Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 289 — page 10: what you’re looking at

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

| 10° Flush Fred’s Full Hand. | mmr rrr cr ‘ i ; ' ’ 4 ‘*What in the world can have become of It was useless to try to trace the course of the | could give him more pleasure than to be instru- her?” exclaimed Mrs. Brenner. Martigny buggy over a road that was contin- | mental in finding the young lady. ‘‘ An answer to that question could be nothing | ually traveled by various teams. Everything was satisfactory so far, and ex- but guesswork,” replied Fred. ‘‘ It is possible Though it was a road that was considerably | tensive operations were begun as soon as possi- a that she was carried on down the river; but it | used, there were few houses directly on it, and | ble. is not likely if she: insisted on stopping at Vi- | no person could be found along the line of that General Brayham, who was sent for, came dalia, as she naturally would. Perhaps she has | road, or anywhere in the neighborhood, who | over with his wife, and Mrs, Brenner came been persuaded to go further on; but I can’t | remembered seeing the young lady or Hexamer | without being sent for, imagine why she should do so,” or the buggy. Fred Henning had already forwarded to Kate ‘* Are you afraid, then, that she has met. with The search for Jonas Hexamer was equally | Helmsley's brother in Tennessee the sad news foul play, Mr. Henning?’ barren of result. of her disappearance, and Arthur Helmsley **T hope there has been nothing of the kind; Since he brought back the buggy that be had | might soon be expected on the ground, but I must confess that I am troubled, and I | hired at Martigny, he had dropped out of the . Brenner was quite unnerved. In the shall not be easy until I find her.” knowledge of everybody in that vicinity. course of a long and tranquil existence in that . Brenner was anxious to place at his dis- On that occasion, according to the report of | delightful locality she bad never heard of such posal all the resources of her plantation, in | the tavern-keeper, there had Siooes nothing un- | an cccurrence, and would not have believed it money and men: but Fred was of the opinion | usual in his speech or demeanor. to be possible if it had not been brought home that he would need no assistance in the search. He had simply mentioned the fact that he had | to her. ** My friend and | will Say Martigny,” he | taken the young lady to her destination, and She did not know what to do, and was quite said. “If we do not find Miss Helmsley there, | had paid bis bill, and had left the house, incapable of making any practical suggestions; ’ or hear from her, I must follow the Royal Arch It was certain that he had not boarded any | but, if money and men could accomplish any- down the river. ‘You may depend upon it that | steamboat at Martigny landing, and had not | thing, all the resources of her plantation were I will do everything that can possibly be done | procured any conveyance in the neighborhood | at the di osal of the searchers, to find her.” to take him away from there. General Brayham was also liberal and en- He left Kate’s sachel at Mrs. Brenner’s, He had not departed by any known means of | thusiastic, and his indignation blazed out in the and drove away with Dennis Malone, taking a | departure, but had simply disappeared, wildest and most impossible projects. trusty negro man on horseback to act as a Baffled at all points, but never willing to con- ‘“‘Begad, sir,” exclaimed the impulsive old guide. fess himself defeated, Fred took his friend | gentleman, ‘‘ nothing of the kind has ever hap- At Martigny they found a clew without any | Dennis Malone to the house of Leon Delarosse, | pened here before, and I would not have had ifficulty. . | from which point he intended to make a fresh | such a stain cast upon the credit of the neigh- But such a clew! . | start. borhood for half my estate. The honor of It only increased Fred Henning’s uncertainty, Dennis was quite willing to go there, or to re- | Louisiana must be redeemed, sir, at any cost, and doubled his distress. ! main in the neighborhood with Fred any rea-| and it is my opinion that we should lay low The Royal Arch had landed at Martigny, | sonable length of time; every acre of forest, and search every foot of and two of the people who had been taken from ‘Between you an’ me, Fred,” said he, | swamp land, until we find the young lady. the Sabine had come ashore there.’ | ‘‘many’s the basket an’ case an’ keg an’ bar’l | Tue work must be done thoroughly, sir, thor- One of them was Kate Helmsley, and the ! I’ve sold to thim rich planters, an’ it’s aisy they | oughly.” ' fal other was the dark-featured man who had ex- | are to sell to, whin they wance know a man. uch a scheme, to say nothing of its inter- cited Fred’s suspicions. An’ thin, me boy, I’m half crazy to git the wal- | ference with the rights of property, would have These points he got from.the man who kept | lerpin’ av that black-faced divil that med away involved the employment of an army of men, the little tavern there, and further information | wid the young lady.” But General Braybam was a relic of the last was readily forthcoming. At thé Delarosse plantation their news had | war with England, and was generally regarded The two came ashore together, and seemed | preceded them. | merely as an interesting fossil, whose opinions to be quite friendly, going at once to the tavern, Indeed, their search, quietly as it was con- | passed without special attention, but only stopping there long enough to get | ducted, had made such a stir that nearly every- Besides, it was not by any means certain a suitable conveyance to take them into the | body in the neighborhood had got more or less | that Kate Helmsley, if alive, was anywhere in country. . of a hint of it. that region, ; ' They told the story of the Sabine disaster, , Leon Delarosse, glad as he was to see Fred She might have been taken to a landing fur- and the young ani said that she had fol | Henning, could hardly stop to shake bands with | ther down the river, and shipped southward on lowed the advice of her companion in landing | bim before he plunged into the subject. some unexplainable pretext. at Martigny rather than at Vidalia, as he as- ‘‘ How is this, friend Henning?’ be eagerly Flush Fred was determined to cover all the ss sured ber that it was more convenient to Mrs. | demanded. ‘I hear that you are mixed, up in ound, and in his operations to that end he Brenner’s ntation. it. Whatever it is, 1am thundering glad that | found his best ally in Zeke Tibbles, whose Asa matter of fact it was neither so near | it has brought you back here, as I have been | knowledge of the country and its inhabitants, } nor so convenient; but. the young lady had | quite broken up without you.” combined with his keen practical sense, made | probably been influenced by her fellow-passen- Fred could hardly get a chance to introduce | him the fittest person that could be found to xt er, who pro dto take eare of her and see | Denny the Drummer. superintend the search, er safely to her destination. _ ‘‘ Glad to see him,” said the planter. ‘‘ Ever Leaving the Yankee to direct the movements Ph In response to Fred Henning’s questions tle | so glad. All he has to do is to make himself at | of the plan‘aies hands in the Marhigny region - tavern-keeper said that he was Well acquainted | home here. If he don’t know how to do that | and about Gravelly Bayou, Fred and Dennis | with the dark-featured man, whose named was | you must teach him.” Malone made their way down the west bank of 2 Jonas Hexamer, and who had frequently stop- “Tf there’s anny wan thing I know better | the river, stopping at every town and anne = ped at that sata than another, it’s that very thing,” interposed | and wood-ya for a considerable distance, an a He was regarded as a quiet, r table man, | Denny. earefully inguirse concerning Kate Helmsley. fe though a little outlandish, who always seemed ‘Tell me, now, Henning,” put in the eager They found nowhere the slightest trace of her a" | to have plenty of money, — his bills prompt- | planter, ‘if the young lady you bave been look- | or of Jonas MPERIEGt SPO Fred was completely 3 | ly, and interfered with no oh ng for is really » Miss Helmsley of Tennessee. | disheartened when they returned to Gravelly f, it was not known where he came from, or Of course any young lady who was lost or in | Bayou. ; Ze what business he bad there. | distress would have my sympathy and assist- ere they were met by Arthur ame cant - 9 The tavern-keeper did not appear to be one of | ance; but the name of Helmsley a strong | who had been warmly welcomed and hospitably . the inquisitive kind. attraction for me, and I take a lively interestin | entertained by Mr. Delarosse, and who had at “a ' JAS soon as a vs wel rms could be got ready | it.” | once put all his spirit and energy into the 2 Jonas Hexamer had driven away with ‘the ‘‘Helmsley is her name, Mr. Delarosse, and | search that was being prosecuted by Zeke 4 young lady. Tennessee is her home,” answered Fred, ‘‘ I will | Tibbles. Ly ‘It was morning when they landed at Martig- | tell you the whole story, if you will sit down ‘*T never saw you look so thoroughly pulled + ny, and at