Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 581 — page 4: what you’re looking at

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

Each had the other by the throat with one hand. Ir his right Noel held a crue! dirk knife, while Dar gresped the wrist to prevent the wea- pon being used, Ado Hetherington covered her eyes with her hands to shut out the deadly struggle, She knew tbe murdercus nature of Wilfred Noel, and she feared for the life of the young fellow with the blue eyes which had looked into hers with an expression that no maiden could mis- take, Dan Manly loved her and she knew it, ‘* Let go of a wrist and I'll send-you tc per- dition,” hissed Noel, scarcely knowing what he said in his anger-insanity, Not much!” was Double-Curve Dan’s reply, breathless as he felt that his strength was giving out. The ball game had been a tremendous strain upon him—even more than he knew, Bob Hetherington was dancing around the combatants, anxious tc help Dan in some way, but unable to do so, so quick were their move- nents, At last, with a mighty effort, Noel released his knife-hand from the young pitcher's grasp. For an instant, the knife flashed in the air. Ada screamed, and Bob rushivg forward threw himself between the struggling men, Fatal movement! The lad received the blow ang the tragedy was completed. For a second all stood spell-bound. Then Noel bounded away, and dashing around the corner was gone, The escape of the murderer aroused Dan to action. es after the fugitive but soon re- turned. Noel had but escaped for the time- being. He would soon enough be in the law’s grasp, As the pbysician who chanced to be present in the throng announced that the bright young lad was indeed dead, Ada Hetherington arose from the body, where she had thrown herself in the first transports of her grief, and raising her hand said, with almost awful solemnity: “‘Heaven hear me! I will devote my life to hunting down my brother’s murderer!” The gathered crowd stood back in silent re- épect for her grief, and to her fervent oath, many responded a heartfelt ‘‘amen!” Double-Curve Dam, who had come back un- observed by her, took her hand in his, and add- ed earnestly: ** And Dan Manly will help you to the end,” — She pressed his hand gently, and Double- Curye Dan felt that he had entered her service for life or death. CHAPTER III. THE GUEST OF CHROMO CASTLE. Down on the docks along the East River there was a queer retreat, It was a large room under the wharf whereon big bales of cotton, Cpeeneada and miscellaneous freight Bipienre.: to the business of a wholesale - ov southera productions were constantly stored, The room was not the sort of place into which a stranger would come to venture even if he could find his way to it, Built on scantlings nailed across the piles that supported the wharf, it waved backward and forward as the tide surged against the heavy timbers, and gave its Gey the sensation of being on ship- oard, What light it got in the daytime was derived ‘from a small window facing the river, that was always carefully shuttered both inside and out- side before a lamp was lighted within, But few persons were in the secret of the room’s existence, and they were sworn not to ‘reveal it to any one else. There were several means of reaching this place, all of them being carefully vailed, and so arranged that no one suspected their real character, The door of the room was on the side away from the river, so that when it was opened peo- ple passing along in boats would not get even a glimpse of the apartment. It was night; the room was omy secured,. both window and door being fastened, and not @ sound could be heard save the whistling of the wind among the fans and the angry lapping of the waves against the rotting timbers, The old shanty rocked: more than usual, for it was a wild night, though in the middle of summer. re - . atc get Dye a "> fire in sted hs in me center o room, esca a through the wall, pte Ke! " 4 Hanging over the fire, t h the here of the place was absolutely ng, was an old woman. _ Net old in years, for probably her age was ing-utensils, nor indeed anyt oe ahd _— <<) @ eee — ~ Double-Curve Dan. not more than half-way between thirty and forty, but e constant struggle wi*h poverty and an acquaintance with the shady side of life from her cradle upward, had hardened and wrinkled her features and put gray hairs into her head long before the proper time. She held her long, thin fingers over the bra- zier’, and slowly rubbed uer hands together, as she muttered: ‘*How the old place shakes! Shouldn’t be surprised if it was to break down completely and tumble into the river. Well, and a good job if lL went with it! That would be an end of all my troubles at one plunge.” She rocked herself to and fro on the low stool upon which she sat, and: continued her nee bade ‘Wonder where the boys are? Itis terribly lonesome here to-night!” A blinding flash of lightning—sc powerful that it penetrated even into the interior of the shanty, seeming to come through the solid walls, for its occupant would have declared there were no chinks—startled the woman, Almost simultaneously the thunder rattled among the piles with a tearing sound, as if up- rooting the very bed of the river, then settling down into a sullen roar and finally dying grum- blingly away. “My! What a night! Mag Mullins, you would be in pretty shape if this old place was tc be struck by lightning! 