Beadle's Dime Library No. 391 — page 27: what you’re looking at

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

“|, + ; * a d 2 . + t ‘7 ah) oS 43 e- ott Ps : oT Kate re. Wy ee “er “eC - ' » NP -* / . * 4 . "= >. ¢ Tih a” . " A Scott, the ic” toe -_? Mi. a iS a™' a 7 - * ° ~ Decoy Detective. . ’ a get away with the plunder,” Four Kings re- marked, with a grin. ‘Tt is very likely.” Andrews consulted his watch, ‘¢ Tt is time for us to go for it,” he observed. The two left their hiding-place and struck across the fields toward the main street of the village where the bank was situated. The bank was a little one-story brick building, the windows guarded by iron shutters and the | doors by huge locks. There were two entrances to the building; a large double door in the front and a smaller ono in the rear, ‘‘T am well posted in regard to the premises,” Andrews remarked, as they approached in the rear of the bank. ‘*T was up here once to see the old man on @ little stock business, and as the bank is a sort of a hobby of his—he is the bank, really, president, his son is cashier, and he and his family hold almost all the stock—he showed me over the premises. ‘‘He thinks it is a model country bank, and remarked that any burglar would have a hard time to get at the valuables. ‘‘T was very much interested—” “Of course!” chimed in Four Kings, with a | grin. ‘“ And he was fool enough to show me how the locks and bolts were arranged. “This back door, besides the lock, has a couple of bolts on the top and bottom, and both | bolts and lock are connected with a burglar alarm, so that any attempt to tamper with either will immediately set off the alarm, ‘¢'Then the door, too, is sheathed with iron on the inside.” ‘Oh, that is burglar-proof, of course!” ex- claimed Four Kings, with a contemptuous laugh. ‘‘ So he thinks, but the wit of man cannot con- trive a door so strong that the ingenuity of man cannot find a way to get through it.” By this time the two were at the rear door, and Four Kings examined it. The night was neither dark nor light, and so, though the cracksmen had plenty of light for their purpose, yet the gloom was thick enough to secure them from observation. ‘‘Solid door, no panels,” observed the old cracksman. ‘* Yes, and they fondly flatter themselves that it is impervious to all burgla s.” ‘* Bosh! I’ve got the tools that will go through it almost as easily as a knife through cheese.’ Then from the large, bag-like kets of the great-coat which he wore, he produced a brace, curiously arranged so it could be folded into a small compass. 5 A half-inch bit was adjusted in the brace, and then the cracksmen set to work. A circle of holes about fifteen inches in diam- eter was bored through the center of the lower part of the door. The well-tempered steel, specially arranged | for just such work as this, cut through both wood and iron with perfect ease. Then, with a pair of powerful saws, although extremely diminutive ones, both men set to work and cut from hole to hole until the circle | was complete and hey were able to remove the | circular piece of wood. - There’s an old adage that where a man’s head | can go his body can follow, and so the two ma- | rauders had no difficulty in getting through the hole. And once safely in the bank, these experienc- ed workmen did not have the least trouble in | forcing the door of the safe open with their really wonderful tools. And they did not have their labor for their pains, as Four Kings suggested might be the case if the old speculator had changed his mind about paying cash, In the safe, though, was a common old-fash- ioned carpet-bag. And the moment Andrews got his eyes on it he exclaimed: “the There is our mutton, as sure as you're rn! ‘““That is the old man’s bag, and I’ve often heard the boys on the street laugh about the bag, for it is a common joke among the brok- ers that the old man brings his lunch with him in it, so as to save the expense of going to a res- taurant.” Producing a bunch of small keys from his pocket Andrews speedily opened the bag. As he had expected it was filled with packages of bank-bills and ‘‘ greenbacks.” And a memorandum which lay upon the top of the notes that there were exactly twenty-five thousand dollars in the carpet-bag. ‘‘ All in fifties and hundreds too so that I can use them without danger. ‘“‘Tf they had been thousand-dollar bills there would be danger that somebody would be apt to remember the numbers, but nobody in the habit of handling large sums of money ever takes notice of the numbers of these small bills. “ Better clean out the hull thing, hadn’t ye?” asked Four Kings. ‘‘ Yes, such men as you and I never leavea ob unfinished, Take oply the cash though, or nited States bonds that we can dispose of with- out any trouble; don’t take any securities that <a will be apt to get us in difficulties if we attempt to dispose of them.” Long experience had rendered the cracksman a good judge in such matters, and it did not take him long to rifle the safe of all the valuables which could be readily disposed of. Then the two retreated, and when they gained the open air Four Kings remarked: ‘¢ Now what is the peppergram—going to hoof it and catch some early train on the New Haven or Hudson River Railroad?’ ‘*Oh, no, I know a trick worth two of that. | | { know that it ought not to be there at such am our, and so lead to an examination which. would materiaJly interfere with his plans, After the curtains were drawn the detective produced a bull’s-eye lantern from one of his capacious pockets, lit it, and by its aid proceeded. to search for the secret door. He had taken particular care to note the exact point at which Four Kings had made his ap- | pearance, and therefore had little trouble in, | discovering the secret passage. The door was a spring one, and was worked. | Besides the danger of attracting observation, it | will bring me in town too late to attend the _ wind-up of the ball, and I intend to be on hand there.” ‘What is the game then?” * A really beautiful one! ‘*The old man, whose property we have made free with, has a trotter in his stable there ”"—and Andrews pointed to the barn in the rear of the elaborate mansion which stood next to the bank, ‘¢ which can go twenty miles in the hour. ‘‘We are not quite thirty from the city and if we borrow the trotter for a while I don’t see any reason why the animal can’t put us in the city in about two hours or thereabouts.” ** Beautiful!” ejaculated Four Kings. **' We can drive pretty near the One Hundred and Fifty-fifth street station of the Elevated, then turn the horse loose, and the chances are a thousand to one that he will go directly home, for he is noted for performing the feat. ‘* At such an early hour no one will be apt to interfere with him, and so we completely cover up the trail.” Four Kings remarked that it was an excellent idea, and then the two proceeded to force an en- trance into the stable. Such experienced cracksmen of houses hadn’t the least trouble in doing this. The horse was harnessed, hitched to the buggy, and inside of ten minutes the pair were safe out of the town. Three hours later they were on the Elevated train and the horse was trotting away for home, where he safely arrived. Andrews had a resort up-town where the plun- der was deposited, and at a little before five Andrews made his appearance at the ball look- ing none the worse for his night’s adventure, ° CHAPTER XXXVIII. ON THE TRACK, Jor PHENTX, in his disguise of the Irish hostler, had taken particular pains to make himself agreeable to the servants in the house, and all of them regarded him as a remarkably “ dacent man,” as the coachman expressed it, Of course the servants gossiped about the doings of the family, as is customary, and therefore Phenix was soon in possession of the fact that Andrews was going to a ball and would be away all night, also that the secretary, the quiet Mr. Jones, was to accompany him. Phenix was quick to pape aN the opportunity. With the master of Blithewood absent, and Four Kings not in the house, it would be an easy matter for him to penetrate into Andrews’s rivate apartment and see where the secret door ed through which he had beheld Four Kings make his appearance, Taking advantage of the absence of the master and his guests, the servants went in for a jollifi- cation to which they invited their friends who resided in the neighborhood. They had a splendid time, and as the butler contrived to produce some liquid refreshment, nearly all of the party imitated their masters in getting pretty well under the influence of the uor. henix was particularly overcome—or pre- tended to be, and so it was arranged that he should pass the night on the lounge in the kitchen, } At two o’clock the house was quiet; all had re- tired and were safe and sound in the arms of Morpheus, the god of sleep. _ . And then the drunken Irishman suddenly arosé, Phenix had played ’possum in the most power- ful manner. He was running some risk in this enterprise, for if he had been discovered by any one they would have been certain to suspect he was on a ving expedition. But he had resolved to face the danger, for he felt satisfied that behind the secret door he beg ee able ae —_ ae clews which would aid him to unrav em w veloped isin ik eee He stole cautiously up-stairs and, halting at the door of Bernard Andrews’s sanctum, drew forth a bunch of skeleton keys. The acute detective was as well provided in this respect as though he himself had been the leader of a band of burglars. By the aid of the keys it was an matter for Joe Phenix to gain admittance to room. Then, when he was in the a ent, he closed the door securely behind and drew down the curtains of the windows, for he needed light in order to discover the secret door and he feared that if a light was seen gleaming through the windows it might attract the attention of | retired to rest, for Phenix bad warned her some one, familiar enough with the premises to . 