Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 288 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

re $ _— i a a = - et es ‘ a ‘ ——= Electro Pete, the Man of Fire. 7 9 small slips of paper and dropped into the tray before bim among a heap of otber and precisely similar papers. The ‘‘ capper” was before him, with an atti- tude of absorbing interest; others soon fol- lowed suit, until quite a little crowd was Con- gregated around this individual who seerned to be possessed of so much wealth, and who, as recklessly asa miilionaire, offered the bystand- ers a choice of any three papers in the tray for one dollar, after a thorougn, mixing. Five times had a twenty-dollar bill been dropped into the tray (4 and five tens had been following while he made an announcement: “Take your choice, geutlemeu—any three papers in the lot. for one dollar, and the under- standing that you shall not open them until you are one square from here, You have. three chances for a twenty—maybe all are prizes. I can afford to be jiberal this morning, ill you try your luck?” tt was an old dodge. But this was not whet attracted the senior detective. Both saw and recognized in this personage who was swindling in a most genteel. manner, no other than the young man, Robert Rath- waite, No grain merchant of Chicago would be u to any such game as that in the streets of Balti- more, The Chicago business, then, must be, a blind. ‘‘A very industrious lover hss Oriele St. Dyer,” remarked the chief, grimly. if) Ver 7? A thriving trade did the young man push among the denizens of Thames street, When the crowd began to hesitate at Jast, he folded up.his valise and sauntered off—the a. od following at a distance. e chief arose, ‘‘ Where to?” asked Daniels. ‘To follow that young man, I want to know what sort of game he is mixed up in,” ‘*T shail lay low until to-night.” *‘ And what then?” ‘The rats of Locust Point,” laconically. “sé Ah | ) Daniels’s partner had for the moment, forgot- ten the other’s allusion, in his-.recital of what he had overheard in the Jew’s house, to some organization which seemed to be known as the Rats of. Locust Point, and which was to receive from Jacobs that night the sachel, or valise, of the drummer, Dimble, for total destruction. The entrance to the saloon had double doors. As the senior out he paused for hardly more than an instant to make a change in his ees bg : : ben he emerged he had the appearance of being a well-to-do farmer, and was just then osaiing as if to store away a pile of money, change, probably, from the price of a drink, for he me his mouth at the same time with a copious colored handkerchief, is movements soon placed him beside the man who had acted as capper for Rathwaite. And his eyes. glistened as he saw the wealth of the supposed countryman so recklessly dis- played. ‘Why, Mr. Brown, how do you do? When did you get down from Bel Air? And how is the trucking business—”’ The countryman drew back suspiciously. “My name is not Brown, sir, but Castlemon —John Castlemon, Iam not from Bel Air, but Westminster, and I am not a trucker, sir, but a —_— a wee Me ee” as Kcegats me: o* I was ng - Brown, whom you greatly resemble. No harm done, I hope?” . 4 ‘* None, sir,” st As the man drew back a twinkle was in the 4c _ detective’s eye. ‘Aha! wait a minute. I smell a rat,” he muttered, ‘1 think this will lead to some information of the man who calls himself. Robert, Rathwaite.” - At the first corner something transpired PF uen, to all appearances, him with tense amazement, | | Coming around the corner at a rapid pace was Rathwaite. At sight of the countryman be paused short an exclamation of pleased surprise; ‘Why, Mr. Castlemon!: I hadu’t expected to meet you here! How are the bees?” ‘I don’t think I know you, sir.” ‘**Don’t know me! I was at college in West- minster last year, My name is’ Bannock—son of Senator Bannock, vou remember. I am delighted to meet you, Mr. Castiemon.” He forced his band. on the countryman, and a hearty shake followed, Castlemon seeming to rather relish the salutation from the son of a senator. , ‘‘Ahum! yes, I think I do remember you now,” he admitted, *‘‘ You were over to see my daughter and wife about a Jot of hives your father wanted—” - “Yes, yes, 1 am glad you remember.” ‘‘ How did the senator like your purchase for