Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 288 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

= 2 cl ee alain aoe Electro Pete, the Man of Fire. -- ~ one, as this reader of human nature could plain- ] reeive, “ap muttered musingly: ‘‘There must be two Pietro Idellos—two St. Dyers—two Rathwaites. And yet such a re- markable circumstance is beyond credence.” At the Agency, he found a telegram from a certain bank awaiting the arrival of his senior, But as it was labeled “‘ important ” he unhesi- tatingly opened it. He surprisedly read this; ‘*Come at once. The check is here, and we are detaining the utterer of it. It has evidently been tampered with.” CHAPTER XIII. ON THE SCENT OF RATS. THE local telegram showed that West, the senior of the firm, was attending to something of a character that demanded instant attention. Frequently one had assumed the business of the other to a judicious extent, such as Daniels was now bent upon. Some one was being detained by the bank who was ‘‘ wanted” by West, He would go in his partner’s stead. When he entered the bank—where he was well known—although they had expected to see Mr. West, the teller gave a nod indicating that he should step into the president’s room. And here he met with a surprise indeed. At his desk sat the president. On the outer side of the desk stood a youn man, and’by the side of the latter was a stal- wart policeman. He gazed upon Robert Rathwaite! Yet it could not be possible, for he had just left that pose en in the hotel. ‘Ah, Mr. Daniels,” saluted the president, suavely, ‘‘we have caught your rogue for you. A rogue, I know, for see: there is the check— and it isn’t for two bundred either.” And he added, as he handed Daniels a check: ‘““As we had been advised that the check signed John Castlemon would be for two hun- dred, we could, upon an extra inspection, see just bow it had been raised.” Daniels would not betray that he was igno- rant of his partner’s little game—for that West was playing some game he knew at once. ‘““T am glad you have caught him for us. Officer, please take that young man to the cen- tral station. I, or Mr. West, will be there shortly to make substantial charges.” This oceurrence convinced Daniels that there were indeed two Rathwaites. And more, having so recently left the genuine Rathwaite, he saw that, though there was a re- markable likeness between the genuine and the culprit taken in charge, yet there was a differ- ence sufficient to distinguish one from the other. ‘*It was this one,” he thought, as he turnec again toward the Agency, “that West saw in the park with Oriele St. Dyer. Now, what sort of game is Oriele St. Dyer playing? Hang me if I don’t feel a little at sea, I would like to get on the track of Oriele St. Dyer—supposing, of course, that I was mistaken, and tbe girl at the Jew’s junk-shop was not Oriele St, Dyer, but af some one who greatly resembled her.” At the Agency another telegram. From Chicago. _ Opening it, Daniels read: ‘* Robert Rathwaite all right. A reputable young man. Now in your city, Business, grain m ‘ Signed by the Chief of Police of Chieago. asm ts se i” _“ When was Mr. West last in here?’ he asked of the clerk. ‘‘Hasn’t been in since early this morning,” was the reply. : The hour was then late in the afternoon. He went to the central station and explained to the captain tnat the young man just brought in from the bank was ‘wanted ” by the senior wo of yey & esi rr ere can he be all this ?” he question- ed himself, and thinking of bis otrtuer as the hours grew on apace. “He never stayed away 8 such a length of time before without sendin some word to the office to let us know of whereabouts.” As night 4 Naat Daniels felt an actual anxiety for West. But this must take a second place to @ certain plan he had resolved upon as soon aS darkness should settle down upon the as e was about to leave the Agency to ca out this plan, when Robert Rathwaite Sdtered. He knew by the telegram that his partner had evidently received in answer to an in uiry sent to the chief of police of Chicago, that Rath- waite was a reputable young man. There could hardly be anything “crooked” about him after the indorsement that had come from Chicago. He received him with perhaps more cordiality than he had evincedftoward bim previously. ‘A word with you, if you please,” said the young map. ** What is it?” *‘T have seen Oriele St. Dyer.” | Ana d her str under rather s cire i: added the lover, SN inteeer if — ee ‘* What like?’ ‘‘She was at the pclice station.” “What station?” ‘‘The Central, so I learned from the captain there. I was walking for a breath of fresb air, when my footsteps were accidentally directed toward the station. As I neared it, 1 saw a female come forth. By tie light of the gas lamp in front, 1 recognized Oriele St. Dyer as she wasin the act of drawing a vail over her face.” °f ‘‘ You detained her, of course.” ‘‘ That is just the strangest part of it. I call- ed to her at once. Butat the sound of my voice she ran across the street and bounded inside a cab, which drove off furiously.” ‘She could not bave recognized your voice.” ‘‘T called her several times—Oriele! Oriele!” ae did you call out your own name?” sé oO. 9? And he added: *“‘T have made a wonderful discovery be- sides,” ‘Ot what nature?” ‘‘ There is a man in this city who is the living counterpart of myself.” ‘‘ How did you find that out?’ ‘““T went into the station to ask what the young lady was doing there. I was informed that she had come to see a prisoner. You can well imagine that my curiosity was aroused. [| wanted to see what prisoner my betrothed could have any business with, I was shown a man who, as I tell you, is my exact coun- terpart. What upon earth can my affianced bride have to do with a criminal, that she should call upon him while bebind prison-bars?” Daniels was thoughtful. at this, but said nothing of those cig In his own pri- vate opinion, Oriele St. Dyer was not as faith- ful a betrothed as she might be. Or—and the inward question was reasonable—did she believe that the young man arrested for the matter of the raised check was the true Rath- waite? Had hea sufficient acquaintance with her to keep up the deception? Complicated it certainly was. “Since you have lost her,” he said, ‘‘I do not see that there is anything gained but the fact of the knowledge that she ie somewhere in the city. That being an assured thing, you may depend we shall find her for you.” From the Agency he went toward Hast Balti- more and down to the vicinity of the ferry at Broadway. His route was past the junk-shop, The shop was closed. And fortune seemed to be in his favor just then, for as he neared the premises, be saw a party come from the little door that was eut in the larger and double, stable-like doors of the _ and move rapidly in the direction of the erry. His keen eyes detected in the party the form of the Jew, old Jacobs. ps He carried in bis hand a valise around which was wrapped a paper tied with a string. ‘‘It is the valise that was taken ois the room of the drummer,” Daniels concluded, as he erm ed followed the Jew, ‘‘ Now then for a sight of these fellows called the wharf rats of Locust Point.” For this occurrence had at once, and by good luek, placed him on the very scent he was in- tending to follow. He knew that the Jew was to be among the mysterious wharf rats that very night. tealthily the sleuth followed in the wake of the unsuspecting Jew. Jacobs went to the ferry. The detective was close, yet not so close as to attract notice by his movements. Griping the valise with a strong hand, and easting occasional glances around him, as if fearful of the very thing which was now tran- iring—that he might be tracked—the wily sraelite proceeded upward from the ferry at Locust Point and toward the great piers of the elevators, Fortunately for the detective’s object, the night was dark, and he easily kept in the rear of the Jew without being discovered when they | had left the immediate vicinity of the few lights that burn on the Point. Suddenly, Jacobs vanished. But the detective knew that he had descended by one of the shoots at the coal piers. Continuing cautiously onward, be presently 1 voices below the level of the railroad d. * Tey haf met a’retty, you wos say?” “Yas, ole man, they’re among the spiles be- fore this, an’ ’"Lectro Pete said as soon as you came, I was to unbitch the last boat an’ make tracks for the hole,” ‘““Verry goot; I go directly.” Jacobs entered a small skiff and began row- ing away from the coal-strewn wharf. As he departed over the water, the man whom he had found there waiting with a boat for bis accommodation, proceeded to loose the painter of another skiff that was lying close to the tim- bers of the wharf. In this operation he was suddenly inter- rupted. i Hello, Mr. Boatman,” spoke