Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 306 — page 23: what you’re looking at

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

‘waitin,’ declared Lancaster, with a scowl at the sg, th i dding, as he glanced down at Call: ** Hullo, he’s come around all right.” “T generally come around that way,’’ remarked the dauntless detective, comms; after he had tried his bonds and realiz use in striving to escape the knotted ropes. “Yer do, hey? Well, yer ain't a-comin’. round any more when we gets through with yer, bet yer sweet life ” ** Let's slug ’im anyhow.” ‘** No,” objected Lancaster, though by the way he secowled upon their prisoner, it was evident that it caused him a struggle to resist the suggestion of his companion. ‘No, nary time, Sam. é mus’ wait fer the captain's orders.” A long wait it proved to be. It was in the hours of morning's night when Al- varo Mandez opened his eyes and asked: ‘*‘ Did Lancaster get the man?” ““Yes—thar is he,’ pointing to the prone and tightly tied figure of the detective. **Oh, I’m here,” said Call, cheerfully. * Aha! aha! you follow me up, eh? You will ca ture me,eh? You think you are asmart one, ‘It my turn now, you understand?. Do you guess what shall become of you?” ** Oh, I can’t guess much, never was good at it.” “You shall die!’ hissed the enraged villain, ‘*Ts that so?” Call’s coolness seemed to fire that inflamed the breast an ful Italian. He started to one elbow and said, flercely: “IT shall wi hoe from the face of the earth—you and all who shall pursue me. [ am not one to be caught by the accursed hounds of detectives, you understand? You shall die. York—Lancaster.” Heyer, captain,” they responded, stepping for- avate the furious mind of the venge- ward, “‘You will set the man against the wall there. Set him so that he shallface me. He will see me straight in my eyes while I shall deal him his. death. Give me your weapon,” Desperate indeed were now the chances for the unlucky detective, as he realized what was in- tended. The Italian meant to have him placed against the wall, and then would deliberately send a bullet into his vitals. But he never flinched. *“‘Go ahead with your circus, Alvaro Mandez!"’ he said, a little pale, it is true. ‘‘ But, there will soon be an avenger seeking you for this deed. Your race is about run. This will be the last act of your career, mark my words—”"’ “Do as I have bid you,” interrupted the im- patient and bloodthirsty Italian, to his subordi- nates. Jo Call was placed against the opposite wall, fac- ing his terrible foe. Sivarc Mandez examined the revolver that had been placed in his uninjured hand by Sam York, to see that it was in order. Then, with the gleam of a devilish fire in his eyes, he cocked the weapon. The two hardened ruffilans stood to one side, their repulsive visages in a grin of diabolica anticipation. qually with the man who was their murderous leader, they relished the anticipated assassination of one of the Richmond sleuths who had been so persistent in hunting them down. At that moment, Jo Call, in the full realization that he was indeed doomed, closed his eyes and uttered a short inward prayer. *“‘Open your a be Me spitefully commanded the Ital- ian, pausing with the revolver half-raised. ‘“‘ Look atme. Look atthe man you would have carried to the prison—ha, ha!—but who, instead, shall strike out your life like the hounding dog you are. Look at me while I send your soul to eternity!” **When I die,"’ replied Call, Hers F his eyes for a moment, “Ido not wish to leave the world with such an impression on my mind as your Satanic face would leave there.”’ And he added, as he closed his eyes again: ‘‘Fire! murderer! Iam ready!’ “You are ready?” ae Yes.” Bang !—the report of a revolver filled the room. But it was not the revolver held by the Italian that gave forth the ringing sound. Closely following the report, there were two other reports. The Italian uttered an enraged cry, as he saw York and Lancaster in quick succession reel and stumble headlong to the floor. _ ’ A ery as he felt a stinging, titillating sensation through the entire length of his arm and saw his own revolver go rattling down to the floor from his suddenly nerveless fingers. A man dashed into the cabin. Aset of strong and irresistible fingers closed on the throat of Alvaro Mandez; a knee was pressed firmly on his breast, holding him pinned to the lou as it were. = !—Tuff, by all that’s good!”” burst from the thankful lips of Jo Call, as he recognized in this providential comer his lucky partner. **On hand, old fellow!’ was the r The fingers on the throat of Alvaro Mandez nearly choked the life out of that personage; and when he had relaxed his struggles, Tuff clicked a pair of handcuffs on his wrists. With his penknife, Tuff soon cut the rope that bound his partner, and as Call once more erect and free, he could. not suppress a ery of joy and thankfulness at his almost miraculous escape from death “You were just in time to save my life!"’ he said, tremulously, and wrin Tuff's hand gratefully. “So itseems. But let’s be off with this fellow at once. I have a conveyance ready, and we'll be Hs in ee eae in sare order. Come. Those fellows won’ er anybody any more; I shot to kill when I aimed at them—I only shot to knock the eevoleer out of this bird’s hand when I aimed at him. ome. Alvaro Mandez was seized between them and forced away from the cabin, while he gnashed his teeth like miniature mills and fairly frothed in the overwhelming paroxysm of rage and