Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 598 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

i- ——— omy _ bank down town 14 Flute, the Singer Detective. naA nN ieee tel ———————————— EERIE TS ‘© Yes—or Owney—whatever he calls himself.” ‘* Allright. This thing will be decided before long, I guess. I've found a soft place in the iron, and it won’t be very much tzouble to put the dynamite into it.” ‘“‘Good! Now, Mr. Argent, [ think I shall be able to wipe off old scores and make myself rich at the same time,” muttered Roundel, in grating tones. Piper kept on noiselessly with his work, and Roundel, with his eyes fixed on the street, wait- ed patiently for the completion of the prepara- tions for the explosion. The only sound was that caused by Piper’s chisel drilling into the safe, and that was so low as hardly to be distinguishable. And yet Roundel and Piper were not the only occupants of the bank, A figure stood straight and rigid behind the door of the president’s private apartment, watching the burglars’ operations with eyes that seemed to emit a fiery glow in the shadow. CHAPTER XIII, WATCHING A CRIME. WHEN Roundel and Piper threw the young detective down the cellar steps of the house near Broadway a funny thing happened. The cellar door was closed with 2 bang, and the man so suddenly made a prisoner rolled helplessly about the floor in pitchy darkness. ‘* Where the deuce am I?” he asked. The voice was not that of ‘* Gilt Thar Owney.” ‘* faith, an’ you’re all right,” said some one, cheerily. ‘‘I don’t know the name ov ye, but when I see thim shpalpeens uv a Roundel and Piper sind yer flyin’ down below, I know ez you’re a good mon, d’ye moind,” ‘‘ Well, get a light and let me see where I am,” returaed the other, ‘* My name is Peter Graul, andj I’m stage-manager at Sthe Euterpia Theater. I just wanted to help a young fellow in my company, and I let him make a fool of me by dressing me up in his clothes, just to throw a couple of scoundrels on the wrong scent. And now I’m here ina cellar in the middle of the night, with a wild Irishman who may kill and eat me for anything I can tell.” ‘Och, faith! No one will ate yez, Yez are too tough for the jaws uv a dacent mon, now Oi’m a-tellin’ yez. But what was the name av the young feller ez you helped? I know a very dacent b’ye that do be singin’ tinor at, a theay- r. ‘‘ Arthur Graham is his real name, but he is generally called Flute.” ‘*Floot, is it, ye say? Arthur Graham, eh? Well, now, don’t ye fool yerself, His r'ale name do be ‘Git Thar’ Owney, an’ don’t you forgit it.” “** Git Thar’ Owney? hat, the detective?” ‘‘ Jist that same, an’ no ither, sure as you’re not a handsome man.” ‘* Git—Thar—Owney!” repeated Graul, slow- ly, in intense astonishment. ‘* Well, well!” As the reader will perhaps have conjectured, the man in whose company Peter Graul had beed so unexpectedly thrown was none other than’Dennis Carrigan, the watchman at Argent & Co.’s bank. How he came to be in this cel- lar in Broadway, when we left him in Jersey City a few hours before, will be explained in adlue time. He lighted a candle while Graul was speaking, and showed a good-sized room, in which was a kitchen stove, an old table, two or three equally oldtchairs, a cot-bed in one corner, and a door that might be that of a cupboard or a means of communication with another part of the house, in the rear wall. “What do you think of this?’ asked Dennis, as he put the candle in its candlestick, (made by sticking three nails into a flat piece of wood) upon the table. ‘‘ Who the deuce are you?” was Peter Graul’s polite question, he ignoring the other’s remark. ‘‘Pinnis Carrigan, private watchman at a yant, loord of the sile, an’ a Dimmocrat from ’way back!” returned the Irish- man, witb a merry twinkle in his eye. ‘‘And what are you Ye here? I should think you ought to be at the bank, attending to our duty.” ‘‘ Well, be the same token, phwat are yez do- ing here yerself?” ‘‘True. What am I doing here, I should like to know. Open that cellar