Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 543 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

Ee - cy me ee — > ET SL A The adieu was couched in tones that drew the young man from his chair, and Dick, with an expectant twinkle in his eye, was halted half- way between the private secretary and the door, “‘T won't be dragged to the witness-stand,” cried Bob Blandy, and the boy spotter turned and waited quietly for him to proceed, ‘I see that you know more than I suspected about cer- tain occurrences in Norris Gibbs’s house. We apignt effect a compromise.” just vacated. ‘“‘Go on,” said he. ‘ Tell me the whole story, ; his room. ‘‘ Here I’ve gone and given the whole Mr. Blandy. Nothing else will keep me from | thing away to a boy, just because he frightened laying a hand that will not be a pleasant one or you to contemplate,” The young man seemed to collect his thoughts, and to take in a full breath. ‘“T wasin Mr, Gibbs’s honse the night the theft took place,’ he began. ‘‘I have a room across the hall from his, and there I spend: a art of my time when I am not employed in the hbrend My employment as the broker’s amanuensis has given mea deep insight into his affairs; in fact, I understand them as well as he does himself. ‘On the night we are talking about Norris Gibbs approached me cautiously and asked if I would assist him in a little play which had to be made to keep him from impending financial ruin. I readily consented, but did not dream what that play was to be. Not long after- ward Chubb Copeland, his attorney, dropped in evidently by appointment, and Mr, Gibbs told him that I was all right. A short time after this I left the library, and at my employer’s re- rio came back at half-past twelve o’clock. hen I was initiated into the whole scheme. **It was to be pretended that Norris Gibbs had been visited by two masked men and robbed of considerable money and a lot of valuable papers. In order to carry out this be- lief, Lawyer Copeland produced a curious de- vice for fastening a man toachair. It was so arranged that the victim could be secured in a minute and held fast beyond the possibility of escape or of raising an alarm of any kind. Gibbs and I were instructed in the use of the invention, and shortly after my return to the library the lawyer went away. ‘‘T believe that he carried with him the papers which had been kept in the safe, but which were not there the following day, Mr. Gibbs and I occupied the library together until near day when, after I had helped to secure him in the chair with the strange device, I went to my room to await the time when I was to give the alarm,” faint smile came out on Bob Blandy’s face when he reached this point in his narrative. *“The whole’ scheme worked well,” he re- sumed, “though Mr. Gibbs objected to having a gag in his mouth, If he had refused alto- gether the suspicions of the police would have been aroused, for his mouth was examined and unmistakable evidence of the gag found. The five-thousand-dollar-reward offer was put out for the purpose of further deceiving the people, for the papers had merely passed from Norris Gibbs’s hands into those of his lawyer, and the money carried off was nosum at all. There,” finished the young man with a look of relief, ‘‘the whole narrative has been told. You see I have gone into details, keeping nothing back.” A moment’s silence passed between Dick and the private secretary. Whar finally became of the papers?” “Which ones?—there were two sets taken from the safe.” ear mean the packet belonging to the girl ucy, A i guess they didn’t stay in Caubb Copeland’s hands long,” ‘‘ How did he Jose them?” “From what I gathered from a certain con- versation between the two men, those papers were lately stolen from the safe in the lawyer’s office,” ‘Se : ; oe Bog meted of that theft? Dodger Dick gave vent to an expression of aioe be boy eh * The lawyer strongiy suspects the boy, who is believed to be in ea th two men who want the Peper’ for a certain purpose,” resumed Bob Blandy ‘¢ Where is Lucy?" ‘+ T doa’t know.” ‘’ Does Norris Gibbs?” é N Ga sé Nor the lawyer?” iT ” | eee eee eee ei ———==—=——— - 13 Dodger Dick’s Double. ’ Dick. ‘* You have given me what I believe to ‘* Ho, ho!’ he cried under his breath as he be a truthful narrative of the Gibbs robbery, raised his head and caught Mother Sturgeon’s which is a pretty deep puzzle to the police,” | eye, ‘ Who brought this up-stairs?” “Don’t they even suspect the truth?” asked | ‘* A boy not bigger than a minute. He ran in the young man, with a smile. | and threw it down on the table saying: ‘ That’s ‘* T think not,” was the reply. for Mr. Dick,’ tnen bounced out again and dis- ‘ 1’d like to know how you got onto it.” appeared, Is it important?” Dodger Dick gave the private secretary a ** I think so.” smile in return, but did not proceed to enlighten Dick put the message away and made a change him. of clothes, ‘“What a fool I’ve been,” burst from Bob ‘I'm going out,” he went on in response to ick came back and took the chair he had | Blandy’s throat, when he heard the retreating | Mother Sturgeon’s inquisitive stare. ‘*On the trail?” ‘* Maybe so.” At the foot of the stair and just before he step- ped out upon the street, Dick found himself face a face with aman who immediately addressed im, fvotsteps of Dodger Dick in the corridor beyond me with a threat of Sng Sing, What can he do? A man can’t be made to go on the stand and criminate himself.. I should have waited till I got my second breath. Let me see. Did I ‘* Pye been waiting for you,” the man said. - tell him everything? Yes, even to the supposed The light was dim, but Dick could see that robbery of Chubb Copeland’s safe. He’s a cute | the speaker was well built, especially about the one, that boy is. And I, like a chump, bave let | chest, and that he had a keen, piercing look, him scare something worth a good deal of | ‘' You want me, eh? Iam at yotr service,” money out of my possession. Bounce me, if I | replied the young sleuth. don’t deserve to go up the river for this display | You are Dick the Dock Ferret, are you not?” of foolishness!” “ T am called