Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 543 — page 16: what you’re looking at

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

“vs nied a 16 The dock spy already had his knife in his hands, and ‘while he talked he inserted the blade between the boards and raised the piece that had been sawed through, With much eagerness Tony Ted thrust his hands into the dark opening thus exposed, and the following second a triumphant cry left his j ps. ** At last!” he exclaimed, holding up a large, well-filled envelope while Dodger Dick’s eyes snapped with unbounded delight, ‘‘ There is nothing like perseverance, Dodger Dick. Iguess we hold the best hand now, and if we don’t keep it may just disaster overtake us.” The board was carefully put back, after which the carpet was returned to its place, and the packet was transferred to Dick’s bo- som. ‘* Listen,” suddenly whispered Ted, clutching his companion’s wrist, ‘‘ As I live, the pards are coming back.” The words went through Dodger Dick like an arrow. ‘** No, there is but one man out there,” con- tinued Ted, ‘‘He istrying to pick the lock. Of course it is neither of the pards.” The two boys stood together fora few mo- ments longer and listened to the manipulations of a picker in the lock, ‘He is making headway,” whispered the boy double. ‘‘ We have to find refuge somewhere,” and the boys went to the bed in one corner and crept under it, making no noise, hey had no time to spare for their movement had hardly been executed ere the door opened, and the man outside came in, It was Lawyer Copeland! After what had already happened, the boy detectives were not surprised to see the Union ge limb of the law in the role of a day bur- glar. He was on a very important mission, for if the lost documents were not speedily recovered, the ame of fraud and deceit would close disastrous- y for him, Shutting the door carefully behind him Chubb Copeland proceeded to search the room in the most minute manner, Fortunately for the boys, the bed was in the darkest ro of the room, and as they had crept back to the wall which they hugged closely while they held their breath, the sharp eyes of the prying attorney failed to reach them, peland gave utterance to several ejacula- tions of disa he ea during the hunt. The furniture yielded nothing, and although he gave the walls und even the floor some attention, he found nothing to reward him for his pains, ‘The documents are not here,” he growled, giving up the quest at last. ‘* But ’m not going to stop at this. Not by any means! I run the boy down and choke the secret out of him if I can’t getitany other way. I would have it now if Halford Hall, the private detective, had not poked his head into my office when I had the patent clamps on the boy. Just wait till I get another chance!” Dodger Dick felt a pair of lips at his ear. ‘‘The next time is never going to come for that rascal,” said a low voice, ‘' We've got the clamps now, eh, Dodger?’ In another minute the lawyer had taken his figure from the room, and after a while the boys came from their retreat with glowing faces, ‘* I would like to know whether Russell Ralph, the black-mailer whom Bob Blandy met in the Park, visited Norris Gibbs this afternoon,” re- marked Dick. ‘* There is po doubt of it.” ‘**T intended to see, This villain must not be allowed to blackmail the broker, for he may carry off money belonging to Lucy.” Just thirty minutes after this conversation a boy who did not look much like Dodger Dick rung the door-bell of the house in —th street and was admitted on his statement that he had urgent business with Norris Gibbs. he villain broker was found in his library, and the boy eamé in for a keen inspection as he crossed thé threshold, ‘*T dropped in to inquire if the five thousand dollar reward still stands,” said the youth, look- ing. closely at Gibbs, he broker started visibly. ‘Certainly it does,” said he. ‘ But is this your ousiness with me? I can’t waste my time on mattersof this kind, Besides, I am nearly worried to death with inquisitive