Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 685 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

=, - ve “e. ~ame — et mary oe cnet titi ed ——, P -** an i F yr ¥*. : a ¢ « 7 yw ' : - - ’ ————__ ee = | ° “Tf you don’t get out Vl kill you in your berself and was still watching him like one fas- tracks!” said the old man. Joly threw a curse into the face of the lawyer and said to himself as be went down the stairs: ‘*The boss blunder of my life!” CHAPTER IX. THE POWER OF MUSIC. EAGER to know whether he had really seen Nelly Axtell at the window of No. 555, Happy Hugh hurried back to the neighborhood the mo- ment he ‘* shook ” Nips. It was now dark and the lamps bad been lighted. Hugh had made Nips believe that he was needed at home to givea lesson on the flute to a scholar, and the genial and very c.mmuotl- cative clerk had let him go with great reluct- ance, : Happy Hugh found it very quiet about the place when he got there. He believed that he bad seen the lost Jersey girl and boped to have a good geport Lor *Unele Hijab” the next time he met the old gentleman, He wondered why, if Joly was in the original plot with Burt Denman, the landlady of No. 555 had told him that Nelly did not occupy any part of the house. Could it be that Denman Was jealous of Joly?—that he was playing a game of | his own?—that he hed instructed the woman as to bow she should meet and answer Joly? Huzh recalied Joly’s angry countenance when he came down the s_eps, baffted and unsucvess- ful. Something had come between the plotters, There was war within the Eureka Employment Bureau, and the boy detective saw that it might turn out to bis advantage. He rung the bell with unfeigned eagerness, and waited for a response. It came at last in the sounds of tripping foot- steps, and the next moment Hugh stood face to face with the girl he had seen at the window. Was it Nelly? , ‘What is it, please?” asked the beautiful port- ress. Hugh seemed to have lost his tongue. ‘** 1 would like to see you alone for a moment,” he said, at last. ‘*See me alone?” smiled the girl. important?” 1G" ie,” ‘“Then come in,” and the door opened wider. ‘*- You shall see me as you desire, though I can- not think what your business can be,” The young sharp was conducted to a parlor alongside the hall. It was quite dark, for the yas was not turned on, but the young girl soon put an end to the shadows, ‘*T will come to my business direct,” began Huzh, after studying tora full minute the face before him. ‘* Are you Nelly Axtell?” The girl started as if the boy had suddenly touched the bounds of a secret, but the next sec- ond she was laughing. ‘*My name is Nelly, but not Nelly Axtell,” she said. Hugh thought he detected a desire to hide something. ‘*Are you sure?” he queried, ‘‘ This is very important; nut to me perhaps, but to the person who is the real Nelly Axtell, grandchild of Ahi- jab Axtell of New Jersey.” ** Are you searching for her?” P ce I am,” ** And you thought—” The young speaker paused, as if to choose her words. ** To be plain, I thought I might find her in this house,” said Hugh. **T guess not,” laughed the girl once more, ‘**Why do you want to find her? Is she your sister?” ** She is ro relation to me,” ‘* You are employed, then?” ee I have prounisea to find Nelly Axtell if pos- sible.”’ Just then Hugh’s eye chanced to fall upon the end of a flute as it extended over the edge of the mantel, “1 beg your pardon, miss,” said he, rising and going forward, ‘‘From what I see on your mantel our tastes are the same.” He did not see how intently the girl was watching him. Her eyes followed him with al- most breathless curiosity, and when he took down the flute and put it to his lips she seemed to have been transformed into a statue of marble. ‘* What shall [ give you?” asked Hugh, look- saa, Nba the instrument. he only answer ke received was a strange ‘Is it very The girl no longer stood, but had seated - cinated, or bound by a spell of some kind, The boy detective sent forth a few wayward notes and all at once began to play a lively hornpipe—one which ’Hijah Axtell bad told him was one of Nelly’s favorite pieces. He saw her