Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 754 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

=~ 4 Af ‘’ - a* i ¥ : \ te Bill a ——s Far below lay a small back-yard, and beyond it the tall brick wall of a large building, A group of children were playing in the back- yard, and Billy longed to acquaint them with his situation; but this was out of the question. He could see the little ones in the light that fell from half a dozen windows, and for nearly ten minutes he stood at the sill and watched them, The same sound that acquainted him with the appearance of the letters on the wall, was heard again, and _ he turre’ to see another line, This time it was very brief: ‘* The fox knows he is caught !” Ah, how terribly true that was, Yes, Billy Winks knew he had been netted, and that he was cooped up in a room from which there was no escape. All at once a certain frenzy seemed to seize the boy detective; he sprung to where the books were and jerked one from the shelves, When he opened if a cry welled from his throat, Every page was blank! ‘*Tbis is worse than death itself!” cried the eaged boy. ‘“‘ This is the most terrible trap I ever heard of,” and he flung himself into the chair from which ho had lately escaped, and sat there with no color in his face, The long night—it was the longest in his history—passed, and he saw the welcome light of another day, He had slept but little, and was at the window looking out over the city. If the room was without a door, how would his food be brought to him, or perhaps none would be brought, After awhile a woman came out on a porch within a stoue’s throw of bis prison. As she cast a look toward the barred window, the boy detective caught up one of the books and forced it through the bars, The next moment he was beating the glass with all bis might. ** | will tell them that Iam here, I will havoa the police enter this den and rescue me, Simon Slyboots and his friends sha’n’t triumph over me very long,” But alas for Billy’s hopes, the glass was thick and would not yield, and he was obliged to withdraw the book without inflicting any in- jury. The woman was still on the porch, and Billy imagined that be had been seen, He drew back and taking out bis pocket-knife, hurled 1t at the window with all his might, As luck would have it, it spun between two bars and striking the glass sbattered it and let in a breath of air. The woman on the opposite porch seemed to have heard the noise of breaking glass for she looked at the window and Billy sprung to the opening with a ery of victory. “* Help! help! help!” be shouted at the top of his voice and looked toward the porch, The young woman—he could see that she was young—seemed to understand the situation, for she waved her band, looked another moment and vanished. ) “I don’t know what effect it .will have,” thought the boy prisoner of the League. ‘It may tighten the coils around me, but nothing risked nothing gained,” With his heart in his throat, as it were, be stood at the window, eagerly watching the op- posite porch. Seconds seemed hours to the boy and he was on tne point of despairing when the girl came back. ‘*She sbakes her bead at me, intimating that she can’t belp me,” gasped the young ferret of New York, and even while he spoke she vanish- _ed again and he saw her no more, But at the same moment the floor seemed to tremble beneath his feet. CHAPTER XI. MOLLY MARKS SHOWS HER GRIT, CAPTAIN ORTIZ, who was posing vow ag Pe- dron Jurillo, the sole heir to Napoleon Grege’s estate, was in high feather. ! He did not see how he could be baffled, for the boy, Tom Wagner, had not turned up and the peice were of the opinion that he was gone for ood. . No one seemed tothink for a moment that the captain bimself bad had a hand in the boy’s disappearance. He did not look like a villain, but if Billy Winks could have been heard while ke Was cooped up in the strange house he might bave spun a tale that would have created some excitement. The reader will remember that Molly Marks, the fair seamstress and Billy Winks’s friend, a a ee ee ee + + --- ee ee re eer | a — — _—., ne oe a ee eee ee ee ee C+ Ce ee had encountered the Cuban captain on the street and had suspected him of having to do with the death of her father some years prior to the date of our story. The young girl was alone in her little room on the night of Billy Winks’s adventure when a rap sounded on the door and the next moment with- out second thoughtshe bad bade the knocker enter, In he came, the tall dark man from Cuba, and Molly guve vent toa sharp cry when her eyes fell upon him, Captain Ortiz—we will call him so to the end of the game despite the other name he has as- sumed for a purpose—came forward and took a i earee, at the same tine watching the girl likea snalke, He did not hold back very long, but proceeded to business at once, ‘*[ thought your face resembled a face I used to see years ago,” said he, ‘* lt was in Cuba and when [ encountered you on the street the other day I could not help thinking about a man who was lost at sea near the Ever Faithful Isle when I was still there.” Molly started, for the cunning rascal was tall ing about her father, and she watched him nar- rowly hoping to see what he was after, for she believed his mission to her home was one which greatly concerned her welfare, ‘“Tbhe man of whom you speak must have been my father for be was drowned at sea off the coast of Cuba years ago,” she auswered him, ** Captain Marks?” ** Captain Marks,” The Cuban was silent for a moment, but all at once he took a packet from an inner pocket and began to unwrap it, The face of Molly, the sewing-girl, lost color as she watched him and when she saw the pic- ture which he uncovered she started to her feet. ‘*That is my mother’s face!” she cried, point- ing at the portrait, ‘* Let me see-it,” But Captain Ortiz, looking up with a smile, withheld the picture and seemed to draw out of her reach, ‘What, do you withhold it from me?” ‘It is mine, for Captain Marks gave it to me when we were friends in Cuba and I was not to art with it, not even for a moment,” ‘¢ And you were friends there?’ and the eyes of Molly Marks seemed to look the captain through. ‘‘ We were friends and a tie strong as life it- self united us.” ‘You wrote my mother about the loss of the Fleet wing,” said the girl, still eying him, ‘* T did and a sorrowful task it was, too,” For a moment longer Molly Marks sut and seemed to make a study of the Cuban’s face. ** Some time before the loss of the ship mother received a letter from father, In that letter he wrote about one Captain Ortiz with whom he had become acquainted, He told of the man’s Sag rae how rich he was, how many slaves 10 had and what a wonderful forest be had where he used to bunt. One day a letter came which told us that he had put the wrong esti- mate on this man, Ortiz, that he was not the gentleman he had judged him, that, instead of being his friend, he was, in fact, his foe, and that he had discovered a plot to seize the F leet- wing and perhaps murder all on byard.” _ Molly paused, but the face of the man who jlistered did not change, Captain Ortiz sat upright in his chair with his keen eyes fastened upon the fair girl; not a mus- cle moved, His coolness did not flustrate Molly, indeed, it only seemed to nerve her to play the game out, for she had resolved to tell this man, now that he had come to ber, that she knew bim for a consummate scoundrel. ‘*When father came home he told us more than he had committed to paper,” she went on, ‘ He told us all be knew or bad learned about this Captain Ortiz, and, young as I was at the time, l recall the advice motuer gave him—not to go back, but to trade elsewhere where such men did rot exist,” ‘¢ But it seems ne went back and the ship was lost.” ‘‘He went back and fought a duel with this man.” ‘‘With Captain Ortiz?’ coolly asked the Cuban. “yen.” Molly thonght she saw a smile at the corners of her visitor’s mouth, ‘*I have every reagon to believe that my father was wounded by Captain Ortiz,” she went on. ‘* We at first believed the letters we got from him, telling about the fate of the vessel, gh EY NE Ee a + ~ thy Winks, the Boss Boy Shadower. 9 —_—— ———— es but by and by other tidings came from that part of the world, and, theu, we had other views, You are Captain Ortiz; you are the man who wrote those letters, and they tell me that you have put ina claim for a large estate, claimin to be the person callod Pedron Jarillo in the wi which makes you the heir after the death of the boy, Tom Wagner. I got some of this from ther papers, and Uncle Josh who is somewhat pecu- liar, picks up a good deal on the street.” ** You are very knowing. I am Pedron Jarillo, and in my time, for a purpose, 1 have been Cap- tain Ortiz, You have strange thoughts about the death of your father, an I want to say that you are making some grave charges, have - come to help the friend of my friend—to give you brigbter employment than that you have now, and to take you out of this’ house for one better and brighter, I will want a friend, a private secretary, when [am in the big house on the avenue, and Iam here to offer the place to the daughter of my old friend, Captain M rks of the Fleetwing.” Molly had to look at the man for his au- dacity. ‘‘T refuse to accept the situation,” she said, coldly. ‘*ITam content where lam, Iam hap- py bere with Uncle Josh, and, then, I have other friends who would advise me against the change even though I wanted to make it.” ‘* But you will have a better home, You will be surrounded with wealth and—” ‘*T refuse!” broke in the girl, ‘* You must not forget that your denial of the charges made by my father has not altered my opinion of Cap- tain Ortiz.” “You believe, fourht?” ‘‘T do, and, what is more, I am inclined to credit the story told me once by a man who came from Cuba that the Fleetwing was burned at sea, and by the orders of the man who owned the great plantation with the fine gro7zes,.” The face of the handsome Cuban was now livid, Captain Ortiz arose and for a moment looked down upon the girl. ‘*'You may wish you had not rejected the offer I have made,” he said, ‘*T don’t think I shall ever regret having done so,” ‘¢ Think a moment,” ‘Tf to think means to come over to you and accept the offer of the home on the avenue and todwell under the same roof with the man sus- pected of baving had to do with the death of my father, I will nut think,” \ Molly Marks now stood erect with a smile on her beautiful face and ber eyes turned full upon the man from Cuba, ‘* You don’t want to breathe abroad what you have told me here,” almost bissed the captain, ‘‘ [ shall tell ny opinions where they are likely to bring the guilty to justice!” ‘* You are buat a girl and years bave interven- ed since the Fleetwing vanished from human sight.” ‘* But all witnesses are not dead,” Captain Ortiz laid one hand on the knob and pps toward Molly while his eyes got a sudden ash, ‘‘ Because [am a stranger here you must not think that 1 am powerless,” he said, ‘ I am as much Captain Ortiz as when I lived and had my way in Cuba, Besides this, lam not alone, I[ have friends as well ascthers, [| can strike and strike as bard as those who pro- fess to have hands of iron, You can’t make headway against me, girl. I can blight your life and by the lifting of my band, You are foolish to combat me,” At this juncture ® noise was heard and Molly, stepping across the room, threw open the door, Captain Ortiz recoiled from the young man who threw bimself into the apartment and then laid one hand upon bis bip, “ Jim, thatis the man I bave told you about,” said Molly, turning to the youtb, ‘Is he the same one you bave seen in consultation with Simon Slyboots and his friend?” ‘‘ He’s the same chicken, Molly, and the three have got away with Billy Winks in some man- ner.” “Who are you?” demanded Captain Ortiz. ‘¢ Dm Jim, the son of Mother Magog, for I guess you know her best by that name. I haven't as good a record as an angel, but it’s as good as ours, and I don’t intend to mince matters when n your presence,” Jim advanced a step, but threw a look to- ward Molly, ‘Shall I throw bim out, Molly?” he asked, Captain Ortiz fell back against the door and jerked itopen, He did not want a collision with Jim, and instead of seeking one, he sprung then, that the duel was | COMIC cS 900 co