Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 363 — page 22: what you’re looking at

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

Lo f Sw a / 22 the other, hurried down the track a short dis- tance, this movement being concealed by the cars of the train, and concealed themselves be- hind a little clump of bushes which grew near the bank, stretching out at full length upon the ground. This movement was so dextrously performed that the master scoundrel, with all his shrewd- ness, had no suspicion of what had taken place. And then when the two had started up the road, the watchers waited until they had got a good distance off before they attempted to fol- low them, With all the caution of the feather-garnished Indian warrior, following upon the trail of a foe whose scalp-lock he sought to win, the spies tracked the two plotters. It was an easy matter to follow them and yet ‘keep out of sight, for the sound of their footfalls rung out distinctly on the clear night air. And when the two came within sight of the old house, the trees which overhung the narrow road gave so much shade that the trackers were able to come so near to the men they were fol- lowing so closely that they were able to see them enter the old-fashioned mansion. And then, after holding a brief consultation, the three selected a snug ambush within musket- shot of the house and camped down, apparently he come to the conclusion to make a siege ofit, CHAPTER XXIX, MOLL’S WARNING. UPON arriving at the door of the old house Curly Kid did not trouble the ancient brass knocker which ornamented the venerable portal, but pressed his finger upon a certain spot in the frame-work of the door, Underneath his finger was a metal knob, paint- ed green, though, to correspond with the wood- work, and it was so skillfully contrived that no one would be apt to discover it unless a close ex- amination was made. This knob communicated with a bell inside and by this means the inmates of the house had ‘warning of the approach of the master. In a few moments the door opened and the dark-faced woman, whom in a previous chapter we introduced to the reader, appeared. After admitting the pair, she closed and care- fully locked and bolted the door after them, The door was evidently arranged with the idea of standing a siege. In addition to the strong, old-fashioned lock there were two massive bolts upon the door, and le» astrong oak bex arranged to go across the door, resting in iron sockets. It would have taken a battering-ram to break in the door thus strongly guarded. **Tfow’s the kid?” asked the master scoundrel, after the woman had secured the door, which she did with the utmost care after the two men had entered. *‘ All right; he’s a bright little fellow, and bears his impri onment with the calmness of a hilosopher,” the woman replied. ‘‘ He’s very onesome, though, and told me to-day that he wished his mamma would hurry up and come, because he was afraid his papa would be anxious about him. ‘““And in order to quiet him and keep him from fretting, I told him that I shouldn’t be rised if his mamma came to-night.” ‘There wasn’t any use of giving any such host story as that to him,” remarked Curly Kid, who detected a tone in the woman’s yoice that did not at all please him. ‘* What is the use of sayingsucha thing, when you know very well that the brat’s mother ain’t going to put in an appearance?” he asked, uskily ‘*Curly, [m going to speak out my mind in aS to this matter, although I suppose you be terribly angry about it,” the woman said, with evident determination. ‘‘I don’t like this business at all, and I don’t believe that it will bring you anyluck. If I had my way Td send the boy home to his folks. If you hold on to him, you will only bring a hornets’ nest about your stay bey you take my word for it.” **Now, Moll, you’re a pretty smart woman, but you don’t know everything,” Curly Kid re- plied, scornfully. ‘“You can attend to your own business a deuced sight better than es can to mine. I know what I am about, and don’t you forget it. “T’m after a big stake here, and I mean to make it, too; and if you think I’m going to be turned from my way, Te because a kid has got @ coaxing way with him that ae to your soft heart, you are deucedly mistaken, that’s all T’ve got to say about it.” “Oh, you will have your own way, of course,” the woman said, with an air of resignation. ‘I know you of old; your will is law, and every- ‘body must bend to it; but just mark my words and remember them, you will rue the day when you embarked upon this enterprise, I feel that there is evil in