Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 881 — page 2: what you’re looking at

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

Zz ‘Turkey Billy, The Shine-em-up Detective. THE GAMIN GUARDIAN, BY CHARLES MORRIS. CHAPTER I. LOVERS IN DANGER. ‘* Your turn next,sir. Haven't got my card- case with me, but my name's Billy Turk, other- wiss Turkey Billy, and if you want any recom- mendation justask the President. I gave him a jolly shine the last time he was in New York.” These words were spoken by a bright-faced boy, whose “ stamping-ground” was in and around Madison Avenue Square, New York City,and whose sparkling eyes and generally wide-awake air told that he was quite able to carry his end of the weight of the world, The box at his feetand the brushin his band were The person be addressed was a well~iressed and good-looking young man. Beside him walked a young lady, of beautiful face and at- tractive figure,and with eyes that seemed to say that she and her companion were more than mere friends. It would have needed little skijiia Duman nature, to pronounce them lovers, at sight. ‘Not y lad rH -* ~ swered the gentleman, with a smile. ‘I have c no time just now to hunt up the President.” J . a ‘Just wait then. Lill call Mr. Vanderbilt. There he goes. Lalways‘dofissbinin’. If you don’t say hisskoes are better than two lookin’- giasses |’]] trade my box to a tin peddier.” ** Ob! don’t bother me,” rephed the gentleman, impatiently. ‘*‘Some other time.” ‘*T sce how it is,” cried the boy with a sly wink. ‘“* You don’t want to comb your hair by Vanderbilt’s shoes, when you’ve got a couple of bright eyes like them to look into.” [ne daiy looked away with a bright blush. But. there was a laugh on her lips when she tu: ned back. ‘*Compliments are not in fashion, my boy,” she said lightly. ** You will have to try some other trick of trade.” **Compliments!” cried Billy, with an air of surprise. “Anda pairofeyeslikethem/ And such rosy cheeks and red lips! Why, there aren’t words evough in the Dictionary to com- pliment them! Every word I said was gospel. Now, sir, just hoist up your canai-boats on this boz.and Pll give you a shine in the kick of a ‘You don’t mean that for a compliment, I hope,” laughed the gentleman. ‘* That’s as you choose to take it. mud -scows. with the plain truth, you know. now!’ “| am getting the cream of this business, Harry,” laughed the lady. “You had better shine. That’s the best you can hope I didn’t say Lift them up, take a for.” ‘* It seems so,” he answered with a rueful air. ‘‘ He basn’t even a word tosay for the handsonie shape of my nose, por the beauty of my er- pails, Well, there’s only one way to get rid of Master Impudence.” He lifted his foot to the box. Billy seized up- on it, and briskly opened operations with his brusbes. The young street scout had been shrewd enough to know where his praise would | pay best. *T reckon you two are spoouin’,” he said, | when he had bis customer’s foot safe captive. ‘““Sparkin’, 1 mean. Settin’ up o’ nights, an’ moonin’ under the willow-trees.” The laciy turned with an impatient jerk, and walked away. ‘ Pshaw! cried the gentleman. “ Itis about time you were learning to mind your own busi- ness, boy.” ‘“‘[ reckon there isn’t any bootblack in York that can discount me at my business,” answered Billy proudly. “There ain’t a lord comes over from England but I indeed! And w last?” ‘‘ The Lord knows who!” ‘* You're 6 smart man,” ‘“You bet lam! Just as smart as they make them. Come, rig up your derrick and hoist t'other canal-boat.” ‘Harry ' talents in this business. | Harry,” rejoined the bootblack. / reckon he’d pass in a crowd i/ it was big enough. It isn’t always polite to come out | his - | iord aia you shine up .” lenghed the lady, who had returned, | “ This boy is mach too wide-awake to waste his sure Turkey Billy. | You said you needed a smart boy in your office, He might answer.” Billy had evidently got on the right side of ——— the young lady,in spite of her assumed dislike | | be followed the unconscious pair in ac’ance. of