Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 800 — page 15: what you’re looking at

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still with no success, and the recoil sent some of them to the floor. By this time the air bad become almost-ex- bausted, and the smoke was stifling, It was plain they could not stand it much longer, Suddenly a thought came to Broadway Billy, and he condemned himself severely for not Lav- ing thought of the scheme before. ‘Hers, lend me a hand,” he cried, springing to where the forge and bellows stood, ‘* We'll see if we can’t blow some of that smoke the other way. Here, too, isa vent to open!” e opened the vent through which the forge smoke had been allowed to escape, and the bel- flows was speedily placed facing the place where the smoke was coming in, together with the hot flames, and two of the policemen set at work blowing with a will, This bettered their condition in a few min- utes, In the mean time Harry and Seth had not been idle, but had been making a most thorough ex- ploration of the den, in the hope of finding something that would help them in their desper- ate efforts to escape, ‘ Presently they came upon a small iron box in an out-of-the-way corner, It had a lock to it, bu& the lock was open, and removing it and raising the lid they wondered what their find was, There a full dozen or more of objects that look- ed not unlike buge candles, except that they were black, Then, too, long strings on them gave them more the appearance of firecrackers. ‘What are they, Seth?” asked Harry, eager- ly. ‘“* Give itup, Harry,” wasthe response. ‘* We'll show them to the boss,” Taking the box up, they carried it out into the other room, where Billy was, and there showed their find, “Tt looks like powder,” Billy said immedi- ‘* And dhat same it is!” cried one of the police- men. ‘Sure, many a wan av dhem Oi foired on dhe Boolevard, before Oi got on dhe force, We'll be out now, me lads, and don’t ye forget it!” CHAPTER XVIII, ESCAPE AND CONCLUSION, NEw hope was now in every breast, and their faces bad taken on brighter looks than they had bad for some minutes, The policeman who declared himself to be an expert with the omen was given charge of the explosives, and Billy told him to'go ahead and blow one or both of the shutters down, ‘*Oi will dhat same,” was the assurance. ** Vi an av dhe pieces will be enough to do dhe business,” | “Which one should he try?” asked Wood- mane: ‘* The one where the fire is, by all means,” said Billy. *‘We may get a shot at the infernal scamps,” ‘ ‘* Best; that is what I was going to suggest, Go abead, Gallagher, and show us what you can “Yes, let ’er go, Gallagher!” cried Happy Harry. ‘‘Andif you blow them all upat the same time it won’t matter a bit,” * Oi omy hope Oi can do it,” All this bad spoken in low tone, for it was thought best not to let on to their enemies the find they had made. The policeman got down and crawled to the door, and placing one of the powder-bolts in sition, he lighted the fuseand hurried away, skhy- ing to the others: ** Into dhe other room wid yez, now, loively!” He had picked up the powder,box, closed the lid, and with a couple of lengthy strides had cleared the space and was out of danger. The rest were right with bim, and all crouched in the furthest corner of the inner room while they waited for the blast to gooff and tear a passage for them out of their novel prison, The seconds seemed minutes while they waited, but they were not kept a great while in suspense, There came simultaneously a cannon-like re port, a shock that 7 them back against the wall with no gentle force, anda tearing and crunching as though the very rocks were being torn asunder, ** It’s all over!” ! mien ss a! Si edie airy who had ee the ing, ) u ng-song way of a gang- boss on the public works. ae wien in hand all He led the way, and with wea he other room, n the dark, now, followed him to t for the lights had been extinguished by the con- cussion. Bits of fire lay scattered all around, where the Broadway Billy Baffled. SN iron shutter had been, and by the dim light they made the effect of the blast could be partly seen, The sbutter had been torn loose from one side, and was bent backward, leaving the passage open. Ma Bully for Gallagher!” cried Happy Harry. ‘‘Dhe same furall av us!’ cried the happy policeman, ‘* Dhat was phwat did dhe business fur dhem, me b’y,” 15 case had been made complete against them, and there was nothing to save them from their merited fate, These counterfeiters bad operate) in New York for mavy years, They had confined their product to a certain quantity, steadily, in order not to create suspicion against themselves, and were rapidly amassing fortunes, For their perfect security they bad bought ‘ Let's after them,” urged Broadway Billy. | bouses in a respectable quarter of the town, and ‘¢ We may nab tuem before they make their es- cape.” ‘** Better go slow, boss,” suggested Silent Seth, ‘* They may give us a dose of the same medicine if we don’t look out,” ‘* We'll take thechances, Not likely they had any explosives except these in the iron box, Come on, Woodmansy; come on, all of you,” The smoke was now so thick that nothing could be seen more than a footahead in the dark passage, even with the light from the scattered coals, and as soon as they had been passed every- thing was absolute blackness, Broadway Billy led the way bravely, the others close upon his heels, all eeteatt kes as rapidly as possible, and in due time they came to the house by which Woodmansy, Silent Seth, and those with them, had gained entrance to the underground den, where they found a door barred against them, ‘They have reached here first and escaped,” Billy cried, in disappointment, “ Begorra, dhey left before dhe explosion,” declared Officer Gallagher, ‘If dhey hadn’t, we would have founddhem on dbeir backs in dhe tunnel.” ‘* I guess you are right, and there is nothing to be done but to go back, now, and let you blow open the other door, They no doubt think they have left us there in the death-trap to die,” ‘‘Dhe which same dhey haven’t dhough, be- ob,” . They retraced, their way to the den, where a light was made, and acharge of powder was put under the other door, or shutter, This, like the