Beadle's Dime Library, Vol. III, No. 29 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

Ss Tiger Dick, the Faro King. ——EE destroyed some reg’lar p‘ison, lest it should insnare the innocent and unwary. Perhaps I was a little over-zealous; any way, I tried to do my whole duty. Then, in the moment of my weakness, that snake- in-the-grass inveigled me into his stronghold, or in other words, the bank, and pumped me dry. As I said before, 1 don’t try to sereen myself. I confided in him as in the friend of my bosom. But, Fred, you know I didn’t mean to give you away. How could I know that he was such a sneaky?” Fred frowned angrily. “T thought you knew enough to keep your tongue between your teeth,” he said, “Sorry, Fred—deuced sorry; but you know I would- n't sell vou out. And I have been honest about it. Made a clean breast of it, when I might have ob- served a judicious silence and saved my credit. You can’t deny that.” “Oh, it’s all right,” said Fred. ‘“Good-evening.”’ And he walled off with his hands in his pockets. “Heigho!"’ sighed the ‘‘decoy,”’ disconsolately. “Here’s a pretty kettle of fish. Tiger Dick pays me to introduce a young gent, and then I let my in- fernal tongue dish the whole thing. Gads! he'll ship me, if he finds out what a confounded bungler I’ve been. Well, ve learned a lesson; I won’t be as frank with him as with Fred.” He didn’t know that he had been playing into Tiger Dick's hands in the best manner possible. CHAPTER IV. A DOUBLE PLOT, SEVERAL (lays subsequent to the events narrated in the last chapter, Cecil Beaumont sat at his desk alone. There was the old look of weariness and despair on his face. His cheeks were pale and hag- gard. He Jet his head drop upon his arm, the picture of dejection. ** Oh, curse it all!’ he muttered, bitterly; “*I wish i sha dead. Iam making a hell of my life—and for wlrat ? * All that I put into that infernal speculation only sinks the rest deeper. Luck is dead against me. Grain will never come up, until I get outofit. Well, I’ve played my last card. I dare not take any more, Detection may come any day—even to-morrow, and then the thing’s all gone to smash. Well, I don’t care. Any thing’s better than this eternal worry. ‘*T’'d emigrate some fine morning, but that human tiger watches me as a cat watches a mouse. Some of his infernal spies are at my elbow at every tack and turn. If he suspected as much asa thought of breaking faith with him, I might as well get mea- sured for my coffin. He'd supply the rope and hangman, There's only one way of getting out of his clutches.” Heshuddered, thinking of suicide as the only means of escape. After a while he thrust the paper before him into his desk, and turning out the gas, left the bank. In the comparative gloom, midway between two lamp-posts, and before some wholesale houses that were closed and dark, a paper was thrust into Cecil’s hand, At the same moment a man brushed by him and passed on down the street at a rapid walk. There were others passing and repassing; but this man had come so near as to nearly touch him; and, without stopping to look at the paper, Cecil re- solved to follow him He had a sachel in his hand and a shawl thrown across his arm. He went. directly to the depot, pur- chased a ticket, boarded the train, put his hat in the rack, and composed himself for slumber. The train moved off, and Cecil realized that he was “‘sold "— he ae followed the wrong man. Stepping into the waiting-room, Cecil unfolded the paper and read as follows: ‘““My dear Prince:—I am dying to see you, Come without delay. I have the pins arranged for a ten- strike. This will be delivered by a messenger of the GENTLE RICHARD.” Half an hour afterward, Cecil Beaumont, dis- guised as before, sat in the presence of Tiger Dick. ** Well, what's wanted?” he asked, looking straight before him, with his arms resting on the table. “T've been thinking,’’ said Tiger Dick, “that our little game ain't the surest thing in the world. We've got to wait too long for results. Now, the lady may ie, or the old gent may decline to drop off the hooks. Kither contingency would be disastrous to us. While we're waiting for dinner, we want something to stay our stomachs, eh?’ ‘We may want a great many things,’’ replied Cecil, gloomily. “How would you like from twenty-five to a hun- dred thousand dollars in your pocket, say this day week?’ asked the Tiger, looking through the smoke of his cigar at Cecil. The cashier looked up with a flash of interest. “Where can you get that amount?” he asked, in- credulously. ** What would you do for such a prize?’’ asked the er. Sell my soul!’’ declared_the cashier, with sudden vehemence. ‘“* Hallo!” mused the Tiger, with a searching glance at the other. ‘‘ What’s the row, now?’ Then, notic- ing that Cecil seemed embarrassed at his sudden out- burst, he added, mentally: *‘Guess he showed his hand when he didn't mean to.” But he said aloud, with a laugh: “Ts it clear of incumbrance?’ .“T guess the devil has a pretty heavy mortgage on both of us. But, to return to business: from off what bush are you going fo pick twenty-five or a hundred thousand dollars?” _ “Answer me a few Prete first. The gentle Freddy carries a key to the bank, does he not?”’ a“ Yes.”’ ‘Who sleeps there nights?” e = —— “ Y@; but not an infant in muscle, for all that.” “Bother his muscle. That’s of no account. Does anybody else ever sleep there?”’ “Thave a room there, which I occupy sometimes, when we are very busy.’ “Hurrah!” cried the Tiger, almost leaping from his seat, in the enthusiasm with which he received the announcement. “ ref Jove! that’s a trump card! Hold on, p don’t d any more until I put on my thinking-cap for a moment!” II PEE EE I EI EEL IL LEE EES LE EE EE a LL ee a a OS EE LE a a La ee Ae mm SE eae ee AR. Sa La ae ee ae a Sn ee 9 He scratched his head and thought eagerly; then he struck the table with his fist. “Just the card!” he cried, exultingly. ‘ That simplifies the whole thing. Nothing would be thought of your occupying the room any night just now?” “No. We are very busy just now, and next week we will have to make out our yearly statement.” “Dumped right at our door, by jingo! Oh! the devil helps his own, there’s no mistake aboutit! Pard, where does that janitor meas ah Sane has a sofa bedstead within ten feet of the vault,”’ “Tn plain sight of the strong box?”’ oe Yes ” ‘**Pard, there’s where that twenty-five or a hundred thousand dollars lies ready to our hand!” Tiger Dick leaned across the table, and fastened his eyes upon Cecil’s face. The cashier drew back with a sudden flush. ‘**Do you propose to rob the bank ?” he asked, in a suppressed voice. ‘Oh, no ! replied the Tiger, with a laugh. ‘‘ Only negotiating a loan, you know. But, have you any quatims of conscience ?” he added, with a sneer. ‘It’s a bold game,” replied Cecil, ‘and I have no particwar ambition to break stone or peg shoes for ‘the next ten or fifteen years.”’ “Are you q/raid ?” asked the Tiger, with a curling lip. “But, nothing will be required of you but to play the hero overpowered by numbers,” “And the janitor?” “'That’s just the king-pin of the whole plot. couldn't dispense with him in any way. little game.” And while Cecil listened attentively, Tiger Dick un- folded the scheme in detail. * Won't that hold water?’ he asked, when he had concluded. Cecil Beaumont sat with tightly-compressed lips, panting breath, and eyes whose flashing fire was hid- den beneath their drooping lids. Here was an op- portunity to cover up his defalcations beyond the chance of detection. With the success of this plot, he would cast his most galling chain, and stand forth a comparatively free man. Yet he did not wish to seem to yield too readily. ‘*T confess that I have but little stomach for this kind of business,’’ he said, with a frown, as of im- patience. ““ Look-a-here, pard,’’ said the Tiger, in a mea- sured tone. ‘Do you want to do a little neighbor! kindness to the cad who sports the black-eyed Peri? Don’t you see that this little set-to with the tiger, his signing his gov’nor’s name to loose bits of paper, and his share in this little amusement, are of a ri ae and will sink him lower than Tartarus? Ain't that just what we want? And if a few thousands come in incidentally, who's