Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 889 — page 2: what you’re looking at

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

: 3 . ——— « Wee x aa” bd we __- + -* Oe al + > q eee A FT . ‘ hs + oe eS A 7 . > é - New York Nat’s Deadly Deal. No; I do not know him, but I never forget a face.” ‘* You have seen him before then?” ‘Yes; but I cannot now say when or where,” ‘‘Then why decide that he is no gentle- man?” ‘‘ Because I never forget a face, be it good or bad, man or woman, and I would stake my life on it that he is at heart a base vil- lain whatever he may now appear to be.” ‘‘ Well, Nat, you do read faces and char- acters wolaeulty well, and are seldom mistaken; but I would say that the one you denounce is & very handsome maja, refined, elegant and a gentleman, while the lady with him is certainly very beautiful, a most lovable face, one that, is the index of a noble nature,” ‘* She ig all that, sir; I can swear to that.” ‘*Do you know her?” é¢ if do.” “Who is she?” ‘*Do you rememoer the day I was hurt, stopping a pair of runaway horses in the Park?” ‘* Yes, and it was very nearly a fatal acci- dent to you, Nat.” ‘‘It was, and yet not so bad as was at first supposed, Sis. ‘*T saw that the coachman had lost con- trol of his horses, and that in the carriage was g young lady, while the driveway was crowded with vehicles. ° ‘But I took big chances and checked the horses, one of them striking me the blow on my head which cut to the bone and stun- ned me. ‘‘'There were others to give help then; the sa ay got control of the horses, and when I became conscious I was in a luxuri- ously furnished room, and several persons were present, one of them a doctor who was bending over me. ‘‘I did not wish to be there, so I played possum, watched my chance, and a couple of hours after when the nurse was alone and asleep, I slipped out of the bed, hastily dress- ed and escaped from the house unseen.” ‘Yes, you wrote me you had a story to tell me of your accident, Nat, and I have been anxious to hear it; but why did you steal out of the house like a thief in the night?” ‘‘Because it would never have done for my clothes to have been searched and the discovery made that I was New York Nat, the chief of the Unknown Boy Police, the. leader of the mysterious young ferrets, who have so well served the great chief of the Secret Service Bureau of New York, and yet have been to him a mystery he could not fathom. | “Oh, no, Lhad with me the sole badge of our Secret League, Olive, and my note- book, and papers; all of which would betray me; so [ determined to escape and did so, The blow on the head had only stunned me, the doctor had dressed the wound, and though dizzy I was able to go, and did.” ‘* And where had you been taken?” _** To the home of the young lady whom I had saved, for she had me placed in the car- riage and drove with me straight to her home, | ‘‘Then she sent for the doctor, and had the servants carry me to one of the best rooms in the house.” ' | ‘‘ She was.a noble girl, Nat.” ‘* Yes. and there she sits over there.” ‘The one with the man you denounced just now?” ‘‘-Yes, the one with the man who I say is a villain,” | “ And yet, she should not be one to b with such a man,” : | ‘« She cannot, does not know him as he is,” ‘‘ Ah! you think he is sailing under false colors?” 7 at ‘* Beyond all doubt.” ‘‘ And whois she, Nat?” ‘‘ Miss Maybel Kingdon, the daughter of Millionaire Kingdon, the banker.” ‘* Yes, Ihave heard of her, and that she and her brother are the banker’s only heirs.” ‘Yes, and Craig Kingdon, her brother, lives a very fast life, I have heard, though I have never seen him.” ‘* What are you doing here?” ** Pocket lifting. ‘¢ What is your game, Zip?” ‘* About ther same.” ‘* How’s business?” ** Good,” ‘*The same with me; but where does you ‘* But what must they all have thought of | hang.out?” your leaving as you did?” **T do not know, Miss Kingdon had driven her rescuer to her ‘‘[ has a job ina store I intends to strike I saw inthe papers that | big some night.” “Tm with you, and you go pards with home, fearing he was fatally wounded, bnt | me?” that he had modestly departed, giving no | clue to his identity. ‘* That was all that was said about it, but I am sorry to see her now with a man who | ‘* What’s yer racket?” ‘‘Gold and revenge!’ was the decided re- sponse. ‘‘ Whose done yer that yer wishes ter knife am sure is a scoundrel; and more, Sis, 1 will | him?” prove him to be, for I know his face, and yet, ‘‘Does yer see that young fellow sittin’ when and where I have seen it I cannot now | over thar?” recall,” was New York Nat’s determined re- ply to his sister and ally in Secret Service work, eS CHAPTER II. CONVICT PALS, ‘Say, pard; I knows you.” The man who uttered the words spoke in a low tone, and addressed one who sat at the small table with him listening to the Garden Concert which New York Nat and his sister Olive had also attended, and where the for- mer had recognized Maybel Kingdon, whose life he had saved, accompanied by a gentle- man whom Nat had denounced. | The man who heard the words that open this chapter, started, turned livid in the glare of the electric lights, and, dropping his hand upon an ugly knife he carried, leant forward and hissed forth: ‘* Waal, ter know me is worth your life, so jist git up and come with me, or I'll knife yer before all this gang, ‘‘T says come, and don’t yer breathe or look suspicious.” ‘Don't git excited, pal, for I is one o’ your kind,” said the other in an unmoved way. _** What does yer mean?” ‘**T says I knows yer.” ) “And I says it’s as much as yer life is worth ter do so.” ‘Yer is Killer Bill.” ‘1 want ter know more.” | ‘‘ You was in for life for murder, escaped, got into another killin’ scrape and was tuk back, and yer escaped three months ago ag’in, though yer had to kill ther guard ter do so,” ‘‘“Who is you, I asks?” and the man called Killer Bill grasped his knife more firm- ne cite, I about him was a crowd of several thousand people listening tothe playing of the band, , He and his comrade sat slightly apart in the shadow of a tree, and before him was a half-finished glass of beer and a sandwich. ‘“T war in Cell Twenty-Seven at the prison,” : “ aa you are Zip Ralston.” é am. ”? The man stretched his hand across the table and said: ‘‘ Shake! we are Convict Pals, and there is a price on our heads.” ‘* Yes, and a big one.” ‘* How did you git away?” ‘*T was watcher over a dead chum, and took his place in the coffin. ‘‘ When they took me out to bury mel rose from the dead and skipped!” ‘You bet you scared them as was totin’ ou.” j ‘‘ They hain’t done runnin’ yit,” and both men laughed. os ‘Yes, I recognizes you now, though I think yer is rigged up out o’ yer condition.” ‘‘As youis, for you is togged out like a ent.” . | ‘‘Yas, I has ter be ter throw the ferrets off my trail, and you gave me a scare, when you said you know’d me,” | . SO let us git on their track,” an ‘‘The one with ther pretty gal?” ‘‘Yes. Well, he’s a detective.” ‘The deuce you say!” ‘‘ Yas, he’s ther one that kilt my pard, Red Fred, and sent me back to live in a stone rave,” ‘That boy?” ‘«The same.” ‘You recognize him then?” ‘« Well, I'll tell you that the papers says I was run down and Fred kilt by some unknown detective, the authorities either did not know, or kept out of sight for reasons, ‘‘ But, that’s the one that pinked Red Fred and got me, and now I’m goin’ to git even.” ‘‘T don’t blame yer, and I'll help yer, for if he works as an Unknown he is more to be dreaded than an out and out detective or CO >? ‘*You bet he is! and, young though he be, he’s got sand and nerve for half a dozen men,” : ‘‘He and the gal seems ter be keepin’ their eyes on the handsome gent and lady over yonder.” ‘‘T know them, too.” __ ‘You has stylish acquaintances, Bill.” ‘* You bet I has! and J means ter use ’em. Just bet on that, too!’’ ‘* Who is they ?”’ **The lady is the darter of the rick banker, Kingdon, what lives in a palis on one of the swell streets here, and the gent is her lover, and it is going to cost him sumthin’ now | is out o’ ther grave.” ‘You has a pull on him then?” ‘“Waal I just has! But, see here, Zip; I is gine I met yer, for we can work together and make money.” \ ‘* You bet we can.” : _ Remember, I has first to track that young ferret, for he’s to be my game for re- venge, and then we kin go into business to- gether,”’ | ‘‘T’m with yer, Killer Bill.” ‘Drop my Christian name, Zip, and jist call me Bill, see? | ‘¢ And more—I must chang a trifle as you recognized me.” ‘‘ Well, I first seen that yer middle finger on-yer left hand were gone; and then when you looked straight at me it brought back to my mind Cell No, Thirty-Two at the ee so I spoke to you and yer actions and voice convinced me,’ ‘Yes, I must be more careful, and as the finger won’t grow out ag’in, like a crab’s e my make-up stuff the finger out. ‘* But the young ferret and gal is goin’, so the two Con- vict Pals arose and followed New York Nat and Olive away from the Concert Garden, : nih pete papememnaesd CHAPTER ITI. TOO FLY FOR THEM. | ‘‘OLIVE, we are shadowed,” said New gone very far from the garden concert. ‘“Why, Nat, what makes you think so?” Eo 2@ claw, I’ll jist wear a glove on this hand and — York Nat, before his sister and himself had | ~ “= uf eatiel - * Fe * , * . . ~*~ ee eh Ue teers, = ny — . «io oF «3 7 os — ~ = . As Pa es Pog. ~~ ¥ ee ee ry e- . : - * — . . -+-< — Se <= =z “ a + ; » — , + o o oy aa , —- , \ Pa — 7 3 . « * am, 7 aT. i- ¥.- Stage ~~ = = ~~ a a Ske’ ~ ~- ae = > * . ea oa — ‘ - - hoe