Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 571 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

into’ a, z : ; ‘ Air-Line Luke, the Engineer Detective, Back into the house she flew for something to put on her head, and then she was ready and set out with the man at once, Little did she think of the trap she was walk- ing into. hen they were about half-way to the sta- tion, and just as they were about to pass a carriage that stood near the sidewalk, the man suddenly turned and grabbed Lucy in his arms, and before she could utter a cry she was thrust into the carriage where other arms were ready to receive her, And it was all done so quickly that no one could have interfered; and as soon as the girl was placed within, and the man bad sprung up to the driver’s seat, the carriage was driven rapidly away. - ucy was so badly frightened that she could hardly realize what had happened; but she was soon brought to realize it all in a most forcible manner, As soon as the man in whose power she was spoke, she recognize 1 his voice, It was Stewart Lyman! ‘‘ Well, my dear,” he said, ‘‘ you see you are in my power, and I do not mean to let you out of itagain. This night we will go far from here, you shall become my wife, and this place shall never see either of us again.” Lucy tried to cry out for help, but the man held bis hand over her mouth so that she could not do so. ** No use your kicking,” he said, *‘ for I do not meau to let you get out of my hands, now that I have got held of you. You will with me to a neat little place of hiding that Themen to know of, and then, as soon as I can arrange it we will travel. I have it all mapped out, and we will spend our honeymoon in some other country.” Lucy struggled hard to free herself from his grasp, but could not do sv, and the carriage rolled rapidly out of the city and away into the open country.” When Air-Line Luke felt the tugsat the leg of his trowsers, he thought at first that it must bea sy oe looked auickly down. d what he saw surprised him nota little! —it was a human hand that had hold of him! Luke knew better than to make any sound that would make his presence known, and the one who had hold of him evidently desired him to observe perfect silence, for he gave two or three more gentle jerks at his leg. There was but little light behind the heap of rubbish, and in order to learn who it was that me hold of him the young engineer had to stoop own. “ When he did this, he found a man lying there on the hard floor of the den, his hands and feet bound and a gag in his mouth, Luke had to look close to get a view of the face, but the moment he did get a fair look at it, an exclamation of surprise almost escaped im. The man was Hooper, the detective! Taking good care not to make apy noise, the young engineer drew his knife and severed the cords that held his friend, and removed the gag from his mouth; then the two began a whispered conversation, bay explained to the other how he had come there, ** Are you armed?” the detective asked. “Yes,” answered Luke; * are you?” ‘No; they took my weapons away from me when they got hold of me, and I am ‘as good as helpless. r _ “Perhaps if you feel around you can find something that will answer as a hand-to-hand weapon,” suggested Luke, Both were now standing up, and the detective _ looked around the place. “Say,” be presently whispered to Luke. ‘there is a coat banging up there in reach of you; "i watch your chance and slip your hand and see what there isin it. Itis possible that there is a weapon in one of the pockets,” uke waited for the opportunity, and then _ did as directed, and much to their delight, the etective’s own revolvers were recovered, ey were now ready for business, and it looked as though it would go hard with the _ counterfeiters, In the mean time the counterfeiters had been talki dily and excitedly, aud were laying ste ans for removing their den to some other Before they could act, however, they had to await the arrival of cota of their band, who were expected at any moment. Then it was their intention to cast the detective into the 4 | Fiver with a weight.at his feet and thus dispose ' mt mls La : ; AS ‘ i bd i ~~ p " oA ' v% of *.. «2 ; ‘ tad 3 Ay, > be Bey eb gagtl 0) eat Me ’ [’ ¥ ee | , * - oe sii hay 4 : ; AS ‘ + a tere” P a? % > P a ‘ . e {- os & , ia : yr i's ix * o = thd < Az. iw, (Ade ee - - 7S ~—* — . le Ay : . J - neg Sos 6 —" ts. - , Vr. » - d he : ae ea of him. This done, they would lose no time in getting away. The detective and the young engineer quickly decided to make their attack at once before the others came, and were just preparing to do so when there came a signal at the door and one of the men went to open it. ‘“Too late now,” whispered the detective; “we will have to wait until they all get to talk- ing _— No doubt this is the rest of their an When the new-comers entered the young en- gineer could hardly remain quiet. Never had he received a greater shock. ever bad he felt a stronger desire to drive a bullet into a fellow- being. A word will explain. The persons who came in were—Stewart Lyman and a villainous-looking companion, andbet ween them they supported the senseless form of pretty Lucy Fielding, The detective took in the situation at a glance, for Luks had told him nearly the whole of the affair back of the attempt at train-wrecking, and he laid bis hand upon the young engineer’s arm to restrain him. ‘* Wait a minute,” he whispered, “‘ and we will go for them,” ‘* Pull that chair up here,” ordered the cashier, ‘*so we can set this girl down.” 3 One of the men sprung to obey, and the girl was placed into it, the arms of the chair keeping her from falling. ‘* What did you bring that girl here for?” de- manded one of the men. ‘‘ We will have all we can do to take care of ourselves, I am think- ing.” ‘i Why, what has happened?” asked the cashier. “* Nothing, only this ghost-foolishness of yours has got us into trouble,” was the retort. ** How is that?” ‘“‘Why, a train came along awhile ago and snatched it out of the hole, and no doubt there will be some