Beadle's Dime Library No. 152 — page 15: what you’re looking at

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

kt Captain Ironnerve, the Counterfeiter Chief. — — ow ee ee 15 oe owe ‘¢ Who's there?” «‘ T—Roebuck.” Another pause, and presently the door was opened quickly, and Jim Munger stepped into the passageway, closing it as quickly behind him. ‘“What is wanting?’ he asked. ‘‘ Nothing particular; only tired and was coming in to have a smoke with you before go- ing to the arms of Murphy, as the Irishman has it.” ‘¢ Certainly—let’s .smoke—but what do you say to going outside? I, for one, am tired of this close air of the cavern.” ‘‘D—nation!” was the exclamation that almost escaped Roebuck’s lips, at Munger’s quick wit, but, ‘‘ A good idea,” he said, and the two men strolled toward the pine-tree-entrance, ‘You're sharper than you look,” thought Roebuck, as they walked along together, ‘ but Vll beat you yet—if I can, and I think I can. ‘“A double game is a bard one for one man to play, particularly when such high stakes are in questicn, and I think I hold the winning cards, lll copper the deuce to lose, anyway, and watch my chances.” Out under the trees they went together talking cheerfully, but each was trying to think how he could the more easily get the best of the other. Such is life, CHAPTER XIX. THE ESCAPE, Boru Ralph and Mosquito, were nearly play- ed out when they pulled under the stern of the schooner, but Mosquito showed all the cunning of the insect after which be was named, as soon as they were out of sight of their pursuers. Hastily dropping his oars, and seizing Ralph’s, he tied them all together, fastening the whole to the gunwale of the boat, then shoving back a bolt in the bottom of the boat he lifed a trap, composed of. nearly two-thirds of the boat’s bottom, and te Ralph to follow, sprung in- to the river. The bout sunk from sight, almost before they were out of it, and then they swam together for the chains of the schooner, pulled them- selves quickly to the deck, and dropped down behind the windlass, Not a moment too soon, for they had scarcely cleared the rail, when the police boat rounded the stern of the craft upon which they sought shelter, and in a moment more, were hailing the watch aboard the schooner. Some one has said “‘ there is some good with every evil,” and the truth of this statement was proven in this instance, The watch aboard the schooner was fond of his grog, and as luck would have it, had par- taken of more than was good for him, upon the night in question, so that when our friends climbed up the chains, he was peacefully sleep- ing, and therefore did not hear them, and when the officers hailed him, he was smart enough to swear that be had kept a vigilant watch, and, to use his own expression, * hadn’g seen a bloody thing.” To say that the men in the police boat were astonished, would be to almost misrepresent their feelings, They were thunderstruck, be- wildered, nonplused. To pursue a boat con- taining two men, pulling for their lives, and then to have them escape in so mysterious a manner, completely beat them. Had the men gotten away and left the boat, there might, in that case, be some visible rea- son for it, but to baye the boat itself disap- pear, as though some Genius had lifted it from the river asin the days of Aladdin, was more than they could account for, and when, at last, they rowed away, it was with many surmises as to the probable course of the boat they had been pursuing. ; ** Now, my boy,” said Ralph, in a low tone, as soon as the coast was clear, and the watch was or.ce more dozing with his overweight of grog, “how are we going to get ashore?” This was a poser for the lad, but he boasted that he was never without resource in an em- ergency, 80 whispering ‘‘ wait here,” he crept | swiftly and silently away. In about fifteen minutes he returned. «“ O, K., Cap,” he said in a low tone, ‘T've put bis nobs into a sound sleep, and also twigged a cockle loose on the davits aft.” ‘‘\Vhat have you done?” “ Chloroformed the watch and found a boat we can snipe. Come along.” With extreme caution they made their way toward the stern of the vessel, and sure enough, hanging loose upon the davits was a small boat, there being but two or three turns about the cleat to hold it in position. Mosquito grasped one line and Ralph the other, and together they lowered the boat slowly to the bosom of the river, and when, at last, she was safely alongside, and no one had been aroused, they climbed quickly down the side, and as expeditiously pulled out into the river, Not a living thing was in sight. Only here and there some barge or schooner, floating at anchor, betokened the fact that life existed there. The moon was hidden behind a cloud, and only a few of the more distant stars were visi- ble, as they fleetly and silently pulled in the direction of the ‘‘ Dive.” “Tell you what, Cap!” exclaimed the lad, in a low tone, as soon as they were out of danger. “ That was a right smart chase, If that boat of ours badn’t been fixed with the trap, ’twould have been a cold day for us, eh?” ‘“‘ Rather,” agreed Ralph. ‘Those chaps were bent on nabbin’ us, boss, an’ I think they kinder tumbled to who we was, too.” “What makes you think that?” ‘‘T dunno, unless ‘cause they buckled down to biz so smart.” “They might merely have thought us to be river thieves; they would have tried as hard to catch us, and besides, you know, I am thought to be dead by the authorities,”’ A lengthy silence, ‘This seat is rather hard,’ remarked Mos- quito, at last. ‘‘I reckon that beastly chunk o’ lead plowed a furrer in my posterior,” ‘*That’s so—by Jove!” exclaimed Ralph. “T had forgotten that you were hit. Is it any- thing serious, think?” ‘‘ Naw! only a scratch; it’ll kinder stump me on dinners, I’m afraid—that’s all.” “‘How will it interfere with your dinners?” ‘‘Nothin’, only I'll have to eat ’em off the mantle, ’cause