Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 742 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

At ee 4 . : ; — es ee ee — hme 7 / . ; 12 Look out, Billy Winks! I don’t intend to stop till [ bave caged you, for I know how dangerous you are,” Haif an hour later he met a man on the street, and the two adjourned to a place where they knew they were safe from observation. To his friend Sam related the adventure of the morning, and ended by saying that the Bell Boy Detective would have to be watched as he had had not been watched before, ‘““T know that, Sam. He is just the sort of chap to give us trouble, [ will hold himif he falls into my hands, or my name isn’t Simon Short. By the way, what did you let the old man go for?” ‘* Pappy Pink? I didn’t lethim go,” ‘‘But he is gone, all thesame, I havejust come from the house, and the room is empty.” Spanker started, ‘*He has escaped!” he cried, ‘‘ If this is true he will go back to his old quarters and won’t be hard to find,” ‘* Unless the boy rescued him, when he won’t be found in the old house,” Blake Belden’s right-hand man made no reply for a moment. ‘‘T have made up my mind to call and seea woman I ran across the other day on the street,” he went on. “The one you told me about—Betsy Snipe?” é Yes.” “‘ Belden, the boss, has seen her,” ‘*The dickens be has!” cried Sam, ‘‘ He has, indeed, and the interview wasn’t a very pleasant one, from what he has dropped in my presence,” sé ell 9? ‘‘He came down to business at once, and coolly asked me what I thought it would cost to get the old creature out of the city?” ** And you told bim—” ‘That [ wasn’t bankering after the job.” ‘*Simon Short, you missed a chance to line our pockets with the yellow stuff,” informed Sam. ‘He would have given you a good slice of the Pettibone estate,” ‘‘T don’t doubt it; but I don’t intend to run my neck intoa halter for the sake of a few dol- lars,” The man who listened fell back in his chair and laughed. ‘* Well, ’'1] go and see Betsy, anyhow. She may know me and she may not. 1 want to see just what she knows, for if she is the Betsy Snipe of New Jersey, she knows enough to wreck the whole game, for she was the nurse of the Petti- bone children,” ‘*She’s got a tongue like a viper,” ‘‘ Then, it’s the original Betsy.” Sam Spanker made his way to the scene of Blake Belden’s encounter with Billy Wiuks’s friend and in a little while stood in her pres- ence. Betsy Snipe was cautious after her last adven- ture and after admitting Sam, she seemed to regret it. ‘What do you want?” she inquired in her ar tones, ‘*T want to know a few things that might be turned to our mutual advantage.” “You do? Do you mean that you would turn them so as to help me as well as yourselt?” ‘‘ That’s it exactly.” ‘‘Nary a turn then,” said the woman, don’t want anything to do with you,” ‘* But you don’t know me,” ‘“‘T know enough about you. You are the young man who years and years ago used to sit on the Jersey fences and laugh at Betsy Snipe. Don’t know you, eh? You are Sam Spanker of Spankersville.” In spite of himself Sam had to fall back in his chair and laugh. It was irresistibly funny to have his youth brought up by that woman whom he remembered so well, and while be laughed be was eyed by the batchet-faced creature whose hands seemed ready to pay him back for the acts of bis younger days. Ail at once the laughing ceased and putting on quite another face, Sam leaned toward the woman, ‘* How have you managed to escape the law so long?” he asked, There was a sudden recoil and he had Betsy Snipe staring at him asif he had suddenly shown an officer’s badge. “That is what puzzles me, Betsy Snipe,” be wenton. ‘* You have done enough to be putting in your time at Sing Sing, but here you are liv- ing in clover and as happy as a bee.’ ‘Ho, bo! As happy asa bee, eh? What are ou doing, Sam Spanker?’ was the retort. ‘ What are you up to now? I have no doubt that, since I see’d you last, you’ve committed dl | ur * + - : : ; y : = é yy . ~ s¢ 4 ’ ‘ 9 nh " Vi eos ’ 4 ‘ 4 + _ — - enough crimes to be bung a thousand times, There’s lots o’ Jersey people in this city now, and they’re not all of the honest kind, either.” Sam listened and did not speak till Betsy had finished. ‘Look here, Betsy Snipe, I believé you know,” ‘** You believe I know what?” ‘* Where the children are,” The face of the old woman was seen to lose color. “Tf I did, do you think I would tell you?” she said, ‘* Why should I tell you or any one else?” ‘* Ha, that settles it. You know where they are! What does the boy call himself now?” But to this there was no reply. Betsy Snipe with clinched hands backed away from Sam Spanker. ‘*Go away!” she commanded, Sam seemed to take a new grip on the chair. **T know, Sam Spanker. know who the boy is, and where he is to be found, I also know who the girl is, and what’s become of her. Do you think, after what has happened, that I wouldn’t keep the pair under my eye?” Blake Belden’s agent seemed to hold his breath, ‘I thought all the time you knew. Do you know, Betsy Snipe, that you can go up the river for that guilty knowledge?” ‘* What! failing himself, did he send you bith- er to get the information? Did Blake Belden send you to me to get the truth?” ‘* 1’m here on my own hook,” ‘‘No, you’re not. You are in his pay, and that’s easily seen. I am not going to tell you anything.” ‘ Sam Spanker looked into the woman’s face and thought: ‘*She never did scare very mucb, and she don’t know how now, Betsy Snipe is a cool wo- man, and she has confessed that she knows where the boy is. I want to know myself. I must know, and before [ quit this room,” For some time the pair eyed each other, and then Sam moved bis chair toward the door, ‘*Go!” again commanded the undaunted wo- man. ‘*When you’ve told me what I want to know,” ‘Then you'll sit there till you’re gray.” ‘Oh, Vil go out and come back with some- body long before that.” ‘¢ You mean with an officer, don’t