Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 628 — page 7: what you’re looking at

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

- ae ee ee ee = = a. s i i » ~ ' g - ~~; a | ‘ : | \ \ . ‘ i =. . Broadway Billy’s Dead Act. heavy stone or somethin’ of th’ kind at my feet. Down I went, with a rush an’ a bump, an’ that is all [ know about it.” ‘*It was that ‘ bump’ that saved your life.” “What! that bump saved my life?” ** Exactly so,” “*Oh! I see. I went to th’ bottom with sich a jerk that th’ weight broke loose, th’ bag ripped open, an’ up | popped, like a stopper out o’ a bottle, You happened ter come along, run me down, scooped me in, an’ here I am, Ain’t I right?” ‘ Well, hardly,” answered the man, witha laugh. ‘** You were only too well tied up, and there was no possible chance for that stone to get loose. You are right about my being on hand to scoop you in, however, as you express it, ** You git ahead o’ me,” confessed Billy. ‘‘I don’t onderstand it.” ‘* No, of course you don’t, But, there, [ think you have talked enough for one time. You are weaker than you think you are, and must go to sleep. You have had a narrow pull for your life, and I have got to take the best of care of you for some time to come.” ‘“ Couldn’t think o’ sich a thing,” declared Billy. ‘I have got ter know th’ bull fax in th’ case right now, or bu’st.” He was taxing his strength to the utmost, and he knew it, He knew that what the man said was true, that he was very weak. But, he was eager to know what sort of an adventure he had been through, The man had produced a bottle and a spoon. ‘It is time for your medicine, now,” he said, as he poured something from the bottle into the spoon; ‘‘ here; take this, and we will talk after- ward,” Billy, too weak to resist, or to care anything about it, anyhow, opened his mouth and took the dose, For the time being that settled Billy. Hetried to continue the talk, but his tongue grew thick, and in a short time he was in a deep sleep. The mar watched bim with a smile. ‘** Poor chap,” he observed, “he had a tough time ofe@@mand I must not let him do too much talking. He is bright as a dollar, and Iam anx- ious to learn all about him, but I must wait.” He went softly from the room, though there was little danger that the boy would wake now, closing the door after him, and Billy slept on. The room into which the man passed was of the same shape as the one Billy was in, but it was larger. ere he could stand upright, and had room to turn about. There was a narrow table in the center, and three or four chairs, In one of these chairs a man was seated, He was older than the one we have already seen, He had a close-cropped white beard, wore glass- es, and was reading. 6 looked up as the younger man entered and asked: ** Well, how is the lad?” ‘He has come to,” was the answer, ‘‘and I guess he will come out all right. He wanted to know everything in one question, and I had to put him to sleep in order to shut his mouth. He is a regular rattle-box,” * ““T thought I heard his tongue going pretty lively. Did you find out who he is?” ‘* No; he did not give me a chance.” ** Oh, well, there will be plenty of time.” While they were talking another young man came in, entering by a door opposite to that opening into the room where Billy was sleep- ing. He looked to be about twenty years of age, and seeing them all together, one would have guessed that they.were father and sons. Such was the case, ‘Ts everything all right, Charles?” the father asked, ** Yes,” answered the younger brother, ‘‘ every- thing is as it should be.” ‘‘T am glad to hear it, Well, sit down, boys, and read or do whatever you _Jike for an hour, At the end of that time we will bave to procure fresh air, and then we will chanye our position a little.” ‘‘ What about the boy?” inquired the elder brother. ‘‘ We will keep him here,” the father respond- ed. ‘*I am curious to know who he is, and why the attempted murder. He is dead to the world, and his detention here until be is fully recovered will make no difference in the case,” It was many hours before Broadway Billy awoke again, but when be did so, and had look- ed around and recalled