Beadle's Dime Library No. 146 — page 23: what you’re looking at

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

—_ ve be you have heard about me rather than my as- eerthe tf ged signature to that | Ex ‘The for a paper - plain that away if you can!” te ** You mean that you believe the lies which Lescant was fairly caught, and he well knew | it was but a waste of words to attempt to per- suade the girl to look upon him with a favor- | able eye, ani his anger, too, which had been gradually rising could now be no longer re- strsined, ‘Your voice is all for war, then!” he ex- claiied, oncrily, rising as he spoke, ‘ Be it so. I wil no loager attempt to argue with you, or try to persuade you out of your foolish notions, as I would with a sensible woman, but | will treat you like a spoiled, willful child and use force instead of persuasion.” The breath came quick and hard from Dura’s es the mask was off, with a venge- ance, and the man appeared in his true colors. ** You will not dare?” she cried. ‘Will I not?’ he retorted; ‘‘ wait and see! Hitherto I have tried to show you how pleasant and amiable I could be, but now I shall take the opposite course, and you shall see that there are other willsas stubborn as yourown. From this time forth you are virtually @ prisoner in this house; not a foot outside the door shall you stir until I have made you mine!” ‘*That will never be!” Dura declared, un- dauntediv. ‘I will die first!” ‘*No, not before the ceremony is over; you may die afterward if you like. But such talk is all nonsense.” ‘* Where will you find a minister to wed me to you against my protest! tor protest I will to my latest breath.” , ‘The man will be found, and if, by any chance, such a thing should happen that one could not be procured, why, we will have to do without. I will wed you after the fashion of some of the savage ean tribes where the anxious lover lies in wait for his sweetheart, stuns ber with a blow on the head with a heavy club, drags her to his cabin, and when she re- covers she finds she is a wife.” Daya recoiled in horror, It did not seem pos- sible to her pure mind that such a fiendish scheme could for asingle moment find a —— witbin the breast of man, but the tone in whic he spo:e, and the expression u his face, con- vinced her that she was in the power of one who would not shrink from committing any outrage, no matter how great. ‘*T have spoken plainly,” he continued, ‘‘ for it is better that you should know what you have to expect if you attempt to brave me. I have done with child’s play, and henceforth ev- ery hour that you live you shall feel that you are helpless in my power.” ‘‘God will save me!” asseverated the girl, al- most frenzied by the fearful peril. Then through the house rung the sound of a pistol-shot. Lescant rushed to the door, opened it and put his head out. There was a noise of scuffling in the entry below, and then a bell sounded. , CHAPTER XXXITI. IN THE TRAP. THE bell rung out loud and clear, and hardly had the sounds swelled on the air when heavy footsteps were heard ascending the stairs in haste, Lescant shut the door quickly and drew the heavy bolt upon the outside—a bolt so strong that it was evident it was not for mere orna- ment alone. Dura in astonishment watched the move- ments of the man, who was evidently laborin under great excitement, for his face w donde ly pale and his eyes were snapping yousness, Lescant ran to one of the two windows which were in the rear wall of the apartment, and threw the sash up, but, as he thrust his head out, having apparently made up his mind to jump ‘the casement, a groan came from his be By the help of the moonlight, which par- tially illuminated the yard, he diseovered that it was full of dark figures and that a struggle had just ended. ‘Trapped, trapped, trapped!” he exclaimed, in a hoarse w r,as he closed the window, «od faced about, irresolutely, trembling in ev- ery limb. Then there came a loud rap at the door. ‘‘ Open it, open it,” Lescant cried, in a hoarse whisper, ‘‘ but take time about it; do not be in a hurry, and for Heaven’s sake do not say a \ ord about my being in the room. You are i:ee to depart and will never trouble you :. ain, Iswear!” Amazed and confused by these strange pro- c-edings, which were entirely beyond ler com- | rebension, Dura essayed to carry out the in- ttructions which she received, but in his haste to bolt the door Lescant had shoved the bolt in so far that it was no small trouble for her tender fingers to release it. But the task was accomplished at last, and, as she opened the door, three stalwart men with cocked re- volvers in their hands met her eyes. The foremost man recognized her at