Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 598 — page 15: what you’re looking at

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

Se last. *‘ We'lltry her at that, anyhow. I should like to have made room for a heavier charge, but this will have to do.” ‘‘ Hurry up, then.” Tiger Jim’s only response was a growl, as he watched Piper introduce the granulated dyna- mite into the holes that be had drilled in the door of the vault. ‘‘ You want to let me know when you're ready, Piper. Don’t touch it off without warn- ing me,” ‘* Do you think I am a fool?” asked Piper, un- graciously. ‘‘ Something on that order; yes.” A grunt was all the little man vouchsafed, as he filled the holes with powder. ** Are you ready?” he whispered. “¥en.” ‘“ Well, then, Plllay the fuse, touch it off, and we had better get into the cellar from the pri- vate room while it goes off.” Piper deftly prepared the fuse which he drew from one of the many hiding-places in his cloth- ing, and felt in his pockets for a match. As he did so he looked around him in the vacant way peculiar to men who are searching for matches in their vest pockets. Ezra looked around him carelessly, and then, just as his fingers closed on the match, his gaze became fixed, bis lower jaw dropped, bis fingers relaxed, and an expression of supernatural hor- ror suffused his countenance. e was evident- ly \ gdeleescy with fright. oundel was watching the street, and did not at first notice his companion’s peculiar actions, ‘* Ready?” he asked, No answer. Roundel looked at Piper and saw his gaze of blank terror, ‘‘ What’s the matter?” Piper, in a shrinking way, as if he were trying to withdraw into himself, suffered his head to move slightly and at the same time pointed with trembling finger at the figure behind the door. Roundel, ever on the alert, swung around, knife in hand. Ere he could use the weapon, a mighty pair of arms were around him, and he found himself rolling on the floor in the embrace of Dobbs. Dobbs was a powerful man, but his strength was no match for that of Tiger Jim. With a sudden twist the latter threw the of- ficer on his back,.and then a blow on the head from some heavy missile rendered Dobbs sense- less. ‘‘Now, burry! Light that fuse, and let’s get this job finished. No fear of this fool troubling us for a while,” observed Roundel, coolly, as he stood up and straightened his ruffled plumes. ‘‘T can’t very well cut this fuse,” grumbled the little man. ‘‘1t will burn ten minutes be- fore it reaches the powder.” He lighted the end of it as he spoke, and watched the fire crawling slowly along it to- ward the powder around the combination lock. ‘‘ Why didn’t you light it in the middle?” ask- ed Roundel, gruffly. “True. {never thought of that.” ‘‘Of course not. Thinking is not in your line.” Roundel had just uttered this last remark with his usual sneer, when, for the second time, strong arms were Clasping his waist. He struggled Gesperncely but to no purpose this time, Two men were holding him, and be- fore be thoroughly realized that he was attack- ed, his two hands were forced together, and a pair of handcuffs encircled his wrists, Ezra Piper comprehended the meaning of the interruption at once, thus proving that he could think quickly sometimes, Norman Roun- del to the contrary votwithstanding. At one bound he had reached the front door, and in another would have been in the street and possibly safe from pursuit, But it was not to be. A man sprung after him, and just as he was-going through the door seized him by the coat-collar and dragged him back in no gentle fashion. ‘‘Kim in, ye shpalpeen. Be gob. D’ye think ez we're goin’ to let yez get away the now, afther all the thrubble we've had a-gittin’ yez?” said the voice of Dennis Carrigan. ‘‘ Put up your paws,” Before Ezra knew what the other meant, he found bimself wearing handcuffs, and being hauled back into the bank. ‘¢ Well, Tiger, here we are,” said Piper, as he was brought face to face with his ner. ‘‘ Curse your stupidity! We have you to thank for this business,” growled Roundel, as he shook his white head threateningly at the flabby- faced little tenor. “Se you had a cold and couldn’t sing, eh?” a * Flute, the Singer Detective. ——— —— put in Peter Graul, as he thrust his visage into that of Piper. ‘‘I suppose you will be attended to up at State Prison, or else I should have liked the satisfaction of fining you a week’s salary.” ‘‘Shut up, you old fool!” interposed Roundel. ‘‘Oh, Mr. Norman Roundel, and you are in ’ | the burglary business, too, eh? Well, it’s a | pity, for you have been a useful man in comic opera, and might have made a name for your- self as a baritone if you had stuck to it.” Peter Graul evidently meant what he said, and there was a ring of genuine regret in his tones. ‘‘ Never mind, Graul. I'll sing at the Euter- pia Theater again when I have served my sen- tence,” ‘‘ About fifteen years from now,” added Dennis, ‘¢ In the mean time, ** Git Thar” Owney. was trying to revive Dobbs, the policeman. “You may have murder to answer for, Ezra.” said the young detective, impressively. ‘¢ | don’t know whether you have killed him or not.” ‘‘T killed him? How do you know I had any- thing to do with it?” blustered Piper. ‘‘ Because I saw you throw that crowbar. I was in the corner over there, coming up the trap from below. My coat got caught by a big nail, and prevented my coming through quick- ly, or I would have been here to belp Dobbs be- fore you knew he was there, and then he would have been saved this ugly crack.” The young detective, while speaking, satisfied himself that the unconscious man was not fatal- ly hurt, but he did not tell Piper so until a judicious application of brandy that he found in Roundel’s pocket brought Dobbs to _ bis senses, so that he was able to sit up and look around him. In obedience to ‘*Git Thar” Owney’s di- rections, Graul and Carrigan each covered his prisoner with a six-shooter, while the detective went to a police alarm that hung aguinst the wall in the private room, and rung for help. He was not disposed to take the risk of lead- ing his prisoners to the station-house with the small force at his command. There were too many chances of a rescue being attempted. ‘*Owney,” cried Dennis. “Well?” ‘*Coom here. I want ter speak to yez, but I can’t leave these murtherin’ villains alone.” Owney stepped to the side of the Irishman, who whispered a few words in his ear. ‘* Yes,” answered Owney aloud. ‘‘I must go over there, atonce. At least, as soon as I get these fellows under lock and key. But I know she and ber father are safe at present.” ‘‘ Are they?” muttered Roundel. Piper did not speak, but a leer that boded no good screwed up his little eyes and made his pasty cbeeks look flabbier than ever. The detective saw it but could not tell what it meant. “What is that fellow grinnipg about?” thought the detective, anxiously. ‘‘ 1 don’t like to see a man of his make-up pleased. It always means mischief.” ‘‘Git Thar” Owney was right. It did mean mischief. Unless a warning was given, and given quick- ly, the life of the young detective wasnot worth more than a few minutes purchase. The fuse lighted by Ezra Piper had nearly reached the dynamite. The explosion would more than likely kill the detective. Strange to say, no one save the two burglars had noticed .the fire crawling along the cotton toward the spot where but one spark would pro- bably hurl the heavy door out, and send frag- ments of iron and steel flying in all directions, Slowly, but surely, the flame crept toward the fatal spot, ’ ‘Time those fellows were here from the station. Wish they would come. There is Mr, Argent and his little girl over in Jersey; I must hurry and bring them over. They are safe, perbaps, thanks to my arrangements. But I know the old gentleman will be anxious about the affairs at the bank. Well, thank heaven! I restored his gir] to him, at all events,” Thus mused Owney, and the fire was very near the powder. * ring up the station again if there is no one here within two minutes.” . He took out his watch, and, holding it in his bee prepared to watch the two minutes go Beware, Owney! You will never see the sec- ond hand go twice around its smali dial, if you stand where you are ‘* Nearly one minute,” murmured Owney, rrr LL ll CCl LG LLL LLL LLL - : | b ( | : & . e* e ‘ Cc O Ooo y fn ' | & Q ’ 78 . : , J