Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 485 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

“Git Thar’ Owney, the Unknown. ** Gone—!ost—stolen!”’ wailed the girl. ‘‘Hey-day! What is all this?’ said the old lady, lifting up her hands in astonishment. ‘* Are you sure it is gone?” asked Owney. ‘Feel carefully around your neck.” Though Owney told her to feel for the necklace as a forlorn hope, he felt too certain that it was indeed stolen to expect that May was mistaken. The two young men who had stood for an instant so close to the girl bore to his experienced eye un- mistakable evidences of being swell pickpockets. He knew, too, that their delicate, trained fingers sould easily remove the necklace on that instant without May having the least warning that she was being robbed. ‘* Yes, it is gone,” announced May, after a feverish search about her neck and in the folds of her shawl and dress ‘Ob, my! what shall I do? My father , , s b | gone Idon’t know where, and now Uncle Jim's necklace gone!” ‘Keep up your courage,’ said Owney. ‘“ Things wili be all right to-morrow, no doubt.” ‘Where's her father gone?’ put in Amanda Wil- kins. ‘‘Ain’t you her father? What’s all this? Things seem to be all mixed up like.” Owney explained in a few words, saying that he was a stranger to the young lady, but wanted to place her somewhere in safety for the night, and help her to search for her father in the morning. ‘Well, let her come home with me. I keep a boarding-house just off Fourth avenue, and I can give hr a bed for thenight. It is no use bothering about hotels. Itis time she was in bed, and sbe will be better in a private house than in a great big hotel. She can sleep with my daughter Juliana, and then to-morrow we can see what is best to be don».”’ Both May and Owney were glad to accept the offer of the kind-hearted Mrs, Wilkins, and in another fif- teen minutes Owney had left them at thedoor : f the boarding-house, which the reader has already visit- | 4% ed in company with Scrawny Will and Crook ee “Now for that necklace,” thought Owney. “It seems to mel am playing to terribly hard luck all around, but ll get on the trail 'f those two young Pe vehi as sure as my name is Owney Pearson. [ll show them that the ‘Infant Detective’ has cut his eye-teeth anyhow, and that he can keep his end up in New York as wellas in Pittsburg.” He walked briskly along, as if he had a certain destination in view. he had. He retraced his steps to the spot where May had discovered the loss of the diamond necklace. The house looked quiet, and might have been uite empty for auyening that could be seen from the outside. The door through which the two pick- pockets had been apparently swallowed up was se- curely shut and fastened. but Owney had been through that doorway be- fore and knew the trick of it. There was a rusty nail driven into the door- past so that only just the head showed, Owney put his finger on the nail-head, and in an- other moment or two the big door swung noiselessly open. ES Great taing. electricity,’? muttered Owney. When the door opened it disclosed a long, dark hallway, at the end of which was a glass door with the words * Sample Room " painted on it. It was the place in which Scrawny Will and Jim Cripps had held their conference when Cripps was 8° disturbed over the mysterious reference to the Montville Bank job, uttered by an unknown voice, The red-headed bartender was alone and was still playing that interminable game of solitaire. He looked up and nodded carelessly at Owney as the latter entered. ) ‘‘Any of the boys been here to-night?” asked Owney. The red-headed bartender gave the othera swift glance of suspicion. * What boys?’’ he asked, in a surly tone. ‘* Dunno what boys yer mean. There has been one or two entlemen here to-night, but they has all gone, and was just a-thinkin’ of goin’ myself. I’ve been here since noon, and I’m tired.” ‘ ‘Who have you got in that room?” said Owney sharply, looking fullin the bartender’s sleepy eyes, and pointing toward the little closet where Scrawny Will and Jim Cripps had had their conversation in relation to Stretcher Bull. * No one,”’ said the bartender. **Let me see,’’ said Owney. * Caun’t yer take a feller’s word for it?’ asked the other. “Do yer mean to insiniwate that ['m a liar?”’ Owney did not answer. : P He walked over to the little room and pushed the oor. As he expected it was fastened. ‘There is some one in that room,’ said Owney the Oarsman. ‘Is there? Well who’d have thought it?’ re- marked the bartender sneeringly. ‘ And if there is, have you got any right to push your way into a pri- vate party?’ O yney stepped close to the bar, leaned over, and in a low voice, said: “Look here. | have met you before, Western Pennsylvania late at mipnt in a barn, and you had matches in your hand. I am not alone ere, and if vou don’s want to find yourself in the police-station before morning you had better be civil, Here is the proof of what I say.” Owney drew a small silver badge from an inside It was in pocket and showed that it was his official emblem, as detective. The bartender waa completely cowed. That attempt at arson to which Owney referred | sessed more than ordinary strength. hung over him in the shape of a threat had re ison. of State He did not like the attitude of his big friend. and he could noc afford to quarrel with him—just Owney was sure that the two pickpockets had | yet. been in this quiet saloon, even if they were not here now, which he strongly suspected, In any case he felt that the clew to the diamond necklace must be followed up from here. Young though he was, he had been through many desperate adventures, and the fact that he was utterly alone in a house of doubtful reputation, in the dead of night, did not turn him from his resulve to find out who was in that little room, He pushed the door. It was firm as a rock to any ordinary exercise of strength. But Owney the Oarsman was an athlete, and pos- Drawing his pistol ready fur emergencies, he held it in his right hand while he put his knee and his two hands against the door. He could hear muttering inside the room, He gave one push with all his might. There was 2 crackling as the wood started at the hinges and lock. Another shove. The door burst open. Then—there were two reports as Owney’s pistol was twice discharged. Before he could fire again a sack was thrown over his head, while ropes were pulled around his limbs so tightiy that they cut into the flesh, and amid the mocking laughter of tnree or four men in which he could plainiy distinguish the hoarse tones of the red-headed bartender, ‘‘ Git Thar” Owney realized that he was trapped and helpless, i CHAPTER VI. OLD FRIEND SAVES SCRAWNY WILL’S LIFE—JIM CRIPPS'S TREACHERY. “WELL, if things hasn’t taken a nice turn,’ was Scrawny Will’s disgusted comment, as he sat down in a gutter between two sloping roofs, after puil- ing the rope out of Crook Cripps’s hands and sbut- ting the trap. .‘*Streccher Bull pot fixed and my own man loafing around New York, taking part in catch as-catch-can wrestling scraps and playing the deuce with his constitution generally. Lucky thing he always keeps himself in condition. so that a week's training will make him all right fcr the race, If he loses it I will make it ho. for that blundering fool, Jim Cripps. In his vexation and excitement he had uttered the last two words aloud. “‘Halio, Cap,’ said a voice he recognized as that of rAd Cripps himself, *‘ What do you want with ne 9 Where did you come from?” asked Scrawny ‘Where did you come from yerself?’’ was Jim Cripps's response. “I'm surprised at a gen’elman like you sittin’ aroun’ in dirty gutters on tops o’ houses in the moonlight like a cat as has lost its boardin’-house.”’ ‘Shut your mouth,” said Scrawny Will, ‘*O° course. Same old chestnut. Shut yer mouth, Pity I wasn’t deaf and cumb.”’ grumbled Cripps. ** How did you get up here?”’ asked Scrawny Will, “Why I came up through that house on the corner. The cops was gettin’ too close to be healthy, and I see the door o’ that boardin’-house ajar, and I sors o° quietly sneaked up-stairs and out on the roof. I guessed that was your game, too, and I thought I might meet you here.” “If you’d dove that job right with Stretcher Bull we would never have got into this muss,” rowled Scrawny Will. *That’s right. Blame ir all on me.” *“* Well, it was your fault,” ‘Not wuch it wasn’t.” ‘**Didn’t | tell you to get Stretcher Brill by him- self and fix it with him to throw the race?” ‘And wasn’t I gettin’ him by himself, and wouldn't I have fixed bim if it hadn’t been for you comin’ in there and jumping on the stage the way rou did I had to do it.”’ ** Well, ‘Why? ‘*Because they would have spoiled that boy if I hadn’t interfered.” ‘*| don’t see as you’ve helped things much. You ome know where he is now,” suggested Jim ripps. ‘“You needn’t tell me that. I have you to thank for it as I told you before,” Jim Cripps had been peeping over one corner of dividing the roofs of two houses hg Ww n the a low wa the foregoing conversation, while 2 Sag a remained in his original position seated i gutter. The pugilist now stepped over to the side of Will and looked down at bim with a peculiar gleam in his eye, asif a new thought had just struck him. ** See here, Cap,” he said, “ I don’tlike to have no ee aes: on me alli the time, and I want you to quit it.” ‘Quit what?” said Secrawny Will, looking contemp- tuously at his companion. “Why, quit this always tellin’ me to keep my mouth shut, and blamin’ me for things I don’t do and treatin’ me asif I wasa big mummy, as don’t know anything only to do as I am told; that’s what!” . Jim