wkere be was, he gave utterance to his same old exclamation. The elder of the brothers had been in to see LLL LLB LLL LLL LE LN ce —E —_— ee Le LS ee him many times in the meanwhile, and when he heard the exclamation he entered at once, ** Hello! awake, are you?” he cheerily greeted. **[ guess so,” returned Billy, ‘* but, 1 can’t be quite sure of it. Can’t be sure of ee in these times o’ resurrection, Did go ter sleep?” ‘S Yes,” ‘*] thought so, It seems ter me that you was goin’ ter tell me about how ye got holt o’ me, wasn’t ye?” ‘*T believe 1 was. Had you not better wait, however, until you have had something to eat, and are made stronger?” ‘‘Nary a wait!” Billy exclaimed. ‘‘If you only knowed what a fever I am in, an’ what an awful nightmare I have had about it, you wouldn’s ask it. I am jest dyin’ ter know th’ truth, th’ whole truth, an’nothin’ but th’ truth, in th’ case.” ‘Well, if you are as bad off as that, [ will tell you.” CHAPTER VIII. REVELATION IMMENSE. AND he began with a question. “My boy,” he asked, “‘ have you no suspicion as to where you are?” ‘“T don’t reckon I have,” he answered. ‘1 am like a cat in a strange garret. I don’t know t’other end from which, ez it were.” The man smiled. He had certainly found a quaint and peculiar boy, ‘‘Have you ever heard of the Pirogue?”’ he asked, ‘*Have I ever head of the Peeroag ?” re- peated Billy. ‘‘I hardly guess that I have. W hat is a—what is that, anyhow?” ‘‘A pirogue? Why, it isa name applied to a certain kind of boat: properly, a canoe formed of one large tree. You may have heard it called ‘ porgy.’” ‘* Oh!” exclaimed Billy, “if you meant th’ Porgy , why didn’t you say so? That is th’ name of that great under-water boat that th’ newspapers has been puffin’ about so much of late, ain’t it?” ‘* Yes, that is what I mean; but I prefer to pronounce it my way.” ‘*And do you mean ter tel&®me that I am aboard o’ that strange jigger?” Billy demanded, his = hes wide open with wonderment. ‘That is just the fact in the case, my lad,” was the smiling answer, ‘** And who are you?” ‘*T am Captain Daunton.” ‘*Sweet pertaters! What would Skinny say ter this, I wonder? What would them Sworn Seven say, if they could know that I am still on my pins, an’ after ’em wuss’n a dose o’ p’izen? You kin bet yer life thet there is goin’ ter be a time, mister, an’ that—” The man had listened in alarm to this rattling volley of words, meaningless to bim, and he in- terrupted: ‘“My boy, I am afraid that your mind is wandering, and that it will not do for us to talk any longer to-day.” ‘‘Nary a wander!” Billy returned, quickly. ‘* My thinker is all right, cap’n, an’ you mustn’t git skart so fast at what ye don’t git th’ grip onto th’ first round. What I was goin’ ter say was, that there was goin’ ter be a time, an’ that Broadway Willyum was goin’ ter be th’ he-hoss that would turn th’ crank when he gits himself together again!” ‘* My stars! boy, do you mean to say that you are Broadway Billy, the hero of a bundred ad- ventures?” the captain of the Pirogue cried, ‘¢ There is no mistake .about my bein’ Broad- way Willyum,” the young detective replied, ‘**but as ter my bein’ a hero [don’t agree with ye. Th’ great tiouble with me is that I ain’t got no brain ter speak of, an’ I am allus runnin’ inter some sort o’ diffikilty that other folks wouldn’t think o’ gettin’ inter. That is one sure sign that I ain’t got all my buttons, [ take it, Yes, Iam Broadway Billy, but you don’t want ter call me a hero, I deny th’ charge, yer Honor.” Captain Daunton had to laugh, ‘* My brother Charles will have a fit when he learns v ho you are,” he said. ‘‘He has reada good deal about you and your escapades, and there will be no holding him,” ‘* Better not tell him, then,” Billy suggested. ** But,” he added, ‘‘ I’m jest dyin’ ter hear all about how you saved my wu’thless life, an’ all about it.” ‘You had hetter rest awhile first—” ‘“*Nary!” protested Billy, *‘ it is now or never. See th’ state o’ feverI amin. I must know th’ or bull thing or you will have a corpus on your hands, an’ that corpus will be about my size, Plunge right in, now, an’ let’s have it out.” ‘* Very well, Billy, here goes: ‘* Let