Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 608 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

‘+ - - “ : = . - my en a eee ee em ye ee ee -~ < ject that looked like a dirty paper ball, but which contained a pebble to give it weight. ‘* Let me see it.” Dr. Horne took it from her, opened it, and found a scrap of letter-paper, upon which a few words were scrawled with a pencil. The old gentleman spread the paper on his desk and carefully adjusted his spectacles, Dick watching him impatiently the while, Then he deliberately read: “Tf you desire to know who robbed you this morning, be at the third telegraph pole from the end of the railroad trestle bridge on the river shore at midnight, and bring with you the person known as Double-Curve Dan—/ut no one else, as you value your life. ‘This is business. STRAIGHT Trp.” ‘“P.§$.—We shall show a black bag in evidence. Ask R. 8.” “The murtherin’ blayguards!” was Norah O’Connor’s comment, ‘ What do you think of this, Dick?” asked the doctor, turniug thescrap of paper over and over in his band with a puzzled air. ‘‘ T think that you had better go.” ‘Tf I can find Double-Curve Dan,” remarked the doctor doubtfully, as he read the note over again to himself. ‘¢ You will find him,” assured Dick, ** Think so?” ‘‘T am sure of it,” was the confident reply. “?0m!” grunted Dr. Horne, CHAPTER VIIL, OUT ON THE FLY. Ir may be wondered, that during the proceed- ings of the last chapter, neither Dr. Horne, Ricbard Scott nor Norah O’Connor noticed that the *‘ long cabinet” was occupied. The fact was that all were too much engaged with the other matters that demanded their at- tention to notice the cabinet, or even look at it. The only time that there was any likelihood of it being observed, was when Dr. Horne stood at the telephone with his ear to the receiver, and then, it will be remembered, an observation by Dick Scott made him leave the instrument with- out even hanging up the receiver, so that it still dangled when the mysterious message was tbrown through the window. But how were Dan Manly and Clara Horne faring inside? W hen the girl was thrown in by the two bur- glars she fell plump upon the detective, who was squeezed, half on the chair and half into a eorner. There was not room to stand upright in the cabinet, except behind the chair, and there the space-was so small that any one but a very thin person stood a chance of being pain- fully squeezed when the door was closed. Clara was so dazed by the sudden attack of Slicker and her confinement,iu the cabinet that it was not until Dan spoke to her reassuringly that she realized where she was, ‘‘Don’t be afraid. The situation is an awk- ward one, but your father will release us as soon as he comes into the room, It seems to be im- possible for us to get out by our own exertions,” ‘‘Yes: a hundred men could not push that door open unless the lever is raised. And yet there is not a bolt or lock aboutit. It is all done by atmospheric pressure.” “‘ Very interesting, indeed; but T would rather admire it from the outside,” observed Dan, with a smile, : The girl had edged herself around s0 that she stood partly behind the chair, while the detec- tive leaned over the arm on the other side. They could see into tbe room only from the front and part of the sides, and as the doorway of the room was at the back of the cabinet they could only conjecture that Slicker and Barker had taken their departure, It is needless to say that, shut in as they were by the thick steel door, and double plate-glass, not a sound from the room outside penetrated to their strange prison. They saw Dick Scott, Dr. Horne, and Norah O’Connor come in, and guessed from their ges- ticulations, about the nature of their conversa- tion. ‘‘ My father actually suspects Dick of robbing bim,” murmured Clara, sadly, ‘The idea of such a thing.” ‘* Perhaps not,” said Dan, encouragingly. “Yes, he does. I can tell from the way he is throwing bis arms, as well as from the expres- sion of Dick’s face, poor fellow.” The detective did not reply, but he smiled significantly. He saw the reason of the girl’s deep interest in the young man, and was not at surprised by her naive admission & moment re a st tc LLL LL eee rr a ter: ‘““Dick Scott and I are engaged to be mar- ried,” The Pitcher Detective’s Foil. ee eee ee ee ee ‘¢ Don’t you think it is getting rather close in here?’ he asked, without replying to her little burst of confidence, ‘*T don't know,” she answered, carelessly. She was rather offended because her important communication had so little effect upon her companion. She forgot that young ladies being engaged to young gentlemen was not at alla new thing in the history of the world, and that Dan Manly had probably known many engaged couples in the course of bis life. The detective was looking closely at the inte- rior mechanism of the cabinet, and had squeezed himself with some difficulty upon the seat of the chair, so that, standing up in a partly-doubled attitude, he could bring his eyes close te the top of the cabinet, Clara, for the first time, looked fairly at him. Notwithstanding that the cabinet was in the shadow, she recognized him, now that she looked at him, as the wonderful pitcber who had done so much toward bringing victory to the club of her native city on the day before. She had, of course, witnessed the game, but had, with sev- eral of her girl friends, left the grand stand at its conclusion, not waiting for her father, who was accustomed to go down into the field to talk to the players, and who did not think it proper for his daughter to accompany bim on such ex- peditions. Like most American girls, Clara was a great admirer of the national game, and she always insisted upon seeing every match that was played in Albany. She had greatly enjoyed ths match between the Diamond Stars and tbe Albanys, and she considered Double-Curve Dan’s ‘ slide” to the home plate a feat wortby of golden record, Now that she found herself shut up iu a little box cnly a few cubic feet in size, with the won- derful pitcher, she felt she was indeed in an ad- veuture well spiced with romance. Tbe controversy between her father and Dick was still in progress, but neither she nor Dan could do anything to attract their attention, The glass was double, and a tapping on the in- side glass would be inaudible in the room. As for the top and the steel door, they were thickly padded with dark plush, as was the chair. No opportunity anywhere to give a signal to the outside world, Dick was pushing at the top to see if per- chance it could be raised, He had found a set of hinges along one side