7 \ ? . ew! : f . * - e . a4 - * . J * : . ar 'room before he returned, the sight of the open — door would not Jead to the surmise that some- | | by a button in the wall. When the button was pressed the door flew . open. Beyond the door was a narrow passage. Phenix advanced without the slightest hesita— tion, taking care to close the door behind him, — so that if any one should happen to enter the thing was wrong. On through the narrow passage went the human bloodhound, as stanch on the trailasthe — brute whom in this respect he resembled so much. Ten feet on, the passage ended, and two doors. appeared, one in the side of the pas:age, the other at the end. | Phenix opened the side door, and discovered a the house. Then he examined the other. _ There was a staircase behind this one too, but it went downward as though it descended into the cellar. Both of the doors were provided with strong as and on both sides of them were heavy olts. baffling pursuit in either direction. Joe Phenix hesitated for a moment to «6 oy" @ a * Z ’ nF na ' tel Pa es ; , e Ss 2 narrow staircase leading to the upper partof — ' ed 5 he ors ca #2 ¥; ~ This was evidently arranged with the idea of. ‘ Ly tice debate. in which direction he had best proceed, because __ it was possible that he would not have time to examine but one of the passages ina thorough manner, ‘The upper stairway does not strike me as being as important as the other,” he mused. ef ‘*Tt is the secret haunt of the rascals that I em . after, and it 1s not probable that it is situated in: — the upper part of the house. ‘*So the other passage is my way at present. | s4 given SOc | their cards in Fe y from prying, I have had a suspicicn all along that if I hav struck the trail of the Spider Captain, he an his associates are the ghosts who have evil a name to the deserted house. ‘*It would be their game to pla that way, so as to keep vim into their secrets,” t Acting on this idea, Joe Phenix descended the stairs, and, as he had anticipated, found ee 2 « i - 7 > Ve was an underground passage at the end of the — Ms staircase. He went fearlessly on, the lantern in one be and a revolver in the other, as he apprehende that he might unexpectedly come upon some of the rascals. encounter any one, and soon he was in of the secret of the outlaws’ hiding-place. Fortune favored him though, for he did not: a7 OD 5 “. ms ¥. ad CHAPTER XXXIX. WB _ ENTRAPPED. a: KATE’s sojourn in the Blithewood mansion im the - rue there was the old haunted house near by, with its ghostly traditions, and the thought. ise of an Italian boy had not profited ner in the least, for not a single discovery of the - slightest importance had she made. an 8 - 5, nat “) had occurred to her that in this old and desertec mansion the Spider Captain and his secret bance might have their head-quarters. oe: is ora cx _- ps Saal ~ A couple of secret inspections, though, after nightfall, had not resulted in any discoveries, — and after five days she was on the point of — abandoning the pursuit in this quarter, in order to turn her attention to some other, when she: Be 4 received a message from Joe Phenix—conveyec to her by a scissors-grinder who came into tk yard to sharpen the cutlery of the establishm > nt —the purport of which was that she was stick to her post at all hazards, | Ld From this message it was evident that the veteran detective was on the alert and believed they were on the right track. fi: aa te, with all her natural shrewdness, was at fault, for there wasn’t anything wrong about the house or any of its inmates, as far as she — could see. She resolved to double her exertions, so th 2k not a suspicious circumstance should escape | f her . DA For a sleeping apartment the supposed Italian garret room in the. boy had been given a little left wing of the building. and as there stout bolt upon the door, Kate felt secure. It was on the night of the seventh day of her sojourn under the roof of Blithewood that, af- a A ter sitting in the kitchen with,the other serv- ants, listening to their idle ten, Kate went up to her ing decidedly disco " « . + s a measure of precaution the Decoy D ae tective did not remove her disguise when sk she must always keep herself read cComicboo ¢s) Pp until ' iter . r v ai z * + 4