Beadle's Dime Library No. 391 — page 17: what you’re looking at

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

The two friends nodded, but did not speak; they were not generally supposed to be pos- sessed of any extra amount of common sense, but they were not fools enough to want any more of the ‘‘ amusement” for which they had paid so heavily. ‘Tt was all luck to-night,” young Grimgris- kin continued. ‘*‘ You had an awful run of luck, and that is all there is to it. The next time I go for you, I'll bet a farm that you don’t come out ahead.” | “Very likely not; there’s no telling about that sort of thing,” Andrews answered, picking up his winnings and stowing them away in his pockets, as carelessly as though they were so much waste-paper, with the exception of old Grimgriskin’s check for ten thousand dollars. This he folded up carefully and placed it in his pocketbook. Alcibiades watched the check disappear with eager, hungry eyes. See here, old fellow!” he exclaimed. “‘ It was a mighty foolish thing for me to part with that aaok for I believe the old man would take my scalpif he found it out, so you’lldo mea great favor if you'll just keep that—don’t part with it, and I'll redeem it.” ‘*Oh! that’s all right; don’t trouble yourself about that. I'll lock it up in my safe, and you can have it at any time,” the host replied. ‘‘ And as for the I, O, U.’s, Pl square them off as soon as 1 make a raise out of the old wo- man or sis.” “Don’t worry yourself—any time will do,” Andrews replied, as if the matter was not of the slightest: eoncern to him. ‘‘Suit yourself and you will suit me.” Andrews looked at his watch. “By Jove! gentlemen, it is after fovr o'clock!” he exclaimed, in surprise, ‘* Why, I wouldn’t have believed it, The time has passed so quickly that I did not believe it was yet two, ‘* Well, let’s take a parting drink, gentlemen, and then we'll adjourn to our beds. ** Luckily ve a day off, for it was my inten- tion to remain at home and entertain my visit- ors, although it is oe rather out of my line; but still, as there are ladies in the case, — time I was obliged to depart from my usual rule. ‘** You need not hurry yourselves about get- ting up, gentlemen; this is Liberty Hall here, you know, and you can have breakfast when- ever you wish.” And Andrews filled out a liberal allowance of ¥ brandy and then pushed the decanter toward the dudes, but before they could help them- selves Alcibiades seized iv, exclaiming: ‘“Youth before beauty, you know!” and he filled his glass to the very brim. _ The young men laughed, for Grimgriskin was too much under the influence of liquor for them to take offense at his insolence. When the glasses were filled—this was the first time that the host had drank anything since the game began—Andrews proposed a toast. ‘*Here’s wishing you better luck next time, gentlemen, and no worse luck for myself.” | The toast drank, all rose, and then the discov- ery was inade that young Grimgriskin had taken so much liquor as to be unable to stand, and if Clinton, who was next to him, had not promptly hastened to his support he would have fallen headlong. ‘“‘ Hallo, hallo, old fellow, you are considerably under the weather!” Andrews exclaimed, com- ing at once to the rescue and supporting Alcibi- ades on the other side. ‘t Yes, the brandy has got into my legs; never affects my head though: I’ve got’ too much brains for that!’ boasted the young man. “ Well, that is rather odd,” the host admitted. ‘*Tt’s always the way with me—infernal pair of legs, always disgrace me!” muttered Alctbi- ades, who, despite his boast, was extremely thick of utterance and beginning to talk in the incoherent fashion common to the devotees of King Alcohol. ‘‘'The air here is foul for the room is close,” said Andrews. *‘‘ Let us go outside; the balmy breeze of the morning will be apt to freshen us upa bit.” *: Yesh, let’s go outside and go a-fishing!” ex- claimed young Grimgriskin, as Andrews and Clinton assisted him to the piazza. In fact the two had absolutely to carry him there, for Alcibiades’s legs were not the least bit of use to him; he could neither walk nor stand. By this time the eastern skies were streaked with rays of rosy light, heralding the coming of the sun-god, and the breeze that swept in through the Narrows, as the entrance to New York bay is termed, came straight from the bosom of old ocean and was laden with balmy, health-giving ozone. , After the party got outside, Alcibiades, after the fashion of some drunken men, began to get disa ble and noisy. ‘Let’s go a-fishing!” he howled. ‘ Let’s all go a-fishing; I’m_the boss fisherman from Kala- mazoo, yip, yip# yow, yow!” and he yelled at the top of his lungs and would have executed a war-dance if he had retained any control over his legs. ' ‘ Andrews was annoyed. The public road was between the boat-house and the mansion, and tho early birds, in the shape of milkmen, bakers, grocery-clerks and butcher-boys in their wa- gons, were beginning to pass along, and the master of Blithewood would gladly have given a good round sum rather than have the report become current that he and his guests had been indulging in an all-night spree. =: Hold rour tongue! don’t act like a fool!” he exclaimed. ‘* Don’t you see the wagons on the road?