Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 288 — page 7: what you’re looking at

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

- started out, disguised, to visit a “‘ fence ” which he knew (or suspected) existed in the vicinity of the wharves below Thames street—a junk shop, to all appearances, but with the adjunct of a dwelling at its rear that was inhabited, yet never known to be visited by any one in day- light. “Of course he did not expect to find among the rubbish with which the outer shop was strewn, anything of the valuable jewelry stolen from the hotel. Yet he entered and began poking about with a switch-like cane which he carried as a part of his disguise, as if wanting to find some particu- lar article. patie ‘*W’ot you will haf, my frient?” inquired the little Jew who was the owner of the shop. Daniels glanced around as if he had something to say which be did not wish another to hear. 4, People don’t want to buy all the time, Jacobs,” he answered with a significant nod. ‘‘ Aha! how you wos know my namie was Jacobs,” rubbing his hands together in a pleased way, while his eyes twinkled. “I haf not Jacobs on t’e sign, eb?” ‘* Well, I reckon I know you. things, don’t you?” - Bom ptimness-yahis W’ot you haf to sell, my frient?” ** Diamonds.” “Mine Got!” He threw back his head with an expression of unbounded amazement. ‘‘ Diamonts! W’ot!—you half come here to sell diamonts: W7’are you t’ink I get money enough to puy diamonts—such t/ings like dot, eb?” ‘‘Oh, come, if you don’t buy, say so. I was told by a pal—” | “ Aha! a pal tolt you. Very well, my frient, if you haf a leetle diamont—a very leetle dia- mont, not wort’ much, 1 maybe puy of you. W’are is de diamont?” , The disguised detective gave him a look of disgust. ‘*Do you take me for a fool? Do’ you think I am going to haul out such things in this shop, where somebody will come in and see what we are up to?’ At this point a man entered and passed rapid- ly to the rear. He wore a slouch hat and an immense beard of raven hue. But the detective could scarcely repress a start as he saw in the face above the beard a pair of eyes it was impossible to mistake. The orbs of the Italian, Pietro Idello. In ali his experience with criminals, it was impossible to deceive him in the matter of such remarkable eyes as the Italian possessed, CHAPTER VIII. TRAPPING A DETECTIVE, Ir the party who entered the junk shop was Pietro Idello, then he and the Jew proprietor were on secretly intimate terms, for he con- tinued straight back to the building at the rear —thougb not without exchanging a sign with Jacobs, which was also observed by the keen- eyed sleuth. Giving this last comer time to get well back and out of sight, the Jew said: *W’are you get t’e diamont w’ot you haf to sell, my frient ‘“‘Look a-here, do you want to buy a dia- Say, you buy mond?” The speaker's tone was that of one who does not intend to be pum in regard to a business transaction, armies = The Jew winked. _ **@ome mit me.” He led the way to the house behind the shop. Daniels carefully noted the surrounding as he followed, , In the front of the dwelling there was an apartment very similar to the old-style ar- rangement of pawnbroker-shop stalls, where a person might stand and transact business with- out some other patron being able to see his whee Dor. e Jew whisked out of sight for a moment— and apieared again behind bis counter with a broad y-erinning visage. ‘Let me see dot diamont, my frient.” The detective asked himself whether this fel- low was indeed, as he suspected, a mere keeper of a ‘“‘ fence” or a regular pawnbroker; and if the latter, did he have a license? Mark Dapiels had in his pocket at the moment an admirable imitation of one of the diamonds which had been described to him by Dimble—a aste affair made to his order on short notice. his be now produced. The Jew took and examined it. And ina moment burst into a low laugh. ‘Ware you stole dot?” he asked, ‘“Stole! Who said I stole it?’ demanded the _ disguised detective, in a simulation of mixed indignation and alarm. ‘Com’, com’, my frient. Now you haf bat soe trouble for your pains. Dot is no dia- n mo ‘¢- You think I stole it?’ ‘* 'Yahs, I know it.” ‘You know it! Look here, Jacobs, we might as well be confidential.” / —_—_ee_—_—_—_—_—_—_—————— en eee **'Yahs.” **T was at a heap of risk getting that; my pal told me you were just the party to give full value for it—” **So I woult—so I woult, my frienf, is no diamont.” ““T got it for a diamond.” ‘Stole him, you mean.” ‘*No matter. Now, Iam sure it is a diamond. What makes you so sure it is not?’ ‘Hist! Ishow you somet’ings. I will show you von diamont shust like dot was by t’e cut- ting, unt you see t’e difference.” A SS ROE shat like it in the cutting! Alert indeed was the detective now. It hard- ly seemed probable to him that be was to fall so easily on the trail of the drummer’s missing diamonds as this promised. In his whisky way the Jew vanished and was gone for several minutes, When he returned, he held up in his hand—carefully beyond reach of his patron, however—a diamond that Mark Daniels could have sworn was one of those de- scribed to him by Dimble. The two stones, when compared, clearly be- trayed that the one the detective bad brought to dispose of could not be anything more than an imitation. ‘You see, my frient, dere wos one shust so like yours; you tink dey wos de same. Not so. You wos foolt. 1 woult not gif so much as twenty-fife cendts for destone you baf—dis— well maybe it was wort’ some huntrets of dol- lars. But Imind somet’ings, Dot stone of yours wos cut to similar precise as t’e one wot I haf. I pelieve you haf got him from t’e same party.” “Maybe so,” admitted Daniels, reluctantly. ‘‘ Aha! you wos young at dot pusiness ”— with one palm elevated at a crooked angle and wiggling wisely backward and forward. ‘* When you wos olter, you know t’e difference between t’e diamont and t’e paste. Why, my frient, I haf a daughter who knows so muc better as dot,” and raising his voice he called: ‘Rachel! Oh, Rachel—com’ here.” From a door somewhere behind the stalls, the location of which the detective could not dis- cover, a prompt footstep advanced. Then there was an occurrence which well rw threw the experienced sleuth off his men- tal balance. A beautiful girl appeared behind the counter at the side of the rat-faced Jew. A girl of nearly twenty years of age, with a dusky, not Jewish, face: whose eyes were as black as the pramnion and with the luster of winter’s stars. Her hair, .tastefully dressed, was a mass of opulence, and surmounting a magnificeut brow was a golden band set with a single diamond in the center. It was Oriele St. Dyer, and on her head was the piece of jewelry which herself had shown to him in her room at the hotel at the time of recounting the mystery of the man of fire. He was reasonably staggered. ‘‘Rachel, you will tell t’e shentleman w’ot you t’ink of dot stone,” handing her the imita- tion. “T think it is worth about two dollars,” she said, at once, when her lustrous eyes rested on it, and almost before she held it in ber band. At thatinstant a small, gong-like bell sounded somewhere behind the Jew. ‘“‘ Stop a leetle, my frient,” he said, with a sig- nificant nod, “I t’ink you wos not long at t’e pusiness, and I haf somet’ings to say maybe for vour goot and mine if you stay long in t’e city Baltim’re. Stopaleetle.” In answer to the bell, he drew out of sight. The girl simultaneously, and without having said anything more, glided away toward that door which the detective could not see from the stall in which he stood. He had certainly struck another mystery. What could the lovely. Oriele St. Dyer be doing in the fence of this Jew? And she was the girl whom Pietro Idello had charged with being a felon for whom the Italian authorities were seeking. And Pietro Idello himself was at that moment under the same roof, on terms of acquaintance with the man Jacobs! If there was any truth in the statement of the singular experience of the girl with a man of fire in her room at the hotel, then Pietro Idello was that remarkable personage, for Daniels had had a similar rience in contact with him—the most unaccountable experience of bis life. As be stood there waiting, to see what it might be the Jew had to say, he glanced idly about bim. And almost instantly his eyes rested on some- ns 4 in a far corner which caused him a great sta In that corner was a valise, ) A new, brown leather valise, with gilt clasps, and on a shield in front a graven eagle. The very kind of valise described by Dimble as having been lost by him with all its contents of valuable jewelry. With a hasty glance around to make sure that he was alone, he tip-toed tothe valise and examined it. Yes, there could be no mistake. He had at least, by a most unusual piece of luck, struck some g like a