Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 413 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

Captain Coldgrip in New York. A dozen times his eyes sparkled like the eyes of a serpent about to dart at its tormentor. “When did Bowery Burt quit the house?” asked the detective, *T don’t know.” “ Shortly after he finished Foxy, no doubt.” There was no reply. ‘‘Are you certain he has left the house, Papa?” ‘* He is gone,” said the old Jew, positively. ‘What was Foxy to him? You know, and I want the truth. Bowery Burt doesn’t strangle a man for nothing. He went to the cellar for a certain purpose, if not a deadly one. He com- mitted murder there. Was he trying to choke asecret of some kind out of Foxy? Was he mad because he failed to toll me into your house? What was it, Papa Pangborn?” ' The two men stood once more in the corridor that led to the street door. ‘““ This looks to me like a part of the diamond dragon game,” Captain Coldgrip went on to the s hless Jew. “That is just what it is, Captain Coldgrip!” said a voice which seemed to come down from the darkened ceiling. Detective and Jew started back and looked up. ‘* My God! it vas a ghost, dot vos!” ejaculated Papa Pangborn, and before the city slenth could detain him he sprung back and was more than ten feet away. The next moment there came a grating noise, and then a sudden snapping asif of a number of boards. Captain Coldgrip seemed thrown from his bal- ance; the floor of the hallway was breaking up under his feet. With agility inspired by the terrible situation he leaped toward the door, ‘Great Scot! this isa veritable man-trap\” ‘passed through his brain. The whole floor beneath him gave way as his hands caught the knob, At that moment the gas was turned out! The New York sleuth, hanging along the door, felt nothing under his feet. ‘‘ He vas gone!—gone!” he heard Papa Pang- born say in the darkness behind him, ‘‘Not by a thousand miles, a old tramp,” muttered the detective. ‘This is the closest cali of my life, but the hand is yours yet if you play it well. Aha! the floor is coming back!” The next moment, with a number of singular noises, that portion of the floor which had given way beneath the man-ferret’s feet resumed its old position. ’ His feet touched it with delight, and his band caught the key in the lock. The next moment he gave it a sudden wrench, threw wide the door, and bounded into the street. “The trap worked, but the rat is free!” he laurhed aloud. tity CHAPTER XI. WANTED FOR MURDER. Yus, the rat was free! If Captain ros could have looked beyond the closed door of Papa Pangborn’s house, he would have seen a man appear suddenly at the old Jew’s side, and two hands clutch the ven- erable rascal’s arms, ‘‘What did that mear?’ cried this man. **You told me that the city ferret was gone, but somebody went out when the floor came back, It must have been Claude Coldgrip, and yet the trap was fairly sprung under his feet.” Papa atin, pa reply to these words was a wild stare. e seemed ready to sink to the floor with fright. What! Captain Coldgrip gone, with a knowl- edge of the dead man in the cellar, and knowing that the house was provided with a death-trap? The thought overwhelmed the Jew, The man who confronted him left him lon enough to turn the gas on, and then he po to the empty corners near the door. Papa Pangborn stared at him, but said noth- ing. rn I would have sprung the trap on him before you took him into the basement if you had not been in the way,” the mancontinued. ‘I would have caught him then without fail. Now the man is at large. But what did he find in the , ’ cellar? “Dot man we took thar,” said the Jew. ** Bowery Burt, vat you do dot for?” ‘*Do what?” asked the Jew’s confronter, who was Bowery Burt the Shadow. ; Fala: you choke dot man a leetle too hard or ‘* Ts he still unconscious?” ‘* Dot man is dead!” Bowery Burt gave a slight start. Papa Pangborn aflirmed, in language not to be misunderstood, that the occupant of the cot in the dark was really dead. ‘‘Then Captain Coldgrip got nothing out of him!” laughed the Shadow, “ Vat you got, eh?” asked Papa Pangborn. ‘‘ But precious little that was satisfactory. I wanted him to give me @ pointer as to Floss’s whereabouts I did everything 1 coud tc get the inrormation. He wandered in his head at times, and when he was right, curse him! he EL ES CS 11 lift the carpet that covered the floor. His eyes