the air. Oh, be warned by me, and have nothing more to do with it in any way, shape or manner.” __ “Nonsense!” cried the man, contemptuously ; | **do you really suppose that a man like myself ' is to be turned from my path because an old woman’s superstition has suddenly seized upon you? Why, I should prove myself to be the big- gest donkey that ever lived if I allowed your foolish words to have any weight with me. ‘* Don’t talk any more about the matter, or you will make me angry.” ** All right, ’'m dumb; I’ve said all that I am going to say,” the woman remarked. ‘If evil comes of it you will not have any one to blame but yourself. You were warned and you would not heed the warning.” ** But «ae warning doesn’t amount to any- thing. It is only an idle fancy, that is all; you have no tangible grounds to go upon,” he re- plied, impatiently. ‘*That’s very true; it is only my. instinct urged me to advise you to giveupthe scheme. I can give you reasons for it, and so I will not trouble you about the matter again.” " hank ee so doing you will be acting like a sensible girl,” remarked Curly Kid as he pro- ceeded up the stairs. ‘“‘Tt’s a big scheme and unless I have terrible bad luck I will make a pile out of it.” He spoke confidently enough and yet for all that he did not feel at ease. The words of the woman annoyed him, for up- on a half-a-dozen occasions he had found that her presentiments were as a general rule ex- tremely accurate. He did not like her interference and was greatly annoyed at it, and then all of a sudden an idea flashed into his mind that made him still more strongly inclined to resent her words. ‘‘How in the fiend’s name did you come to know anything about this matter anyway?” he demanded, abruptly, turning to her. ‘How do you know what game I am up to or aught about the youngster at all?” When the woman first spoke Curly Kid failed to remember that in order the better to keep his secret he had not revealed to her anything about the matter, merely saying that he was going to use the secret chamber and she must be careful to send up the meals regularly. t was a strange piece of forgetfulness on the part this master scoundrel to allow this circumstance to escape him and he was natur- ally angry now that he thought of it. “You didn’t confide in me in this matter, did you?” retorted the woman, scornfully. ‘*T suppose you thought that I couldn't be trusted; I’m a woman and therefore could not be depended upon to hold my tongue, ‘* Since I have been your servant and like a dog have followed your checkered fortunes I have never given you any proof of my devotion to your interest. **T could not be trusted with this impor- tant secret and so must be kept in the dark.” Curly Kidin spite of his resolute domineer- ing way was in a measure afraid to anger this faithful creature who had for so many years served him faithfully, and then too he blamed himself now for yielding to the caprice which impelled him to endeavor to keep the matter a secret from her. But one odd thing about this really fiend-like scoundrel was he was always wonderfully quick to perceive and acknowledge when he was in the wrong and now on this occasion under- standing that he had blundered badly he has- tened to pet out of the false position as quickly as possible. ** Well, old girl, don’t be angry with me!” he exclaimed. ‘I acted like a fool, and I don’t know what got into me to attempt to keep you in the dark, for if ever a mortal in this world has given proof of trustworthiness you are the person. ‘* But I say, how did you catch on to the game anyhow?” * Well, it was just by accident,” the woman replied, considerably mollified by Curly Kid’s frank avowal. ‘* You never confided to me the secret of this hidden room and I did not attempt to pry into it, for the reasons that you gave for keeping me in the dark were good. “Tf you, or anybody else, were concealed in the apartment and the police made a descent on the house I could swear with an easy conscience that I knew nothing whatever about the mat- ter. ** But just by accident I happened to stumble upon the door and entered the apartment before I knew where I was gomg. ‘* Yes, I can understand how that could hap- pen,” Curly Kid remarked. ‘*Of course when I found myself in the pre- sence of the boy and he looked at me with his big, innocent, blue eyes, and exclaimed: **¢QOh, I thought you was my mamma,’ and then proceeded to tell me how a gentleman had taken him away promising to bring him to his mamma and how anxious he was to see her. ‘*T tell you, Curly Kid, my heart was touched, although it is so long’since