you?” Sam’s eyes answered, ‘*] wish you would,” declared Betsy, ‘‘ I wish you would go out and briuginacop, I want to tell all I know, but only in his presence. I never felt like telling anything since I helped Blake Belden as 1 do right now.” The rascal of the Coil was nonplused for a moment, ‘* You don’t mean that,” he laughed. ‘' You’re the last woman to tell a story that would get you behind bars,” ‘* Tt wouldn’t deprive me of many years,” ‘*Come, Don’t play the fool for a little sen- timent. You are losing thousands by not tell- ing where the boy is,” ‘*That’s what he intimated. But, why only the boy? Sam Spanker grinned, **Do you mean that you’ve found the other one?’ she demanded, He was over-bold now, for he risked a good deal when he said: ‘* That’s what I mean,” ‘*] see through the whole scheme! The will was worced so that if the children did not turn up after so many years, the whole property was “ become the permanent estate of Blake Bel- en. ‘* You're right, Betsy, old gal!” ‘And you have found the girl and probably silenced her,” s We're getting along pretty well, thank you. Betsy Snipe did not speak, ‘‘ Where is the boy?’ persisted the man. “I am willing to share with you, woman. I will make you know want no more, You sha’n’t be punished for your work in Jersey, I will stand between you and that,” ‘*You? You, a perjured wretch, stand be- tween me and the law? Why, you are likel to swing yourseif before you get out of this game, I won't tell you. There! I don’t pro- pose to throw the boy into the hands of the man who wants him out of the way,” ‘‘All right, then, I only wanted to know What you would do. I shall'play my hand now,” ‘“‘T will keep my secret unti! I am ready to Billy Winks, the Boy Detective. TS SRLS NSE ET LES ANE LT SE AIPA AUT SE KD AE EE EEE er ee ' : ; ) th * Ab on Py ‘ : tell it where it will do him some good,” she cried, advancing menacingly upon him, ‘I know both of them, the boy especially, I have seen him every day for years and the gir] not so often, I know the heirs of the Pettibone thou- sands; I know that Blake Belden is bere to make his way clear to the estate; that he has employed you to. belp him. Betsy Snipe, if she is guilty of a crime, stands between you and success, You can’t succeed without I help you, and Vil rot first!” Sam Spanker shrunk from the menacing eyes and nervous hands before him, and, almost be- fore he knew how it happened, found himself on the outside of the door, having beer thrown into the hall by the irate creature. <j ‘*Jehosaphat! Goliath in petticoats!” cried em, CHAPTER XVI. THE WRONG MAN FREED, THE bell boy’s adventure with Sam Spanker in the cab told him that be was dealing with a desperate scoundrel and that it behooved him to look out for Number One, He bad learned a good deal about the rela- tions which had existed in the past between Blake Belden and Mother Snipe, and resolved to follow up this clew, lf he had been at home during Sam Spanker’s visit to the old woman he might have overheard them and been a witness to the rascal’s defeat by the ‘* Goliath in petticoats;” but he happened to be out of the house at the time and was on another trail that promised to yield him some- thing. re we have seen, Blake Belden was considera- bly cut up over his ‘discomfiture and as he walked homeward he concluded to get even with NOCnR Snipe and pay her back for her scorn of im, ‘There is one thing certain,” said the con- spirator. ‘*I am being made the dupe of the very men [ have employed to help me out of the game, Sam Spanker has the girl somewhere and won’t tell newhere. Only afew hours ago he extracted five thousand from me, and if I don’t circumvent him in some manner I wll be at bis mercy all the time. I must discover this girl's whereabouts myself and then I wili be on top. his was easier said than done, but Belden set about the task with a good deal of shrewdness and hope, and before long he had tracked Sam to a house in which he was sure the pretty type- writer was confinea, Still he did not try to enter until hefhad seen’ Sam come out and walk away. The plece looked common enough and, in his mind, was just the place for the girl’s prison. Belden was now a desperate man, for a for- tune was slipping through his fingers, and he could almost see the Pettibone children in pos- session of their own. When he had effected an entrance into the house he stopped and listened, | For a time he could hear no noise; then a strange sound was borne to his ears, [t¢ did not sound Jike a human voice, but Bel- den was not to be deterred, for he had come to the house with the intentionjof carrying out cer- tain resolutions; so, at once crossing the room be had entered, he tried the door ahead. To his astonishment it opened readily, but he fell back, with a stifled cry at the sight he saw. Lashed toa chair, and the picture of starva- tion and death, sat a man whose eyes had a glassy look which seemed to congeal the artful Belden’s blood. ‘* Who are you?” he cried; ‘* in Heaven’s name, what are you doing in this house?” A ghast y grin overspread the face before him. ‘‘}m all that is left of Chuck Holcomb, have suffered a thousand deaths, For Heaven’s sake, either release me or send me to my final account,” Chuck Holcomb! No wonder Blake Belden fell back and stared at the occupant of the chair, This was the man who had come to New York in company with Flash Phlox to prevent his winning the very triumph he was after! He had fallen into Sam Spanker’s net and was now on the verge of the grave! ‘6 Who are you ?” asked Holcomb, ‘‘ Ab, [ see now! I recognize your face. You are Belden, but known as Van Loo, the man who wants to hold on to the Pettibone fortune. I can’t say that [ don’t blame you, but you see what your tool has done, I am about ready to quit the game, but I don’t want to die here in this man- ner, Instead of cutting the rope that bound Chuck . . S - er ul =a: GO ‘ - 'y +> |» ae a, SE EE EE os a —_— — ey lt