Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 742 — page 5: what you’re looking at

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

Billy Winks, the Bell Boy “What's up?’ cried the Bell Boy Detective, ‘turning the moment he felt the grip, and looking up into the face that confronted bim, He had been caught by the dude, and now he Saw that the fellow, while good-looking, had a pair of bad eyes,in his head and that he wore gloves buttoned far up his wrist. ‘* Caught you looking, eh?” he grinned, ** Caught who looking?” echoed Billy, ‘* Look here, don’t you know a boy bas aright to be out as long as he pleases, and as for lookiug, I use my eyes whenever I’m out. That’s what they're for. In a second Billy felt that he was being drag- ged toward the man supposed to be Josie’s shad- ow, and all at once he jerked back and with such force that the man not looking for aplay of this sort was thrown forward and the grip was broken. Before he could re-seize the agile boy, he was out of reach, and Billy laughing in his face told him to take a tighter hold next time and not leta boy outwit him. Despite bis narrow escape from what might have been an uapleasant time, Billy Winks did not quit the vicinity, but came back and con- tinued to watch the man he had concluded to track. He picked him up after a little search, and ‘was soon On his trail. In a very short time he found himself in a house which be had entered, and was listening in the dark, He had tracked the man to the house adjoin- ing, and having seen on the door of the other one the legend: ‘‘To Let,” he managed to effect an entrance in hopes of hearing something through the walls, as the two buildings were lose together, The interior of the house was dark, and the boy did not move for some time after entering it. He bad been enabled to discover nothing but a coil of rope in one corner, and while wondering what it was for, he was startled by a sound which from the very first enlisted his attention, The boy ferret had found an iron riog in the floor near the center of the room, and for a moment had associated the rope and ring to- gether in his mind. Voices suddenly came up from below, but they seemed too distant for him to make out any- thing but confused sounds, Billy got down on all-fours and began to feel the floor for a trap door, He found it so suddenly that a cry came from his lips, and he felt its dimensions besides find- ing the way to open it. When he had pulled it open he thought of the rope and the ring, and in a moment had brought the two together. ‘*T believe I could discover something if I could go down into the cellar and listen at one of the walls. The voices I hear seem to come upward, and I must find out what they mean.” He made one end of the rope fast to the ring, and then deliberately swung over the edge of the trap. Hand over hand like a sailor Billy Winks lowered his body into the dark place, and the downward journey seemed endless, Once he stopped in mid-air, for a door some- where overhead was heard to open and shut. Kor once, at Jeast, his heart was in his throat, and when the sound died away he went on. He reached the ground at last, and found him- self in a place as dark as the room above, That it was an old cellar he had po doubt, for it was half filled with rubbish in several places, and he stood for a time among it all and listened, re Pe eae in the cellar could not see his band before his face, nor could he hear asingle sound, Suddenly he heard a voice seemingly so near that he recoiled, It seemed at first that he was not the only oc- cupant of the cellar, but he was soon disabused of this idea. . The voice had come from beyond the opposite wall in the cellar of the adjoining house. **T guess you won't feel so sanguine when you get out of the net,” said some one in tones of tri- umph, were one will have to pay for it all in the end, “Do you really think so? Now, don’t you ara trumps are all in our hands?” ‘No ‘You don’t, eh? I'd like to know what you are going to do to beat the game. We know everything you have been doing ever since the old man sent you out on the mission of revenge and recovery. The trail is blocked against you at every point and all I have to do is to raise my hand and you will step from the drama and will never be heard of again,” There was noreply and Billy wondered who the speakers were. ‘* What is he to pay you two for finding the trail?’ asked the man who had spoken last, ‘* That is our business,” ‘All right. Chuck Holcomb, you are at the end of the string and your companion will never hear of you again.” Chuck Holeomb! The name drew a cry from Billy. He had found the missing pard, but a stone wall separ- ated them and he did not know what else. Yes, Chuck was just beyond that wall and in the cellar of the adjoining house to which he had tracked the man from the street. ‘* You haven’t been here long enough to strike the trailif it is here,” continued the speaker, ‘*Wesaw youcome and planned the neat job we carried out. When you undertake to beat us, Cbuck, you will have to stay up all night, We know more than you think and as you are to end your days where you are, I[ will tell you that we know what became of the Pettibone children and that we intend to see that Blake Belden is not disturbed in possession of his rights,” ** His rights?” laughed the other—Chuck Hol- comb—derisively. ‘*Why, the only right that rascal has is the right to be hung,” ‘* Come, you’re a pretty man to say that. You are not anangel by any means, Mr. Holcomb, But we won’t review characters just now. You say you won’t tell me what you bad discovered before we netted you? Very well; keep the secret,” This seemed to end the conversation for there was no reply and Billy Winks thought he heard the closing of a door, The silence that came after this sound was al- most palpabie, The Bell Boy Detective leaned against the wall and tried to locate the man be- yond, But in this he was disappointed for he could bear nothing to guide him though he listened a long time, a aa go back and start anew in another place,” he said, Billy groped his way to the middle of the cellar and began to feel for the rope, Finding it at last he managed to climb up to the room and stood once more over the cellar, Intent now on getting