Beadle's Dime Library No. 388: The Giant Buccaneer — page 28: what you’re looking at

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

— —_ _ ww — a a _ _— —_— “enc owe > s- See Pe —_——2 oe)" - — — = a wake ce we Se eee “OT YS ee Oe eS Z 4 ° 28 The Giant Buccaneer. —$————_ - -— _ ———— 7 a — = —_—— CHAPTER LI. rapidly, rolling inwardly, yet showing no | fled sound below, and replacing the, rug pert tein, NaS ae sign of the mechanism beneath. once more, and table, he could not even hear topping when a dark open space was re- | this. Wuewn Don Rudolpho returned to his sane- | vealed, he stepped down into it, and disap- ‘* Now he is dead, and I am avenged; but tum he found it vacant, but he little dreamed | peared, seemingly descending upon a ladder. | my poor little sister, what fate has been that Bono had glided out of the other door Then a bright light streamed from below, | hers?’ and the boy’s eyes filled with tears. an instant before he came through the panel. | showing that he had the means there to see Leaving Rudolpho to bis fate, the victim ‘‘ Well, it is too soon for the boy to re- | his treasures. . of a boy's revenge, Bono seized the sachel of turn,” he said. | The place was a vault, hardly six feet | bank-notes, and retreated to the shop, where ‘“‘So I will complete the arrangements I | square, and in one side of it was an iron’ he calmly resumed his duties, as though have to make for my departure. door that appeared to be a safe. nothing had happened of a tragic nature be- ‘*The Lady Rita will go, of course, and; — Still, upon shelves, around the walls, were | fore his eyes, and one seeing him and know- she will be my wife within a short time. the treasures of the money-lender. ing the circumstances, would have wondered ‘‘My wife, did I say? Little buckskin bags hung on pegs, and | at his remarkable nerve. ‘*T forget the deformity that was here a} upon each one was marked the contents, Fe | * short while ago, and who bears that relation- For instance, one bore the name of CHAPTER LII. ship to me. ‘* Rubies,” another of ‘‘ Diamonds,” then CONCLUSION. ‘* But Rita will never know that secret of | ‘‘ Opals” ‘‘ Pearls,” ‘‘Sapphires,” ‘‘ Gar- WuHeEN the tattooed Witch and Perdido my life. nets,” “ Turquoise,” ‘‘ Emeralds” and ‘‘ Un- | returned to their inn, they settled themselves ‘*T love her desperately. cut Gems,” followed in the order named, as | down with what patience they could com- ‘‘T never had but three loves in my life, | they hung upon the pegs. mand, to await the discovery of the money- among all the beautiful women I have met. ome of the little bags were full, appar- | lender's death, for that he was dead, through ‘The first was my wife. ently, others partly so, and of diamonds | the poison she had poured in his glass, the ‘*But I was young then, and a fool. there were five different pouches. woman did not for a moment doubt, so cun- ‘* Yet, perhaps if we had not been cast up- To a nail hung a large leather vest with | ningly had the Don played his part. on that island, and she been tattooed beyond | various pockets in it. She talked over the whole matter of her recognition, I might have still loved her. This the money-lender put on, and then | ~vealth with her son, who had told her again ‘‘My life might have been different; but deposited the bags in the different pockets, | and again what he knew of the vast riches of yet I judge I was cut out for a villain. while he muttered: his wicked father, and their minds reveled ‘*Stiil, it is hard to tell what a man or wo- ‘«T have a large fortune in this vest alone.” | upon the ‘‘ castles in the air” that they built man will do until they are tempted, Drawing his clothes on over the precious | for themselves, the woman even forgetting ‘‘ Angels might have been devils, and dev- | leather garment, he then proceeded to gather | her tattooed deformity, in her enthusiasm at ils angels, under different circumstances. | up other treasures in sachels, of which he | what that vast gold would buy. ‘‘My second love—ah! I must get these | had three. But they must wait patiently to hear of papers together,” and he went on with his : These riches consisted of all kinds of | the mysterious death of Don Rudolpho, the work, while he mused aloud: jewelry, such as bracelets, necklaces, brooch- | money-lender. ‘My second love was that lovely woman, | es, ear-drops, buckles, and chains of rare Then they would act, and for their own Madam Bonodel, whose husband I ruined at | workmanship. benefit only. the gambling-table, and caused him totake Then there were many watches, and other They cay. gone to the money-lender’s shop his own life. odds and ends of value. in a perfect disguise. ‘‘That is just what I expected, and work-| These were all placed carefully in the They did not fear to be recognized as they ed for, in a man of his high-strung nature; _ sachels, which were then locked, then were, and when it was publicly pro- but I did not expect that the wife would Having cleared up the articles in sight, the | claimed that the Don was dead, they would spurn me as she did. money-lender touched a spring, and the iron | at once make it known who they were, and ‘Well, I had my revenge and kept my door on one side .flew open, revealing a cav- | thus get possession of his vast wealth. head out of her mouth, ernous like tunnel-way. Such was their plan; but then it went ‘*Then I had her little girl kidnapped, and As he stooped to look within, he suddenly | wrong. what became of her I do not know, nor do I | uttered a cry and started back, a look of hor- They waited, but the money-lender was not care. ror upon his face as he looked upward at the , found dead. ‘The mother died of starvation, and they | trap in the flooring. Then they sought to find out why. called it a broken heart, while