a voice at his ey start. “ Hello yourself,” gruffly. ‘Ts that boat for hire?” * No, ‘tain’t.” ‘Well, JT want to hire it anyhow.” ** An’ you can’t do it.” ‘*But I must have it. I need a boat, and thatin a hurry. I haven’t time to go larking all around the harbor fora boat. I must have this one, and I'll pay you a fair price—” ‘‘ You cau’t have this boat, an’ I’m in a hurry an’ ain’t got no time to talk.” ‘*1’ll pay you five dollars for the use of it for an hour, and leave its value in your hand be- sides—” ‘*Can’t have it, I say.” The skiff containing the Jew was almost be- yond the range of vision in the gloom. As the man uttered the last words something happened that was rather an astonisher. “T’m going to have tbat boat!” and as the words entered his surprised ears, he found him- self lifted bodily up from the wharf and poised in mid-air. CHAPTER XIV. THE WHARF RATS OF LOCUST POINT. LIKE an indistinctly outlined and large worm, the skiff containing the Jew was receding over the dark surface of the waters, out among the shipping. Presently it might be entirely lost there or amid the zig-zag wharves. There was no time to loseif the detective meant to follow Jacobs to the den of the ‘‘ rats” wherever it might be. ‘*T am going to bave that boat!” He griped the man by collar and breechen, and by a motion that displayed a marvelous strength, raised him above bis bead, Then, with a half lurch forward, and plant- ing one foot a little in advance to give his own body a springy tendency, he gave the other a mighty swing that hurled him out into the water beyond the wharf. As the fellow found himself going thus through mid air, be uttered a loud, affrighted yell that echoed against the distant elevators and seemed to tangle among the trellises of the coal dumps with a supernatural sound. The cry would not failto bring the watch- man to the spot. But ere that could transpire, Daniels would be out of sight. He sprung into the skiff, and seizing the single oar it contained, pushed off without wait- ing to see if the discomfited boafman came up from his bath or not. . In the water, not far from the wharf, the fel- low was swimming with the ease of a fish. Silently he floated there, looking after the skiff; and not another sound escaped him after that terrified shout, Then, es the skiff drew away, he cautiously swam after it, making no more noise than would some slimy snake who had its native ele- ment in the olive-colored waters of the Basin. Daniels could still see the boat containing the ew, . Anema 2 the latter had been far enough away from the wharf at the time of the encoun- ter to render the occurrence invisible to him because of the tall and dense shadows of the coal-dumps. | Then ausdenly the quarry vanished. But not until the keen-eyed detective had marked his course. Dani-ls knew that the Jew had glided under the immense piers of the North German Lloyd and AJl-n steamships, Promptly he followed into the labyrinth of spiles there. A watery labyrinth, where reigned a dark- ness Cimmerian. Like the grave it was, with the occasional soft wash of the water on the huge supporti spiles; and cautious indeed must he procee now, if he would avoid attracting the attention of the man he was trailing. guided by the sense of touch alone, and his ears were pricked intently for some sound of the one on whose strange track he was sticking with sleuth like tenacity. less swimmer who watched the boat containing the detective with flaming and curious orbs, ‘‘ A good place for these wharf rats of Locust Point,” soliloquized Daniels, as he proceeded tediously. ‘‘ And I may beon a goose chase after all; for how could they hold an meeting in a place like this? The have only entered here for a blind.—Ah!” Far under the pier, in the tangle of spiles and darkness, had be gone when he began to think that nothing was fo be found there. But at that instant he made a slight discovery. Ahead was the faint glimmer of a light. Nn faint, but a light surely. n cast brokenly through the forest of spiles. Redoubling his caution, he pushed on. Hark! | Off to one side there was a s-und like IOO comic 11) elbow, and with a sharpness that caused him to From spile to spile be gently pushed his boat, , And still furtber in the rear came the noise- — - sort of ew may > not the light itself, but the g’immer it- id the — squeaking of a rat, An unusually largeratit — s:com ‘ee ’ > a {> a 5 Pa ~