Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 657 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

Ld / . J = t a ae a - + ; : a : * | | 2 » rt “ea : Warbling William. Sli die” pam > natal hand ond : — * J . J Al b . Me a Ne! aoe Co, ie wal * xz ') ' r< i! ? : - Las *..) ty, tv 4; 7. ; 1 ee some way, or blow a hole through this wall? I don’t think it is very thick.” The miner uttered an inarticulate ery, and they heard the pick strike as it fell from his bands, “Stay there!” he yelled, and his resounding footsteps showed that he was racing away. “Ob, do you think he will come back?” Harry anxiously questioned, ‘* | judge he is gone after help,” was the reas- suring answer. ‘* There’sno reason to fear he will abandon us. These miners are not likely to be in Leonard’s secret.” For fully ten minutes they waited in intense sus- pense. Then they were cheered by the sounds of approaching voices, “ Holler ag’in, so we'll know where ye air!” the miner shouted, coming close up to the wall. With this they eagerly complied: and soon had the satisfaction of hearing drills eating their way into the rock before them. ‘¢ Now, git as far back as ye kin!” the voice again commanded. ‘* We're’ a-goin’ to shoot er, Both understood the full significance of this, and ran back along the wall until they reached a point where they felt safe, Here they had not long to wait. A muffled boom and @ jar an- nounced the explosion, On again reaching the lace they found a ragged rent in the wall and held the dancing lights of the returning miners, The riven rocks were piled in a confused beap, and when the lights were near enough to make the venture safe, they scrambled wildly through the opening, shouting and laughing like school- boys released for a vacation. To their surprise the miners greeted them coldly and even sus- piciously. ‘‘ What were ye doin’ in there?’ growled the spokesman of the party. ‘‘ Never knowed they was such a hole back thar before. Ye ain’t miners, I ‘low?’ flashing his light over their dress, “Ah, gentlemen, what do you take us to be? Badgers?” and the oily showman gleamed from beneath the rough exterior. ‘‘Send for your foreman and we will explain matters to him.” ‘“Roreman ain’t around,” the questioner snarl- ed, ‘* We'll do jist as well, I reckon.” ‘‘ Certainly! certainly!” with airy briskness, “‘T only wanted to explain how we came to be in there. You belong to the day shift, I take it? We came down last night, with the foreman’s permission, Weare strangers in your growing young city, and took a sudden fancy to look in- to the bowels of the earth, hereaway,.” He stopped and felt for his watch, which was still running in spite of its recent bath. *“T thought I couldn’t be far from right!” glancing at the dial. ‘‘It’s almost sunset up above, where the sun shines. One’s stomach is as good as a watch, on occasions, As I wassay- ing, we came down to look over the mine; and fearing to soil our silken attire, we arrayed our- selves in garments proper for such a ramble.” The miners were staring at him distrustfully, but there was no sign of recognition in their faces, If they bad ever seen him before, his strange garb and coal-blackened face would bave served to screen bis identity. “ Good thing ye did, too, jedgin’ by the looks of ’em,” The showman glanced at his soaked and muddy garments, and smiled. ‘‘T see you’re bound to think us road-agents, hiding from the grim grip of the law, I don’t know that I can blame you, though, for the whole thing has a queer look. After coming down as I explained, we wandered off into the old north chamber, and when that blast was fired last night we were shut in,” The miner’s jaw dropped. ‘‘Thunder!’ he ejaculated, “No, it wasn’t thunder, though it sounded like it,” and his face became irradiated with a sort of ghastly humor. ‘It was the explosion of giant powder and the tumbling of rocks. That explosion will make plain, no doubt, the why and the wherefore of the curdling of the milk in the cocoanut, We couldn't get back the way we went in, and so we wandered on, found the stream, dived into this cave, heard the clink- ing of the pick—and you know the rest,” t was so remarkable a story the miners could do nothing, for a moment, but stare, ‘It sounds straight enough,” ventured one of them, hitching up his trowsers like a sailor, “though it seems ’most beyond believin’. An’ .the most sing’lar part of it