Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 854 — page 4: what you’re looking at

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

SCT OS ae +s = "ta ‘ 2 es =o “7 reer se oe - _ ” wie fo te ee « 2 — he i _ = & > end 2 a ew oe a = oar” a rete ie oe x d ad f= oO awl a oe. | ° > -_ * ~ * | = ee 4 ae - > “> 7 , +s &, . ¥ att pe ~~ a er =~? So a to a aS ~ —— =~ Sa ae Fe, 2 ~~, * - oe ; Ae ete — - - « _e> 3 - ‘must read the note a p, ~ cs “ . f mw — S, ‘4 " ' : - Uncle Sam’s Detective in Chicago. _ \ Re >. ee) NR on the counter while she turned to find the sag The detective was looking out of the win- dow, and the boy, Sam Stokes, had returned to his pickle jar for one mure cucumber. Here was Smasher Jim’s chance for what he had made up his mind to do. He stepped swiftly but silently to the counter, and, with a delicate manipulation rather suggestive of a pickpocket, drew Ready Ralph’s letter from the other three and slipped it into his pocket. The detective smiled knowingly. He had seen the action, but he did not intend to let Smasher Jim know it yet. He was on the alert for any treacherous movement on the part of the other, however, for he knew that the only thing Jim was waiting for was an opportunity to put him out of the way, and erhaps murder him. Since the detective ad been in the store, Smasher had not made any sign of recognition, although he knew that Ralph had seen his face plainly enough when he oe off the train, and when the bowie-knife had nearly ended the career of the young shadower. “What is he going to do, I wonder? Read my letter, of course. Well, it was written with the idea that he might do some- thing of the kind, so it will not do any harm. At the same time, I do not intend to let his impudence go unpunished.” Iph was a good-natured young fellow, but there was a streak of determination in his character that boded no particular good to the Smasher in the present juncture. Smasher looked about to see where he could go to read the letter. The door lead- ing to the outside wasimmediately behind the detective, so that he could not reach that without pore) Ralph aside. He n the room, where he ‘was, He turned his back to the detective, while Ralph fastened his gaze upon him, witha dangerous smile playing about his lips. As Smasher tore open the envelope and opened the letter, the detective silently stole up be hind him, and prepared himself for a strug. gle, although he didit all in such a natural and careless way that Hiram Hawkins, who had followed his movements lazily, had no idea of the fierce resolution that burned in _ the bosom of the innocent-looking, boyish detective. Smasher Jim deftly unfolded the letter without noise, and in a moment had pos- sessed himself of its contents: “Enjoying myself very much. Expect to reach Chicago in the morning, and be looking at the World’s Fair in the afternoon, ‘‘ Yours, WILLIAM SMITH.”” Jim was rather nonplused by this letter. He had expected something entirely differ- ent, and most likely of considerable signifi- cance to himself. But, on the contrary here was a note such as any man might senda friend while away on a_ pleasure trip. What could it mean? The Smasher was not easily fooled, and a very few moments’ consideration convinced him that there was a double meaning to the letter, only to be understood by one possess- ing the key. . “Curse him! I feel sure heis that infer- nal young Ralph Rapier, who brags that he is ‘always on deck,’.”” muttered the Smasher, inaudibly, as he stood with his face to the wall and his back to the detective, with the open letter in hishand. For the moment he had forgotten where he was, and that the people in the store might be watching him, so deeply concerned was he in this myste- rious letter, that he was sure signified so much more than appeared at first glance. Ralph was looking at him with an amused | the _ expression on his face, for he comprehended | with a force that mide him move back a step, although he did not release his hold pretty nearly what was passing in the mind of Smasher Jim, the counterfeiter. © \ * 1 % 7 ‘ ae . ¥ f a yy : \ « he hs! tg “de AY - hs <. . ’ , , ' _ a r < « & ; ap . e » \ LZ oat oh . Pig os Tee, ry re Y 1s j ‘ bbl ‘ © : a jew‘ Yous? . - 4 : : 1 ye * > s h : Mb, (av Fa 4 a” — » 4 > a $ - . ek eo per ere ako ae. “Thought that letter would puzzle him! Things are going along splendidly. him wellin hand, and when I get a clue to his gang who are ‘ shoving’ the stuff, I shall be able to report to Gripp that everything is all right. If Iam not very much mistaken, our hayseed friend here, with the beard, is concerned in the job in some way.” From this it will be seen that Detective Ralph was accustomed to making good use of his eyes, and to putting this and that to- gether with tolerable accuracy. Smasher Jim was in the act of returnin the letter to its envelope, intending to sea it again so that it would pass muster through the Post-office Department, when Ralph touched him on the shoulder, with the polite observation: ‘*I beg your pardon, sir, When you have done with my letter, I should like to hand it to the young lady behind the counter, so that she can put it in the mail-bag.” ‘‘T have lost a letter, father!” exclaimed Lucy, at this moment, in a tone of alarm. ‘*What’s that? Dew yew mean to =y that the official bizness has gone wrong al- ready? How kin I trust yew with the United States Mail?” shricked the postmas- ter, as he spit out the sliver from the flour barrel, and began to toss things about on the counter. ‘‘Don’t disturb yourself, Mr. Hawkins. This gentleman has the letter. He has just finished it,” said the detective, with a smile that was very much more dangerous than a scowl. . ‘“You lie!” howled Smasher Jim, as he slipped the letter into a pocket of his short jacket, and