Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 869 — page 5: what you’re looking at

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

Ned Norman, the Gamin Negotiator. “gay. The weather was warm and he was used y val Say to outdoor oS @ snooze on a wharf or under a box was no hardship to him, Business had only fairly begun when he again approached the contested locality. He came up with great care and looked through the street. Neither of bis foes were visible. With a chuckle of triumph the boy darted forward, looking eagerly for the number of the store he sought. He was suddenly checked in his career. A man sprung from a doorway and clutched nim vigorously by the arm. There looked down on him the sneering, triumphant face of Mr. Grip. ** So t have found you at last, you young run- away!” he exclaimed. ‘‘ You will come with me now to your poor mother, whose heart you have nearly broken.” | The captive struggled. Some of the passers- by halted and looked on with surprise, **He is my son, who ran away from home a week ago,” explained Mr, Grip. ‘I have been hunting him high and low.” : **Tt isn’t so!” cried Ned, indignantly. ‘‘ I am not his son, nor no relation to him.” ‘*That won't do,” said another voice. “ I can vouch for Mr, Nelson that you are his son.” It was Joe who spoke, He bad suddenly appear- ** Will some one call a policeman?” asked Grip, as Ned continued to struggle. ‘“‘I can prove my claim, and wish to take my boy home to his distracted mother,” Ned ceased to struggle. The game of his cap- tor was a well-laid one, If he played it well it was sure of success, The boy was sharp enough to recognize that he was in a scrape, ‘All right, I will go with you,” he said, ** And if you get that paper I hope it willdo you good,” he thought. CHAPTER V, THE CUCUMBERS DID IT. Mr. Gries scheme had been well chosen’ _ Ned was wise enough to perceive that his cap- tor beld the winning hand, and that he could gain nothing by resistance, He judged it best to goalong quietly, andto trust to chance for an escape from the trap into which be had fallen. They returned to the building from which he had recently escaped. Mr. Grip watched him like a hawk, and kept a hand on his arm, until they were safely within the entrance hall of this buidiag. Then he turned to speak in a low tone with Joe, still keeping a'tight hold on ‘the boy’s collar. Ned ssemed submissive. He had taken off his hat,and stood with his eyes cast down, fumbling in its lining, _He.looked as sheepish as a boy who has earned and expects a whipping, and as if be was fumbling in mere helplessness. Yet there was something fox-like in the sharp glance he cast on his captor as he withdrew one hand from his cap. In that hand was concealed a closely-folded square of paper. This hand, still closed, he thrust into his pocket. “Come on, now,” said Mr, Grip, while Joe turned and left the house.’ ‘ You will not get away so easy this time, my lad,” Ned quietly followed him up-stairs. The boy wasas demure as a rabbit. But he had not erren up. In fact, there was no give up in him, de was all grit from head to foot. ** Hey! there’s that dratted boy now!” cried a shrill voice, and Ned’s late acquaintance rushed out of a room on the second floor, ‘**‘ What are you doing back here? Want to steal gee des more?” The termagant seized him by the shoul- ders and shook him roundly. ‘* What's all this? Did he steal anything from you?’ asked Mr. Grip, ‘‘ He tried to, but I chased him off. But he climbed up the back fence and gave me impu- dence, the dratted young street-rat!” She shook Ned again as a cat might shake a mouse, ‘**The back fence,eh? So that was the way you went?” queried Grip, ‘*Reckon: so,” answered Ned, stolidly. “Thought you mought bo waitin’ out front, and didn’t want to give you no trouble,” — **¥ou rascal! PU give you trouble enough yet!” hissed the incensed captor, *“Come; get!” cried the woman. ‘I won't trust you here, Be off, while I keep my tem- r. * All right. If you don’t want my company Idon’t want yourn. I'll