Beadle's Dime Library No. 146 — page 16: what you’re looking at

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

-~ a ey te — 2 ~~? —— FA aS eS ah aR -_o-—-e + + - = duced their superstitious fears were at once ex- cited. ‘‘Do not advance a step or else your deaths be on your own heads!” Clarke exclaimed. ‘“What do you mean?’ growled the White Band chief, uncertain how to act. ‘*In these little crystal globes death lies con- cealed. If I crush them within my hand, and they are as fragile as an a it will be a miracle indeed if any one of you escapes with life from this room.” ‘But ‘you compass your own death at the **Oh, no; you forget that I am learned in the dark secrets of chemistry; all my lite have I deyoted to wresting from the store-houses of na the wonderful things that lie entombed therein. Icanescape. I am Alcenor Diamond —i am the man whom you consigned to a living tom, but it did not hold me; from the shadows of the grave I have escaped, and henceforth I have but one mission in life, and that is to hunt down and give to justice every member of your accursed band from the highest to the lowest: not one shall escape my just vengeance unless in the grave he seeks refuge from the hang- man’s rope. This is the oath which I have sworn, and I have supreme confidence that a a Heaven will enable me to accomplish my task. Like the knell of doom the stern words fell | upon the ears of the ruffians, and for the mo- | ment he seemed to their eyes the very persuui- | fieation of the spirit of vengeance. The chief was the first to break the spell; | aven if death was confined within the narrow | com of the glass balls he was resolved not | to be balked of his prey; with one slash of his | keen knife would he end the career of the | avenger. But, before he could ry his purpose into execution, Diamond, by the glitter in his eyes, guessed what he was about to do, and was as drompt to act as the other. me me ne a —_— — same time!” the chief outlaw exclaimen. the bed, had thrown himse The Doctor Detective. information, and the dri- ver, now thoroughly alarmed, whi ped up his ‘horses at once, and away they went, one thought only in their minds, and that was to getaway from the dangerous as soon as ssible. Little did these murderers care for he fate of their leader; so long as they saved their own skins they were content. The doctor had easily avoided being over- come by the noxious vapor. The moment he smashed the crystal globes be closed his nostriis and his mouth with his hand, and leaping from face downward This was startlin upon the floor. When the vapor had spent its force he arose and proceeded to look after his cap- tive. The man lay on his side, almost suffocated by the fumes, Silently, andin deep thought, for a few min- utes, he looked down upon the prostrate wan, attired in so strange a disguise, The clew to the mystery which had for so long a time puzzled"the detectives and the police au- thorities of New York, was at last in his hands, | perienced!” he exclaimed. This sevseless man, as feeble now for either good or ill, as a new-born infant, was the dreaded leader of the terrible fraternity which had forso long atime made the chief city of the New World pay tribute to his ruthless cun- ning. Diamond knelt by his side; his intention was to strip off the odd disguise so that he might learn who the outlaw chief really was, and, as he bent over the man from the person of the captive came the iar perfume which the doctor had noticed when the rascals were about to entomb him alive in the golden coffin; the same perfume, too, which he had detected upon the handkerchief of the superintendent of the police when he had called upon that important officer in regard to hunting down and destroy- ing the secret band! Jinmond paused irresolutely; was it possible A single motion of his strong hands and the | that when he removed the disguise he would be- giass balls were shattered. Then, out on the | hold the features of the officer, whose sworn “ir ot the apartment floated the most terrible smell that the nostrils of man bad ever known; \) was the savage device of the almond-eyed sons of the East, the stink-pots of the Chinese, hich cause suffocation and death unless the _._ferer is speedily removed from the dreaded duence. But the masked ruffians did not tarry to learn whether death lurked in the dense vapor which came rolling from the shattered balls or not, but the moment the doctor closed his hands, with loud cries of horror they fled, all except the chief, and he, in his mad rage pressing for- ward to assail Diamond with his knife, encoun- tered the full foree of the vapor which came in such a dense, cloudlike mass from the tiny __erystal balls, that one could not help