Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 717 — page 7: what you’re looking at

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

CHAPTER VII. JACK CARRIES A DECOY. ** BEGORRA! phat sort ave a family fistival hev you’s called me in to sittle now?” The speaker was the promised policeman, but to Randolph, angry and worried, he did not prove so terriblo as was to be expected, He was in citizen’s clothes, and his good-humored face was that of Officer Michael O’Dowley. ** Whois de man, and who de woman, who have got tired ave bein’ happy an’ wants to cut loose from dheir moorin’s? Bad idea, Oi tell yez; bad idea! My advice is, niver cut loose from your moorin’s, unless your vessel is foun- dering phere sheis, See?” ‘* We want you,to hear Lbis case, Mr. O’Dow- ley, and give your opinion,” explained the offi- cious stranger. P ‘**Oi’m just de mon for dat, Bring on your par- ties, an’ Move-on-Mike will sittle derow. You kin all depind on justice, too, you’s can; for my _ pole-star ave action is Liberty and de Constitu- tion. See?’ ‘*Them’s the figger!” agreed Mosquito Jack. ‘Ef anybody kin do the job, Michael is the huckleberry.” “Faith, an’ you’re roight entoirely!” agreed the officer. Randolph Fenton stood with set lips and con- tracted brows. Were all these people leagued against him, and was the scheme one of black- mail? He thought better of Jack and Move-on Mike than that, but the most credulous person would have been il] at ease under such circum- stances, The parlor door was closed, and Lena told her story. Kaudolph then put iv bis general denial, but changing his course on the former occasion, did n t offer to prove an alibi at the time when Lena claimed that Bertram Dilton was living with her. If Officer O’Dowley was at all practical, he would see at once that the quickest solution of the mystery lay in the alibi, and Randolph was too proud to call on his father for assistance, : Move-on Mike listened attentively. ** A pecooliar case; a very pecooliar case,” be remarked, wisely, when every one had finished, ‘Tt needs a long head to grapple wid it, an’ it’s lucky you’s come to me! Om de mon to un- ravel it, Oi have no saloon pull, an’ niver drink intoxicating liquors, but Oi depind on the Goddess ave Liberty an’ de Constitution, an’ sildom get lift.” | ‘*That’s so,” Jack declared. dandy!” | ‘** John Marsh, Oi thank you for your good worruds, Now, to business. Dis case is simple, an’ dere’s no lies been towld; but Mrs Dalton, ye’re in dhe wrong whin you claim Peter Woods, ou’s married a mon above your sub-stratum in social life, an’ be’s deserted you loike dhe Wlack- uard he was; but it wasnot Peter. "Twassome eller dat looked loike him, an’ you was dss’aved by dhe resimblance,”’ : / “That's it,” Fenton added, with an air of relief, ** Certain.” ‘“‘ But the man in the upper hall?’ Mrs, Brown asked. ‘*Somebody bas lied, but it wa’n’t Mrs. Dalton. She met her husband dbere joost as she says, and all dis talk took place. Unluckily, she thought it was Peter Woods, an’ dhe ’aisy way she went at him gave him achance to worrum out avedhe fix, He did it n’ately, an’ Oi take off me hat to him!” ** But how did he get into the house?” * Tt’s me opinion he came at dhe door—though he may have been a burglar—an’ dhut somebody is lyin’ to shield him, Kape me oidea sacret, though—kape all sacret dhat you’s hear me say joodicially. Oi hereby take up dis case, an’ Oi’ll run it through. Me drag-net is out, an’ the ra’al Bertram will soon be in /” “What Move-on Mike says, goes!” comment- ed Jack, : ‘Sure, John! As for dis case, Oi’m more in earnest than usual, an’ Oi’m bound to win, Oi _ have no saloon pull, but de Goddess ave Liberty an’ de Constitution will pull me through. Oi’ll ketch Bertram Dalton, or cut de buttons off me blue coat!” ows ; Randolph was getting ifsight {into a circle of life of which he had before known nothing, He ‘* Mike is a Jim- - x | a saw that all of his companious looked up to | Officer O’Dowley as to a superior being, and it - ' was not hard to see, too, that the knight of the locust was a power in his neighborhood. Mike himself, though as wise of air as an