Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 715 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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a, -erner’s chair, -cannot be too careful nowadays. door and seem 14 Wide-Awake Len. from falling into the hands of the men who seem to have trapped old Noah.” “This being the case, the papers may be called for by the real Cormorants.” ** Just 8o.”’ ‘‘ And the way to find who they are and perhaps Noah’s whereabouts is to watch the Trust office till ‘the second order is presented, for Noah will never sign one of his own free will, and if the scamps find out where the papers are, they will have to forge an order ”’ * You are right, Len.”’ ‘‘ Then, Lam off for the Trust office. If the order | comes I won’t lose sight of it till I have tracked the bearer down, Take good care of your fishif he comes int> the: net, Mr. Porterhouse, and trust me to do,my part,” and the next moment the boy shadow was flying down the stair. CHAPTER XVIII. THE ARROW-HEAD AGAIN. Net Porrernovse sitting in his little room wait- ing for Clark Gummage resembled a spider at the door of his web waiting for the fly. He was confident that he had excited the rubber- dealer’s curiosity enough to bring him to the house, but the hours passed away and he did not come, The Southerner had resolved upon a course of ac- tion, and was anxious to bring the doers of the old | crime to justice, for he was confident that Gummags | was the head of the League which long before our story opened had visited the Louisiana home and left. death in its wake. He was anxious, too, to catch the whole lot, and to secure the poisoned arrow-head which he was ‘sure was in Clark Gummage’s possession. That would prove much, and with the missing finks, which he believed would be in his hands ere Jong, he would be at the end of the long hunt. Why did not Gummage come? Had he suspected 4 trap at the last moment and was he inclined to have no further dealings with Jackson Havens? Porterhouse was on the eve of despairing when a footstep sounded on the staircase. With a smile on his face he looked toward the door and waited for his caller. In response to the knock he said “‘Comein” ina cheery voice, and a man who did not look much like Clark Gummage entered. The Louisianian saw at once that his caller was disguised, and that he was indeed tne rubber-dealer ‘I did not want too many eyes after me,” pro- tested Gummage taking a seat opposite the South- “ Ours is very private business, you know. and | thought I would put on strange feathers for the present.”’ “ That’s all right,”’ answered Porterhouse. ‘“‘ One Iam glad to see you, and I hope you have some news of Miss Moss, whom I am hunting just now.” Clark Gummage sent a rapid glance toward the ed to take delight in noticing that it was shut, ‘‘lthink I have somenews,” said he. “ You are ‘very anxious to find the woman within three days, 1 believe?’’ “She must be unearthed within that time; after ‘that the will of the English relative becomes worta- less, so far as she is concerned.” Then he looked into Gummage’s eyes and saw a@ are light there, e ‘ould she be prosecuted for complicity in the old crime of the plantation?’ the merchant asked cautiously. **T think not.” **T must have some assurance on this point.”’ “1 will promise you that she will not be prosecu- ‘*But would she be required to tell what she might know about the affair?” ‘She would not be forced to tell anything, You forget. Mr. Gummage, thatI have to do only with ‘the estate.” The look that came into the rubber-dealer’s eyes at this moment startled Porterhouse. “T have found Myra Moss,”’ said Gum mage, lean- ing toward the detective, while at the same time he re one of his hands in his waistcoat pocket. “I think I can direct you to the een ony you are looking for; but— Ah, do you think can’t see throuch a thin disguise?”’ The last words were accompanied by a tiger-like Spring across the table of the hand which suddenly ot out of the pocket, and the next instant the other hand, darting forward, too, seized the South- erner’s wrist and gripped it tightly. * Dolt!’’ cried Gummaye, his eyes now on fire as it were “I know youas well as though you gave me your realname, I know what you want. Idid not see through yourdisguise when you called at my office, but I’ve had my eyes opened since. You ara Neil Porterhouse, and are on that old trail. Do you think you are equal to the Cormorant League? ha, man, you are even now inits deadly toils!” Porterhouse saw now what he hed not seen before —a dark, needle-pointed arrow-head in Clark Gum- mage’s hanu! Ashe drew back the barb made a shoot for his hand and the rubber-dealer ae at the same time, and almost overturning the table, tried desper- ately to wound him on the wrist. ‘You can’t escape me,” cried Gummage. ’m a fool who at | have too much at stake to let you make another move in the game.” | the young ferret. arrow-head against the Southerner’s exposed arr, and then held on with a gleam of devilish triumph in his mad eyes, “Didn't you tell me once—it was at the restau- rant—that you were poison proof?” laughed Gum- — ‘* Now prove your assertion.: The poison of the Kaffirs is in your system. In a few minutes it will have found the seat of life and the last enemy of the League will be no more. Ah! you've proved a good trailer—a persistent one, too; but the Cor- morants have been too much for vou. Do you still want Myra Moss? She is able to take care of her- ew and that story of the English legacy is all sh.’ Porterhouse felt a sane drowsiness stealing over him while the rubber dealer spoke. He tried to speak, but his tongue seemed to cling to the roof of his mouth. The dread poison of Africa was at work. All of a sudden he felt himself sinkin x to the floor, but Clark Gummage, now locking for all the world like a fiend, still clung to his hand, and the last thing Porterhouse saw ere darkness came was the laughing eye of his bitter foe. The room became dark to him; he felt no pain now; in place of it there was a pleasant sensation, but it might mean death, as well as a shooting pang. Clark Gummage released his victim and went over to the standin one corner ofthe room. He looked through it, but found nothing to reward his search. He searched the whole room, orly to loos disappointed at the end of his hunt, and, looking once more at Porterhouse, he left the place, shutting the door close behind him. Thirty minutes passed and then the door opened. Incame Len, the boy detective, and fell back at sight of the man who lay on the floor. ‘It is Porterbouse and allis over with bim!” cried ‘This isthe work of the Cormo- rants. They penetrated his disguise, and the fox he was laying for was too sharp for him.” Horrified by the sight, Len stooped over the South- erner and looked into his face. Instead of the pale- ness of death there was a slight flush, and the moment he felt Porterhouse’s pulse the eyes opened and the detective stirred. ‘*Thank Heaven, you are still this side of the dark river!’’ exclaimed the boy. ‘‘I thought I had found the victim of the League, but you must have fallen in a faint of some kind.” The man from the South, having recovered some- what, smiled faintly. “Tt have been touched by the arrow-head,” said he, sitting up again. ‘‘The man came here, but he came to kill, and it is not his fault that he did not sueceed. I told him at the restaurant, where I sud- denly encountered him after reaching the city, that I was poison proof, but he did not believe it, and I was not sure that I wasn’t making an empty boast.” Porterhouse took from his pocket a small vial wrapped in dark buckskin, and held it for a moment to his lips. , ‘Tf the poison of the Kaffirs has an antidote, it is here,” said he, looking at Len. ‘‘ Daily, since arriv- ing in the oy I have fortified my system with this elixir; but all the time Ihave doubted its efficacy. Now, it seems to be of s»me force. I believe it is the only anticote for the African poison. Where did I get it? I bought it of an African traveler in London, ThereyI begin to feel myself once more. But what brourht you back so soon? I thought you went ot to watch the counters of the Trust Com- any ®’ ee N6 I did, but my work is done; or, at least, I did it as well as I eculd under the ci.cumstances.”’ ‘* Tell me.”’ ‘*T went to the building and first ascertained that no one had called for old Noah’s papers since you tookthem. ThenI drew off and began to watch. I had not been on guard more than an hour when a man passed me and slipped into the building. I thought his fizure looked a trifle familiar, and I was prety, sure I had piped one of the men with whom oah had his street battle the night he rescued the papers. Isaw him go up tothe counter and present a piece of paper. I was sure of my man, now, I could not hear what the clerk told him, but what- ever it was, it did not suit him, and after a while he came out, growling like a bear. Then I dodged into the bank and asked the young clerk what was up, and he told me that the man had presented an order for the papers—an order which had old Noah’s name attached, and that he had told him that the doc'l- ments had been carried off on another order. “ Jehu! how I bounded out of that house and fo"- lowed that man who was stillinsight. Ididn’t want to lose sight of him, for he was too precious to lose. He took me a long chase, but finally halted at a house on Tenth street which looked rather suspi- cious, As he locked the door after him, I did not et to enter to see what was beyond the step, and so was forced to leave him there. Vl bet my head, though, that old Noah isn’t far off.” “That’s my opinion exactly,” said Porterhouse. * You've done your work well, as you promised to do, so now we will see what is in that Tenth street house, besides doing something else in another di- rection, I haven’t found. Myra Moss yet, because Clark Gummage smelt my trick. and came here to uae his arrow-head and get rid of a troublesome ellow.”’ Neil Porterhouse smiled as he finished, and then looked between the bed-ticking to make sure that certain papers were there, after which he and Len Porterhouse was strong and active, but he found | left the house an the man he had tried to dupe a foeman worthy of his mettle. The two men writhed and twisted over the carpet, “Did you look at old Noah’s papers?” asked the boy detective. “T did, because I thought they might be of some but Gummage at last succeeded in pressing the ! use to me,” — ** Are they so very important—important enoush for Nodh to fight for?” ‘* Ay, that they are.” ‘* Don’t they concern Dora?” The hand of Neil Porterhouse fell softly upon the boy detective’s shoulder. ‘‘Let us not pursue this subject at this time,”’ said he, kindly. ‘“‘I don’t think we ought to discuss it, anyway. Yes, I will say that the papers which fortunately are in my bands now, doconcern Dora, and that they should be guarded with one's life. What am I going to do now? Lintend to break up the C rmorant League root and branch within the next ten hours.” ‘Count on me, Porterhouse,” cried Len, seizing the Southerner’s hand. ‘‘I’ve been in the trap of the band and I don’t owe my release to Clark Gum- mage, either.”’ ‘*T know that,” smiled the detective. it to a woman.’’ *T can’t answer you, because the ten hours of my oath have not expired. The moment they are up I will tell you something.” Porterhouse made no reply. “You owe CHAPTER XIX. NEAR THE END OF THE STRING. CLARK GummMAGE went back to his place of busi- ness, thinking that by a bit of shrewd playing he had swept the tireless Southerner from his path and by doing so had scored a great victory for the Cor- morants, No more would Porterhouse bother him, and there- fore he could afford to rejoice! It was later in the day and he was the sole occu- pant of the little office, thinking perhaps of the work he had done with the poisoned arrow-head when the door opened as it had opened a thousand times before. As Gummage looked up he was confronted by two men, who nodded and came forward—Sancos and his pard. “What do you think?” at once cried Sandos. ‘‘We called at the Trust Company’s counter with the order for the papers and were told that some- body had just got them.” | Clark Gummage started. ‘‘Somebody got them?’ he almost gasped. “That’s what,” smiled Sandos, “A pretty slick trick of the old man’s seems to me.” Gummage was silent for a moment, ‘* Have you an idea?” he asked, , ‘No; unless the man from the South got ’em ” ‘*He'll never use them if he did get them,” as- serted Gummage. “I know what I’m talking about,’’ viciously. ‘* But they’re gone, that’s certain.” ‘* What does the old man say?’ ‘‘Says he never gave any one an order for them, and I believe him.”’ ‘* Those papers must not be lost to us,” declared ummage. “I'll go and look for them.” Sandos and his companion gazed at him in amaze- ment, ‘I think I know where to look,” he added, and was soon on the street again, somewhat disguised, and in a great hurry. ‘‘Can it be that I overlooked them when in his room?” he asked himself. “If he took them from the bank they must be somewhere on the premises, I won’t let them go without a good hunt, for a good deal of wealth hinges on those very papers.” He made his way to the place where he had left the body of the Southerner on the floor, and was met at the door by the mild-faced lady who had met him there on a previous © on, In response to bis inquiry she said that she did not know whether Mr. Havens was in or not, but he might go up and see for himself, which Gummage was very willing to do, When he opened the door he got a slight shock, for the floor was not occupied as he had last seen it, He was the sole person in the chamber! “This is queer, to say the least,’ thought the rub- ber. dealer. I never heard of the arrow failing to do its work. He can’t have been taken away without the knowledge of the landiady; but I can't forget my errand,” and he went to work ransacking the room, looking in places that he had missed before, but finding nothing, greatly to his disappointment. As he came down-stairs he came face to face with the little mistress of the house. “When did Mr. Havens go out?” asked Gum- mage. ‘*I'm sure I cannot tell you,”’ was the ig AE ‘ m: Sem you have seen him within the few ours?’ “Oh, yes. He talked some of giving Mp his room, said he did not think he would want it longer than t>-night. He had only rented it for a few days in the first place. and gave me a good figure for it. Clarke Gummage seemed to choke, Neil Porterhouse was not dead! The arrow, for once. had failed to do its wotk! And the execrable villain remembered with a start what the man from the South told him in the restaurant—that he was poison proof! What if it was so? What if he had an antidote for the deadly arrows of the wild Kaf- firs? The rnbber-dealer breathed hard while he walked from the house, eager to get away, and fearing that he micht come in contact with the wished to avoid. But, fortune favored , and he got back to his office, unwatched, as he thought, by the keen eyes of his arch foe. There he almost fell into his chair and trembled. If Porterhouse had escaped the poison what would happen next? “A gentleman, sir,” said a voice at the door so m S comicbooks.co |