Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 512 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

considerable distance, hearing now and then the contests of the huge rats that fought for mastery in the darkness, Once in a while he would hear a weird laugh, some snatches of a song, or some curses; but they seemed to come from far away. It was a dismal place. At last the persistent crawler reached the rim of a ghostly light, and then he came upon sever- al wild-lookirg figures seated in the gloomy smiles of a lantern hanging from a peg. A nest of wharf rats! The visitor was not seen until he was upon the group, and an exclamation of recognition an- nounced him. ‘* You don’t come often any more,” cried one of the group, a youth of seventeen or eighteen with deep, half-famished eyes, and in ragged clothes. ‘*‘There used to be a time when yon weren’t above us wharf rats, Jack o’ Diamonds; but now, since you’re able to strut about in good gear, you keep aloof, or come only when— *“*Give Jack a chence, Bender,” interrupted one of the others, clutching the speaker’s arm with a lot of scrawny fingers, ‘* Whenever he comes he fetches work, an’ you'll spoil it all by growling too soon mebbe.” ‘*Let Bender growl, Tony Whack,” laughed Jack o’ Diamonds. ‘‘ He’s never himself when he isn’t growling over some imaginary bone. How’s times, boys?” ‘* Not very brisk,” answered the one called Tony. ‘‘Somebody bored into a lof 0’ sugar on the pier last night, an’ the cops have their peep- ers open for us.” ‘How does Prince Peter come on?” asked Jack. ** Here he is! He can speak for himself,” was the reply and then the crook saw a pale thin face in the lamplight. It was the face of a little boy not more than thirteen. The skin was drawn tightly over the bones, like the skin of a starved person, and the ni aon ten years older than he was. is eyes, unnaturally bright, shone like dia- monds. It was easily seen that this child was a crip- le; his lower limbs lay helpless on the ground, a he supported the upper part of his body on his hands while he looked at Jack. ‘*Here you are, sure enough!” ejaculated the New York croo’, turning to the boy. ‘‘ How do you come on, Prince Peter?” ‘““As always, Jack,” was the answer as the boy’s face seemed to brighten, but with a strange sadness to which his companions were accustomed. ‘‘ Last night I saw the bright stars again. I crept from the nest to the water, and there I fell asleep looking at them.” _ Jack o’ Diamonds gave Tony Whack and Ben- der a glance of rebuke. ‘*We couldn’t help it,” quickly put in Tony. **Bender an’ I were off on a little lark. and Prince Peter was asleep. When we came back we found him at the front, safe an’ sound. No- body had seen him, though.” ** Nobody but the ¢ man in the sky,” said the cripple.” I never saw the store so bright before. Just over where I lay was a big bright fellow that looked like the big gold pieces I used to see before I came here to live.” **' You've te g lived here, Prince Peter,” cried Tony Whack, throwing the cripplea glance not very pleasant. The little boy seemed to recoil. ** Always, Tony?” he asked, ‘““Why, of course. The docks o’ New York have always been my home an’ yours, too. They’re good enough for me, don’t they suit you, Bender?’ Bender, the largest of the three wharf rats, confirmed Tony Whack’s opinion, and poor lit- tle Prince Peter remained silent. By-and-by Jack o’ Diamonds and the two larger boys exchanged meanful looks and with- drew, leaving the cripple to go back to the bunk he had left at sound of the crovk’s voice, ‘* Boys, when did you see slick Dick Sly last?” asked Jack o’ Diamonds of the two wharf rats, as they drew up to him some distance from the strange encampment, . ‘*T haven’t seen him for several days,” an- ‘swered Bender after brief thought. ‘*T saw him to-day,” said Tony Whack, aps wheeled upon Tony with a question on - Where was he, Tony?” **On the next dock.” ‘* Alone?” ac Yes.” \* ‘““ What was he doing?” Mk. * Seemed to be strollin’ about for his health.” _ © That’s not what ee told me, Tony!” ejacu- ted Bender snappishly 7 Jab. 5S: weet ioe, - a 5 Sy ' . 