first, was blown aside sufficient- ly to admit their passage out, and so, thanks to the powder and the boys who had found it, their They had been in a tight place, ‘‘That’s the stuff!” cried Happy Harry, filled with delight. ‘* That is what they didn’t have down on their programme!” ‘* And you two boys are something else they did not figure on as largely as they should have done, either,” commented Detective Jones. “Sh! don’t talk that way before Seth,” Harry cautioned, aloud, ** You don’t know bow modest he is. He don’t say much, but he hears a good deal, and when you talk about him it makes him blush all over,” ‘Which Harry never does,” spoke Seth,’ briefly. ‘His face is never still long enough,” The others laughed, and that was the end of their jesting, for Billy called them to business preparatory to leaving the place that had come so near to being their tomb, Some of the detectives, well-armed, were left in charge of the dep, while Billy, the boys, and the others, went to ‘Headquarters to tell their story. The disclosure of the counterfeiters’ den made & great sensation, and steps were taken at once for the apprehension of all concerned in it, With the help of Seth, who bad seen most of the rascals, the arrests were speedily made, and the entire gang imprisoned, A good deal of the bogus stuff was found in the place, and so well was the counterfeit ex- ecuted that it was bard to estimate how much - the product of the den might be in circula- on, sch search, too, discovered the Steel and, It was a huge gauntlet of steel, into which a man could put Fis hand, and by simply closing the hand the gauntlet closed with a force that reas be made to crush a block of wood to splin- rs, , Attached to the mcrae was a great cloak of black, covered with some greasy substance which was the source of the light that bad sur- rounded the hand when it had been seen, By rubbing theclouk with the hends, the incandes- cence could be made to appear, I ance was occasioned by the mere Opening of a bottle of some volatile substance in the posses- sion of the wearer. The examination of Clementine Rudolff was set for that day, bot it did not come off, She was released, and the other prisoners were held to answer for the crime that had been Jaid to her charge. When the work of the detectives was done the escape was made sure, | ts. disappear- | made their den as it has been disclosed to inspec- tion. Later they sold one of these houses to Mr, Rudolff, one being enough to answer their pur- pose, or ratber two, for the ove adjoining the Rudolff residence was in their bands, Mrs. Beauforte, the bousekeeper at the Ru- dolff residence, was one of the band, and her daughter was the ** queen” of the gang. She it was who passed most of the ‘* goods” into the channels of trade. Barring Delawater was the capntain of tha band, and Roselle was his “ife, so called, Later, be fell in tove with Miss Rudolff, and Roselle showed jealousy, at first, bute when she found his suit was spurned, she was delighted, From that time Delawater hated ber, and cast her off. She made friends then with Perry- more, the second in command, In her spying upon Miss Rudolff, she came to learn of Courtney Clelland, and fell in love with bim at sight, She tried every way to win him, keeping her true character in the background, but ber efforts were useless, That being so, she resolved to make a bold stroke. She killed Del- awater, baving arranged everything to lay the crime upon Miss Rudolff, and Perrymore helped ber, for be thought could they get a hold upon the young banker they could push their counter- feit product the faster upon the market, and soon reach the amount of fortune they aimed at, Basides, by Delawater’s death be would come in- to the first place, which he bad so long coveted, So, the crime was done, as it bas been set forth, But, as is usually the case, they overreached themselves, and in the end came their merited disaster. Needless to say, Miss Rudolff was cleared and fully exonerated, while the guilty wretches were punished as their crimes deserved, The den was cleaned out, and it was blown uP with explosives and filled in with earth, all traces of it being removed and the houses re- stored to their former order. Courtney Clelland and Clementine Rudolff were married, but they did not go to reside in the Rudolff residence, That bad too many un- jeasant memories; and besides, the young ban- fer bad a new and finer residence already pre- pared for his admirable bride, in which they are duly bappy, as they deserved to be, The press and the police made much of Broad- way Billy and his tandems, but they did them no more honor than was justly earned, Billy’s ban- ner bad been lifted even higher than before, and around it bis devoted allies railied for further conquests in their chosen field, Seth bad not much to say, but his determined face was index enough to his intentions, Harry was outspoken, of course, ** Here we are,” he declared, boldly; “riper than ever for any diffikilty! ell tackle any- thing, from a ghost to the mafias, Christopher Columbia! but we did make things hum that time, though! And we'll do it again, too— crackers an’ cheese, yes! The jeebeeb bath spoken, Selah!” THE END. Beadle’s Half-Dime Library. BY COL. A. F. NOLT. 899 Black Ruekakin; or, The Masked Men of Desth Canyon, 419 Kenneth, the Knife-King. 485 Littie Lightfoot, the Pilot of the Woods, Bzv8 The Dandy Sports or, The King Pin Consptrator, 678 Headlight Harry's Hazard; or, The Lightning Express Detective. 691 Headlight Harry's Haul, 727 Headlight Marry i Siren. 759 Headlight Marry’s Heritage. BY GEORGE O, JENKS, 4855 Git Thar Owney the Unknown, 492 Git Thar Owney’s Pledge. 518 The Demon Doctor, 581 Double-Curve Dan, the Pitcher Detective. BS Flute, the Singer Detective, 608 The Pitcher Detective’s Fotl; or, Dan’s Double Play, 616 The Ocean Detectives or, The Last Cruise of the Black Bear, 681 The Pitcher Detective’s Toughest Tussle, 86 Larry the Thoroughbred; or, Beaten on Every Side 79 Iron Hand, the Charmed Detective, A New issue Every Tuceday. The Half-Dime Library is for sale by a11 newsdealers, five . eonte por copy, or sent by mall om receipt of six cents each. BEADLE AND ADAMB, Publishers, 98 William Street, New York, | ofele) GCOMIc cS