git,” answered Ned turning on his heel, and making a dart toward -. the stairs, Grip had let go of him in his surprise at the woman’s assault. But he was too keen to be caught cep . He watched the boy likea hawk, and Ned had not made three steps to- ward the stairs before he was after him with a leap. He grabbed him by the collar and jerked him ' violently back, **That won’t do, youngster. That game’s too old to playon me. Nevermind this boy, ma’am, Pll take care he don’t steal anything from you or any one,” ‘*] never stole nothin’ from you,” said Ned doggedly,as his captor dragged himon, ‘* You done ’bout all the stealin’ when you wouldn’t pay me my twelve dollars,” ** Come, now; and hold your tongue,” The captive was dragged up to the rcom he had formerly occupied. Once in there Grip locked the door, seated him violently in a chair, and took another opposite bim,. Fixing hia small, gimlet-like eyes firmly on Ned, he sat in oho watching the wriggling and uneasy oy. Fifteen or twenty minutes passed, without a word being spoken, ‘Then Ned could stand it no longer. He gave a sort of war-whoop, sprung to his feet, and began a violent dance. ‘*Don’t want to grow fast and turn into a mummy,” he explained. ‘‘ Ain’t got no more bricks you want piled, nor nothin’, Mr. Grip?” Grip continued to watch him sourly and stern- ly, saying, nothing, but not for an instant losing sight of bis prisoner, At this moment there came a step on the floor outside, The door was tried and then shaken. ** (Some in!” cried Grip, ‘*T can’t. The door 1s locked,” answered the voice of Joe. ‘¢ Ves, yes; I forgot.” He rose and went to the door, losing sight of his prisoner for a single instant, That instant was enough for the alert and quick-witted boy, who had been all this time waiting for his opportunity. His hand was withdrawn hastily from his pocket, and some- thing was thrown with a quick fling under the bed. When Grip turned his head again, after unlocking the door, his captive was still danc- ing. ‘* Hello!” cried Joe, looking at ) ‘* W hat’s the matter with the kid?’ ‘*No matter what. Let him alone til! we’re ready, Did you get them?” eV Cay” He opened a bundle which was under his arm and spread out a suit of boy’s clothes on the table. Ned stopped dancing and opened his eyestin surprise, ‘* Now, youngster,” said Grip, with a meaning look, ‘‘ lm going to treat you to a new suit of clothes.” , ** Me?” exclaimed Ned, in seeming delight, ‘*Yes, you. lowe you some money,and have laid it out in clothes for you.” ‘*Toat’s hokey! I wanted some new duds jist the wu’st kind, Much ’bliged, Mr. Grip,” and Ned began dancing more vigorously than ever, ‘Call a halt there!” cried Joe. ‘‘ Youre a good deal too previous, young man. Come, strip off your rig and put these on, I want to see how they fit.” Nothing loth, Ned obeyed, denuded himself completely of his well-worn clothes, and put on the new ones, which certainly fit him very well, and gave him a much more respectable appeéar- 1 curiously, ance, ‘Ain't ye got a lookin’-glass handy?’ he queried. ‘‘[ want to take myself in, and see what sort of a lookin’ dude I make,” ‘*You are taken in without a glass,if that’s what you want,” rejoined Grip, triumphantly. ‘The paper’s nowhere about you now, that’s certain. Andif it’s in these clothes, as 1 know it is somewhere, I’) have it,” _** Maybe it’s hid in oy Ber You didn’t ’ves- tigate that,” suggested Ned, Mr. Grip looked at his hair. It was cut so close that a razor would have had little to work a 4nd there was not room for a mosquito to 1ide. ‘You want a cowhiding, you reprobate!” eried the irate merchant. ‘“‘But that reminds me, I forgot to search your cap yesterday.” Ned gave a start as if of Hemay. ‘Hal I touched you there, did 1? I judge I’ve got\the best of the game now, my lad, You may go, We dop’t want you any longer.” **Me? Imay go? You ain’t in earnest?” ** Yes. Get; slide; vamose,” said Joe, ‘* Van- ish before | kick you down-stairs.” Ned started with a show of great haste for the door, On reaching