Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 897 — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

iv ‘ ~ « cripples use, and this supported her while she waited for the vehicles to pass. All at once she uttered a cry and staggered back, at the same time glaring at a young man who had come up at that moment. ‘*My God! I wonder when he came to the city?” she exclaimed, ‘‘ That is Van Kinder aud no mistake! I haven’t seen him for nearly three years; but, I can’t be mis- taken.” Meantime the vehicles had separated for a ‘moment and the person she had spied was about to cross the street. He was a cold-faced but handsome man of perhaps thirty and his mustache was care- fully waxed. The old woman sprung after him and grabbed his sleeve. Irritated by the act, the man turned and looked at her as if he was about to resent her touch despite her sex. ‘* Where did you spring from, Van Kin- der?” she cried, holding on to him though he seemed anxious to get away. . ‘““What’s that? Van Kinder, eh? Who are you talking to? Do you know, old wo- man?” ‘*T guess I know else I wouldn’t be hold- ing onto your sleeve. You are Van Kinder, once of Pascal Point and—” “By Jove! that’s a good one for the chap- pies at the club,” he interrupted. ‘‘ Van Kinder of Pascal Point did you say? lought to give you a dollar for that.” **T don’t want your money. Ihave given you your. true name; I don’t care what they call you here in New York. What are you doing here, I say?” «‘ Just as if it was some of your business. T don’t know you; never saw you before to- day and | am obliged to bid you good-night. My name is Jason.” ‘It may be now, but when you were a rollicking boy at Pascal Point and before you fell among bad company it was Van Kinder. You don’t look like you did once. You look like a young vulture in good feathers, Where do you get them, Van?” He broke away from her and bolted across the street. “Tm going to follow him for he might know something of Hiram Honeybee, ’ and she started after him. The young man was nimble-footed, but the woman, crippled in her limbs, found her- self stranded in the middle of the street with a heavy Express wagon approaching her at sharp speed, Bewildered by the sight new to her, she stopped and seemed ready to sink fainting before the hoofs of the team. The young man turned and saw her peril. Did he rush to her relief? Not at all! He had plenty of time to run back and snatch her from beneath the horses’ hoofs, -- but he grinned maliciously instead and mut- tered something which was not overheard. The old lady felt weak and more than help- less. The man on the seat driving the heavy ‘wagon did not seem to notice her peril or else he cared little for what he was about to do, On he came. : All at once, as if goaded by some sudden Impulse, the woman raised her cane, and, just as the horses seemed about to trample er underfoot, she delivered a terrific blow upon the head of one and sent him back with 4 snort of. pain. _ She had more power in that arm than the breathless spectators imagined, She delivered another blow and this threw the team back and let her pass on. A slight cheer greeted her action, and throwing a look at the Jehu on the seat she muttered something about “‘self-pro tection” and turned again toward;the oppo- site sidewalk. In a moment as it were she had extricated _ herself from imminent danger and when she ee —— Davy Doon’s Big Bounce. ee reached the sidewalk she looked about for Van Kinder, but he was gone. ‘‘] was stopped too long by that wagon,” she said. ‘‘ Maybe I have lost him for good, but I don’t know! I will tell my story to the sharp-eyed boy, Davy Doon, who gave me a bed last night. He may know the man, or find him again for me,” and she walked off, none the worse for her adventure save a tremor which swept her frame when- ever she recurred to it and realized her nar- row escape. — She had to stop and ask a policeman the way to a certain street and wnen she had been set right she hurried off and in time gained the stairway leading to Davy Doon’s abode. The door of the boy’s room was locked when she reached it, and she was about to turn away when she heard footsteps come up the steps. ‘*Aren’t you Mrs. Lane?” was asked, asa young girl came into view. ‘“‘That’s my name, but who told you?” ‘‘Davy was talking about you and [ thought you were the lady. Iam Nell.” “You are? Only Nell?” ‘‘ Nickel Nell they sometimes call me be- cause I used to sell Sunday papers, though I don’t do that any more. [ have just come back from a wild goose chase,” and here Nell smiled. ‘‘Is the door locked? I guess I know how to openit. [I am Davy’s friend and he let me into the secret of the hiding- place of the key.” Ne!l looked in a place in the hall where no one else would have looked and found a key which fitted the lock; and opening the door, she ushered Mrs, Lane, the cripple, into the boy’s room, As the old lady took a chair a sudden faintness overcame her and if she had not dasbed her hand into a pitcher of water she would have succumbed, ‘‘T nearly lost my life,” she explained to Nell whose eyes