Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 775 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

. ’ ee - —- ~——— - . - ye we ee ee > _ . a ° wie et + ippen PR whe 2 ea ee ee ae? = > 6 Broadway Billy’s Shadow Chase. ‘*Ob! I bad a little business to attend to this | way myself. Still, you ought to be able to trust morning, thatisall. It is unusual tomeet youas | your daughter, I should say. But, | press no opinion in such a matter, Mr. Rundle; far away from home,” l must ex- * Yes; but, like you, I am out on business; | pray do not expect me to do so,” that is to say, | was on business, but having attended to it | was taking an idle stroll, Oh! we had a delightful seance last night, Mr, Rundle,” ** Yes?” ‘‘ Yes, indeed! The mediums seemed to have | unusual power, and once we could really see the shadowy forms of dear friends with us in the room,” ‘* Wonderful! I am sorry I was not there. But, I shall attend soon. It is almost like miss- ing food and drink to remain away, when one’s whole soulisin the great faith. Oh! if others could only see!” ‘Others will see, one day, sir. The true faith is growing day by day, and it isonly a uestion of time. Yes, I longed to have you there last night, for your dear daughter was with us again, aud she called for you many times,” **The dear chili!” ** But she was depressed, for there was some- thing heavy upon ber mind.” ‘* My poor, dear Betty!” ‘““She entered Miss Smith, her favorite medium, you know; and for several minutes talked with us,” ‘** How sorry Iam I was not there! When do you hold another seance, Miss Dubarre? I must be on hand and not miss another,” ** To-night we meet again, Mr. Rundle, and it will give us the greatest pleasure to number you with us. You must not remain away, for one does lose power so rapidly, you know.’ **T know it, 1 know it,” ** And then, too, with loss of power one is so likely to lose faith; and nothing is so harmful to our cause as lukewarm interest,” “That is true, that ia true; I have experienced it myself, I must be on hand at your next meet- ing. I must talk with my dear child as often as Ican. It gives me pain to know she was de- pressed lagt night.” ** Yes, it was too bad, and I longed to have you there. She seems to have but one idea now, and that is to relieve the needy and push forward our cause. It might alarm you, Mr. Rundle, were I to reveal a truth she made known to us last night.” ‘No, no; anything she revealed I ought to know,” ‘* Yes, you ought to know it, truly; but it is painful to me to make it known,” ‘““It was about me, then? You lead me - susyect it was, by your mannez of speaking of it. ‘* Yes, if was about you.” ‘“*Then tell me what it was. Bad luck com- ing?” ** Indeed, no! And yet it is something we can- not face without some fear. The material body is a coward, you know.” ‘‘Ha!l Am TI nearing my dissolution?” a thought I would Jet you guess it yourself, sir. Happy Harry was polishing away at his shoes with a will, and seemingly deaf, dumb and blind to everything else, A sly look at the old gentleman showed the boy that his face had assumed a ghastly, yel- lowish pallor, and for a moment bis cane rte the sidewalk with vigor more material than spiritual. “Hum!” he muttered. ‘‘Hum! Hum! So, I am nearing the pcrtals, am I?” ‘*T tried to break it to you asgently asI could, dear brother. That was the revelation your child made,” ‘* That should not have made her low ins irit, I should think, Often has she expres the wish that I might soon join ber and her mother, to share their happiness in that better land.” ‘*“Ob! 1 am sure it was not that, sir, that affected her.” ‘** What then?’ *‘ She did not tell us plainly, but I inferred it was concerning the disposition of your materlal goods before the time comes,” ss Um !”” “That, however, is between you and her; J must have nothing to say about your private affairs, and especially about money matters, Let your own heart be your guide, You must not ask me to advise you.” ** [ am troubled about one thing, Rosa,” ** And what is that?” ‘*I should like to know the exact use that is made of my money,” ‘Well, that is natural, from the material point of view. Perhaps I would feel the same ‘** Did she say how soon the change is coming, Miss Dubarre? ‘* | inferred that itistobeverysoon— There, I have startled you! Forgive me for speaking out so plainly.” **Hum! Hum! Hum!” witb a furious pound- ing of the cane. ‘‘ What a coward the flesh is, to be sure! This news, this good news, this glo- rious news, has actually made the material man tremble.” ** But the spiritual—” ‘* Ha! the spiritual will triumph, and the ma- terial shall be put down. Do you not see that already the spirit part is gaining the mastery ?”’ ‘** Yes, so it is, so it iss Ob! Mr. Rundle, if we could only put the mortal out of sight, and be wholly spirit!” “‘If we could! Bat, nature will bave her due, you know, The mortal must perish and return to the dust. The spirit has but one way of es- cape. Death is the only door to the happy state we long for,” ‘“* And death, we know, is painless, so why need we tremble? As the y grows weaker the spirit grows stronger, and as soon as the spirit triumphs all pain is atan end. We have seen dear friends die, and we know whereof we speak, Is it not so, Mr. Rundle?” ‘* Yes, yes, so it is. There was poor Betty. She was full of pain and anguish for a time, but as the body gave way the spirit rose in its beauty, and at the last her face was wreathed in smiles; and with ber spiritual sight she told us of ithe beautiful scenes opening before her, and at last she fell sweetly asleep. Ob! there is nothing to fear,” ‘** Well, Mr. Rundle, now. that I bave told you of the revelation, you must prepare for the change. I was given to believe that it will come within a very few days, at most.” ** I shall be prepared to meet it.” ‘*That is well. But, here we stand, and I am detaining you. Now, do not fail to be on hand to-night,” “Qh! I wilibe there, if alive, that I promise; and if not alive, then maybe I shall be permitted to come iv my spirit form, What a glorious faith is ours!” ‘* Yes, indeed! But, I must be going on, Mr, Rundle. Do not allow tbe mortal to depress the spiritual, now, but let the spirit rise in the beauty of its strength and power above the earthly,” ‘It shall! Yes, it sball!” They shook hands in the most affectionate way, and parted. he woman continued on down Broadway, and after gazing after her for a few moments Mr. Rundle tottered away in the other direction, ‘Christopher Columbia!” cried Harry, as he pitched his brushes into his box and flung the box to his shoulder. ‘t Whatsort of a consarned diffikilty is ip the wind here? That’s what Billy would want ter know, at my age, and that’s what Jam after, too. Seems ter me there must be ghosts abroad to-day, Whew! it made my flesh creep to hear ’em!” He gazed after the woman, and then after the man, in turns, “* If this don’t peel the posters off the bill-Loard, then my bead is a punkin, that’s sure,” he cried. ‘*Crackers an’ cheese! They have talks with folks in the other world, do they? I have heard of sech things, but never took much stock in it, I must put the boss onto this racket, sure. Meb- by it has some connection with what the old man wanted ter see him about. Harry, I'll bet five cents to a nickel that you are going to have a case on hand this very day, to celebrate the birthday of your boss and the opening of the office!” Still looking after the two persons, he watched them till they bad become Jost in the throng, and then bent his steps toward the cffice, ‘* Yes, sir-ee!” he cried. ‘“‘ There is going to be a ruction in spirit circles; I feel it in my bones, I shouldn’t wonder if there was a ghost-walk to- nigbt, in which the mortals will take a band. Crackers an’ cheese! a fellow would want a big dictionary in bis head ter grip fast ter all the bi words they used! I'll bet Billy kin Guidetetand all about it, though, for he bas got learinn’, sure. He told me about the books he had waded through, an’ ’vised me ter begin the same course. Made my blood run thin in my veins ter think of et. O use talkin’, if