Beadle's Dime Library No. 391 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

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You are here in my power, completely isolated from all the world, and here you will remain until you con- sent to become mine.” ‘* And that I will never do under such de- grading conditions!” Kate cried, spiritedly. * You may keep me here until I die, but never will Il agree to say yes, when my heart tells me that [ ought to say no.” ‘*You think so now, but you may change your mind after a week or a month elapses,” he rejoined. ‘Solitary confinement, even in such a cosey apartment as this, is not the pleasantest thing in the world, as you will discover after a week, a month or a year.” ‘¢ A thousand years will not make me yield!” the girl exclaimed. ‘* We shall see; and so for the present adieu!” Then he stamped his foot thrice upon the trap- door. There was a moment's interval, and then Tappan sunk specter-like through the floor. CHAPTER VII. A BOLD ATTEMPT, THE girl stood like a statue until the man dis- appeared and the trap closed over his head. Por the moment she was bewildered; she did not know what to make of, this strange affair. Was she in the power of a wealthy young man who took this strange mode of compelling her to accept his attentions, or was he a des- perate and determined villain who had fixed his eyes upon her, regarding her in the light of a convenient tool? . Possibly the man was not in his right mind, a lunatic gifted with the peculiar cunning com- mon to some madmen, The assault upon her, which had resulted in her capture, had been performed so adroitly that she had no idea of how many had taken part in the attack. For all she knew a single man might have ac- complished it, Take it for all in all it was the most mysteri- ous affair, and the more she reflected about the matter the greater became her perplexity. One thing seemed certain though and that was, no matter what the man might be, he in- tended to keep her a close prisoner. The first thing to be done then was to en- deavor to escape. She looked around her carefully. As we have said there were neither doors nor windows to the apartment. The only break in the room was where the light in the center of the ceiling shone through asmall pane of glass, The glass was only about eight inches square and even if the captive could succeed in reach- ing it the aperture was not large enough to al- Jow her to pass through. Then she proceeded to examine the trap through which the man had ascended and de- scended, eee. © she had very little hope that she would be able to make use of it, for it would, in all probability, be securely fastened. Now that she knew exactly where the trap was situated she was able to locate it without difficulty, although the contrivance had been arranged with so much skill that the cracks in the carpet caused by the trap could only be dis- covered by a most careful inspection. But, as Kate had expected, the trap was fully as solid as the rest of the floor, and she could not produce the slightest impression on it. In fact, if she had not known that there was suspected it. her feet, she proceeded to carefully tment. a trap there, she never would have Rising to t the walls of the a hey were not like ordinary walls composed of laths and plaster, but solid wood, wainscoted in the olden style, and the ring which the wood ve back when she pounded on the walls with her clinched hand, convinced her that nothing short of a crowbar or an ax would make any impression upon them. Surely there must be some other way of gaining admission to this room besides the trap- oor,” she murmured, as she retreated to the center of the apartment and gazed anxiously bay < her. ‘‘ This is evidently a very old house,” she con- tinued, ‘‘for the wood is brown with age. This is no secret chamber lately arranged, but one of the odd contrivances due to olden times, I have read of such things, although I had no idea that any of them existed in this country. , ‘*‘ And all such secret apartments, originally designed to hide the owner of the mansion from secret enemies, always had more than one mode of entrance, so if the pursuers chanced to hit upon one, the fugitive might escape by another. ‘** And now, since the trap-door is one way, the re can are great that a secret passage ugh one of the walls is another. ** And in the old-time stories which I have read, such panels were operated by a secret ng concealed in the wood-work, ‘*] must examine every inch of the walls, and if there is a secret spring the pressure of hands upon it ought to have slightly discolored the sur- rounding wall so I will be able to discover it.” _ Kate was as good as her word. ———————— rr TT She examined the wall so thoroughly that not a square inch of it escaped her scrutiny, from the floor to as high as her eyes could reach. The girl reasoned that the spring would in all probability be located about the hight that a door-knob usually is, and so she devoted par- ticular attention to that part of the wall. Small discolorations were plentiful enough on the walls, but none of them yielded to the power of the girl’s eager fingers. At last, just as she was about to despair— having made the circuit of the room and re- turned to the point from whence she started, she caught sight of what looked like the head of a small nail imbedded in the wood, six inches from the corner of the room and about two feet from the floor. The head projected just a little, and there was a thick coating of dust upon the upper side, de that no one had disturbed it for some ime. Kate surveyed the nail with a dubious expres- sion. It did not seem to be a promising discovery. She tried her thumb upon it, thinking that if it was the spring which she sought it would yield under the pressure, but it did not, It was only a common nail after all. The heart of the girl sunk within her. ‘Is it possible that 1 am doomed to remain here a helpless prisoner?” she exclaimed. ‘‘Is it fated that this villain, not content with the ruin he has already wrought by luring my un- fortunate sister away from her quiet country home, will also be able to inflict misery upon me? ‘* Tt cannot be that a mit such a thing.” She was on her knees, her thumb still resting on the head of the nail, and as she uttered the last word of the sentence, she made a motion to rise to her feet, and as she did so the nail of her thumb catching upon the head of the iron frag- ment seemed to stir it. It was as much as the girl could do to repress the loud cry of joy which sprung to her lips. She had discovered the secret spring, but the way to work it was not to press it in, but to pull it out, (uick was she to try this. And it worked like a charm; out came the nail, which was a small iron rod about six inches just Providence will per- J