him?” inquired Castlemon, giving a plain cue. ‘Oh, first rate, I bave an idea he will want to increase the apiary before long. Which way are you going?” | Daniels and I never discover anythin -—-- ‘Well, I’ve just been up to get the money | from a large sale to a merchant on south Broad- way. and I want to get to the depot—” ‘ But I am in the city, on my way back to college, and as college is such a tedious place, you know—” * Yes, 1 know.” ‘‘] thought I would see the town a little bit. But,.unfortunately, I have to wait in this neighborhood until I can see a friend who has all my money—money given me by my father before I left. home. bave bis due-bill—for it was a loan—though that will not avail me, I will see him this afternoon, and if you will wait till then, we will be companions on the train to Westminster.” A ‘* Very happy,” agreed Castlemon. Arm in arm, and chatting familiarly, the two turned back over the way Jobn Castlemon had come. ** Mr. Castlemon, you are an older man than Iam, and maybe you will not approve of what Iam about to do,” ‘What's that?” ‘‘T have a dollar or two in my pocket, and I know a way to double or treble it in an hour or less. ‘* Why, bow can you do that?” ‘‘If you will just come and look at the opera- tion, and promise that you will not say anything up in Westminster about it, l’]1 show you.” “Td like to know,” said the countryman, with undisguised interest in the assertion that money could be doubled and trebled in an hour or less. i Rathwaite led the way to the junk-shop of the ew. Jacobs received them with a blank inquiry: ‘* W’ot you want, shentlemens?”’ The young man made asign that was uncer- stood asintimating that he wished to visit a cer- tain room in the rear. Had the supposed countryman been of a sus- picious turn, be might have paid more atten- tion to the fact that Rathwaite seemed thor- ughly familiar with the premises, and also that, as they passed through the junk-shop, a clear-toned and small gong-like bell sounded somewhere in the rear. They entered by a door at one side of the building. It was a bare room—bare in all save that in the center was.a table where were three men. One of the men was manipulating a dice- box; the others were looking on with great in- terest. Hardly bad our party gained a position be- side the table, when ihe men with the dice-box uttered something very like a curse and dived into bis kets for a roll of bills, out of which he handed one of the men several dol- ars. ‘You'll break me, if you keep on that way,” ro remarked, ruefully, and nodding to one of the men. The winner—for he bad evidently won some money by the turn of the dice—laughed lowly as he gathered in his pile, The detective saw in one of these men, the man he had spotted and followed to the junk- shop as Pietro Idello in his Harrison street dis- guise. “The ball is rolling,” he thought...‘ If else, we are in a fair way to break up a gang that seems to be in existence in Baltimore, whose object of | afa organization is robbery by both genteel and nefarious means. | Rathwaite was nudging his companion’s arm, ‘* Did you see that?’ he whispered. ‘‘ Yes. What.are they doing?’ was the inno- cent rejoinder. ‘““ Why,” stillin a whisper, “‘ that fellow who is tossing the dice is a sharper—at least he thinks he is, and he is trying to win the money from these two fellows, I have seen them here be- fore. But they are older birds than he—” ‘Older what?’ “Older birds. Watch. There they go again.” CHAPTER XI. A LITTLE “BUNKO.” | THE pretending countryman ieaned forward | to watch the game of tossing dice with interest. m the corver of his buge spectacles, how- ever, he was casting covert glances upon the \talian, Pietro Idello, also disguised and simu- lating an absorbed interest in ‘ain the stranger won. * Now watch me,” whispered the pseudo son of Senator Bannock, ‘‘ lam goinginon my own luck. Fate is against the banker to-day, and I shall win, I am sure,” He staked a small amount and—won! Another amount, and—won! He doubled and won, ‘‘Come in, come in,” he urged, to the coun- tryman. “Now is your time, while luck is beating the bank.” “I can’t stand this much longer, gents,” re- marked the dice manipulator, in his chagrin. An enthusiasm seemed to suddenly possess the countryman. e game. “ Here.” be cried, ‘‘ 1 want to take a hand in that. How do you do it?” Glanees passed around the table—glances un- perceived by the greenborn, Here was an easier prey than the most experienced had had hold upon for some time. It required but little instruction for him to be able to join in the game, which he did right heartily, and soon winning his share. ‘There will cnly be one more bet,” said the man with the dice, rather sharply. ‘*‘ Make it lively, gents, for, win or lose, that will close it,” ‘“‘] will make my bet for all J am worth,” said the fellow who had been winning so far. “How much is that?’ ‘*Two thousand.” “Very well, And you two gentlemen—what say vou?” ‘lamin. My bet is on the five.” ‘* Pour for me,” said the first. “Three for me,” spoke the detective, keeping the retrograde rotation of numbers. A pile of money was on the table. The eyes of the three confederates were gleam- ing as the countryman had said, producing:a check-book: ‘*T have not the two thousand with me. Iam two hundred short, I suppose my check is good for a stake—that is what | believe you called it, wasn’t it? Mr, Bannock bere knows me, and he knows my check will be honored,” ‘‘Certainly, certainly, that is all right—” ‘*And bow do I know anything about. Mr. Bannock?’ demurred the dealer. ‘: You have been winning bard money from me; if I win now, I would like to have the same,” But after a little baggling— just a little, lest the countryman might have time to alter his mind and withdraw both money and check—it was satisfactorily arranged. The check for two. hundred dolJars, and the balance in cash, was deposited on the table. The dice-box rattled and the little square pieces clicked down on the table, ‘Raise the cup, if you please, sir,” to the countryman, Castlemon did as requested—and lo! On the board were three sixes. The dice sbarp had won all their wealth on the closing bet. More, he held a check from a supposedly re- sponsible individual who, strangely, only shook his head and turned from the room witbout a word, like one utterly crestfallen and ashamed to say anything about bis loss, Rathwaite watched bim till he had out through the junk-shop—observing that, as he went, he stooped for a second, as if in the act of picking up something. Then. be turned to his confederate with a laugh. : | ‘“‘ Well, that is about the greenest I have come across yet!” ‘* Let us make no loss of time in having this check cashed,” suggested he who was the man the detective believed to be Pietro Idello in dis- guise, “Right for you, Electro Pete; ou, Bob —you go and get the money, Bight luipdtd in half an hour isno small gain,” Rathwaite departed with the check. As be left the junk-shop, he looked around for some sign of bis country friend. But that personage seemed to have taken bimself off and r. ( The young man did not go at once to a bank. He leaped onto the platform of me and a short while afterward alighted at a saloon not far from the falls, where be o ed a private room for the asking and a doJlar paid, ' From an inside pocket, he drew a patent pen and ink tube. Sp ot) om Also some biank ’ a. At a table he seated bimself and began scrib- bling industricus] I. ow In an inereditly short space, he arose and held up to the light near the window for inspec- tion, the check be had obtained from the coun- | ymas by the trick of the dice. _... fag ub its figures were wonderfully altered. It | was not now a simple check for two bundred dollars, 4 ca? The..word “two” had. been, altered to ‘‘twelve:” the figures in the lower left-hand corner were $1 200.22 100 ” } ee ‘Aha!’ be muttereo, as be contemplated bis criminal work, “I think that will do. Now then for the money eae T have an ac- quaintance in the —tbh National Bank,” And out and toward this bank he started. Meantime, be it not supposed that the veteran detective purposed being coolly swindled out of the money be had lost in the sharpers’ den; And a wonderful den appeared to be this junk-shop of Jacobs, the Jew, adding his ex- perience to.that.of bis partner, Danie As be was leaving, he saw something flutter ne through the air and fall almost at his t. A folded paper, fresh from the hand that had folded it, he saw, by its cleanliness. | | It was this that Rathwaite saw him stoop and piel up, though not attaching any im co the action, 24 He slipped it into his pocket, not caring to €Omicbooks. cor