Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 474 — page 2: what you’re looking at

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

2 stone steps were covered with dust, its windows were shut tight, and rumor had it that the house was haunted, and its heir was traveling in Europe, with a purse sufficiently long not to care for the income that the residence might bring him. Gossips said that the former owner had brought there a young wife, and that she had married him, a9 man beyond the meridian of life, for his money, and slighted the one to whom she had been pledged, and who held her heart. Revengeful toward both, so the gossips also said, the lover bad disguised himself as a ser- vant, obtained a place in the household, ana one morning the rich man and his bride were found dead in their beds, while the butler had disappeared. Since then the house had been closed, and, as the world beleved, unoccupied; and yet, upon its top floor was the strange scene that will now be presented to the reader. It is about midnight, and the two large rooms upon the upper floor are occupied by a number of men, The windows are securely closed and cur- tained, the light comes from lamps, though ele- gant gas fixtures hang from the ceiling. The sides of the walls are all padded, so that a blow, a fall, or the voice, cannot penetrate, and the ventilation is through skylights above. A»out a large table in one room, evidently used as a sitting-room, were seated fully a score of men, A glance at them was sufficient to show that they were out of the ordinary run of human kind, for not one was there but who had a his- tory, and not an enviable one, for they were one and all fugitives from justice, men upon whom the stamp of crime had been strongly impressed, never to be obliterated. There were men of all sizes and conditions, from the almost giant of six feet four, to the man with but the growth of.a boy; from those who had been born in a hovel, to one who had been reared in refinement and luxury, but who had dropped low by some criminal act. One strange circumstauce was that every man was close shaven, and had his hair cut short—in fact, almost shaved close to his head; but a glance along the walls where hung clothing of various descriptions, wigs, false beards and numerous other diszuises, showed very plainly that they never appeared in public as they really were, but kept themselves concealed from the eyes of the police who might recognize them as their natural selves. Two of the men were playing chess, another pair had a backgammen board before them, a third couple were engaged in a game of checkers, a fifth was writing, a sixth reading a daily pa- per, a seventh devoured eagerly a novel, an eighth was seated at one end of a table sketching witb no mean skill, a ninth sat in an easy-chair lost in reverie and smoking a pipe, while the balance were either playing cards and gambling or looking on, Suddenly the door swung open and a man en- tered in haste. He was, to all appearances, a minister, for his garb was Of a clerical cut, he wore a white neck- tie, spectacles, and his hair was long and serail ‘* Pals, there’s music in the air!” he cried as hé entered the room, and every eye was at once upon him, ‘ Throwing his spectacles and high hat upon the table, while he dropped into a chair, he con; tinued: ‘* We've got to move, and I want to find the captain.” *What’s up, Wolf?’ asked several voices in «Chorus, while every face wore an anxious look, ‘You know the captain sent me out toa vil- Flora, the Flower Girl. ~~ ee tain Daly of the lorce took a great shine to the youngster,” ‘**'We know he did,” said one. ‘* He let him go down to Maryland and tell old Rossmore all about our plot, and that his boy was dead, and where he was buried, for the al a By ears were wide open the little time 16 Was with us, and what he didn’t find out wasn’t worth knowing. ‘* After he came back, Captain Daly, know- ing the boy was poor, gave him, or rented him, ‘the cottage,on the Sound, where be went to live with his mother, and more, he made the kid a special officer.” ** No!” cried a dozen voices. **Fact! and more, he just got the best of the captain and our comrades, Nick and Buck, and Vil tell you how he did it, for it’s funny. ‘**'You see, Captain Ed went out with the two boys named to get the youngster, and overtook him on the road home with his little sister. ‘*The captain knocked the boy down to put the nippers on his wrists, when the little girl opened on him with a revolver, and he had to git, ‘‘ His carriage was coming along behind, with Buck and Nick in it, and so he hopped in pretty lively and drove away for all he was worth. ‘The girl wounded him slightly, and he came to the city to hunt a doctor, and left Nick and Buck to bag the boy; but they didn’t bag him, as he straightened one out, and captured the other, and the latter is now either waiting in jail, or he turned traitor and got bis freedom for leading the cops on us the last night we spent in our old quarters, and we had to come here. ‘‘Tt’s lucky the cap’n feared our pal would squeal and had this place fixed for us,” one of the band remarked. ‘You bet it is, for we Land Sharks are get- ting such a name, we find it hard hiling; but tomy story, as I wish to tell you how I made it with the kid.” ‘Did he get the best of you, Wolf?” asked a large man, with a strong, resolute face. ‘* He cid, for a certainty, and I’m just out of jail, where that boy put me. ‘* Tt was in this way: ‘You heard the captain tell me to go out and capture him? ‘* Well, just as we got out on the avenue, the captain and me, he took a cab, and up comes a boy to me, / ‘He was a likely, handsome fellow, and he asked me who the captain was, ‘*T told him some ghost story, and that he had subscribed to my books, for I had my sachel of books along; but he didn’t take, and went into the Florist’s, and he asked him, and so got another name, ‘* Well, he put this and that together, it seems, and when [ was sitting on the cottage piazza, talking to his mother and sister, and urging them to subscribe to my books, out comes the boy, gun in hand, and I recognized the one I had seen in the avenue uw few hours before. ‘It was no use playing book-agent and par- son, for