Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 793 — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

ee a ~ ‘ - —< - ~ 7 - aw 4 _ r rad ~ iS EAS _* =§- ae. ms ba P et ~*~" mat rie, > 7 - (Ss £45. 7 a my * ~~ ; on’ "3 * > * . > > > .— « a eae ad _ ane By 52 + i a} 2% ‘ies > =e "* me ie TH28 ~y a » 4 * H oe) @. * 7 oy, &4- 9 ) i i> * s t i ¥y yy ica ‘ nr 4! _. Waised to his aid. he? ans pid whom he had saved was ' i)” .. dather’s:atfms, «75; 2 : RIA, | “tu Le et but, he w et Ara — 4 . *% , ** Wire! fire! the hotel is on fire! selves who can!” Clarice awoke bewildered. She had not the power of motion, and, unmoving, heard the loud cries of terror and dismay. Fully dressed though she was she could make vs effort to save herself; she was dazed, power- ess, Suddenly the door was opened and a man ap- peared there. Behind him was a volume of smoke’ and crackling flames. ; But the man was calm, though he acted quickly. | It was not her father, as she had hoped and believed, {nstead, he was a tall, powerfully-built per- son, with asoft slouch hat shading his face, and a Ce that was firm and encouraging, as he said: “The hotel is on fire, Miss Carroll, and-all es- cape by the balls and stairway is cut off; but | can save you if you will blindly trust yourself to my care,” Something in his look and tone commanded obedience, and she responded: **T willdoso, What is to be done?” ‘* First;;have you any valuables you wish to save?” and still there was no flurry in voice or manner, **Oh! my jewels! * And my father has most valuable papers, too.” | ‘* Where are they?” Th that trunk,’ * Quick! give me the key.” He seized them from her grasp, opened the trunk, and commanded almost sternly: “Get them!” = |: She obeyed, getting a morocco case and leather wallet. He thrust them into a small sachel, slung it about his neck; and grasping a strong trunk- Strap, said: ‘ “You niust allow me tostrap you to my back, for we descend by the life-rope here, and there is no time to make two trips,” | | ~ He’ took the life-line, made it fast toa ring- bolt in the window- out, and, placing the leather strap about her waist, looped the ends and ‘passed his. arms through them, thus slinging her upon his back. Then he stepped up into the window and glanced coolly down upon the crowded street aud the upturned faces. The hotel was, wpon three sides, now, a mass of flames; but upon that side only, here Save your- there, was fire bursting from the windows, People in fright had leaped from the windows; others had been suffocated, while many, in their horror, had lain down to die. . Out of the window gazed the bold rescuer. very eye was upon him, and upon the young »an-now borne on bis back, with her arms Cius,_d firmly around his neck. | Then from below, rising above the hoarse voices of the firemen, came the cry: ‘*My child! my child! Save her for the love of God, save her!” “Father! father! I am safe,” went back the ery, even in that awful moment there being no despair in her tones, but perfect trust in her preserver. bay? A-wild cheer greeted her words, and all saw ‘the brave stranger kneel upon the window sill, ‘then htt ber clear of, it while he grasped the safety-line with one han | . ' Another moment and he had swung himself clear and was hanging seventy feet in mid-air above the pavement, | But all, while watching him in breathless si- dence, saw that he did not slip with his double weight, did not come down with a-rush; but calm- jy, hand under band, with astonishing strength, _» he began the perilous descent, He paused an instant, with his feet. upon the sill of the window below to rest, and then once more came on, just as flames burst out of the ‘room he had left. ; . Again he descended steadily and slowly, and once more paused to rest. 9 da ae - Upon the second floor he halted longer than ‘before, and there was a cry for ladders to be But, before help reached him, he had again th amid e descent, and, 4 minute later, amid the wildest cheers, reached the ground,a + Rh her Then Mr. Carroll turned to express bis grati- _ =» 'He had suddenly and: at once sli away in _ ‘the crowd and disappeared. . eer | , threw the other end - _know him Pose. - 1s ’ ’ e Mis nd Ae es ry, Vet D) 7 oe Ad ble ee ae * ; « \ : * — Soni te} I TER easiest OR ESE S Dick Doom in Chicago. 9 * - : é a =>: % =e . CHAPTER IV. THE UNKNOWN, To another hotel had Mr, Carroll and his daughter gone, after the escape from the one which had so nearly ended the life of Clarice, The little sachel, which the rescuer had brought down with him had, in the excitement of the moment, been forgotten, and thongh it contained the young girl’s jewelry and most im- portant papers, worth a small fortune to Mr, Carroll, its loss, if lost, was vot taken into con- sideration in the remarkable escape, Entertained by -his friend at the club, Mr, Carroll had remained until a late hour and only when near the hotel had discovered with horror ha it was his own stopping-place that was on re, He felt sure that Clarice had retired, and as he saw white-robed forms of men, women and children leaping from a death by fire to perish by a fall, he wa» almost paralyze! with grief and terror, How could his daughter, up on the fourth floor escape death? ‘Then arose a cry and the words: ‘That is a brave Man 4ndeed!”’ “Cool as an icicle!” 4 Anil he is bringing a woman down with him, O. A cheer arose at this, and Mr,.Carroll beheld the stranger with his daugbter in his arms, He recognized his room as being in the center of the building, and he knew the dress worn by his daughter. The agony of the father can be, imagined as he watched the downward course of the brave ainenges for he bad called out a moment. be- ore: “* A hundred thousand dollars to the man who will save my child.” Then the crowd had kept him from rusbing into the burning building. Ten minutes after he had clasped his daughter in bis arms, and then, when he turned to find the stranger he was gone, ‘4 ** Who is he?” . No one knew him, “* Can no one tell me his name?” Not a man answered, ‘* I will tind bim,” he said, as he made his way through the crowd, | ‘‘ He slipped away, sir, as though he did not wish to be known,” said a man near. ‘tHe was a tall, splendid-lookiog fellow, with long blonde hair and whiskers, while he wore a_ slouch hat. ** He looked like a Southerner, or a frontiers- man,” another said, ‘Father, I will know him if ever I see him again,” whispered Clarice, So to another hotel they went, and as their bagg d been lost, Mr, Carroll decided to. take the train the next morning for their home in Chicago, | But be inserted in each of the city papers,the following notice on the editorial page where it could not fail to reach the eye of a reader: “Will the brave stranger, who rescue’ a yo r a . rroll, Park, Chicago, I.) ene’ WANES “You are sure you got the papers in the leather wallet from the trunk, Clarice?’ asked Mr, Carroll the next day as the two sat together in the palace car on their way home. . . ‘* Yes, sir, I got. that, and my jewels, for the stranger said to me that if I had anything of value to get it then, and I did so.” ‘There was a roll of money, some three thou- sand dollars, which 1 forget whether I slipped under the rubber of the leather case, or just threw into.the trunk.”. . ‘*] think, sir, that the money was there, but in the excitement of the moment I really for- et. . ** Indeed, I do remember agerag the-money, but forget now just where, and if I put it in the sachel or not,” : “Well, it is of small matter, my child, and though the papers are of great value, Jet them I will get you jewelry even of nore value than you had before, so glad am I that you escaped without ascar.” — “You are very kind, father; but I think the gentleman swung the sachel about his neck, and of course will hunt you up and return ‘*Of course; but do you think you would again?” =. ci + ‘‘Anywhere, father, for the impression of his face is ny ie ’ yt _“T should think so under the circumstances, “It is not altogether that, father, but the A ) : » vie ’ de Pdi ce aie. 4 a> 4 | ee : ber af Per * rt . ' oo 23 ‘ ava + "\ Te "ty 24 “7 ‘ . uy " f -. a on te ‘wl st ee oe ae ee ety ar ee ~~» *@, : = e : at breakfast together a messenger ed. a x. - ~ fact that I believed there was ouly’one such face in the world, ‘* Do you remember the prisoner who sprung overboard from tne New Orleans steamer?” ‘Yes, he was under sentence of death and on his way to New Orleans to be hanged, when he took bis own life.” ‘* Yes, sir.” ‘*T saw him but once, [ believe,” ‘*T saw hima number of times, father, and when that unkpown man burst into my room at the hotel I could have lelieved that it was the prisoner, ouly this stranger had a blonde bair and beard, and the face of that prisoner was clean shav’n. ‘Tt was a startling resemblance to me, papa, though perhaps others might not have noticed it ag lL did,” ‘Well, he is unfortunate in resembling such a criminal as that man was, ‘But what splendid notices the papers gave your ulxnown preserver, and not a trace of who he is could they find, while the clerk of the hotel toll me that be could remember such a person who had arrived the day before, But could not recall his name, **But here we are in Chicago, home again once more, my child, and oh! what would my home bave been without you,” and the yoice of Mr, Carroil quivered with the emotiom that swept over him as he recalled the narrow escape from death of his daughter through the courage of one Wholly unknown to them. CHAPTER V., THE RETURN OF THE SACHEL, ~~ THE home of Mr. Carroll was one of the handsomest in the pretty annex to Chicago of Hyde Park. A. It occupied a commanding position upon the lake-shore and a fine avenue, the grounds took in something over a square and were ornamented with beautiful trees arbors and evergreens. The mansion was of stone, commodious and comfortable, and furnished with elegance and refinement which showed a cultivated.taste, Several years had Carroll spent abroad tray- eling with his daughter, under the care of. a inost competent governess, and she bad received every advantage which money could buy. The library was most expensive, the dining- room large and the service rich and costly, while the parlors ran the whole length of the mansion. t The bed-chambers were charmingly furnishea and situated, and Clarice had devoted her time and taste to making a perfect home, luxurious in the extreme. | No better servants were to be found, the stables were filled with fine horses and vehicles, for Clarice had her own team of phaeton ponies and riding borse, in addition to the carriage pair and her father’s especial driver and saddle animal. There was a conservatory filled with the choicest plants and flowers, a billiard room, bowling alley, shooting gallery, tennis and croquet-grounds, and in fact all to make life enjoyalle within doors and out, for there wasa music room, art gallery and what Clarice called her ‘‘ museum,” a room devoted to souvenirs of travel sbe had picked up here and there. With a millionaire for her father, and an only child, Clarice had a very large income at her command, and yet did not abuse it in the least, | She had hosts of friends, yet never had been looked upon as being in love with any one of the handsome and eligible beaux who visited her, though there were scores of them only too anxious to win the beauty and the heiress. _ And back to this home went Clarice after her winter’s ramblings with her father in the South, the home which she had 80 nearly missed ever returning to, The papers had made known her narrow escape from death, and lauded to the skies ber brave unknown preserver, so modest with bis courage that.he hid from the expression of ‘gratitude that would have been showered upon him. , The maiden found herself quite a heroine, aud also discovered that the unknown rescuer wasahero, vr | Her lady friends ‘hoped, that the stranger might be, found, as t ey had a curiosity to see him, while admirers of Clarice trusted that the unknown hero might never turn up, as he was — certain to prove a very dangerous rival to them... wks i ecmtae? wre! , ie ' . Such was the situation one week after the re- turn of ber father and herve to their home. One morning as Mr. | - . . ? 7 - a ee ee ee er ne - —_ ; rs . 4 Ms - ‘ f ° =. 7 > ‘ > - — 4 . f ‘ a a +a Am S f a. % Co re 7 = - 4 ‘¢ Meg “"* —_ a5 >’ ee