Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 518 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

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But when he came to reflect upon the wild idea which had come into his head, he comprehended that it was absurd. ‘*Oh, no! a big city like New York would never have a prison with any such miserable cell as this in it. ‘‘ ft might do down in some old Mexican city where the people are only half-civilized, but not in New York. ‘‘ But what the deuce does it mean? How in the name of all that is wonderful did I come here, and for what? ‘‘ The bread and water would seem to say that Tama prisoner; but I haven’t tried the door yet. and I may be able to walk out for all I ow Then lighting another match he hastened to the door. It was a solid, substantial affair, and securely fastened. Sioux Sam’s brows grew dark. ‘‘ Well, I am in for it, and no mistake!” he ex- claimed, as he stared in baffled astonishment at the door. And then an idea occurred to him, ‘‘Can it be possible that I have fallen into a trap? It looks like it; but if so, what is the ob- ject? f ot Not plunder, for I hav’n’t money enough about me to make it worth any one’s while, I never thought to examine and see if my pocket- book is all right, although I reckon it wouldn’t pan out over five dollars. ' ‘But I have often heard that there are plenty of roughs in this town who would be quick to jump at the chance of laying a man out for a tive-dollar bill.” 1 But his wallet was safe, also the few articles of jewelry which he wore, and 30 the mystery was as deep as ever. ‘ Lighting another match, Sioux Sam made a close examination of the door. ' As we have said, it was a substantial piece of work, and the scout shook his head dubiously,. ) “No hope of sang a way ttrough such a tough bit of timber as this without the aid of an ax, or a crowbar, and all the tool I have is a small pocket-knife. “T st I may as well make up my mind to ‘ ‘ grin and bear it. Whoever put me in this hole evidently don’t intend I shall starve, although bread and water is not the kind of grub I have been accustomed to tackle.” Returning to the bunk the scout stretched him- self upon it, and made up his mind to take mat- ‘ters as coolly and as ensil as possible. His match-box was well supplied with match- es, and by the aid of his watch, which he now was careful to wind up, he calculated he could reckon the flight of time. ' By the fact that his watch had not run down he knew tbat he had not been in the place very . j ong. . ime passed slowly away. At last Sioux Sam became hungry and paid ‘‘Scant rations!” he murmured. ‘ Reminds me of the time when I was lost on the prairie and had to hustle right smart to keep alive, : ‘One consolation about this thing is, that somebody is bound tocome pretty soon, and then I will know what the gameis.” \ _ But there was a long and weary wait for Sioux Sam, for it was nearly two days before any . one came near: him, The bread and water was exhausted, and the _ prisoner came ‘othe conclusion that either the : peeties who had placed him in the dungeon had otten all about him, or else had reached the iecision to leave him there to die of thirst and ' starvation. It was nearly midnight, and although Sioux ’ Sam had stretched himself upon the bed he found . that it was a for him to sleep, so he to meh. resolv remain patient nolonger, but : to a desperate fight to escape. _ There was only one chance for him, as far as he could see, and that was to try to cut a hole in _ the door with his knife. It seemed to be a hopeless task shougi, for the door was & Hee nner solid one and his knife a slender-bladed ; ‘‘ It is the only chance I have got though,” he remarked, ‘' And even if I don’t su it will occup my mind, and I might as well make the attempt a4 to sit hefe and wait for my jailers to And after coming to this resolution, the scout lit a match and proceeded to make a careful ex- amination of the door, And the result of this inspection was that he decided to commence work at the point where he believed the lock to be situated—the door open- ing outwardly—reasoning that if he weakened the wood where the screw of the lock penetrated it, he might be able to force his way out. ‘* Tt will be a long and weary job, for it will be terrible hard work in the darkmess,” he mur- mured, as he commenced operations. ‘Te T had light, so I could see what I was about, it would not be half as difficult.” But hardly had he got to work when his ears caught the sound of footsteps without. ‘* Hello! somebody’s coming at last!” he ex- claimed, feeling decidedly relieved by the discov- ery. The footsteps halted outside of his door, and as years of experience on the frontier had trained his eyes and ears, so that both his sight and hear- ing were wonderfully good, he was able to dis- tinguish that there were three or four men out side of the door. After the men halted, there was a brief pause as though they were listening to see whether he was awake or not, then came three hearty thumps on the door. ‘* Hello, hello!” cried a gruff voice, ‘are you awake in there?” Sioux Sam hesitated for a moment before he replied, so as to make it appear as if he had been awakened by the knocking, for he thought it would not be wige to allow the strangers to sus- page he had been attempting to force his way out, ‘* All right, ’'m awake,” he said, retreating quietly to the middie of the apartment before he spoke, so as to give the idea that he had just arisen from the bed. ‘‘Come to the door—I want to have a little talk with you,” said the stranger. “Tam at the door,” Sioux Sam replied, ad- vancing as he spoke. ‘‘ Kinder ina bad box, ain’t ye?’ asked the unknown. ‘‘ Well, I am not as pleasantly situated as I might be.” ney ou wouldn’t have any objection to get out of this scrape?” ‘*Nary an objection!” ‘* That is what