going to curse his luck on that account?” Cecil Beaumont drew his breath hard through his set teeth, his nostrils Se oh and his eyes fairl blazed. The crimson tide surged up to his forehead, and then surged back to his heart, leaving his face livid with jealous hatred. ‘**I will do my part,” he said, in a choking voice. ‘** Appoint your time.” ‘**Aha!’’ was the Tiger’s mental reflection on the storm of passion he had awakened in the other. “ That’s a tenderspot. But I hold a hand in that little game, too, as you'll find, some of these fine sg oa e said aloud: ‘‘T haven’t made all my arrangements yet. I wanted to see the way clear first. I'll sound Billy Saunderson. I guess he’s prime, He likes money, like the rest of us. And of late he appears to have something on his mind, If I might venture to guess, I'd say that he was in debt to Messrs. Brown & Thur- are without their knowledge. If so, we’ve got We ere’s our A flush came into Cecil’s face at the Tiger’s sus- picions, and he arose, saying: ry Well, if this is all, you can count on me as soon as you are ready—and the sooner the better.”’ ter in the evening, Tiger Dick and the ‘deco duck” sat on opposite sides of the same little table in the jTiger’s sanctum. For half an hour the Tiger had been chatting and plying his subordinate with liquor. Now, considering him in proper condition, he broached the subject for which what had gone before was a preparation, “Billy, you have no particular antipathy for the recognized medium of exchange?” ‘Oh, hush, pard! Knock me down with some of the root!” replied Mr. Saunderson, with a pathetic cadence in his maudlin voice, ‘Are you hard pressed, Billy?’ asked the Tiger, with friendly interest. “Pard, I’m just a-hanging on with teeth and toe- nails,” replied the * decoy-duck,” in a confidential, almost pleading tone. ““T guess I've got a little ice for you, boss,”’ ‘*Have you, my bosom friend? It’s a straw to a drowning man, I assure you. If me a lift now, I'll be your aunt month—s’elp me Bob, I will!” ‘“Can you keep a close tongue in your head?” asked the Tiger. *Pard, I'm as close as a bandbox!”’ asseverated Mr. Saunderson, stoutly, though he. secretly winced, recollecting his recent lapse in that particu- ‘* How would you like a cool hundred?” asked the Tiger, carelessly. “The deuce!” cried Billy, leaping to his feet, al- most sobered by his astonishment and delight. A Pat dollars meant a great deal to him just then, , “Sit down and take something to coo] off on,” said Dick, with a flash of triumph, pushing the decanter toward his excited companion. Billy resumed his seat and tossed off the liquor hurriedly. ‘“What’s trumps, pard?” he asked, looking inquir- ly at the Tiger. ‘ger Dick drew a little volume from a drawer un- - Ma table, and slid it across to the “‘decoy uck,”’ . **Do you know what this is?’ he asked. ‘““The deuce—the Bible!’ exclaimed Billy, examin- ing the book in bewilderment. ‘ Queer kind of liter- ature for this shop, ain’t it, pard? or do you devote your leisure to its perusal?” ou can give for a twelve- in — a= | = —_—— — 2 ‘Never you mind what I do withit. I have a use for it now. I want you to hold it in your hand and repeat some words after me.” ‘Hold on, pard. How do I know that you ain't going to make me swear away my patrimony for a ‘ness of pottage, or come the Ku-Klux dodge on me, or something of that sort?” “Tf we come to any nate you don’t want to stick to, you can stop and back out at any time. But re- member there’s a hundred dollars begging you to take charge of it.” “That’s fair enough, by hoky! —deal away.” | ** By this book which I hold in my hand,” dictated the Tiger. ** By this book which I hold in my hand,”’ repeated the *‘ decoy.” “TIT do solemnly swear—”’ “IT do solemnly swear—"’ ‘** Never to reveal, by word of mouth, writing, look, sign, or in any other manner—”’ “Never to reveal, by word of mouth, writing, look, sign, or in any other manner—”’ “ The ae BE mee made to me this night, nor any- thing pertaining thereto,” “The Be al made to me this night, nor any- thing pertaining thereto.” “And I do solemnly swear that, if I aecept the