callers.” __ ‘* Are there any black-mailers among them?” ‘*Scorest ot them, and some of the most infa- mous ones that infest the city, too. I. don’t in- tend to submit to anything of the kind, There ‘was one iere this afternoon,” “I thought ” Dodger Dick’s Double. *“'You? What do you know about it, boy?” ‘* Not very much, perhaps,” answered the broker’s visitor with a smile, ‘* You did not ac- cede to his demands?” ‘** Not a penny’s worth!” cried Norris Gibbs. “IT am glad of that, Now, Mr. Gibbs, what will you give for the missing papers?” ** Which you haven’t got!” laughed the broker. ‘* See here, boy, I deal only with those who have things to sell. ‘When you—”’ ‘* Pardon me, Mr. Gibbs, I bring you no mer- chandise,” interrupted the boy. ‘‘ Lacy Lukens’s documents are iv safe hands at last—in her own, and all the ill-gotten wealth you have couldn't buy a single one,” Norris Gibbs sunk back and gasped: ‘* In God’s name, who are you?” ** Dodger Dick, the river detective!” CHAPTER XIX. THE END OF IT ALL, To say that Norris Gibbs was thunderstruck by this startling revelation, would but feebly express his feelings. e grew white and red by turns, ‘*T've heard of you,” he cried, with an effort, and then he glanced toward thedoor in a mute appeal for some one to enter and relieve him of his visitor. ‘* Probably, Mr. Gibbs,” answered Dick witha smile. “I am glad you did not let Russell Ralph the black-mailer bleed you. You would not have served Lucy Lukens a fair trick if you had yielded to the rascal’s demands,” Again the broker colored, ‘* Are you the boy—” He stopped hke a man who catches himself in possession of a tongue too eager by half. ‘*Go on, Mr. Gibbs,” said Dick quietly. There-was no reply. ‘* I think the game is nearly played out,” con- tinued the boy detective. ‘¢ What game, sir?” Norris Gibbs assumed a haughty air. “The game against thegirl. I could refer to no other in your presence. The documents are in the right hands at last, and ere this the true story of the mysterious Gibbs robbery is going into cold type.” ‘“*And you are here fer the purpose of play- ing the hand Russell Ralph failed with!” ‘Just as you think,” smiled Dick, moving almost imperceptibly toward the door, ‘I -be- lieve you offered five thousand dollars for the robbers and the return of the missing docu- ments. Are you still in paying mood?” There was a cutting taunt in the boy’s tone, ‘*Get out of my house!” roared the broker, rising from his chair, ‘*- Your house, eh?” returned Dick. ‘‘ Would it be yours if Lucy Lukens had her own!” *‘ No insolence! I reckon I still command un- der this roof,” ‘* And you want me to take my departure?” ‘* I do, and at once.” ““Good day, Mr. Gibbs, Didn’tI say at the beginning of this trail that I would not desert it till I had reached the end? I found you inso- lent, I leave you in the same delightful mood.” For several seconds after Dodger Dick’s de- parture the villain broker sat speechless in his chair. ‘‘ Heavens! is all this true?” he exclaimed. ‘‘The papers found, Copeland probably under arrest—the whole scheme exposed?” Stepping across the room he locked the door and then went to his private desk, ‘Played out is it, eh?” he said through his teeth, t aan himself into a chair and jerking the desk epen like @ madman. ‘I think I’ve had dealimgs enough with Chubb Copeland to | know what he will do if arrested.” For thirty minutes Norris Gibbs burned papers of various kinds in the Open grate a few feet from the desk. Afterward he left the house well disguised and ‘ages - a small sachel. ** Catch me, catch a fox!” he chuckled. It was twenty minutes later when a man about to board a train in the Hudson River Depot heard a voice behind him, say: | ‘That is the man there—the one in brown with the reddish whiskers.” Like a guilty wretch the pavesaer turned and found. himself covered by the steady finger of a boy. As the hand of an officer fell] upon the man’s shoulder the sachel dropped from a clutch ren- dered nerveless by the touch. Norris Gibbs was in the hands of the law! iy