Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 869 — page 4: what you’re looking at

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— 4 hold on his wrists and dragged them behind him. He drew Ned down over his knee and held him firmly, while Grip began to search him with the skill of a detective, Every pocket was examined. His shoes and stockings were taken off and searched, Every possible hiding-place in his clothes was investi- ane but no trace of the paper was found. ed had ceased to struggle after the first min- ute, and submitted quietly to the search, After five minutes’ work Mr. Grip gave it up. He looked the boy in the face savagely, ‘What have you done with that paper?” he hissed, ‘*That paper was worth one hundred dollars; its price now is two hundred, and before wit- nesses,” announced Ned, sturdily. ‘‘It has gone up ‘a value,” ‘* By tue fiends! Pll hang you or drown you like a rat, if you don’t hand it over! You can have five minutes to decide. If you are not meeay to give it up in that time Ill make an end of you. e walked to the door of the room, followed by Joe, who had released bis prisoner, ** You can have it for two hundred, and not a cent less,” the negotiator repeated, ‘* You are in my power, boy, and it wili be worse for youif you don’t yield. You can’t es- cape from thisroom. I'll be back in fiveminutes with a rope, and yonder’s the hook you'll hang on. He pointed to a strong hook in the ceiling, as he closed and locked the door. Ned picked up his cap, which had fallen and been kicked across the room in the struggle. He seated himself on the bed to think, ** 1t’s squally, but a good deal can be done in five minutes,” he said, looking around, Oh he did in those five minutes time must Exactly five minutes afterward the door was unlocked and the two men reappeared. They looked round the room in surprise. No trace of their prisoner was visible, But the bedstead was pushed up close to the window, with the corner of a sheet tied to one of its posts, and the sheet hanging out the open window. The negotiator had flown! © CHAPTER IV, FROM THE PAN INTO THE FIRE, THE two men looked at oneanother with vary- ing expressions. There was surprise in Joe's face, there was dismay in that of the merchant. He knew much better than his man what that lost paper meant, But there was no time to spend in gazing at each other’s face, Every second counted. With a violent oath, Grip sprung to the window and looked out. The end of the sheet reached down to an open window on the second floor below. , ‘* He has climbed down and jam into that window!” yelled the baffled villain, ‘ There's not a second tolose. Follow ma, Joe,” Out of the room he plunged and cashed down the stairs to the room beneath, closely followed by his confederate, The door of the room stood wide open, A single glance into it showed that it was empty. ** To the street!” cried Grip. ‘‘ Wemusthead him off. It will be worth a hundred dollars to you, Joe, if you stop him getting to Burton’s,” Down the second flight of stairs they plunged and into the street, much to the surprise of the barkeeper, who saw them dash madly past the door of his den, If they had thought to stop and ask him, he could have told them that the boy they were after had not gone out that way. But the were too full of the necessity of haste to thin of this. To their fancy the fugitive was in the street, with a minute or two the start, Yet they were seriously mistaken. The con- spirators had overreached themselves, At that instant, while they were darting in different directions down the street in pursuit, Ned Nor- man was enjoying a lively dance in the middle of the room they had just left. How came he there? That can be toldin very few words, Their footsteps had hardly ceased sounding on the stairs before, from under the: low bedstead which had been pushed against the window, a slender form crawled, lt was the apnea ge Ned sprung into the middle of the room, and began the dance of triumph of which we have spoken, though he could hardlystand on his feet for laughter. ‘Tf I ain’t come it over old Grip there’s no use talkin’,” he said, to himself. ‘I tell you, it was cute to play that little trick with the sheet, eee eee ite ene ee _~— ——_- _ __ —— —o- — oe _ and make him think I’d mosey’d out o’ the win- der, Maybe I ain’t as smart as him, but I’ve done him up brown, He can’t have the paper now for less than a hundred, nary time;’ He stopped suddenly to listen. Somie sounds had come to bis ears. ‘*T reckon these ain’t the cosiest quarters in the world,” he said. ‘* Better git, ’fore they come shootin’ back,” Pulling his hat down over his eyes, he darted from the room, whose door the hasty pursuers had left wide open. Reaching the narrow entry, he looked and lis- tened. No one was in sight, and no suspicious sounds came from below. He ran lightly to the head of the stairs, and descended them with a ex step. e paused again to look and listen. The coast was still clear. Down the next flight he went more cautiously to the first floor. He was with- in a few steps of the street; the front door open- ed invitingly before him; but to reach it he must pene the door of the drinking-saloon, and for all he knew his foes might be lying in am- bush there. The boy had grown cautious, He had made up his mind to put that paper in the hands of Burton & Jones, and woen Ned’s mind was made up it was made up hard, He was taking no chances, ‘““{ never seen a house yet without a back door,” he muttered, ‘‘and I reckon the back door’s my right bower jist bout now.” Turning, he followed the passage cautiously backward, listening at every step. He soon found himself in a kitchen with no one in it, and with a door opening into a narrow yard. From this a gate led into an aly Os Ned was about laying his hand on the latch of the gate, when he was startled by a voice hailing him from above. ‘* What are you doing there, boy ?” He looked up. A bhard-faced woman was look- iy > of an upper window. glance convinced the quick-witted boy that he was safe. He could bea block away before that woman got down-stairs. ‘*Pm jist lookin’ ’round,” he answered, im- pudently. ‘* Got a notion to buy this place, and want to see if it’ll suit my notions,” “You raseal! You’ve been stealing. Wait there till I get down, or it will be worse for ou, me Yes, ['ll wait. I wouldn’t think o’ not wait- in’, That wouldn’t