Beadle's Dime Library No. 391 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

iY x ° > “* , . ad - ay ths 8 ——— | esses road crossed the first at right angles, and into this she turned, Five minutes more and she came to another cross-road. This also she took, turning to the left this time her idea being to baffle pursuit, if any should be riven, although it was not likely that the ruf- ans, upon returning to the barn and discover- ing that the body had disappeared, would be apt to think it had run away and set out in chase. Ten minutes of active exertion, and then Kate relaxed into a walk. She felt she was safe, a CHAPTER X, y IN THE NIGHT. THERE was not a sound stirring save the usual ‘noises of the night which prevail in the neigh- borhood of a big city—in the suburban districts. The distant cry of a watch-log rose on the air answered almost immediately by the long-drawn howls of a dozen other curs, yelping they knew not at what. Then the distant whistle of a locomotive, * piercing the night’s dull ear,” resounded. _ The shrill ery of the tree-toads, the crickets and the other little insects that hold high carni- val when the dark mantle of night falls upon the earth, rose clear and full. On went the girl with sturdy step through the darkness, her heart full of gladness that she had so fortunately escaped the trap which had been set so cunningly for her. There was not the least doubt in her mind in rd to Mr. Henry Tappan now. Pho man was a thorough-paced scoundrel—no doubt at all that he was the captain of a band of desperate law-breakers, banded together to defy the power of justice. And if her sister, the idolized Louise, had per- ished, as this arch-villain had described, it was through the kindness of a merciful Heaven who -» had removed her to a better world, so that she might not endure the pangs that certainly would have racked her soul when she discovered the truth in regard to the man to whose care she had committed all her young life. ‘“*T will avenge her—I will fearfully avenge perl Kate cried as she walked aiong the lonely road, Busy as she was in thought her senses were keenly on the alert. She had not the slightest idea as to where she « was going. That she was in the suburbs of Brooklyn was probable, although it was possible that during the temporary insensibility produc- ed by the use of the drug upon her at the time of the assault, she might have been transported to the upper part of New York and that she was now in the Westchester district, as the annexed rtion of the great metropolis, north of the lem River is termed. That she was in the neighborhood of some big city was apparent, although the country she was now traversing was as lonely as though it were a hun ired miles from a populous town. But Kate had a stout heart and went on with- out the least fear. Then, too, she was amply armed against dan- ger, for she had not relinquished the revolver which she had so fortunately obtained. She was used to fire-arms and knew how to _ handle such a weapon, and having tried its workings, found it was in excellent order. . Pursuit being distanced, although she did not think there was much danger that any attempt in that direction would be made, all she had to do now was to find out where she was and then turn her steps toward home. . For all she knew she might be walking away from the city instead of toward it. A man came shuffling along the road. A rather undersized, thick-set fellow, with a somewhat disreputable look, Kate’s eyes had by this time become accus- tomed to the gloom, so she had no difficulty in ascertaining the character of the new-comer, and the impression he produced was so unfavor- able that most certainly if circumstances had eam different from what they were she would ever have thought of accosting him for the pur- pose of gaining information. But it was Hobson’s choice this time. man or none. Wavy farers seemed to be few and far between, and the girl felt that it would not do for her to go blindly on in the dark, for, although she was not certain in regard to the exact time, yet she felt suro it was quite late and she knew she could i A go wandering in this uncertain way all ght. So, despite the repugnance that the man in- This _ spired, she determined to address him. She took the precaution though to cock the re- volver which she carried concealed in the folds of the cloth. We have neglected to mention that upon tak- ing her hurried departure from the barn, she had carried off the cloth which had served to disguise her figure from the eyes of the ruffians. The cloth, which was a good-sized piece of coarse, dark stuff, she had wound around her head like a shawl, for she could not very well make her way through the open country bare- —————— ' mm rs ee GP Scott, the Decoy Detective. And now, thanks to its folds, she was able to; And now at last nature asserted her rights and prepare the pistol for immediate use, without | within ten minutes Kate was fast asleep. exposing the fact that she had a weapon. tlow long she slept she knew not, but it did not ‘* Will you have the kindness to tell me if this | seem to her as if she had hardly closed her eyes, road will lead me to Brooklyn?’ she said, as the man approached. “he man halted, Kate followed his example, when she was suddenly awakened. Some one outside on the roof of the piazza had knocked over one of the flower-pots and it had and he peered into her face in an insolentsort of | rolled off the roof crashing into the yard below. way. ‘** Well, no; it won't. You're on the wrong track. You're heading now for Canarsie; but ou kin git a train thar, w’ot will take you to rooklyn. it’s only a mile or so.” ‘* Keep straight on?” ‘Oh, yes. Follow your nose, and you can’t miss it.” ‘* Thank you,” and Kate made a movement to go on, but the man got right in her way. ‘* Say, you ain’t got no politeness! Ain’t you going to pay a feller something? You might give me two or three kisses, anyway.” ** Out of my path, you scamp!” cried the an- gry girl, and she thrust the revolver under his nose, The man staggered back demoralized; and it was lucky for him tbat he did so, for in her ex- citement Kate’s finger bore heavily on the trig- ger, and the pistol was discharged. Over on his back went the rascal with a howl of terror. He thought he was shot, although the bullet did not come within a yard of him. Kate felt sure she had not injured the man, and so she hastened on her way. It did not take her many minutes to walk the mile. No one molested her, and at Canarsie she took a train which carried her to Brooklyn; and in due time she arrived safely at her boarding- house in New York, tired out but otherwise none the worse for her strange adventure. Our heroine boarded on Fourth avenue, near Twenty-third street, in one of the old-fashioned ore ad brick houses so common in that lo- cality. Her room was a small, comfortable apartment on the second floor, and the window in it looked out on the rear yard. There was a back piazza attached to the house and on the roof of the piazza the girl kept quite a collection of flowers in pots. She had boarded there ever since she had been cast upon her own resources and had come to be regarded as one of the family. Being provided with a latch-key she had no difficulty in entering the house and making her way to her apartment, although all the lights were out and everybody, apparently, in bed. She knew it was late, for she noticed that the streets through which she had passed in coming home were almost deserted, but she had not been able to ascertain the hour, for she did not notice we clocks while en route. pon lighting her lamp though, after gaining access to her apartment, she was annoyed to dis- cover that it was nearly half-past one by the lit- tle clock which ticked upon her mantle-piece. ‘Why, I hadn’t the least idea it was any- where near as late as that!” she exclaimed. Despite the strange adventures through which she had passed, she did not feel fatigued, the ex- citement seemed to have given her unusual strength, And now that she was safely at home she sat down to reflect. After a year of weary work and disappoint- ment she felt that at last she was on the thres- hold of success, ’ As she had feared, the man, who, with his wily ways and specious tongue, had enticed her sister away was a villain of the deepest dye. Her persistent search and vigorous attempts to discover his whereabouts had alarmed him and he had concluded that such a tireless sleuth- hound must be made to give up the chase, and so had schemed to get her into his power. The attempt had not only failed but it had given her a clew upon which she might work. Then too, she had faith that some good results would be obtained from her meeting with the two young bloods, the dudes, whom she had en- countered on the bridge. She believed that they were acquainted with the arch villain, although not posted as to his real character, for it was evident he was moy- ing in good society, and so obtained a wget ake of the birds worth plundering, for from what she had overheard, when concealed in the cellar, it was evident the betrayer of her innocent sister was the captain of as desperate a band of men as had ever been known. : From the dudes she hoped to gain information which would enable her to identify the man she sought. The threads of the mystery were in