Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 581 — page 10: what you’re looking at

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

. ee — ems open from below, lay on the platform, 10 — ee Oe ayy OP mF - 1 e - o— Double-Curve Dan. ‘* Dere is dirty work over dere, River thieves, Vere is mein rubber coat?” ‘* Thieves?” cried Worth, eagerly. ‘*Yaw.” Then with a shout: ‘* All hands lower away der yawl! I goes to take a hand in der foon.” eS CHAPTER X, STEELY WILLIAMS MAKES A POINT IN THE GAME. WHEN Doublo-Curve Dan found himself in the river, with the angry waters surging in his ears, and with Wilfred Noel’s (Steely Williams’s) fingers still clutching his throat he realized that he was in the tightest fix of his life. His assailant did not seem to care what be- came of himself as long as he got the better of Dan, and if he could swim (and Dan knew enough of Steely Williams by reputation to be aware that he was as much at home in the water as on shore,) he did not make any attempt to exercise his ability in that direction. Dan Manly, however, had no wish to die in such a way, and though bis hands were em- ployed in keeping the knife away and in defend- ing himself from Steely Williams, his feet were free enough to use them as paddles, He had tosustain both bimself and his foe, and it was therefore nearly balf a minute before they arose to the surface, ‘*Och!} You murtherin villain! Let go of me!” were the first words that struck their ears as their heads arose from the water. A small platform, immediately under the _* West Door,” afforded a resting-place for Ma Mullins and Billy the Buffer. Both were soake with water. The explanation of their condition was appar- ent = a glance, The skiff floated bottom up- ward, Everybody in it had been thrown into the river with Dan Manly and Steely Williams, The woman and Bill had managed to scramble out on the platform, But where was Con Joyce?” ' Surely that wretched object that Bill Cranch was holding with its head just out of water could not be the lively little [rishman? ‘*Let go uv me, ye hy, ye Ye are drag- ging the hair out uv me head, so you be.” It was Con, and very indignant he was as the big desperado held him by the hair at the edge of the platform. Yet if Cranch had obeyed him and released his hold it might have gone hard with Con. Bill gave a tug at Con’s head and landed him, wet and flopping, like a gigantic gamy fish, on the platforrn. “* Now lie there, or Ill crack your neck,” ts Cranch, as he gave Con an admonitory ick, Con felt in his pocket to see if his revolver was safe, and remembered that he had had it in his hand when he went overboard, “If I had only fired it off just once I’d not ate cared a cent, so I wouldn't,” he mut- ered, Bill Crench’sattention was now taken up with the struggle with Dan Manly and Steely Wil- liams. The/former had seized an oar, aud his adversary had released bis hold on Manly’s throat to grasp the overturned boat. Both were afraid tomove, Steely had thrown his knife-hand around Dan’s neck, but, thus situated, could not strike, more especially as Dan had a tight grip on his wrist, “Surrender, Steely Williams, or it will be the worse for you,” said Dan, ‘I’m notalone. I have men close at hand who will arrest you, even if I am not able to do it.” ‘*Let them arrest me. Idon’t care, This is not a case of officer and prisoner only with you and me, I havea personal grudge against you, and Steely Williams lets nothing stand in the way of his revenge.” ** It will mean the hangman’s rope for you in case,” teely did not answer. Securing a firmer hold on the boat with his left hand, he threw his legs around the body of Dan Manly under water with the skill of a professional wrestler, and threw his adversary backward by main strength, so that his head went undcr water. Dan’s hands waved wildly above the surface in his efforts to.get his mouth out of the water, Bill Cranch and Mag Mullins were watching the struggle Lath geyee The brasier that had been overturned by the woman when the ‘‘ West Door” was pushed he hot coals lay by its side in a heap on the wet plat- form, and gave enough light to reveal the forms of Steely and the detective, as