Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 890 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

oe ees + ef ee ee Messenger 999. ‘* Won’t you tell me what the matter is?” Ace | envelope no new one to bim=—it was that of ‘‘Such seems to be the fact, but I'll call on n> asked, | | Bellbar, the detective who had charge of Old | Leigh.” § **T can't.” Nat Hicks’s case. The detective wrote a note of thanks to Clark ‘* But you ought to tell your father.” He took the message at once. It was directed | & Tay, and sent it away by Ace High, ‘*T say no—a thousand times, no!” to Bellbar’s house, and he found the latter in. The messenger went ina troubled frame of mind. Having heard all that had been read and said, he could not take a dark view of the case. He gave scarcely a thought to the fact that Mr, antly directed him to sit down until he sawif | Leigh declared the money bad been locked up in | the message required an answer. He tore open | the company’s safe all the while; his whole at- the envelope anil read the contents, Suprise, | tention was riveted upon the fact that Marker, wonder and indecision at once became visible | Gane & Leigh,who had paid the money to Clark in his face, and, after studying the note for | & Tay, were Harry Tildrake’s employers, some time, he turned to his friend, ‘Tt looks darker and darker against Harry ‘‘ Well, here is a mystery for you. You | all the while,” Ace thought, »s he wended his remember what I told you about my lost-money | way toward the telegraph-office. ‘*‘ He prob- case?” ably changed the stolen money for bills safer to “* Yes.” pass,” ' Me ‘* Listen to these documents, and see what Then a new idea occurred to the boy. you make of them, Here is Number One, writ- ‘““Whatif this Leigh is not the honorableman ten by Clark & Tay, brokers, to Nathaniel | he claims to be? Whatif he stole Hicks’s money, Hicks, the man who was robbed,” and Harry is shielding him from a mistaken Bellbar bad drawn a letter from his pocket, | motive of friendship? By George! [am going and he now read aloud: to turn detective myself and look into this mat- ter. It won’t do any harm to shadow s>me of these men. I'll start out this very evening!” CHAPTER IX, NOT FOUND WHEN WANTED. DETECTIVE BELLBAR found all the members of the firm of Marker, Gane & Leigh in when he called at their private office, He explained who he was, and was cordially / invited to sit down, oe ‘‘ We are glad you have come,” observed Mr, ax Marker, ‘‘for we wished to see you—or, at least some representative of your case. Since a Mr. Leigh was at Clark & Tay’s we bave seen a detective who, at present, isin our own employ, and he has given us leave to tell plainly what he ** What good will xr do by putting it off?” He had just finished lunch, and had a guest ‘*] won’t tell, at all.” who looked as if he, too, might be a detective, ‘‘ Harry, you can depend upon one thing—the police are hold of this case, and they are going to siftit to the bottom. They will get at all the facts, and, when they do, no mercy will be shown those who are guilty. 1 advise you to speak out, and let your father and your other friends lelp you while theycan. Itcan be fixed up now; later, it can’t be, perhaps,” ‘* We have talked enough on this subject, Ace. Of course I can’t expect you to sacrifice your- self for me, and if you fear you will get into trouble you can tell the cops that I left the 7? boarding-house, not in the early morning, but -* in the middle of the night. As for me, my lips aby are closed?” — % pag ace rose suddenly, and made a movement Sree ¥ Belibar recognized Ace at once, and pleas- a O— Cr+ 0, ‘* Harry, I hate to have you leave so,” hee ‘* [t can’t be helped,” : Wa ‘* Tet me work dor you,” a! 6é You?” ** Dar Sirn:—We have read in the afternoon pa- ers of y: ur misfortune, and tender our deep regrets. e hope you may be ableto r coverall you have me, lost, and think we may aid youat ifle. The news. RS ** Yes,” pense says you havethe number ot none of your . ‘“* What can you do?” ost bank-notes. If you number amorg the lost wi ‘ ' 66 Well, I don’t know until I find out what’s to | those We levently gave you, we will sav that wehave q M4 | be done, but I can hustle around and do my the numbers. Wegav,+ you twenty-five twenties as best.” change fora five huadred, This money we had just mee 2 ry . made up, with other bills, to send fo Boston by Ex- oF No use, Ace, I’ve got to go on the current, | press Hence, though we gave you a part, we still ae and let it carry me where it will, If it’s into eh harbor, all well and good ; if onto the breakers, good-by! That’s all. ‘*One thing more. If you know where Hicks’s ri oor A ai to, it is your duty to help him get nave all of the numbers. Herewith you will finda list of those you received, the rumber of each, acd the bank which issued it. OLARK & Tay.’ **One member of this firm,” proceeded Bell- bar, ‘‘ was once in Michigan for his health. it bac There he met Nat Hicks. When the latter a | ‘ I know nothing about his money!” came to New York, he called upon the firm, | had asked us before to keep secret.” 4 ee / Tildrake’s mood took another turn, and he | and, later, his money being wholly in large ‘‘T shall be glad to hear you,” Bellbar an- is ey spoke so irritably tbat Ace dropped the subject. | bills, went to them to get those of smaller de- | swered, ; | Me) » saw that the clerk was firm in his purpose, | nominations in place of a five-hundred. It is Marker then told plainly of the mysterious Hea Mey and he determined not to interfere with him any | to this that the letter refers,” visit of the unknown burglar who had forced a Ry further. ** T see,” | | open their safe, rummaged the interior com- roe ei, They walked together in utter silence as long | ‘‘ Clark & Tay sent this to Hicks last night, | pletely, and yet failed to take away the roll of a ae rey as their ways were one, and then Ace paused. thinking it would be of value. It was, of | bank-notes which Mr. Leigh found there, all (Cara Ne Ss ‘*T leave you here, Harry,” Le remarked. course, for Hicks had spent but little of the | safe, the next morning, | ae ‘Yes, Good-night!” — money received, and I now had the numbers of “We were owing Clark & Tay,” explained | ‘why Tildrake spoke mechanically, and kept on his | over four hundred dollars’ worth,” Marker, Gad as Mr. Leigh intended to go at oh ‘¢' You are in luck,” ‘* Wait! There is more.” Bellbar glanced at Ace High, He had been speaking in a voice which he thought so low that the messenger could not overhear what he said, but he wanted to be sure of the fact. Ace looked innocent and absent-minded, but be had sharp hearing, and not a word had es- caped him, ‘*T called on Clark & Tay,” continued Bell- bar,” and the result has been that a singular fuct has been reported to me direct, Listen, once more!” Again he read aloud, and in these words: “*Dear Srr:i—We consider it our duty to inform you of a peculiar circumstance which has just come to light. Messrs. Marker, Gane & Leigh have been indebted to us to the amount of $300. To-day the unior member of their firm called and paid the bill. Vhile couotiug the cash given u I happened to no- tice the number of atwenty-dollar bank-note which went to make up the sum and recoguized it as cone we had given Nathaniel Hicks, and, presumably, one of those stolen from him. Investigationshowed that there were seven bills of like denomination in the roll, allof which, we can testify, were among those we gave Hicks, ‘* Now, Mr. Bellbar, comes the strange part: ‘** Thinking I had made an important discovery I asked Mr, Leich where and when they had received the money. His replywaspeculiar Hestated that he did not know how that was, but when I issinuat- go from indiscretion to crime. ed that the date must be recent, he said that the Ace bad never believed this, He thought he tos nedina: been in their safe since two o’clock knew Harry to be honest, and had expected to | ‘+: When we stop toconsider that Hicks wasrobbed way, apparently balf-unconscious of what he was doing. His face was toward his father’s house, and the messenger hoped he would go there at once, As for Ace, he went to the boarding-house, and to bis reom. There he sat down to think once to their place of business, he said be would take the money in cash and save the trouble of a check, He counted out three bundred dollars, and sent the rest of our cash to the bank, but was prevented from getting to Clark & Tay’s that day. Asaresult, the three bundred dol- lars was left in the safe that night, The next day we held it out of curiosity, but to-day Mr, are Leigh took it to Clark & Tay. That’s the story Bs in brief,” ‘ria ‘* Yet, according to Clark & Tay, there were one Wem in that package seven twenty-dollar bills which , Bays. oh. they had given Nathaniel Hicks, and which, ac- a cording to him, remained in his possession up to