I don’t think settin’ will be com- fortable.” ‘‘Lay down your oars, and let me pull in,” said Ralph, forgetting that he too had felt a ball strike him, and that he was already weakened by his over-exertion. ‘‘ Wasn’t you teched?” asked the boy. “Only grazed in the side—nothing more.” ‘Phen look here!’ and the boy rested upon his oars, and looked around at his companion with the air of.a Supreme Court Judge. ‘‘ I’m cap’n of this craft, an’ wot’s more, you’re my patient. Now jest you turn in on the bottom of the boat, an’ leave the hull biz to me.” **No—no! , Pll do my share.” ‘‘ But I say y’ won't. Your carcass is worth a thousand dollars to me, providin’ it’s alive; but dead—an’ ’taint worth a hunk o’ ‘cold ta- ters, *thout any salt.. You flop down there and simmer, an’ let me do the boilin’. Not that I consider my muscles equal to yourn, but youve been an invalid and I aren’t, an’ that shifts the wind from your quarter. The Doc said you was to keep mum, and not go to. firin’ off your extra steam when ’twasn’t wanted. It’s got ter be acold day when a mosquiter can’t buzz.” This argument was too conclusive, and so Ralph, at heart nothing loth, laid his oars, aside, and allowed the boy to finish the dis- tance, . . At last their destination was reached, the loose portion of the pier thrown aside, and in a very few moments thereafter they were snugly ensconced in their quarters, Ralph procured a Jong-stemmed pipe—the physician having given him permission to smoke—and stretching his body upon the bed, set himself to thinking out some plan which might be wise for him to follow. Well he knew that he must keep out of Gor- don Crandyl’s clutches, if he hoped to evade the law until the real criminal was discovered, and he rightly conjectured tbat his enemy was the head of the very association that was har. boring bim. Then why had not Crandyl discovered his presence? He asked himself this question again and again, and the only reply he could find was that the head of the city “department” had had no opportunity of informing the chief, or if he had, for some inexplicable reason, had negleeted to do so. True, he did not know that Crandyl and Captain Ivonnerve were one, but now that he had so much time to think things over, he as you call them.” could recollect many strange actions on the part of his former friend, which, now that the illusion was dispelled, would not admit of very close research, only in the event of finding out the pseudo gentleman’s villainy. ‘Putting two and two together inevitably makes four,” he mused, ‘and, accepting the hypothesis that Crandyl is at the head of the counterfeiters’ gang; not forgetting that he spends most of his time at home at the Lodge, I am free to think that their head-quarters are somewhere in the woods of our estate. “ But where? that’s the question,” he con- tinued to himself. ‘I have known Crandyl to be absent from home several times during the night, but would always come down in the morning as though he had been in his bed all night; dozens of times he Fas gone off hunting during the day, returning at night with less game than it would take me two hours to bag. Yes, their head-quarters are somewbere in those woods, I am certain, and the best thing I can do is to get out of here with all expedition.” One of the gang was passing his door, and he. called out to him, asking ‘if he would not tell Mosquito that he would like to see him. Tt was but a few moments before the lad ap- peared, and, in conjunction with a request. sae Ralph, he seated himself at the side of the. d. “T think you are a pretty good friend of mine, are you not, Mosquito?” Ralph asked at, last. . “You can jest bet your sweet life T am!” was; the response. “Good! Now listen; as long as you stick closely to me you shall never know what itis — to want. Iam rich, and, if you will belp me in a task I have undertaken, I will give you enough when the job is consummated to keep you for the remainder of your days,” “Drive ahead, Cap.” “Will you do this?” “Pf 'tain’t givin’ my pals away I will; but you wouldn’t ask me to do that,” ’ “No, I would not; but there is one man among them who has done me a very great in- jury, and that man must suffer [> “* Right you are, sir; he must belong to the other gang.” ‘“‘Are there two separate organizations, then?” asked Ralph, quickly. “Yes; but both controlled by the same head.” , “Ah, I thought so! And that head is—?” “Captain Ironnerve.” : “Exactly! Do you know him?” “Never sot eyes on ’im in my life.” “*Good—I am very glad!” ce Why?” “Because he is the man I mean,” “© The chief?” 3a ) wt rey Yes. ” ‘ } . Mosquito scratched his head. ‘aia? ‘“‘He’s a right smart party to git the bulge on, Cap,” he remarked at length, ‘‘and we are all sworn to stand by him through thick and thin,” ” (hu “Certainly, but he is not one of your ‘pals,’ “‘ Keep still a minute, Cap, an’ let'me think,” said the lad, and then. he argued the question in his own mind as to whether or not it would be honorable for him to go against the one un- der whose orders he ostensibly was. For a long time he continued in‘a brown study, buf at last, reaching out his hand-and grasping that of Ralph,’ he said: Peis ‘* Drive ov, Cap— I’m yours to command.” CHAPTER XX. “HE SHALL BE CAGED!” ~ - RaLpnH gladly shook the grimy little hand extended to him, and his hearf warmed more than ever toward the boy who had so thor- oughly proven the old maxim: “ A friend in need is a friend indeed.” “You never sdw the captain, you say?’ asked Ralph; at length. ‘Never, that I know of.” “Do you know anything about bim?’ “No; only that he’s as ugly as Satan in his tempers.” . “Were you ever at the head-quarters}— where the other gang hold out, I mean?’ _ “Never, but I know pretty ewell where it is. ” “That will answer as well. Cran—the cap- tain generally remains there, does he not?” “ Yes, ”? “Where is it?” ‘** Somewhere in Virginie,” com EGhbooks.co