Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 671 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

ye = ——— — - ; Loe Jersey Jed, the Boy Hustler. are in the young man’s possession, As I have Polly fell back. ‘John Jeffreys made Mark Murchison sign Ti remarked before, they may have had an alter- ** Who are you?” she exclaimed, certain papers.” W cation. You say Nottingham, alias Nathan, “Whom do you think?” © Ah,’ test was murdered! Who knows but the hand of | She could not reply. The reply she felt she ‘**He said he would kill him if he did not. Hol. Webb Weldon is somewhere in the shadow of | ougot to make and tell the truth seemed to para- | Those papers referred to the crime for which} j, q ¢his crime?” | lyze her tongue, Jeffreys had spent some years in prison,” of a “Stranger events than this have taken place Webb Weldon had told her to look out for a ‘* Did they declare him innocent?” Tf in my experience,” : man whose description fitted the one now before ‘* I think they did.” and ‘**1 don’t doubt it. I want the game to close, | her. ‘Ou the oath of Mark Murchison, eh?” / wou captain, You have but one man to watch now. | He wasadetective. He called him Captain “Yes. They were never to_be made public] yj, He will change his quarters, especially if he had | Catchem, and said that he was on the trail for | until after Jeffreys's death. He said he could a hand in Nottingham’s sndden taking off. Work | Mark Murchison, her old employer. stand the accusation which had blighted hisg “ Zo rapidly from now on, I want the papers. [If | The man in the room seemed to enjoy Polly’s | career, but that he wanted to have sworn proofs it you could place them on my table during the | fears, which was his manuer of playing with her | of his innocence as a legacy to his family.’ cyt next forty-eight hours, I would be pleased to | asa cat plays with the entrapped mouse. ‘* Did he?” ef th place ten thousand dollarsin your bank to your ** Polly, let us go back a few years in your his- ** No.” the credit.” tory,” hesuddenly said. ‘** How many windows ** ‘Why not?” gent There was an eagerness in Murchison’s voice | have you left unfastened since the night of June ‘Some months later he lost those papers.j ted which easily caught Captain Catchem’s ear. 10th, 1880?” They were stolen from their hiding-place.” al ** I'll do that,” was the deliberate answer, {[t is no wonder that she almost fell from the ** Who took them, Polly?” ori “You will? Within forty-eight hours?’ chair which she had taken. She felt the blood “*T don’t know,” forg ‘¢ Yes.” quit ber cheeks; she trembled, looked at the ‘* But, who profited by the theft?” roo A. gleam of intense pleasure animated Murchi- | man, and no longer doubted his identity. « *' Mark Murchison,” ane son’s eyes, : | ** Do you not call to mind that little incident?” ‘* Do you say that the papers which he signed, | weit oh Tope on you!” he cried, “* Within forty- | continued the detective. ‘‘ The failure to havea | and which declared John Jeffreys, his cousin, | i eight bours lam to have my property. Don’t | certain window fastened on that particular | innocent of the crime for which he had been) thes fail me, Captain Catchem.” night cost some one dearly.” convicted, fell back into his hands?’ 66) **T fail nobody.” Polly felt that she must speak. “I do say it,” answered Polly solemnly, pers Ten minutes later the New York detective was “You are very bold in your charges,” she ‘Well, what afterward became of them?” pror on the street again and the nabob of the avenue | cried. ‘* You accuse me of an act whic implies There was no reply. ) wan was alone. perewe 3 a crime,” ** Did he destroy them as ninety-nine men in ag imne ‘*Do IT indeed?” laughed the other. ‘‘Is it | hundred would have donc?” Pd: The detective was not the only person on the | criminal to forget to fasten a window? Ibelieve| ‘ It seems not,” D -wan trail. your story was that you forgot.” “I thought so. Polly, those papers fell into} wit Jersey Jed was also at work,a young fox- ‘What do you mean?” exclaimed Polly, the hands of the men for whom you forgot to hound on the trail of one whom he was very The penetrating eyes of the man were upon | fasten the window!” anxious to run down. her. eA faint smile appeared at the corners of V He made another visit to Mrs, Pepe only to “Come, I will freshen your memory, Polly, | Polly’s pretty mouth. dea discover that Webb Weldon had not been back, though, to tell the truth, I believe it is so good Don’t you think you’ve served Holdfast & B Mrs. Pope still believed that heart disease had / as to need no freshening. In the summer of the | Co. about long enough?” inquired the old detec- lett struck down her lodger end the boy ferret | year I have mentioned you were housemaid to tive, noticing the smile, dre did not see fit to disabuse her mind on this | one Mark Murchison who owned a fine estate in ‘** You want me to play traitress again, don’t wri subject, ~ | New Jersey. On the nightin question the house | you?” ner 6 left the house and was many squares away | was entered by masked men and robbed. There ‘In the interest of justice, though,” was the A when—it was early lamp-lighting now—he saw | were two of them, and they entered by a back quick response, the & woman stop to admire for a while a brilliant | window which, as you afterward said, you for- ‘‘And you Mark Murchison’s detective?’ met display of goods in a large window, got to fasten. Nobody questioned your honesty | cried Polly. 