they tossed to and fro in the water, even if the rays of moon- light had not penetrated into the shadows, and made everything stand forth distinctly. With a mighty effort Dan got his head out long enough to shout ‘* Con!” ‘*‘Sure an’ I’m right—” : ‘*Here!” he was about to add, when Bill Cranch, with an oath, hit the little Irishman in the mouth, and commanded him to be silent, Again Steely Williams, who seemed to have superhuman strength now, though he had been so weak and faint when he knocked for admit- tance at Chromo Castle a short time ago, man- aged to face Dan under water, ‘* Now, | have you!” he muttered, as he got his right arm free, Once, twice! he struck at the young pitcher’s breast through the water with that wicked knife, Then gathering himself together, hs thrust his foot violently in the face of the wounded Dan, | He saw that the body sunk out of sight, and waiting for a minute, found that it did not come up, ‘*So much for the fellow that tries to play it on Steely Williams,” he muttered, as he pulled eee out of the water and onto the plat- orm, ‘*'You’ve fixed that rooster, sure, Steely, but I am afraid it will mean more trouble for us, Durned if Chromo Castle ain’t getting pretty hot for the residence of law-abiding citizens,” said Bill Cranch, grimly. ‘You talk like a fool! Why isn’t Chromo Castle as safe as any other place now that I’ve ut eee fellow out of the way?’ demanded teely. ‘*] thought you said that the police were onto the crib?” put in Mag Mullins, apiece ** Who said so?” grumbled Bill, “No one. I guess I dreamed it,” answered Mag. ‘*Guess you did. You’re always a-dreamin’ something or other. Wish you’d wake up long enough to help me get that boat straight, and put the Castle in order ag’in. I’m a orderly man, an’ I don’t like to have my boarding-house all shook up this here way.” Bill Cranch spoke with some irritation. He was wet and uncomfortable, and he felt that he had been ill-used by some one, though he' could not exactly make up his mind by whom, ‘Well, ’'ve made up my mind to stay in Chromo Castle for a time, until this young Heth- erington job has blown over,” declared Steely. **So we may as well get inside and out of sight of the river. You never know who is poking about among the shipping out there,” Mag Mullins seized the end of the boat that upside down, had floated against the planks of the platform, but was powerless to turn it over by herself, ‘*Give me a hand here, some one,” she said, ttishly. ) Steely Williams and Bill Cranch responded, and soon had the boat righted. Then the latter bailed it out with a tin can that was fastened to the seat, and picked up the oars that the tide had pot been able to carry out into the open river, : Con Joyce sat still on the platform, trying to get his dazed faculties into some sort of order, Steely Williams, knife still in hand, watching met to forestall any helligerent move on his art. Bill Cranch, in a business-like menner, ar- ranged the tackle of the boat, and soon had it clewed up in its old place under the rafters of the shanty. Now that Dan was safely sleeping in the muddy waters of the East River, and his companion, Joyce, was a prisoner, there was no necessity for the boat. As Steely had said, Chromo Castle was about the safest place in which he could hide himself, Strangely enough, no one thought of Mr. Hetherington, He had been with Dan Manly and Con when they were forcing an entrance from the platform to the shanty by means of the ‘* West Door.” When the brasier fell through the hole he had disappeared, and in the exci ing events that followed, he had slipped the memory of every one. Perhaps Dan Manly bad thought of bim, but if he had, no one could know it now. As for Con Joyce, full of pluck as he was, he had been throttled, and banged, and kicked, and half drowned, and it was no wonder that his ideas were in a hopeless state of confusion, He could not have told bis own name without hesi- tation, and he was not sure that he was his own mother’s son, as he said afterward, ‘**T wonder where—where Double-Curve is by this time,” said Steely Williams, with a hollow laugh, as he watched Mag Mullins collecting the coke into the