Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 767 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

wh hanes aE y s we ~ - > hl oF eed oe oo "tt ats he lefta beautifully engravea card, saying he I will be watched when I leave there, but | right along,” he continued, and, telling the driver that will just suit me, for if they will only trace | to go slow, seated himself. me carefully, they will find Il am just about to| A long drive through the Park, and luncheon open a brokerage office.” ' ata famous road-house, passed away the time ‘*Good enougn! Ye’v’ got a good head, Jack, | until threein the afternoon, when ‘ Mr, Fred- an’ if ther’ wuz twinty ag’in’ us, we'll b’ate | eric Ormond” again called at the Barret man- therm,” said Mac, adding: | sion. ‘* But it’d be betther not t? come back here at | This time, it was Miss Barret, herself, who all. Just drop me a line on yer way down-town, | came to the door, avd greeting bim pleasantly, an’, av coorse, fix on yer office addhress, so I kin | invited him into the parior. "ache ye any time,” | ** How the deuce did she recognize me?’ won- ‘Very well; I'll write you from some down- | dered Mac, as be followed her into the cool, town hotel, and fix upon an office by noon, so | darkened parlor, and, in a more polite form, that | you will have a letter by four or five this after- | was the first question he asked Miss Barret, noon, ‘* After this, of course, we sball bave to meet in disguise,” ; | smiling reply. With the last words, Quiet Jack was on his | ‘* You have indeed!” thought the discomfited way to visit Miss Barret, and having nothing | detective, who bad intended to introduce bimself ‘* Why, there was no trouble in that, I have good eyes, and know how to use them,” was the else to claim his attention, the ‘*t bod-carrier” | as his own agent, for there were few who felt at started for his office, where he proceeded to have | all certain that they knew McVeigh, the detec- Austin’s name removed from the sign, tive, as bis natural self. Four, five, six o’clock passed witaout any let- ‘*Austin called on you yesterday,” he said, ter from Jack, and becoming uneasy, the ‘‘ hod- | tentatively. carrier ” visited the quiet hotel where his part- ‘Yes, but he’s been taken care of by this ner resided, but he had not been there, nor did | time,” was the queer reply. be arrive up to the time Mac departed-—mid- ‘** What do you mean?” night. ** Well, you should know more about that than I do!” impatiently answered the lady. ‘‘ What has Jack been doing, or saying!” Mac wonderingly asked himself, and aloud: ‘* Did you know that you were being watched?” ‘*Me watched? Nonsense!” “1 tell you it is so!” asserted Mac, “ Dick Wilson is here really to watch you,” “Tf I thought that—” began the lady, ina strangely threatening tone, when the door-bell was rung, and, interrupting herself, she ex- ——_—— CHAPTER XV. A QUEER INTERVIEW, THE ‘‘hod-carrier’ passed a rather uncom- fortable night, because of his partner’s failure either to report or turn up at bis hotel, and was at the office early next morning looking for a letter, but there was none from Jack. ‘* That’s quare,” muttered Mac, and calling a messenger, dispatched him with a letter to Aus- | claimed: tin’s hotel, “Slip down, and out through the basement, ‘* Not in, sir. Hasn’t been there since yest’d’y | quick! “It must be that old fool they caJ) the hod- carrier! I’ve been waiting all day for bim, ‘*T'll send him after his partner, and then you must return and tell me what you mean,” For a couple of moments Mac sat paralyzed by this speech, ‘*Hurry!” commanded the lady, and, me- chanically, the bewildered detective obeyed, mornin’,” reported the boy, who returned within a few minutes—the hotel having been chosen be- cause of its proximity to the office. Mac was puzzled and uneasy over this, and bidding the messenger wait, passed into the pri- vate office where, for a few miuutes, he remained in deep thought. No one knew better than the “ bod-carrier” the dangerous possibilities of bis calling, and with a keen appreciation of the fact that, in this case, the stakes were so vast, that notbing would be stopped at, be sent