Owl, bore his honors meekly, and, though in- Li g in self-praise, at times, showed a dispo- to be fair to all—sometbing that many eee law-givers would do well to take example rom, | Mrs. Brown and Lena were impressed with his declarations, and, for the first time, the lat- ter admitted that it was possible she was mis- taken in her identification of Randolph as Dal- ton. Ste spoke the word ‘“ possible” faintly, and looked at Fenton as if imploring him to rise and assert that she was right, not wrong in the identification. Having smoothed over this matter, Randolph took occasion tospeak privately with O’Dowley. ‘‘What kind of a place is that ‘club,’ where the trouble was last night?” ‘*Dhere’s beer in that crowd, an’ dhere’s froth,” ** Good and bad, eh?” sé Yis,” **Do you know Everald Cheslington?” ‘Oi know no good ave him—an’ no bad. Oi wish Oi did, for Oi don’t take much stock in him.” ‘* What is his business?” ‘** Begorra, Oi think it’s swindling, but divil a bit ave proof can Oi get.” ‘* T think so, too.” ‘* Shows your good sinse!” ‘*Can’t we investigate this man?” Move-on Mike meditated long and deeply before he answered: “Tt might be done, but Oi don’t know how to get at him. He’s sly, dat flashy gent is.” ‘*T\] tell you bow ter git at him.” It was the voice of Mosquito Jack, who, with his usual faculty for overbearing all that was said, had come near enough to get the drift of the present conversation, ‘*When I left you last night, Peter Woods,” the boy continued, ‘‘I had an idee in my noddle as big as a boarding-house turkey, an’ I set the idee on eggs ter negotiate fer a hatch o’ turks, I s’pected [ had a tip which would enable me ter learn where Everard bung cut when at home, and I worked the tip fer all she was worth. Result: [ve got the locate o’ his home-base, an’ a portable diagram fer gettin’ at kim,” “What is it?” ' ‘‘ Why can’t I take a note ter Everard, pur- portin’ ter be from a feller who wants ter speck- erlate, sayin’ as how the writer has heerc that Everard, old boy, kin make men rich fer a con- sideration, an’ he wants a chance, There’s some uess- work an’ a pile o’ cheek in the scheme, but ’m ther boy ter work it. En?” Randolph did not approve of the plan, and was abont to say so frankly, but Move-on Mike at once declared that it was just what was needed. He carried the day, too, and, though Fenton expressed the fear that they would succeed only in alarming the game, the idea was acted upon. Failing to convince his companions, Randolph wrote the note on about the same lines laid out by Jack, and the latter was sent to deliver it. The self-styled Hustler Gamin marched off in a business-like and confident manner. He was accustomed to rough life in New York, and, as he assured himself, Cheslington ‘‘could not eat him,” no matter how he took this bogus appli- cation. Finding the place which Cheslington made his home, Jack perceived that it was a house rather above the average in neatness, externally, though on a street neither clean nor bigh-toned, and not free from bard characters. There was no trouble in gaining admission to Mr. Cheslington, but the boy actually was daz- zled by the room into which Le was shown, It was large and elaborately furnished. Luxurious and costly furniture stood on the rich carpet; a great mirror flashed the light of the sun across the room; paintings of no mgan merit were hung on the wall; statuettes of fine design appeared here and there; and bric-a-brac of all kinds, and all in excellent taste, filled the otherwise-vacant recesses, In an easy-chair sat Mr, Everard Cheslington, himself, his feet elaborately slippered, being on a second chair; a gorgeous diamond pin flashing between the lapels of his rich bouse-coat, and a 082 phe smoking-cap perched on his well-shaped head. A scene like this Jack had never seen before, and he ‘gazed in open-eyed wonder and silence, Mr. Cheslington was shrewd, and, often hav- ing to make people of lowly life useful to him, always aimed to be polite and agreeable to all, He now let Jack have his fill of wonder until the boy broke the silence with the impulsive excla- mation: , : ‘‘Ebenezer Angustus! but didn’t