Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 821 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

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WE have not space to spare to give in de- tail their further conversation upon the matter, The case was, as briefly as possible, that the safe in the broker’s office had been robbed of six thousand dollars, and there was no clue to the thief, The door of the office and the safe door had been found unlocked, on the same morn- ing on which the colored janitor had been found dead in the lower hall, and the money gone. Who was the robber? — No clerks were employed in the office, the two brokers doing their own business, They were single men, roomed together, and it was not possible that one had rébbed ihe other, And there was no clue to who oe pk the janitor, if he had been killed at ail. | The police had called his death accidental, and so the coroner had pronounced it. The jury agreed that he must have fallen from the top of the stairs with a hod of ashes— ashes being all over the stairs from top to bot- tom—and so broken his neck. It could hard- ly have been called anything else, but Mr. ubert was inclined to connect the two cases in one. Billy gained all the information he could, and took his leave. He had spent an hour or more in the office, and the conversation had been at greatlength, ~ In going, he said he would take the matter in hand, but secretly, working in disguise, and if nothing was seen or heard of him and his helpers for some days, nothing must be thought of that. | Would he remain in Hartford, then? ' Well, it would not look reasonable that he could work upon the case anywhere else. Upon leaving ,the office Billy and boys went to a hotel of modest pretensions, where Billy registered for all under false names. ; : Soon after taking. their room, Billy went alone and in disguise to Police Head- quarters, where he made himself known and where he was closeted with the chief for a considerable time. ae | When he returned to the hotel he found Happy Harry lying at length on two chairs, with a wet towel on his head and fanning -himself with a feather. « . * Hello?” he exclaimed. ‘‘ What’s the . ~~ matter, Harry?” ‘ Fever,” Harry gasped. ‘‘ Detective fe- So i? SHE : ‘The fever of curiosity, rather, I im- agine,” Billy rejoined, laughing. ‘It’s all the same,” avowed the smiling and _ mischievous Harry,-sitting up and quitting his nonsense. ‘‘ It was curiosity that made a detective of you.” . Well, I guess you are right; and, I Broadway Billy's Bluff. I pol know what this fever is of which you com. | ‘‘ Yes, the janitor’s death, but not the rob: } plain, bery, we thought it best to keep that a secret | ‘hs I rave had it many .a time my self. just now?” cenenttnt Ae t “ And wecan doit, you bet!" Harry cried. ‘ You must take care what you do,” Billy ut, where does it trouble you most said further, ‘and I have made it all :ight with the chief of police so that you can go Lo ‘“ Why, we’re dyin’, Scth and me, to know ; him if you need help or protection,” ? what you have found out.” “Sit down, then, Seth, if that’s the case, and I'll tell you beth what has taken place.” ‘Seth, who never shows what he feels and never feels what he shows,” Harry com- mented. ‘* The sealed sphinx, the tongue- less mummy, the—” ‘“The chatterbox and rattlebrain of the combination,’’ Seth finished. ‘** Hello! it spoke!’ exclaimed Harry. ‘*Come, now, drop your nonsense, if you want to hear what I have to say,” the chief commanded. ‘‘Wemust be up and doing, you know,” Seth had taken a seat, and Harry held his peace. © “You boys were right in your estimate of that man and his message,” Billy began. ‘“We have been drawn here on a fool's er- rand, but weare not the fools. as it happens.” | But, now to the point: ‘“That’s good, anyhow.” ‘* But we are going to fool somebody else, if nothing breaks about the harness before we get through with the case. There is something rotten in the State of Denmark— or rather in New Jersey—and it’s so terribly rotten that the scent of it is noted away over here in Conn,” ‘‘ What does it smell like?’ asked Harry. ‘* Jail-birds, of some stripe or other, with a ghost to flavor the aroma.” ‘* But what is it here? You are not help- ing my fever the least bit, and the first you know—”’ ‘* It’s impossible to help you, if you don't keep still long enough to take the medicine, Take example from Seth, now—’ ‘* And shut myself up in my shell like—”’ ‘* Look out,” Seth warned, ‘* Now, listen,” and Billy spoke seriously. ‘Tt was true that the janitor of that building was found dead one morning, but he was an old man, and it was as clear as anything that he simply fell and broke his