sti midnight, Tuesday,” ‘* Exactly.” ‘‘As bank-notes, unlike men, never have genuine doubles, it follows that, if they were locked in your safe, Hicks did not have them.” | ‘* Naturally.” ‘‘ Has your detective decided why your bur- glar ent money in the safe?” ‘No ie, over what bad occurred. , ee He could not understand it at all, but one may? thing appeared to be certain—Headstrong Har- ef knew something about the taking of Nat _ Hicks’s money, If he was not the thief—and Ace did not believe he was—he knew, or strong- De, ly suspected, who the guilty person was, Yes, ia - more than that: hohad admitted that he was A FB enmeshed thereby, and this showed that he had pe > kno ledge of the crime, before or after its per- at petration, ‘S| ‘“‘t'm afraid he’s inan awful fix, and it’s no yi use to hope that the facts won’t come out, ’m thinking. The police are sharp on the trail, and they will probably learn all about it. Harry is very foolish not to tell what he knows, I don’t see why he don't tell,if he isinnocent. And I’m pure he 7s innocent.” : Ace tried to believe what he had last asserted, | put it was a hard thing to do, ; For years he had been accustomed to hear peorie prophesy evilof young Tildrake, Every- ly knew he was wild, reckless, headstrong, and addicted to the keeping of bad company, aud they bad not been slow to say that he would aes oe ~ Pes 3" =, | Tr. ‘* Has he any theory?” | is ‘‘ He says he has not?” ey ‘‘ Are Clark & Tay men liable to make mis- takes?” , , ' ‘‘That is what makes the matter so er ee ” Leigh interrupted. ‘‘They are wonderfu ly careful and systematic men, and if they say they gave that money to Hicks—and they do \ ae say so—I can’t see how they can be in error, 2 Yet, Hicks says that, of thetotalborecived,not = as tae over thirty dollars had left bis bands until he Re was robbed of ali. How, then, could seven of = | his twenty-dollar bills be in our safe, Remem- ber, they were locked up, bere, at flVe P.M, Tuesday, and he was robbed eight or ten hours ae ——— y _* oe . « os — * on ~ by ae * % Si . <a ia - 7 . = ate Ae -.. = r, - el Pe Fo St —_ “ad a SS = ate SS = * » » } 7 - —_ « es ¢ enh 7 a i seo him turn over a new leaf as he grew older, | after midvight, Tuesday, you will see the situation, and get in line with worthy people. How could the bills be stolen from Hicks if, even But, now, the clerk’s present and future were | then, they were in Marker, Gane & Leigh’s safe? + s%. = a = >.” . " ” > a darkly clouded, and the end could not be seen. | ..“‘1 leave you to solve this riddle, only adding that, when I told Mr. Leizh of the Hicks robbery, he ce oy 7 x Pe — ey: Ave was not as confident as he had been. | > | later.” | ae | ““Hie"onsb6 upon the matter for sone time, | §e\t,thete wes gmsatery ananethe three bundred: | 91ST; can be explained in only two ways,” re- Hi bnt his fears for Tildrake did not prevent him | had taken counsel. plied the detective. 4 ***We must leave you in the dark, but Mr, Leighis ! ‘* What are they?” a& most estimable man, Something may be learsed ‘‘ Wither some one has made a mistake, or from going to bed and enjoying a good sleep. er there is more to this burglar episode of yours The tollowing day, shortly after noon, a gentle- -=¥ man entered the telegraph~office, hurriedly | of him. Orark & Tay,’” -_ ~ - 2” " | ik Br wrote a message, sealed lt in an envelope and Bellbar turnéd to his friend. 7 than we know of. You say the only personsto Be ~ |< Wet this bedelivered as con as possible, Ib] ‘A mitake” pa Maca earns Noh: bead, aelemi cs /» _ isa matter concerning the police force, and of | «‘In what way?” Ate “ Yes," returned Leigh, oe ! a great importance,” a Ale Ws ‘ Leigh is in error. Theidentical, same bank- ‘“Your porter came first and found the safe Peet" ) ae ‘ed Blan hapniened hero aa Pegs SP a ee have been in two places at the same | ope i Is he a ee een be rapnenclany ig «ee ay i 4 tn at that moment, and the kapoor was given: “Naturally, not.” ee clared bai Macken: Pe ee hs Se ia , Bi 8 to him to deliver. He found the name on the! ‘‘Nothing in it, Bell.” , * And the clerk?” I be 5 DAKE BABY: i \ a J r -\ a P ic} +5, pe af ¥ «3 fF Y ) ie? oy , : « An oa . PX P vi Fs ~ - ¥ 1a . Py “4 2 A, ' Mes , at « = eet) tb, * he °“a ‘vee * ja4 ar a «+ * : ‘ 7 La ‘ete ‘a f . <2 t".* .). ‘7 Ty Pee ye = ean *s ~ i ab 5 * te “Py id yy a a ea a fee ae) Peri? ah 8 Sos peat , . 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