such.” Meantime Dodger Dick had left the little ‘‘Then I bave made no mistake. I’ve been hotel, and was making off with the results of his | unfortunate. A Jarge sum of money has been shrewd play. taken from me since dark, and I want to give “There is one important thing to be done, | you all the clews I have to the thief.” and that is to discover the papers which Chubb |" 4 Why not some one else? , It isn’t far to the Copeland lost. They are Lucy Lukens’s for- | headquarters on Mulberry street.” tune, and without thera the game cannot be ‘* Hang Mulberry street!” exclaimed the man, won. The scheme worked pretty well until the | “I guess I know whom I want, and that’s what boy tapped the lawyer’s safe and carried off the | fetched me here. I live about three squares prize. see that my double can play some very | from this place, My name is Francis, Come shrewd hands, and I have to exercise all my | along, and [ll show you something to begin on,” wits if I want to trip him. He told me enough Almost mechanically Dodger Dick ollowed to know that he is in the employ of the two | the man out upon the pavement, pards, Foxcraft and Noxie, who are after a good The latter talked all the while, deal more than the five thousand dollar reward. wir you’ve got another job on hands just now Will they get it?” it won't hurt you to see what Pve got for you,” Dick was moving rapidly over the sidewalk | he continued, ‘‘ Things are fresh yet on the while his thoughts assumed this shape, but he | premises, and now’s the time to get your clews did not know that Foxcraft, the City Hercules, | —I'm able to pay for good work. I don’t want had sighted him, and was keeping him in sight with the keenness of the greyhound, ——— ee any other kind.” odger Dick thought wapidly. eo ‘*T can go with this man. have a good part CHAPTER XV. of the night before me, and I need not stick to | A CLOSE SHAVE. the trail like a leech. I think I know where to | To be watched by a man like Ferdinand Fox- | find my young double when I want him. It was craft boded the watched person no good, a cute trick he played at Lucy’s new home; but: The city giant and his stout little partner | he did not get much out of the girl.” Noxie had a pet scheme like a good many other The man, who was about forty-five and rather people, good-looking, escorted the young detective away. A part of that scheme they had already car- Now and then, in the most natural manner ried out, for, as the reader knows, certain papers | imaginable, he would drop something about the considered of great value by the pair were at | robbery of his apartments, and by the time the that very moment concealed beneath the floor | two reached a certain house Dic of their quarters, have all the particulars, Foxcraft had reasons for suspecting Dodger There was nothing left but to view the prem- Dick, else he would not have followed him with a sleuth’s pertinacity up one street and down another after the young shadow’s interview with Bob Blandy. All at once the Dodger disappeared, and the City Hercules reached the end of his spin when ! he thought himself hot on the trail. Dick stepped back. ; “Confound the boy!” growled Foxcraft.| ‘‘ Not to-night, Mr. Francis,” he exclaimed, a ‘“ No doubt he’s up to such tricks, but he could | bit of sudden discovery lighting up bis eyes. not have known that I was at his heels. I don’t | ‘* Thanks, J happen to know this house,” like this at all, but what can I do?” In an instant the man took a quick step for- appeared to Ses, ‘‘Here we are,” the guide said, halting im front of the building while he began to fumble for a latch-key, ‘* Ts this Y eal lace?” asked the boy. **T board up-stairs,” Foxcraft after awhile was obliged to turn back, | war. , for bis glances failed to rediscover Dick, and eoep off!” continued Dick, throwing up his when he walked off it was in no pleasant humor, | hands like a guard. ‘Not altogether, my young shadow!’ No boy, however agile, could have kept the man away. With a cry something like that which ema- nates from the throat of a wild beast, he sprung straight at Dick, and gripped him before he could successfully repel an attack. At the same moment the front door of the hou-e flew open, and a second man rushed for- ward. “A little help, Dingle!” exclaimed Francis. “This young panther is wiry and strong. Take Hé had gained an important point, picked up | him by the throat there, please,” | a valuable link in the chain as it were, That was all Dick heard, for he was overcome For several days Dick had not been to the old | by @ terrible choking sensation, and his last home, or Mother Sturgeon’s house, and he now | thought was that he was in the hands of two went back to it. ruffians, **T ‘guess, - ou’ve founda clew to something, ‘* We'll earn every cent of our money,” laugh- Dickey,” said the old lady, noticing the telltale : ed one of the couple, ‘‘ If he had not recognized gleam in his eyes, the house, I would have had him inside in an- ‘Truth to tell, Ihave, mother,” was the an- | other half-minute. I did not think his eyes were Dodger Dick had merely stepped into a place where he'was well known, and, in order to throw off any one who might be on the trail, he had passed through to the next street where he re- sumed his walk, This is an old trick worn quite threadbare the world over; but it fooled Foxcraft as completely as though it had been an original play. ' The information wormed from the private secretary by subtle threats and good playing had thrown Dodger Dick intoa pleasant frame of mind, pint oe + eyo : |, Well, I have something for you.” odger Dick in a state of unconsciousness was “ What is it?” t carried into the building where two bands thrust themselves into his pockets and turned them in- side out. ‘Hello! what’s this?’ and one of the men un- The woman unlocked a drawer in her plain little work-table and took out a small envelope. Dick broke the seal immediately and glanced oO. uickly at the contents of t t of he | folded th e the boy detective had late] “T guess that’s all, Mr, Blandy,” remarked | drew forth, Of tase cana U revekyad ter M é received from Mother Sturgeon, DOOKS..