Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 543 — page 2: what you’re looking at

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

_ Dodger Dick’s Double. I wili not attempt a personal description of the Pay axe for the reader of this library is al- ready well acquainted with him, and | have only to say that we are dealing once more with Dodger Dick, the famous whart-rat detective of Gotham, . While Dick was watching the lading of a ves- sel not far from his point of observation, the voice of a newsboy came shrill and clear from the street: “Evening Telegram—third edition!” sung out the little fellow. ‘* All about the fire and the robbery. Five thousand dollars reward!” The last amnouncement seemed to bave a magic effect. ‘* Hello! This way, Tony!” shouted Dick, at - mane time signaling the newsboy with his and. ‘* Telegram” Tony stopped, looked a moment, and then came forward at full speed. ‘*Fire and robbery, eh?’ asked the wharf ferret, as he held out the exact chan e. ‘* That’s what I’m giving you. It’s no gag to sell papers, Dick, though I don’t think the fire amounts to much,” and once more, *‘ Here’s your Evening Telegram !” sounded on the wharf as Tony darted after an expected pur- chaser. Dodger Dick unfolded the paper in the shadow of the goods. He saw at once that the two events bore no relation to each other. They were not in the same column, and had not occurred on the same street. The boy turned instinctively to the robbery, and a moment later he was absorbed in the ac- count, which ir substance was something like his: Norris Gibbs was a retired broker of —th street. He was reputed wealthy, and lived alone, with the exception of a young girl named Lucy Lukens, whose guardian he was. It seems that at five o’clock on the morning of the date of the paper, a young man, who sometimes slept in the house, entered the library and found Mr, Gibbs gagged and unconscious in a chair. It was some time, the account stated, before the broker was able to speak, and when he was sufficiently recovered to do so, he told a very thrilling story. In brief, it was that at about eleven o'clock the previous night he was surprised at his desk by two men who wore black muslin and that while one held a pistol at his head, the other secured him in the chair by an ingenious contrivance which they had brought along for that purpose, Having accomplished this part of their work suc , the rascals opened the private safe which happened at the moment to be unlocked and abstracted some funds and a lot of very im- ortant pore some of which, the re eee his young ward’s future. Unable to move or cry out, Mr, Gibbs was ‘to occupy the chair, and at last, the strain on his nerves becoming too great, he fainted, in which condition he was found as already mentioned. — The account of the robbery wound up by sa the broker was anxious to have the ak Rens - bold thieves hunted down, and that he had of- fered a reward of five thousand dollars for their my i eige H and the return of the oe. Dodger Dick did not miss a syllable of the story. When he reached the end he went back and read several portions of it the second time. ‘I guess that reward has already attracted the man-hunters of New York,” he observed with a smile, ‘* Maybe it’s hardly worth while for me to see what there’s in it, but it isn’t always the dog that heads the at the start that catches the fox. Besides, the brief description of the contrivance that held the broker to the chair whets my appetite for something more about this case. I'll make a move for that five thou- and anyhow,” Sho after this Dodger Dick wes on his way to the scene of the mysterious crime. ‘Here! which way?” suddenly cried a man pose band alighted on the boy’s shoulder as he spoke. ‘ Dick saw at his side a tall, broad-shouldered man with piercing black eyes and abundant whiskers. Near by stood another person, doubt- less the big man’s companion, but he was a pig- my compared to the other. ‘* What do you want?” asked the boy, sharply. ‘* That's not the one, count,” suddenly Jaug the littleman, ‘* Don’t you see you’ve stopped the Mere ton a is The big man drew back and looked at Dick. “‘T see now!” he exclai ** Well, by George! did you ever see anything like it? Ha, ha! It beats my time all hollow.” And without explanation or apology, he turned away and both men hurried off. It the wharf shadow had not been on a mis- sion of importance, he would have followed the men for the purpose of finding out who they were; but he started forward again, and soon after turned into the street inhabited by Norris Gibhs, the broker. ‘‘That’s the first time in a long while I’ve been taken fr some one else,” thought the boy. ‘* Those two men were anxious to see the party whom they took me to be. Maybe they were waiting for bim; it looked very much that way. A big man and a little one—Tom Thumb and Goliath. Ill not forget that.” Five minutes later the Dodger ran up the steps of the three story brick house occupied by Nor- ris Gibbs, and jerked the knocker. In a moment the door was opened, and he was asked by a rather good-looking young mau what be wanted. — ‘**T wonder if this isn’t the fellow who found Mr. Gibbs in the chair?” mentee ueried the young ferret, and then he answered the demand: ‘*T want to see Mr, Norris Gibbs.” ‘You do? Got a message for him?” “No. I want to see him on important busi- ness,’ The young man looked at Dick while a sneer formed at the corner of his mouth. ‘* If [ thought a boy like you could have busi- ness with Mr. Gibbs just now—” ‘* Do you run this house?” flashed Dick, draw- ing his figure up and at the same time gliding across the threshold before he could be expelled. ‘“‘Tf Mr. Gibbs has placed you here to pass on his visitors and to turn out all whom you please, it is allright; but I don’t believe be has done any such thing. My business with the gentle- man of the house is strictly private.” The young man had colored, and his eyes had an angry look, but fearing, perbaps, to eject an important caller, so Dick thought at the time, he pointed to a door a short way down the hall. “The responsibility of disturbing Mr. Gibbs on you,” he snapped. ' “Tl take it,” was the response, and Dick walked eagerly toward the door. The next minute he turned a knob and usher- ed himself into a room which he saw at once was the well-furnished library of a person of considerable wealth. Instead of confronting one man as he expect- ed to do, Dodger Dick found himself face to face ith two. An odor of fragrant cigar-smoke filled the room, and the hoy perceived its occupants seated at a round table on which was a tray provided with bottles and glasses. Both men astonished when the boy en- vate and the face of one grew red with indig- nation. Dick advanced, hat in hand, and bowed po- 2 old rg the ass oldest me 0 ) > Ww was the robbed broker, . “T’m Mr. Gibbs, but I don’t see what’s brought tart reply. | om he’con- c ‘This is the boy who was here about noou,” continued the broker, turning to his companion, a man some years younger than he, and the pos- sessor of a smooth, peaked face indicative of a certain species of cunnmg, ‘One-half the gam- ins of New York will want to be detectivesnow. Is bothered with the vermin for some time to come, but I inten] that I will not be im- on. What is it now, sir?’ | The last words were sharpl ken to the Dodger who saw that his arrival bad thrown Norris Gibbs into very bad-humor. ‘“‘T beg your pardon, sir, but I have not been here before.” “What! I don’t want you to stand on my carpet aud stretch the truth in that manner. You were here ab*ut noon; you sat in the chair occupied by Mr. Copeland there, and asked me about the affair of last night. I don’t allow anybody to contradict me in my own house.” “There must be a mistake,” replied Dick. ‘I never heard of the assault and robbery until half an hour ago, consequently I could not have been here at noon asking you about 1t.” ‘‘T am not to be hoodwinked, What do you advise me, Mr. Co a” ‘To have nothing to do with so-called boy de- tectives,” answered the ed face man, and Dick thought be took great pleasure in deliver- ing this opinion. 6.2 . ood suits me!” cried } lawyer,” he went on, address advice, and just the kind that Gibbs’ UME, C i said, addressing ‘kn ‘land ihg the Dodgers ‘and he knows exactly what he is talking about. You have come back here for some pore and I don't care to know what it is. I hav» placed my case in the bands of the best detectives in New York, and I won’t be bothered by boys, nor will I give them a particle of information. That is all, sir. You know the way to the street, I guess,” 7 Dodger Dick could hardly keep his indignation own. | The broker’s last words were a peremptory dismissal, and the lad saw that any further at- tempts to explain would not be allowed, ~7 Ou are very positive,” he said, looking at Mr, Gibbs from the door. ‘I stand before you for the first time, notwithstanding your asser- tion that I was here at noon. You have oYered five thousand dollars reward for the robbers and your pa You may have to pay it to one of those very gamin detectives you laugh at, Mr. Gibbs. Good-morning!” And Dick was gone in a second. He heard the laugh of two men behind him, and then he was on the street, , ‘‘The second time!” cried the boy. ‘Can it be that I have a double who is playing ferret in this case? That there is some person who re- sembles me I know, for the giant mistook me for that person on the street, and Norris Gibbs has been visited by my counterpart. Here isa mystery from the start. I see it is a race for the five thousand dollars!” And Dick laughed as he moved off. | CHAPTER II. AN UNWILLING WITNESS. THE mysterious robbery, full accounts of which ot into all the city papers, brought Norris Gibbs a good deal of notoriety. He had been known as a pretty successful broker, and there were those who said that he was up to all the tricks of the trade. At any rate, be bad accumulated a consider- able amount of worldly goods, and his bank ac- count was thought to be prodigious. . As has been stated already, he was ‘‘ retired” at the time of the robbery, had few visitors outside of his attorney, Chubb Copeland, who came pretty often and sometimes remained a long time. : . course the five-thousand-dollar reward stimulated search for the robbers, and for severai days Mr. Gibbs was kept busy giving an account of the affair to amateur and professional detec- tives. He intended to run the two rascals down if it cost bim half his wea\th, and he declared, with ons Yer that there should be no proceedings looking to a compromise of any sort. The lawyer professed to know but little about the nature of the valuable papers carried away by the robbers. mal gS He went so far as to say, however, that he be- lieved they in some manner affected Miss Luxens, the broker’s ward, but just how he did not Owe o Chubb Copeland was a shrewd man in a cer- tain sense. He practiced sometimes in the police court, and was always on the lookout for technical points by which he could worm his clients out of the clutches of the law, He was passably good looking despite his peaked face, was about thirty, and had a gliding gait which gave one an insight to his nature. _ Nobod Enew how he came to be Norris Gibbs’s legal adviser, and nobody cared somehow or other, there seemed a strange of union between the two men. ; ay. It was the third evening after porey Dick’s call at the broker’s house in search of informa- tion which, as we know, he did not: | Chubb Copeland was seated on the second floor of a building not far from Union Square. yt Rs It was a very small office, but plenty lar enough for the Jawyer and his business, The but,” ‘bond in hie little office ot a — 4 - {% - 4 ~ 4 >. windows commanded a view of the famous uare where the leaves were turning brown un- der the frosts of early autumn, . The lawyer loved to sit at one of the windows and people were ungenerous to say that he sa there watching for clients, like a spider at the © * 7 '* ‘ ", P ‘ 4 : Tier ~@ door of his den. ae On this ero evening the lawyer was occupying his chair at his accustomed window. He bad no Clients. | | A ‘All at once he heard footsteps in the hall that lay iw pero the door at his back, and as he turn he bringing any fish to his net, he was confronted by aman who came in without the slightest in- tation. rs Copeland’s visitor was an immense man physi- cally, and the'lawyer could not help voting the J ad to see whether fortune was ay -. ‘+ i" as. ae PN! Welton . ‘ + aby - LA ff Mee *# 2 i", d d y * ov . : area 4 - s > >? * eu > nee Pew 7 fom | ‘a ¢ - 7 - " Ps! : . - « 7 ‘ a 7 * * ™~ a 4 T-# oa + , a .: * - rp ie Whe as 7 ¥ “ys ae @ = “ . Sy + ie oth. ~ forn nat ‘ a om) ne . > eo