Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 941 — page 5: what you’re looking at

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

” — .* = n,* de @ - =~” <— -_- & “ , e . x . - rs - . ri Si I \ 4 Br p> fe se: moe . “a : ¢ 4 s se s ‘~! x 3 bt vn te ee a * H “Ae ‘yi . ay bd ‘ a | 7 it l ey ex { ’ a " , if i al 4 : o”) “othe + a +h.) rie “I ) ry az : > ; *.. ; ms it wm? | watched, he hummed: “She is dead, sor.” “ And you are the housekeeper “No; Oi am only dhe cook; dhe house- Keeper is out, too, sor.’ “Well, do not let me detain you from your duties: I can pick up something to read, no doubt. 4 He entered the room the woman had pointed out, and about the first thing to catch his eye was a dirty card on the fioor near a settee, which he picked up and ex- zaimined., It proved to be the ecard of a sailors’ boarding house. “Ha: One find!” decided Murphy. ‘This may mean nothing, and it may mean something. It has been dropped here by those two fellows, Brady and Dunn. It may indica.> where they are to be found.” He sat down and looked around the room, apparently part office and part li- brary. The odor of tobaceo pervaded the room, and stumps of cigars were here and there on the table and on the flocr. There were few bcoks, and the papers lying about were chiefly of the illustrated sporting ya- riety. Some greasy-looking cards spoke mutely of late hours with boon compan. ions. | These things the caller took in with one Swift glance, but with a particular object in view—he was alert for Some ey vidence, either for or against, in the case he had in hand. Against the wall stood a desk, with a roll-top, which was up, so that the little compartments were exposed to view. in these boxes, or pigeon holes, were let- ters and papers, and the detective at once changed his seat so as to make a closer inspection of the contents of the compart- ments without touching anything, The end of a long envelope was protrud- ing from one, and, on it was a foreign postage-stamp. Looking more closely, Murphy saw that it had been posted from Dublin, and that it was an inclosure of comparatively recent date. Without hesi- 7? -tancy he carefully drew it from its place. It bore the printed card of a company of barristers, and was addressed in a boid. free hand to Michael Brannagan, Esq., New York City, U. S. A., with “the street and number correctly vive nm. Murphy drew out the letter it contained, and read it hurriedly to master its contents. It was concerning the missing young man, aS he had surmised, and it stated positively that he had sailed on the At- Jantie from Queenstown at a given date, It advised that further inquiries be made at the company’s office in New York. The detective had barely finished the reading, when the front door opened, and a heavy step was heard in the hall, so he replaced the letter quickly and resumed his first seat near the door. CHAPTER v. LIMBRICK LARRY MEETS OLD FRIENDS. We left Larry O'Keen on Broadway just after his little spat with his sweetheart, Zazing after the cable car on which his Yrival was conductor. There was blood jn his eye, so to speak, and his fists were tlinched as if he was more than anxious for a brush with the man he disliked so heartily. And, as he a a “ Swate Kitty Callaway, wt Sure, Oi'm ‘onto yure foine jay; ; Wi'd his mustache waxed so nately And a smoile upon his mug. Och! ear how I hate him! . Wida d will Oi could ate him; Some fo af day me fist will mate him Phwere dhe stopper fits dhe jug!” Suddenly his face grew harder in ex- ‘pression, his fists were clinched tighter, he closed his teeth down like a vise and his eyes flashed. And no cane under so stent a “4h hates: 5 The Bowling Green Detective’ S Drop. $e Ce Ce i ee! The car had reached the place where the little Mower stand was located, and the conductor was seen to bow and smile his prettiest, at the same time fliriing his hand lightly, and although Larry could not see I<itty from where he stood, he knew that she was the object of the fellow’s' atien- tions. “ Begorra, it’s hanged for murder Oj Shall be!’ the wild Irish lad- exclaimed. “It is pot much more avy it Oi can stand, and kape me two hands off dhe gossoon. And av Oido get athim, by dhe hat av me father, av Oi don’t make him wush he had never been born!” He shook his fist at the car, and saun- tered on to get away from people who had stopped to look at him, Not far had he gone when he came to a sudden stop. Two men were approaching from the opposite direction, and Larry was staring ut them with all the eyes he had—as we often hear it expressed. ‘By dhe powers!” he exclaimed to him- self, ‘av it ain’t dhe same pair Oi will ate me shirt, so Oi will! Hello, dhere, Brady! Hello, Dunn! Phwere are ye goin’ the day?" ‘The men stopped short, and looked to see who it was. They were not an inviting-looking couple, but looks do not always go to indicate the man. One was & Man apparentiy forty-five years of age, with full whiskers. The other was larger, naybe ten years younger. and, having no beard, his hard, cruel face was fully exposed. “Why, Hogan, it’s Larry O’Keen,” the latter exclaimed. * So it is, Neal.” ** And where are you goin’, the first speaker. “ Begorra, it is going to get a job Oi am. and Oi can neyer foind out plwere wan js waiting for me,’ Larry answered. “And where have you been keeping yourself since ye came over?” inquired lad?’ asked | Hogan, “It is barely keeping mesel’ dhat Oj have been at all at all,’’ rejoined the lad from Limerick. “Oi have been hangin* on by dhe ragged edge, as it were, ever since Oi set fu’t in America.” “You don’t find the streets paved with gold, I take it, and you are not picking fortunes out of the gutter, the same as you would shovel turf out of an Irish bog.”’ ‘* Niver a fortune, sor.” “And you never will, if you stay here till you are as old as your grandfather, or as old as he would be if livin’, if he is dead. Wish we could put somethin’ in your way, lad.”’ “So do Oi,” agreed Larry. denly, he thought - to ask: vs By dhe way, do ye moind dhe young man whose luggage Oi was carryin’ whip we got aboard at Quanestown? Oi re- member you roight well, fur ye were star- in’ at me an’ him whin we got aboard as if ye took us to be some long-lost relations dhat ye was expectin’ just dhen. D'ye moind him?” The men had boked at each other, and a swift, meaning glance had been exchanged. “Don't remember seeing any such per- son,”’ assured Brady. *“T remember looking unn, “but that is all. he fellow?” “Well, dhere is a suspicion that hé must. have got overboard somehow, for he has niver been heard ay from dhat day to dhis. and dhere is going to be a grand big hunt fur him.” They exchanged another look. “ What do you know about the matter?” demanded | Brady. “What do you Suppose that we know about it?” “ Oi don’t know anything about it, ’cept And, sud- at. you,” Why, what about - Le aR 4 added | his way humming: 1 : : x , ® Phe ; ae 7 , Ady A a? : . i Dilabet v4 ‘ Vn . d it .* 7 La Pag ‘ q o J ‘ A) oe ~ 7 wf ’ ~~ 4 ve ~ beh 4 . 7 ae 7 ee ee that dhe young man is missin’ and dhat dher is goin ter be dhe biggest kind of a hunt to foind him, dhat is all. It is quare about him.” ‘What is queer about him?” *Phwy, Oi did not set me two eyes onto him wanst after dhe ship sailed, and now it seems dhat it is missing entoirely he is.” “And how did you come to kuow any- thing about it?’ persisted Neal Brady. “And do ye suppose that we know any- thing about him?’ ‘Oi was going to ask ye av aythur av yez did see him afther dhe ship left port, and av ye know anything phwatever about him? Sure, Oi know a detective feller thot is lookin’ s:to0 dhe matter, and ay Oi can help him a bit it will be a playzure to do it, d’ye moind.” “You had better leave detectives alone,” warned Hogan Dunn, severely, as he and his companion exchanged another glance. “And phwy’?’ asked the Limerick boy. “They are a bad lot, the best of them, and the less ye have to do with them the better ye are off, moind ye thot.” “Oi don’t belave it av Mister Murphy,” declared Larry. “Sure, he is a gintleman ull dhe way up from dhe ground, and he has promised to look out fur me a job at something to do.”’ “And who is Murphy?” asked Brady. *Phwy, his full name is Horace Mur- phy, and he is called dhe Bowling Green Detective.” | Another significant glance was. ex- changed between the two men, and they had now drawn close to Larry, and the trio stood against the side of a building out of the way of passers-by. “And however did the likes of you get acquainted with a man like that?” urged Dunn. “Ye must be rising in the world, I should say. c. “Oh, it was only by chance,” confessed Larry. “Oi only wush thot I knew more men av dhe same stripe, sure.” “ And ye have not found a job in all this time?” “* Nothing to last, worse luck.” “Then your friend Murphy can't go for much, or he would have found ye one long ago. Maybe me and me mate here can foind ye something to do, and avy we can we will let ye know. »y * Begorra, an ’ye can do dhat; av it is anyting at which Oi can make an honest living it is almost kissin’ dhe dust from yure brogans Oi’d be.” So the. wild Irish lad exclaimed, with true Irish fervor. “ Where are ye stopping?” asked Dunn. “ Begorra, it is never stopping Oi am,” declared Larry, with a grim smile. “Dhe coppers kape me moving on all dhe toime. Oj slape whin Oi’m walkin’, and ate whin Oi’m talkin,’ whin Oi have ‘anyt’ing at all to ate; and dhe rest of dhe toime Oj spind lookin’ fur wurruk.”’ They both laughed at his drollery. “While me money lasted,” Larry added. “Oi boarded wid a widdy named Calla- way, who has dhe swatest— But, dhat is nothin’ to yez. Oj boarded wid her till Oj had no more money, and dhen she said we w'u'd have to part, much as it pained her to be afther losing me; and we parted, and I have been goin’ hand in hand wi'd a koind Providence ever since. i “Well,” said Brady, “we are boarding at a house on Cherry street, No —, and we would like to have ye drop around and see us. be And so they parted, the two men going off talking earnestly, and ne, 1 a ee **Swate Kitty Callaway, Pearly teeth and laugh so gay, Oi am driven to 4d straction By dhe way yo’re using me; But, by all dhe powers higher, Sure Ol am a mighty howe ' Av pucel Nels: don’t “es e ) 1 ee hwere ohe ha 's ‘not should bert) <4 3 “+ ig! Tee 3 a Gl ad oe a! -— a PRE arene ESB yw, - ty