Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 521 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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eye, and when they are not as big as a caddy on the wharf. Despard and Thalia want a pile of money for these documents. They hold them over Merle Mallot’s head, knowing that he will rive half his fortune for them. I guess Ill pry into this thing a little. Pll see what has become of Nell, and then we'll look up Florette, and Jerry Dunn, too, if the old man is living.” The Dodger tied u» the papers and was look- ing for a place of concealment when a knock sounded at the door. Mother Sturgeon was there, ‘* Dicky, there’s a man in the hall asking after | you,” remarked the boy’s foster-mother. ‘* What is he like?” ‘* He’s a likel appearing young fellow.” ‘Tt is Brandon!” exclaimed the Dodyer, and confident that he had hit upon the identity of his caller, he went to greet him in person. Sure enough, the young man was Angus Brandon, and Dick’s eyes gota glow of delight when he saw him. Brandon was eager and excited. ‘*Tve found you at last, and just when I was afraid I would have to give you up!” exclaimed Brandon. ‘I think I have made an important discovery.” ‘*T know I have!” laughed Dick. ‘* Come to my room, Mr. Brandon, and*let me show you something.” Wondering what could be in store for him, the ex-clerk followed the Dodger, and had the pa- pers placed in his hands, ‘*' You have recovered them!” cried Brandon, his gaze alternating from the lost documents to the boy detective. ‘“* It looks that way,” smiled Dick. During the next few minutes Branjion was absorbed in the papers. Dodger Dick watched him closely, and saw by his countenance that he was surprised. When the young man raised his cyes at last, they encountered the gaze of the wharf spy. ‘* This is a secret which my uncle has scrupu- lously kept,” he exclaimed. ‘*I never heard of the existence of papers of this kind. I wonder how Despard and Thalia discovered them?” ‘* That, too, is a mystery,” said the Dodger. ‘*'We can afford to pass it for the present, how- ever. Who is Florette?” Brandon shook his head, ‘*Can’t you guess, Brandon?” exclaimea the boy. ‘* Why is Nell missing? She fell into the hands of the league against Merle Mallot!” Angus Brandon gave utterance to a startling eX There! I see you have something new in your head,” laughed Dick leaning forward with arich sparkle in his eyes. ‘* There is more in this hunt for Merle Mallot’s burglar than you think. Now, what is the discovery you profess to have made?” Brandon went on and detailed his espionage of "Roy from the cigar store to the house on Tenth street, which Dick knew was the same lace to which he had tracked Despard and “IT saw atthe window of that house after I lost ’Roy,” contmued Brandon, ‘‘ the face of a young girl. It was wonderfully like Nell’s,”’ ‘*Can it be?’ cried the Dodger, ‘Did you notice her particularly?” ° ‘* As closely as [ could,” was the reply. ‘*Do you think it was Nell?” ‘*T can only say that the resemblance was almost ieeeece The person at the window was richl ssed.” ‘‘Nell in new plumage, may be!” exclaimed Dick. ‘* Did she see you?” ‘“‘T cannot say. She drew back sudden] she thought she had been observed, and her no more.” “You may have found a clew,” said the Dodger after a little thought, ‘It is worth looking after anyhow, I am anxious to know what Despard will do now that he has lost the club he has been holding over Merle Mallot’s head. The gang will not give up the fight. They have too much at stake, There will bea bold play. The woman, Thalia, the queen of New York black-mailers, will urge immediate action. Weare at the most dangerous part of the game—dangerous for Nell, for all of us.” Brandon thought so, too. Dodger Dick resolved on a visit forthwith to Merle Mallot, ana not long after his conference with Brandon he found himself in the vicinity of toe merchant’s residence, Two hours had elapsed since his adventure at apes lodging: bouse, hat had the tiger done? How had he taken his loss? as if saw The r could not repress a smile when he | thought of Despard’s discomfiture, Dodger Dick’s Best Dodge. | ‘*Merle Mallot does not expect me at this _time,” murmured the boy, ‘‘He will be as- | tounded at some of the inquiries I shall make. | But the game has taken a new turn, and some ‘ entirely new hends must be played.” A moment later Dodger Dick reached the steps of the Mallot mansion. The house in the daytime was shaded by trees, and at night the lamps near by darkened | the place still more, | The Dodger mounted the steps with alacrity. | He was on the second one when a figure him. It made no noise, When it landed behind the boy, there was no sound. All at ‘once, something like a shawl hovered over the Dodger’s head, and then descended like a net of doom, Dodger Dick uttered a muffled cry and tried to fight the horrid thing loose, but all in vain, The sack, for sack it was, was drawn tighter, until the boy seemed to suffocate, He was caught suddenly by a pair of arms and lifted from the step. The tiger had recaptured his prey! _—_——— ~~ ’ CHAPTER XVI, DEATH COMES BETWEEN. Not a word was uttered as Dick was borne away toward the nearest corner, where a closed cab stood as if waiting for some one, A man leaning against the vehicle started up as the captor appeared with his prey, and the door flew open. The Dodger was thrust inside and the man sprung in after him; then the driver mounted to his seat, caught the lines with firm grip, and the vehicle rattled off, All this occupied a very small space of time, and so adroitly was the deed perpetrated, that no person seemed the wiser for it. About the same time, when the wharf spy was taking an involuntary ride through ‘the streets of New York, a woman, whose face was wales mounted the steps of Merle Mallot’s ouse. She was alone ut the time; but she had been accompanied to within a short distance of the mansion by a