me begin with telling you something about the Pirogue. My father, Mr. Henry Daunton, is a mechanic and inventor. M brother and Tare machinists, Father has al- ways been after something new in his line of labor, and spent some years in trying to in- vent a flying-machine. Whether he would have succeeded or not lam not prepared tosay. He has a way of dropping one thing and taking up another suddenly. ‘The flying-machine is at present ‘asleep’, as we speak of it. ‘* Pather suddenly got an idea that he could make a boat that would go as well under the water as other boats go upon its surface, or even better. He tried it, with us boys to help him. We all set to work, and after several years of hard work, in which we were all deeply inter- ested, the Pirogue was the result,” Billy was listening with mouth, eyes, .and ears. ‘* The Pirogue is a success,” the narrator went on. ‘* We have lived aboard of her for some months now, most of the time under water-—” ‘*Be we under water now?” Billy broke in with a question. ‘* Yes,” was the answer, ‘‘ we are at the bot- tom of New York Bay, about half-way between the city and Staten Island.” ‘* Sweet pertaters! be [ alive an’ wide awake? or be I dead an’ dreamin’? Who would thunk o’ sich a thing as this fer me ter fall inter? This beats th’ Dutch, this does, an’ by big odds, too,” ‘*Our invention is not yet patented,” Captain Daunton went on to say, *‘ and so.we do not en- lizhten the reporters who have called to see us, They see our boat, guess at it# motive power, and ure no wiser than one who reads Verne’s great romance. Have you read that?” ‘* No, guess not.” “You will want to, after your experience aboard the Pirogue.” ‘*Mebby Vl tackle it; but, bow about your savin’ me? Thatis th’ pint that interests me now, Ican’t grip on ter that worth a cent or two,” ‘** Well, my boy, we will not claim the honor of having saved you, for, to tell the truth, it was more by the hand of Providence than any- thing else, I will tell you how it was, ‘*'The Pirogue was lying at rest at the bottom of the bay, just as she is now, and we were about retiring to our bunks. We had just been to the surface fora supply of fresh air. Sud- denly we were startled by hearing something come down upon the top of our unique habita- tion with considerable force. We thought it to be the anchor of some vessel, ‘* Wearing that some damage might have been done, we made haste to make an examination, I slipped on my diving-dress, which we keep prepared for instant use, and can put on in about thirty seconds; Charles prepared the out- let, and father turned on the lights and looked out. ‘* There is an oblong elevation on the middle of our boat, in the sides and ends of which are set thick plates of glass to enable us to see around us, ‘** As father looked out he exclaimed: ‘**There is something lying here on the for- ward end of the boat, boys, and it looks to me like the form of a human being in a sack. Make all the haste you can.’ ‘* Of course Charles and I made all the haste possible, and in about a minute and a half I was outside. Going to where you lay, I grabbed hold of you, found that father had been correct in his guess, and my first impression was that you were some dead sailor thus consigned toa watery grave from some vessel, ‘* But | soon had reason to change my mind. No sooner’ had I laid hand upon you, scarcely, than I felt you move, and knew that you were alive and beyond doubt the victim of foul play. ‘You may believe that I lost no time in get- ting into the boat with you. You weredragged roughly up to the water-lock, into it, the top was secured with all the haste I could commana, and then you and I, together with the flood of water that the lock contained, tumbled down into the inside air-lock. ‘* To get you from there into the boat proper was the work of another minute, and by the time that we got you out of the sack and un- bound, some six, seven, or perhaps eight, min- utes had elapsed, and you were about as near drowned as you well could be and have a spark of life leftin you. Almost any one would have pronounced you dead, and in a sbort time you would have been: kut father has studied medi-