I have experienced anything of the kind that I had begun to think that I hadn’t got any heart, left in my body; but the innocent prattle of the boy reached a tender spot. ‘*T knew that you didn’t intend that I should | know anything about the matter, and I felt a Crowningshield, the Sleuth. ruilty in questioning the child but I couldn’t elp it, and of course I easily guessed what game you were up to, but I tell you, Curly, Ido not believe the scheme will work.” “Now, Moll, don’t run away with the idea that Iam going to harm the boy in any way, because that isn’t a part of the programme at all,” Curly Kid remarked, soothingly. ““T’m only going to try to make a stake out of 1im. ‘fT thought I could ‘touch’ his mother, but the game wouldn’t work, and now I’m going for the father.” ‘* No good—no good!” responded the woman with a wise shake of the head. ‘“ Well, we can tell that better after we try, you know,” he retorted. ‘* Anyhow we'll never know until we try, but the boy won’t come to any harm, rest assured of that,” Then he turned to Randolph. ‘You wait with Moll in the parlor while I get the boy to write a pathetic letter to his dad,” he said. CHAPTER XXX. THE LETTER. In obedience to the instructions, the gambler and the woman entered the old-fashioned par- lor, while Curly Kid proceeded up-stairs to the secret apartment. ‘*T wonder if there is anything in Moll’s pre- sentiment,” he murmured, as he made his way to the top of the house. Like most men of his peculiar calling, he was rather inclined to be superstitious—a firm be- liever, at any rate, in good and ill-luck. As he was wont to remark, when the subject was discussed: ‘* Tt’s all nonsense for people to say that there ism’t any such igs as luck in this world. There is, and the men who make big stakes are lucky men, and the fellows who slip up in it every time are the unlucky ones, “One job I plan with the greatest care, but everything goes wrong, and I can’t work it for a cent; another ‘ plant’ I go at kinder care- less, pans out first-rate right from the begin- ning.” re this argument the man repeated to him- self as he proceeded up the stairs. He was trying to fight off the idea that there was any truth in the woman’s presentiments of evil, “Everything has worked smoothly in this affair from the beginning—gone as well as I could wish. Why, then, should I fear as to the result? ‘‘Bah! It isa woman’s idle fancy, and I am a fool to give the least heed to it,” But, for all this stout assertion, he was de- cidedly more influenced by her warning than he would have been willing to admit. He made his way through the secret passage into the hidden apartment, The moon shone in through the window so that the room was nearly as light as by day. Little Goldenlocks was lying upon the bed with all his clothes on, and, though Curly Kid made his entrance into the apartment in an almost noiseless manner, yet the child seemed instinct- ively to understand that there was some one in the room, and awoke from his slumber with a start. “Don’t be alarmed, my little man,” said spi Kid, reassuringly, as he helped himself to a chair. ‘Tt is only your old acquaintance, and you are not afraid of me, I hope?” ‘Oh, no, sir,” replied Adonis, but there was a solemn expression upon his face and a wistful look in his big, blue eyes as he spoke. ‘* That's right!” the man exclaimed, encour- agingly. " Dm a friend of yours, and there’s no mistake about it, either.” ‘‘And my mamma, sir? Where is she, and when will she came tome?” Goldenlocks asked, anxiously. ‘I’m afraid that you won’t be able to see your mamma at all,” Curly Kid replied. ‘*You see, your mamma is married again now, and this gentleman whom she has married doesn’t like little boys, and so she won’t be able to send for you, so youll have to write to your papa to come and get you.” Se look appeared upon the face of the child. ‘“‘Oh, Pll be so glad to see my papa again!” ¥ exclaimed, ‘‘T've been so lonesome without im. ‘*T'd carry you back myself but I am Se a to go away early to-morrow morning, and then it will be necessary for your papa to come too so as to pay the people of the house here for tak- ing care of you. “T thought when I brought you here that our mamma, would pay the bills and so I told the folks here, but her husband won’t allow her to have anything to do with the matter so your papa must come and pay.” ** Oh, my papa will do that; papa always has plenty of money, and he'll be so glad to ret me home again—for I know he must be creadful lonesome without me—that he'll be willing to pay what the people want.” S) | Gomichoo (e(o)