Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 775 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

Broadway Billy’s Shadow Chase. So exclaimed Broadway Billy’s second, as he made his way in the direction of the address with which Billy had provided him. ‘* Seems ter me the moon must have dropped out of the sky,” he mused, ‘‘and crowned me with a sort of golden hello, asit were, Can’t get jit into my noodle yet that [ ain’t dream- jn’,’ He was moving along with his box on his shoulder and his bands deep 1n his pockets, ap- arently as free and easy and as happy as though > owned the whole city. He was seldom seen auy other way than bappy, as far as appear- ances went, and hence his cognomen, ‘Wonder what Broadway Billy expects me ter do whan I get there, anyhow? Does he ex- pect me ter wade in and lick Jonas ’cause he won’t be a spirit list? Or does he want me ter clap bim on the back and holler ‘Good boy, Joney!’ But, what was it he told me ter do? I’m ter go and see this Jonas and size bim up. Now, that’s a nice job fer a greeny ter try!” Nevertheless, he went straight abead and never stopped till he came to the place of his destination. It was a quiet house in a quiet quarter, a two- story brick, and the street was oneof those on the west side, which at night are filled with trucks, Happy Harry took a good survey of the house from the opposite side of the street before cross- ing over for nearer acquaintance, and decided that it was a poor but respectable habitation, He made up his mind that it was occupied by two families, There was evidence of this which his trained eye read easily enough, and the strongest was that the heads of two sets of children were to be seen at the windows of both floors, When he had satisfied himself with his out- ward inspection he crossed over, mounted the three or four steps, and rung the bell. The door was opened by a not-over-tidy girl of fourteen or so. ‘* Hello!” exclaimed Harry, as though he had known ber all bis life, ‘*‘ Does Mr, Jonas Run- dle live here?” ‘* Yes, he does,” the girl snapped. ‘* Well, ye needn’t take my head off, if he does,” protested the boy, smiling. The girl smiled too, and looked at Harry’s well-washed face with something of interest, A bootblack with a face so clean was an un- usual sight, in Gotham, and she was inclined to improve the opportunity. Besides, Harry was good-looking. ‘‘ But, he ain’t in,” the girl informed, ** He’s your dad, I take it?” ‘* Yes—my dad!” laughing, **' What does he do?” ** Trucks.” ‘* Aad wili he be in at noon?” ‘* Yes; he is ’most allus home to dinner.” ‘Then if you'll be perlite and ask me in I guess Ill wait till he comes,” Just then a shrill voice from the rear called ut: ‘* You tell him we don’t want nothin’, M’riar Ann, and come in bere aad shut that door!” “That yer mar?” asked Harry. ‘¢ Yes, that’s mar!” ** Well, tell ber I ain’t got nottin’ ter sell, but that I want ter. see yer dad apd must come in and wait.” “You M’riar Ann! Do you hear me ?” ‘Yes, mar; but, it ain’t no peddler; it’s a boy what wants ter wait and see par when he comes in,” In an instant a woman appeared in the hall from a rear door, with a baby in her arms and another very small child clinging to her dress, while her absence from the room caused a third child to set up a terrific squalling, . ** You want ter see Jonas?” she demanded. ‘* Yes, ma’m, if ye please,” answered Harry, respectfully. ‘* What ye want ter see him fer?” ‘‘On business, mam,” * Well, I s’pose ye will have to-come in and wait. Come right in here, boy, and excuse ap- pearances.” Harry advanced down the hall, while the girl M’riar Aun closed the door, and in a second she followed him, and they entered the rear room. Of all dirty boles Harry had ever seen in his life, this took the lead, he thought, There were no less than seven children present, of all sizes, three of which clung to the mother. The floor, partly covered with what had once been a carpet, was as dirty as though it had not seen a broom in a month; the windows were too dirty to give a true view of the outside, and other things were in perfect keeping. lt was