—and there’s some men in a boat below, too!” he exclaimed. ‘**Let’s go a-fishing with them, old fel’!” Al- cibiades cried. ‘* ll stand the expense! what’s the odds as long as you’re happy?” An idea flashed upon Andrews, He had taken a quick survey of the boat, and saw from the lines and basket of bait exposed upon the deck, that it was a fishing-craft, If he could arrange the matter with the peo- ple on board—there were only two on the craft, a weather-beaten old man and a tawny- faced lad—it would be an excellent plan to sail down the bay for a few hours pee thus give young Grimgriskin an opportunity to ‘ sober up.’ Not for a great deal would he have been willing that the peerless Sidonia should know that her scapegrace of a brother had got drunk in his company. Mee a so he at once hailed the fisherman in the at: ‘* Hello, don’t you want some passengers?” CHAPTER XXIV. PHENIX’S IDEA, AND now we must return to the two in the sail-boat, in order that they may march up abreast of the time when they were accosted by the owner of Blithewood from the _ boat- house, for, as the reader has doubtless guessed the two in the boat were the great detective and his new ally. The girl had not had an opportunity to re- late to Phenix the particulars of the strange adventure through which she had passed. She had been warned by letter to meet him at a certain place ata certain hour, and a dis- guise suggested. . Through her ignorance of the way—for it is not an matter for a stranger unacquainted with the water-side to go directly to any par- ticular point after mghtfall—she was some ten minutes late in reaching the dock from whence the start was to be made. And at first she was really in doubt whether to address the grim and grizzled old man who was sitting on the string-piece of the pier, smok- ing a short pipe, when she approached, for he was as unlike the man whom she expected to see as could possibly be. But Phenix, being posted in regard to her dis- guise, recognized the girl at once, ‘You are late,” he seid, speaking in his natural voice, so that she might know who he was, She explained that she had had considerable difficulty in finding her way. Then they embarked, and for the first half- hour or so the veteran was busy in instructing her how she could aid him in sailing the boat. Then they encountered the police patrol, and with what happened after that the reader is already acquainted. The girl became so interested in the recital by the detective of the difficult case which he had undertaken that not until he had finished did she attempt to speak of her own strange ad- ventures, | And to this her companion directly led the way. OBy the by, You became mixed upin astrange affair last night,” he observed. ‘I happened to be in the office of the superintendent of police when the particulars were received, ‘“f recognized your name at once, and from the location of the house I perceived that it was not a stranger by the same name, ‘*T am free to confess, though, that I am sorry the thing occurred, for in our business we can- not be too careful in keeping out of the gaze of the public. ‘You perceive I have different ideas on the subject from the average man in our line, who delights to conspicuously display himself, and is never so happy as when surrounded by a gap- ing crowd and he hears the whisper om one to another: ‘That’s him—that’s the great detective!’ bias ‘beomag such men are of little use. To catch the first-class rascal, the sleuth-hound of justice should be as cunning as the fox creeping upon its prey, and cannot be too care- ful in keeping in the background until the time arrive to spring, panther-like, upon the prey. ‘*There isn’t the least doubt but that you aoe the true idea,” she remarked, thought- ully. Ro the criminal, dreading detection, the thought must be terrible that some unseen foe is hovering near, and gradually Sree. closer and closer, but who will never reveal bimself until the final spring is made,” ‘It has been the theory of all the greatest 5 Kate Scott, the Decoy Detective. aaa, et Lr eee ee 17 and most successful thief-catchers, since the world began, that the more mystery with which a detective surrounds his operations, the