Beadle's Dime Library No. 391 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

ay P | | ~* i; 7 ~~ give much for your judgment,” retorted the other. ‘*To my thinking, there’s a big differ- ence.” ‘* Mebbe there is, but I don’t see it.” ‘‘One thing is sure; the stiff uin’t here now, whether he was or not.” ‘‘ There ain’t any doubt "bout that.” ‘“ And the quicker we get back to the captain and let him set his thinking machine to work on this puzzle, the better.” Stingy Bill shook his head in a doubtful sort of way. Hadn't we better keep it dark?” he asked. ‘¢ The captain is a regular tornado when he gets going, and I reckon he’ll be mad enuff to cut us up, body and boots, when he comes to know the rights of the business,” ‘*The captain is a good, square man, though, if you don’t try to play any games on him, but if you do, then you had better keep your eyes pecled,” Four Kings replied, slowly and with an air of great deliberation. ‘* Now I ain’t a-going to get the captain arter me if I know myself, andI think Ido. I don’t see as we have done anything wrong and [I’m going to report the thing just as it is.’ ‘* He'll “coe the hull top of our heads off,” tiney Bill grumbled, ‘* Tf you’re skeered and think you’re going to get in over you’ head, you had better swim out,” Four Kings suggested. ‘* But one thing I can tell you, and that is, you'll have to make good time and put considerable ground between yourself and this ’ere section for to get out of the captain’s reach. ‘‘ He's got a mighty long pair of arms when he’s reaching for a man that he’s got a grudge against.” ‘‘Oh, I was only talking for the sake of hear- ing myself talk,” replied Bill, evidently alarmed by Four King’s ominous words. *T ain’t afeard but what the captain will do us justice.” **Let’s travel then; lend a hand with the box.” The two carried the box to the wagon, then got into it and drove to the house from whence they had come at the best speed of which the horse was capable. Leaving the vehicle and horse in the stable they hurried into the house, using the secret passage leading into the cellar. It did not take them long to discover the body of the old man and of course, when they found it, they immediately understood what had happened. Gr. at least, Four Kings made a shrewd guess at the myst ry, for to solve any such puzzle was altogeth.r too much for Stingy Bill’s dull brains. ‘“T see how the trick was worked!” Four Kings exclaimed. ‘‘ While we went for the tools some one who was hiding here in the cellar, took the body out of the box and got into it. Then while we’ were chasing the horse, he slipped out of the bart.” nit new light suddenly broke upon Stingy ill. “You're right, Four Kings, jest as sure as vou are standing in sole-leather!” he exclaimed. ** And that is jest where my revolver went. The fellow lit ed it, cos I’m certain I left it here when we went into the stable.” ‘““T reckoncd you was a little off your base, Bill,” Four Kings observed, ‘‘ but I see now that you were right about it.” **'W’ot’s to he done?” ‘Notify the captain at once.” Then Four Kings went to the wall just at the foot of the cel.ar-stairs and whistled through a speaking-tube hich was there. There was a moment’s wait and then a sharp, imperative voice asked: ** What is it?” **That’s the captain himself,” Bill remarked. ‘* Yes, and it’s lucky he’s to the fore.” Then Four Kings answered through the pipe: “Something wrong down here, Can’t you come down and look into it?” zs fa down there?” our Kings and Stingy Bill.” ** All right, Pl be down in a minute.” “The captain will get to the bottom of the thing if any man can,” Four Kings remarked, confidently, tu his companion, / And then the two sat down on the stairs side by side to wait for the master-spirit of the gang. About ten minutes elapsed and then thoy heard the key giate as it turned in the lock of the door above. They rose to their feet, and a tall, well-built, man, with a ver7 pale face and a short black beard which co ered the lower part of his countenance alm: st to the eyes, came down the steps. He was rather 1 oorly dressed in a dark, rough suit and wore a soft slouch hat pulled down over his forehead, almost to the very laree, bushy, bristling eyebrows which overshadowed. his piercing black eyes. Take him for all in all, the Spider Captain for so the captain of the band was termed, had an appearance so vemarkable that no one who had ever had the opportunity to get a good look at him would ever be apt to forget his strange Kate Scott, the Decoy Detective. — CY" ee eee a tt i tT ry GA | bad been driven in there so as to make the as- cent of the chimney an easy matter. ‘*This old shell is a regular house of secrets, for I thought I had explored it pretty thorough- iy yet I hadn’t the least suspicion of this wrin- e, ‘“* The dust has been rubbed off the spikes, too,” he continued, as he went on in his examination, ‘and that shows that some one has made use of them lately. { looks, though years and years intervened be- | tween the first view and the second. The lantern upon the floor of the cellar dimly illuminated the scene. “Well, boys, what’s broke?” asked the out- law leader, in a shrill, sharp voice, fully as pe- culiar as his appearance. Four Kings took it ie himself to explain what had occurred, which he did at length, in- terrupted now and then by a sharp, short ques- tion from his chief, and soon the Spider Cap- tain was in possession of all the facts. and see whither it leads.” | The purpose was immediately executed. Thanks to the spikes the Spider Captain found it an easy matter to ascend the chimney. Up he went, examining the wall carefully as he progressed, for he expected to find a secret door somewhere, until he came to the spike which communicated with the machinery of the invisible door. And the moment he put his weight on the spike the door into the secret apartment, which was just on a level with his head, opened, Acry of rage broke from the lips of the outlaw CHAPTER XII. A MURDEROUS DETERMINATION. He was puzzled to understand the strange af- | fair, and said as much as Four Kings finished | his recital. ‘“*T don’t doubt that you have got the thing | straight enough,” he added. ‘There isn’t any doubt in my mind aa have hit the truth and the job was worked just as you think, but | what gets me is as to the party that did the | trick. leader, as he looked into the secret chamber, so ‘* Who on earth could have been hiding in the | carefully hidden away in the midle of the house, cellar?’ and discovered that the bird had flown. ‘* Mebbe it was a detective,” suggested Stingy Bill, with a nervous glance around as though he expected to see a police spy spring out of some dark corner. » “If it was, the quicker we get out of this the better,” the captain replied. ‘‘ But I don’t see how any sleuth-hound could manage to pene- trate into the place. | ‘* Was everything locked and all right when you entered?” Both answered in the affirmative. ‘Well, boys, it’s a conundrum, and as ’m pretty good at that sort of thing [Dll try to smell it out, and in the mean time, as I don’t want to be surprised and taken here like a rat in a trap, as there’s great danger of, if it was a detective who played it on you so nicely, you, Four Kings, take a scout out by the front of the place, and Stingy Bill, put yourself on post in the rear, and if anything suspicious occurs let me know immediately. ‘*Tf it was a detective who got away, and the game is to nab us here, it will not be likely that the cops will come in force strong enough to entirely surround the place, so if we are on our guard we will be able to get out.” Both of the ruffians protested that they would be as watchful as foxes, and then de- parted. After they were gone the captain picked u the lantern and proceeded to examine the cel- lar. ‘* The first thing is to find out where the fel- low hid himself, and that bothers me, for there don’t hardly seem to be room enough here any- where for a good-sized cat to stow himself away without being discovered,” he remarked, as he stood in the center of the apartment and glanced we him. . , some infernal police spy has got on the scent it will be extremely unfortunate,” he con- tinued, “for if the police come down on us it may lead to the discovery of the secret cage and the pretty bird that I have insnared therein although it is not probable that the secret would be discovered unless some one has a clew to it, and it does not seem possible that such a thing could be. ‘** Not a single one of the band suspects that the rcom exists, so cunningly is it hidden, and I should not have suspected it myself if I hadn’t stumbled, just by accident, on the passage that leads to it. ‘No, no, I do not think there is much danger of that cubby-hole being discovered until the old house is torn down. ~ BY Jove!” the exclamation came rapidly from his lips. e His eyes had just fallen on the old fire-place at the extremity of the cellar. ‘* The curse of all the fiends light upon this un- lucky chance!” he cried. ‘‘What marvelous stroke of fortune revealed to the girl the existence of this pa e which I, who thought