brought to bear upon it, théldoor was forced to. close ‘‘ Perhaps it opened in the same way, too,” the girl murmured, as she resumed her down- ward passage; ‘* but I am not sure of that, and now I must go on, for I may not be able to re- trace my steps.” It was a long and weary climb and more than once the girl was forced to stop and rest, and. each time she peered into the darkness beneath, anxious to behold the end. The air seemed to grow damper and more: dense. ‘‘ If I was at the very top of the house, I must. be near the cellar now,” she soliloquized. The words were hardly spoken when to her ears came the sound of hoarse voices apparently raised in anger. She halted, for she feared that danger was. near. CHAPTER VIII. | A TALE OF MURDER, It was a fortunate circumstance for our hero— ine that the voices reached her ears at the time they did, for she was within four feet of the ground, and her foremost foot rested upon the last spike, as she speedily discovered when she attempted to find the one beneath it. It was just at this moment that the coarse, hoarse voices fell upon her ears, and rlancing ay she saw the glimmer of a light be- ow. She had evidently descended to the cellar, and now, that she took time to reflect upon the mat- ter, she understood the nature of the secret pas- sage by means of which she had escaped from: the prison pen. _ It was a chimney flue leading from a fire-place in the cellar and some inventive genius had util- ized it so as to open a means of communication with the secret chamber which was evidently at: the very top of the house, and the idea too came into the mind of the oe that the secret passage was not known to the people who were now in Sew csics of the mansion, for there were no signs, hat the passage had been recently used. The men in the cellar were so near that the girl could plainly hear every word that passed between them, and she was almost afraid to. long with a nail-head on the end, and then a | breathe lest it should lead to her discovery. section of the wall, about two feet by three, swung noiselessly inward, disclosing a narrow passage about two feet square, only extending downward, The passage stream of col it. is was more like a well-hole than anything else, The girl peered down, not a ray of light could be distinguished, and from the damp air which ascended she came to the conclusion that the passage led to the cellar. The shaft was built of brick, and in the side opposite to the opening through which the girl was peering, some strong iron spikes were driven into the wall, one below the other, in regular succession, The reason why the spikes were driven into the wall flashed upon the girl immediately. They were to serve as a ladder, so that any one, sufficiently agile, and with nerves stron enough to attempt the feat, might either ascen to the apartment or descend from it. Kate was no coward, and she had perfect con- fidence that she could accomplish the task, al- though she was a little doubtful as to where the e would lead. ‘‘ Never mind!” she exclaimed, after debatin the matter in her mind for a moment. ‘I wi risk it. I cannot very well be any worse off anywhere thanIam here. _ ‘ Almost any change must improve the situa- tion.” Into the dark passage, then, she fearlessly went, Her woman’s garb was an impediment, but she was strong-armed and aay rs The task was not so difficult as it seemed, for the @ was so that it was possible for climber to rest and take, partially, the weight from the hands and feet by pressing ainst the wall. his fact Kate discovered before she had descended a dozen steps, and it cheered her ex- ngly. ‘**No danger now but that I will reach the bottom in safety,” she muttered. Hardly had the words left her lips when she felt the spike, on which she had just placed her right foot, give under her weight. An exclamation escaped from her lips, and she ‘gn, Ba dear life with her hands. ; The alarm was a false one, though, for the spike only yielded a trifle; and at the same time the door above, through which she had gained entrance to this mysterious shaft, cl noise- lessly, plunging the passage into utter dark- ness, The girl immediately comprehended why the spike had yielded. It was connected by a wire, probably, with the secret door, and when sufficient weight was was as dark as Egypt, and a , damp air came pouring up from | There were two of them only, and they had. evidently just descended into the underground apartment. ‘Look ahere, Four Kings, I don’t exactly git: the rights of this thing through my hair,” said one of the men. ‘‘ Stingy Bill, you never did have any brains,” \ responded the other, in contempt. As the reader will perceive the men were the same two ruffians who had captured the had been committed so adroitly that she had not been afforded a chance to identify either of the men. “Oh, well, I’ve got enough to swear by, I reckon,” rejoined the other, placidly. ‘It’s sich smart cracks as you w’ot are allers gitting into- musses. I know enough to get along, but I must say this here business is too much for me. course, I s’pose the captain knows w’ot he’s up to, but I’m blessed if I do.” Kate listened intently, for she perceived there was a chance that she might pick up some valu- able information. The reference to the captain impressed her particularly, for she had an idea that the captain was the man who had called himself Henry Tap- pan. ‘Don’t you make any mistake about that,” observed the other. “The captain warn’t hum yesterday, and you can bet all the money you can get your hooks on that he knows the time of day as well as ay. man going.” ‘* But see here, Four Kings. It *pears to me as if the boss was takin’ a deal of trouble for igen t W’ot’s the use of all this bother "bout: the stiff*—why not get rid of it in the usual way?” uy Stingy Bill, you've gota thing that looks like a head on your shoulders, but when it comes to doing any thinking,/ it ain’t of much more use to you than a big pimple. / ‘‘ There’s money in this business, and don’t yow forget it,” ' : Well oe blamed if I kin see it!” responded Sti B Pf ean put it to you ina minute,” said Four- Kings. ‘‘ Do you ever read the newspapers?” “6 No; I can’t say as how I do, as a genera) girl, but» she was not aware of this fact, for the assault ¢ Of | hing. “ Then I suppose you don’t know that there is * a reward offered for the recovery of the body?” Yo tg doll ) es—five hun ollars; and th in,. after thinking the matter over, came “A Ge cone clusion that he was just as good a man to collar’ that little five hundred as could be found: but« so big evs Pes eek P the body up so as to get the rewar out betra how t a OF to _ — ‘ dis citer: sia ‘I see—I see ve rains enough to un- derstand that.” ies , se ‘* Wonderful!” the other retorted. 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