clew to the culprits in the diamond robbery. Electro Pete, the Man of Fire. | - ——————e i a ee et 7 Dimble’s diamonds must be in this place. But he wished to accomplish more than the mere recovery of the gems. As important to the sleuth was the apprehension of the adroit But dot | thief who could make off, in comparative invisi- bility, with his plunder. Daniels thought his action of inspecting the valise was unobserved. But brief as had been that examination, there were a pair of sbarp and malevolent eyes witnessing his movements unseen from a tiny hole at the rear of the space before the box-like stalls. Jacobs reappeared. The disguised detective was in his former po- sition. “My frient, I tole you somet’ings. I tink I haf made a mistake. I tink Rachel not know so much as she pelief, I haf look{ at dot stone again. Let me show you”—bringing from | under the counter a snmiall pair of hanging scales. ‘‘I haf weighed dot stone. It was goot weight. I baf t’ink perbaps de ot’er feller w’ot brought de stone w’ot looks like yours haf not fbn all—you baf by de greatest chance get t’e ast—’ ‘ Let up, ole man,” interrupted Daniels, with an injured air. ‘*Ob, dot wos all right, my frient. I haf deal wit? a great many peoples, you onterstant. Now, you look”—elevating the scale. ‘‘ You see, t’e stone you wos brought to me wos goot weight ant I pelieve I bargain mit you— ’Sh! some one wos coming in der shop. You shtep dis way, pehint t’e counter, w’are I haf my room for sooch gustomers,” and he made a beckoning sign... Following the direction of the hand, Daniels walked to the rear of the shop and through an opening in the counter. He had made a discovery, however. The stone which the Jew had weighed was the one which he had brought forward to com as the genuine, and not the one which Daniels had offered for sale. ‘ What sort of game was being played now? The sleuth was eager to investigate. Jacobs met bim at the opening and conducted him into a room through a very narrow door. In the apartment were piled a mass of mixed goods of tedious description. ‘*Sit you down, my frient. Dot stone wos wort’ more as I haf t’ought at fir-rst.” rg gris a stool, adding: ‘My daughter, Rachel, ’tent to de gustomer w’ot wos shust com’ in, while I bargain mit you oe dot diamont. How much you want for it, e ‘“T don’t know, old man. What will you give?” ““ Ah, I wos not puying and selling too.” * Well, give me four bundred dollars—” “My gracious! w’ot you say?” As the words left his shriveled lips, something transpired that was totally unexpected even by this experienced man-hunter—unexpected, be- cause it was so old.a dodge that it was bardly lgoked for, and because votbing had occurred to give him a suspicion that this'old Jew could mean bim barm on so short an acquaintance. It showed that even the best hands at a sus- picion are liable to be misled. Without warning, the floor vawned beneath the detective’s feet, ahd he and the stool went pitching downward into a black hole that emit a foul vapor the moment the trap was thrown open by its cunning spring. As he went down, he saw the weazen face of the Jew bending forward to witness his fall, an expression of devilish triumph in the hairy lineaments. CHAPTER IX. A PROBABLE MURDER. As the detective disappeared below the sur- face of the floor, the trap, on its cunning springs, was at once readjusted, and with a remarkable quickness. This ve the sight of the murderous Jew the fact that to ra: ae extent bis plan to kill his patron bad ailed. Mark Daniels was an acrobat of no mean order. As he fell, he pérformed the half of a somer- set, and caught, by a mighty gripe, on the under edge of the pit where the joists rested on the ground. | Thus he hung, painfully, with his shoulder blades nearly. wrencbed asunder, but safe never- theless, and the trap above bim closed. He was in total darkness, But by drawing himself up, be managed to crawl between the two joists that there seemed to rest on a cemented masonry, and pausing for a second to rest after the unusual strain of muscle, he distinctly heard the sound of voices in the room from which the treacherous Jew had hurled him. : The voice of Jacobs was “Dot wos goot! Ho! don’d you tink?” “Good? ‘Yes, Simon Jacobs, it is better than ou imagine. Do you know who that is we ying: ot was very goot, ave sent down to the bottom of your con- venient pit?” “oN. ” 00 cS GONE uickness was what shut out from’ (Elo) 14