0" Pe " a rahe ee seh Se - ' Ee a OS > =? “> yt SS .. .' 2 4 r * * -_ « ee 1CK . oa P odger D ‘“‘T want the truth,” remarked the crook sternly, his eyes een? fierce gleam as he a upon the boy. ‘‘ Dick was doing some- thin se 4 ‘ a eee . mile -* ss ent Z < . ” 4 ® = A . be o when you saw him?” ot much after all. He stopped walkin’ after phe ~ Spo made some marks on a big box with a nail. ‘* Where is the box?” asked the crook quickly. ** Oh, a dray took it off this afternoon.” I But you saw what the boy drew didn’t mc Yes.” “Hang me, Jack, if it wasn’t the picture of a section of wharf-ratdomj” cried Tony. ‘He drew it from memory too, with all the cross ways, the nests—the whole thing complete! I never saw anything like it. I recognized it as soon as I clapped my peepers onto the wood.” Jack o’ Diamonds clinched bis hands. ‘You mean that Dick Sly drew a diagram of the ward you occupy?” he exclaimed. sé S ‘*Don’t you know,” and Jack lowered his voice, ‘‘that Dick Sly sometimes pipes for the cops?” ‘We've heard you say so, Jack,” ‘* Well, it’s not to my interest to lie about it,” scowled the crook. ‘‘ Now, whatif I should get him to pay a visit to, say—to ‘ the chapel’ to- morrow? e’s. been there before, you know.” ** We've seen him among the rats there.” ‘* Dick Sly was freshening his memory when he drew on the box,” continued Jack, ‘ One o’ these days the harbor cops will enter your ward. and there'll be merry eport. Think of the stuff they'll find! It won’t be an arrest for boring into sugar hogsheads.” ‘* Heavens! itll be for something worse!” cried Bender. ‘*I should say so!” ejaculated Jack o’ Dia- monds, witha grin. ‘‘ You can’t afford to have Dick Sly, the wharf rat shadow, carrying a dia- gram of the planting-ground in his head. You can’t afford 'to have him find Prince Peter asleep in the starlight.” ‘“‘ Neither can you, Jack!” exclaimed Tony Whack. ‘‘ When I saw what Dodger Dick had sketched on the box, I cut it all to pieces with my knife.” ‘* A capital idea that was!” cried Jack; ‘* but that is not safety, not by any means. See here! I can get Dick to ‘ the chapel’ to-morrow.” ‘* By a decoy?” asked the two boys in a breath. ‘‘ Tl get him there!” was the response. A moment’s silence followed. ‘* He will come without suspecting anything foul,” the crook went on, ‘‘Just now the young rat is on a trail that will give all of us a peck o’ trouble if he isn’t trapped: He knows the dock paradise of New York pretty well, but there are a few secrets connected with it which have never been revealed to him.” ‘‘And ‘the chapel’ is one of them, Jack!” cried Tony. ‘It must remain a secret to him,” was the re- ply. ‘‘ To-morrow, at three o’clock in the after- noon, the Dodger, Dick Sly, the wharf spy of the cops, will be in ‘the chapel!’ You two will work together. Now, about Prince Peter. He doesn’t want to play astronomer on his own hook any more. One o’ these days, if it suits me, he will see all the stars he likes; but until then he doesn’t want to study the heavens from the dock. Remember! Prince Peter must be kept at home!” ive minutes later the council under the wharf broke up, and when Jack o’ Diamonds went back to “the nest” he found the little cripple lying at the edge of the light fast asleep, with a sad, sweet smile on his pinched face! ** Worth more than his weight in gold if 1 can pull the right string,” mentally ejaculated the Gotham crook. ‘‘I’ve got a trap set for the secret young copper now, He did give us the slip last night, and Red’s to blame for it. But to-morrow, under busy an’ roaring New York, there'll be sprung a trap that'll forever fix the wharf rat shadow. Larry’s got a wife ere this, I suspect, an’ it’s time for Jack o’ Diamonds to pull the golden cord.” CHAPTER VII, FOUND AND LOstT. : GOLDENROD, the jolly frequenter of Hawk’s Hollow, had but to glance at the ring which Dick Sly had picked up in the boat to recognize ei as the one he had Jately seen on Larry Lang’s er. ‘This solves a part of the m !” exclaim- ed geo ~ a reporter. ‘ a, young rascal has played a deep game against Rosa. What say you, Richard? | death since that time. The eyes of the Wharf Spy Detective ald’s suspicions. “IT am afraid,” he said, mildly, “that the woman who went out in the boat with the two men was Rosa. I cannot say, however, that she went unwillingly.” You don’t mean to say that she would go freely with a fellow like Solomon Strauss’s dis- honest clerk?’ exclaimed Donald, flushing. ‘Not that, Donald. But some cool, deep games are nightly played in Gotham,” ‘I know that. Woe to Larry Lang if he has made Rosa the victim of any of his schemes! What is your first move, Dick?” ‘*We must find the water trail to a cer- tainty,” was the reply. ‘‘ Give me till to-mor- row night.” ‘*So long?” ejaculated the impatient reporter. “It will not be long if we make any dis- coveries.” _ The boy’s yeageeiten was agreed to, and the little council which had outwitted Jack o’ Dia- monds and Red Reynard on the docks, broke up for the night. On the night following and some time prior to the hour of the crook’s visit to the wharf rats? nest, Donald and Dick came together at an ap- pointed rendezvous. The reporter had used his wits during the day, but did not have much to report. He had visited Mrs. Hartwick only to learn that Rosa had not returned. The good woman was nearly distracted over her boarder’s absence, and it was with difficulty. - that Donald could persuade her from lodging in- formation with the police. ** What have you discovered, Dick?” asked the oung reporter eagerly, when he had told his rief story. ‘*]’ve picked up one or two threads that may have a bearing on the case,” was tbe reply. ‘*T’ve been all over town, and with ‘a nose for news,’ aS you newspaper fellows say. In the first place, Larry Lang is putting on airs in an up-town hotel.” Donald uttered an exclamation of surprise. ‘*T had the pleasure of watching the fellow for half an hour. He seems as happy as a clam in his shell at high tide. 1 would not bave known him.” ‘* Where is the rascal?” cried Donald, clinch- ing his hands. ‘Wait till I’m through,” smiled Dick. “I don’t want you to go up there and spoil the hand- somest face in Gotham. We can afford to let Larry enjoy himself for the present. While I was watching him, a man came upand took him away. The man was my old friend, Silas Sel- don, Jr., of Beekman street.” ‘*In other words, Jack o’ Diamonds!” The boy nodded, with asmile. ‘*They went into one corner of the billiard- room, and sat with their backs near an open window. Ina little whileI was on the sidewalk under that same window, and my ears picked up a word now and then, t cugh the two scamps talked in confidential tones.’ ‘* And you heard what?” ‘** Enough to know that Rosa took a boat-ride the other night,” was the reply. ‘With those two men?” “é Yes. ” Donald’s hands met suddenly, and his bright eyes got an indignant flash. ‘‘Those fellows are playing a double game,” the boy wenton. ‘Jack o’ Siationte is help- ing Larry for help in return, He told the young clerk that he would recover the ring and ‘fix things’ in that direction, while Larry makes a@ . move to-morrow, ‘What kind of a move?” asked Donald. “That is’ what puzzles me,” answered the Dodger. ‘‘ At this juncture their voices sunk lower, and I could only catch the name of a man.” ** Whose name was it, Dick?” ‘* Peter Prayne.” “Why, that is the name of the merchant who lost a child, mysteriously some years ago,” _ “Soitis, It] never forget that, for the case interested me, and started me on the lookout for men and things.” . ‘‘The merchant bas been bothered almost to Rascals of all kinds have bled him. Do Jack o’ Diamonds and Larry in- tend to play a game of this blackmailing sort?” . ¥ » ;\ 2 a ” * § a y oY Wh already is a gleam which partly confirmed Don- If I had not looked twice | : > } . , > ab ~ iS: whee >in ‘ & = _ ‘ ees ee | ie — ‘ . r . = ~ . a si %& i. » & Ba a * ~~ = % 7 yS ' ‘They intend to play some sort of a hand to-~ te morrow. At ten o’clock Larry calls on Peter Prayne.” Ned ‘The first move in the game! I it!” ex- claimed Donald, ‘‘ Let gomel 1 see me be there to corner the villain!” abt “Not for a thousand!” protested Dick. ’