that boy wouldn’t swallow anything, and just told his sister to put the irons on me, and she did it, too. ** Then he waltzed me up to the village jail, to stay until he went to town to-morrow morning, and left me in charge of the constable and jailer, who is both in one. ‘*IT saw he was green, so played him for a fool, told him the boy would be prosecuted by my congregation, offered to let him keep my money, gave him my books as a present, and asked him to let me come to town and get some of my deacons to return with me in the early train, ‘* He agreed—and here I am; but when that lage on the Sound, to hunt down the boy weonce | boy goes to the jail in the morning he'll find me ‘had in our power, and whom we intended to | gone, and, as be suspects me of being a Land make play the part of the little Willie Rossmore | Shark, and evidently recognized the captain in kidnapped?” ‘* Yes, and he looked the boy out and out, and “as the kidnapped kid went and died, we could have passed the other boy off for him and got the big reward, only he was too ily for us, and by getting away nearly got our necks in the noose,” said one, ‘**T ha’a’t fergive ther boy for it, nuther,” an- other remarked, ‘* The cap’n never will, and that is why he sent me to get possession of the boy, who lives with his mother aad sister in a cottage on the Sound,” continued the cierical-looking man, ‘¢ You see, after he escaped from us, after pre- tending to play Willie Rossmore, and help us get the reward offered by old Rossmore for his siilen boy, he led the police upon us, and Cap- the avenue; and our pal, the Florist, told him a different story from what I did, he’ll have Cap- tain Daly and a squad on us, and they’ll find us even here,” ‘** You'd better look the captain up at once,” cried ohe man, anxiously. ‘*'That’s what I wish,” “Tl go with you to his rooms,” the man with the strong face remarked, and he arose and began to rig out in a disguise. ‘All right, Tiger; we start at once,” and a few moments after the two men left the room, while their comrades’ hastily began to pack uy their traps, as though expecting a hasty de parture. Leaving ‘the secret rooms the two men, Wolf —— the names their chief had given them, descend- ed the padded stairs to the first floor, their way lighted by lamps, and reaching the kitchen, where the same caution and secrecy was ob- served, they raised a trap in the floor, and mak- ing their way to the cellar, they raised what appeared to be a part of the stone wall, but which was a event stuccoed door in the wall, A tunnel-way was revealed, and entering it, they continued on for some little distance, reaching at last another door, which let them into a building evidently used as a green- house, From this they let themselves out into a street, having first glanced up ana down to see that no one was near to see them make their exit. ‘* Now for the captain’s quarters as quickly as we can get there,” said Tiger, and then set off at a rapid pace up the fashionable avenue. CHAPTER II. THE RAILWAY ACCIDENT. It was the afternoon following the scene in the lair of the band of Land Sharks, and night was coming on; but with a clear sky and full moon peering above the horizon it did not threaten to be at all dark. A railway train went dash'ng along, at the rate of thirty miles an hour, and all unsuspect- ing danger the passengers sat at ease in the cars, chatting, smoking, or reading newspapers or novels by the dying light of day. On that train were two persons whose lives had strangely met, and as strangely parted. They were not in the same car, and neither knew of the other’s existence. One was a man of most striking appearance, dressed in the hight of fashion, :nd with a face that once seen was not readily forgotten. He occupied a seat in the state-room car and was alone, seemingly preferring to enjoy the luxury of travel without companionship, and in the best style. Half a dozen papers lay upon the floor, his luggage was on one seat, with gold-headed cane and umbrella, and he was gazing hstless- ly at the scenery as he flew along, A man of forty-five years, be yet did not look his age, and his bearing was rather mili- tary, as though he had been named a soldier. resently a man entered the drawing-room car, and walked along the aisle as though search- ing for some one. e was in clerical garb and the reader will recognize him as the man Wolf, who had told one story of his having been outwitted by a x Ah, captain, I thought I would find you here, sir, knowing your luxurious tastes,” said Wolf, entering the state-room, through the half- open door of which he had caught sight of the occupant. ‘Ah, Wolf, come in and close the door, ‘* Anything wrong?’ asked the occupant of the state-room, and whom the reader might as well now know was the chief of the Land Sharks. and bore the names of *‘ Elegant Ed,” ‘*The Captain,” and *“*The King o though what his real name was no one had ever been able to discover. ‘* Nothing wrong, sir; but I forgot where pan were to stop in Philadelphia, so wished to find out.” ‘* At the Continental Hotel.” ** You do like good living, sir,” ‘Yes, Wolf, and I will have it to my dying day, while, if I am naar, it shall be in a full- dress suit and white ki rejoinder. ‘Don’t speak of it, sir,” demurred Wolf, with a shudder, and then he added: ‘‘ The boys are all along sir, as you directed, and going in twos and threes.” ‘“Yes, I saw them as we came down on the boat to Sandy Hook; but you understand where you are all to go, until I can secure you quarters in Philadelphia.” ‘* Yes, sir, the boys all know where we are to put up; but I hope it won’t be long before we © are to go back to New York, for that is the town for me.” ‘‘And for me; but that accursed boy has made us change our hiding-place three times, and if we had remained there, he would have and Tiger, and men whose nature well suited ' seen us all nabbed, so I determined upon an im- mediate move to Philadelphia. ‘We can work well and rapidly there, for a short while, and make money, end the New York police, feeling #hat we have gone, will not be on the watch, andI can look up quarters : where we will be wholly secure, and within a few months we can return to them, Cards,” , gloves,” was the calm ° A