Beadle's Dime Library No. 388: The Giant Buccaneer — page 27: what you’re looking at

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

—— lender in rags, and begged fcr work, saying that his parents were dead, that he had gone to sea, but finding the work too hard for him, he wished a clerkship. Writing a beautiful hand, and quick at firures, the Don had taken him without reference, and had gradually advanced him, until he stepped into Perdido’s shoes as con- fidential clerk, when that worthy deserted his master to the better serve himself by rob- bing the &™ .z¢ler Queen. With th, chel clasped in his hand, Bono went to the “oor communicating with the ante-chamber, and locked it, for he wished no one coming in from the shop. Then he went to the secret panel and peep- ed through. All was darkness therein. But he was not to be thwarted, so he went back into the shop, took up a dark lantern, lighted it, and returned to carry out the dar- ing design he had formed of discovering just where that secret passage led. -_--s- eS CHAPTER XLIX. WHAT BONO DISCOVERS. Oppntna the secret door, Bono held it thus an instant. Did he release it, it would fly to with a bang. He saw that it could only be opened with a spring, if once closed, upon either side, but where that spring was he could not discover. His plan, therefore, was to keep it from closing, and this he did with the cloth from the table. Then he walked slowly up the stairway. It was walled up upon either side, and not ‘ two feet in width, the steps being very steep and narrow. e Arriving at the top he found himself ina narrow passageway, seemingly built between or into the walls of the house. At the head of the steps he saw a panel, and this evidently opened into the main hall- way on the upper floor; but he could not find the secret spring to open it. Going along the narrow passage for quite a distance, he suddenly heard voices. Instantly he closed his lantern, and all was darkness about him. But as his eyes became accustomed to the darkness he saw before him a crack of light. It did not come from a lamp, that was cer- tain, but from daylight. From thence he also heard voices, and quickly he approached the spot. He stood by a narrow iron door that open- ed into a small space like an ante-chamber. Across this was a second door, also of iron, and padded on the inner side. That was ajar also, and the boy muttered: ‘“T am in luck.” The room farther on, he could see, was well furnished, and the sunlight was stream- ing into it. But the surroundings, the way of approach, and all, convinced the boy that he was look- ing upon a secret chamber, ‘‘There is something queer in all this,” he muttered. f ‘«Mhe Don has some dwellers in this old rookery, after all. ‘‘ Well, I will find out, if I die for it.” With this bold determination he entered the ante-chamber and stood by the crack of the inner door. , A person was speaking, and it was not the Don. What was said the boy heard as distinctly as though he had been in the room with the speakers. ‘‘You see, massa,” he heard, ‘‘de missy were taking a arternoon svesta, an’ she hain't dressed yet, sah, an’ you must excoose her, for ladies does take long ter fix up, ‘‘ But she say she be out soon,’ ««] would not care, Ninah, if I was not in a great hurry, 80 tell your mistress, please, to burry, for I have been here now a long time,” ‘and the Don’s voice, for he was the speaker, was somewhat impatient. “Oho! now I see what all these stores were bought for: and the Don told me he intended to take his meals at home, and have a cook employed,” muttered the boy. 3 “ Yes, sah, I tells her,” said old Ninah, and she disappeared into an inner room, while Bono distinctly heard the Don mutter an oath of impatience. ; A moment after a woman swept into the The Giant Buccaneer. a i 3S ma NNN, soa SIG s«wCiSISI i i iI iI I I IIIs TIS I III II 2 ae eee se rooms, and at her first words Bono whispered to himself: ‘‘ It is the Smuggler Queen.”’ “Pardon me, senor, for detaining you so long,’’ she said, in her sweetest tones, ‘‘ for J know that your time is precious; but I was asleep, and had to dress.” ‘You are more than pardoned, lady; but I came in haste to see you.”’ ‘Has anything gone wrong?” she asked, quickly. ‘Yes, my spies inform me that I am suspected of harboring you, and that I am to be arrested to-night, and you will be seized and sent into solitary confinement, no one shall know where.” ‘*Great God! can this be true?” “‘Itis true, lady.” . ‘* And I will cause you all this trouble?” “Do not mind that, for I am ready to fly at a moment’s notice, and I have my riches in such shape that I, with the aid of Ninah and yourself, can carry a vast fortune.” ‘*And I must go, of course?” “It would be madness to stay here.” ‘* But where?” “We will decide that when we get away. ‘But I have always lived ready to depart at an hour’s notice, and we can throw them off the scent. ‘“There, in that closet, you will find dis- guises of all kinds, and you and the negress ‘an rig yourselves up, while I return to the oflice to do likewise. ‘‘T have sent Bono to the banks to draw my money in bills, and when he returns I will go into my vault, get my treasure, and come here for you. ‘‘ At the head of the stairs is asecret panel, which will lead us into a hallway of this old mansion, and thus out into a garden opening upon another street. ‘* From thence we can make our way to the vee, wher | have already ordered a coast- ing-craft to be in readiness, and can fly from this dreaded place.” , ‘But my revenge?” said the woman. ‘‘Once safe ourselves, lady, we