r _-_ .: : - p a Fest / 4 15 with his gaze fixed on the face of his watch. ‘*‘ Ha! what’s that?” The glass doors in front, which had remained unfastened since Piper tried to escape that way were burst violently open, and a young girl bounded into the bank, and pulled ‘‘Git Thar” Owney away from his position before the vault door, Ere he could express his surprise, the girl had pulled something from the loor, and was stamp- ing on it with all her force, The fuse was extinguished, and ‘* Git Thar” Owney was saved. The girl saw that she had removed the dan- ger, and then, under the influence of a natural reaction, fell into the young detective’s arms in a dead faint. ‘‘ Shoot those fellows through the head if they give you any trouble,” commanded Owney, whose experience had long since told bim that any unwonted bustle was favorable to the escape of prisoners. “Paith, an’ we will that,” returned Dennis Carrigan, cheerily. ‘‘I’d jist loike to break the head av this little roosther, fer loock!” Ezra Piper snarled, but the Irishman shook his fist threateningly, and the flabby-faced tenor subsided, ‘My daughter! Where is my daughter?” broke in another voice, and Mr. Argent entered the bank hastily. ‘‘T am here, dear father,” murmured Blanche Rogers, or, rather, Lucy Argent. ‘‘ We shall never be parted again, shall we?” The banker’s only answer was to clasp her to his bosom. ‘You know, father, when we managed to break the lock of the door of that house in Jer- sey, I felt sure that there was trouble here, and that somehow I could be of use. But for that I should bave been content to wait until ‘Git Thar ’Owney came back for us, as he prom- ised.” ‘‘Yes, you disobeyed my orders, but as you have undoubtedly saved my life, I suppose I must forgive you.” ‘‘But I will not! Confound you for a med- dler,” hissed Tiger Jim, gnashing his teeth in impotent rage. ‘‘ Here you are,” exclaimed Owney, as half @ dozen policemen walked hastily up the stepsand entered the bank. The officers seized the two prisoners in a mat- ter-of-fact way, and in less than half an hour Tiger Jim and Piper were_securely locked up. ‘Now, Mr. Argent, is there anything more that I can do for you?” asked the detective, as having locked up the bank, with Dennis Cor- rigan remaining behind in his regular position of watchman, be stood in Mr. Argent’s parlor at his residence, while Lucy hung lovingly on her father’s arm, as he sat in his own arm-chair before the cheerful open grate, ‘‘Owney, what more could you do for me? You have restored to me my child, and you have saved the bank from a wholesale robbery.” ‘‘ And caught two fellows for whom I have been looking for a year. I have done as much for myself as I have for you in that matter, Mr, Argent,” ‘Perhaps so! Perhapsso! But Lucy and I will always consider you the best friend we ever had. Won’t we, Lucy?” ‘‘ Indeed we will, papa. It has been an awful twenty-four hours for us, but I don’t care as long as it has ended all right. Besides, it will be something to tell the girls when I go back to the Academy, as you say I must for another year, What a story I can make of our adven- tures, papa, with fictitious names,” Lucy laughed joyously as she spoke, ‘Ah, Lucy, Lucy! Full of your nonsense as ever, Well, you would not be my own girl, were you otherwise, I sup ‘‘T suppose not,” was sponse. Norman Roundel, alias “ Tiger Jim,” and bis partner Ezra Piper, were both sent to Sing Sin Prison for long terms, and the police hoped tha the gang to which they belonged was broken up. Whether it was or not we may see in future. ‘‘Hlute” was the name of the tenor who played the part of Nanki-Poo at the Euterpia Theater for many successive weeks, and the public indorsed the opinion of the stage-man- ager, Peter Graul, that his voice was one of the best ever heard in comic opera in New York. No one around the theater except Graul ever knew his real name, or that, besides the popu- larity he had acquired as a singer and actor, he had won fame in sterner ficlds of action as lightning detective, ‘‘ Git Thar” Owney. THE END, Lucy’s demure re- a) da / ® : i q=¥ i ip ‘ t AS at hy 4 o> es “2% Ve x 4 ‘ v - . Wy ee 4) com eA. 6 “hs > oJ mm § a al “f