were full of wonderment. ‘*T am ona strange hunt in this great city and everything seems against me. I have suffered more injustice than tongue can tell, and the hand of a villain is at work at this very moment. I had to save myself to-night and it is pretty hard to see standing within saving distance of you a man who ought to have risked his life for you, Don’t you think so?” ‘Yes, that is very strange,” said Nell, “Van Kinder would have let me die there,” Mrs. Lane went on. ‘‘He told me that his name was Jason and not Kinder—” Nickel Nell started with a sudden cry. ‘Jack Jason?” she exclaimed. ‘‘ Was that his name?” **T don’t think he said it was Jack Jason; but it was Jason, anyway.” ‘*T know him!” In an instant Mrs, Lane's hand was clutch- ing Nell’s arm and her eyes seemed to look her through. ‘*Do you know him? and what does he do?” him last?” ‘‘He came out of Bolivar Brass’s office when I went down, there for work. IJ hug- ged the wall so as not to be seen by him and he did pass me by without noticing me sure enough. Ihave known him for some time, but'l have never tried to find out where he lives.” ‘‘He lied to me—deliberately lied; but then, that is nothing new for him, for, asa boy, he was a superb liar,” smiled Mrs. Lane. ‘‘Do you know what lam after? I am trying to find Hiram Honeybee, the man who signed the only will my husband ever madi» I don't care what the courts say. Did the boy tell you this?” Nell replied that Davy had said something about a will, but she had not paid much at- tention to him. ‘*‘T have spent what little was left me in trying to right this infamous wrong, I ) Where does he live When did you see x ve, (fl , d . . om hel ' ; : \ ; > ao} ei 4 Sat - a” 4 y , ipatkele Cet i LS egret LD LS 3 don’t know what ever became of Hiram Honeybee. Something tells me that he is dead, but somehow or other I can’t believe it. It seems to me that he must be un- earthed. The last I ever heurd of him was that he was seen in New York by one of our neighbors, but that is a very poor clue. Your friend Davy admits that it is, but he bas promised to help me and we 1nay succeed with God’s help and right the monstrous wrong which gave my husband's wealth to one who did not deserve it,” While Mrs. Lane talked, with her eyes full of fire and her hands shaking on the edge of the table, Nickel thought of her interview with Bolivar Brass. The last words of the old fleecer still echoed in her ears, but now they inflamed her cheeks with rage. ‘‘T ll tell you a secret, Mrs. Lane. I am not permitted to breathe it on pain of death, but I think it belongs to you. Within the last two hours I have seen the name of Hiram Honeybee written upon a sheet of paper.” This seemed too much for the witness-hun- ter, All at once Mrs, Lanecame toward Nickel Nell and with a singular cry tried to embrace her; but in the effort lost consciousness, and sunk in a swoon at her feet. Nell with a shriek sprung up and stood in the middle of the room, white-faced and terribly frightened. | Davy Doon was something of a ferret in- asmuch as he had been the means of track- ing down several men who robbed a small bank in the city and from this act he had branched outas one -ready to do detective work on his own hook, He was born in the city ‘‘in the shadow of the old ‘ Bend,’” as he expressed it. The tough portions of New York Cit were known to him even down to the dark back alleys, and instead of going to live, as he had been requested todo, where he would be near those who would sometimes need his shrewdness on short notice, he preferred to amet in the room where we have introduced him, His acquaintance with Nickel Nell, the waif, dated back some distance beyond the date of the opening of our story. He and Nell, from forée of circumstances if from nothing else, had become fast friends and the girl thought ‘‘all the world” of Davy. When the Boy Spotter heard Mrs, Lane’s story forthe first time hedbecame her cham- pion and had promised to take up her hunt for Hiram Honeybee, though he could not help acknowledging the almost hopelessness of finding the trail after so long a time had elapsed, It was a cold trail and Davy knew it. ‘‘It may be a long chase and I may get into a pickle by taking it but I believe the old lady’s story to be true and she has no friends to help her. I am going to be her friend, and though she may never be in a situation to pay me, I will take the case any- how,” Such were his words when he found him- self alone after listening to the rather start- ling story she had told. The Boy Spotter was right. It was to be a long and a dangerous chase. If he could have looked into the future and foreseen the’ adventures which were destined to chase cach other across the chess- board of time he might have faltered, but we think not. It was the night after the events we have detailed in the foregoing chapters and Davy dodged into the .shadows of Gotham Court for & purpose, CHAPTER III. DAVY 'S SEWER TRAIL. * y i. 4 - : ‘* j f h ay re ” . . ‘ A, ‘7 .. 4 it a ¥r.s ef (3 (C. | % ’ . a. os 7 1 eS i en pS steel See ee 2 -< — 4 1 . a a “ “ue! Eee } i