Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 854 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

eves ’ ~ < + a err . “tA? re = ee > ~¢ 7 . re ry a od he 7 | en , ~ bo «,' = eg “la 2 o, wv é x <* ~~: S Y Se ~ “ie, pe of cars and other v Uncle Sam’s Detective in Chicago. Hawkins, and.on the inner side of the wheel, so that he could watch the operations of Ready Ralph, if he wished to do so. As the sandy-mustached man took his seat, another man, with long white beard and spectacles, immediately behind him, leaned forward and whispered something in the other's ear, causing him to start-and make a half-smothered exclamation. ‘‘Keep your mouth shut, Rourke,” growl- ed the old man in tones that Ralph would have recognized at once as those of Smasher Jim. ‘‘Heis playing right into our hands now. You go out as soon as he starts to climb, and offer to help him, You can easily make the boss of this concern think one man can’t do it. And as for climbing, why, you can climb as well as any of them.” ‘*But are you sure that is Ralph Rapier?” asked Rourke, doubtfully. ‘‘Am I sure?” repeated the Smasher, im- patiently. ‘‘Do you suppose he could put on whiskers enough to fool me? I knew him at once, but it wasn’t my game to let him know it while he was in the crib. We couldn’t have settled him there. It would have been too dangerous. Somebody might have seen him go in, and there would have been an investigation, with ruin for all of us, to say nothing of the possibility of a little hanging business.” Rufe shuddered. ‘All right. I'll go. But what am I to do when I[ get up there?” ‘What are you todo? Well, if you don’t know what to do when you find yourself up there with a detective, who is not as strong as you are, it is no use my giving you in- structions. Accidents are always likely to happen in a place like that. It is 140 feet above the ground, and there is nothing to prevent his getting dizzy and falling off, is there?” Rourke turned a little pale, but he did not reply. He got off the car just before the door was closed, and the Smasher saw him in close confab with the worried-looking man. Then, just as the car began to move, the Smasher saw the man hand him a ham- mer, and he knew that Rufe Rourke and Ready Ralph would be on deck together, 140 feet in the..¥, so soon as both could get there! aaa He looked cut of the window, and saw Ralph shinning up the great,steel buttresses that looked so light from a little distance, but were so massive in reality. A few yards below, Rufe Rourke was following the boy, and both were going up hand-over- ‘hand ata pace that seemed remarkable to many who were watching them, and who admired their agility and strength. The lithe Ralph, following the rule of all sailors and others who are accustomed to climbing to great heights, kept his gaze fixed above him, and thus was unaware that he was to have a companion when he reached the axle. Rufe, on the other hand, kept close watch on the lad, and there was a vindictive twitch about his mouth, and a dangerous gleam in his eye, that told how ready he would be to carry out the orders of his chief, and send the detective headlong to . the ground, if he could only get a chance. At last the detective reached the place where he was to work. He paused a moment to take breath, and to admire the splendid scene. Although the night was not a very dark one, there being a moon in its second quarter, the electric lights glittered and blazed all around him so brilliantly, as to throw the moon into a position of second- ary importance. He could distinguish the moving crowds in the Midway Plaisance at the foot of the towers supporting the wheel, and he could trace the line of humanity ex- tending to the exit gates, and the hundreds icles going in all direc- the work on it.” ing, although they were really moving at their usual rapid pace. It was only for a few moments that the detective stood, hammer in hand, admiring the prospect. Something elose to him claim- ed his attention—something that his instinct told him meant trouble. , A man’s head suddenly burst into a circle of light thrown by one of the great electric burners on the tower, emerging from a shadow deep in proportion to the brilliancy of thelight, and he recognized the head as belonging to Rufus Rourke. The young detective turned toward the bolt that he was sent to fix, and with three or four hearty blows of his hammer had it firmly in place, so that it would surely have satisfied the worried-looking man could he have been there to see it. As Ralph concluded his task, he turned to look at the man who was climbing rapidly toward him, and who was now nearly within reach of the iron platform on which Ralph stood, and that afforded rather insecure foot- ing for any one save a sailorora ‘‘ rigger.” ‘*Well?” exclaimed the detective, inter- rogatively, as Rufe stood beside him, ‘“ Phwell yeself!” was Rufe’s rejoinder. ‘What are you doing here?” “The same as yeself—looking at the scenery.” ‘Funny place to come.” ‘“Then, phwat made ye come?” ‘Sent here,” said the detective. So wuz Oi.” ** What for?” “To give a bolt a crack wid me ham. mer,” “The bolt is all right. Ihave just done ‘“Yez hove? Phwell Oi'd loike ter hove er look at it me own silf, if yez are not rais- ing any objection,” observed Rufe, with laborious politeness. ‘Go ahead!” said the Secret Service detec- tive. “sw Rufe Rourke had been taking in the situa- tion during the foregoing colloquy. He knew that the detective was strong, and as active asa cat, and that, if he was to over- come him, he must take him by surprise. At the same time, he had made up his mind that Ralph Rapier should never go down from that tower alive! , : ‘‘ Oi can’t git at it onless ye move a little, do ye see?” suggested Rufe, edging closer to the detective. | ‘All right! I'll get out of your way. But, we shall have to move carefully, or one of us will tumble off, and then there won’t ibe enough left to make a decent funeral,” The two men were standing on a steel beam not more than two feet wide, and both were holding tightly to a spoke of the wheel running out from the great axle—an axle that was thirty-two inches in diameter, and weighed fifty-six tons. For Rufe to get at the bolt so that he could delivera stroke upon it with his ham- mer, it would be aecessary to pass Ralph on this two-foot-wide steel beam, His object was to pass inside, so that he would perhaps be able to push the detective off by the sheer weight cf his body, Otherwise, he would be at the mercy of the boy, and, although he had no reason to suppose that Ralph harbored any evil intentions against him, his guilty conscience made him nervous, ‘Phwell, hold on, toight, phwile I crawl along here,” he said, as te pore his way between Ralph and. the spoke of the wheel to which both were clinging. “Careful!” warned Ralph. ‘‘ This is no place for fooling. You nearly pushed me off then.” “Faith! Thot would be too bad. Oi didn’t thry ter do it. Do ye think Oi did?” Here was where Rufe Rourke overreach himself. Although Ralph couid not under- 9 freak, as in his own case, because he was used to climbing, and liked the adventure. But now, when Rufe asked him with some earnestness whether he (Ralph) thought Rufe was trying to push him off, the detec- tive was sure that the fellow had a sinister motive. ‘Can it be possible that I have been re- cognized, and that this is the ‘shadow,’ with orders to wipe me out, if possible? Yes, it must be so. Ralph Rapier, you are in a tight place, and it will take all the smartness you possess to remain on deck, I’m thinking.” These thoughts passed through ‘the brain of Ralph with lightning rapidity, while he was stiffening himself to resist any on- slaught that might be made by his com- panion. The immense wheel had been moving at intervals, but very slowly, so that it was easy for the two men to seize one spoke, as they were compelled to let go of another when it passed out of their reach with the motion of the wheel, Rufe had been squeezing himself between the detective and the wheel in his efforts to get past, and Ralph could feel that consider- able pressure was brought to bear on him, and that if he did not hold tightly he would soon be a smashed and unrecognizable heap at the foot of the tower. The wheel had stopped just as Rufe be- gan to squeeze past, but it went on again when he was fairly between the detective and the spoke, so that Ralpb had one arm each side of Rufe, whose back was pressed against the young man’s chest. ‘‘ Fle’s trying to shove me off! There’s no doubt about it!” thought Ralph. ‘‘ But he cannot doit. Ihave too tight a hold upon the spoke with my two hands,” It was at this critical moment that the wheel began to turn again. The detective felt the spoke moving away from him, and he knew that he must release his hold to take hold of the next. If Rufe would only move his hand at the same in- stant the detective would be safe, because his adversary could not push him while he was changing his own hold, — Rufe bad long arms, and the detective knew perfectly well that this would give the ruffian an advantage over him. The detective held on as long as he could, and then, while Rufe still held to the spoke, Ralph was obliged to let go to take the next one, if he could, It was at this instant that Rufe Rourke, who was biding his time, exerted all his strength and gave the detective a push that was irresistible. Ralph made a futile grasp at the spoke, at the wheel, at the beam, at Rufe, at anythin “s save himself, and then fell backward head- rst! CHAPTER VII. LUCY IN BAD HANDS. Ar the time that Hiram Hawkins was be- ing guided through the secret passages of the counterfeiters’ den on the West Side, a young girl was pacing f& comfortable private parlor in a large hotel at the corner of Lake and Dearborn streets, Chicago, } For half an hour she paced the room and worried, and then, as she thrust aside the lace curtain mechanically to look out of the window she became conscious that some one just across the street was looking at her. The person was not one to cause much ap- reer by her appearance. She was a nevolent-looking old lady, with white hair and wearing spectacles, as Lucy could easily see, for the great arc electric lights made the street almost as bright as day. 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