Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 685 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

Happy Hugh, the Boy-Musician Detective, Happy Hugh did not fall back from the eyes that losred at him like a devil’s. ‘* Yes, I know,” said he. ‘* You are not Mr, Nicholas, but Burt Denman.” The rascal-sport burst into a laugh, ‘Right you are!” he cried. ‘* My web never caught a fly easier than it caught you!” CHAPTER XIII. THE SPIDER’S BITE. ‘“Wriw.” thought Happy Hugh, thinking of the message he had left on the wall, ‘if I am in your web, Mr. Denman, if will be found out sooner or later. I have an engagement with Perry Somers at an early hour to-morrow and he will discover into whose clutches I have fallen.” Meantime, Burt Denman was looking at the boy flutist and secretly gloating over his suc- cess, ‘‘Youmade your discovery a little too late!” he exclaimed. ‘‘ You should bave recognized me when I crossed your threshold.” ‘*T did,” answered Hugh, | ‘But you walked into the trap just the same. Were you trying an experiment?” The boy said nothing. ‘“‘T want to tell you something ” continued Denman, after lighting & cigar with aggravat- ing coolness. ‘* You're a street fox, as well as a musician. I’ve suspected it for some time, but I’m certain of it now.” ‘¢ What do you mean?” “Don’t you catch on?” grinned the scamp. ‘*You understood me and I’m too old to Le hoodwinked. What have you done with the old gentleman?” Happy Hugh gave a slight start. ** Did you advise him to make himself scarce? He went off like that!” And Denman snapped his silken fingers, Hugh looked as ignorant as possible. **T mean Abijah Axtell,” said Denman, lean- ing toward his young prisoner. ‘* You’ve been with the old fellow; you have made yourself bis clew-finder, and you think you’ve achieved a great victory.” The young detective was on the eve of declar- ing that he had found Nelly when he thought calinly and did not speak. ; ‘*T see that you won’t be interviewed,” re- sumed Burt. ‘tI didn’t expect you to be very loquacious—not under the existing circumstan- ces at least, Well, hold your tongue!” Denman left his chair and crossed the room, closely watched by Hugh who wondered what the next play would be, The young man rolled a seat up tothe desk which he opened. Then be drew forward writ- ing materials and for several minutes wrote and destroyed and wrote again. ‘‘ What can he be shaping that gives bim so much trouble?” mentally asked Hugh. Presently Denman biotted some writing and turned in his chair. “Read that,” he said, handing the paper across the space that separated them. Hugh took the writing with eager curiosity and holding it nnder the gas jet, read as follows: “1, the undersigned, do solemnly swear to hunt no longer for one Nelly Axtell; to advise nobody concerniog her whereabou’s: to abandon the trail I have followed; and to quit New York within three hours, never to return unless absolved from this oath by the person in whose presence it is signed, és A flash of indignation overspread the face of the boy detective, deepening the longer he read. If Burt Denman had watched him Closely, und perhaps he did, he would have seen defiance sud- denly light up his eyes. ™ What do you take me for? cried Hugh, looking up and meeting the rascal’s look, ‘‘ For a sensible person,” smiled Denman. ‘* Do you expect me to sign that paper?” ‘* Why not?” “J treat it thus?’ And he tore the oath in two and threw both pieces at bis feet. Burt Denman said nothing for a moment, He got white, flushed and whitened again, “You don’t lock ahead!” said he, trying to smother his anger. “I don’t need to if it holds any of your threats,” “It holds mote than threats—the future does Imean. Your name to that paper means your liberty,” ae the withholding of it means the oppo- ‘* Tt does!” Denman picked up the pieces and placed them on the desk, ‘*T willdraw up another,” he continued, tak- ing up 4 pen, “‘ If it ever reaches my hands it will share the fate of the first.” ** Fool!” grated Burt. ' Happy Hugh did pot reply, but looked silently at the man who was playing a desperate game for big stakes, ‘* Well, take things as they come and don’t growl over the bill of fare!” suddenly cried Den- man, throwing down the pen, ‘“*My young man, I have clipped your wings for good. are as much lost to the world as if you had gone down on some lost steamer. You have played the fox too well, I very much fear that Joly has lost a tutor and Happy Hugh a pupil.” He shut the desk with a bang, and coming up to Hugh bent over him with a malicious look, ‘* Has the old man gone home?” he asked. ‘* 1 don’t know.” ** Does he expect to find Nelly Axtell?” ‘* He does, and he shall!” cried Hugh. “Then he will have to hunt her alone!” laughed Denman, ‘** Not altogether alone, Mr. Denman,” ‘* What’s that?” ‘* You forget Inspector Byrnes and his men.” Denman fell back with a merry twinkle in his eyes, ‘* What did the sharps do when the gir! first disappeared?” he asked, ‘* There wasa healthy reward to stimulate them, but what did they accomplish, I say?” ‘*They did not find her.” ** Of course they did not, and what can they do with a trail five years old? Besides, you your- self are at fault. You ought to remember that there are a thousand Neliies in New York. . The one you saw a few hours ago must have disap- pointed you. Did she tell you her name was Nelly Axtell?” Hugh did not answer, He had not forgotten that the girl flutist bad told him that her name was not Nelly Axtell, but he had thought that-she may have been forced to make a statement of this sort, this, he still believed that she was the New Jer- sey Nelly—the girl whohad disappeared from the cozy home of ** Uncle ’Hijah.” ‘*On the contrary,” continued Denman, ‘“ she told you that she was not the Axtell girl, though her name is Nelly. Come, Mr. Hugh; you had best reconsider your hot-headed resolve and sign the note you destroyed,” ‘6 Never!” A satanic smile followed Happy Hugh’s reply, and the next moment, without the slightest warning, Burt Denman’s two hands swooped down upon him, and before he could resist at all he was in their grip. ‘‘The parley is