Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 869 — page 2: what you’re looking at

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

i Se 9 ; 3 Ned Norman, the Gamin Negotiator. | Ned Norman, the Gamin Broker; OR, The Shake-up of Grip and Gorley. BY CHARLES MORRIS. CHAPTER I. HOW TWO SHARP MEN BLUNDERED, ‘Look at him, Hebas been at that for a week, And it is not boy’s play either.” ‘*T should say not. Carrying bricks isn’t ex- actly a picnic, and work that means nothing is anything but fun, But, whatis it all about?” ‘*The young rascal annoyed me, You know he has been here every week for the last three months asking for a job, so to get rid of him I sent him to moving those bricks,” ‘¢ The young rascal has plenty of grit. What are Ao to pay bim?’ ‘*He is to have anything he finds under the bricks, Heis welcome to it all,” ‘*The young fool! And he has carried those bricks around to every corner of the yard on such a promise as that? Well, I like his pluck.” | This conversation took place in the private | office of a business firm on Market street, Phila- delphia, The firm title on the sign-board of the) store was ‘‘Grip & Gorley ” and these were tbe) names of the two gentlemen conversing. Neither of them were men one weuld have. fallen in love with at sigbt, They were looking out of the rear window in- to the yard of the building. Here was a full- grown boy, busily engaged in carrying a pile of bricks from one corner of the yard to another. When he stopped for a moment to wipe the per- spiration from his face, it could be seen that he was a rather good-looking lad, with keen eyes, and a generally wide-awake look. ** You'll tire him out, will you?” asked Gorley, with a doubting smile. ‘* Tf I don't it will be the first time lever tried and failed,” rejoined Grip, with a grim look, Several hours passed. The day was well ad- vauced when the boy entered the office, wiping the sweat from his face, _ . ** The job’s dove,” he said stolidly. ‘* All right,” rejoined Grip, looking from the window, ‘* But somehow I don’t like the looks of the bricks in that corner. Suppose you shift them again,” e ‘* And ’'m to have everything I find under them?” queried the boy. ‘*That’s the bargain.” ‘‘ Jest so; and square is square, I reckon we'll settle up afore I dig in again, Here’s my findin’s,” ’ He drew from his ket a dirt-covered oblong object of pocketbook shape, It ga open, showing what seemed to be a wad of bank-notes on the inside, The two men started in surprise. Gorle snatched it from the boy’s hand and looked at it a closely. , ‘‘Tt’s mine,” he cried excitedly, ‘* You member Grip I lost it three months ago, wi five huvdred dollars in it, the bricks?” ‘*Scueezed down into the mud,” answered the pox ‘* Reckon that’s how it got lost. e held out his hand for the pocketbook. ** What do you want?” “A econtract’s a contract, Ireckon. That’s You found it under my Pinpder. Hand it over.” hat! give you five hundred dollars for moving a pile of bricks? Not much! Here’s a ten-dollar bill. What do you take mefor boy?” __“T did take yoy for a square man, Looks as if I'd been took in. See here, Mr. Gorley, I don’t want the whole of that, and I reckon I'll let you off for a hundred dollars, But I won’t take a penny legs,” 7 ‘* You won’t, eh?’ ‘No. A bargain’s a bargain, and it’s all mine, cording to contract,” ‘‘T didn’t make any bargain with you,” re-; His pale face had grown red, an torted Gorley, thrusting the recovered treasure | into his pocket. ‘Mr Grip did, and I judge he’s head partner /in the firm, ‘* Now see here, youngster,” rejoined Grip, se- verely. ‘*You’ve got ten dollars, and that’s more than you’ve earned. Keep that and make tracks,” ‘* Much Vil keepit! I reckon you don’t know the kind of stuff ’m made of!” cried the boy, disdainfully throwing the money on the table. ‘*f want my hundred, and I don’t leave this place till I git it; that’s flat.” He meantit too. He was not going without his money. Mr. Grip threatened, cajoled, blus- | tered, sent for the