I thought. I s’pose you hav’n’t got any idea why this little job was put up on- you. ‘No, I hav’n’t, not the slightest.” ‘¢ Well, it is alla mistake.” ‘‘A mistake!” ‘That's so; you ain’t the man who was want- ed at all.” ‘*T am glad to hear it,” responded Sioux Sam, to whom this explanation appeared to be most reasonable, for he knew of no man in the East who would be apt to wish todo him harm, so the explanation that he was the victim of a mistake seemed all right, ** You hain’t been hurt in any way?” 4s No.” ‘*[ hope you don’t bear any malice.” ‘¢ Well, no, I don't know as I do, although it is pretty rough treatment to shut a man up in a hole like this for two days and feed him on bread and water.” “It was all a mistake, I tell you, and we are mighty sorry for it; we have come to let you out, but we don’t want you to get us into any hole. . “Are you willing to swear that you won't bother your head to pry into this affair? Will you be satisfied, if we let you out, to go off quietly about your business?” tae Sam reflected for a moment before he repied, j f course, he was naturally indignant at the treatment which he had received, but as it was evident that he was in the power of desperate men—and he had seen enough of the East to un- derstand that the big cities held fully as remorse- less and bloodthirsty ruffians as could be found in the wildest parts of the West—he came to the speedy conclusion that it would be wiser for him to agree to the proposal made than to anger his jailers by refusing. “ Allright! itisa bargain. Release me and I will call it square.” ‘‘ Won’t try to make no trouble for us?” ‘No, that’s honest.” “Tt is a go then!” r Then a fay was inserted inthe lock of the oor. | CHAPTER VII. THE EXPLANATION. Wuen the door swung open four men stood revealed, dressed in common dark clothes, but a mask of black — each mar.’s face was hidden b aly Ps through which their gleaming eyes could be dimly seen, but no other feature. The foremost man held a bull’s-eye lantern in his hand, the rays of which gave light ‘to the scene; the other three displayed cocked revolvers, so that if the prisoner had any disposition to show fight this display would be apt to cause him to restrain his temper, ““Well, you are all right, anyhow,” the man with the lantern remarked, evidently the leader of the band. ‘‘ Don’t look as if you had suffered much.” “Oh, Iam used to roughing it,and a little thing like this don’t worry me to death, although I must admit I was getting awful tired of the grub,” Sioux Sam answered. ‘‘ Well, I suppose that bread and water ain’t just the fodder for a man who has been used to three good, square meals a day,” the masked man remarked. ‘“‘ But, as I told you, it was all a mistake,” he continued. ‘' You are not the man who was wanted at all. Iam sorry for it, but mistakes will happen, you know, in the best regulated families.” ‘Oh, that is all right.” ‘‘We have come to let you out now, and IL hope that after you are free you won’t feel ugly a the matter and try to make any trouble or us, ting on our track, no matter how hard you tried, and if Iwas you,I wouldn’t bother my head about the thing, for you will only have your trouble for your pains.” ‘¢T will not be apt to try to trouble you in any way,” the scout replied. ‘* Now we will take you out of this, but you will have to let us blindfold you.” ‘** Blindfold me?” ‘‘ Yes, we are going to take all the precautions. we can to keep you from getting on our track in case you should happen to change your mind after you get out of this and should take the notion in your head to put the police on the scent.” ‘* Oh, I am notat all likely to do that!” ‘*‘ Well, that is just what we think, but still we calculate it is better to be on the safe side.” ‘* Allright! I haven’t any objection; go ahead. with your blindfolding.” The masked man produced a heavy black silk handkerchief, gave his lantern to one of the others, and then proceeded to tie the handker- chief over Sioux Sam’s eyes in so scientific a manner that when the job was completed the oung scout had no more use of his eyez than if e had not possessed a pair. ** Now, then, you are all right,” the disguised chief observed. ‘I will take your hand and guide you. We are — put you in a carriage and bring you back to New York—I suppose you didn’t have -_ idea that yon had been carried out of the city?” ** No, I did not.” ‘‘ Well, it’s so, but half an hour’s drive will bring you to Harlem, and there you can take a. car down-town. ‘‘ Now, after you get in the carriage, don’t try to be ugly, for you are in the hands of desperate men, and we will be apt to use desperate meas- ures if you force us to by cutting up any monkey shines,” "* Well, I will admit that I don’t feel particu- larly friendly to you on account of this trick,” Sioux Sam observed, with perfect frankness; ‘but as long as you are going to get me out of this hole, and haven’t ro nae or barmed me in any way,I can assure you that I sha'l not bother my head in trying to discover wh» you “That’s the talk! That shows that your head is screwed on right!” the masked ruffiam exclaimed. ‘‘ Now give me your hand and come on!” Sioux to obeyed the injunction. Out from his prison-pen he went, was con- ducted by his guide along a narrow passage, then up a flight of stairs, and finally into the street, where he was assisted to enter a coach, the guide getting in with bim. As soon as they were in the hack, away went: the vehicle at a good pace, the guide taking oc- casicn to caution the young man not to remove the handkerchief. ‘‘ Wait until I tell you to take off the hand- kerchief,” he said. “ All right; I will not attempt to do so.” That’s playing the right sort of game!” the — captor exclaimed, in an tone. ‘ approvin There’s nothing like taking this world. I don’t think you could succeed in get- . ngs easy ip - M. ES NY PY 4% . ~- >!