ended!” hissed the scoundrel- sport, becoming dark in the face, “I don’t in- tend to be checkmated by an obstacle of your ilk. Youdid not bave to oppose me, I never did you anv harm, and you were not obliged to drop your flute to look after my affairs.” Darby Hugh was pressed down in the chair until he could not move. The vicious hands of Denman was at his throat, and the soft fingers Sinking into the windpipe, as it seemed, were changing the hue of everything in the room and turning the light to darkness. This went on for some time, then strange things danced beforo the boy detective’s eyes, and suddenly everything became dark. Burt Denman fell back ana iooked at the boy in the chair, Hugh's hat had fallen to the floor, and his arms bung limp over the arms of the chair, while bis head, thrown back, revealed the dis- torted features of a person choked into insensi- bility. ‘* The street fox was making gooa headway— too good for me!” said Denman, turning from ugh with a last look and walking over to the desk which he opened again, He picked up the paper which the young shadow had torn in twain and aeld the pieces in the flame of the jet until they fell from his hand like black feathers, “Now, unless Joly, the schemer, keeps his pEonee Pil have to look after another stum- ling block,” said Denman aloud. \‘* He says he You forget one thing, don’t know wkere the old man went; but he | won’t be very hard to find, Something occurred to cause Ahijah Axtell to desert bis hotel witb- out warning. Did he see some one whom he did not care to meet?” Burt now opened the door and looked out, The ‘gas was urning so dimly in the hall that | BS Ashe did so something fell from the boy’s pocket and struck the floor with a sharp sound, Denman looked down over his shoulder and saw—a flute, ** The littlo Orpheus is always armed,” laugh- ed the city sport, kicking the flute across the 'at one side of the room, You | floor and seeing it roll under his cot which stood *“‘T guess he won’t need it any more—not to excite Nelly with, at any rate.” The next minute he had carried Hugh across the room and out of the door he had lately opened, disappearing among the shadows of the hall beyond, At the end of the hallway he found a flight of steps which led down into a dark back yard, cramped like all city yards are in the crowded districts. The man with his lifeless burden looked down- ward for several minutes, as if making sure that the coast was Clear, At last, evidently satisfied with the outlook, he began to ascend the stairs and stood at length on solid ground. Straight ahead was thé door of a rickety shed. Burt went forward and opened it with one hand, then plunged into the darkness of the place be- yond and vanished. Twenty minutes afterward, with his mustache fashionably’ waxed, his boots well polished and dressed in an elegant suit of clothes, he took a seat in a swell restaurant and ordered an elabor- ate supper, as if he had no crime on bis con- science, esd eet CHAPTER XIV, A FATAL LARK, Mr. Joty JENKINS locked like a man at his wits’ end when ke came back to his lodgings af- ter bis visit to the old lawyer’s office and house, The manager of the Eureka was in a dilemma, He threw himself upon a chair and for a few minutes swore roundly without ceasing, cursing | himself, Burt Denman and Noah Natchett, all For all | | | | three sometimes in one breath. ‘I’ve lost my chance,” exclaimed Joly, ‘I lost it when I let that old sbark of the law take possession of that paper. I won’t be able to get it back for he knows what it is and will hang to it like grimdeath, If I don’t get it Burt will car- ry out his threat in some mannervand [ll be in the soup. What sball I do?” He thought a moment and then went on. ‘‘T might baffle bim by giving tbe whole scheme away to the police,” he wenton. ‘I guess that old reward for Nelly Axtell still holds ood, bnt I don’t care so much for the money, Ta like to get ahead of him—to beat bim at his own game, But hang it all! there’s that old crime of mine! there’s the dead man found in the river. When 1 saw Dan Sooey, the crazy man, jump at Burt I knew him, and it’s no wonder that I keeled over, I thought the dead had come to life when I knew they never do that, Well’s he’s dead enough now without having found the girl, Whatshall I do? That’s the question just now,” Whenever Joly canvassed the subject he al- ways found himself confronted by his dilemma. ‘*T’ve got to do something soon,” said he. ‘* My twelve hours of grace are running away. 41 can’t bope to get that paper from Noah Natchett, and Denman has me iv his fist and knows I know it, Why not jump the town?” This idea, coming like an inspiration to Joly, seemed to electrify him. , He sprung up, and for a little while danced around the room, , ‘* Rut Pil leave a sting behind, that’s what [ll do!” be exclaimed. ‘“‘l won't go off harmless and leavoa clear field for bim. I won’t threaten, but Pll act, I sha’n’t go to the police and tell what I know, for they’d want to hold meas a witness. Dll just send a mysterious letter, wording itin such a way as to have the desired effect without getting me into a box.” He went over to his writing-table, put his legs under the mahogany top, and went to work, For twenty minutes he wrote rapidly, At the end of this time he bad given the true history of Nelly Axtell’s disappearance, wording it in such & way as not to implicate himself, but ail the timo making his employer, Burt Denman, the central figure in the villainy. Joly told an in- teresting story. He referred to the missing leaf of the parish register, and told where it was to be found. He also said that the girl guarded by the woman who had lately moved from “ No, 555” was the lost heiress of the Scottish estate, and wound up by saying that Burt Denman was the place was nearly dark, He inspected it for | probably the greatest, as well as the sleekest & moment and then came back. Stooping over the li body of Happy Hugh he lifted it from the shale. 4 . rascal in New York, He read his paper with a good deal of pleasure. when he had blotted the iast page. It looked - ind 9 Ae eee 1ICDOO ; Y, wo ae sf wee Ar Pied > ae 4