I expect ter be what he has been I hev got ter git up and hump, But, I’m goin’ in fer it, if it kills me, 1 bayve made up my mind ter be Billy Number Two!” By the time he came to the end of his mutter- Sessa ings he was at the door of tbe office, and open- ing it and finding Billy alone, he dropped his box on the floor on its side and promptly stood on it on his head, with arms and legs out- stretched. CHAPTER VII, BILLY OPENS THE BALL, BROADWAY BILLY had been pacing the floor, with his bands clasped bebind his back, and he mh +3 and looked at bis youthful ally with a smile. ‘“* Well, what seems to be the trouble, Harry?” he asked, when the boy had maintained his posi- tion for some seconds, ‘Something must have happened, either very good or very bad, to make you stand on your head,” Bringing down his bands and giving a nimble spring the lad was upon his feet at once, ‘*Christopher Columbia!” he cried. ‘I don’t know whetber I’m a bowlin’ Hottentot or a Hin- doo idol! If I ain’t either one, then I don’t know whether I’m a ghost,a goblin, or a de- funct mortal. The fact is, my head is so full of notions that I reckon it’ll bu’st.” ‘“What do you mean?’ Billy demanded, ** Were you listening at the dcor all the time that old gentleman was in here?” ‘*Nixey. Haven’t been near the door. Was down on the street all the time, 1 have been *tendin’ a spiritual see aunts, or somethin’ of that sort, whatever it is they callit, Oh! I tell you there is goin’ ter be a ghost-walk to-night, and you must be there to see the fun, Reckon l’jl take it in m’self, if I kin git in,” ‘* See bere, Harry, what are you talking about?” ** Ghosts, goblins, spooks, shadders, speerits of jus’ men made perfec’,” ‘Yes, but what do you mean by.itall? Out with it!” ‘That old man was here about ghosts, wasn’t he?” ‘What has that got to do with it, if you wasn’t listening?” “It’s got all ter do withit. If he was here about ghosts, then I'll bet a cent that I’ve got his chief spook right by the tail,” *“*'Well, yes, be was telling me about his spiritual dealings, but if you were not listening at the door how did you find out anything about it?” ‘* Let me give it to yeeasy; ye might not be able ter take it all at one dose. Ever bear of Gus Casmore?” ‘*{ believe I have; and if it’s the one I bring to mind, I have never heard any good of him, either,” ‘* ‘You remember Sharkey Dan?” “Yes,” ** Well, this Gus knows him,” ““Then it’s the same one, But, what about him?” ‘“And do you know a fairy named Rosa Du- barre?” ‘** No, I believe not.” ** Well, she and Gus are in the ghost business at present, and they are going to work old man Rundle fer all he is worth, and maybe more, too. Oh! I tell you they have got a beautiful lay-out,” | ‘““Look here, Harry, if you don’t get right down to facts and tell me the whole business at once, l’ll shake you in a way that will make it appropriate for you toresign your commission as mv assistant,” Under which threat Harry unbosomed him- self promptly enough, telling all he had heard and seen, ‘Sweet pertaters!” cried Billy—out aloud, too, when he had heardall. ‘* You were right in guessing there is a consarned diffikilty a-brew- ing. There is a big piece of rascality on foot here, and we have got to run it, like a rat, to its hole. You nave made a big stroke already, Harry, and I am proud of you. I believe you are going to prove yourself as good as I ever was at your age, if not better,” “Git out! You will make me blush, boss, if you keep on.” ‘‘Blush all you want to. But, Harry, it is: now in order for you and me to take this thing in hand.” | ““’m willin’, you bet! But, I don’t see what I am goin’ ter do ter help. Seems ter me I made: a mess Of it in not follerin’ all of ’em to see where they went toand what they did,” ‘Nothing of the sort. Your judgment was good. If you had followed tha fellow Casmore you would have missed the best yart of it, and wouldn’t bave done any good at all. We can pick up their {trails when we waut them, All we haue to do to find Rosa is to keep am + te ‘ eo i te a ae. at ALE oe la een