Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 238 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

} | ~ ee el > 8 “Yes, sir.” ‘Who by?” The clerk chuckled, as he handed over the missive: ‘* A negro brought it—about as black an imp as I ever saw.” Tearing open the envelope, The Hound met with an astonisher. ‘The following was the remarkable sheet that instantly riveted his gaze:— “ Hank Hounp:—Take your choice: abandon the Ardway trail, or die! This is no idle threat! Beware of the Owls of New Orleans!" The Owls of New Orleans! There was no other special signature. The words were in type write print, thereby com- letely baffling any future tracing to its author y means of chirography. The wide-eyed owl, | rea ge upon its piratical pedestal, fairly seemed to be moaning forth the ominous warning. - A thrill passed over the detective—but it was not a thrill of dread. He shook himself almost as a great dog will when emerging from aswim, and his bold eyes flashed with the fire of enthu- siasm. ** The trail begins to open!” he exclaimed. “Sir?” said the clerk. ** Nothing—nothing.” Then in an undertone to himself: “The Owls of New Orleans! Ha! thereis a gang then. The mask at the Ardway mansion was one of these. This feels like getting into business. Instead of frightening me off, this scrap shall prove a bad move for the Owls.” At that instant the outer door opened and banged shut again, In another moment Trim Taskar, the Pie- ayune reporter, entered with the haste of one pursued, CHAPTER IX. THE WITCHES’ DANCE, THE solitary figure of a newspaper reporter was flitting through the dim and dangerous pre- cinct of Franklin street, At the moment of our sighting him he was at Hank Hound, the Crescent Ci it “ How you’spec’ I[knows, Dar wear de woo- doo live at—” “So you said.” ** Dem’s de n’ises, dem is,” ** Noises?” ‘Singin’ wi’ de spearts.” “Oh, the voodoo sings with spirits?” *“Un-hngh! Dem’s de n’ises, ‘*Man or woman—this voodoo?” ‘‘She’s a woman outside’n de house, bué in dar—Lo’! she jes’ sloughs de gyarmenés o’ dis worl’ an’ jines de spearts.” **She does, el?” “Un-bngh! true, chile. Spoarts prizin’ roun’ in dar.” She stepped back with a lurch as she uttered the maudlin warning, and reéled on ber way. Trim did not act upon the advice to clear out, **So, a voodoo sorceress at her orgies, eh?’ he muttered. ‘‘ Come, I think there is a paragraph te be sqixeezed out of this. I’ve time enough to look into it, anyhow,” He had at once reso!ved to know what man- ner of seance was progressing within the somber house. But he knew well enough that the ap- pearance of a stranger, especially a white man, would be an immediate signal for the cessation of whatever was transpiring. To gather an item, in this instance, it must be stolen. First making sure that he was unobserved, the reporter slipped, light-footed, into a narrow alley leading to the rear of the house. At the end of the alley was a securely-bolted gate. Determined to have his “ite” he promptly scaled the fence, then stood still as a statue for some moments in the gloom of the yard to listen. The weird sounds gave nosign of abating. He saw that the room on the second floor must ex- tend from front to back of the building for the song-like wailings reached him fairly audible there, and the same flitting shadows were Bes’ be movin’. | regularly crossing in the light on the muslin curtain. Fortune favored the reporter. Beneath the window was a narrow-roofed and steeply-slanted shed; at one corner of the shed was an immense hogshead for collecting rain- water. Clambering up with these facilities, he was soon at the window. Here again a fortunate circumstance further- ed his object, In one side the curtain had a small rent, as if torn by a nail in the window frame. Through this rent he looked in upon a scene most remarkable, The room was baro of everything in the shape of furniture excepting a camp-cot, which was placed in the middle of the floor. Around the cot had been drawn, with a thick piece of chalk, a large ring. Outside of this ring, going round and round, giving vent to the unearthly refrain, gyrating in nameless postures, were four female de- mons, Demons, because they looked hardly human. Four gigantic negresses; their visages striped like Indians’ on a war path, with bideous daubs of paint; their hair—apparently some of it false —twisted long and straight upon wires, the end of some twists tipped with a rag of ribbon; their jacket sleeves reaching a’d dangling many inches longer than the bands; their great feet bare, and swishing in corcert over the sanded planking; their clumsy ankles—visible as their skirts tossed to and fro—adorned by serpentine varvels. Their cavernous mouths were wide with a ty Detective. Eee — pa rT a en EEE 2 ing asif beedless of the Satanic rite being per- formed over her; and in her cheeks there was a transparent hue of death. Then followed another discovery. A door at one side, which opened away from the window, was slightly ajar. Beyond the door Trim ‘lasker saw acomely white man. This party, was learing in an at- titude of close attention to the doings in the witches’ room, and the grin of a lurking devil was upon his face, Hardly had Trim taken in the whole astound- ing aspect when he was roughly interrupted at his watching. ee voice broke forth from a window above im. ‘* Hi, dar, you spyin’ trash! dar!” Simultaneously a long handled whitewash brush was thrust forcibly downward, striking the reporter between neck and shoulder, Losing his balance, be went tumbling from the shed, falling squarely and flop into the rain barrel—luckily, head up. Extricating himself be climbed the fence again with the agility of a monkey and dashed down the alley into Franklin street, leaving a watery trail. It was fresh from the vicinity of this incident that he appeared at the detective agency a few minutes after The Hound started to answer the midnight summons. ss ‘* Where’s The Hound?” be p.. ‘‘Gone out,” responded the ..atch clerk, ey- ing him comically. rc ‘I must see bim.” ‘*Tmportant?’ ‘** A minute’s delay may cost a humaa life.” ** Possible!” ** Tell me where to find him—quick.” ** In that case you had better go to No.— Pry- tania street. Guess you’ll find him there.” Away went Trim, reaching the Ardway man- sion in a bigh flutter. ‘*Mr. Hound is not bere,” was the answer to his inquiry; ‘‘there’s nobody here but the family, sir.” ‘Not here!” echoed Trim, with dropping countenance, ‘There was a gentleman to see Mr, Royal Ardway a little while ago—if he is the one you are looking for, But be’s gone.” Trm started off on the bunt again. the Agency, full speed, And here he found the detective, rushing in upon bim as shown at the close of the preceding charter. The reporter’s clothing was drenched and smeared with whitewash scraped from the fence in bis burried flight; his bat was jammed and dented out of all shape. The Hound looked at him searebingly, hardly having recognized bim as he entered. “Why, Trim, my dear fellow, what's hap- pened to you?” ‘Never mind about me. I’ve como to tell you that there’s some devil’s own work going on! It may be now even too late to stop it!” With the words, used up by the exertion of his bunt after Tbe Hound, the reporter tbrew himself into a chair, completely out of breath, CHAPTER X, STRIKING A NEW TRAIL. It was some minutes before Trim Taskar could get bis breath to speak further, “Devil's work, Trim?” repeated the detective. ‘“ What do you mean?” “Just what I say.” ‘* Explain.” What you doin’ Back to ' 1 a certain point between Canal and St. Louis | fetich strain, sometbing like this: ‘* There’s a house on Franklin street that will Is streets. « Obi ask, Obi say fe thescene of a murder if somebody doesn't ee The hour lacked but a short while to mid- De body am die an’ de soul fly ’way! stop it.” | night. Obi say mus’ come fo’ true, ‘** Out with the whole of it, Be more lucid,” Trim Taskar was making toward the Picay- «ne office to shape up his tablets. Suddenly be paused, arrested by a noise, a Mix de mortal an’ toad blood, too! Obi get, Obi save Token an’ speart from outen de grave! Trim rapidly related the singular aud ani- mated tableau he had witnessed. ‘She was a beautiful girl, you say? the one — . =a —_ - Sa a sitgular mingling of discordant voices in a wailing, mourning, doleful symphony, which came from the house he was just then abreast of. This was accompanied, too, by a dully audible shuffling of feet, with timing stamps. He would have continued on bis way, suppos- ing it to be nothing more than some bilarious parties holding a cake-walk, but to his ears came disconnected cries, expressions, words that indicated prayer or grieving of the peculiar kind common to the negro race. The feet shuffled and glided regularly, the tunes maintained their weirdness with a strik- ing earnestness. , The windows above were screened by curtains of dirty white muslin, and on the curtains oc- casionally moved a succession of phantom like shadows, as of several figures dancing past. ‘‘What kind of people live in there?’ Trim asked of a half drunken negress who came stag- gering along. **Golly! you doanno?” * No, I do not.” “You means dis yere house—yere?”’ Obi charm de coffin-worm, Make de snake an’ debbil to squirm! Hyar we draws de magic ring, Hyar we ‘fies de scaripi'n sting! Sisters fo’—de sister five, Obi charm de speart alive! Twine de cowl when de soul am riz, Obi! Obi! byar we is!” Scrape-t-shuffle! scrape-t-shuffle! kept time the bare feet of the hideous four as they danced about, animated to a verge of frenzy, tossing their long-sleeved arms, contorting their mascu- line bodies into rupturing shapes, And thrice over and over again they doled the disma) melange of their voodoo incanta- tions. An astonishing sight, even for a reporter. But while they circled round and round, Trim Tasker, looking upon the cot by glimpses between their demonish forms, suddenly started at a strange discovery. : Lying upon the cot was a beautiful white irl! ~ She seemed to be the central object of the in- fernal orgie. you saw lying on the cot.” ‘‘ Aslovely as could be imagined.” * And a man, who Jooked like anarch-villain, standing at the door?” “a Yes.’ ‘Well, it does look plot But why did you not take this to the police?’ ‘“‘T believe there is more back of the scene that the police might overlook in their baste to stop it; whether they did or not, I think as you do—it looks plotty.’ ‘Like work for a detective, eh?” cs Yes. ” ‘** And suppose it is. Where does my fee for labor come from?” the last jocularly. ‘**T know you, I guess, Mr. Hound. You are not the man to Jet a crime go on because there does not happen to be any one to pay for ser- vices.” ‘You are right, Trim.” oe a sudden thought entered the detective’s mind, “Take a look at this ” he said. ** What is it?’ — arent nnn EERE eaEREEEEEREEEEEEEEREEEER Ee 4 “Yes, this one.” His heart gave a violent leapas he gaz d, ‘*T want you to look.” r “Sha’ chile! dar wear de woodoo live at.” transfixed, upon the face that was as lovely as| He had drawn from his pocket the phote- ‘| * Tae Voodoo?” anv he had ever bebeld. crystal types obtained from Girard Ardway. j ’ a “Un-bngh!” The girl's hands were crossed vpon her bosom ; No sooner did the reporter’s glance rest on it ae _ ™ What's going on in there; can you tell me?” than he uttered a low ery. her eyes were fixed steadily on the grimy ceil- / nNiGodoOo (E Go