t is gemerally slow of foot, Mr, Gibls,” m remarked the boy, who had pointed the broker cut to the officer, and Gibbs saw that Dodger Dick bad scored another victory. Already in another part of the city several other arrests had been made, Chubb Copeland had been taken, through the guidance of Tony Ted, and Bob Blandy, the private secretary and an accomplice, though more of a tool in the hands of the schemers, had also been secured, Ferdinand Foxcraft and Noxie escaped by visiting their quarters shortly after the boy’s departure, and finding the treasury under the floor lo When the papers belonging to Lucy Lukens were examined, it was discovered that, despite Norris Gibbs’s rascality, an immense fortune still remained for the young girl, and she was in time assisted to possession of it by attorneys who had nothing of Copeland’s dishonesty in their make-up. Norris Gibbs and the villain lawyer went ‘‘u the river” for good terms, and they are still serving the State far better than they ever served the le. While Bob Blandy’s youth saved him ‘ by the skin of his teeth,” Bessie Bullion did not get off so well, for Tony Ted got revenge for his chok- ing when the police broke up her den, and she went up in the same boat with the broker and his adviser. ‘*T guess I’ve lost the five thousand dollar re- ward, but no matter—Lucy’s got her rights, and that is good encugh,” remarked the Dodger to his double, a few a after everything con- — with *‘ the Gibbs case” had been clean- ed up. i: Wait and see,” was the answer. ‘I tell you a fellow doesn’t know what is going to bappen no vadays until it has taken plece. Norris Gibbs isn’t going to pay any one five thousand dollars for catching him at bis meanness, but I’ve an idea some one else will.” That very afternoon Dodger Dick recived an envelope which he tore open and found inside a letter of warm thanks, and another bit of paper which read something like this: “New York, Oct. 10 188-, ‘First Natrona BANK:—Pay to the order of Richard Sly five thousand dollars. $5.000, ‘* Lucy LuKENs.” ‘*T told you so!” exclaimed Tony Ted, burst- ing into a laugh at Dick’s speechless astonish- ent, ‘*That’s too much, Some of this is yours, Ted!” cried the Dodger. “Not a dollar. I was paid this morning for my services in the case, and I got a good deal more than I deserved, too. You started in with a determination to scoop in that reward, and I guess i ih done it.” ‘* Well, bere’s news for Mother St in? and away went the boss boy detective of New York to tell his good luck to his foster-parent. In time Lucy Lukens became the wife of the Jover to whose house she fled after leaving the Gibbs residence, and the pair are living in one - a well-to-do mansions of fashionable New ork. As for Dodger Dick and his shiewd double, they are always ready for an exciting chase. THE END, Beadle’s Half-Dime Library. 546 Captain Cactus, the Chaparral Cock, By Lievt. A. K. Sime 547 Sandy Andy; or, A Good Man Down, By P. 8. Warne, 548 Mart, the Night Express Detective. By J. C. Cowdrick, 549 Deadwood Dick on iia Mettle. By E. L. Wheeler, 550 Lafitte’s Legacy; or. The Avenging Sons By Col, Prumtin Ingraham. 551 Nick Nettle, the Boy Shadow, By Jo Pierce 552 Ariel, the Athlete. By David Druid. | 658 Dodger Dick’s Desperate Case. By T. C, Harbaugh, 554 Deadwood Dick, Jr., in Gotham, by E. L. Wheeler 555 The Creole Corsair. By Col. Prentiss Ingraham, 556 Lariat LAl; or, The Cast fora Life. By Philip S Warne, 557 Lroadway Billy’s Death Racket. By J. C. Cowdriek 555 The Syre-Shot Pards. By Artlur C. Grisson. 559 Harlem Jack, the Office Boy Deteetive, By Jo Pierce, 5€0? Pawnee Bill, the Prairie Shadower, By Col, P Ingraham. 661 Deadwood Dick in Boston. By Réward L. Wheeler, 562 Biundering Basil, the Hermit Boy Trapper. By Oll Coome 508 Dodger Dick, the Boy Vidocq; By T. C. Harbuugh. A New Ivaue Every Tuesday. The Half-Dime Library is for sale by a1! newsdenlers. five tents per copy, or sent by mail on receipt of six cunts each, BEADLE AND ADAMB, Publishers. 0S Wiliam fircet, New 4% ork, ‘ pil ee