Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 470 — page 5: what you’re looking at

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

of his coat; then he shut the heavy steel door and made the combination secure once more. The eyes of the boy spotter gleamed with tri- umph at this discovery; he was ready to let his hold slip and to drop back to the floor, The gas-jet that burned all night in the corri- dor showed Felix hanging along the door, It revealed him to a man whocame upon the scene suddenly and without noise. This night-prowler was in his stocking-feet. He was well built and active as a cat. His teeth met suddenly as he came toward Felix like a shadow gliding over the wall. His noiseless strides were panther-leaps. All at once one of his hands darted at the boy clinging to the door-frame, and the next half- second Felix was in his clutches, A lowery rose from the boy’s lips; it was a ery he could not help. The man jerked him down, but he did not have to. The sinking clutch had loosened Felix’s hands. ‘* Here, captain, in there!” said the spotter’s captor, striking the door with one hand, and then for the first time Felix saw the fellow’s face. It was one he did not recognize, but the eyes looked familiar perhaps in their ferociousness only. A moment after the knock somebody on the inside came toward the door, and the lock click- ed Felix crossed the threshold in the clutches of his captor, the door shut behind him with the musical snap of a spring catch. “This night-weasel was hanging along the door,” said the man, addressing Roger Marxe, who had donned the green goggles again. ‘‘If ou don’t know him, Ido, It1s Felix Fox, the jaa Shadower of New York.” he broker uttered a ut ‘*There is danger while he lives,” the man ‘went on, ‘*Then he must die!” said the Nabob’s partner. CHAPTER V. THE SECRET TUNNEL, It isthe same night. The hour is half-past ‘eleven o’clock, and the clothing shops alon Baxter street greet the late passers by wit closed doors; their queer owners, the Moseses, Abrahams and Solomons of Jewry have counted the gains of the day and gone to bed. Here and there an all-night drinking shop is open, and the frequenters of that disreputable quarter of New York indulge in their late amusements, cards and liquor. The clock of a certain saloon known every- where by the sententious name of ‘‘ Jacob’s,” in- dicates the exact time mentioned above, and a man comes in. This person is not unknown to the portly in- dividual behind the bar, for both nod slightly as their eyes meet. *“‘ Jacob’s” is three doors from Moses Meek’s, and not far from an alley. Nobody can te}] how this saloon got sandwiched between two clothing stores, but there it is as the police know, and Jacob, the proprietor, sells beer, while his neighbors sell suits. The man who came in at half-past eleven, he through the saloon and lett it by a back oor. He found himself ina small hall which was very dimly lighted by a gas jet that smoked the wall. At one end of this hall was a closet, which the man opened with a key which he took fron? his pocket, He entered the dark place and shut the door behind him. It closed with a snap. Stooping down, he found an iron ring in the floor which be caught and twisted from left to right, then he pulled upward and opened a trap. If he had held a match in his hand, he might have seen a flight of steps, but he evidently knew they were there. moment later he descended into the dark- ness, letting the door down over him, If he counted the steps, he must have found that they numbered seven. When he reached the bottom he stood on damp ground, and near a wall which he touched with his elbow. ‘f don’t want any light to guide me,” said this man, addressing bimself in audible tones, **]’ve been here before and I know just where togo. There’s precious few places I don’t know in this city, big as it is, Lut I never come to this one unless I’ve got work on my hands. He moved forward down a narrow way which was not wide eno gh to admit of two persons walking abreast. The width was not uniform either, as if it was a tunnel hastily constructed, The man did not remain long in this subter- - ee. — — — Lhe Boy Shadow. ranean passageway, for he soon found another flight of steps, and, from the top one, knocked against a wooden covering, n a little while a response came, and a tra door was opened, revealing an old man, Jewis in cast, holding a lamp in his hand, ‘* Py der fleece of Gideon! Meester Harris, is dot you?” was the sentence that greeted the man underground, ‘* It is nobody else, Moses,” he cried, emergin from the place and shutting the trap himself, ‘* What has happened? You look as if you had seen your father’s ghost.” ‘*S’help me gracious, [ vish I had seen him!” said the Jew, who was our old friend Moses Meek. ‘‘ Vare ish dot poy?” ‘* Didn’t he come?” ‘* No; but a man did.” ‘Who was he?” ‘* Meester Harris, you know dot man vat vas lookin’ at dose bants ven you vent avay?” 6s Yes. ” ‘*He vasn’t vat he represented, Dot mans, Meester Harris,” and the Jew spoke very slow- ly, ‘‘dot mans, I say, was worse dan dot poy.” ** What!” ‘* Dot vas Shrewd Simpson,” Harris Hodge started back with an oath on his lips, ‘‘Shrewd Simpson, the independent detec- tive?” he exclaimed. ‘‘See here, Moses, what are you giving me?” The old Jew raised his hand solemnly and re- peated his declaration. ‘What did he want?” asked the rascal. ** Dot Broad street man.” | ** The Nabob?” ce Yes.” ‘* How on earth did Shrewd Simpson find this trail?” ejaculated Harris Hodge. ‘* He ish sharper than dot poy.” ‘*Not sharper. He can’t be that,’ was the reply. ‘‘ He has the faculty of stumbling onto trails. Where is he now? You did not let him get away after he told you what he was after?” A smile stole over the sallow and oily face of the Jew, and Harris Hodge saw his deep-set AY eyes twinkle in the light of the lamp he held. “Aha! I see that he did not get away!” con- tinued Hodge, who knew how to read by ex- ression. ‘* What tells you this, Meester Hodge?” it your eyes,” laughed the man, ‘ Where is he?’ The Jew went to the stairway that led u from the little apartment to which he had ad- mitted Harris Hodge and opened the door. On the board he struck his bony knuckles, and called ‘‘ Sarah!” in a low voice. The answer came in the appearance of a wo- man who weighed nearly three hundred pounds, and the moment she caught sight of Hodge ber eyes lit up with the light of some infernal triumph. ‘Dot womans 1s worth her weight in gold,” said the Jew. ‘By Jupiter! I’d like to have it,” grinned Hodge. ‘‘ Had it not peen for her we would all pe in der Toombs dish minute, Veeping Rachel! but she went for dot Shrewd Simpson vot come here to find dot Broad street panker!” —. By this time the big Jewess was standing be- fore Harris Hodge who almost felt like shrink- ing from the savagery of her eyes, ‘* Vare is dot spy, hey, Meester Harris?” cried Mrs. Meek leaning suddenly forward like a top- pling pillar. ‘’ He is vare he finds nodings.” “Tf don’t doubt that if he came in contact with you,” smiled Harris Hodge, who knew that in a contest of strength with the Amazon he would stand no show, ‘‘ But show me where he is or tell me—” “Gif me your lamp, Moses, I vill convince Meester Hodge dot Shrewd Simpson vill never | find dot gold king of Broad street;” ‘* He is dead, then?” The sentence seemed to lend the Jew’s cheek a deathly pallor, ‘‘ Dot is a secret vot Sarah keeps,” he said. ‘* She vill not tell me vot she did mit dot man, nor vill she Jet: me see him,” fhe Amazon looked at Hodge from behind the lamp she carried and seemed to laugh with her eyes, ‘‘ Come,” she said turning toward a door that led from the back part of the room, and giving her husband a look of authority she continued: ‘‘ Stay vare you are, Moses, or go up to der children.” Hodge followed the woman from the room and into a back building which was a closed re eee 5 of anything like A A ttt es —— ees ee structure almost destitute furniture. ‘* Moses might have let that man go, but he fell into my hands,” she said as she gave the lamp to Hodge and bent over the bare floor, The next moment the Jewess raised a door which was so neatly fixed in the floor that Harris Hodge did not notice it. ‘A cellar?” exclaimed the man léaning for ward, ‘* A well!” said the woman, ‘* Jupiter! is he down there?’ and the eity villain turned upon the grinning mountain of flesh and almost recoiled from her gaze. There was no need of a reply, but the finger of the woman pointed downward, and sho laughed till her eyes seemed to dance under their dark lashes. ‘That's all,” said Hodge, ‘I don’t want to know anything more. One thing Ido know, and that is that 1 never want to fall into your clutches.” The door fell back again, and the woman was about to conduct the plotter into the store when he touched her arm, ‘* How is he ?” he asked. **Safe. Ask me no more questions,” ‘‘T must—one more. Does he show any signs The two turned back into the little room, which was quite dark until illumined by the er | ‘* Moses must be in the store; the door is open, I see,” said Harris Hodge. The door that led from the treasure-room into the store-room proper stood wide open, an un- usual circumstance, If Hodge had looked at the Jewess at that mo- ment he would have seen that she was startled. She sprung across the room, lamp in hand, and squeezed herself through the door. A moment later, a wild ejaculation rung in Hodge's ears, He bounded into the store-room. The Amazon was bending over a man who lay on the bare floor, It was Moses, the Jew, All at once she darted at her husband, caught him up, and shook him as if she would. jumble his bones together. Life came back to the Jew under such a terrible shaking, and his eyes opened, ‘* He—ish—gone!” he gasped, ‘*Great God!” cried Hodge. ‘Holy Peter.” exclaimed Mrs, Meek, and dropping her husband upon the bare floor, she turned, ran into the little room, and rushed up- stairs, Sah CHAPTER VI. TWO BIRDS AT LARGE, Harris HopGs, or Hotspur, by which name he was known to the people of his class, stood spellbound over the prostrate Jew. The giantess had disappeared, but he could hear her mounting the steps with more than her usual agility. Te eae he stooped and seized the Jew. } ‘‘ What has happened?” he demanded, shaking him vigorously. ‘““Who has _ escaped’—the Nabob? There was no reply, for Mrs, Meek bad let Moses fallso unceremoniously that he had re- lapsed into unconsciousness, and Hodge in his rage and disgust threw him upon a pile of cloth- ing, Then he turned into the little room with the intention of following the giantess, but when he reached the stair he encountered her coming down, ° ‘Tt was not him,” she said, meeting Hodge’s questioning look. ‘‘It was somebody else if he saw anything at all.” Hodge looked and felt relieved. ‘*Mebbe the person is concealed in the store,” he said, after a moment’s reflection. He walked into the store-room and lit the gas, after which, revolver in hand, he searched every nook between the treasure-rvom and the front door, The search revealed no traces of any: body, and he came back to the Amazon with a sneer on his lips, ‘‘He must have fainted at his shadow,” he said with a glance at Moses, who was still] un- conscious on the heap of clothing. “ If one man is in the well and the other where he was, we have nothing to fear.” ‘ But dot poy?” asked the Jewess, anxiously. “Oh, we'll get him,” laughed Hedge, | “‘ He may come to-morrow. When Mcses comes te you will tell him to play the button without fail when the young fox comes.” ‘‘Tf he doesn’t, I will,” was the reply. A minute afterward Harris Hodge ways JNA > 5)