least an hour before noon when they | and allow me to do a reasonable share of the | down, Fred,” said Arthur Helmsley, as he 4 left the tavern. : talking.” pressed the hand of his stanch friend, ne “At night, but not long after nightfall the | The planter had already ordered tobe brought | “I was never before so badly pulled down,” % man had brought back the horse and buggy, | out on the front porch the usual hospitable as- | replied Fred. ‘‘ The unaccountable and utter . syne that he had taken the young lady to | sortment of bottles, glasses, cigars and other disappearance of your sister has slaughtered 3 . Brenner’s plantation. items supposed to be necessary for the enter- | me, and I am now so worried and perplexed ag ‘He paid bis bill, and went away. tainment of bis guests, and he sat down to join | that I go about like a man ina dream, hardly s. . The tavern-keeper had not seen him since that | them in refreshing themselves, knowing what I am doing.” ee day, and did not know what had become of | Dennis Malone refrained for the time from in- Fred went over for his friend the story of his ies ' : forming his host that he could supply him at | meeting with Kate and their broken trip on the ae - “Why, that was yesterday morning!” ex- | reasonable prices with much better articles in Sabine. a claimed Flush Fred. ‘ Yesterday morning, | the way of wines and liquors. He related all the iculars with the great- nN and they would surely have reached Mrs.| Fred Henning told who Kate Helmsley was, | est minuteness, and the two carefully canvassed , Brenner’s place before night, if they had gone|| where she came from, and all he knew about | every occurrence, in the igs of hitting upon , 4 something that might give them a hint of the bine, and of his so far fruitless search for the missing girl. there. Yet neither the man nor a has been seen by her.” - The tavern-keeper was astonished. he young man whoalways paid his bills promptly, could have been guilty of any foul play. | - All he could say was that there must have been some mistake, that she had not reached Mrs, Brenner’s planta- tion or any house in that vicinit her e. | anssttt “That’s it!’ exclaimed the planter. “ Her mother is the one I spoke to you about, Hen- is dead now—Lord rest her!—and it is her daughter who is missing so mymeriously. Well, ray young friend, she must be found, if she is on top of the earth, and whoever is regoneitte He declared that he was not only ready but anxious to ity in the search, and that nothing cause and mauver of Kate’s disappearance; but they found nothing. | Who can have bad any purpose to serve by Tu, “This was a strange and most unexpected | ning. She was Susan Brenner, one of the Bren- a camcarh the affair; yet he was unwilling to be | ners of these parts, and I knew her well, and | spiriting ber awa ” asked Arthur, | that his friend Jonas Hexamer, the quiet | have good cause to remember her. And so she ‘“That is the riddle which I have vainly tried to solve. It can only be answered by finding her.” : .**Tf she is alive, Fred.” : ‘Yes, if she is alive; pile 4 finding the scoun- ee Fred was quite sure that there had been no | for her disappearance must be sev Pe drel who has done the deed, The chance isa cs mistake, and what could the conclusion be buat | ished, Hverybody on this plantation be | dark one now; but I will never cease looking ¢ at your service in the search, from Mr, Tibbles for him, and when I do find I will pull the that Kate Helmsley hod met with foul play? CHAPTER XIII A CLOSE BUT FRUITLESS SEARCH. ’) Prep HENNING soon exhausted his efforts to discover the whereabouts of the missing Kate 2 ecard - That is to say, though he had no thought of abandoning the search, all his attempts to find a clew were fruitless, and he did not know where to turn or what to do. -.-He had ascertained beyond a doubt—though it was nothing more than he had expected — down to myself, and including my nephew, Of course Paul will be glad to assist in such a good cause.’ | Paul Delarosse was one of the party on the Hebel received Fred Hennin z and his friend very ungraciously, but was willing enouge | drink _ bedhior with anybody else, or with se 3 When he was thus apomstet to he manifested a friendly and helpful disposition that was 4 surprise to the others, truth out of him if I have to use red-hot pin- cers. ; ** And then?” | ‘‘ And then, Arthur, if there is a hell he shall hunt it and find it.” . ; CHAPTER XTV. } A FIND AND AN IDEA... a a TrpBLes in the mean time had made a Db it was not much of a find, but was something and might lead to something mere : =) Gomichboo - corr . al es \ ® ‘ —_ * ‘ Ao > J — . wal be ’ '