once, while she did not remember ever meeting ner- The Doctor Detective. him before, although his voice sounded fa- miliar. ‘Miss Eldon, is it possible you are here?” the stranger cried, in amazement. ‘‘ What are you doing in this.den of thieves, and where is the chief man of the band?” The girl made way for them, and the three entered the room. It was wants Lescant had disappeared. *‘By Jove! he has given us the slip!” cried another one of the men, a big, burly fellow | heer an unmistakable air of command about _ ‘Where is the: man—was he not here with | Se resi you?” asked the one who had spoken first, and then perceiving that the girl had not recognized him, he remembered that he was disguised, and proceeded to introduce himself. ‘‘l perceive that you do not know me, Miss Eldon, changed as 1 am, Do you not remember Doctor Dia- mond? I am he.” ‘‘Oh, yes; I know you now, and I thought I recognized the voice when you first spoke. Who is it that you are in search of—Mr. Les- cant? ‘‘ Yes, I believe that is the name that he is known under, in this neighborhood. One of the gang down-stairs, hopin with us, betrayed his chief and in this room.” ‘‘ And so he was when you knocked, and he himself told me to open the door.” ‘‘And took advantage of your back being turned to take himself off!” ejaculated the burly fellow, who was the superintendent of police in rson. ‘*There must be a secret door here, some- where!” cried Diamond, who had the blood- hound’s keenness on the scent. ‘*He can’t get away; the house is entirel RRR remarked the other police of- cer, Eager in the search, the three immediately proceeded to examine tbe walls, sounding them with the butts of their pistols, but no sign of a secret door could they discover. Determined not to be foiled, the doctor turned his attention to the floor; a rug im one corner of the mes which, to his keen eyes, seemed to have been recently displaced from its regu- lar position, attracted his gaze. He advanced to it and kicked it away ; underneath the carpet was pieced, and the was, apparently, to eonceal this fact. But, Diamon aso f the — instantly. Under the carpet was a trap- oor. ‘* Lend a hand here!” the doctor cried. The others at once came to his assistance; but, though all belieyed a trap-door was concealed by the carpet, yet they were not able to budge it in the least. ‘Pll go down-stairs and see if I can’t bunt up an ax, and at the same time give the boys warning to be on the look out for this fellow. said that he was There is either a hiding-place or a pair of stairs under this trap; if itis stairs they lead to the und r of course, and when I am down ere I will lock for the door. The fellow don’t stand any chance to get away, for the entry is ed, and there’s a line around the house on he outside, too,” Then the superintendent hurried away, while the other officer amused himself by thrusting the blade of a bowie-knife through the cracks in the t. Diamond and Miss Eldon were left free for a few minutes’ conversation. Briefly as possible Dura explained to the doc- tor all that had occurred since their Jast meet- ing by the bedside of the dead woman, and Diamond listened with the test attention. Acquainted as he was with the secret of the man whose protection she had accepted, he found no difficulty in accounting for the myste- ee conduct of the apparently generous bene- actor. ‘*He is the leader of a desperate band of vil- lains who for a long time have laughed to scorn the power of the law,” Diamond explained. ‘‘The band isin all probability the most dan- gerous one that has ever had an existence in this city, for it is no common association of low an s, but includes within its ranks ene, so-called, le men, mer- chants, bankers, lawyers, judges on the bench maybe; but, now that we have seized the prin- cipal members in their head-quarters, it will not bea very hard-task to ferret out the secret allies who have for so long rendered the rascals valuable aid in ee them to escape from the consequences of their crime. You were all alone in the world, with no friends or relatives and this master-thief thought that if he could bend you to his Raspes you would be a most valuable ally, and that is the reason why he took so much trouble to secure you. I must look after this Judge McQuencher; the interest he manifests in this fellow is something out of the common run. It would be odd if, through your adventures with the rascal, I should man- age to get hold of one of the big birds, who are so bane’ to trace and track.” By this time the superintendent was back, and in his hand he bore an ax, ‘““No trace of a secret ge below, any- where,” he said, *‘ but the fellow must be in the building, unless this passage leads into the next ; | 23 house, and if it does he will give us the slip in spite of all our precautions.’ “Tt is a trap-door!’’ remarked the officer who had been experimenting with the knife on the cracks, ‘‘ and there is a bolt here, I think, which holds the door on the under side.” “*] will smesh it rigbt in with the ax.” And the chief was as good as his word. With a couple of powerful blows he shattered the frail boards, which had never been framed to resist such ¢n assault. Beneath the opening was a narrow stairway leading down into utter darkness. Its passage was so small that the burly chief looked atita little doubtfully, un- certain whether he would be able to pass through it or not. The detective drew a dark-lantern from his pocket, lit it, and flashed the light down into the darkness, . ‘* It leads to the cellar, evidently,” the doctor observed. ‘‘ It’s ten.to one that we will trap our bird, after all!” the superintendent exclaimed exult- | to curry favor | ingly. ‘It would be a rough joke on us to have the king-pin slip through our bands, after all our trouble. You go ahead, Jim, and keep your per ready. He may show fight when he nds that he is cornered.” » Down into the darkness then went the three, Diamond bringing up the rear. CHAPTER XXXIV. PERSEVERANCE REWARDED. THE cellar in which the three man-hunters found themselves, after descending the stairs, did not differ materially from aor ordinar cellar, excepting that it was carefully finish The floor was cemented, and the walis and ceil- ing plastered as carefully as though it had been a dwelling-room. Standing in the center of the a ment the officer flashed the light of the bull’s eye lantern around, In the front wall was a coal-shoot, and the first thought of the police chief was that the penener might have managed to escape through he hole covered by the iron plate to the street without, but a second thought told him that, even if the a sa had succeeded in so doing be would surely have fallen into the hands of tbe officers stationed upon the watch without the house. But the man of whom they were in chase was nowhere in sight, and there was, at the a glance, apparently no place where he could ide. By the side wall a staircase led up to the next floor, but it was not an inclosed one, and a door at the aon Openee into the hall. The fugitive could not have succeeded in escaping that way, for the entry above was full of officers. Where, then, was the man? Thke detectives d about them, puzzled. Within the cellar, ides the bare walls, were only two thi upon which they could look—a large ice-ches one of the patent refrigerators so popular an so expensive, and a pile of lumber sir Nae of quite wide boards, and abouta foot high. The boards were piled up in regular layers, close to the wall, without space enough between to have afforded shelter to a rat. But the refrigerator—it was a monster, lar enough for a good-sized hotel, and the thought that there was plenty of room inside of it to af- ford shelter toa -sized man occurred to all of the pursuers. The chief nodded significantly toward the ice- box; the detective marched over and attem pted to open it, but it was locked. ‘* Well, I never heard of one of these things being so constructed that it could be locked from the inside,” the superintendent remarked; he had followed close on the heels of the other, as had also the doctor; ‘‘ but this machine may have been so arranged on purpose.” “‘T have a few ‘skeletons’ in my ¥eig wal the officer announced, and thereupon he immedi- ately produced a bunch of skeleton-keys, as the peculiar ““pick-lock ” tools of the burgier are The officer squinted at the lock by the aid of the lantern, then ear out a key which he thought would be likely to fit, and the very first attempt was a success. The key turned; the bolt leaped back and the door swung open. Eagerly they all seize their prisoner, but the chest was empty! In astonishment the three looked in each other’s faces fora moment. The puzzle was a profound one. “s it!” cried the superintendent, an- noyed; “ the fellow must be around here some- where.” : ‘There may be a hiding-place in the walls,” Diamond suggested. ‘* Very true,” the chief assented, ‘‘ but if there is we can easily discover it by sounding.” Then with the butts of their pistols fhe three men tap the walls of the cellaria the most. thorough manner, nor did the cemented floor escape their research, but all in vain; no secret. hidin — could they find, | ‘Well, sir, this beats a chicken dispute!” the tendent exclaimed, in disgust, as he halted by the pile of boards and surveyed them eom JOO “S (E ressed forward, anxioug to | Gor