neck. ‘That is all there is to that part of the mystery.” ‘* And the robbery?” “T do not believe there was any robbery, and the chief of police agrees with me: If there had been, it would have come cut at with could not have kept it quiet. And there would have been no reason for his doing so. It’s simply a lie, first to last.” “What was the object in it?” questioned Seth. ‘To bring us here and lead us to fool away time, I think. son,” | ‘*And the whole thing connects with that missing man at Granton, do you think?” ‘ Yes, so I think.” ‘Then may he not be_here in Hartford?” questioned Harry. ‘Tt is possible that he is, and Iam going to leave you boys here to carry on this part of the scheme.” : i ‘‘ Ha! now I feel better!’ confessed Harry. ‘The fever breaks with the prospect of busi- ness ahead, and if we don't make things jin. gle, Seth and me, it will be because the je- beeb is not jeebing any more!” ‘You want us to pretend to carry on the case here?” asked Seth. -‘**No pretending about it;. I want you to carry it out to the letter,” Billy assured. ~“‘And what if they demand to know where you are?” asked Harry. “Tell them the truth, that I am working under cover, but will come out on top afl in good time.” | “ But,” argued ®eth, “if there has been no robbery, they will want to know what progress you are making, in order to know just how badly they are blinding you.” : . = I leave it to you and Harry to stuff them u * \ e. y S : I can see no other good rea- ’ =" 5 2 ~ ’ ¢ once, for such.a man as this one we talked | | | pops up “Tl tell’ ye what has been bobbing in my thinker,” offered Harry. ‘* Well, what is that?’ ‘It isn’t often I think, for I’m all the while talking and don't have time. but this is one thing I have thunk That maybe we have been called here for the purpose of being trapped.” - ‘They haven't done it yet, if so.” ‘‘Tf we could only know what the combina. tion is,”’ said Silent Seth. ** whether it is big or little, great or small, then we could tell something more about it, as it is, we are in the dark.” ‘*But, we won't be there long,’ encouraged Billy. ‘*Unless they put out our lights and leave us in the dark altogether,” chipped in Harry. ‘“We must take care they dont do that, You boys are to best efforts here, and learn all about this man Rubert and his business. And, when his partner returns, if he does, shadow him, too.’ ‘* You bet!” ‘And report to me by letter daily to the office— Ha! here is another thought that I shall need one of you at the office, so that I can have one at my imme diate call. Which shall it be?” ‘You have got me all cocked and primed for staying here,” declared Harry. ‘‘Then you shall stay, and Seth can re- turn.” It was all the same to Seth, so far as anything of his thoughts could be told by his countenance. ‘*So it must be,” Billy decided. ‘' That will balance us nicely for the beginning, and we'll be able to keep our grip upon an thing that comes up—” ! ‘Will you let me say something?’ asked Seth. : | ‘‘Hello!” cried Harry. ‘* Look out for gomethin’ brainy now, boss, He never speaks unless he has got somethin’ to say.” ‘ What is it?’ Billy inquired, “If I go back to the office, somebody on the watch there might report it to the crooks, and the fat would be in the fire,” ‘You can assume a disguise.” : “And that wont be comfortable to wear all the time, either. I was going to say, let Fatty Skinny take the office—”’ « Just the thought!” admitted Billy. ‘‘ That is What I'll do. I do not possess all the brain of the combination, by any means, boys. You—” | ‘ Seth has got a double share,” said Harry; ‘his own and mine.” ‘*Then you have been robbing somebody else,’’ Seth retorted. That plan was finally agreed upon, and arrangements were laid in full, as far as was possible at that time. Billy remained with his boys as long as he use your could, and when he took his leave it was to -. go out in a disguise that no one could possi- bly suspect, when he went to the depot and returned to New York. if are As on the previous night, Billy got only a few hours’ rest, for it was very late when he reached home, but he was astir at his usual hour. < Giving his mother and step-father the par: ticulars of the case in hand while at break-— fast, he set out to find Fatty-Skinny. He was at his store, and was the same Skinny of old, in spirit, though there was — more of him in bulk. : Billy explained what was wanted,. an giving bim the key of Brisbane. ~~ . Now the battle i a i — »? 7 . - a gist etek of the office, went on to a aes | | would begin in carnest, . ha he oy my i i>. ts eee Pe ee - 3 hae ‘ “ ee and it remained to be shown which side would win. pa . ~~ ee —— ~e Sa e ee > ce we Ye — ms on - m Se OL = ze