Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 470 — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

ya . J Y em. owe ee -————— ne Wwe. - = - -———$—_— gold watch and some money in the trunk, but they were not. touched. The missing objects consist of an old-fashioned gold locket, that con- tained a miniature, and a packet of very im- portant papers. These papers prove my mother’s claim to a large estate in Scotland, which claim is disputed by certain parties over there. I be- lieve that those papers are ‘the goods’ spoken r, -— ° 7 ? - eS! ager oe so, women eb we popes peewee eee Gee ee oy ew oe ae - , of in the letter: but about the Broad street find | mentioned, I know nothing, although I believe I have read something about a missing Broad street broker called the Nabob,.” ‘‘ There is such a person missing,” said Felix, ‘*but I can’t connect his disappearance with the robbery at your house,” ‘“Nor I, only if the ‘ Broad street find’ refers to him, the person who planned our robbery knows something about the case.” ‘“Mr. Hodge, you ought to be a detective!” exclaimed Felix, with a smile. ‘‘T want to get away from New York as soon as I can,” was the answer. ‘* Won’t you help me a little with my case? Find out for me, if you can, who this ‘ Nosegay’ is, and I'll see tnat you're well paid. The letter was written in a cramped hand, as if an old man handled the pen. Aman in Norristown said it looked like it was written by a Jew.” “A Jew, and signed ‘ Nosegay?’” ejaculated Felix. ‘‘ Yes,” answered Hodge, with a smile. The boy detective was silent for a minute, during which time the eyes of the Jerseyan watched him narrowly. ‘‘T will try to do something for you,” he said at last. “If i will come here to-morrow night at seven, [ will report.” ‘* That’s business!” cried Harris Hodge. *‘ You shall never have cause to regret the assistance you render me in this ease. How much do you want in advance?” And he thrust one hand into his pantaloons pocket as if about to pro- duce a pocketbook. ‘‘ Not a cent,” said Felix. that way.” ‘*Then I will increase the reward we have offered for the stolen papers, which was two hundred dollars. The man who pronounced the writer of that letter a Jew says he can describe eople by their writing. Hesaysthat Benjamin loss’s correspondent is an old Jew, who has the look of an adroit rascal, and that he is crippled in the hand that holds his pen. But there may be hundreds of such people in this city. Give * Nosegay ’ achase, anyhow, and Ill be here to- morrow night at seven, sharp, to hear your re- ort. ‘*Tll do my best. I always do that,” replied Felix, with a smile, and the next moment he bad dismissed his visitor and was alone. ‘‘What lucky fortune is this?’ he exclaimed, almost before Harris Hodge had reached the sidewalk below. ‘‘ Here comes a man from New Jersey, and in telling me about a robbery in the interior of that State, gives me what may be a clew to the missing Nabob! Jehosaphat! this is luck! The letter undoubtedly referred to Mark Morey when it mentioned the Broad street find. That affair has baffled the police and the detectives, and the excitement has cooled down just as the letter says. And ‘ Nosegay’ is said to be an old Jew with acrippled hand. I know such a person, and of all men in New York, he is the one to engage in dark work. I don’t care much about the missing locket and papers, I want to get at the bottom of this Broad street mystery, and I must not forget that I promised Estelle Morey to get there.” Felix remained in his room, and did not fol- low Harris Hodge down upon the street. There was a gleam akin to victory in the Jer- seyan’s eyes, and his steps were quick and light as he hurried away. Suddenly about two squares from Felix’s loog- ings he was met by &@ man whom he recognized, with a laugh. = ‘ What luck, Harris?’ asked this person of the boy’s visitor. ‘ “T think I’ve put him on the trail,” was the reply. ‘‘ He reports to me to-morrow night at seven, at his room.” “We will see about that,” was the reply. ‘‘ What kind of a lay did you give him?” ‘‘T told him about the robbery at our house near Morristown, Jersey; that we had a hand who got a letter from New York signed ‘* Nose- gay,” which letter an expert SayS Was written by a Jew witha papas hand. I saw his eyes leap when I gave him that lay. And in order to fasten the matter I repeated the letter, and sot into it a hint about the Nabob. I did it well, too, Larry. I fixed the whole thing up in his room before he dropped in.” *“T don’t work ‘+ He didn’t suspicion? a EE ~~ The Boy Shadow. e sy oe ~~ 6 SY YO ee ey ee ee ‘*That I wasn’t Harris Hodge from Jersey? Not a bit of it. For once the sharpest boy in New York has been completely hoodwinked. We'll go down and post Moses. He may drop in yet to-night,” The two men hurried along together. In a little while they turned into Baxter street, and found themselves among the Jewish clothing stores that for several squares line the western side of that thoroughfare. The Jew shops of Baxter street open early and close late; and the two men brought up against more than one son of Abraham as they ran the gantlet, At last they dodged into one of the many clothing shops, and passed to the back part of the store before they accosted anybody. ‘Vat is it, my fr’ents?” said a Jew of about sixty, who suddenly made his appearance as if he had come up through the floor. ‘*Talk to him, Harris,” said one of the men in a whisper as he turned back, ‘* You know how to deal with this night-hawk.” ‘*See here, Moses; we've got business for you,” said Harris Hodge, looking sternly at the old Jew. ‘* Your store may be visited yet to- night by a boy who is looking after the gold pigeon of Broad street.” ‘* Veeping Rachel!” exclaimed the Jew, start- ing back. ‘“*Tt will be worse than that if he gets on to ou,” said the man, who seemed to enjoy the ew’s fright with an inward pleasure. “T vill shut my shop at once, an’ s’help me gracious—” ‘You will leave this shop open!” interrupted Harris Hodge, with anairof auchority. *‘‘ That boy will come like a customer perhaps; you may even sell him a suit. You must get him into your back-room and then you must touch the utton. Do you understand, Moses?’ ‘Ven amt terhaf rest? I sleep mit mine eyes open every night, und I hear—” ‘You'll hear the click of a sheriff’s trap if that boy succeeds!” hissed Hodge. ‘* Who sends him here?” gasped the Jew. ‘“Tdo! A young woman put him on a cer- tain trail to-night. If he wins,’woe to us; if he fails, we’re rich!” CHAPTER III. THE JEW’S CUSTOMER. THE eyes of Moses Meek, the Jew, seemed about to start from his head when Harris Hodge turned on his heel and walked toward the front of the store where his companions awaited him. ‘* Look a-here, my fr’ent. T’ink uf my vife an’ childrent,” said Moses, following the stern man up, his face as white as his future shroud. ‘*Can’t ve git along mitout touchin’ der button on dat poy?” “Try itif you want to,” said Hodge, coldly, over bis shoulder, and then he turned full upon the Jew. “Ifyou want to feel a rope tighten under your chin, try it, I say. Just let that young spotter alone and enjoy the consequen- ces. ‘¢ Spotter, eh?” ejaculated Moses. ‘‘That’s what I said, if my memory serves me well,” was the reply, “Ven vill he come?” ‘¢ He’s liable to drop in at any minute. You'll have to keep a sharp lookout, for there’s no tell- ing how or when he'll come. Now, sir, do your duty, and Moses Meek will continue to serve Mammon and the devil on Baxter street.” A moment later Hodge joined his companion, with a chuckle, and the detestable pair of first- class villains walked from the shop. ‘I vish I could plot out der day I got ac- quainted mit dose men,” murmured the Jew. Veeping Rachel! but dey cifs me more trouble den al mine business. Dey haf got dere thumbs on me an’ I moost do dere bidding. Father Apraham! is dere no vay for Moses Meek to escape?” The Baxter street Jew ~ont to the rear of the store room and opened a dou» which led into a small room not over seven feet square. It was dimly lighted by a lamp that occupied one of many shelves filled with valises, old. clothes and unsalable goods of many descriptiéns. The dust of months, if not of years, lay thick upon them — moths had corrupted all that was cor- ruptible. : A thorough inventory of that little room at the time of which we write would have revealed some odd articles, for at the back of a number of shelves were goods for which detectives and peste had looked everywhere save in the right Moses Meek migh doa legitimate business as a