Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 569 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

i > . ‘ - 4 veks . + wea a a SA EE A Wi Gea would be useless. eouch on the sofa and be - @uses to avoid com {ooking so sober and gloomy that Rosalthe was tempted to reprove her for it. Instead, she said she had a headache, and directed Lois to comb her hair thoroughly. it was the best excuse she could think of for having her there. ‘* Have you heard anything new, Lois?” she asked. ** No, miss.” : cha detective Has not been here again, has e? ** No, miss,” ** [sn’t that odd?” ‘* T don’t know, miss.” Rosalthe made an impatient movement. ‘** Don’t answer me like a machine. I want you to talk; 1 am lonesome and melancholy. Say something!” ‘* What shall I say?” ‘* Something which I don’t tell you to say; I can’t talk for both of us. What do the servants say? What is their theory in regard to how Mr. Damon was injured?” ‘I haven’t heard them say, Miss Rosalthe; but they all agree it was terrible, and they pity Mr. Damon,” ‘* But they don’t give any theories?” “*{ haven’t heard any.” A short silence followed. If Rosalthe had seen Lois’s face she might have suspected that the maid was not telling all she knew, and was de- ee not to tell. It was Lois who spoke next. ‘* Do you think they will catch the man?” 43 gers know,” ope so, ‘* So do I.” Both girls spoke falsely. They did not ho anytbing of the kind, though they tried to make their assertions sound plausible. ‘What will they do with him if they catch him?” continued Lois, after a pause. ‘** They will—he will be a doomed man.” _ “Evenif Mr. Damon gets well?” “‘In that case I think they will send him to prison for life,” answered Rosalthe, trying to pppenr calm. is’s hands stopped a moment. She knew nothing about law; not even enough to doubt ber mistress’s opinion; but the idea seemed to startle ber. “They wouldin’t do this if they could not prove it against him, would they?” she asked. ** Certainly not.” ‘* Suppose no one saw it done?” ‘* Then it is not likely to be known at all.” The maid’s lips suddenly closed with fixed de- termination, She had come into the room with an. idea half formed in her mind; now it was fully decided upon, and her every look showed her resolution. _ { The hair-dressing went on, and they talked further, but both avoided the subject last dis. cussed. Rosalthe did not succeed in getting any degree of cheerfulness from Lois, but she ascribed it to cayses she could easily imagine, and did not suspect that there was anything be- low the surface, She found consolation in the maid’s company, and suddenly said: ** You shall stay with me to-night, Lois.” ‘*How, miss? ~~ “You shall sleep here, You can arrange a quite comfortable. I don’t want to be alone; I won’t be alone!” Lois had been all ready to make voluble ex- lying with the proposal, but 8 convinced her that they The maid had plans which would be seriously interfered with by the new arrangement, but she decided to let it go on Rosalthe’s emphas and trust to her wits afterward to make every- , “8 ; as ey . . re i > at a 4 4 | ats ¥ Cc? 3 ret ° a. dot ° i Se ) oo at ee is ay ye % 7 — When s | ation not to sleep, but she lay very quiet and 4 FI ~~ Pa 5 as, + yf th“ Rosalthe “fl ’ but it thing right. Rosalthe’s idea had been suddenly conceived, pleased her from the first and she grew more determined in regard to it, The was made on the sofa accordingly, and shortly after ten o’clock the party retired. _ Lois bad } What she did there Rosalthe did not know, and Lois did not explain, but when she returned she . taken one more step toward her plan. 6 lay down it was with the determin- ness. — It was jong. before she was accommodated, ’s d was not at ease, and sleep did for her young mistress to lose conscious- |. not come obedient to ber wish, She tossed upon he se | ‘se eo % “ fie until h — t .. Lois waited pillow; she | asleep; she wanted ] edge of what was being doue in the room. thought until thinking was misery, er nerves were