out of the house with a view to exploring the one where Holcomb was imprisoned he opened the door and caught a whiff of night air, He had barely touched the step when a figure flitted by and in an instant he hugged the door- way and held his breath, But a footstep came back, a figure leaned to- ward him—a figure like that of a giant—and be- fore he could fall back into the silent hallway he bins SA Lt by a powerful hand, ** Watching, eh?” and Billy was drawn toward the speaker, ‘I’ve a mind to wring your neck like a chicken; but, I won’t do that because you're nothing but a city rat,” and the bell boy ferret Was thrown into the gutter at the risk of a broken head and the man disappeared, * I’)l make that cost you something yet!” ex- claimed Billy Winks as be scrambled to his feet, fortunately with no broken bones. CHAPTER VI. TOO FOOLISH BY HALF, WHEN the Bell Boy Detective scrambled from the gutter he lost no time in getting out of that tough neighorhood, E He returned to the hotelin hopes of finding Phlox, but Jearved from the clerk that the young man had paid his score and departed. ‘¢‘T won ler if Phlox hasn’t been scared away ?” questioned the youthful rogue-catcher. ‘I could see that be wished he hadn’t told: me as much as he did, and fearing Chuck’s displeasure, he has gone away and I may not see him any more,” The next morning bright and early Billy Winks went down to the neighborhood of Josie’s humble home to be on the lookout when she should start to the office where she worked, He was anxious to get a look at the man who had been watching her so long. In a little while the pretty type-writer came out and walked away. It was Josie’s custom to walk several squares and then take a car; but sometimes she varied this custom by walking all the way. Billy was.not noticed by the girl under pre- vious arrangement and when she started off he hog not far behind with his keen eyes on the alert, Detective. 5 For some time nothing occurred to interest him and he was about to believe that he was to be disappointed when, in passing a corner Josie came face to face with a man who looke at her and then followed her toward the office. ‘That is be!” said Billy. ‘* That is the man who has been shadowing Josie. Heis like the man I saw last night—the one who flung me into the street,” The boy ferret saw that the man was rather tall and fashionably dressed, that he carried a gold-headed cane, looked like a person of wealth and leisure, but at the same time there was about hima look which did not impress the young detective in bis favor, He followed the type-writer ata respectful distance and Josie, wondering if Billy was on the lookout, never looked behind her and in- stead of taking the car, resolved to walk all the way, Seta ad times the man seemed to increase his gait, asif to overtake the girl, but as often he changed his mind and let her go on without molestation, By the time Josie reached the office Billy had had a good look at the man and when the girl disappeared within the building he turned and walked back, ‘*That’s the very man,” decided Billy, ‘1 can’t be mistaken, and while he is away from the house, Why can’t go there and look in the right building for Chuck Holcomb?” Suiting action to his words, the boy witha final look at the man, went over into that part of the city where he had met with his somewhat thrilling encounter and managed to enter the house adjoining the scene of his adventure. ° He found it but little different in shape from the first-named place and when be bad descended to the door of the cellar he found it locked. This made him almost sure that he would find Hotcomb in the cellar, but when he leaned for- ward and called the man’s name no one answered him, Was it possible that the prisoner had been re- moved to another part of the city—that his pres- ence had frightened the players of the game? He found an iron bar in the house and return- ing with it to the cellar door, forced the staple and entered, The next instant he fell back with a cry and stared at the bare room, The old pecs wasempty, but there were proofs that it had been tenanted by some one and that that person had been there against his will. A chair turned upside down lay in one corner of the room and some ropes strewn about told the story of a prisoner. As the place was quite dark, Billy struck a light and began to explore the cellar. He suddenly stopped in front of some scrib- bling on the stones and holding his light close read the name of Chuck Holcomb. This settled the question of the tenantry of the hole and he was nonplused as to his next move, It was now certain that Holcomb, who was working in the interests of justice, had fallen into the hands of Blake Belden’s bired agents who were trying to baffle him; but what bad be- come of the captive of the underground place? Billy went_back with the discovery agitating his mind, He concluded to look after the man who had paid so much attention to Jessie, the pretty type-writer, and to this end he frequented the down-town streets where he thought he would be likely to run across the fellow, All at once there crossed Billy’s path on lower Broadway, not the girl-watcher, but the dudish fellow who held him in bis clutches for a few moments, as the reader will readily recall. ‘‘Follow the slave and find the master,” thought the Bell Boy Detective and sure enough a little chase brought him face to face wit the other one, The pair did not seem to be acquainted with each other, but this was mere sham and only served to sharpen the boy’s wits. After an hour’s espionage he followed the tall- est one into a restaurant, and to his surprise was called up to the table where the man sat. Hilly said nothing, but went forward, wonder- ing what was in the wind, / ‘ Do you ever carry messages, boy?” said the man looking at the young ferret, ‘‘ Sometimes,” was the reply. ‘Would you carry one for me?” It was evident that the man did not recognize Billy as the boy he had thrown into the Street, for he took out bis note book and tore off a leaf, In a moment he was writing, and when he had finished be asked one of the waiters for an en- velope into which he put what he had written, and then addressed it, Billy was eager to read the superscription, and ; ~~ — 7 wd ¥ 2 by om -~