all this cost a pile o’ money!” . ‘My young friend, it dil.” Everard agreed, ** You're the boss, I take it?” Mosquito Jack, the Hustler Gamin. _ nn nnn 7 ** Tam.” Bye syer a dollar no Vanderbilt could ekul this! ** You think it pleasing, I take it.” ** Pleasing! Say, thar ain’t nothin’ like it in no other place in New York—leastways, I don’t reckon so, Course you’ve traveled more nor me, but that’s my idee. Anyhow, it’s boss, an’ l’d vive a dollar ter hev my room fixed this way. Why, [ain’t got no carpet, 20 lookin’-glass, no pictur’s, an’ none o’ them!” He pointed to the statuettes, thename of which he was unable to tell. ‘* My son,” pronounced Mr, Cheslington, grave- ly, ‘‘ you may yet have greater luxury than this, The road to all this pomp of life is marked by milestones upon which you will find inscribed these legends: ‘ Brains’—‘ Pluck ’—* Luck’—‘ So- briety ’ — ‘ Uprightness ’ — ‘ Christianity,’ Put these milestones along the road of your career, and all things will come to you that’s good.” “Pil stick ’em up, by Ebenezer!” ‘* Now, to business!” “Sartain! Excuse me fer delayin’, but I wuz razzled-dazzled. Here’s a note a feller give me fer you, an’ I hereby hand it over, trustin’ yer Honor will peroose it ef the writin’ is legger- ble, And he handed over the decoy. CHAPTER VIII. JACK GETS INTO TROUBLE. CHESLINGTON received the letter and, smok- ing lazily, read it through slowly. Mosquito Jack tried to get a clew to his thoughts by studying his face, but the person in tbe easy- chair was not made of such plastic stuff as to let every feeling betray him. ‘* Who gave you this letter?’ Everard finally inquired, looking up. ‘* Andrew Ray, is his name,” **Do you know him?” ** Only by sight.” ‘** What kind of a man is he?” ‘* Thar ain’t no flies on him, mister.” ‘* What is his business?” ***Spect he must bev an income,” gravely an- swerved Jack, ‘* Never seen him do any work, an’ he’s often loafin’ around by day. Wears a sprakler in his sbirt nigh about as full ©’ glitter as yourn. Mebbe he’s an anarchist, fer I heerd him say once that the blamed perleece ought ter - all sent ter Sing Sing, so decent men could ive, Everard meditated and read the letter again. Jack was shrewd enough to suspect, without the aid of tell-tale facial signs, that the sharper was troubled; and this was a fact. Everard realized that some stranger had a clew, or partial clew to the secret, which be did not want any outsider to know. The question was, how should he be dealt with? Had he been a friend of one of Everard’s friends, be would have approached openly, if at all. He came secretly; there was danger in such a man, How was he to be dealt with? How could Everard move so as to best assure his own safety? Laying the note down the sharper began con- versation with the messenger on trivial matters. His manner was careless and indifferent, out- wardly. It might bave deceived many persons; it did not deceive Mosquito Jack. | He knew be was under fire, in a figurative sense. He was equal to the se a er he met Everard’s gaze calmly, and talked withcut signs of perturbation. ** ll answer this,” observed Cheslington, anon, He went to the table and wrote a note. Then he rung the bell and a negro appeared, ‘* Take this to the address on the envelope,” he directed, ** Ain’t I ter carry it?’ Jack asked. “You can remain with me,” _ “But I calkerlated on an extra half-dollar fer takin’ it back.” ‘Pll give you the money.” “even o'clock, too. I’ve got ter go, any- how,” Jack rose. So did Cheslington, who walked to the door and locked it. ‘* You will still further favor me with your COMPASS. The sharper removed the key, and Mosquito Jack realized that he was a prisoner. “Say!” he exclaimed, ‘‘ what kind of a go is. this?” a | always like to know where I stand, and in- tend to know now, You may be all right, and then, again, you may not. The writer of that note professes to be eager to do certain business with me, make baste tocome right here, as soon as he gets the missive I have jast sent.” LY od, he tke as , . a): “~ ° FJ « ‘ ae WN ay " : , i} te a — - ee = ~ comicbook If he is what he purports to be he will - * * Ss _ .com