Cripps was & powerfully built man, and as he stood clearly outlined against the bright moon, he looked to Scrawny Will like a very giant. And the giant was mad too. | win are you talking about?” asked Scrawny ‘*Serawny Will. I have done a many little jobs for you that you wouldn’t want everybo..y to know about,”’ ‘And you have been paid for them, too,” put in Scrawny. “*Zackly. lve been paid for them, I know, and got about half what the jobs was worth,” ‘*Won’t five hundred dollars pay you for the Stretcher Bull racket?” **P’raps it would if I could work it.” * Well, darn your ugly picture, you've got to work it,’’ howled Scrawny, forgetting all about the disad- vantage at which he stood in relation to the prize- fighter away up on the roof of a tall house with no one to whom he could appeal for protection in case of anattack by Cripps. He could only remember that he had risked almost every dollar he had in the world on the success of his “‘unknown,”’ ‘‘ Git Thar Owney,’’ and that there was danger of his being beaten unless the redoubtable Stretcher Bull could be bought. ‘‘AsI told you before, it was you as interfered with the job when I was getting my man just where I wanted him,” growled Cripps, sullenly. ‘*Now, look here, Jim Cripps, we may as well un- derstand each other. I’ve made you afair offer, and a expect you to live up to the contract. If you on’t—”’ * Well, if I don’t, what then?” ‘“*7’ll find means to get even with you.” ‘*Get even, will yer? As how?” ‘“*T have a way of doing it.” ‘* Blow the gaff on me "bout su’thin’, I s’pose that’s what yer mean, ain’t it?” Jim Cripps was moving nearer to Scrawny Will, as he spoke, and the red, bleary eyes, set deeply in the round head, gleamed dangerously, ‘** Don’t come too near just now, Jim Cripps,” said Serawny Will. ‘‘Ilcan hear you just as well where you are,” Still the pugilist moved nearer, with a soft, stealthy step. like that of a cat who has a mouse almost in her claws. ** Keep back, I tell you!” said Scrawny, as his right hand crept behind him toward his hip pocket. “Do you mean to say tha you'll give me away if I ain't able to fix Stretcher Bull?” hissed Jim a ok ‘**Perbaps.” With a bound the pugilist was upon the other, = ying him by the throat with a hold that meant eatn, No chance for Scrawny to draw the pistol upon the butt of which his fingers had rested when Cripps sprung at him. The little man had enough to do to catch his breath, with those merciless fingers on his throat. ‘*Scrawny Will, you have k« pt me under for near- ly a year, and now it’s my turn.” Serawny Will could only roll his eyes in agony. ‘“Y. u've been a-pretendin’ as you knows things about me, and hintin’ as you’d give me over to the cops at any time unless I did as you told me, and makin’ a slave of me in every way.” Bren mre Will gurgled. His face was turning ack, ‘‘Now I’m going to stop it for good.” Cripps forced Scrawny Wiil down on his back in the gutter, and would undoubtedly bave ended the latter’s career then and there if wnexpected relief had not arrived, Just as Cripps was preparing to get a better grip on Scrawny Will’s throat, something seized the Jem Sap by the coat between the shoulder-blades and dragged him from his prostrate would-be vic- tir Yn. Ha “A thousand devils! What is that?” howled ripps. here was no answer, nothing but a burning sen- sation in his back, as if two white hot pieces of stee) were searing his flesh. He tried to turn his head sufficiently to see what new foe he had to contend with. But he could not see anything. though the burning steel was still in his flesh, and was cragging him, back from the gutter where Scrawny lay, slowly re- covering his senses. ‘* Let go!’ gasped Cripps. No answer. = What is it? It is tearing me to pieces,” he howl- ed. With a superhuman effort he tore himself loose and swung around until he could see what the pieces of white-hot steel were, They were the yellow fangs of an immense bull dog. lf there was anything of which Jim.Cripps stood in mortal terror it was a strange dcg especially a bull-dog. The animal stood facin firmly planted as if ready or a Ly apr rible yellow t+eth bared threateningly gd moved back a little. The brute growled. ‘ “Poor dog! Good dog!” said Cripps insinuating- ly, adding to himself: ‘‘ I’m afraid to shoot, *cause it would py everybody up here to see what was the matter, or I’d put a bullet in your ugly carcass in a second,”’ Cripps again tried to edge away. The dog followed him. Scrawny “ill. who had somewhat recovered him- self, was sitting up in the gutter looking around in @ dezed kind of way. _. ? _ He realized that Jim Cripps and a bull-deg were in the neighborhood but he was too bewildered by his recent chosing to feel sny terror of either. | * What the dickens shall 1 do?” muttered Cripps. him, with his four feet and his ter-