proposition—”’ **And I do solemnly swear that, if I accept the proposition—" ‘*T will never, by word of mouth, writing, or in any other manner—"’ ‘*T will never, by word of mouth, writing, or in any other manner—” ‘**Confess my own act in pursuance thereof—" ** Confess my own act in pursuance thereof—" ‘* Nor im any way refer to anything that may flow, balan’ seem to tlow from, or be connected with my ac woe ‘** Nor in any way refer to anything that may flow, Mae | seem to flow from, or be connected with my act— , “In such a manner as to throw suspicion upon any person or persons whom I may believe to be ae ne in any transaction connected with my ac “Let up, pard. I can’t crack that nut. Let's make the journey by short stages, over such rough ground,” said Billy, breaking off. eee Dick repeated it for him, phrase by phrase, and then continued: ‘“Nor in a manner calculated to awaken the suspicion that the facts are not such as they ap- pear— “Nor in a manner calculated to awaken. the suspicion that the facts are not such as they ap- ear— **So help me God!” **So help me God!” ** Now kiss the book.” - Billy complied, laying it on the table with the re- ark: “That's a tight one, old hoss. Gads! Iwon't be able to so much as lift'an eye-winker, after this.” “T want it tight,” replied the Tiger, ears “And, my friend, here’s another titbit for you to ruminate. If you ever break faith with me by so much as a breath, your life won't be worth a toss, In the Rocky Mountain country, men learncd that Tiger Dick wasn't to be played with.” No fear of me, Cap. Drive ahead. What do you want me to do?” aimee Dick explained to Billy Saunderson the a e wished him to sae When he was through, e “decoy duck" puckered up his face and said: “TI say, boss, wasn't that a big noise for the amount of damage done? From that trifle of an oath that you me ape a on me, I thought you wantel me to massacre the President and his cabinet, and fetch off the Capitol in my breeches-pocket.”’ “Stow your thoughts. Do you accept the pro- position?” “Tor a hundred? H®! Cap, you're joking. I wish I could get a hundred d for every act of mine that troubled my conscience more 1 that will, Accept? You bet!” t t. When you have accomplished your part, tie this bit of ribbon in your buttonhole, and walk from your hotel to the next corner back. That's all lask of you. When you get home, you'll find the hundred dollars where you won't have long to look for it.” Deal away, pard m CHAPTER V. . “ Srs, ha u 1 agement for the pic- : ve you made an en nie?” asked Bred Powell, sowerat? days before the event was to take a Ha “Yes; with Mr. umont,"’ replied May. Fred frowned impatiently. **Can’t you go anywhere without him?” he asked. ““Why shouldn’t I go with Mr. Beaumont?” asked May. looking up in some surprise. “Oh, I suppose he is as good as anybody. You have only your own taste to please.” “Fred, why do you dislike Mr. Beaumont? Has he ever injured you in any way?” * Tdislike ? No, indeed; he is wholly indiffer- erAnd: Bred d onned his hat and went out whistlir with his hands in his pockets. = PS is unjust to Cecil,” said May to herself. And Cecil is too proud to attempt to propitiate him; but I know that he bears him no ill will. He would not harbor resentment against him a moment —my noble Cecil!” : And she turned to the trifle of faney work she was doing, with et Bsn in her blue eyes. The day came at last, with its sunshine and odor of wild roses. Dead Man’s Bluff was a scene of rare festivity. The flutter of gay robes, as some laughing girl shot through the in the cemiating swing, or ran down some woodland path, darting arch giances over her shoulder at her ie Te “Abe the ck of mallet against croquet- 4 e show cloths laid on the sward, loaded with the contents of the now-empty hampers; the gay hammocks, stretched between the trees, with their occupants as languid and as lovely as any Orient queen; and out on the smoothly gtiding river, the bellying sails, and coming over the limpid tide, the sound of lute at- tuned to a bell-like voice; all combined in a harmony of sights and sounds fit to move an anchorite, GOMmIIGcboo <S= GO