porter to fling him out, and | —— = ~ . ee tried various means to get rid of him, but he | put out of | Gri the store several times, but he could not be kept | out, and it began to look as if the tiring-out | thin. stuck worse than a leech. He was would be on the other side, and that the boy would have too much stay in him for Grip & Gorley. Several days passed. Day after day the boy returned with reiterated demandsfor his money. He would not be put off with promises, threats, or offers of less than the full amount of his claim. A hundred dollars was his demand, and not a cent less would he accept. An event soon took place that decidedly changed the situation. One afternoon Mr. Gor- ley returned rather hastily from his lunch, with a look of anxiety on his face. ‘‘ Back early,” said Grip. ‘‘Yes, I made a bad blun— But, where’s your sand barr?” looking around the office. ‘¢ Worn him out, eh? or paid him off?” ‘‘Got rid of him, anyhow,” returned Grip, with some triumph. ‘‘ We’llsee if that bull pup gets the under hold on me.” ‘‘ How did you manage?” ‘‘T gave bim an order for a hundred dollars on Burton & Jones, New York. The little fool took it all in good faith. If he goes to York, which he’s got pluck enough to do, I’d like to be at hand and see Burton kick bim out of doors. Anything from us to old Burton will be like fire to a sky-rocket,” and Mr, Grip laughed un- | pleasantly. ‘* Fa! ha!’ echoed Gorley, ‘‘ that’s not so bad. Burton hates us worse than he does poison. But, speaking of him—do you know I’ve done a confoundedly stupid trick? That’s what brought me back'so early.” ‘‘ Tt wouldn’t be your first,” muttered Grip. ‘‘ My letter to JenkinsI flung in the waste- basket, and put this ridiculous scrawl into the envelope to send to Jenkins. It was laying on the table beside my letter.” He pulled out a sheet of paper that was writ- ten over in a school-boy’s hand. ‘* Its some of your apprentice’s work, He's been amusing himself while waiting for his money. Counting up how much he’d make if he carried bricks fcr a year, holidays off.” ‘‘That would depend on how he made his col- lections,” laughed Grip. ‘¢ Anyhow, I discovered my mistake and hur- riéd back, for fearsomebody might be meddlin in the waste-basket. It would not pay for tha letter to fall into the wrong hands. It was written for Jenkins only.” As he spoke, he drew the waste-basket from under the desk, and looked into it. His face grew suddenly pale as he plunged his hand down and drew up the half of a sheet of paper, which was torn straight across from <P to ; ‘© What's this?” he yelled. ‘‘ Who’s been here?” Grip looked at him, and his face became al- most the color of whitewash. ‘* Why, thunder and lightning!” he screamed, ‘vou don’t mean to say it’s true? You’re not oking?” ‘‘ Joking! DoTI often joke” ‘“Then there’s the very deuce to pay! If I’d thought you could be such a fool I’d looked out better what I was doing.” ‘‘ Doing? What bave you done?’ Mr. Grip did not answer. He was whiter than ever, and shaking like a leaf. He hastily opened the door of the office and called out into the counting-room: “ Joe,” The man called came hastily at the excited voice. ‘‘Do you know where that boy lives? The one who has been piling bricks?” ‘‘No, sir. Never saw him anywhere but here.” ‘¢ Find out in the store if anybody knows,” Joe turned on his heel and walked away, while Mr. Grip closed the door. His partner caught him fiercely by the arm. he shook Grip as he hissed: of What have you done? Tell me this instant, or Du— ‘‘ What have I done? What you made me,” ha rejoined, jerking his arm from Gorley’s fin- gers, ‘*I took that sheet of ‘ waste’ paper out of the basket, tore it in halfs and wrote the or- der for Burton on the half torn off. The boy has it now.”