better he will succeed in not only capturing criminals but in preventing crime,” Phenix re- marked. : : ‘*It certainly seems reasonable, but my ad- venture with the ruffians who attempted to en- ter ny window—there were two of them, for I saw them distinctly, although only one was cap- tured—is nothing to what happened to me ear- lier in the evening.” ‘* After you parted with me on the bridge?” ‘* Yes, the events began not ten minutes later.” ‘* That is odd; tell me the particulars.” ‘Tt sounds like a romance, but it is actual truth, and if 1 were to attempt to make up a startling story, I am sure I should never be able to think of anything one-half as strange or as improbable.” “ There is an old saying, you know, that truth is stranger than fiction,” the detective observed. ** In this case it most certainly is.” And then Kate proceeded to relate the strange — adventures which had befallen her after oe 3 the bridge and while proceeding to the house of — her friends in lower Brooklyn. 7“ She described everything that had occurred as minutely as possible from the time she was — attacked by the ruffians in passing the blind al- ley until she escaped from the old barn, situated on the outskirts of the city, somewhere near Canarsie. : The detective listened with the utmost atten-— ion. ‘‘ This is indeed a marvelousstory,” he observ- ed, when Kate had finished her recital. a ‘s And does it not seem as if the hand of Provi- — dence was in it?” she asked. abl ‘‘In attempting to make me his prey, has not — this scoundrel rendered himself vulnerable to an attack?” a _‘*Most assuredly,” the detective replied, im- — mediately. ‘Strange how fate sometimes ar- — ranges matters in this life. R “If I had not chanced to be put uponthe — trail of this outlaw band, and happened to meet you upon the bridge, then, taking an interest in — you, formed your acquaintance, the knowledge _ which you have gained would not have beenof — much use to you, but, as it is, I believe you were ~ in the stronghold of the very man of whom Iam ~ in search,” fe ‘Yes, that is what I thought when I listened to your story of the Spider Captain,” she re- — marked. > ‘There is hardly a doubt of it, unless, indeed, — there exists two bands of desperate ruffians, formed on the same model, and that is not lik ly. How did the ruffians term their leader—did | they give him any title?” 2 ‘** I do not remember to have heard him called — anything but the captain and the boss.” Rit * “ It’s a hundred to one that he is our game!” the sleuth-hound exclaimed, decidedly. e “The location of the house and the peculiar — way in which they conducted themselves seems — conclusive, and this attack upon you, was not — that made by some of the members of this same > band, think you?” an” Z uF , * 2. , o- ae ? ** Oh, yes, I am sure of it,” the girl readily. ‘The ruffian that I woundec—” es ** William Crockey, but known better to his _ pals and the police as Stingy Bill,” said Phenix. — ‘* Yes; well, he is oneof the men who were in — the cellar, and who drove me in the wagon to the - old barn. It was his revolver that I took.” ‘** And then used it upon himself. That was — turning the tables upon the rascal with a ven- — geance,” ad ** Yes, it was strange, wasn’tit?” | ‘* Altogether, as 1 befcre remarked, it is as” strange an affair as I ever had a Sg to do | with,” Phenix observed, thoughtfully. —P. “T do not think there is any doubt that this — Tappan, as he calls himself—that is not his true © name of course—is the Spider Captain, the ras- — cal we seek. <n ee ‘“‘The puzzle now is to find out what he calls — himself in the world—to discover what part he — 8 DT = ‘Yes, I suppose that will be difficult, unless — we can trace him through this captured ruffian,” she remarked. > ‘That, of course, is the first move, but Idonot — think that much information can be gainedfrom — him, for as long as the gang sticks to him he will — not be apt to betray his ale "lel ‘** And then it is possible that he could not be- | tray his leader, even if heso wished. This Spider Captain may be shrewd enough to soarrange bis — lan as to aoe his identity concealed from allof | he rascals of the band, excepting his lieuten- — ants, through whom he communicates with the rank and file.” eats. ‘* Do you think this Stingy Bill is one of the — principal men?” | Wy ‘* No, I do not,” the detectiye replied, after a moment’s thought. ‘‘I know him well enough by reputation, although I never happened to — have any business dealings with him, aes ‘* He is a desperate fellow enough, but a mere tool with no head 8 ge any fine work.” | * The other seemed to be a far superior man,” — “Four Kings?” Phenix asked. aaa GOomMmiecneoKs;com : > | ~ —_— - > , P . f, Ps > «7