Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 512 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

— we >, fs Me. ve : Rh = Reet oa 14 Dodger Dick. ts | ¢ AS Bey . ae Diamonds, Tony Whack and Bender. The boy | quarters,” he remarked, replying to their inquis- ‘* What! do you mean that you have him?” 3 | By ‘ha is in Jack’s power, and he is holding him back | itive looks. ‘* You fellows kin stay here and ** No, but I can put my hand on the prize.” y ny 3 like a trump card. I could hardly get away | spring traps for some one else; but remember! ** Not on Jack?” from the little fellow whose lower limbs seem to | vou don’t want to play any games ag’in’ Jack 0’ ‘On Jack, when he comes back to the new | be useless. He wanted to teil me every thing be | Diamonds!” quarters; but on Prince Peter, now.” had heard, but, most of all. he wanted to baf- The look which accompanied the words was a ‘*'You’re a trump, Dick!” f fle the rascals who had set the trap forme, startling threat only too well understood by **T’ve had a long hunt, and I feel a bit tired.” ‘‘Well, I went to ‘ the chapel’ as I had prom- | those who heard. ‘he two wharf rats made no | Jack has taken Prince Peter away from the | ised Tony. He met me there, but Bender was | reply, and when Jack o’ Diamonds, carrying the | wharf nest: he wouldn’t trust him any longer | not tobefound. Tony had agreed to give me | crippled boy passed beyond the light, they had | with Tony and Bender. But,” and the boy’s some information about Peter Prayne, the mer- | seen him for the last time. | eyes twinkled with triumph, ‘* he couldn't hide | chant’s lost boy. He wanted me to accompany oe long from Dodger Dick, the ferret of the wharf. | him to the bottom of the basin. I did so but CHAPTER XVIL. | I have dropped in to tell you, Donald, that I ; when he withdrew to see that there were no lis- THE RAT’S VICTORY. hope to finish the job to-night.” teners around, I scrambled back, and waited. Just three days after these events, Mr. Peter | . Not alone?” : All at once a strange noise grated on my ear | Prayne found a letter on his private desk at the | “Of course not, but-Jack will know that the | and I knew that a trap of some kind had been | store, No onein his employ knew how it got | rat bas turned catcher.” ' sprung. If Prince Peter told the truth, the bot- | there, but there it was to confront the merchant —— : tom of the basin disappeared fora moment. It | when he came down-town for the day. It was verging onto eleven o’clock that night sounded like something of that kind. As noise- Mr. Prayne broke the seal and read {several | when @ man climbed a narrow stair to the caniy a cour 3 sens rom the as we psi sentences written in this manner. eh pe hates pS a a ee ees building, etting Tony and Bender know that ad es- ps a _and unlocked the door of a little room, untid caped. They are still in thedark; but Red Rey- Ped i = heme dah Gere te etree and dimly lighted, 4 nard, who bled Peter Prayne to the tune of | [¢ you mean business, say so in to-morrow’s Hérald ln one corner of the apartment stood a nar- twenty-five thousand dollars last night, knows | ina ‘‘ personal’’ addressed to ‘‘ Business.”’ This is | row cot, which was occupied. that some rats are sharper than the traps.” the last chance. I am the person, and the only one ‘*Aren’t you asleep yet, Peter?’ he asked, ‘Since my escape from Jack o’ Diamonds’s | who knows. BUSINESS.” | bending over a cot, and looking into the bright dead-fall, I have thrown Red Reynard into the As the merchant folded the note, a boy who | eyes of a boy. | hands of the detectives. I followed him and | had just entered the store walked up to the pri-| ‘‘I have been asleep, but a dream awakened . Peter Prayne to the merchant’s house, and at | vate desk and took off his hat with a cheery, | me.” is the steps of an ‘L’ depot, I had the villain | bright-eyed ‘‘ good-morning.” ‘You dream too much,” growled the man. | turned over. The whole lot are caged now but It was Dodger Dick, the Wharf Spy Detec- | ‘‘ What did you dream this time?” | Jack.” tive. ““T thought a splendid carriage drove up te . ‘*The coolest and shrewdest of all!” ejacula- ‘‘No clew yet, Ricoard?” asked the merchant. | the door, and I was taken up through the city to ted Donald. ‘If he suspects that