a a terrible looking hole, Harry dropped his box to the floor and sat down upon it. ‘** Quite a fambly of ye,” he observed, coolly, ‘You'd think so, if you was in my shoes,” complained the mother of the brood, ‘*Reckon I should. Reckon it won’t come amiss when yer husband’s daddy dies and leaves ye his sugar.” The woman opened her eyes wicle, ‘* You mean that stingy and spooky old Mat- thias Rundle?” she demanded, ‘* The same,” assured Harry. ‘‘ Never a cent of his money will we get. He bas told Jonas so to his face.” ** How’s that?” ‘Cause Jonas won't be a fool and be a spiritualist along with the rest of the cranks, that’s all.” ‘* That ain’t much of a reason.” ** Just what I tell Jonas; but, that’s the way it stands,” ‘* How is the old man goin’ to help himself, if Mr. Rundle is bis son?” ‘* Why, he has already willed it to some spirit society or other, to p’mote the advancement of spirits, or somethin’ like that,” ‘* A nice old man he is, then, ain’t he; and he only got a day or two more ter live,” ‘“What! What’s that ye say?” ** He’s goin’ ter die,” “Ts he sick?” ‘* Not as sick as he will be, ’m thinkin’,” ‘*T don’t know what you mean,” ‘‘ Well, the spirits have sent him a message that he’s got ter shuffle off the mortal twist, and I suppose they’d orter know.” ‘* How came you to know this? Do you know Matthais Rundle?” ‘You bet I know him! Nice old man he’d be, if he wasn’t so batty on spooks, Thinks be’s full of ’em, when it’s only rats in his brain,” ‘‘ What a boy you are! Who are you, and whbat has brought you bere?” ‘* Well, it don’t matter who I am; I’m only a kid of the gutter. What I'm here fer is ter tell Mr, Rundle his dad is likely ter kick ther bucket, if spirits know all about it, and he’d better be lookin’ out fer bis interests.” ‘* It won’t be any use, for Jonas won’t bother him,” ‘‘That will be his lookout, not mine, My dooty will be done and my spirit will rest easy. And so Harry talked and talked, in a seeming- ly aimless manner, letting his tongue run away with him, as it appeared to be doing. The hour passed quickly and it was soon time for Jonas Rundle to appear, Harry had picked op considerable information in a general way. He had learned that Jonas was the only near heir to the old man’s money; that the old man was wortl a good deal; that it was willed to some society; that Jonas and the old man had had words; and so forth, Finally there came the thunder of heavy steps along the ball, and a man flung open the door of the miserable room, Previous to this there had beera move toward getting dinner, in which the girl M’riar Ann had taken the leading role and done the biggest part of the work Inqnisitor Harry had by this time reached the conclusion that in spite of all the drawbacks the children might be to her, Mrs. Rundle was chronically lazy. He had seen mothers with big families before, but never a den like this, When the door opened the woman’s face lengthened out into a melancholy droop of dis- tress, a heavy sigh escaped her, and whats she had been all smiles before at some of the boy’s jokings, she was now more like 4 mourner at a funeral, The child in her arms and the two clinging to ber skirts added weight to her ap- parent distress. The man who Yay the door was a big, bearded, hearty-looking pers-m, who had the ap- pearance of being a capital fellow under right conditions, ** Hullo!” he greeted, The woman responded with @ groan, the older children by clinging around his legs, except M'riar Ann and the next oldest, who looked on. The ligbt went out of his face as he looked at his wife and her clinging three, and took in at the same time the wretched condition of their surroundings, ‘¢ Such a life as mine is!” moaned the woman. ‘“‘T wish I was dead and out of my misery, Jonas Rundle.” The man had just then taken in the fact that a stranger was present, ** Hello!” be cried again, ** who is this?” “This is me,” answe Harry, getting up re flinging his box to his shoulder at the same me, ad ‘ 4 € - : hat "& bd a a e 4 4 * : ee . se nF’ "en Bs : a \ ) ee - 2 » — ee ‘“Anid who the deuce is me? Speak up, youngster, and say what ye want