I knew all the secrets of the house, never suspected?” Then he entered the room and looked around to see if he could discover aught that would be of service to him. The hat of the girl was on the table, but other- wise there was no trace of her. The Spider Captain looked about the room for a moment and then knitted his brows fiercely together. ‘This girl must die!” he exclaimed. ‘She is not like the other. I thought that like pliant wex I could mold her to my purpose, but it is quite evident that for once in my life I have made a serious mistake. ‘*Few women have ever made any particular impression upon me, foolish, shallow creatures the most of them, not worthy attention. ‘* But this one is dangerous, and she must he silenced. Her persevering chase of me pi oves that there is a good derl of bloodhound abont her, and in the end, if she is not put out of the way, she may succeed in doing me serious dam- age—perhaps succeed in accomplishing more eros the officers of the law have ever been able to do, ‘* It would only be the old story of David and Goliath over again, Cunning succeeds where strength fails. “*Decidedly I must not wait for her to ad- Teg the blow, but strike the first one my- self. Then he re-entered the secret passage and de- scended to the cellar. ‘** Mighty sirange that I never even suspected the existence of this passage,” he muttered, as he made his way down the shaft, ‘‘end yet the girl managed to discover it before she had passed a day in the room.” The existence of the secret chamber was known only to the Spider Captain. ment by accident, and perceived immediately how useful the knowledge might be to bim, and ter from the rest of the ban He understood now how the girl had managed to make her escape as well as though he had been a witness to the whole proceeding. el CL LL LL LL LLL LL LL RL LRA LLL LD Ee | moned Four Kings and Stingy Bill, and briefly explained to them the discovery which be had made, carefully, though, suppressing all mention of the secret apartment. ‘Tt was the girl whom you treated to a sur- | prise-party, boys, this evening, that has done “There's a fine place there: I remember now, | the trick,” he said. ‘I had ber in a room up- I noticed it when I first examined the cellar; | stairs, end she managed to there’s a flue to the chimney, of course, and if | way got into the cellar. Then she hid it is like the majority of the old-fashioned | somewhere, under the stairs probably, houses, it is plenty big enough to shelter a took the place of the stiff in rhb, why and when man. ‘‘There’s where the spy found concealment, | beyond the shadow of a doubt.” he captain hastened to examine the chimney, flashing the lantern into the dark cavity. ‘* Aha! there are the footprints, sure enough,” he exclaimed, as he beheld the plainly visible marks in the thick dust which had collected on the hearth. And then another cry of amazement broke from his lips. He had made a most unexpected discovery. The footprints were not those of a man, but the dainty imprint of a woman’s foot. ‘* What does this mean?” he cried, for the dis- covery made the mystery deeper. Then he directed the rays of the lantern up the chimney. As he had expected, there was but a single big flue, and it afforded ample room for a hu- man to ascend. Then his eyes fell upon the spikes driven in the wall. ** Hallo, hallo!” he cried; ‘‘ that looks as if those her escape. was, unless one of you_were careless enough to let out something while you were talking in fixing the box.” Both of the men immediately fell to thinking. Stingy Bill was the first to speak. ‘“‘ Blamed if I think we said much of anything at all,” he observed. 7 “Oh, yes, we did,” Four Kings added. *“ Pil, here, was curious to know what kind of a trick we were up to, and I spit out the bull business, stiff.” ‘“‘That upsets that little game then, and the quicker we get rid of the body in one of the old ways the better.” o asked, | “Bury it; let the worms have a feast. As long as we can’t collar the reward, I don’t see IOO S eom (E ‘“*T guess [ will have to try this novel ladder, He had discovered the long-forgotten apart- — > so had taken particular pams to hide the mat-_ After he had arrived in the cellar he sum-- get out, and in some — fy i lat you left the barn to catch the horse she made _ ‘*Tt’s an ugly business, but it might be worse, _ ' for as far as I can see she couldn't tell where she © ‘“ Bury it or give it to the fishes? Four Kings like a durned fool; there wasn’t a word seid ~ about the house, but I blowed the trick with the — Gor ~ , « an Pa