Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 854 — page 5: what you’re looking at

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

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Ef that’s the way they dew in Chicago, I don’t see how they find ane tew git through all the work they ew.’’ ‘Don’t talk so much,” growled the Smasher. ‘‘ All the owners of the big factories and stores you've seen since spi de been in town made their money by <eeping their mouths shut,” ‘* Wal, I couldn’t never acquire no wealth that way,” declared Hiram, with a little sigh, “i Well, shut up now, anyhow,” admon- ished Smasher, as the door of the house opened. The person who opened the front door was a sweet-faced, white-haired old lady, with a fresh complexion and bright eyes dancing behind the glasses of her gold spectacles. She wore a neat black dress, set off with a white lace bertha crossed over her shoulders while a white apron added to her neat, wholesome appearance, She smiled lightly as Smasher Jim pushed past her into the hall, and then said, ina voice as pleasing as her appearance: ‘‘Come in, Mr. Hawkins! We have been expecting you.” ‘*Biame me,” exclaimed the postmaster, as he pulled at his beard with more force than he ever used save when he was much surprised, ‘‘How do you know my name?” ‘*Oh, you are quite famous in Chicago,” responded theoldlady. ‘‘ Everybody knows the great Government official at the thriving town of Sangville. Besides, a number of copies of the Sangville Herald come to Chi- cago regularly.” Hiram turned a sort of reddish blue, which was the nearest approach to a blush he ever reached, as he listened to this implied com- pliment, and came forward to enter the house, when Smasher Jim, who had been into the back room, put his head out of doorway, and said grufily: “Quit that gammon, Mother Halket, and bring the jay in here.” ‘* What’s that? Where’s the felleras dares ” -ter call mea jay? VP grind him to salt,” howled Hiram, up in arms in a moment at the contemptuous expressiion. But, to his unmittiaged surprise, the sweet old Jady seized him by the arm, and gave him a pull of such violence that he was drawn into the hall, half-way down, in an exceed- ingly flustered condition, while the front door was shut witha bang, and he found himself the central figure in a crowd of grin- ning men, the sweet old lady who had so un- expectedly revealed the possession of almost herculean strength, standing, smoothing her bertha, and looking at him with a benevolent ‘smile that would have done credit to any saint in the calendar. “That was right, Mother Halket!” laugh- ed a tall, sandy mustached fellow, with weak eyes, as he caught hold of the old lady, and shook her hand, with great heartiness, ‘‘ Be me sowl, ye’ll be makin’ us all ashamed of ge fer the w’akeness of our arms in ‘to oY ‘Keep quiet, Rufe. When I want your me f é -«commendation, I will ask for it,” was the _ mot very gracious response of the dear old 4 =) ae +» i ii a 4 Se cad visa Sh ah Sees 2 : 5 : ‘ of Mother Halket. ‘‘I couldn’t stand there waiting for the gentleman all night, so I had to bring him in.” Hiram Hawkins often boasted that nothing could surprise him, but he was in a state of bewildered astonishment as he looked at Mother Halket, smoothing her bertha, and from her to the crowd of tough-looking men enjoying his discomfiture. Smasher Jim led the way into the back room, where several packs of cards and a strong smell of tobacco, to say nothing of a large tin bucket of beer on the floor, and a lot of glasses, indicated that the gentlemen had been enjoying themselves in their own way. ‘What did you do with that fellow you wired me about?” asked Mother Halket, beaming benevolently upon him through her gold spectacles, ‘‘ Ready Ralph, as they call him, eh?” re- sponded Smasher. ‘‘Oh, I fixed him, He tried to bunco my friend Hiram Hawkins, and I pretty nearly choked him to death, and—” ‘By gosh! You did that,” interrupted the postmaster, ‘* |—” But here the sweet old lady took Hiram by the arm witha grip of iron and swung him against the wall with considerable force. ‘It’s one of the rules of this association that no one isto interrupt the governor when he is talking,” she remarked, kindly, as Hiram rubbed his arm where she had squeez- ed it with her fingers, and looked at her as if he thought she was a very Jezebel. Mother Halket understood perfectly well what was passing in his mind, and she en- joyed it. One of the worst women in Chi- cago, who was known by the police to be a receiver of stolen property, and was more than suspected of being associated with the gang of counterfeiters that was causing so much trouble now, nothing could ever be proved against her. She professed to keep a workingman’s boarding-house, and as she never allowed any noise or disturbance to take place in her house, there was no ex- cuse for the police to raid it and institute the thorough search they would have liked. Had they got into the house they