the boy back with the letter. ** Give it to the clerk, and tell him it is to be given to no one but Mr, Austin—no messenger from him, with or without an order for mail, is to receive that letter. ‘““When you’ve done that,” continued Mac, after a sharp look at the messenger boy, ‘“‘ come back here, The door will be locked, but here is the key, and remain until | return, ‘Tf Mr. Austin comes here, tell him to wait, If any one else calls, get the name and address, but you can say you don’t know where I’m gone, or when I'll be back.” The messenger boy nodded intelligently, and asked: “If you are not back, when’ll I close up?” ** Five o’clock will do, and if 1m not back by that time, open the office to-morrow. Ill ar- range with your manager,” The boy took the key and departed, while Mac burrieflly transformed himself into a very swell looking young man, after which be sat down to await the return of the sharp-eyed messenger, upon whom he wished to test the effect of the change. : From the detective’s instructions to the boy, it will be seen that he was preparing for a prolong- ed abserce from his office, although Miss Barret’s residence was within ten minutes’ walk, Apparently, the change was an effectual dis- guise, for when the messenger returned, he ac- cepted the statement, that Mr. McVeigh had left the elegant looking gentleman in charge of the office, without question, Satisfied on this bead, the detective proceeded to the nearest livery stable, engaged a coupe with a liveried driver, and was driven to the Bar- ret mansion. CHAPTER XVI. THK COCKNEY. To say that Mac was astonished, to hear himself spoken of as ‘“‘that old fool they call the hod-carrier,” is putting the state be was in on Jeaving the parlor, very milaly; but, before he had reached the bottom of the basement steps, the detective instinct bad asserted itself and ‘* Richard was himself again.” ‘““She mistook me for somebody else, and that somebody may have just arrived, so I had better make myself scarce,” be decided, and hurrying through tbe ball jumped into the coupe, ‘Drive slow to the next corner! Turn into Broadway, and then go for all you’re worth to the Battery!” Cabmen are accustomed to receiving al] kinds of orders, and without winking at this decided- ly queer one, the driver obeyed, _Whether there was any attempt, or inten- tion, to follow him, Mac never knew, but follow- ing his directions to the letter, (and thereby causing much profanity among pedestrians and other drivers,) the coupe driver opened the door, at the Battery, just twenty minutes after leaving the Barret mansion, to inquire: ** Where to now, sir?” : Mac could not forbear smiling at the stonily calm countenance of the driver, but he appre- ciated the tact that caused the man to look up the street while asking the question, for the | detective had been altering his appearance, and the other evidently did not wish to appear | to notice if, In reply to the driver’s question, Mac shoved a ten-dollar bill into the hand resting on the window, anid stepped out, saying: P ‘Phin I want a sinsible man that knows As the cab stopped at the door, Mac, ashe step- | how t’ bould his tongue, ag’in, I'll look for ye, ped out, saw Miss Barret peeping through the | avick.” curtains. but, to his astonisoment, was informed The driver now stared at bim in open-mouthed ee ee LE LL LLL LLL LLL LL LLL LLL LLL LLL LL LLL LLL LLL CE by the servant who came to the door, that Miss | astonishment, Mac had often engaged his ser- Barret was not at home! ‘ vices—as the “ hod-carrier,” but now he bore Mac’s business had not brought bim any know- | every appearance of an Englishman, having, ledge of the habits of fashionable ladies, and, | (in addition to other changes,) grown a pair of thinking that perhaps bis call was made too early, | mutton-chop whiskers while riding down-town. “Well, Il] be—(not blest)!” exclaimed toe driver, as his fare walked off toward the Stevens House, ‘If that ain’t bimself, it’s his voice, anybow !” Into the Stevens House turned Mac, through would call again, ‘To the Park!” ordered the detective, as he re-entered the coupe. . “‘ Now if you want to do any shadowing, come - t, Ahi i - Es t) at e, ‘ ~ a : af We oe dt cw so 4 3 A ate " 4° ’ or — = a ¥ r Mac and Jack, the Invincibles. 