is, that it’s the fu’st time a blast has been fired in there sence I’ve been hyer.” “Yes,” said the spokesman, ‘‘Ole Leonard tuck a sudden notion into his head that thar was jes’ heaps an’ gobs o’ val’able coal in that tun- nel, an’ had a blast got ready, though the fore- man tol him ther’ warn’t nothin’ but rock; an’ las’ night hit-war fired,” ‘* Well, gentlemen,” and the Warbler fidgeted uneasily, ‘if the confession and catechism have been gone through with satisfactorily, I’d like to go above, for the pangs of hnnger are becom- ing somewhat distressing!” At this the miners withdrew and conferred for a time in low whispers, When they re- turned, the spokesman led the way to the shaft, and Warbling William and his boy second were soon in the fresh, outer air. CHAPTER X., AN UNFOUNDED SUSPICION, It was growitg dark as they hastened from the mine toward the town, When they reached it the street lamps were being lighted. “We got out of that place justin time,” Ware chuckled, ‘‘ The night shift will go on in a few minutes, and they might have given us trouble, I’m hungry as a starved coyote.” They ascended to their-room in the hotel with- out being observed. Here they changed their clothing and removed all traces of their recent adventures. Miss Fulton was not in the dining- room—Leonard usually had his meals served in his apartments—and no one appeared to remem- ber that they bad been absent; though the waiters must have noticed that they consumed an enormous amount of food, When they had satisfied their hunger they again retreated to their room and remained there until time for the evening performance, ‘‘T want to give the plotters a surprise,” the Warbler asserted, ‘I hope they have given out that there will be no show to-night, They’ll be somewhat taken aback, if they’ve informed the crow i that we've left the city.” He rubbed his hands and laughed lightly at the thought. Then he began humming some- thiug to the effect that bis name was Captain Kidd, as he sailed; and constructing the sen- tences of a song he proposed to sing that night. Never were men so thunderstruck as were Jobn Leonard and Shelby Tanner when W arb- ling William and Master Harry appeared in the crowd at the customary hour and mounted the little stage. Tanner nervously dropped the bottle from which he was pouring liquor, and Leonard’s face took on an ashy pallor, After the opening ballad, the Warbler thrummed reflectively on his guitar and then began to sing of a youth who was decoyed away by scheming villains and robbed. The whole story of Lewis Cavendish’s mysterious disappearance and of the efforts to find him was rehearsed in doggerel verse. Then: be plunged into the future, became prophetic, showed the triumph of right and the close of the chief villain: ‘* At a rope’s end he was whirled, And from life was quickly hurled; And no more he’ll vex the world— As it sails,”’ This sort of retributive justice exactly suited the ideas of the citizens of Rocket Range, and they howled their delighted appreciation. Through it all John Leonard bad stood statue- like, one hand grasping the bar for support, and his eyes dilated with fascinated horror, As for Shelby Tanner, be spijled so many glasses of liquor and talked altogether so incoherently that the customers began to think be had been drink- ing some of his own vile decoctions, hen the song ended, Leonard abruptly quitted the room, ‘¢ The old scamp’s gone to talk with the miners!” Ware whispered to the boy, who was coming upon the stage to execute his tumbling tricks. ‘They'll have a mighty fishy story to tell him. The chances are about ten to one he'll think we’ve thrown money around like autumn leaves, and bribed the whole caboodle,” He then passed on into the wing, to reappear later with otber songs and ballads, When the performance ended he approached the bar. Tanner had regained his equanimity, but he could not repress a curious stare, and the question: ‘“Where have you fellers been? Ye could have knocked me down with a feather, this eve- nin’. Ye didn’t sbow up fer breakfast ner din- ner, and somebody reported that you’d skipped the town, Glad ye didn’t, fer that would ’a’ knocked my fat plum into the fire.” ‘Only out on a pleasure jaunt!” said the Warbler, serenely. ‘*‘ We were led to believe there might be diamonds other than black in the depths of the Jim Crow Mine, and thought to astonish the natives by bringing one