Beadle's Dime Library No. 366 — page 18: what you’re looking at

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

i ~<te"~ ptt ll mE s. ~ = a ve - = = at coal et SS ote . POPP ODES EE =e ~~ 4 * — o ~ a o - > we te ee ~~ * ** —s - s 18 — ee tort a confession from him;—anything to insure his conviction for his crimes.” His hand went quickly up to his head. ‘* These spells of dizziness,’ he murmured. ‘‘They are becoming alarmingly frequent and confuse my mind, This excitement and my long imprisonment have weakened me. Heaven grant my strength may not fatl until I have carried out my trust to my dear old friend, Gerald Thorndyke.” Sitting there waiting for the time to come to act promptly and decisively, he little eatiaed of the terrible complications his visit to the roof which sheltered Adrian Revere was destined to bring about, involv- ing the most startling and perilous situation of his eventful life. CHAPTER XVI. THE TRAMP’S VANTAGE-GROUND. ‘“ SAVED!” As Dorsett, the detective, spoke the word, he almost fell over against the steel bar which his hands clasped. On the very verge of the side-track, the terminus of which looked down on a seem- ing abyss, he had brought the runaway en- gine to a full stop with a jerk which lifted the iron monster fairly from the track. His face was ghastly white, and his trembling frame and burning hands, bleeding from rough contact with the window of the cab in his wild spring from the station platform told of the terrible ordeal he had experi- enced, A throng of men from the station came hurrying excitedly from the spot, but he had released the bonds which held his companion captive before they arrived. He offered no explanation of the affair, but requested that they convey Marvin into the station-house, and, once there, he sat down by his side and waited for his recovery from unconscious- ness with an anxious face. His features were a playground of min- gled interest and horror, as finally the Tele- graph Detective regained his senses and proceeded to relate his extraordinary advyen- tures. To an outsider they would, however, seem incredible, but already Dorsett had be- gun to realize that Torrance and his col- leagues were the most desperate set of men he had ever dealt with. ‘The woman has probably been disposed of,” concluded Dorsett; ‘‘ and this man Tor- rance and his accomplices wiil not, of course, remain near the scene of their last crime,” “Then you think it useless to return to orris?”’ inquired Marvin. Yes,’ ‘‘We have gained one point at least, de- spite my terrible experience,” and Marvin shuddered at the thought of his late fearful adventure. ‘* What is that?” . ‘The knowledge that Constance Thorn dyke is safe.” ‘Evidently for the present, at least.” ‘‘As I was struck down by the missive from Torrence’s hands, I heard the woman called Arminie Royale cry out that Constance Thorndyke was the victim of a plot, and could she have told more I believe it would have revealed the fact that Constance is not legal- ly or really married to Adrian Revere; and, this being true, have we not sufficient proof against this villain, Revere, to arrest and con- vict him?” ‘*No,” replied Dorsett, decidedly. ““Why not?” ‘* Because the confession of some one of his accomplices is necessary to show his hand in all these crimes. Undoubtedly Arminie Royale has become troublesome to him, and he has murdered her or had her murdered. We must not neglect to follow these trails. I will go on to-morrow and endeavor to learn the fate of this woman.” “A000. I?” ‘‘Must return to New York and watch Adrian Revere and the woman you love.” The station-agent looked curiously at Mar- vin as he came out from the room where he had been conversing with Dorsett. The latter crew him aside. ‘* You are doubtless curious to learn the mystery of the runaway engine,” he said. ‘““My friend seems to have got into the cab and was unable after it started to stop He vouchsafed no further information on ‘ —— the subject, but parted with Marvin as an east-bound train came along, the latter con- tinuing his journey to New York city. He tossed in a restless fever of excitement and suspense upon his bed when he reached | home. He was too weak from his recent ad- venture to start out on the trail of his ene- mies, but with the next day was again work- ing on the mysterious case. He removed his quarters during the fore- noon and secured and assumed a new dis- | guise, for he feared that if Torrance discov- ered his escape he or some member of his | band would be on his trail. If he could rescue Constance Thorndyke from Revere’s power—if he could even be positively assured that she had not been en- trapped into a marriage, he would have se- cured the arrest of Revere at once, despite Dorsett’s advice to the contrary. If it was to be the same game of hide-and-seek over again, however, he would proceed less bold- ly than before and under circumstances where he could keep the house under a long- er surveillance. Trusting to disguise to carry out his as- sumption, he secured a suit of the roughest, coarsest clothes he could find, and donning them, wandered carelessly through the alley- way in the rear of the Thorndyke mansion. Either Revere kept a costly retinue of ser- vants, or else he had several members of the League with him, for two'men were busy in the stable, and a third occupied a comfort- able position on a bench in the garden. Approaching one of these, Marvin affected the slouching ways and hungry glance of the habitual tramp. “You couldn't give a man a bite to eat, could ye?” he asked. The man pointed to the kitchen. ‘‘Go yonder,” he said, ‘‘and I guess they'll spare you a meal.” The cook placed a lavish supply of food before him, and while he sat on the stone steps eating it with an apparently ravenous appetite, the man on the bench arose, knock- ed the ashes from his pipe, and approached him with a speculative look in his eyes, ‘‘A stranger here?” he