would not have been likely to find anything that would criminate her, for Hiram Hawkins saw that it was furnished in the meager style peculiar to such city béarding-houses as he had seen, and the men, while rough, were not making any more noise than would be heard in any boarding-house where the men were not of a refined character. At one time, when the police thought the had a pretty good case against Mother Hal- ket for receiving stolen property, they ar- rested her. But her sweet, innocent appear- ance coup ey disarmed the jury, if not the court itself, and she left triumphant, with a verdict of ‘‘ Not guilty,” after the most positive testimony on the part of the police and their witnesses that she had re- ceived and disposed of a large part of the booty from an extensive jewelry robbery on State street. Such was Mother Halket, and the reader will easily suppose that Hiram Hawkins would be likely to need-all the wisdom he boasted of to see him safely through his present adventure, ‘“What became of Ready Ralph?” asked Mother Halket, ‘‘T was going to say, he had the cheek to complain about wie pga I was doing, and when I had my hands on him, so that I could have settled him forever, this jay here in- terfered. The postmaster? was about to enter another objection against being called a jay, but an almost imperceptible movement on the part of Mother Halket made him change his mind and keep quiet. He had a wholesome re- spect for her remarkable strength. : ‘‘Be jabers! Phwy didn’t ye choke him, LLL too, Smasher?” demanded Rufe Rourke, the sandy-mustached man. ‘“] showed the jay that the fellow had beaten him, or was trying to beat him, out of a dollar, by giving him a counterfeit, and then hes took a different view of the case, and helped me take him into the woods, and tie him to a tree, where he would be likely to remain until somebody found him. That’s the way we fixed Ralph Rapier.” ‘Yes, he would have to stay there till about six o’clock in the evening, I suppose, till the men working in the brickyard at Stony Creek went home through the woods that way. They would untie him, of course,” ‘* Of course,” assented the Smasher. Hiram stared harder than everat the be-— nevolent old lady as she talked so familiarly about places in the neighborhood of Sang- ville, and his suspicion that she was diaboli- cally connected was much strengthened, ‘*So he couldn’t leave for Chicago till to- morrow morning, because there was no other train to-day after three fifty-four,” added Mother Halket. “That’s right. But never mind about that kid. How's the lay going on here?’ asked Smasher, ‘‘Good. Weare putting out the beauties in good shape. Some of the boys here are doing it in connection with their other jobs. But we are running out of stuff,” ‘Allright, We'll make some more to- night, and begin now,” The other two men had all resumed their occupations of card-playing and smoking in the back room, and only the three—Hiram, Smaaber and Mother Halket’ were left in the hall. ‘Shall I open?’ asked Mother Halket, briefly, as she closed the door of the back room. ‘“Yes, He’s got to know, and I'll make such arrangements with him that he will never give us away,” answered the Smasher, looking significantly at Hiram, who won- dered what they were talking about. There was a long mirror let into the wall on the side that divided the back room from the hall, that the postmaster thought was a very nice piece of furniture, He was, there- fore, rather astonished to see Mother Halket take a heavy cane from the umbrella rack, and hit the glass a sharp blow about the center, ‘“Good French plate,” she remarked to Hiram, with a smile. ‘Wal, I swan! I shouldn’t like ter hit no mirror of mine sich a crack,” exclaimed Hiram, Hardly were the words out of his mouth when the big glass fell forward and came thwack upon the top of his head, just as the hall lamp went, and left them in total dark- ness. —_——— CHAPTER IV. THE COUNTERFEITERS’ DEN, Hrram Hawkus had little time to wonder what this new move meant, for, before he had time to collect such thoughts as he had, he was pushed into a narrow space—the glass being lifted off his head first—and squeezed downward into what seemed to be a bottomless hole, ‘‘There’s a ladder. Feel for it with your feet,” whispered the gruff voice of Smasher Jim in bis ear, and Hiram obeyed and found the ladder, descending in obedience to a owerful push downward on his shoulders a some one whom he felt sure must be the gentle Mother Halket, because he did not — give credit to Smasher Jim for po ng anything like the strength of this old lady, whose character and attributes were so much at variance with her appearance. The postmaster descended some ten or re twelve feet, as nearly as he could judge, aud then stepped off upon a boarded floor, & < 1 dhe TY ye ff 4 . a =a - * ‘ > ere e , fei if . arr > rez | a « a *> » 5 d a %, it a oll oY, ra wy, ras re at AS « ' he + e a d “ { Ss . rs ‘ ‘ , iy ; } Fj ‘- 4 4 - * and Ud 4 ’ | ty oe : * Ue