man. Merle Mallot was up in his library. Ho had received no response 10 the ‘* personal ” he had caused to be inserted in the papers, but was momentarily expecting one. When the bell rung, he list:ned for the servant’s footsteps in the hall. A short silence ensued, then the door opened. The house servant had received full instruc- tions from the merchant, and knew who to ad- mit and who to exclude, In a little while a light footstep greeted the waiting nabob, and Thalia stood before him, ‘‘Have we kept you waiting for a reply” asked the woman with a smile, as she came to- ward the merchant. ‘* Not long,” was the response, ‘‘ You saw the personal?” ‘“We sawit. It was full enough, and I am here.” She had taken a seat near the New Yorker, and her swift glance around the room was one of precaution, ‘* There are no eavesdroppers in my house,” exclaimed Merle Mallot. ‘*Tt is a model house,” smiled Thalia, and then she leaned forward, her deep dark eyes fixed on Mallot, and continued. ‘*Wecan’t carry out our part of the trade ga now on the terms proposed when I was here Mallot gave a quick, nervous start. ‘““We want two hundred thousand dollars for the documents, one hundred thousand down to-night,” she continued. ‘* The balance when?” ‘* When we deliver them in your hands,” The New York nabob took a long breath, m — bi raised mg = ara he went on, : e know exactly what the worth.” . Pte hated ‘‘ What would you say were I to tell you that I utterly refuse to give you a dollar?” Thalia laughed, ‘*T would call you the fool of New York)” she agin ue ne ‘Very well,” said Mallot, as if through his teeth as he leaned back in’ his chair. PNot a dollar it is!” The woman gave him a look of amazement. Was he joking? If he was trying to bluff her, he would discover that he bad opened the game on the wrong oo: Thalia kept her temper. She had not come to | Merle Mallot’s house to lose it; there was toe much at stake. ‘“You don’t take me in earnest,” resumed Mallot. ‘“‘ You think I am bluffing, but I was never more in earnest in my life. Shall I re- peat my words, or did you comprehend them in full? Not a dollar for anything now in your’ hands!” , Coolly spoken as these words were, it cost. Merle Mallot an effort to utter them. lt was the turn of the tide; his resistance to the city bleeders, and a sign of his trust in sprung from one of the trees, and straight at | Dodger Dick. Thalia looked at him several moments in silence. She saw that he was in terrible earnest. ** Just as you please, Merle Mallot,” she replied,. putting forch a daintily gloved hand and resting it on the arm of her chair, ‘You are the doctor in the case; we accept your decision, Shall we call the compromise at an end?” She rose as she finished and stood in front of the merchant, her eyes guzing down upon him, ‘* Forge ahead!” he cried. ‘* 1] expect you will open the ball now.” ‘We will explode a bomb that will shake the society in which you move,” was the answer, ‘** We will produce Florette!” ‘Ig that all you can dof” laughed Mallot, ‘* No; let the second bomb (rie for itself.” The city nabob was seen to Icse color. ‘We'll blanch your cheeks before assembled hundreds!” Thalia went on with the coolness of the practiced schemer. ‘‘ We'll produce evi- dence stronger than Florette. We throw upon the tables where Justice sits evidences of a crime of which even suspicious and watchful New York knows nothing. Do you want me to inti- mate what we have in store for you, Merle Mal- lot? Do you want the fumes of a subtle poison to pervade the court-room? Spall we paint the death-struggles of a man who made you his ex- ecutor to be mur—” Merle Mallot threw up his bands with a cry of terrible agony. Thalia came toward him with the leer of &. beautiful demoness in her eyes. ** We can do this!” her voice sunk to a whis- per which the merchant heard as plainly as if she had spoken in full voice. ‘Shall we do it, Merle Mallot? You have just dared us to our worst. We accept the challenge. We will listen to no compromise from this moment. Take the stroke of the thunderbolt when it falls. I wish. you good-night.” Mallot did not appear to hear the parting words, nor did he seem to see the woman who: walked from the room with triumph and threat imprinted on her countenance. he door closed with a bang behind Thalia, and sho left the house like a person in a storm. m3 God! they know everything! The bo cannot save me from this cyclone of vengeance came over Merle Mallot’s lips as he left the chair and walked to the desk in the library. He unlocked the lid and began to search the se for a certain paper which was hard to nd. All at once he settled back in his chair with a bit of paper in bis hand. The burner was within his reach, and he held the paper in the flame until if was consumed. ‘* That is one secret the world never gets!” he exclaimed; then he went to the desk again. One hour later when the bouse was still a door opened near Mallot’s side and a beautiful young girl glided forward, It was the merchant’s daughter. With her lustrous blue eyes fixed on the man. in the chair she came forward, The light of the burner fell full on Merle Mal- lot’s face, The girl noticed how ghastly it was and stcpped. All color dese her own soft skin. ter awhile, with an effort which summoned courage to her aid, she touched her father’s arm. He did not turn his head, though his eyes were wide open, staring at the open desk as it. were, Suddenly a wild cry rung thro house, and the oir tottered from the be the chair, | and dropped, a dead weight, on the floor! The next moment doors A se on every side. One ess rushed to Merle Mallot, another » picked the girl UP, and bore her to the light. hein truth, the s ing truth, was discovered Dead in his chair, with a few ashes on | floor at his feet, and reruy safe from ine threats and schemes of the gold gang! | of OXe) GOMIUIGE cs n. * The girl had fainted, but Merle Mallot was. : ’ ‘ } j * ‘ (* . a, . “4 / > naa i 4 f