Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 963 — page 15: what you’re looking at

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

. . ~- ; ERE ».7 it tl a AIG sonm, a » . - you follow me so closely % ¥ oes oe te _ “TI must get out,” he exclaimed. —" “What ices that mean?” asked Adam, taped thiessly, as he saw a narrow gleam of oe ght at the bottom of a curtained back Yk aria of the office. “I must look into The boy detective stole across the coal yard and peered through the slit of light at the bottom of the window. A yellow linen curtain had been lowered inside, so that Adam could only see a foot or two of the flooring. He could hear a soft tread at in- tervals, and other subdued sounds, as if some one was engaged busily, though at What task the lad could not imagine. The spotter hastily examined the two sides of the building that were inside the yard. Only one window was to be seen, but there was a door. Evidently the office opened into the yard, for the great gate Was immediately adjoining this door, The young detective peered at the key- hole, but a key from the inside was in the lock. Over the door was a transom. “There is my chance,” thought the lad. A box lay under the shed near by. Adam soon had it in place, then mounted quick- ly and looked boldly through the glass. For a few seconds be watched; then he rubbed his eyes and peered again. “If this don’t beat the world, I never— why, blame it! Who can the fellow be?’ A burly-looking negro was lighting his pipe at a gas burner. There was a desk, stove and several chairs about. The walls were bare and the floor dirty. That was all. And yet—no—what was that which had been hastily shoved under the table? Adam looked with all his might. It seemed to be a wooden box with a loose lid carelessly thrown across. From one end some clothing protruded. The darky, after lighting his pipe, looked nervously around. . Suddenly he picked up a scrap of news- paper and threw it out of the window, after crumpling it up in his hands. The messenger boy quickly descended from his perch, and ran around the office and secured the same, Opening ‘the paper he found sticking to it a mixture of hair and lather, including what had evidently been beard of several weeks’ growth. “Keno!” ejaculated the spotter, dropping the paper. “I am up to your dodges now.” Then he heard the door open and strike his box, which he had forgotten to set aside when he descended. ‘Adam leaped forward, hearing a deep-toned execration and a rattle of the yard gate lock. Drawing his revolver, he bounded around the corner of the house, only to find him- self met with a .tern order to halt. Through the gloom the boy detective could See a ‘shadowy form at the gate, with an outstretched arm. He knew the hand be- longing to the arm held a pistol that was leveled at himself. : “Halt!” commanded the figure. “ An- other move and I fire! I know you are the young detective sharp, ng ie Why do _“ Because you are badly wanted, John Sylvester. Your game is all up, so you had better gove up here and now.” ‘Give up to a whiffet like you? Take - that for your impudence!” ae A sharp report, and Adam felt a scorch- g sensation over his right ear, but he w he was uninjured. Instantly the lad ae his own pistol three times in rapid sion, then sprang forward and wrenched at the gate, but the wily fugitive, he fired, had slipped out, relocking the oh behind him. The boy detective flung himself against ‘the e barrier, but in vain, and a pang of dis- appointment filled his soul. iain have it now!” a Oa 4 Py hae, - , , + “eb Dl ’ ~' well d j * 'e- 4 Mm -. : y f : . ¥ : 3 a. , Nd r \ \ a a ea pa ay . ra -” A 7 rhe . we ‘ . t i" 7 Fe ~ ‘in Sylvester's right | Seing the empty box which he had | ‘he East Side Spotter. stood on, he placed it in the corner where fence and office joined, sprang up, grasped a water pipe, and quickly gained the flat roof of the office. From it he let himself down, then dropped to the ground out- side. As he struck the pavement he heard voices in altercation down the block, and the outlines of struggling figures became visible under the gleam of a nearby street light. One of the figures fell as Adam=shastened up. The other, brandishing a weapon in each hand, burst away and started across the street. The boy detective distinguished the black face and hands of the would-be negro, and raising his own pistol, he fired twice, thus exhausting the weapon. The man staggered and fell. In a mo- ment Adam was on top of him, when sud- denly the lad felt around him two arms that were like bars of iron. “Tll get even with you,” hissed the mur- derer. “ But for you I would have been safe—curse you!” The boy detective saw something gleam hand. The man’s re- volver had fallen in the first struggle, when Adam strove to free himself. Though the man was the stronger, youth was the more active. Sylvester was trying his best to stab the boy, who now clung to the hand that held the knife with both of his own. Over and over on the pavement they rolled and twisted. At last Adam got Sylvester's thumb in his mouth and as the man cried out in pain, the knife fell from his fin- gers. The East Side Spotter still kept hold with his teeth. The other howled louder than ever, but succeeded in drawing up his knees, until he had a strong brace against the boy’s body. The man’s legs flew out and Adam went with them, landing on his shoulder some half a dozen feet away. But as Sylvester rose, with his thumb crushed and bleeding, the plucky boy de- tective arose at the same time. The un- daunted boy had picked up the murderer’s pistol, and as the man came at him again, he leveled the weapon. * Halt!” cried the lad, and you’re a goner!” But as Sylvester, uttering a snarl like a the *‘Another step wild beast, made a spring, Adam fired again. The man reeled. “Ourse you!” he exclaimed, thickly. “You are not done with me yet!’ He cast himself upon Adam with surpris- ing energy and bore the lad backward to the ground. His fingers were at the lad’s throat. Already lights were dancing through Adam’s brain, when all at once Sylvester fell.over and lay gasping. As the spotter sprang to his feet a big policeman came staggering up, with a great gash across his face. the fallen man. “Who are you?’ demanded the officer of the boy. The young detective explained, and also told the man who Sylvester was. “I heard shots,” said the policeman. “Then IT ran and this fellow met me. We gripped and had a tussle. Then he clouted me on the head with his pistol, or a billy, and ran again. When I came to, you and he were having it hot. Is he dead?’ ““No. Lift him up. I believe he is pos- suming, officer.” Sylvester was raised and handcuffed. Though wounded in two places, he recoy- ered with amazing ease when he found that his adversaries were not to be de- ceived as to his condition. ‘Let us take him to the Hole in the Wall,” said Adam. ‘It is not far, and all the rest of us will be there.” Supporting their prisoner on either side they started. They looked at f ee 15 CHAPTER XXT. AT THE HOLE IN THE WALL. When ex-Inspector Bird and his men, to- gether with Mr. Nahum Rawlins and Meg Slooger, arrived at the Hole in the Wall, a patrol wagon was just drawing up at the curb. Sergeant Sloper himself descended therefrom, accompanied by several police- men, When he heard of Adam’s misadventure at the stable window, and the part played by the ex-inspector and his men, he hardly knew what to say. “ One of the men got away?’ he asked. “The very man whom my nephew thinks is chief in this murder,” said Bird. “Sylvester himself,” “ Pshaw!” The sergeant was incredulous. “Sylvester has been busy helping us to lo- cate the real criminals. He is all right.’’ Then his eye fell on Phil McGraw, who Ww as still handcuffed. * What does this mean?’ demanded Slop- er of his subordinate. “Why were you not on hand at the time and place with your three men?” “ Well, sir,” returned McGraw, uneasily. “Sylvester came to me and pumped me, Young Hoke had served me such a dirty trick already that when Sylvester charged him with being conniving and underhanded 1 thought it a good chance to get even, so I did not take any men. Sylvester and I had made arrangements to have Hoke Shadowed. I followed the boy and met Sylvester after he left the girl. When the lad went to the window, Sy vlvester downed him.”’ “Hold on!” interrupted ex-Inspector Bird. “Whom have we here?” Adam and the policeman, with Sylvester Staggering between them, now appeared, Meg stood looking quietly on. “If that is McGraw,” exclaimed the lad, as he came up, “I charge him with being one of the accessories to the murder of Eben Rawlins. Here is the main man, however—the chief villain!’ ‘“Good for you, Adam!” commented Mr. Bird. “But now let us go inside. All the exits are guarded. Two of you men guard these prisoners and the girl!” Therefore in they went and placed old Slooger, Slosson and several of the gang under arrest. “TI told you, Sergeant Sloper, that I would find the murderer of old Mr. Raw- lins,”” said the boy special, whose pistol wound, though slight, had smeared one side of his face with blood. “There he is. He had a tool who helped, but he is the principal.” He indicated Sylvester, who, with the others, had been brought in after the ar- rests were made in the saloon. ‘He lies!’ denied Sylvester, though his "9? black face was contorted by pain or emo- | tion. “That John Sylvester?” asked Sloper, scrutinizing the pretended negro. ‘Well, well! If he has taken to that disguise, I guess Adam must be right. How did you get him, lad?” The young East Side Special modestly re- lated the adventures that had culminated in Sylvester’ S capture. “Judge for yourselves, men,” added Adam. “I have found Eben Rawlins’s latest will, bequeathing nearly all he had to his brothers and their heirs. Five hun- dred apiece are left to Sylvester and to a — girl that did his hou vester tried to impl dirty dog that he is!’ “A lie—a lie!” feebly. “Where do you think I found this will?” rps eon but whom Syl- te in the crime—the _ muttered Sylvester, asked Adam, ignoring Sylvester's protests. | “In John Sylvester's own trunk! TI also found there the scabbard of the knife that — was used in killing Eben Rawlins - ™ = es tee: . é 4 iN. . ." + ou ey: SiGe > : oe, >. . e . : | 4 > * &t, ¥.. ee) Po ’ ‘ vel SRA dey ea ; » mY he > Wt ~ . 4 #4 or? ee ae a7) - 47 . \*, % Pe .* CP tens “ 4 y* y py? 2% -* et. MJ sy _ , E3 rot ‘ > J tt ge Bei ap Wee r