her hands and although, no doubt, it would be a difficult task for her, unassisted, to accomplish much, yet now that she had the promised aid of the most renowned thief-taker in the country, the famous Joe Phenix, she felt sure that the moment the information was made known to him he would be able to hit off the right trail, and in time re- vere her wrongs in the most ample manner. The girl meditated over the matter until the hands on the clock pointed to the hour of two, and then, happening to notice how time was fly- ing, she arose, disrobed, put out the light and re- tired to rest, o BVG ’ , The moment she awoke she sat up in bed and grasped the revolver which sbe had taken the precaution to place under her pillow. CHAPTER XI. THE SPIDER CAPTAIN, As the ruffians had anticipated the overtaking of the horse was not a difficult matter. The anima] had not the slightest intention of running away. He was far too well trained and entirely too lazy todo anything of the kind. He was merely hastening along, homeward bound, at his usual jog-trot. And when he heard the men running after him —they did not dare to shout to the beastfor fear of calling the attention of any one who might be in the neighborhood to their movements—the animal kept on just the same, neither increasing his speed or relaxing it, so they were forced to chase him some hundreds of yards before they succeeded in capturing him. Stingy Bill was proceeding to swear at the brute for the trouble he had caused, but Four Kings, who was by far the shrewder of the two, mp him. **Oh, come, shut up!” he said. ‘‘It won’t do any good to curse the horse. He don’t know sea! better, and it serves us right for not tying im. **l'd like to kick the stuffin’ out of him, though!” Stingy Bill cried, viciously, as the two retraced their steps to the barn. This time they were careful to tie the beast so that he could not repeat the trick if he felt dis- posed to be ugly. ‘* Mighty nasty trick, I tell you,” said Stingy Bill. ‘‘If any country chumps had happened to come along and noticed the muss they might be curious as to what we was a-doing in this neighborhood, ’cos they would have spotted us for strangers instanter.” 54 ‘* Tt would have been ugly; you can bet high on that,” Four Kings remarked; ‘‘ but luck is with us to-night, for nary a soul, has been along. But let’s hurry up and get sbrough the ob. Then the two re-entered the barn, , The girl had been careful to replace the lid of the box so that everything looked exactly as it was when they had left. ae So it was without the slightest suspicion of the discovery that awaited them that the two jerked off the lid of the box and peered into the empty receptacle. ‘** Blazes!” exclaimed Four Kings. ** Durn me for a sucker!” cried the other. And then the two stared at each other for a moment in silent wonder. ¢ They were stupefied by this unexpected dis- covery. we -° Ys at in thunder does this mean?” Four aie exclaimed at last. ‘ote ** Well, I'll never tell you, as they say in Ken- tucky,” replied Stin ill. Si **Can the old man have come tolife and walk- ed off while we were after the horse?’ was the natural inquiry of the other. W ‘*Durn me if it don’t look like it,” ‘Oh, but the idea is ridiculous; the man has been dead for three days, and he: was cold and stiff when we put him in the box.” ‘* That's so—stiff as a red herring.” But in spite of these emphatic declarations the two plated. about them as though they expected to see the old man lurking in some dark corner of the barn. ‘“*T say, Four Kings, he was in the box safe enough, wasn’t he?” Stingy Bill observed, du- biously, as though he was not s¢ certain about the matter as he pretended. RA ‘*Of course! Didn’t we put bim in ourselves? There couldn’t be any mistake about that,” ‘* Yes, it seems to me as if we certainly put him in; but I say, suppose we made a mistake about the matter?” ts ‘* Mistake how?” ) ‘* We might have thought we didn’t.” thr 0) ‘*Oh, I am sure we put bim in; besides, lift the box,” and Four Kings too hold of an end and tilted the case on one sides ‘*‘ Can’t you see that it isn’t near as heavy as it was when we brought it in? And where’s tke cloth, too? Tl swear that the cloth was in ‘he box, whether the body was or not.” ; | Stingy Bill tried the weiglit of the box, and being on a contrary turn of mind, took. it into his head that it was almost es heavy as it was when they carried it into the barn: put him in and ‘* IT don’t see that there is any difference in the weight,” he remarked. i ‘* The blazes you don’t!” cried Four Kings, en- sin ew rey his! of his companion. ‘intemG OMIEDOO ~ se FF ™ De KS CONT } U Din ’ : 7 4 M te . ‘ “+3 . _ ee *