turned upon Ralph. The words were hardly out of his mouth when the left fist of the young detective shot out and landed on the chin of Smasher wich a furce that made all his teeth rattle and jarred him so that he was confused for a second, But, the desperate man who took all chances in the pursuit of his lawless avo- cation was not to be knocked out by one blow on the chin from a mere boy, and the detective knew that his work was cut out for him now. | Detective Ralph had hardly time to note the effect of the blow he had bestowed when Smasher Jim had him by the throat and was shaking him as a bull-dog might a kitten. The boy was helpless in the strong grasp of his burly antagonist, and, although he seized the arms of the Smasher, and exerted all his by no means slight strength to make him release his hold, he realized that he could do nothing, but that he was utterly at the mercy of a man who showed in his face that he did not know the meaning of the word. ‘‘You snipe! You'll tell me that 1 read your cursed letter. Durn me! Ill choke the gizzard out of you!” sputtered Smasher, as he tightened his hold on the boy’s throat and shook him a little harder. The other occupants of the store had been so taken by surprise by the sudden onslaught on the young man that they had remained perfectly still at first, as if petrified. But Hiram Hawkins believed in fair play, and his first thought, when he recovered himself, was that it was hardly right for a burly fellow like James Walker (by which name he knew ‘‘Smasher Jim;”) to be chok- ing the life out of a mere boy while others looked on. Besides, Hiram Hawkins loved fighting for its own sake, and he would just as soon have a scrap with his nearest and dearest friend as with his most vindictive enemy, and he did not yet regard James Walker as his nearest and dearest friend, by ps means, — ‘‘Blame my cats! Give the boy a show, will ye?” he howled, as he sprung into fray and pushed back the Smasher of the detective. ‘*This racket don’t go in ’ , ’ : 7 - ‘ — > has a » > fom uo . . “a y ~ * yl » * Fan ° . AL ce My ,° 1 Ss! Fe 4 I have me !” Indianny, ef it does in Chicago. Yew hear ‘Sail in, boss! Gosh! 1 ain’t seen so much fun since my brother had the measles!” exclaimed Sam Stokes, who was dancing ‘about in an excess of enjoyment, while ee ee eS OOS) 0 i 0008080 0wWO”™OQW™O. SSS —— OO OO Lh - SO eee | R — Oe et? : . = ‘ ea i? a > ist per a ae oat PR AS y - 2 4 ? E-4 “ ~? »~ i" ’ ‘ ’ i te aed edad enh oS —~ Ll Lucy, behind the counter, watched the en- counter in the fear and trembling natural to her sex. ““Goaway from me!” growled Smasher Jim to the postmaster, ‘or you'll get hurt, ‘‘T will, eh? An’ who’s tew hurt me, I’d like to know?” rejoined Hiram, as he exerted all his force to make the man release his hold of Ralph. Smasher Jim did not reply, but there was murder in his eyes, as he threw all his strength into one supreme effort, and hurled the lad across the store, where he fell in an insensible heap—dead, to all appearances. CHAPTER III. MOTHER HALKET AND HER MYSTERIOUS MISSION. Ir was night in Chicago. The electric lights were glowing inasea of white radi- ance in the Electrical Building and other parts of the Columbian Exposition in Jack- son Park, and the main thoroughfares of the greet city were all bright with the same won- erful modern illumination. Most of the stores were closed, but the saloons, restau- rants, cigar stores and similar places were all doing business, while the theaters showed, by their bright lobbies and vestibules, that the performance was still in progress within. State street, Madison street, Clark street, and the other big thoroughfares where the Chicago resident and the Chicago visitor most delight to congregate, both day and night, were not the only streets where the busy hum of people could be heard as the big clocks in church ‘steeples and publie buildings tolled forth the hour of ten, On the West Side, among the network of streets in which the cheaper kind of retail stores and the big factories where all sorts of things, from stee] bridges to chocolate cara- mels, are made, were throngs of men, women and children, who found more amusement in the streets, even at that hour, than in their own small houses or rooms, In spite of the vigilance of the police, there were plenty of ‘‘ crooks” among those who walked along the lighted business streets, or turned corners into those quicter avenues where dark factories loomed up threateningly, and where rows of houses for boarders or lodgers carried advertisements of their uses in the crowds of people who sit on their steps or stood in knots on the sidewalks in desultory conversation, " A stout, surly-looking fellow, in a short jacket and a cap pulled well over his brows, walked swiftly along one of these side strects, looking neither to the right or left, but pushing straight ahead, like one who knew just where he was going, and was anxious to get thcre as soon as possible. Some dozen yards behind him slouched an awkward, middle-aged man, with a heavy beard concealing his chin, which he stroked mechanicelly as be moved along, with his eyes on the figure of the man ahead of him. The awkward man was dressed in clothes of countrified cut, and to a Chicagoan ‘‘hay- seed” was written in every wrinkle of his old-fashioned coat, and every hair of his un- trimmed beard. Is it necessary to say that the first man was Smasher Jim, and the second Hiram Hawkins postmaster, of Sangville, Indiana? Suddenly, Smasher Jim stopped in front of a modest, one-story frame house, that stood a little back from 'the sidewalk, and had a yard in front, with a fence to prevent people getting close enough to Jook into the parlor window, even if there had not been thick r > / ; - any hs | white curtains closely drawn all day, and == |