here. Ye must be here on busmess, and nothin’ of plea- sure, [’ll bs bound,” ‘“T'll be bound if you ain’t right,” admitted Harry, ‘‘ There’s a dry outlock for pleasure around here. Still, your comin’ seemed ter apock what little there was ail inter a cocked at. ** What do ye mean?” ‘* Why, yer wite here; she was grinnin’ like she was at a circus till vou opened the door, and then if she didn’t draw ber mouth down t’other way and make a sollum enough face fer a grave- yard visit. ‘Scuse me fer mentionin’ it.” Harry understood well enough what the situa- tion was, and mentioned it on purpose, The woman looked daggers at him, while the man broke into a merry laugh that showed how little he was offended. ‘*T allus thought there was two sides to her,” he declared, ‘“*I can’t never find that circus face on her any more myself, But, whatdo you want here, boy?” ‘*That brings me back to business, You are fl a De Matthias Rundle, so your wife tells me.” ‘6 Yog.? ‘* Well, the o'd gentleman is booked ter die, so the spirits tell, and I thought l’d drop around and let ye know so’s you could look out fer your interests,” Jonas Rundle was interested at once, and drop- ping on a chair, engaged Harry in talk regard- less of the fact that his miserable dinner was all the time growing cold, and he did not let the boy depart till he had got out of him all he was able and willing to tell regarding the business that bed brought bim there, CHAPTER X., BILLY SURPRISES RUNDLE. HARRY was the first toreach home, after his interview with Jonas Rundle, and he boldly touched the button to ring the bell communicat- ing witb Mrs, Weston’s rcoms, The door opened to him, and he went in and proceeded to the floor designated in the index, where he knocked, 7 Come in!” Mrs, Weston called out cheer- fully. The boy entered boldly, doffing his hat as he stepped in, , * Goodness bless me!” cried Mrs, Weston, clasping ber hands and staring at the boy. The old ranger, Roger Watts, who was seated near a Window, taking things easy with paper and pipe, looked on with considerable interest. But Mrs. Weston’s emotion was more than in- terest, ‘**Goodness bless me!” she exclaimed again. ** Who are you, boy? If you ain’t the picture of what my Billy was!” ‘Then you are Mrs. Weston?’ Harry ob- served, ‘Yes, and you must be the boy my son told me about,” **Reckon I am, I’m Happy Harry, partner- in-chief with Broadway Billy.” “Then you are the boy. How do you do, Harry? 1 suppose Billy sent you here to be one of us,” and before Harry could divine what was coming, Mrs, Weston had put her motherly arms around him and given him a bearty kiss. ** Crackers an’ cheese!” cried the lad, spring: ing backin alarm, ‘‘ What ye doin’, ma’am?” ‘What am I doing?’ laughing. ‘“* Why, I had to kiss ye, because you look so much like Billy used to look, Besides, you must get used to that, if you are going to be my boy.” * Well, I suppose it’s all right, but, it’s some- thin’ new in my ’sperience. 1 have got more clubbin’s than kissin’s in my Urief career so far, Don’t be fended, Mrs, Weston; it’s somethin’ I ain’t used to, ye know, and I didn’t know but ye was goin’ ter bite me.” Mrs. Weston and the old ranger laughed heartily, and Roger declared; ‘* Ef he ain’t a second Billy, then I’m no jedge, | Jest ther same kind of a boy, fer all ther world.” ‘*The boss said he wanted we ter be Billy Number Two,” announced Harry, “‘an’ I may as well begin right off at onze, I s’pose. Well, am I ter cast anker bere, ma’m?”’ ‘ Why, certainly; this is to be your home just as long as Billy wants you to stay bere, Harry. I hope you will like it, and will make yourself right at home and be just like one of us, ‘* All right; here goes, then!” and the gamin dropped his box on the floor and sat down un it evidently thinking he was eutering into the full enjoyment of home life. ‘But, you can sit on a chair, I guess,” urged Mrs. Weston. ‘‘Here, give me your hat, and put your box there in the bottom of that closet i 5 ; pe eo ee AOL TN. ite ae ny ; 4 - t ~ comicbe — ae. Ss aan: of} L _ set wee _ ee ewe et , y x 7 k ‘ uit AA av wy! ‘ ved ~ — nee pill x } = - nad ©