resistance. Twenty minutes later, the camel-back was speed- nse. The Roughs of Rich that there was little ing back over the course to Richmond, with the two detectives and their prisoner, whose ankles had also to be cuffed, to subdue his effort at escape from their clutches. CHAPTER XXVIII. CONCLUSION. Tuer engineer and fireman seemed to enjoy the success of the detectives, and the latter shoveled in the coal in obedience to the urging to hurry, until one ae and rickety engine fairly leaped along the rails. “Now you may blow your old whistle all you feel like,” said Tuff, as they dashed onward past the and stations. And out on the night sounded the shrill scream of an oversteamed whistle, alternately hoarse we ing, in celebration of the capture of the criminal. Handez suddenly became very quiet. ‘The detectives watched him closely, and Tuff’s grip never Once relaxed from his shoulder, his fin- gers almost sinking like talons into the man’s flesh. Then all was startled by a loud, screaming laugh that burst from the Italian. ‘**You are-a smart!"’ he cried, and there was an accent of triumph and defiance in his voice. ‘You are-a. smart, but not so very smart as you think. No rope for Alvaro Mandez! No prison for Alvaro Mandez! Ishall die as I have lived—you hear? I defy the law and you asI have ever defied you! I am beyond your power. Look! Look!” With a wrench that set him free from Tuff’s hold momentarily, he raised his manacled hands and pointed to his throat. All beheld there a small thing like an insect of gold. The Golden Beetle ! Tuff and Call knew it at once. The nippers of the mysterious thing were buried in the flesh of his neck at the exact location of the jugular vein, * A few minutes—a very few minutes,” he cried, loudly. his triumph increasing, **and I shall be in- sensible. No art, no con-rivance can bring me to life again. I shall be dead—dead—dead—"’ and the last three words rose above all the din and rumble of the ponderous iron wheels and hiss of steam from the escape valve of the engine. A transient horror riveted the gazers. And even while they looked upon the horrible ex- hibition, Alvaro Mandez sunk down at their feet in tits engine cab, his face overspread with the hue of eath. ** And there it goes again!” exclaimed Tuff, dis- gustedly. ** What?” *“ Why, ever since we started out on the Fenwick case, everything we have attempted has resulted in defeat at the very moment of an e ted triumph. This caps it all. The arch criminal bas eluded us even wh le in our grasp.” When the engine paused at Richmond platform, Alvaro Mandez was a corpse. ‘ Jo Call took pomess ion of the golden beetle. He handled the thing with exceeding care, it may be depended upon, for not being familiar with its mechanism, he knew not at what instant it might strike its mysterious poison into his own flesh. Morning. was breaking when the two detectives reaped their office, after disposing of the Italian’s Here an examination of the golden beetle was made. That there must be some delicate contrivance of machinery within the compass of the golden object they fully comprehended; and in view of this they summoned a well-known and skillful clock-maker to their office: An investigation that lasted until nearly nine o’clock in the morning revealed the fact that by pressing on the sides or wings of the beetle a spring was set in motion automatically, which Chtieall the po gaa of the bug to strike forcibly into anything ts a yielding character which might be presented to it. And there was also revealed the very simple secret of the movement of the bug at such times as it was sup d to give warning of the approach of death to the party owning it. _It was ye the principle of the egg and the quick- silver trick, A hen'’s egg, carefully “blown,” and then with a small quantity of quicksilver placed in the vacuum, will, upon the resealing of the orifices at the ends, cause the egg to move upon the surface of a smooth and perfecily level table. Thus had the life-like property of the golden beetle been attained by the one who understood its management, and the place for the insertion of the quicksilver—with a pore of that mercurial sub- stance inside at the time of the examination—were easily found by the expert man who had been at i by the detectives to conduct their inves- igation. in the head of the beetle was contained a subtle ison of an unknown Indian ingredient, which, as he nippers came in contact with the flesh, exuded into the wound created by the needle-like protuber- ances. In itself, the golden beetle was a harmless piece of ingenuity; under the management of a person thor- oughly acquainted with its capabilities, it was a ter- rible weapon of destruction. There could now remain but one theory: the Italian was the one to supply the quicksilver at the time—and in pursuance of the earlier custom of the descendants of the father of the Milanese girl, Para—when it was deemed ex ent to assassinate the Fenwick who owned it. This would cast a continued mystery over the occurrence of the fateful deaths. With the beetle in his pocket, Jo Call went from his office to the Fenwick mansion. Almost immedia , when he had been shown into the presence of Mrs. Fenwick, she inquired: “ Have you caught bim? ‘Yes, madame. A sigh of relief escaped her. “But he is past the clutch of the law.”’ ** Ah, yes had to kill him.” ““No, he killed himself—with this,” and he pro- duced the golden beetle, holding it toward her. mond. LL —— ee ee — = —— ia 23 She shrunk back. “Why do you bring it to me?” ‘*It was the property of your husband. It there- fore belon ghtly to you. I have Donen” examined it, and.I may tell you that its mystery is no longer a mystery.”’ He explained to her what had been elicited from the investigation by the expert. ‘*T do not want it,”’ she said. ** What is to be done with it?’ ** Destroy it.” No sooner said than done. Call dropped it to the floor, and at one erunch of his heel ret demolished the shell, flattening it out beyond all future repair. The golden beetle was no more. “And now, madame, you will do me the favor to clear my mind from a eo suspicion that you had something to do with the catastrophe to your husband.” Even with all her remarkable powers of self-con- trol, she turned a quick. startled look upon him. **What do you mean?” “T mean thet on the night your husband was brought home—ay, within the very hour—you were heard to mutter the words: "No one knows—no one suspects. 1 am safe!’ Now, what did those words mean?” ‘““Who heard me say that?’’ she demanded, in as- tonishment. “No matter who; I know that you did so speak, as if to yourself. ill you please explain?” After some hesitation, she said: “T willdo so. What I said did not, asT see you suspect, have any direct relation to the murder of my husband. Ona day shortly preceding his assas- sination, I had persuaded him to withdraw his de- posits from the Agricultural Bank and deposit everything, in my name in another bank. When saw him brought home, it instantly entered my mind that if it was known that 1 had so persuaded him I might be suspected, even as you have now suspected me, with conniving at his murder. But I quieted this thought by the knowledg that no one could know that it was through my persuasion that he had done so, and that no one had any reasonable cause to su t the facts in the case. My thoughts at the time found an involuntary vent in the words, though how you ever learned of them is a mystery tome, That is the truth. | swear to you.” - With this explained to his apparent satisfaction, Call withdrew. He sought the Agricultural Bank. The bonds were returned to the bank, with the remark: ‘*‘ Fortunately, they were found on the person of the thief, or on the person of a y who was a party to the theft from the body of the murdered man, and had not been offered at all in the market. Once negotiated, Mr. Girard, and your bank would have had to whistle for them.”’ With the promised reward in his pocket, he de- rted. P Through his information, Plura was advised of the whereabouts of Ischan, who was, the detective rightly reasoned, the lost brother of whom she had spoken to him. It was a glad reunion between the blind boy and - his weeping sister, and Ischan then said: “He was right—the man who was the detective. There is something after all to live for, since I have found you, sister!” The pseudo-broker, Caudrey Brown, was tried and sentenced. Nothing more was heard of The Roughs of Rich- mond after the killing of the two villains, York and Lancaster, by the detective. And the electrie pistol must have been an in- vention and exclusive property of theirs, for it has not been heard of since in the Southern city. The foot and wagon bridge, too, over the roaring rapids of the James, has since been free from any sensation like those which, for a time, made its vicinity a terror to pedestrians and other travelers. The fact that Dorsey Fenwick had been connected with the Order of the Golden Beetle was witbheld from the public gorge over the revelations of Four- teenth street. Mrs. Fenwick and Erminie were both very prompt to cancel their obligaticn of promise to the firm of Call & Tuff, in the shape of an inclosure of two large checks. Albert Royal received a note from Mrs. Fenwick, much to his surprise, and read the following with feelings better imagined than described: ‘Mr. AtBperT RoyaLt:— ‘“‘ Srr:—Since the varied and Pitre bert trying ex- riences of my family within the past few days, I ave had cause to feel myself humbled in a manner that you and others can never know. Itis a family secret. But if you are still sincere in your affection for my e, I shall be pleased to have you visit us, and we will talk over your mutual affairs from a friendly standpoint. I have no apologies to offer for doing in the past what I deemed best for one who is as dear to me as if she were my own Sasang obey © but'T hope that the cae may be here and now uried, ant that even in the interview, which I am sure you will grant, it may not be referred to, * Resp’y yours, **Mrs. MATHILDE Fenwics.”’ The answer to that note, which the young man made without delay, was the ng of alife for him and for Erminie that promised many joyous fulfillments of their earlier dreams. , The eters was fixed for a date one year hence a date ahead of the conclusion manuscript, when it would be admissible for Erminie to lay aside her mourning for her father, whom she so dearly loved, and whose erring life was locked in her bosom in so far as she had been per- mitted to learn it Thus we leave them—the lovers in their anticipa- tion of a happy future, and the city of Richmond in the happy realization that, through the efforts of Call & , there need be no further apprehension for the present of the dark deeds of a rufflan band under a shrewd and desperate leader, or that there will continue to emanate from th m that city the tamper- — ed-with coin which attracted the attention of the Northern authorities. 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