7 wh here was something about the figure that! then, You had the entire confidence of Mar Captain Catchem did not seem to notice the mis thrilled while it attracted Jed. Marchison, and I doubtif he has since blamed | girl’s last remark. A A minute later the woman turned to go and he saw her face, ‘*[ thought so!” he inwardly exclaimed. you for a moment. ‘*Some time after the robbery you left his employ, disappeared suddenly, and never went ‘*' Webb Weldon is custodian of the papers, is he not?” he asked, “T haven’t seen them in bis possession,” was. ** Now, Poly, I will devote my time to you. If] back. To-day you are maid to an estimable | the evasive reply. fhe you areaspy in Lola’s home you know where | young woman who—” | ‘*Come, give me square answers,” said the de- y. our master 4s, And he’s the gentleman I’m “Stop right there!” interrupted Polly throw- | tective, sternly. ‘‘ He has the stolen papers?’ on ooking for,” ing up her hand. ‘' lm nokedy’s maid. I'm - Holdfast & Oo, had them,” —- me And Jersey Jed, with seeret rejoicing over bis | free again,” “But Nottingham, is dead. He didn’t give a unexpected bit of good luck, from that moment ‘Discharged eh, Polly?” them up, They were not in the room nor on his } gla kept Lola Lowis’s naid in sight, believing that ‘* ’'m free, I say.” erson when his life went out. Were you wait- mo she would lead him to something better, ‘* Free, but still Webb Weldon’s spy!” ing here for Weldon?” ee In an instantthe girl was upon her feet. ‘I have not said that he lives here,” us CHAPTER XVII. ‘* Still Webb Weldon’s spy,” coolly repeated Captain Catchem could not keep back a laugh, is POLLY IN A SNARE. the man before her, en ‘Let me put an end to all this, Polly,” said | JED had not been long on the trail ero he| Polly said nothing; again she felt thatif she | he. ‘I have a sister living in another part of} yo discovered that Polly Pindar was possessed of | attempted to speak. her voice would fail her, | the city. I want you to meet her, and to make ‘ more shrewdness than he gave ber credit for, her tongue stand still, See _ | your home with her, not for long, but until I ten The girl ever and anon looked cautiously back ‘* This man has bad you in his employ for six | have made a move or two.” ‘ as though suspicious, stopped now and then to | years,” te detective went on. ‘You left the ** You will then lock me up, I suppose?” Ca inspect the handsome displays to be seen in the |} window we've been talking about unfastened “That depends on your balvetos, You are his store windows, but in reality to see whether she | because he commanded it, You betrayed your | from this hour under iy WG I know your tur was followed or no, master and afterward lived off ‘the proceeds of pass Try to save Webb Weldon by warnin Th The Jersey boy soon found that he had an op- | that night’s crime, Now youserve Webb Wel- | him, or serve the scamp another hour, and t tur a who demanded his entire keenness, but | don again. You are spy upon the beautiful | will send you up the river-;without merey!” ‘ é managed to elude Polly’s watchful eyes, and | young girl whom he hopes to win by an in- A sound of doom was in the words as the de- ‘ to track her at last into a street where he was Samnohe trick. Polly, if you have not guessed | tective spoke them, ‘ certain Webb Weldon had located. my identity, let me call myself Burt Butler, de- “Tf you want justice done,” said Polly, with ‘ Polly at last with a final look in every direction | tective.” : an effort, “‘ I don’t? see how youcan serve Mark ‘ ran up several front steps, gave a door-knob a Polly had passed the stage of being frighteaed | Murchison. He sent Jobn Jeffreys to prison and ges quick turn, and vanished, by an announcement of this kind, then had stolen from bis family the proofs of} ~« “Caged at last!” murmured Jed, hastening ‘Well, what do you want with me?” sho | Jeffreys’s innocence. But I must not forget, =» forward, ‘1 thought she was going to run me | asked. that you detectives work for money. As I had to: ali over the city and then give me my troublefor | ‘* What do you think, Polly?” to tell you what I knew, I wish to Heaven we wr my pains, She’s led me to Weldon’s retreat; I ‘Am I to be taken?’ had cat a listener!” : have no doubt of this, Now, if I could look be- ‘You will go with me, but, unless you ex- ‘What do you mean?” | yond that door I’m sure I would be able to pick | hibit some stubbornness, you will not be locked “I wish the boy—the young shadow—could | tin up something important,” up.” have heard us. He and his mother, not. Mark For once, at least, the young shadow from the ‘* How long were you with him?” queried the | Murchison, are the ones who should: profit bys. country would have been disappointed, for Polly | detective. my story.” — : ’ he found no one at bome, though this did not seem “Three years, all told.” ‘‘ Never mind Jed Jeffreys,” rejoined Captain |. we to give her much trouble, ‘* Do you know when John Jeffreys came back | Catchem, ‘'] want to tel you, Polly, that Pm Ne hen she had ascended to a room on the sec- | from prison?” . not qui'e as black as you make me,” and when © ; ond floor, she quietly removed her hat and com- **T recollect it very well.” the shadow rose to conduct her from the room, m: posed herself to wait for somebody’s return, ‘* Did he come to Mark Murchison’s house one | the look he got was a puzzle. f Was this somebody Weldon? night?” Mi She had passed an hour in the room when foot- ‘* He did.” CHAPTER XVIIL Sel NS steps came up the stairs and stopped at the door. ‘** And the two were closeted together, eh?” A SUDDEN DISAPPEARANCE, , pe Polly looked anxious and breathless toward ** Yes,” Ir Polly had found Webb Weldon at home ‘ the portal. “What did you hear, Polly” instead of having to wait in bis quarters for the Po B. 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