be perlite.” The woman had ieft the window, and was evi- dently making haste down-stairs. Ned the latch and gave a quick jerk to the gate. It failed to open, end he now saw what he had failed to notice—that it was fastened with a padlock, Here was an awkward complication. If he attempted to rush back through the house, he was in danger of being caught. What was to be done? He looked at the fence. It was seven feet high. But in the middle of the yard stood an empty barrel, It was the work of an instant to roll this to the fence, turn it upside down, and leap upon its bottom, The bottom gave way beneath bis feet, but he had caught the top of the fence with both hands just in time to save himself from going down into the barrel, A spring, a wriggle, a jerk or two and he was waist high with the fence-top. Another strong lift and he had one leg over, He threw the other over and fixed himself in a comfortable seat, just as the woman burst in a fury from the kitchen door, ‘* You young thief and vagabond!” she yelled. ‘‘Come back this minute and give up what you've stole, or I'll hand you over to the lice! ‘*You didn’t never try to catch a coon up a tree,ma’am?” asked Ned,impudently, ‘* You've got to coax’em down, you know. Can’t fetch em down with hard words.” f ** You impudent little villain! Come down, I say!” 4 I'd like to’blige you, ma’am, but I’ve got very epi business, Ll stop on my way back if that’l] do jist as well.” As he spoke he lowered himself down the fence, holding on with his hands, This madw *he woman more angry than ever, She fairly frothed at the mouth &s she yelled: “Stop thief! stop thief!” and ran back into the kitchen for the key of the Rate. ‘*T don’t know but what it’s about time ‘to slide,” said Ned to himself. *‘ Things are gettin’ uallier here every minute,” nosing his hold he let himself drop to the ground, He found ‘himself in a ‘sortof ‘blind Ned Norman, the Gamin Negotiator. rrr rr er sss sss sees alley, running in the rear of a row of houses, and opening into a street at a little distance. Down this he darted, for he could hear the woman running to the gate, still shouting ‘‘ Stop thief!” wita «il the power of her lungs. He reached the street just as he heard her fling the gate open behind him, It was one of the narrow streets of that locality, and was well filled with people. Ned's first impulse was to run, but second thougbts told him that if he did the woman might raise the *‘ bue and cry” on his track, Stepping into the tide of passers-by, he began to: walk ouward slowly and carelessly, trusting, that his pursuer would no} recognize him, His plan proved a wise one, She ran furious- ly to the opening of the alley, looked eagerly up avd down the street for the form of a running boy, and seeing none stood irresolute, paying no not ten feet from her. Ned took good care not to look round, but: walked steadily on until hereached an adjoining corner, round which he turned into a neighbor- ing street, ‘T reckon I’ve sold the old woman,” he said. ‘But my, wouldn’t she jerked meif she’d nab- bed me! I neversaw nobody b’ile over worse,” Ned walked on. He was safely out of the den into which he had been entrapped, had thrown his pursuers off his track, and had the coast clear before him once more, He naturally felt. jubilant, ‘*T got my dinner out of ’em, and it’s worth a. little row for a good dinner,” he soliloquized, ‘*There’s somethin’ mighty queer *bout that paper that old G ip didn’t find,” he continued, with a laugh. ‘‘He wants it back ag’in the worst way, but he can’t have it nary time for less than a cool hundred, and ’fore witnesses, I ain’t trustin’ him nohow. He says he tried to: sell me withit. It looks somehow ’s if he’d sold himself, I’ve come over here to giveit to Bur- ton and Jones, and I’m goin’ to do it.” He set his teeth in a way that showed he meant business. But where was he to find Burton & Jones? Joe said they had moved. Had they? Was not that part of the game? If they had, how was he to findthem? Why, by asking at their old. lace. Ned had made up his mind what to do, The next thing was todoit. Just where he was, or what direction he was to take, he had no idea. But ten minutes’ walk Pag ey him out into a wider street. A little inquiry now taught him the way to William street, and before long he was once more ino the vicinity of the store he was in search of. He was walking along carelessly, laughing to’ himself with some triumph, when he yf 20 with a start of surprise. Something ahead had caught his eye. He slipped into a doorway and looked again. Yes, there could be no doubt of it; that must be Mr. Grip’s back, And now the person Ned was watching turned and showed him unmistakably Mr. Grip’s face. brain. His foe, having lost him in the den into which he had been trapped, bad now put him- self on guard over Burton & Jones’s store, He. was walkingslowly up and down, Ned waited till he had turned again, and then hurried away in an opposite direction. In a few minutes more he had reached William street atthe other end of the block containing the warehouse of Burton & Jones, He was more cautious now. He had nailed Grip, but where was Joe? He squeezed himself closely sgainst the wall of the corner building and looked cautiously round. One look "9s enough. ‘T'bere was Joe, sure enough, on guurd over the other end of tae block, Ned drew back, and fell into a deep study, His foes, having lost him, had chosen the best way to find him again, and had placed them- selves at both ends of the block through which he would have to pass to reach the place he “bs which now he was sure must be in that block, But what could they do? It was the open street, with plenty of people about. He could not be dealt with there as he could in a locked room in the third story of a house. the moment strongly inclined to venture, but in the end gave it up as too risky. Grip was an ons bird, and might have some game to stop Ned turned away. He had made up his mind on the instant to give it up for thatday. He would come early the next day, and see if the track was clear. , “ > bags 4 ~* ’ A : ie ae. 2 3 heed to the boy who was walking quietly onward. - Thoughts shot quickly through Ned’s fertile: He felt for . ‘Where ‘he spent that night*we are not able to. (3 ab a — —__ = I ~3 —_ etl ee : . 1 ty tA ; > ~ , > lila? ie Cnt a. 900KS.COM ‘ we a 4 . : - )} VD | - SS | , ‘ . js > eo _— | ; L pie