one here to-morrow to find out where it came from.” ‘* Well, let them come,” the cashier laughed. ‘¢ They won’t find us here, for I mean to get away to-night. We will divide the spoils and disband at once. Then I shall start down the river with this girland ey with her outof the country.” This started a lively debate—the villains all standing together, talking earnestly and ex- citedly, when— ‘*Hands up! every one of you! or you are dead men!” Quick as a flash they turned, and found them- selves face to face with Air-Line Luke and the detective, and three gleaming revolvers were looking straight into their eyes. ‘‘ Hands up!” the detective repeated, ‘‘ or down you go!” Two or three obeyed the command, but not so the others. ‘* Never!” they cried, but as they reached for their weapons, the revolvers of the detective spoke and three of them fell to the floor, It was life or death tothe two young men, and the resolute Hooper did not hesitate to act promptly: be sbot to kill. : One of the men to fall was the cashier. The others held up their hands, and while the detective held them under the cover of his weapons the young engineer deftly bound their hands and feet, In a brief while it was all over, and Air-Line Luke turned his attention to Lucy, who was just coming out of her faint. Lucy came to with a scream of fright, but, when she saw her lover bending over her 1t uickly changed to one of joy, and, woman-like re fainted again! ‘“'What shall we do now?’ the detective in- quired. ‘* One of us will have to go to the town for help, I guess.” | ‘“‘T can do better than that, I think,” answered Luke, glancing at his watch; ‘‘a train will be along in a few minutes and I will stop it here, Then with the help of the trainmen we can secure these vermin and go on to West Plain at once. So it was arranged. Ina short time the train came, and in a little while the report of the cap- ture was flashed over the wires from the West Plain Station, ——_—_—_— CHAPTER XVI, CONCLUDING WORDS, Tux ghost at the bridge was never seen again. And it proved to be a thing made of wire and rubber, painted to look like a skeleton, and cov- ered with a white robe. Only for their ghost, the counterfeiters might have gone om for a long time, for had not Air- 13 Line Luke gone there that night, the detective would never have seen another day. As it was, it all came out well. One of the counterfeiters proved to be an ex- detective, and one who had at one time stood high in esteem, and it was to him that Detective Hooper owed his defeat. But, that defeat re- sulted in victory when the young engineer took a hand in the game, And as for the forgeries—they were all the work of Stewart Lyman.. That shrewd scoun- drel had been carrying on’ his work for some time, going from bad to worse, until at last it ended in forgery, counterfeiting, and death. Needless to say, both the detective and Air- Line Luke were highly complimented and re- warded. Luke and Lucy were married, and no further troubles have come to mar their peace. Lucy is a model wife and mother, is loved by all who know her. Luke’s mother is still living, and with her is Ettie Hogan, who is receiving a good education, and promises to grow up to bea good and useful woman, ‘**Doc” Howard, Dan Fielding, and others whose names have been mentioned, are still on the road, and all admire Air-Line Luke, and are looking forward to his promotion to a higher office than the one in which we leave him. In- deed, there are rumors that he is soon to become assistant superintendent of the line. The dead counterfeiters were buried, with lit- tle honor, and the living ones were punished to the full extent of the law—as they richly de- served, : So it always is in the long run. Sooner or later an evil life finds an evil end. It does not pay to do wrong; it never has paid and it never will pay. But the reward for honesty and a brave discharge of duty is certain—as certain as it was in the case of Air-Line Luke, the young detective engineer. THE END. BEADLE AND ADAMS’ STANDARD DIME PUBLICATIONS Speakers. Each volume contains 100 large pages, printed from clear, open type, comprising the best collec tion of Dialogues, Dramas and Recitations. The Dime Speakers embrace twenty-five volumes 1. American Speaker. 15. Komikal Speaker. 2. National Speaker. 16. Youth’s Speaker. 3. Patriotic Speaker. 17. Eloquent Speaker. 4. Comic Speaker. 18, Hail Columbia Speak- 5. Elocutionist. er, 6. Humorous Speaker. 19. Serio-Comic Speaker, 7, Standard Speaker. 20. Select Speaker. 8 Speaker. 21, Funny Speaker. 9. Juvenile Speaker. 22. Jolly Speaker. 10. § read-Eagle Speaker | 23. ect Speaker. Dime Debater. 24, Recitations and Read- 12, Exhibition er. ings. La Burlesque Speaker . Stump 13. School Speaker. 14. Ludicrous Speaker. These books are replete with choice pieces for the School-room, the Exhibition, for Homes, ete, 75 te 100 Declamations and Recitations in each book. Dialogues. The Dime Dialogues, each volume 100 pages, em brace thirty-five books, viz.i Dialogues No. One. Dialogues No. Eighteen, Dialogues No. Two. Dialogues No. Nineteen. Dialogues No. Three. [Dialogues No. Twenty. Dialogues No, Four. Dialogues No. Twenty-one. Dialogues No, Five. Dialogues No. Twenty-two. Dialogues No. Six. Dialogues No. Twenty-three. Dialogues No, Seven. |Dialogues No. Twenty-four. Dialogues No, Eight. |Dialogues No. Twenty-five. Dialogues No. Nine. Dialogues No. Twenty-six. Dialogues No. Ten. DialoguesNo. Twenty-seven, Dialogues No. Eleven. |Dialogues No, Twenty-eight. Dialogues No. Twelve. |Dialogues No, Twenty-nine. Dialogues No. Thirteen. | Dialogues No. Thirty. Dialogues No. Fourteen. | Dialogues No. Thirty-one. Dialogues No. Fifteen. |Dialogues No. Thirty-two Dialogues No. Sixteen. Dialogues No. Thirt}-three, Dialogues No.Seventeen| Dialogues No. Thirty-four, Dialogues No, Thirty-five. 15 to % Dialogues and Dramas in each book, 2" The above books are sold by newsdealers everywhere, or will be sent, post-paid, to any ad dress, on receipt of price, ten cents each. BErapLs a4ND Apaxs, Publishers, 98 William st., N. Y, ~~