compliments. “‘['m the chap for your money!” cried Billy enthusiastically. trade, and wouldn’t mind being cashier of a bank or treasurer of a gold-mine or sometbing, ‘** Well, you’re modest, at any rate. Can you read and write?” ‘** You ought to see me sling ink! ’most read Latin. lish if the words weren’t so full of busses /’ ‘“* Tf they were just like English, eh? Can you cipher?” **Can I cipher? Fork over your cash for that job and see if I don’t give you the right change out of an X.” ‘*T have no time to talk with you now. Here is your money,and here is my card., Come to my office to-morrow afternoon and I will see what you are good for.” ‘*Good for? [Pm good for wheat, you bet!” rejoined Billy, as he replaced the brushes in his box. ‘*‘ But il know how itis. Been there my- self. I’m sparkin’a littie gal down our way. She’s scrumptious too, [ tell you!” ‘* Then I ain’tscrumptious,” laughed the lady. * Oh, you get out! Take him away, and don’t let him stumble over no stones takin’ your eyes for diamonds.” ‘* Nelly,” said the gentleman, ‘“‘this young man has first-class taste. Suppose we sit down and—”’ **T have bad enongh of his taste,” she replied, tossing her head roguiskly. ““T see; ’cause l’ve nothin’ to say for Mr, ‘*He’'ll do. | And I can Good-by! lil toddle down to-morrow. And I | want an invite to the wedding, mind that.” his box over his shoulder, Turkey ked off, leaving a warm blush on the Tossin Billy w | lady’s cheek and a Jook of hopeful desire in the gentieman’s eyes. ‘* Nelly,” he whispered, seizing and pressing : her hand, ‘Sif even the bootblacks can see our love, it is time we wefe taking this sharp boy’s suggestion. When shall it be, love?” ‘* You have had my answer already on that,” she replied, walking away with an air of dis- pleasure, ‘* Why will you make me repeat it?” He followed somewhat sheepishly. Evident- ly, for some reason or other, the course of their true love had not run smooth, They had hardly disappeared from the scene, before Billy was back again, and now dodg‘ng behind a tree, he looked after them with a sly smile on his intelligent face. ‘* T didn’t plaster it on half thick onough,” he muttered. ‘‘Sugar-house molasses isn’t nothin’ alongside of their sweetness. If there were any bees about, the whole bive would settle down on | them for honey. They’re just the jolliest pair of spoons that ever eat their taffy off of one stick,” Further comments from the fun-loving boy were prevented by the entrance of two other persons upon the scene. One of these was a tall, slender, well-~iredsed man, with thin lips and sharp nose. There was a sinister expression in his eyes as he looked after the pair of lovers. His companion was marked by a rough dress, which had some pretense to amartness, and an unpleasant face on which the word villain seem- ed written in plain accents. They gazed cautiously around them. The coast seemed clear. Billy had suddenly shrunk from sight, wholly bebind the tree, observing the peculiar aspect of these new-comers, whom his quick senses had ‘spotted” as suspicious characters. ‘You see them!” remarked the gentleman, pointing to the lovers, wbo were, of course, un- conscious of this espionage. “ey moyght, if ’'d brung my double-barreled telescopes, wiled the other. “I kin jist ‘bout make ‘em out with a pair of or’nary eyes.” “Suppose you save your smartness, J for somebody that will appreciate it,” rejoi i the other in a tone of anger. ‘“ Listen to me, now. You see that pair?” “Them softies! by, she’s tuk his arm, 'Reckon they'll be kissin’ next. right out o’ | doors.” Jenkins spaton the ground as if he bad ) -~ an unpleasant taste in his mouth. ‘*| want you to follow them. See where they and what they d’o Don’t be too sure that | Bey are lovers, It is not unusual for a lady to takea tleman’sarm. (lf you can find any that they are lovers bring word to I could rattle ié off like Eng- | ‘I’m getting too old for this | | the man, nD | Le - — — oe | left. me. You understand! Well, go r°W- 0 lose sight of them.” Jenkins slouched on without answ- was