you have | ‘“‘ Three days have passed since—” a magnificent house.” eluded him he will take flightand not get his ‘‘ Since we nabbed Red Reynard, eh? This is ‘* Fudge! fiddlesticks!” growled the listener. just dues.” the third day, sure enough.” ‘“‘ That’s all nonsense, Peter.” ‘*] would be willing to call it quits,” was the ‘* It cannot be that Jack o’ Diamonds has got A knock sounded on the door. singular reply. wind of the arrest?” ‘** Who’s that?” he exclaimed. he oenig pore gave Dick a surprised ook. ‘No! The affair has been kept out of the ‘* Mebbe the little girl who was here yester- ‘* After all he has done—after his infamous | papers, and Red 1s in close confinement. He is | day. She said she would come back.” dock trap?” he exclaimed, sullen and fierce, and will confess nothing, | ‘‘ But it 1s nearly midnight. Curse the street “There are some things you don’t know, | through fear of Jack. But I don’t think we'll | fairy if it be her!” And Jack o’ Diamonds went | Donald,” was the answer. ‘‘ But Justice cannot | have to wait for Red to open his head.” to the door. ' afford to let Jack slip through her fingers, Lam} ‘Then you have a clew?” He unlocked it and Spened it a little, when, oing to the end of the scheme. Now, Donald, | ‘‘ Not much of one,” smiled the boy. all at once, it was dashed in his face! : Twill put you on the trail to, Rosa, but you ‘* Well, what rH be make out of that?” and ‘‘ Surrender!” cried two stern voices at the must not publish anything about the romance | Mr. Prayne handed Dick the anonymous letter. | same moment and the ex-convict who stood that began with the mystery of a ring till I give The boy’s eyes dilated as he read; when he | spell-bound in the light looked into the muzzles you authority.” looked up at the merchant his face was wreathed | of two revolvers. ‘**T agree, Dick; but I’ve got two columns in | in smiles. ‘That is the man!” exclaimed a boy coming > my head now, and they’re trying to get out.” “The same old fox!” he exclaimed. ‘I can | forward. ‘ That is Jack o’ Diamonds!” ot long after this there was a pleasant meet- | see his tracks all through this letter.” The look that passed from the convict’s eyes ing in a certain house and Rosa told Donald the “Tt is from the ex-convict, is it?” to the young detective was one of tigerish . story of her adventures, ‘‘Tt is from Jack. And to prove it, I ask you | fierceness. | The reporter listened with rising indignation | to look at this.” ‘* Caught by the rat after all!” he grated, and to her account of Larry Lang’s infancy; how Dick produced a piece of crumpled paper | then submitted to the manacles. | Mrs. Hartwick had been decoyed from her home | from his pocket and fiaced it and the letter side J We by Jack’s voice at the window, how she (Rosa) | by side on the merchant's desk, It is not for us to describe the affecting re- had been decoyed from the house by a well- ‘‘T see! Both are the work of the same | storation that followed the capture of the con- coined story about a sick friend by Larry, how | hand!” declared Mr, Prayne. vict. she was forced to go aboard the boat with Larry ‘““T know that Javk wrote this one,” continued Prince Peter’s dream speedily came true, for . and Jack, how she was taken to another boat in | Dick, touching the crumpled paper. the fine carriage did come, and he was taken to J the harbor, while the first was abandoned to de- ‘Then he wrote the other!’ | a magnificent house up-town, ceive the police, and how she was then rowed to| The next moment the merchant leaned to-| The merchant had found his boy, at last, and , mi, the quarters prepared beforehand for her recep- | ward the boy spy. There was intense eagerness | the doctors thought that the crippled limbs tion by the young rascal! ; in his eyes. could be restored. 4 Larry’s intention was to force the girl into a ‘‘ But do you know for certain that my boy— Some. years before the opening of our story a distasteful marriage, but ber escape from the | my long-lost son is in the convict’s hands?’ he | child was run over in the streets, and the man fhe 7 house, and her unexpected meeting with Dick | cried, wko picked him up disappeared from view, i > | Sly on the street had overthrown all his plans. ‘* Yes,” admitted Dick, candidly. ‘‘ I do know It now turned out that the child was little By, ¢ e bile Rosa was detailing all her experience to | it, Mr. Prayne. I owe my life to your boy! He | Peter Prayne, and that his abductor was a com- , Donald a man appeared suddenly to two young | saved me from one of the most infamous traps | mon thief who, dying afterward, left the crip- larks sitting in the light of a lantern under the | ever set in New York. 1 owe him something, | pled boy and his secret to Jack o’ Diamonds. wharves. you see; I owe him rescue from the hands of the —_—— ‘‘ Here! you ought to be at the bottom o’ the | man who plays him as a card te extort money In due course of time three criminal trials 2s harbor with a stone about your necks!” cried | from you.’ took place in the courts of New York. wn i the man. ‘‘ What kind o’ trap-throwers ar’ ye, The merchant flushed. At one Larry Lang was convicted and sen- Pa " anyhow? Can’t you catch a rat when you have ‘‘(ive me a chance at this man. Stand Jack } tenced toa term in Sing Sing. Pek Te *im at hand?” o’ Diamonds before me, and I will promise you The second trial sent Red Reynard where he Pr k The two boys, Tony Whack and Bender, start- | that the law will never get to dally with the | naturally belonged, and tbe third and most im- - am week, ed back with scared faces, for a thundercloud | monster. But I leave the case with you, my | portant one opened the prison doors again for . es, of pa ion had darkened Jack o’ Diamonds’s face. | boy. You are the best detective I want, Why, | the famous Jack o’ Diamonds. 4; ‘ Roy “A pretty kettle o’ fish you made o’ it!” he | youbeat them all. When will you report again” It then transpired why Dick Sly felt a little 4 % ee went on in a growl. ‘“When I have something to report. This is | pity for the scamp. He was Mother Sturgeon’s ; : | sae ‘* What has happened, Jack?” asked Tony. | the third day and I think I have a clew.” own brother, and the woman loved him, de- A ‘* The kid’s alive!’ ‘Follow it! Don’t let the villain escape you. spite his vil'ainies. | ae FY f., * Dick?” Remember that my boy’s life is at stake! We hardly need say that Rosa became Mrs. ee Peo ty. Gee ** Dick.” ‘IT forget nothing,” was the reply, and the | Donald Dustin, nor that the young reporter ai * re The answer seemed to take the boys’ breath. next moment the merchant was the only occu- | wrote up in style the strange story which start- , ae " a ‘‘The next time I want you todoa thing, | pant of the little room. ed with the finding of a diamond ae ae he ty hs ir ou’ll know’ it; but there’ll be no next time. The day, now well advanced with its roar! The paper Fergus Fleece stole from Larry a eit ae) 7 ies ‘Where's Prince Peter?” and hum of business, was a busy one for Dick. | never did anybody any good. The young sport by a Sees The two boys threw a glance toward a pallet | He was no longer the boy whom we first saw | always refused to say what it was, gee st is just beyond the rim of light. on the bales of the wharves; he had apparently | Dick, the Wharf Spy Detective, was well re- =| (ree = Jack o’ Diamonds crawled forward and bent | deserted his old stamping-ground, and had trans- | warded for his work and the doors of a certain Be Se ah al over the emaciated body that lay on the dirty | ferred himself to another part of the city. New York marsion are always open to him. a AY é Sein g traw. it 0 - M trump card after all,” he muttered to Sat “a himself, ‘‘ I tell ye, Peter, that button was what a ae brought him to time.” ae “oe _ The next moment he picked the boy up softly, TE and came back to Tony and his Cunpanion. “Tm going to take Prince Peter to better | ‘Well, you have been baffled!” exclaimed Reporter Donald, as Dick entered his lodgings late in the afternoon. ‘I see that Jack o’ Dia- monds has given you the slip.” : Dick’s eyes glistened. ‘‘ He has poked his head into the law's noese,” he answ with a light laugh. , ‘ “T tell you what, Peter,” he often says toa ee | boy beginning to walk again, “it isn’t always | that the trap catches the rat,’ {ae “No,” answers Peter withalaugh, “Iknow [| one trap that caught nothing,” _ The boys are great friends, | ee * Se Poti vaee - weet y, 4g a a gti m 44 La s Cc (@) he - +. ce - 4 ? -. ‘ 4, : i a oa + a *, oo” 4 aly ; es = e' Sa Be ~~ ow Sy ¥ + ria” Se ee Sa ee ae eee ee — £5 =