the boy has What he saw above him filled the heart of Boro was found in the shop the next day, doubtless gone to the bad long ere this. the money-lender with horror, for there was | and coolly said that he had not seen his mas- ‘But I was avenged for her spurning me, | a face peering down upon him with a malig. | ter for two days. ‘«My third love is the fair Rita. nant look upon it, as the light of the room| That he had last seen him in his sanctum ‘‘ A smuggler’s daughter, a pirate’s widow; and reflection of the lantern below plainly but what care I for that? revealed. ‘‘She is beautiful beyond compare, and; But that was not all that startled the | for him, but he could not be found. fascinates me; but she has claws beneath her money-lender, for he beheld the sliding trap | Then the mother and son, believing that velvet ways, and I must handle her tenderly. | moving toward the wall, as though to shut | some of his clerks, fearing that they would ‘“Why does not that boy come back, I , him within, be accused of his murder, had hidden the wonder? It was the youth, Bono, who was kneeling | body, came out and laid claim to his prop- ‘‘}e certainly would not run off with the upon it, and his weight was causing it to | erty. money. for it isnot in him todo so, or his face . slide hack into place. They proved their title, without trouble; with a strange man and a vailed woman. This was all he knew. Search was made belies him. | As he had entered the sanctum it was the | but when the wealth of themoney-lenoer was ‘‘Now, Perdido I always doubted, for his sight of the rug and table ont of place and | searched for, it consisted only of vaiious lots face had scamp stamped upon it, and egad! , the open trap that had so startled him. of booty found in the shep. he looks like me, his father. | Instantly he had sprung toward the open The huge old mansion was searched, but ‘‘Tla! ha! ha! like father, like son, is a. space and glanced within. without other result, and the tattooed woman very true saying. | One look showed him that the money- | and her son disappeared suddenly from the “But I must get my things out of the lender was below, packing up his jewels. scene, going no one knew or cared where, as vault,” | He also saw that, if he closed the trap, with | soon as they had received the money for the With this he went to the shop and calied its heavy flooring and padding, no sound | goods that were taken from the shop and out: from below could be heard above in the , sold. ‘‘Has Bono returned?” room. As for Bono, he, too, disappeared; but no ‘* No, senor,”’ He trembled like « leaf and became deadly | one cared to live in the old mansion, which ‘*When he comes, tell him to await in the | pale, had long borne the reputation of being haunt- ante-room until | call him. Then he hissed forth: ed, with its half a hundred tenantless rooms, ‘* Yes, senor.” ‘* Nobody knows of this secret vault, Iam | and it remained deserted, ‘Tf anybody calls, say I am away.” convinced, and here is my chance for re- But the searchers had never once come ‘‘ Yes, senor. venge most complete. upon the secret chambers, the prison of the Seeing some articles he needed lying near, ‘* But how to close it is the question.” Smuggler Queen, and only long years after, he took them in his arms and carried them He found that he could not move the | in tearing down the old mansion, did the into his sanctum, boards, or rather slide, back into place. workmen come across the moldering bones Having his arms full prevented him from! Then, in changing his position, he felt the | of human beings in what had evidently been locking the door behind him, as was his boards moving under him. hidden rooms, while in a vault in the cellar a wont, while for announcing visitors there} ‘‘ Ha! chance has revealed it!” he cried. skeleton form was found that was said:to be was a tube in the wall, to which Bono would | Looking down into the vault once more, as | the money-lender’s, who, going into it, had place his lips, and his words distinctly reach | the slide rolled under him, he cried: | by accident been caught there and died, shar- the ears of the Don, who opened the portal ‘‘Ho! Don Rudolpho! 1 am the son of | ing the same death that those had met in the with a cord from where he sat, for his Monsieur Bonodel, whom you drove to death, | wing above, and a fate that all who knew of mechanical turn of mind had caused him to whose child you kidnapped, and whose wife | his crimes would agree was a just one. get about him many conveniences. you cruelly killed. With their foes thus removec from their This oversight of not locking the door was _‘‘ Ha! ha! ha! you need not attempt to way, only happiness fell upon the inmates of a bad one on the part of the Don, as will be. climb up here, for I will hurl you back. | Brandt Plantation, while Irving, after mak- seen, ‘*Your bank notes [ have, and will keep, | ing a name for himself that will long live in Removing a large mat from the floor, the | as you stole my inheritance. | story, married the beautiful Myrtle, daughter money-lender stood on a certain spot near| ‘‘Farewell, Don Rudolpho, the money- | of a pirate though she was, and settled down the wall, and under the table standing near . lender?!” to the life of a planter, while the Sea Fox, the secret panel, and immediately three of | With the boy’s last words the slide got | unable to give up his life on the ocean, con- the boardsin the flooring began to move be- into place, just as the head of the money- | tinued until his death in command of a coast- neath his weight. ‘lender was thrust hard against it. | guard cruiser. . Almost imperceptibly they moved, though But listening, the youth heard only a muf- THE END. NN — Gcomicbooks (e(e) _ , out Ss aS ———— en — pe — ote eae ee ee See — Z wo