flap and let me out.” ‘** Can’t do it without ordhers,” ° ‘*Orders from whom?” ‘* From a little mon ez ginerally gits his own way—from ‘ Git Toar’ Owney.” ** What—F lute?” ‘* Yis, that same, though I didn’t know that An’ his r’ale name is he answered to any sich outlandish name as Floot, so I didn't.” ‘But I left him at the theater a little while ago. When did you see him?” ‘Sure, I saw him afoore you did this avenin’. Some of them shpalpeens what runs wid Tiger Jim an’ de gang brung me over here, after Owney got away from the place in Jarsey City, over the river beyant.” ' ‘‘ Jersey City—over the river,” repeated Graul, in a mystified way. ‘Och, sure ye don’t know onything about that; but it don’t matter. They shoved me in here, an’ put me in charge of a b’ye ez I knew in the old dart, but who has gone asthray over here, Well, for the sake uv ould toimes we had a dhrink together,” ‘¢ Well.” ‘‘ An’ he wanted me to slape well, d’ye moind, so he put a little whoite powdher intil the glass that I was todrink outof. But I didn’t drink 3+ 7) tte No 9? ‘‘No, I—I—changed the glasses whin he wasn’t looking, and be drank the liquor wid the whoite powdher intil it, an’ he wint to slape in- stid.uv me.” Peter Graul enjoyed the joke as much as his companion, and the two indulged in a hearty guffaw in concert, ‘ ‘‘But where is the fellow? What did you do with him when he went to sleep?” “ [Pll show you.” Dennis went to the door in the rear wall, opened it wide, and—out stepped ‘Git Thar” Owney: ‘‘Saints presarve us! from?” ‘“‘ Never mind,” answered Owney, in business- like tones. ‘* Pm here, and that is enough. Get your overcoat on, Have you got weapons?” ‘Yes, Ihave my pistol. It’s the same wan ez I had before.” ‘‘ Well, see that it is all ready for instant use. You have a handy-billy?” ‘*T have that.” “Good, Mr. Graul, you told mé at the theater to-night that you were willing to help me bring certain criminals to justice.” sé Yes. ” ; ‘““Well, now, I am a detective, generally known as ‘Git Thar’ Owney. I assume the name of Arthur Graham, for stage purposes, ‘There is a job on hand to-night, asl have already intimated to you. If you will see me through, you will find it a profitable specula- tion, ‘* Profit be hanged! Ill go with you because I like you, Flute, and because you have a better tenor than I have heard in comic opera since my own voice was in its prime,” returned Graul, as he seized the young detective’s hand in a hearty Where did you come rip. a Git’ Thar” Owney pushed open the outer door a little and reconnoitered. The street was empty, apparently. ‘‘ Light out, and come,” oe whispered back, The Lrishman at once blew out the candle, and taking Graul by the hand, led bim toward the steps. In another few seconds all were on the strreet, standing back in the shadow of the house, in obedience to the detective’s whispered order. ‘“ All quiet. Come along!” he proc'aimed, soft- * The three men walked in the direction taken by the two rascals, Roundel and Piper, some time before, and at laststood within a block of the bank of Argent & Co., looking earnestly in the direction of that institution. ‘‘T would give something to know which is the best way to approach them,” muttered “Owney, thoughtfully. ‘‘ Suppose you stroll quietly for- ward, Dennis, and try and get a look at the in- side through the glass doors.” ‘‘ Sure, an’ it’s meself as ll foind out all about it.” acquiesced Dennis, joyfully, “Stay, I’m afraid you're a little too eager.” The Irishman was very much disappointed, but there was no mistaking the air of quiet com- mand with which the detective signed to him to remain, and Dennis did not care to dispute it. ** Captain!” It was another voice that broke in with this word. Graul and Corrigan turned around sharply, very much astonished, But the detec- tive simply moved his head, and answered: “Well?” A pee officer stood in the doorway}of a house just bebind them, in such deep shadow that no one would be likely to see him unless he had been directed to the spot. ‘‘T