,. '' Jist you rest here, agin the post. I'll scoot nth nell damkeotébeihay, almost i e small figure, of the boy became almost imper- ceptible, as he passed in a stooping attitude along the pier, in the shadow of the ship’s hull, Mr. Russell stood partly concealed by the post, and waited impatiently for his return, The observant eyes next saw Phil on the deck, moving with excessive caution, and pausing, as if to listen, at the cabin-door. : He was obliged to suddenly crouch down, in the shadow of a coil of ropes, as this door opened, and a tall, dark-bearded man stepped on deck. ‘IT fancied I heard a noise,”’ he remarked to some one. below, ‘‘ but it must have been a rat. There is nothing here except moonlight. There is a con- founded sight too much of that.” “To-night wont do,” spoke a voice from below, which Phil recognized as that of Captain Monrce. 4“ Nap omnorron. mg bt ietiber +? the meee poet ‘ cur wv) £0 the mate. ‘‘ We cansafe go to our beds et aleaes the sleep of the virtuous,”’ There was aslight laugh from below as he retired, closing eho doer nd : ry. Russell had.seen this movement, but had not heard.the low-spoken words. » He waited quietly for FATT connect,” sald the latte rising ddenly be correct,” e ry su - side him, | “The. Cals eeatt ss Homer, I mean. It comes kind of nat'ral to say gal, some- e?” ) ‘‘ Sartain.—And, what’s more, we're all sound fur to-night. We kin go home and snooze in our virtu- ous beds, as Mate Hendricks says.”’ ‘“You overheard them then?’’ Mr, Russell eagerly asked. ¢ t else was I thar for, I'd like to know? Why l've got ears like gimlets, and kin screw them into any man’s bi passed, to the ess. Phil proceeded to relate what had intense interest of his auditor. ) “No use keepin’ out of bed and losing our »'%ep,” = Com Eebooks-ecom