something very sneaking in his #&nner as Billy, who was now peeping curid@siy from his post, saw the look of spite upon ti© face of His bands were clinched, 20d he stamped violently upon the ground. ‘*T wil! have her!” he hissed. “ I feaPasome- thine like this, but I had no evidence before. So, Harry Weston is the favored one! That I did not draam of. He shali not stam 42 my path,” he continued with almost flerce ¢Cision. ‘I will ruin him before besvall rob met that girl, Sheis the only woman I ever lovd, and I fear she despises me, But, she shall be™mine she shall be mine! Harry Weston, wise & you deem yourself, you do not know the danger you are in!” He shook his fist with an aspect of rage after the lovers as he turned and walked anerily away,gnawing his lips with spite as be did so. He bad but fairly gone when Billy emerged from behind his tree, placed his box on end.on the ground, seated himself upon it, and dropped his chin on his two.palma ‘* Well!’ he broke out. is sugar in my coffee, isn’t mp ties too, | reckon,” e looked first to the right and then to the The last ‘* Here’s riches! This And butter on ‘+7? Aw: Both parties were still in sight. | speaker was moving slowly and moodily away as if buried in deep thought. Billy sprung to his feet, folded his arms, and began to stride with a theatrical tread up and down the pavement, while his brows were drawn down in high-tragedy fashion. ‘* Harry W eston!—villain !—you’ve robbed me of my swvetbeart!” he ejaculated in his deepest tones. ‘* Yourdog’sdead! Your goose’scookea! She shall be mine—mine—mine/ or 1 | tear a board ofi the cow-shed. Vi Be-ware! and Turkey Billy stamped his foot and wrinkled his brows with the air of an Edwin Forrest. The next moment, however, a new fancy seemed to strike him. He flung his cap into the air, burstinto a fit of laughte>, and broke into a lively dance. ‘This is jolly, rich and gay, and I’m goin to see it through,” he declared. ** Which shail I take after?” he continued, following the differ- ent parties with his eyes. ‘** The last one, I reckon. J know where to find Harry Weston. This chap is my game now. If 1 don’t nail him Pll sell out and gobble-gobble-gobble fer a Dime Museum freak.’ He grasped his box and ran after the vanisb- ing stranger. But he did not succeed in nailin him as he had threatened. The gentleman ha reached a station of the Elevated, and before Billy conld get up the steirs and gain the plat- form, his quarry was flying away on 4 train which be had just been in time to catch. ‘*Sold! cried the boy, seating himself on b box, with a rueful look, ‘“* Dished this ti But, I'll come out rightside up yet! If I do you can take my commission away as bootbla extraordinary to the President!” CHAPTER II. TURKEY BILLY S NEW SITUATION, Ox the morning of the second day after that of the scene just described, Turkey Billy might have been seen, with box on shoulderauda bighly independent air upon his face, lounging along the down-town streets of New York. As he passed on his way he looked carefully at the numbers over the doors, as if in search of some particular locality. ‘*Number 125. Edward Morton, Commission Merchant. I reckon thaf’s the shanty. Ill just toddle in without knockin’, and see if the folks of the house are at home.” The observing lad passed into the wide hall, lined on each side with offices, On ome door was inscribed the name ‘‘ Edward Morton.” Billy at once opened this door, and found himself in a large room fitted up with desks, typewriting machine, telephone, and all other essentials of a busy business center. An open acreen divided off oneend of the room. Behind it were a washstand, a wardrobe, and ap iron safe set in the wall. A second door to the left led into an interior room, probably used as a private office. ly, who had walked in with all the inde- pendent boldness of a genuine gamin, paused ~~ him, There was po person ‘* Bless my eyes, if don’t queer old hours here!" he ejaculated. “ Past a and nobody aboard yet! I wonder if they’re Be Sand & 2282 244 6 There : : : : . : ; : J é '