clothier, but he had taken into his store goods —— Oe eee eee nnn — -_ _ EEE eee eT oe rad -_—<- 3 that were not his own, and some articles for which blood had been shed. The old Jew on the night in question shut the door of his treasure-room softly yet tightly be- hind him, and took down the lamp, oving to- ward the further side of the apartment he ex- amined a dark little object that looked like the head of a large nail that had been driven into the wall. The examination seemed to satisfy him. “T haf ter doit. If I don’t he says I vill hear der click of a sheriff’s trap, an’ my gracious! I don’t vant ter hear dat. If der poy succeeds ve’ll be poor; if he fails, rich! As dat is der cave, he vill fail!” The Jew spoke the last sentence in determined tones as if the money consideration involved in the affair had decided bim, and it probably had. He put the lamp on the shelf and went back into the store-room. His family lived in the rooms above the shop, and he could hear several children romping overhead, He walked to the front door, but Harris Hedge and his companion had disappeared. Baxter street had its usual gaslight pedestrians, and Moses eyed the younger ones closely, for he was watching for the boy who was expected to come to the trap. ‘*Hasn’t he got around yet?” asked a voice so near the Jew that he started back as if a pair of handcuffs had snapped at his wrists. ** Who dere you mean, my fr’ent?”’ he asked, and then he saw that he was confronted by Har- ris Hodge, but minus the full black beard worn by him during his visit to Felix Fox’s quarters. ‘Oh, ish it you? No, he has not come, an’ I wish ter gracious he’d git run over by a hack or kilt some other vay before he comes.” ‘* No such interference like that, Moses, my Judean seraph,” laughed Hodge. ‘* The boy may be a little slow, but he will come. I put a suspicious lug in his ear a while ago, and don’t you forget it, Moses,” ‘*T haf peen lookin’ at all der young snipes vat pass, but no poy come in yet,’ ‘When he comes you want to do your duty. Remember! if he wins, woe to us; if he fails, we are rich.” ‘** How rich?” asked Moses, ‘* Nearly as rich as we want to be.” ‘* Rich enough ter puy der Prooklyn Pridge?” grinned the Jew. “Blamed near it,” was the reply, and Hodge looked serious as he spoke. ‘‘ The keeping of that boy allows us to play the other big game through, Moses, he is capable of taking up the trail where the best spotters of New York have quit disgusted, and of following it to the end.” ‘* Dot poy?” “Felix Fox, the Boy Shadower of New York, the same Nemesis who hunted down your friends, Silas Sharp and Darius Dodge, a few months ago,” The Baxter street sheeny recoiled as if the boy spotter in person had touched him. ‘Den, py Heavens! I owe him von!” he ex- claimed through close-shut teeth. ‘“* Harris, my fr’ent, go und hunt him up; pring him here an’ let Moses Meek avenge der death uf his fr’ents, Vere is der young spotter now?” ‘‘On his way here, I hope. But here is a cus- ° tomer.” The Jew did not have many customers after sundown, but as Harris Hodge spoke a man stopped among the various articles of wearing apparel displayed on the sidewalk and commenc- bd to examine a pair of pantaloons. Leaving Hodge, the Jew bounded toward the man and fastened on him in an instant. “Good evenink, my fr’ent,” smiled Moses. ‘¢ Vas you looking for a nice bair of bants? Vat you tink of dose, eh?” And the Jew lifted one jeg of the garment and held it admiringly before the man’s vision. ‘ Dose bants cost me eleven tollar. Isell’em to you for five an’ a halluf. Step in an’I will wrap dose bants up for you.” ‘“What’s your stock inside?’ asked the man, glancing into the store, which was one mass of cheap clothing. ‘Der pest in der city!” exclaimed Moses, catching the man’s arm and almost dragging him forward. ‘1 kin fit you out in a suit enough ter call on der mayor in, an’ too cheap to talk apout.” In outa moments Moses might have been struck by the willingness of this stranger to be dragged into his store, but now he was so ex- cited over the prospects of a sale that he took note of nothing else. ‘A sucker has swum into Moses’s net sure enough,” said Harris rat, ere he glided away and eft the Jew to scale his catch on the usual manner. * _—. q Pi a . J . as £ Se ‘ choo S