wondering how it was that the art of man could compress 30 Sa substance within so small a place. ell as was the purpose of the masked chief, desperate and determined as was his action, yet iS was notin the power of nature to encounter the terrible agent of destruction which the doc- “ had let co aire oe superior to as is 6 gagged and gasped as he sprung forward, the vi Southern me hinge: then he reeled like a drunken man; the knife fell from his nerve- less hand; wildly he beat the air and then sunk down, senseless, in a heap on the floor. CHAPTER XXII. UNMASKED. Tar doctor had purposely overrated the wer of the novel instrument of war which he ademployed. Ina close room, from whence no avenue of escape could be had, no doubt in a very short time it would have stifled any one unfortunate enough to be exposed to its power- ful nce, but as the door of the doctor's apartment was wide n, so that the fumes could easily escape, beyond throwi the masked chief into a state of insensibility it harmed him not, andif his followers bad only had sense enough to have remained outside, in the entry, until the fume of the vapor had spent itself on the air, then they could have re- turned with perfect safety and resumed their attack; but, as it was, the ruffians bac only one thought, and that was to get out of the room and out of the house as soon as possible. Careful preparation had been made in antici- pation of besrine the prisoner away, and the scoundrels were not slow to avail themselves of the means which had been provided. * In thestreet, at the door of the house, a coach stood, the door next to the curbstone open, the driver on the box, réins in hand, all ready fora sturt. The fellows mak tems off their disguises as they ran through the house and rolled them up under their arms. Into the street they hurried, and without ceremony sprung into the coach, The driver understood that the plot had mis- carried. ‘* Where's the captain?’ he cried, “Taken, by blazes!” the last ruffian replied, as he hurried into the coach. “Start yer boots!” cried another, “or they will have us all in jail, fust thing you know!” duty it was to look after the safety of the great city and its people? It really seemed almost be- yond belief. ‘*Such things have been, though,” Diamond murmured, communing with himself, ‘‘and if it is not so—if it is not he, but another, is not this other in league with the superintendent? If he is not, how could the band have penetrated my disguise, or gvessed that I had resolved to disclose their secrets and give them up to jus- tice? Tuere were no witnesses to the interview between the chief and myself; who, then, but the chief could have given the information to the band?” He hesitated no longer, though; determined to solve the mystery if he could, he removed the white hood from the face of the senseless man, and eagerly looked down upon the features. It was not the police official, as he had feared; the face of a stranger mct his eyes—the face of a stranger, and vet a face that was not strange to him, though for the life of him he could not remember that he had ever seen it before. The man was no boy, nor could he be called well on in years; he was a gentleman born, evi- dently, for he had a proud, imperious-looking face, with a sort of foreign look to it; no com. mon man, but one likely ‘to excite attention any where, Diamond puzzled over the face for a few mo- ments with great atteution. ‘‘ Where have I seen thisman?” be murmured, deep in thought. ‘* His face is familiar to me, and yet I cannot recall the time nor place of our meeting. It seems away back in the lon ago, so long that I have forgotten, and yet thought I had such a memory that anything a imprinted upon it would never be obliter- ated,’ Diamond rose to his feet, perplexed—more than he had ever been in his life, but a new direction was given to his thoughts by a faint moan com- ing from the man’s lips, indicating that he was beginning to recover his senses. iamoud understood that there was no time to spare if be would secure his man, and re- membering that there wasa stout cod-line in his drawer of odds and ends, he-produced it and then proceeded to bind the motionless limbs, A dozen turns of the line he took around the ankles of the outlaw chief; then cut the line and secured his wrists, ae particular care to tie the cord with knots that evena man with full freedom of his limbs would have found it difficult to untie. The prisoner thus made secure, Diamond lifted him up in his arms and placed him upon the bed, so that he might be comparatively comfortable. The shock of the removal seemed to act as a stimulant to the waking senses of the prisoner, and hardly wes he comfortably placed upon the bed before he