up. I - ed ¥ < . aoe a vie , a * ran val - 4 ph suppose you never heard there was anythin dowa there but a very ordinary quality o coal?” Tanner looked confused, and declared he never had, ‘‘) think I outlined the case just right while we were shut in the north chamber!” the detec- tive said to the boy, an bour later, ‘‘ There can’t be a doubt thac Tanner is in Leonard’s secret. He showed his guilt in every word and action. It begins to look as if we were sur- rounded by spies here, We’ll have to keep our eyes and ears wide open or we’ll get into a worse trap than the one we just escaped from.” The next morning, feeling that further dis- guise in that direction was useless, Ware openly and boldly called on Miss Malcolm, Sbe seemed to have been hourly and anxiously expecting him, and showed none of the agitation he had anticipated. Her first questions related to the success of his venture, “Calm as a May morning,” he muttered, ‘* As good an actress as I ever had to cope with, She’d make her fortune in tragedy.” Her eager inquiries irritated him. ‘* No doubt you are entirely ignorant of what has occurred?” with a sarcastic and ominous glance, She recoiled as if the blunt words were scor- pion whips, ‘*T don’t understand,” she stammerod. ‘* Why do; you speak that way? Something has hap- pened. What wasit? Surely Lewis isn’t dead?” He looked at her coldly and almost scornfully, ‘‘ Do you mean to say, Miss Malcolm, that you didn’t have a hand in the trick that was played on me?” Her tear-wet eyes burned indignantly, and she straightened up in a way to show that, without knowing the meaning of the question, she op resented it, ‘‘T mean to say you are ‘talking Greek, Mr, Ware! I am not‘an expert at solving riddles, If you know anything about Lewis Cavendish, tell me, for the suspense is ney. me!” Then, woman-like, she broke down and began to sob in a touching way. The detective was evidently puzzled and dis- tressed. “Come!” hesaid, ‘ I thought to make certain accusations, Perhaps [have judged you wrong- fully. Let’s talk ‘it over calmly, and I think I ean get at the truth of the matter, To answer your question: I bave neither seen vor heard ee of Lewis Cavendish.” ». he lifted her pale face and looked frankly at im. ‘*T don’t know what it is you want to discuss or what accusations an meant to bring, I had so hoped you would have some news of Lewis. I have been even joyfully fancying he might come with you. And you spoke so—so—” ‘* Lewis wasn’tin the mine, There was no prison in the north chamber—thovgh it was turned into one almost as soon as we entered it, We were trapped, the boy and and [, and I’m free to say I thought you had a hand in the dastardly scheme, to entomb us alive in that dreadful place.” Her glance was one of pain and reproach, ‘‘You are either a very clever actress, Miss Malcolm, or I was wholly wrong in my conclu- sions concerning you. You received that letter in the manner you stated?” | She inclined ber kead in assent. “Itis a forgery!” and he drew it from his pocket, ‘‘A very good one, for Harry was sure the handwriting was his brother’s. Followiag the directions in that, we went into the north chamber of the mine, night before last, and were imprisoned by a blast fired for that pur- pose and at Leonard’s own orders.” Then, narrowly watching her as be talked, he told the story of their imprisoment and escape, as it is know to the reader. **T can’t blame you for your suspicions,” she said, sympathetically. *“* But, you must believe me when I say, I thought the letter genuine, Leonard’s effort to remove you from his path shows, though, that Lewis is alive. That assur- ance is worth everything.” She arose and took a packet of letters froma desk, Soe!” she exclaimed, exhibiting the en-— velopes. ‘‘These are from Lewis. Since yon were here I discovered that ovbers of them had been stolen. I believe, now, Miss Fulton carried them away to giveto Leonard. Witbout such copies the forgery could not have been done,” She spread one beside the forged letter, for comparsion. Close scrutiny revealed many minor differences, plain enough to an expert but not likely to attract the attention of others, ‘*And you have revealed to no one my Soy nd 4 a '* aia my ~~. — — » ——z ~ - Ze sty ‘oS > - => — - = + te > = = & a - < a® bs - eS eee, i “- 3 <> - = +. ~™ _ a tw eg a — eae ~ 7 « + ‘ he en t a 3 - i¥ Li t, x >. S 2 i gr - + , , _ = - 7 ~2 - ——— -