of it, indicating that it was a sort of “lid” that could be lifted up by those having the trick of it. He either had not tbe trick of it, or it required sometbing more than a trick to move it, for it remained as solid as « rock, in spite of all his exertions. He was in a profuse perspiration, and his breath was coming in short gasps, the result as much of his struggles to push up the top of the cabinet as the lack of oxygen in the atmospbere. ‘The air is getting foul, I am afraid,” re- marked the girl, now, as she began to feel an oppression on her head such as is always caused by being confin:d in @ small apartment with- out ventilation. ‘‘T suppose the doctor never intended it to contain more than one person at a time, anc he has arranged the atmosphere to suit the breath- ing of that one person,” answered Dan, thought- cys ‘* Well, we must do something, or we shall be suffocated.” He put his face close to the window, but it was impossible to attract the attention of the doctor. He was deeply engrossed with Dick, and was not looking at the cabinet at all. _ The air was nowrapidly getting worse. Hav- ing begun to lose its healthful properties, the inmates of the cabinet noticed the inconvenience more surely than at first. / ‘**1 can hardly breathe,” gasped Clara. ‘‘ This is awful,” Dan did not answer. He was convinced that there must be some means of providing against such a contingency as the present, when, in the accidental absence of the doctor, the patient in- side would be able torelieve himself from the ef- fects of the confined air, Suddenly he uttered a little cry of satisfac- tion, and simultaneously the girl felt as if the weight had been lifted from her head and she drew a deep breath, ‘‘ What have you done?” she asked, as she drank in long draughts of the air that seemed to come sweeter every moment. The detective was standing upon the chair- seat, with his hand thrust through a small open- ing in the top of the cabinet. He looked down at her with a smile of exul- tation. ‘*I thought thers must be something of the kind for ventilation,” he said, ‘* Thisisa rather / eM . od ers 2 Bae BIE ue a als Glee PR Ee . 4. n «ha , e ; ‘ a? . ; yt complicated arrangement, but it purifies the atmosphere inside,’ In truth it was complicated. A space about four inches square, secured by an air-tight glass cover, or trap, and held in place by a small brass button, gave access to an air-chamber that was in turn inclosed by avother and larger one. Thus the air was thorougbly filtered be- fore it reached the interior of the cabinet, and could be ** medicated” at will by the doctor to suit the condition of the patient, The girl here seized a cord that ran down the side of the cabinet, and that being of the cam - color as the plush padding, and following a . groove from the top, had hitherto escaped the notice of the detective as well as herself. “ Pulling the cord,it wes found that it oper- ated the trap that Dan had pushed open with his hand, so that the patient could sit in the chair and raise the trap when he found the at- mosphere difficult*to breathe, “Funny we did not notice that before,” ob- served the detective, as he still fumbled at the trap with his band, / ‘* Well, 1 am glad we bave found it now. If we could only attract papa’s attention we should soon be out. But that seems impossible. And —there is Norah, too. What is she talking P about? She seems terribly excited over some- thing.” Dan never ceased his operations on the lid of the cabinet, and bis response to Clara Horne’s last remark was to push up another section of the lid, which after being raised a little seemed “ to swing clear of some contrivance that held it in place, and dropped inside on a binge. “Well, I shall Jearn all about the arrange- ment of this affair, if nothing else,” observed the detective, coolly, as be looked down at Clara with a comical smile. But there seems to be lids and traps up here without number.” A cloud of dust had fallen when the detective lowered the lid, and Clara’s face was frescoed with it, The detective could hardly be recog- nized on account of the dirt be bad gathered during bi3 explorations. He was tugging now ata large black china knob that be bad discovered in one corner. He pulled with all bis might, when he was checked by acry from the girl. The chair was moving toward the front of the cabinet, and she was being violently crushed against the thick plate-glass Ly the arms of the chair. The knob controlled the movement of the chair, and had nothing to do with the open- ing of the lid, as be had hoped it had, The detective hastily moved the knob back again and released the girl from her uncom- fortable position, Then be went assiduously to work to discover @ means of opening the upper lid. If the knob was to move the chair, be argued, it must be accessible from the outside of the cabinet, and he pushed and pulled at every pro- jection and adjunct to the lid that he could see, At last! A modest piece of copper wire that he bad discovered among the intricacies of bolts, knobs, screws and buttons by the merest acci- dent, and which ran through a smail eyelet-hole to the back of the cabinet, had struck him as being something unusual. He put his finger on it, and with the slightest pressure a portion of the lid went up, disclosing an opening some three feet square. So nicely balanced was this trap that it remained just where it was placed, without going either up or down, Dan put his foot on the back of the chair, and poked bis head through the hele, It was at this moment that the paper was thrown through the window, and ke watched, with perhaps excusable interest, tae subsequent proceedings. He saw the doctor read the note, heard the words of it, and then ‘listened to the colloquy that ensued between Dick Scott and the doctor. ‘‘ What are they doing?” asked Clara from below, ‘* Why don’t you speak to them, and tell them to let us out?” ‘‘ I beg your pardon,T will, But it was so amusing to hear them talking about—” ‘¢ You perhaps forget that it is not amusing te me, since I cannot hear their conversation,” in- terrupted the girl, stiffly. “True. Ahem!” Fe He ejaculated this last word with tremendous emphasis, and Dr. Horne started. ‘* What's that?” exclaimed the doctor, looking in every direction but the right one. ‘‘ A peddler in the street, I guess,” said Dick, looking toward the open window. ‘‘ There is a vacant lot out there, and peddlers do not come there—only mysterious letter- throwers,” answered the doctor, ‘** Perhaps it was the cat,” bazarded Norah, yr i : . > +“ a: . ~ . a $ * ; a a =i hoe Pg | | nicbooks.com 7 ~