eyes follow his moving fingers; he voticed that her breath went in gasps, and that her feet kept merry time on the carpet. Ending the hornpipe suddenly, Hugh con- tinued with **‘ Home, Sweet Home” and never before had the old favorite beeh so exquisitely rendered on the flute. In a moment the bright face of the single auditor became sad, The eyes seemed to grow moist as the tune proceeded, and Hugh, watch- ing her all the time, thuught again that the flute haa fixed her identity. ‘Do you play?’ asked the young ferret, handing ber the flute, ‘* People who don’t use the flute seldom have it in the house.” Soe reached out one of took tbe 1nslLrument. A strovug desire to carry it to her lips seemed to take sudden possession of her, but she curbed it. ‘*T—~seldom—play— nowadays,” she said. ‘Then you know how?’ eugerly exclaimed Hueb. ‘* | used to know,” ‘* | should Jike to hear you,” Tne speaker’s voice was a pleading one, The following moment the flute was at the girl’s lips, but before she could sound a single note the door suddenly opened and a woman, who seemed halt-tigress to Happy Hugh, half- bounded, half-glided iuto the room. Her eyes were full of madness and were fas- tened upon the girl who, seeing her, dropped the flute at her side and turned white. ‘+ You must not play too much. Such are the orders, you know,” she said sternly, snaiching the flute from the girl’s hand, and then she turned and glared at Hugh, ‘* Who are you?” she cried, looking as though she might leap upon him without warning, ‘You have no right here, The young lady 1s not in good health, and your presence Irritates her.” ** She hasn’t played a note,” said Hugh, ‘] am the guilty party. ‘* But you have coaxed her into playing, end she plays too muchasitis, You know where the door is, young man!” Hugh felt like resenting such words. He felt his blood run to his finger-tips and tingle there; but be knew that the creature before him had the strength of a lioness coupled with the agility of a cat, ** Ain’t you going?” continued the woman, stepping forward. ‘* When you’re wanted here you'll be sent for.” Happy Hugh looked at the girl on the sofa, She had fallen back and sat there shivering as he could see, with her face buried in her bands, ‘* Whether she be Nelly Axtell or no, she is a prisoner in this house!” flashed throngh his mind, ‘* Tl go, but 1 can’t forget this. No. 555 will hear from me agam. If | haven’t found the Scotch beiress, ve got a job for the police,” He looked once more at the girl, and then told the woman that he would go. ‘*That’s sensible!” exclaimed the Amazon. ‘* A quick departure insures the safety of your bones,” ‘‘ | believe it,” mentally exclaimed Hugh, A moment later he was in the doorway and the woman had placed herself between bim and the occupant of the sofa, ‘* Let me play one tune for him!” cried Nelly, —— — Happy Hugh, the Boy-Musician Detective. = oe = her White hands and | SSS. sees st ————E— — springing up aud making a grab for the flute in | the worman’s hand. ‘ He played 80 8weetly for me, Let me play just one tune!” The dark look she got from the woman was enough to send her stagyering toward the sofa. The flute was jerked from the fingers which bad closed upon it, and the next instant the girl fell back with a wailing ery, Hugh would have gone to her rescue if the | woman had not wheeled upon him at that mo- ment and stepped forward with her big hands clinched, ‘‘Go! If you stay another moment Pll throw you into the street!” T'be boy detective fell back, ‘* T can do it!” continued the woman. “I can break every bone in your body, and it ought to be done!” She advanced until she stood in the dim hall, towering above Happy Hugh like a steeple; and he was looking up into her face, expecting every moment to see her attempt to carry out her threat. | locating bim. —_——— ee eee ** Don’t come back!” cried the woman as Hugh opened the door. ‘‘ The next time you won’t get off so easy. I’m always on guard, and you never catch me napping.” Hugh waited to hear no more, but sprung from the house and beard the door shut and bolted behind him, ‘*The den of a tigress with a lamb in her