can look to revenge, for you know that those you seek to harm are on the coast, and we can readily run there some night, with a good crew, and you can avenge yourself as best you wish.” ‘True, it is best.” ‘* Now, I will be off, and—” But Bono heard no more, ashe glided away noiselessly, feeling his way along the walls and down the steps. As he reached the panel door leading into the office, he heard two clicking sounds from above and behind him. ‘‘ The doors of their rooms close with secret springs, and I believe they are prisoners, though they do not suspect it,” he muttered. Hastily removing the table-cover from the panel, he closed it softly, and glided out of the room before the money-lender should ar- rive. CHAPTER L. A BOY’S WRONGS. SEEKING the shop, Bono glided out into the open air of the street without being no- ticed by his two fellow-clerks. He was excited, nervous and very pale, His thoughts were busy with the past, and as memory came to him it brought only bit ter remembrances, which found vent in a low muttering as he walked rapidly along, still grasping the sachels of bank-notes, for the rogtlt he had laid down upon entering the shop. ‘Must I allow that man to escape?” he murmured, ‘ Oh, God! how memories crowd upon me! ‘‘T remember how he was my father’s friend, or at least he so believed him. “It was years ago now, ten years, and I was but eight years old, for I am eighteen, though he believes me sixteen. ‘‘ He came to our house nightly, and was but a snake in the grass. ‘* We were rich then, for I remember the luxury we lived in. ‘“My father was a grand, handsome man, and he loved my mother, my little sister and myself so devotedly; but he would gamble, and that snake in the grass led him on. ‘*T recall how one night father came home. ‘‘T was asleep upon the sofa, and he awoke me by coming in, though I did not move. ee ————— eee te ett titties SSS Neen ee eee ee 7 — —-e —— — came ws. “Mother was away, visiting a sick friend, and Lita, my baby-sister, was in bed. ‘* Father was greatly excited and paced the room, talking aloud to himself, ‘| remember he said: ‘‘* Ts that man my, friend or my foe? ‘“* He always wins from me at cards, and sometimes | almost fear that he cheats. «Then, too, he seems to regard my wife more in the light a lover would, than a friend. ‘“**T doubt him, and yet I may wrong him, and I will wait until I have proof that he is the villain I am Jed at times to think.’ ‘*‘T remember that I thought it wrong to listen to my father, so 1 got up from the sofa. ‘‘Some weeks more passed, and once again I was in the library, sleeping in my favorite nook, when he came in, for I always would wait for him. ‘* Mother had retired with little Lita, and the house was all silent, ‘‘ Again my father was excited, and talked to himself. ‘* Not noticing he went on: ‘““* Ruined! yes, I am utterly ruined, and that man, Rudolpho Ramon, has done it. * * Oh, God! that I should ever have trust- ed him. ‘** Now I am wholly in his power, for this night I signed away to him my last dollar. ‘‘Great God! this is madness, ruin and wretchedness that I cannot stand, ‘“*T dare not face my wife and children, so they shall gaze upon me dead, and then perhaps forgive me. *“*But that devil, Don Rudolpho Ramon, has cheated me out of my fortune, and I have nothing to leave to those I love but a suicide’s name,’ ‘“T remember how wild with fright at those words, I sprung to my feet, just as there came the report of a pistol, and my father fell dead before my gh a! ‘‘ Never shall I forget that night, and the anguish of my poor mother. “] told her of the words of my father, and she cried bitterly: ‘**Oh! Tam his murderess, for I led him | on to trust that man. ‘** Now I know. when I believed him our friend, and trusted him as though he were my brother, urging that he should make his home with us, as he seemed alone in the world, that he has been the snake in the grass to bring ruin upon us.’ ) ‘*T can never forgot then how Don Rudol- pho showed his real character, by asking my mother to become his wife, before my father was cold in his grave, and when she spurned him, he turned us out of our home, for he held all our riches. ‘*T can never forget how my little sister Lita was stolen from home one night, and then that my mother died almost a beggar of a broken heart. “Then I became a wanderer about the world, and have seen hard knocks, ‘‘But as I grew older, it seems that re- venge has been growing within my heart, and I sought service under Don Rudolpho to ruin him ‘‘My chance has at last come, and I will now act. ‘“ Wee be unto you, Don Rudolpho, the money-lender, and may heaven forgive me for what | do.” The youth had walked a long way by this time, and turning quickly he retraced his steps, rriving at the shop, he went to the sanc-. tum door and knocked. No answer came. Again he knocked, more loudly than before, Me Still no answer, He knew that the Don generally kept the door locked; but he would try it. “The senor was asking for you, Bono, ‘‘He said you was to wait here for him,’ said a fellow clerk, Bono did not heed the remark, but laid his hand once more on the latch. It raised, and the door, to his joy, was un- locked. Instantly he passed within, and clesing the door quickly behind him, bolted it. Then he started and stood gazing at an ob- ject in one end of the room near the panel door. ‘What it was that caused the boy to stare so the reader will soon know, + ae a NN eee ———————— - ~- Se ee ee ee ee oe! Se eg ee ee ee ee —— « e ee ee -- ee oe ee ee eee ~ vas —S or Gomicboo Cc S (E(0) ” ty