Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 854 — page 7: what you’re looking at

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

‘4 } } ’ | ing between Smasher Jim and the sailor, said, quietly: ‘‘He’s all right. He’s one of us. He came half an hour ago and gave the pass- word, and | let him in.” ‘* Phwell, be me sowl, he’s pretty fresh fer anew man, If it was not for the explana- tion yez give, Mrs. Halket, Oi'd make him go lookin’ aroun’ fer a new face, so Oi would!” grumbled Rufe Rourke, eying the Sailor with extreme disfavor. ‘‘Shut up,” was the brief order of Smasher Jim. ‘Then, turning to Mother | Halket, he continued; is all right?” ‘* |’'l] answer for him,” was Mother Halket’s response, ‘Then he will be the man to go with Mr, ‘You say this man Hawkins. He is a stranger in Chicago, I know. There are none of our gang here that | am not acquainted with, and | never saw his face before. Where have you been operating?” he asked, of the sailor, who was carefully lighting a cigar from the brazier, and looking ata pile of new ten- dollar notes on the table by the side of the press, as he did so, ‘‘Just got through doing time at the Western Penitentiary at Pittsburg,” answer ed the other, in very hoarse tones. ‘‘ And I caught a cold as soon asl got out Not used to the free air, you know ” The Smasher grinned condescendingly, as he observed: ‘ Yes, 1 know how that is Been there myself. Been at my country home at Columbus for several years, living a very quiet, regular life. However, that is neither here nor there. I want you to go to the Fair grounds with this gentleman— Mr. Hawkins, from Sangville, and help him work off some stuff. [ll give you some, too.” He counted out ten of the notes to the sailor, and then gave him tenof the gold. pieces from a pile that lay at the side of the brazier, on a table, where they had been submitted to several processes to make them appear a little worn. Counterfeiters seldom allow money to go out looking too new, Arrangements completed, Smasher Jim Opened a panel door that slid easily and noiselessly, and the sailor stepped through, Hiram hesitated, but a savage push from Smasher Jim made him go through, and the door slid into its place, leaving the two in darkness, Then, a gas jet was suddenly turned up, and. Hiram Hawkins experienced another surprise, for his sailor companion pulled off his whiskers’ with a quick movement, and the Sangville sage found himself looking into the face of the young fellow whom he sup- posed to be hundreds of miles away—Ready Ralph, the detective ! CHAPTER YV. THE LIGHTNING EXPRESS, WE must zo back a little to find out how it was that Detective Ralph managed to be on deck in Chicago after being left in such an awkward position in the neighborhood of Sangville. It was true that he had been tied up in the Uncle Sam’s Detective in Ch | Jim, ra eee ee eee + I have evidence enough to send you | up for twenty years, even without the addi- | ee ee ee eee ee ee SS 8888s _aaSSSs tional charge of tampering with a letter in the United States mail!’ observed the detec- tive to himself, as be walked leisurely toward the store. ‘‘ You will find that Iam on deck, in spite of your benevolent inten- tions concerning me.” Ife had just entered the main street of the Village, when a young girl, whom he recog nized as the daughter of Hiram Hawkins, came fluttering toward him, her light sum mer dress and daintily-trimmed straw hat | showing more taste than is usual to country girls, while her manner of walking was that of the self-possessed young lady who has lived in a big city, and would rather be dead than gawky. The fact was that Lucey Hawkins had spent two or three years in a Chicago academy, and bad acquired a city polish that was the secret envy of all the girls in Sang- ville, and that made the young men regard her as something too lovely for them to as- pire to, in spite of the undoubted truth that three fourths of them cherished a hopeless love for the pretty daughter of the postmas: ter, storekeeper and editor combined. There was a look of worry on Lucy's face now, however, that indicated how little she was thinking about admirers at that mo- ment. She stopped the detective with a motion of her iittle hand, as she asked, eagerly; ‘Do you know what my father is going to do in Chicago? I saw that Mr. Walker look at your lIctter, and I was afraid to say any- thing. Then, when he attacked you, | thought father would be able to give you all the help you might need, but—” - ‘You were going to say he turned around the other way, I suppose, ’ interrupted Ralph. “'That’s nothing, Smasher Jim would wheedle the devil himself. It was not much of a task for him to make your father believe me a crook, and the upshot of it was they took me into the woods, in the belief that’ | should be punished for my wickedness by having to stay there all day.’ ‘*How dreadful!’ exclaimed the young girl, softly. The detective laughed, although he felt pleased by the girl’s evident sympathy, too. ‘It didn't work, you see,” he remarked, lightly. ‘' And here I ar, on deck again,” ‘On deck!" repeated the girl, musingly, “When I was at school in Chicago, there was a girl there whose father was in a Government office at Washington, and I have heard her talk about a young detective she met at her father’s house once, He was in the Secret Service, and his favorite remark was that he was ‘on deck,’ whenever he was told off for any duty. From that they called him the ‘ Always on deck’ detective ” The young man smiled again, and the girl added, impulsively ‘‘Something tells me that you are—” ‘‘Ralph, the Secret Service detective,’ putin Ralph, ‘ Yes, Miss Lucy, Iam the individual. And now that I have confided in you so far—” ‘* Because you could not help it,”’ interrupt- ed Lucy, with a mischievous smile, ——- icagro. 4 ‘ Exactly. Because I could not help it, I will tell you that Iam here on the track of the man who has taken your father to Chicago — James Walker, known to the police and crooked fraternity as Smasher Jim, the most expert manufacturer of coun- terfeit money in the country, and a danger- | ous man.”’ ‘My poor father!” murmured Lucy. ‘‘ He thinks he is so smart, and that no one can fool him, and yet he is as simple as a baby in some things, especially in the hands of any one who can flatter him, and make him be. lieve he is a great man.” ‘‘T am afraid he is in bad hands now, Miss Lucy,” observed the detective, gravely. ‘What can we do to save him?” | woods between Sangville and Stony Creek, as Smasher Jim had said, but he did not have to stay there till the workmen ‘got through their labors at six o’clock in the evening. He had been in tight places too often before to wait quietly for some one to come and help him out, and it was not fifteen minutes after Hiram and Smasher had left him before he had managed to get out of his | bonds and was sitting on the grass enjoying a cigar. He sat there an hour thinking. Then he got up and made his way toward the store in Sangville in which he had written the letter to his chief that had been confis- cated by the man he was determined to cap- ture, dead or alive, within a week. ‘You have fixed yourself now, Smasher Tho two had been walking quietly along in the direction of the store, and now, as they approached it, Sam Stokes hastily swallowed a pickle he had taken from his favorite jar, and coughing violently, stepped outside the door to watch them, ‘* Lucy's struck a mash, I do believe,” he muttered. ‘ Well,.I don't ‘low no sich goings on around here while the boss is away. ‘Sides, | am kind o’ stuck on Lucy myself,” His reflections were interrupted at this point by a violent fit of coughing, as the vinegar on the pickled cucumber caught his breath again, and ere he had finished cough. ing Ralph and Lucy were at his side, ‘They left half an hour ago, on that noon train,” Lucy was saying, continuing their conversation, ‘‘ and are going straight to Chicago.” ‘When is the next train?” asked the de-, tective, “There ain’t no next train to Chicago,” interrupted Sam Stokes, gaspingly, for he was still suffering from the effects of the vinegar. ‘‘ This ain’t no metrolopus, where trains run every ten seconds. The only train going west what stops here, barring the ac- commodation, is that one at noon, what the boss and his friend went on,” ‘That's so. Sam Stokes is right,” said Lucy, regretfully. “Any trains go through without stop- ping?” asked Ralph. “Yes, But what’s the use o’ them if you want ter go ter Chicago? You can’t qaaip on when they’re going. They’re a little too swift for you, unless you are a sight more spry than I think you are,” observed Sam, contemptuously, ‘“Sam?” said the detective, quietly. ‘* Holler!” responded Sam. ‘* Don’t talk so much,” ‘Don't talk so much?’ repeated Sam Stokes. ‘‘ Wal, now, I guess Ill talk jist as much as | please, I ain’t no jay! Pm a—”’ But what Sam was will never be known, for Ready Ralph seized him gently, but firmly, by the back of the neck, and actually stood him on his head, holding him there for a few seconds. until he got alarmingly red in the face, when the detective placed him right side up, a decidedly astonished and very meek boy, ‘Gosh! Who'd ha’ thought he had so much muscle?” was Sam’s smothered com- ment, as he retreated into the store, and sought the pickle-jar again. ‘There is a train through here for Chi- cago in half an hour—the Lightning Ex- press,” said the girl, who was anxious to help the detective in any possible way that would be likely to enable him to go to Chi- cavo to herfather’s assistance, who, she was now convinced, was in danger, all the greater because he was so utterly unsuspi- cious “In half an hour? That will do. Can you give us something to eat and drink, quick?” ‘Yes, I got some coffee and cold meat ready for father and tbat man before they went away, and it is there yet. The coffee is on the stove. I meant to haye my own dinner, but I got to thinking about things and | went out, in the hope of seeing you,” answered the girl, They went into the room behind the store, where the girl poured out coffee for herself and Ralph, and, at his suggestion, ate some- thing as well, he setting the example by at- tacking the cold meat and bread and butter with the earnestness of aman who. was un- certain when he would get another meal, In ten minutes the Tetective had finished his meal, and then he said, suddenly, look-. ing straight into Lucy’s eyes;; ** Can you trust me?” She returned his gaze, and answered, un. hesitatingly: o