. “ : The torn sheet dropped from Gorley’s fingers and fluttered to the floor. ‘Oh Lord!” he gasped, as he fell back into a chair, ‘* You've gone and done it this time, eure! Talk of sending fire to a sky-rocket! Why, if that letter gets into Barton’s hands, he'll blow the pair of us sky-high!” Ne eee ee eee Sse ‘“ You’ve only got yourself to blame,” snarled (Now don’t come that, Grip. That’s too We're a blessed pair of boobies, that’s the whole story. But you’re the biggest. To think of the‘ sharpest man in America’ sending off a paper without looking at it!” ‘“Who would expect to find anything but trasb in a waste-basket:? It’s your confounded wool gathering that has done it all.” ‘See here, Grip, I suppose it’s no use in pot, calling kettle black. [’m willing to give in that we've both played the fool, if you'll agree,” “Jt looks confoundedly like it,” grumbled Mr, Grip, with a sour expression on his face. ‘¢ It’s done; and hard words won’t butter parsnips, We must get to work, That boy has got to be stopped.” ‘* After all, it may not beso bad. There’s no danger of his going to New York. Howis he going to get there without money ?” Mr. Gorley stooped and picked up the half- sheet as he spoke. ‘‘ Not if if was any common boy. But that young imp! he’d get to China if he started for it. He’s got pluck enough to carry him to the moon,” ‘‘ It’s lucky you tore the paper down th middle,” rejoined Gorley, who was looking at. it. ‘*If Burton does get it, it will be only half- lines. There’s not enough to put bim on the track. And our signature’s on this half.” Grip snatched the paper and cast his,eye over it eagefly. He then shook his head in a doubt- ful manner, ‘¢ Tt will make him suspect.” : ‘¢But it is not evidence. Andi ‘he suspects now.” | ‘‘ We can’t take any risks. We must have it back,” cried Grip, decidedly. ‘‘That boy has got to be stopped and made to hand over, if we have to kill bim!” ‘“Or pay him,” suggested Gorlcy, with a ghost of a smile. Grip, in reply, thrust the torn sheet dee down into the waste-basket, and stamped his foot fiercely upon it. ‘“Blast it!” be hissed. *‘ We must throw all this waste into the grate and burn it up. I don’t know what else you have put there.” ‘* Nothing else of that sort,” rejoined Gorley. “ And this piece has no harm in it. All the poison is in the other.” At this moment the door of the office opened, and the man who had been sent out to inquir returned. . ‘‘ Nobody knows,” he reported. ‘‘ Harley thinks he has seen the boy about Twentieth and Wood , but is not sure.” ‘‘Twentieth and Wood? Go out there at once, Joe, and see if you can find any trace of him. Ask the boys and inquire at the houses for several squares around,” ‘‘ What name?” asked Joe. ‘‘Ned Norman; that’s the name he gives.” “Pl fetch him, if that’s his headquarters,” said Joe, as he left the office. ‘Don’t give up easy,” cried Grip, after him, “‘T want that boy bad.” | ‘‘What next?” queried Gorley. ‘‘The Directory. And we’d better both try the stores in the neighborhood, The little land leech has been pestering other people as well as us. Quick, too; delays are dangerous.” | They both started out on this erranG, Mr, Grip forgetting for the moment his intention te burn the contents of the basket. In fact, he was not particularly anxious about the half sheet left; the dangerous half was that he had given to Ned Norman. If the boy wanted revenge for the treatment he had received from the firm of Grip & Gorley, he hadit. If an earthquake had shaken their store, they could not have been in a greater ‘luster. And this grew greater instead of less when all their efforts proved failures, The Normans given in the Directory were looked up; but the boy, did nct belong to any of them. Some of the mals boring merchants had seen enough—too much, in fact—of Ned, but none knew his place of residence. The day was used up in thisinquiry. It was the next morning when they reappeared at the office. Joe had not yet returned to report, ‘‘ What next?’ asked Gorley. ‘‘Nothing,” answered Grip, “‘ till we see Joe. Except to burn those papers.” “What the deuce—”he began; then hurried to the door and shouted, ‘‘Come here, some- body!” A clerk hastily responded. Mr. Grip’s voice was too full of business for any delay. “comick 00 ~~