have been watching, as you told me last night, and I’m a little suspicious.” ‘ . é . a 1 7 ate 3 be @ fi ( i ea 4 4 tee . * ’ ‘ 4 Ot A " ee » figs hl x oF, re it « = i y ! | | 4 f La “ ‘ ‘ . eu > ‘ey. ey Ps fan i 4 % abe ’ ry fi eo. wi ‘ sy i" | \ (* £7 ? i - _ r a. yy A a Well, speak low. Dennis, ste with him, and Mr. Graul, That’s ‘Are you? into the doorway please stand against the house with me. right.” in obedience to these directions, Owney’s two companions so disposed themselves as to be un- noticeable from a little distance. ‘Now, Dobbs, tell me what you have seen that looks suspicious.” Dobbs—for it was indeed that quiet and faith- ful officer—drew himself up stiffly in the door- way until he looked like a door-post himself, and spoke in his matter-of-fact way: ‘Gas lower than usual.” ‘Yes, Sure sign of mischief,” commented the detective. 3 ‘‘ Coat on the floor,” went on Dobbs. ‘Strange coat?” ‘No, sir.” ‘« Whose coat?” “Office coat, generally worn by Robert Smythe, the assistant-bockkeeper.” ‘“Whereabouts on the floor? ‘‘Near the peg that it is always hung upon.” ‘‘ Might have slipped off the peg,” suggested Owney. ‘* No, sir,” confidently. ‘“No? Why?” ‘“ At least four feet from the spot under the peg.” f Ah!” “ Couldn't have fallen down, Must have been thrown to one side by somebody.” ‘‘Guess you are right, Dobbs. Very well rea- soned.” : ‘That is not all,” continued Dobbs. ** Go on, then,” . ‘¢No watchman there.” ** Well?” ; ‘Think he may be in the job.” ‘‘ Why, you miserable whelp!” broke in Den- nis. ‘“‘ ine I can lick yez roight bere if ye say that me own mother’s son, Dinnis Carrigan, ” ‘That will do, Dennis,” interrupted Owney. “‘ Dobbs is mistaken this time. How long since you were at the bank?” turning again to Dobbs. ‘¢Ten minutes.” és Um !? ‘Git Thar” Owney stood some time in deep reflection. He was morally certain that the robbery of the bank was in progress at that mo. ment, and that he could arrest the thieves, He knew Tiger Jim of old, and was well aware that a pistol-bullet would be his first greeting unless they could surprise and secure him before he had time to use his weapon, The detective took Dobbs aside and whispered some directions in bis ear, ‘Very well, sir,” said Dobbs, in bis business- like way, as he turned short around and walked deliberately and softly toward the bank without noticing Graul or Dennis. ©* |. The three saw him reach the little court by the side of the bank, reference to which has already been made, and disappear, Owney kept his two companions quiet for an- other five minutes, and then motioning to them to follow him, went toward the court himself. ‘“‘ Well, this isan awful place for a respectable man,” grumbled Graul, when he found himself being squeezed between the brick pillars under the pahe: “ Hush 1” whispered Owney, as, pushing aside the carpet that Dobbs bad dropped over the hole in the corner of the room when he crawled through a few minutes before, he sbowed his companions the way into the bank—the identi- cal way by which Roundel and Piper bad effected an entrance, and which they imagined was known only to themselves. CHAPTER XIV.—CONCLUSION, BLANCHE ARRIVES OPPORTUNELY."” Ezra Prrer, kneeling in front of the : reat iron door of the vault in Argent & Co.’s bank, had no more idea that any one besides his com- nion in crime, Norman Roundel, was watching im, than he had that ‘Git Thar” Owney was any where but in the cellar into which be was supposed to have been thrust an hour or so be- re, at the shadowy figure behind the door never relaxed its vigilance for an instant, while the eyes seemed to emit sparks as Piper plied his drill and chisels in his unholy work. Tiger Jim, with his eyes fixed on the glass doors, ready to give warning in case of danger, waited patiently for Piper to drill the holes that were to hold the explosive. And the mysterious watcher behind the door seemed to have as much patience as anybody, as he noted every movement of Ezra Piper. ‘There she is!” proclaimed the little man at ‘ ;