claws!” exclaimed the boy sharp. ‘‘ There is something strange about this adventure, The girl admits that her name is Nelly; she knows how to play the flute; she is watched day and night for some reason, She knows that she isa prisoner; she would escape, but cannot! If not Nelly Axtell, why did Joly Jenkins visit the house and get told that ‘Nelly’ wasn’t there? I believe—I am sure of itand nothing can change me—that I have found Nelly Axtell. But I won't attempt anything more to-night. To- morrow shall be my day, and the tigress back youder shall discover that sbe hasn’t seen the lastof Happy Hugh. Tl now run over and see Uncle ’Hijah at bis hotel. I won’t tell bim what I’ve discovered; but I'll kind 0’ prepare him for good news,” Hugh carried out bis intentions. He found thea old man at the little hotel, and at the end of the interview Hugh went home, played several tunes on the flute and sought his cot. The next forenoon, with the warm sun in his face, he went back to No, 555, and to his aston- ishment found hanging alongside the door a sign which had a startling significance in his mind, ‘The birds are gone,” said Hugh to himself, “The words ‘ For rent’ tell the story.” CHAPTER X, : BURT DENMAN TURNS HUNTER, THERE was an air of desertion about the house. The sbutters were closed, and confirmed in their silent way the legend on the board that hung alongside thé door. ‘‘fam now sure that I have seen Nelly Ax- tel],” murmured Happy Hugh. “ The trail bas diseuppesred—the bird flown, and I have that rent board for my pains.” He looked a while longer, and then started off witb a laugh. ‘‘ If they expect to baffle me by a play of this kind they will find themselves mistaken,” he ex- claimed. ‘‘ lve enlisted for the whole cam- paign, no matter how long it lasts. Perbaps | ought to ask Phelau what be would do under the circumstances, but I won’t, This is my case, aud [ propose to work it up myself.” Hugb went over to that part of the city which contained the Eureka Employment Bureau. As be drew near to the establishment, which had gained new notoriety within the last few hours on account of Dan Sooey’s assault, he saw Burt Denman step forth. ‘‘Out again, is he?” exclaimed the boy detec- tive. ‘*‘He couldn’t have been so terribly in- jured after all,” Denman looked pale and ill at ease, ‘* What sort of a chase are you going to lead me?” continued Hugh, watching the well-dressed fellow, who seemed at a loss which way to go. “If you know anything about Nelly’s flight, you'll be apt to give meaclew to her present whereabouts; and if you don’t know anything, why, I'll have to dog you till you do,” If Hugh could bave reached the neighborhood a little sooner—if be could bave Jooked into the private office of the “ Eureka "—he might have seen Denman open and read a letter which the first carrier bad brought, ‘‘Mr, DenMAN,”’ he read. ‘A boy_has forced his way into the house and has succeeded in prying into our private affairs. He came for no g00d purpose, and when you read this the nest will beempty, The boy can play the flute in a marvelous manner; he got the girl excited over his tunes, and she would have played for him if I hadnoticterfered, I don’t know his name, but I know that the young raseal needs watching, for from what I’ve seen of him, he is dangerous. You will find my new address on a separate slin, and you may rest assured that é/e is with me. Yours for the cause. ‘Mrs. T.”’ Deninan’s eyes had a mad flash when he got to the end of this letter. ‘‘ 4 boy who knows how to play the flute, eh?” he eried, ** [don’t think I'll haveany trouble I have him spotted already, and I guess I’m able to take care of him. Nips?” At sound of his name, the clerk of the ‘‘Bureka ” made his appearance and waited for orders. ij a ‘“Whatkeeps Joly this morning?” asked Den- man. “Don’t know, sir,” answered Nips, whose looks showed that after separating from Happy Hugh he bad bad what is generally known as ** a good time.” ? ‘ > 4a,” ‘ a bye $- tot ’ cf : s ¢# 4 J * = . Ave 4 « he, ‘ ; fa Tt \ eo) /\ rte -, -_ ' “ i * - s f * . ; i ad ty i) -. e i” = | |_| ns v —_— S Md o ~ oe ee ee " : F. P E> meee > Jt. al a i fee