in a state of revolt. impatiently, She was nervous, Searcely ventured to turn upon her wanted her mistress to think her Rosalthe to lose all knowl- Pree gone to her own room, | Brooklyn Ben, Twelve o’clock bad struck, and the next hour was drawing near. Lois began to feel encour- aged, The only sound from the bed was Rosal- mes heavy breathing—sbe had fallen asleep at ast. Lois waited a few moments longer. Then she stirred slowly and carefully. Laying aside the clothing she cautiously arose, Rosalthe did not stir. Gathering up her own garments Lois moved to the door. Sbe unlocked it and passed out, Her mistvess gave no sign of conscious- ness. Closing the door, Lois hurriedly com- pleted her toilet. Then she glided to the further end of the hall. At that point stood a small table covered with a cloth which drooped nearly to the floor. Stoop- ing, she reached under the table and brought outasmall parcel. With thisin her hand she desvended first to the main hall, and then to that of the basement floor, where the gas was burning dimly. There her hat hung upon a nail. She took it down and moved toward the outer door. Unknown to her she was at that moment ob- served by two pairs of eyes, Rosalthe was not then asleep; she was Standing at the head of the basement stairs, looking curiously down. Who else was looking on, Lois soon knew. There was a step behind her: she wheeled and saw Jules Lefranc. She started back with a muffled cry. ‘What in the world are you doing, Lois?” Jules demanded, in manifest surprise, She did not answer; she could not. ‘“* Where are you going at this hour?” he added. ‘** Nowhere,” | ** What is that bundle?” ** Nothing.” ** My dear girl, why do you tremble so? What are you afraid of? I don’t understand this at all. Who has sent you out at this hour?” Lois caught at the straw. ** Miss Rosalthe,” she muttered, ‘‘ What is the errand?” *¢] will tell you to-morrow.” ‘No. Tell me now, and I will go for you.” ‘* No, no!” hurriedly protested Lois. Jules tried to take ber hand, but she shrunk away from him. ‘« Lois!” be exclaimed, reprovingly. ‘* Let me alone!” she retorted, sharply. ‘*Oh, woman—woman! what are we to make of you? murmured Jules, rolling his eyes up- ward. ‘‘ Uncertain, coy, and hard to please.’ gg fits it exactly. Some of them are heart- ess, ‘** How dare you say that when it 1s for you I am’ going away?” impetuously exclaimed the girl, ‘** For me?” sc Yes. 7 ‘** T don’t understand.” ‘** You understand well enough.” “Do I? Then lama raving lunatic. But if you are going for me, where are yea going?” ‘** Anywhere—anywhere! so that they don't find me again.” ‘Run away?” ‘* Yes," “This is serious!” exclaimed Lefranc. “ See here, my girl, I want an explanation. What does this mean?” 43 Let me go; I won’t talk to you!” ‘Pardon me, but you must explain, my dear Lois.” ‘To whom?” fiercely demanded Lois. “ To the whole world?, Shall I go and tell them who tried to kill Franklin Damon? Shall I put the officers on the track? I know who did the deed, if they do not, Stand back, Jules, or I will tell!” Rosalthe had made a violent start. She clun to the balusters and listened eagerly for wha was to come pvext. CHAPTER XI. | BEN AND THE TROWEL. és I’m ture!” The speaker was Ned Chester. The mouth of the vault had been entirely closed up by their enemies, under the lead of the unknown “ eg tain,” and the process of burying them alive had been fully completed. The last gleam of light had been shut out: the desperadoes had vanished from sight behind the brick wall, and the last clink of the trowels had ceased to x and Brooklyn Ben, still bound, were left in the living tomb. Rt mee! hope it ain’t as bad as that,” Ben answered, with singular cheerfulness, * emai ‘My poor boy! I see you don’t understand. Those men have doomed us to death.” afraid we are in for our last adven- | jd 9 **T know it.” ‘* And we are helpless. We are bound, and, even if we were not, we could not break out. We have nothing better than our pocket-knives, and they are useless.” ‘** Looks bad, that’s a fact,” ‘* It does, indeed.” ‘*They want us to starve, I suppose,” ** [ don’t think we shall starve,’ se No?’ ** There is another foe at our heels, and I think he will claim us first. We are in a very small room which, beyond question, is air-tight, For a while we shall get along all right, but, if I know anything about the principles of air, we shall by and by exhaust all there is here, and then slow suffocation will follow. I may be wrong as to this—I hope I am—but such is my opinion.” yp’ don't intend to be suffocated,” Ben de- clared, ‘** What can you do?” 3 ‘** Dig out!” **Dig out! And how will you do it?” ** We ain’t quite so bad off as you think,” Ben bravely responded. ‘I thought of all this when they put us in, and I took measures to meet the storm. Do you hear that?” He kicked something, and a ‘ clink” fol- lowed, ‘* What is it?” Ned asked. ‘* A trowel.” ** How did it get here?” ‘*T put it here. When they shoved us into this oven I saw it lying right in the gap, and I pushed it inside with my foot. Now we have it ready for use.” ‘Your foresight was admirable, Ben, but I doubt if it will help us any. We are bound you know,” *‘ We'll get out of these ropes,” Even if we do, there is not one chance in a hundred that we can dig out with the trowel. Such an implement will ley bricks, but when it comes to forcing them out of a solid wall, it is, I must say, next to impossible—nay, I believe 1t is impossible in the full sense of the word.” | ‘* Now see here, Ned Chester. that ain’t the way for a sailor-chap to talk. ‘ Never say die’ ought to be your motto; itismine, We can't lose anything by trying, and I am going to get out of these strings and get to work.” ‘Bravo, Ben! you have the true spirit, and I am foolish to oppose you. If we \bave only one cbance we will make the most of that one. Let’s begin work at once, and if it is possible to make a break, we'll do it.” “That’s the sort. I don’t believe we were made to be smothered in an oven, nor kept on short feed until our bones get outside our skin— not much! Now, Ned, you come and stand be- side me, with your back against my right side, and then run your hands into my trowsers- pocket and get my knife.” . en was coming to the front as bold, strorg natures will in emergencies, and Chester follow- ed his directions witbout a murmur. The knife was secured at the expense of some pain to Ned’s wrists, and then the next step was taken. Ned held the knife, and Ben proceeded. to saw his hands against the edge of the open blade. He ex- ted more than one cut, but luck was with im, and the operation was accomplished with- out much trouble, In a short time both were free from bords, ‘* Now for the trowel!” exclaimed Ben. He seized the implement at once and moved to the newly-laid part of the wall, Notbing but the strong bopes of youth, or the desperation of misery, Could have found hope there, Ben, over- looking the impediment of darkness, as he did all others, attacked the fresh mortar with the point of the trowel. _ Ned Chester shcok bis head. To him it seem- ed simply impossible to dislodge the first brick. ‘* Sha’n’t I do the work® he asked. \ ‘Td rather you wouldn’t, Ned, This ismy plan, and I want to show you it is sensible.” “You have a brave heart, my boy—of such material are heroes made, Work on, but don’t break the trowel.” , ‘** You bet I won't,” ‘: Chester sat down on the floor. He could see nothing that was going on, but bis lack of faith made this unimportant. He had two or three matches in his pocket, but their light would be too brief to do any good, and he did not care to — them. gl thoughts He n indulged in no gloomy thou . de was i to get out of the vault, and that was all there was to it. pte : He relied principally upon the fact that the | 4 6 ' s - ° Ca i ’ - . = > 4 — =! | in 4 Oe e hi ; 1 y _ ged L . . ; : LBS vedios > » oy Ms “.4 - Wis hen ty lo he ile a5 tia * . 4 Je wy = | = : - ra, We : “= i a4; + ga L ‘ be — — % a> * ™ ‘ . » a a r rr) = . “ an © | PET vagy Sa