9 the bar, out into Morris street, along Greenwich across Fulton, into Park Row, and then jumped onto a car, which he left as it entered the Bowery. All this was not done for amusement. On the way down-town, Mac’s brain had been much more busy than bis busy bands, He was considerably troubled by Miss Barret’s statement that Jack had ‘** been taken care of by this time.” It sounded ominously followed by ‘‘that old fool they call the ‘hod-carrier’,” yet, why had she sought their assistance? They had not been interested in tre Barret matter, mor troubling her, or Fulton, in any way. ‘*She paid the biggest retaining fee | ever re- ceived,” muttered the mystified detective, as he sauntered up the Bowery, ** but I’d willingly give it back to know that Jack was safe and alive.” Still pondering over the strange occurrences of the past forty-eyght hours, Mac entered a costumer’s. Half an hour later he emerged still wearing the ‘* mutton-cbops,” but dressed in a decidedly Joud suit of clothes, and looking like an English «sé crook,” It was about six o’clock when the detective re- turned to the strect, and the great tide of Lonest working bumanity tbat swells tbrcugh tbe Bow- = morning and evening was at its flood. fore to get out of the way; ‘and have a chance to think, than anything else, Mac entered a saloon, which chanced to be one of those old- fashioned places, where the regular customer sits down and sips his beer—spending an bour over one glass, if he feels so disposed. Old fashioned or new fangled, it would have been all the same to the detective. He wanted to think, and he wanted to sit down, and, on en- tering the saloon he took possession of the first vacant chair he saw, saying to the barkeeper: ‘‘ A pint of ’alf ’n’ ’alf, if you please!” **V’ot’s dot you say?” demanded the old German bebind the bar, ‘*Hi said plain hewcvgh, | ’ope—a pint hof *alf ’n’ ’alf!” ‘*Ve don’d sel] no bints do gustomers at de dables,” replied the German, amid a roar of laughter from a half dc zen men sitting near the detective, One thing Mac never forget--the language or slang of the character he was assuming, and althcugb bis brain was busy with Jack end the Barret mystery, be was talking the cockney— the character be wished to assume, The roar of laugbter awakened bim to the fact that be was attracting attention, and, also, that the saloon-keeper was angry—two things that he, just then, wisbed to avoid. Mac was about to get up and leave the place, when bappening to glance at the laughing party at the next table, bis eye fell upon Dick Wilson. The latter, frcm the expres-ion of bis face, was beartily enjoying the fun, and Mac’s inten- tion changed instantly, “i say, Jads!” be cried, appealing more par- ticularly to the private detective, ‘‘ w’ot’s the matter with this chap? Cawn’t a chap border ‘is pint ere? No blcomin’ chawff, now, for Hi don’t know hapythin’ babout the bleedin’ coun- try, ye know.” ‘*Come over here,” replied Wilson, laughing, ‘* we’)] initiate you,” and to the landlord: ‘‘Here, Jake! Give his jaggs a bottle of Bass, and a bottle of Guinness,” ‘* Hif you gentlemen will join me Hi shall be leased,” said Mac, ss he took a seat opporite ilson, ‘Him a Brummagen bloke hand Hi ’ates t’ be guyed.” The pseudo-cockney looked around, and threw a coin on the table, as be uttered this in a defiant manner, CHAPTER XVII. MAC UNDERTAKES A MURDER, THE coin was an English two-shilling piece, which Mac bad received in change months be- fore, and had since carried as a pocket piece. Wilson looked at the piece, and laugbingly observed: “Tf you offered this to Jake, be’d think ye were shovin’ the ‘queer’— counterfeiter, ye know—and crack ye over the nut with a mal- let.” ‘‘Coiner, ye mean? Well, give it ’ere—Hi wouldn’t part with that two-‘ bob’ for one hof ye’r’ bloomin’ dollars.” ‘* May be it’s all you've got?” innocently sug- gested one of the party. ‘‘Hoh, no! Hi’ve got plenty bof ‘ blunt’, but bits hall in Hamerican money, ye know.” This interesting information rendered the en- tire party more respectful, and very attentive