asked. Marvin nodded assentingly between huge bites at the food in his hand. **From the West?” ‘‘Yes. Could you give mea job of work?” inquired the disguised detective, eagerly. ‘‘ Anything to get food and shelter till I can turn myself.” ‘* Mebbe I can, if you’d sleep in the stables. You see the garden here?” XY 8 ‘Tt ain’t much of a garden, but the weeds out it would look better. Just go to work at it and don’t leave here till I come back; and, by the way, keep your eye on yonder window,” he said, pointing to a room in the upper story of the structure. ‘‘If you see any movement at the blinds from within, just go to the cook and tell her.” ‘‘ All right,” and Marvin proceeded to the flower patch as directed. His heart beat exultantly as he realized how easily he had secured a foothold under the very roof of the man he so desired to be near, and he fairly trembled with excite- ment as he imagined that the reason the warning had been given him to watch the window was because some person was im- prisoned there—probably Constance Thorn- dyke herself! He thrilled at the thought. Oh, if he could but let her know that he was so near to her —if,in any way, he couid convey a message to her! But he dared do nothing boldly, much less venture to alarm the suspicions of those about him by any attempted signal. ‘* Patience,” he whispered to his anxious heart; ‘‘ with darkness I can operate less cautiously and more securely.” Frequently he pee up at the window, during his task, but no signs of life were visible within the apartment. He was dis- appointed when shortly after nightfall the man he had relieved returned, commended him for his work, told the cook to give him his supper, and then directed him to the athe the stable for rest and shelter for the night. He could do nothing less than obey mutely, unless he wished to excite suspicion, so he was soon in the loft of the stable, meditating over his situation. A small three-cornered window in that The Telegraph Detective. part of the loft where he was, looked out upon the grounds and rear of the house. As he peered from it he was soon enabled to perceive many things of importance in his quest, First, his attention was enchained by the man on the bench. Why did that individual continue to occupy that special place, al- ways smoking indolently, always facing the house? Doubtless because he was watching the room he himself had been directed to observe! As he decided that such was the man’s purpose—that the surveillance would probably be kept up all night, the Telegraph Detective grew gloomy, but he soon became startlingly interested as he lifted his eyes to the rear of the house. Two apartments, one below the other, were lighted from the interior. Inthe upper one he saw plainly, through one half-opened shutter, a female form starting from a couch —saw the shadow of a man enter the room, and his heart beat wildly as he thought in that quick glance at the woman as she passed within the radius of vision that it must be Constance Thorndyke. But as his eyes fell on the window of the apartment below, his excitement grew to a startled amazement. The upper portion of the inside blinds alone were open. From the ground the occupant of the apartment could not be seen, but from Marvin's place of RAplONAge, directly opposite, he could look down and in upon the form of a man just arising from a chair. He had sprung to the door and bent his head to listen to some sound in the hall without. He carried in his hand a false beard which, a moment later, he arranged upon his face, but ere he did so, the light shining full upon his natural features caused Willis Marvin to fall back with a cry of joy and bewilderment, After many weary months of separation two men, with identical interests at stake, were thus singularly thrown together within a few yards of each other! The one igno- rant of the fact that they were reunited, if yet separated. The white, care-worn face, the troubled but searching eyes, revealed unmistakably a beloved identity to the amazed watcher, and from the lips of the Telegraph Detective broke the murmured agitated words: ‘* Merciful Heavens, my father!” CHAPTER XYII. LUCIFER’S TRIUMPH. A most singular combination had been brought about by the development of the operations of the Dynamite League, central- ized now under the very roof where the first steps in the tragedy had been taken. ithin the grounds of the Irving Place house were the principal actors in the ex- citing drama under process of consumma- tion—Robert Marvin and his son, Adrian Revere and Constance Thorndyke. The false heir to the Thorndye estate was now about to make a bold strike for his interests, little dreaming that his tireless enemies were close upon his trail. Believing the pretended Torrance safe in the apartment to which he had been assigned, Revere determined to move at once, after a long reflection upon his course: therefore he had taken a lamp in his hand and gone u the stairs. It was his shadow which Willis Marvin saw from his place of observation in the stable loft, and it was Constance Thorn- dyke, alarmed at his appearance, who had arisen to her feet as Revere intruded into her presence, But, cautiously as Adrian Revere had as- cended the stairs, as he passed the door of the room wliere the fictitious Torrance was, the man within was on the alert. His feigned exhaustion was gone, and as his quick ear recognized the step without, he replaced his disguise, temporarily abandoned for comfort’s sake, and unlocked and opened the door softly, glancing after the form of Revere. ‘‘He has gone to see the girl,” he mur- mured, his eyes gleaming excitedly. ‘‘I will venture to follow him.” - And a moment later he was in the upper hall watching and listening in an embrasure in the wall near the door of Constance Thorndyke’s room which Revere had just en- tered, and there awaited developments before deciding what course to pursue, EONNIE LOCO KS} Cc