1 wouldn’t so much mind being drowned, but I never fancied light- nipg—or thunder!” ' . Another flash and another, with an accom- paniment of thunder grand enough to awe peo- ple sitting in solid brick houses, with plenty of friénds near by to help them keep up their courage, To this lonely woman, cowering in a crazy shanty, it was like the crack of doom, Now the rain, that had apparently been wait- ing until its electrical advance guard had time enough to announce its coming, came down in a solid sheet, It pattered on the wharf over the shanty for a few seconds, and then came through the numberless holes in the boards in streams that seemed as if they would wash the shanty into the river. “Ah! You may rain!” muttered Mag, apos- trophizing the elements, “I ain’t afraid of rain, The roof of the old house is solid enough, and the water can’t get through. But the light- ning— Ah! Who's that?” e old woman, who had been crooning over the fire, had jumped up and was standing in the corner furthest removed from the door, with a heavy iron bar in her hand. Her quick ear bad detected a sound that was not caused by the wind or rain, A knock at the door! She poised the iron bar in her hand ready to brain any intruder and bit her tongue in anger with herself that she had been surprised into speaking in answer to the knock, Another knock—feeble and hesitating but still unmistakable. She stood still, hardly breathing, though the storm was at its hight and she might have made a great deal of noise without any one out- side being the wiser, Still another knock, and then a voice—a man’s voice, strange to her: _ ** Open the door, in mercy’s name!” She did’ not answer, only gripped her hea iron bar thetighter, . — * Will you open this door? I must getin. If you don’t open I'll batter it down!” _A sneer curled the lip of Mag Mullins as ske listened to this threat. She knew that it would take more strength than that possessed by one man, unless he were provided with a sledge- hammer and a crowbar. This stranger, whose voice indicated anything but excessive vigor, was not much to be feared, , ‘*'You just stand out there and knock, and I'll take a look at you in the mean time,” muttered the hag, as she walked leisurely across the floor YY what looked like a small cupboard near the oor. ‘ The cupboard was locked, but she drew a Yale key from her pocket, and in a second had the door wide open continued outside, e impatient knockin and the voice of the visitor bad changed from threatening to pleading again. ‘*Let me in. You need not beafraid. I’m all pgnare, and ]’ll pay well for my lodging.” ‘*Must think we keep a ing-house or hotel,” was Mag’s inaudible co nt, as she ser inside the py econ be contents of the cupboard were not like those of ordinary places of the kind. There were no cups, eure, Die or cook- ing to indicate “You know the rules of that it was the storehouse for belongings of a thrifty housekeeper, It was entirely empty, save that a ladder fastened to the wall gave perpendicular access to a gloomy cavernous place above. Mag Mullins entered the cupboard and clesed it after her, the spring-lock having a handle in- side by which she could release herself, The thunder, lightning and rain continued as. furiously as ever, and still the stranger knocked at the door persistently, as if determined to get in at whatever expenditure of time and pa- tience, The old woman, though in pitch darkness, climbed the ladder without hesitation, and put. her head into the black hole above the ceiling. Then she leaned cautiously forward over the Shey rafters and opened a small trap in the wall. Putting her head through she was able to look. ky immediately upon the person outside the oor. He was standing on two planks that formed a bridge from a dar pamege that ran betweem the piles and under the wharf for miles perhaps, for anything that showed to the contrary. This was one of the means of approach tor Chromo Castle, as its owners had christened it, with grim facetiousness. Beneath the two creaking planks the river boiled and surged like an angry thing, and seem- ed as if it would tear into its bosom every liv- ing being that ventured within its sound, he rain streaming through the interstices of the wharf had made the planks so slippery that they formed buta precarious footing, and the stranger held desperately to the rude handle om the door of the shanty. He was a young man, and his clothes though now stained with mud and rain, and torn im AY places, were well-made and of good ma- terial, ‘‘Swell in trouble, for a dollar.” thought Mag. ‘ Well, Ican’t help it. We don’t want. to bave the police hunting around: until they drop on this crib. Chromo Castle is an ex- clusive residence, and we want to keep it so.” She was just,about to withdraw her head and: close the trap, more especially as the rain was. no respecter of persons and was pouring uncom- fortably on the back of her neck when her ear caught a slight sound in the dark passage under’ the wharf. ‘* Hello! What's that?” she muttered, ‘‘Some of the boys, I suppose.” A shaft of white light shone from the inte- rior of the passage upon the wet boards of the: plank bridge, adding but a feeble gleam to the continuous play of the lightning, however, and then the sound of footsteps was plainly audible to her. She ran rapidly down the ladder and feeling ina corner of the cupboard in the darkness. grasped an ordinary thread-spoo] that bung to a. piece of wire. She gave the spool a sharp tug and then climbed up the ladder again, so that: she could look through the opening in the wall. The spool and the wire conveyed a signal to the person in the passage that all was right, and he came carefully forward. . | As he appeared at the opening of the poems and pl one foot on the crazy wooden bridge, he showed himself to be a man of almost gigan- tic proportions, Over six feet in hight, bis broad shoulders and brawny arms iudicated the strength of an ox,,while biseasy movements and slight swagger betokened the atblete and bully. His clothes were of the Bowery cut. and, not- withstanding that it was ibe month of June, he wore an imitation sealskin cap upon bis bullet- shaped hea | ‘* Hallo! Who are you?” he growled, as a flash of ligtpnine rovealed the young man cling- ing to the handJe of the door, apparently ina state of utter exhaustion. ‘* Wh ing?” Fie took a bull’s-eye lantern from under his coat aud turned its rays upon the stranger. ‘¢T want shelter. [am all right. I can soon th to you. If I don’t, why—thcre’s the ver ) ‘“That’s so, by Cesar!” acquiesced the big man. ‘‘If you were dumped in here to-night ou would gaat go quietly out witb the tide ore daylight, and make a meal for a-sbark out. beyond Sandy Hook before your folks had time to miss you.” ; The*humor of this remark struck Mag Mul- lins so cpr gt she uttered a chuckle from her place of observation. Bere “That means'ten cents fine for you, old wo- man,” said the big man, looking u quickly. Chromo Castle. | ‘* ‘Well, you needn’t be so durned sbarp, Billy,” at are you do- 7; a ‘ : . ' Z ’ sd §4,-4 Fu, * t ; ; ; : f L P : . x + 8 a a < bs J ee 4 ¢ ‘3. ee ,\ rot. ; s : ; : ; EP ae ee ee oe, ee 2 ee” LS ee ee : a : 3 ae Fue 45h + : I00KS.EOM