opened his eyes and looked with a dazed and wandering expression around him, The first thing his gaze encountered was the cord taat contined his wrists and the look of wonder which came over his face as he saw that he was bound showed he cid not remember what had occurred, Amazed and confused his eyes rested upon Diamond’s face and then recollection served him, He remembered what had happened. CHAPTER XXII. A PARLEY. Frerce was the look which swept over the face of the captured rufflan as he upon the man whose cunning wit had beaten open, brutal force. Never before had the chief been so thor- oughly vanquished. Glaring at the doctor for a moment the out- law exerted all his strength to free his wrisis from the griping cord. But though he strained until the fine line cut into the flesh of his delicate wrists, white and soft asa woman’s, it was only to ascertain that he was a helpless prisoner; his bonds were not to be severed by his own strength. At last he ceased his efforts, while a short, hysterical laugh escaped from his lips. ‘This is the best joke I think I have ever ex- **T have heard of a inan going for wool and getting shorn, but I cannot recall any such event ever happening to me before.” ‘‘There must be a first time for everything, you know.” ‘*Very true; but it is mortifying though, all the same.” “Those that take the sword, by the sword must perish.” ‘Ob, yes; that’s Gospel truth; but, I say, now tha = have got me what are you going to do with me? Curse those craven hounds! he cried, abruptly, breaking forth in rage again. ‘‘May the hot fires of the hereafter roast their miserable carcasses! If they had not taken to their heels and fled like a pack of cowardly rabbits—” “They, too, would be prisoners as you are,” interrupted Diamond. ‘‘Itis not in the power of human nature to resist the effects of the weapon I used.” “You are an infernally dangerous man!” the captain of the White Band had to confess. ‘I knew that the very first time I laid eyes on you, and that was the reason why I took so much trouble to secure you.” “* As events have proved, it would have been much better if you had believed the statement which I made to you and had suffered me to go my way in peace,” t. . - “*# ‘Oh, yes, Isee thatnow: I own up it wasa mistake, but all men are liable to error, you know,” the other replied, with an appearance of great frankvess, although Le could not sup- press the cunning lurking in his eyes—an ex- pression which did not eseap2 the doctor’s no- tice, and whose meaning he fancied, even be- = other had opened his mouth, he under- stood, ‘*T did not believe you at the time,” the cap- tive continued. “Thereis a great deal of the bull-dog about me. When] get a notion into my head I am pretty apt to stick to it. I knew that you were a dangerous man; I was sure that you knew the secret of our white brother- hood, and putting the two beliefs together you can hardly blame me if I yielded to a third be- lief, which was that, if we did not put you out of the way, you would bring us to grief.” doctor, quietly, and closely scrutinizing the ae face, for the more he saw of the man —the longer he heard him talk, the more he be- came convinced that he had met him before. The prisoner detected this scrutiny, and it made him nervous, although this was not per- ceptible in his bears: ‘Most probable thing in the world, you gee, but if [ had known you then as well as I know you now I should not have made such a mis- take,” ‘* Do you mean that you would have believed me when I assured you I knew absolutely ae whatever about your secret organiza- on ‘Exactly, and I should have thought twice before I provoked the anger of such a-man as ‘* Perhaps it would have been better for you,” the doctor remarked, in a way that alarmed the other, for it seemed to bode danger. ‘* Decidedly, for you have got mein a tight place here,” the prisoner observed, niaking a great effort to conceal his anxiety and to puta good face on the matter. ‘* Yes, almost as bad a one as you had me in when you placed mein the golden coffin ay | lowered me down into the well-hole.” Ther: was a baleful glitter now in the eyes of D.x- mond and an ominous ring in his voice. ‘Well, Lown up beat,” the White Band chief said, after quite a long pause, *‘ and it ought to be rather a feather in your cap, for there are not many men in this world who can boast of ever having got the best cf me. But, I say, this is a deuced uncomfortable position that you bave got me in here, trussed up like a ey ready for roasting; how long are you going to keep me in this sort of fix?’ | The doctor came a step nearer and fixed hig eyes still more intently upon the face of the E@MMIGCGOOOKS **A very probable supposition,” observed the » nh®