it, however, he turned, 5 walked back and seated himself iu the chair he had recently quitted, ‘*Y calculate Ill stay till grub-time’s over,” he announced, ‘* You dunno how holler I am, I want some more of them beef and pertaters, they guv us yesterday.” ‘*Go, now; vone of your nonsense,” ‘* Nonsense! when a feller ain’t bad a bite for a whole day and night! I jist ain’t goin’ with- out a lunch, that’s dead level.” Mr. Grip looked at Joe, ‘“*The youngster must be hungry,” said the latter, ‘* Well, order him up a lunch, We can search these rags while he’s eating.” Joe repaired down-stairs, and in a few min- utes returned with the materials for a satisfac- tory mea], It was all cold, but Ned was too hungry to mind that, tle ate like a young hyena, while his captors set themselves to a thorough examination of his discarded clothing, The cap was first investi- gated—torn to pieces, in fact, in their eagerness —but nothing came from it, Ned watched them from a corner of his eye as he went on eating, There was a look of disappointment on Mr, Grip’s face, but he said nothing. They were about half through with their task when Ned at length rose, having left a desert of empty plates behind him, ‘Them was mighty prime, Much ’bdliged, Reckon [ll go now, if nobody ain’t got no ob- jections,” ‘Very well. Go,” said Mr, Grip. Ned walked independently toward the door, But he had not reached it before a change came over his aspect, A look of pain distorted his face, he clapped both bands to his stomach and uttered a yell of anguisb, ‘‘Ow! ow! ow!” he screamed, ‘I’m jist full 0’ blazin’ coals! Ow! ow! ow!” He writhed back and forth over the floor bent nearly double, and with bis hands clasped tightly to his stomach, while his yells of pain grew still louder. The two men sprung up, Joe ran to him, caught bim by the shoulder, and shook him violently. ‘““What’s the matter? What ails you?” he demancled. ‘*1t’s them cowcumbers! coweumbers! Ow! ow!,ow!” Wriggling from Joe’s grasp, he fell on the I can’t never eat | flcor, and rolled and writhed like a person in mortal agony. ‘*The youngster’s got a fit of cramp-colic,” said Mr. Grip. ‘‘ Cucumbers on an empty stomach—l don’t wonder. Run down, Joe, and get him a glass of whisky. We don’t want him to die on our hands,” Joe hastily obeyed, while the howling boy continued to roll and wriggle, He brought up at length half under the bed, Severe as bis ain seemed to be his eyes were wide open and ooking over the floor keenly, Suddenly his hand closed on a little lump of rolled up paper, Then he began to wriggie and howl worse than ever, keeping it up till he was in the centre of the floor again, By this time Joe had returned, with a glass half full of whisky, He caught the writhing boy by the shoulder, and forced him into a sit- ting position. ‘*Open your mouth now. this. It will do you good.” Ned obeyed and swallowed a mouthful of the fiery stuff, though it half-choked him and brought tears from bis eyes, He sat upright, sighing and moaning, but no longer yelling as before, : ‘* That seems to have touched the right epot. Give him some more,” said Grip, Joe,forced him to swallow another mouthful. This brought him to his feet, coughing as if he was half-strangled. ‘* Don’t you feel better now?” ‘‘'Yes; that kinder fotched the fire; but it *most choked me,” ‘* Take another sup,” ‘*No,no! Idon’twant nomore, I’m all right now. Guess Ill go,” cried Ned hastily, by no means relishing the strong drink, He walked to the door with an appearance of great feebleness. With the same feeble step he proceeded along the passage, and down the first steps of the stairs, giving a low moan now and then. | But he was no sooner fairly out of sight tnan a look of triumph came into his face, . He drew his hand from his pocket and looked at the rolled ball of paper it held, and then thrust it back with a low laugh of satisfaction. ‘‘Tt was the cowcumbers did it,” he said to himself with a sly look. Swallow: some of ‘ ’ ‘ - . 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