brasier, preparatory to putting it through the ‘* West Door ” into the Castle. / — ii Eee nn nee ee ‘‘ Right under your feet, I guess,” she return- ed, coldly, as she looked at him with an expres- sion that bespoke anything but a friendly re- ard. are W hat?” yelled Steely, starting back as if he had been stung. ‘Ob, wbat are yer talkin’ about, Mag? Un- der bis feet! Whatrot! Why, it’s been caugbt by the undertow and has been carried out pretty near to Staten Island by this time,” **Do you think so, Bill? Do you think so?’ asked Steely Williams, with nervous eagerness. ‘*In course! You put him to sleep, didnt yer, and you saw him go down, didn’t yer? Very well, then; if he didn’t come up ag’in, why, he must have passed out with the current, and gone out to sea, I don’t see what you are ‘ botherin’ yerself about him for, anyhow,” ‘*The murtherin’ villain!” muttered Con Joyce to himself, as he listened to the conversa- tion, and managed to comprehend its purport, Mag had finished her job of replacing the coke in the brasier by this time, and now taking it by the two handles, requested Cranch to sup- port her behind while she carried it up the short, but perpendicular ladder by. which the ‘‘\West Door” was reached from below, and upon which Con Joyce had been standing when. she showered the hot coals upon his head. In another instant Mag had reached the inte- rior of tue shanty and deposited the brasier in its old place, where the fumes could escape through the pipe in the wall. ‘All right, Mag?’ askea Bill Cranch in a loud whisper. Sbe did not answer. ‘* What a sour old cuss she is,” grumbled Bill. ‘¢ But I suppose everything is safe. Watch this fellow, Steely, while I go up,” be continued, pointing to Con. oy ‘‘He’s safe enough,” was Steely Williams’s answer, as he stood over the little Irishman, knife in hand, Bill Cranch slowly ascended the perpendicular ladder, and was half through the trap, when he uttered an exclamation of surprise, and made a movement to retreat, Ere be could do so, something descended with crushing force upon his head, and he came tumbling down the steps and fell, a senseless heap, upon the platform. Then there was a momentary scuffle over: head, a crash, a heavy fall, and—silence! CHAPTER XI, THE DEAD FACE IN THE RIVER, JOHANN VAN DER STRATEN sat peacefully in the stern of his yaw], puffing at his short clay pipe while two sturdy mariners plied the oars. Dick and Lionel occupied places just in front of the skip- er. PS Pull in by der shore,’? commanded mypnheer, briefly. ‘*Dere is too mooch mooplight.” ** Yaw,” said the stroke oar, The boat ran in between two vessels that might have been cast in the same mold as Van der Straten’s squat schooner, and then, as the boat swung around a group of greasy piles the oarsmen rested and waited for further orders, The skipper smoked serenely fcr several minutes without speaking, theugh his eyes moved continual- ly, showing that he was not inattentive to his eur- roundings. ‘*Pull ali!’? he commarded, suddenly, as he steered. directly for a wharf further down the river, where there wero no vessels to obstruct the eb He never stopped smoking, but he pulled from a belt under his large, loose vest a long, old-fashioned navy pistol, which he examined carefully. Pretty good weapon, mynheer,’’ remarked Dick. se , 6 Old-fashioned, though,” 3) Yaw ” i Do you like it better than a revolver?” ** May need to use it to-night?” “be aw ” “Very well, then. I guess I had better look to mine,’’ observed Dick, taking a six-shooter from his “What have you got with you, Lionel?” asked Dick. * Nothing. I did not think I. should be in need of a weapon to-night.” : ‘‘No more did I, but I always like to be prepared Eh, mynheer? rf ‘*Yaw. You vhas can't always tell.” _ “True, mynheer; but where ere we going?” “ Wait, an’ you vill see right avay.”’ ‘“Allricht. I suppose you know.” ay... The Dutchman said this without any assumption of superior knowledge, but simply as corroborating an indisputable fact. Soon he held up his hand as a signal to his men to stop rowing. | ‘* Vere vas dat gone, eh?” He was evidently at fault. nhs What are you looking for, mynheer?” asked ick, | « (E] ON OXON DK