had the glitter of a lynx’s when on the trail, and nothing escaped them. Suddenly he uttered a loud cry. | ** The man was a fraud—a spy!” he exclaimed, ‘* By this hole in the floor he could see and hear everything! He must have heard me send Floss out on the last mission. Somebody warned Captain Coldgrip when almost in my clutches at Papa Pangborn’s. Was it this Drake Mow- bray? J’d give half of my share of the dragon a fortune to have my hand at bis throat this min- a a a See ne + | eel wasn’t accommodating with his tongue. I did- n’t mean to choke him that hard, Papa; but it can’t be helped now, I reckon. Why didn’t he put me on Floss’s trail? He would be breathin’ now if he had played fair.” It was evident to the Jew that Bowery Burt bs not very sorry for what his mad hands had one, He was a man without a conscience, and was ready to take human life if it stood in his path, ‘*Dot man vill come pack. Mine God! vat I vant to go pefore der courts for, eh?” ejaculated Papa Pangborn turning white again. ute. By Jupiter! I would leave him as I left ‘* You don’t have to stay here,” said Burt. | Foxy!” **’You have another house in the city, and Cap- Bowery Burt left the room in a state of confu- sion, and rushed back to his own quarters, “Things ar’ gettin’ interestin’!” he exclaimed. ‘* What would Elegant Ahab and Queen Helen say if I war to unburden myself at thissupreme moment? They would think fcr a minute that the dragon stakes bad gone glimmerin’. Fox ve me such a slight clew to Floss that it’s Sandi worth followin’. He talked once or twice about the Raven, an’ about the last thi iy he said when he war tryin’ to er my hands a tain Coldgrip doesn’t know where it is.” The Jew’s eyes got a new sparkle, ‘*Let them find Foxy in the cellar,” the Shadow went on. ‘Captain Coldgrip is play- ing a game just now which he doesn’t want in- terfered with by the authorities. I believe you would be safe in staying here. Give Foxy a grave where he is. There will be no raid on this house—my word for that. The Mulberr street ferret will keep his own counsel and wor re et a - at the cas> in hand after his own manner. We | from his throat war to connect Floss with the must circumvent him yet. By heavens! he | Raven, whoever he is.” po TR shall not beat all of us, There’s too much at! Bowery Burt threw himself into a chair, put F. stake for that!” his feet upon a table and lit a pipe. It was past aa ‘* Foxy told you noddings at all about der | midnight, and the dying fire in the grate was ‘y girl, hey?” asked the Jew, his thoughts as they | leaving the room cold again, 1 ae often did, going back to Floss, the decoy. ‘*Can’t I fix this Raven in my head, some- pag ‘* Almighty littl—only enough to tell me that he took her message from her and used it himself in decoying Captain Coldgrip. Floss is detained somewhere. She would have come how?” he murmured. “I war raised in New York an’ ought to know ’em al], Of course he’s 4 ot a decent name, but the Raven’sallI’ve gob go by. It might bea dandyclewtothesecreG back to the nest if it was not so, I’ve got to | police; but it’s all Greek to me.” > tae find that girl.” The Shadow racked his brainas he hadnever ‘* Vat makes her so important, Bowery Burt?’ | racked it before. “e ‘* She is helpful to me,” said the Shadow quick- ly. ‘“*I can’t afford to spare her. She has made me thousands by her shrewdness in play- ing the cards I put into her hands. She would have insured us the biggest stake yet played for if she had succeeded this time.” ‘** Then she knows—” ‘Yes, she knows that we are playing for millions, She knows that we are ina fair way of getting our fingers on the chink in Ferg Fowler’s coffers. I must find that girl, I say!” Bowery Burt pulled his hat over his eyes, drew up his heavy coat and collar and walked toward the door, ‘*Go out der brivate vay,” said Papa Pang- born tugging suddenly at his sleeves. ‘ Mine He chewed the stem of his pipe in his vexa- i tion and rage, and let it go out a dozen ~~ ““T can’t play the reserve game without Floss!” he cried. ‘‘ By Jerusalem Josh! the biggest card — pa fell from my hand when the girldisappeared. TL had a lay-out superior to the one Elegant Ahab and Helen have set up on Ferg Fowler. But without Floss, what is it worth to me? Nothing, oy by Jehu! not a dime!” aN Bowery Burt sat still a few moments lorger | and then threw bis pipe sway with asuddenex- __ clamation. : ** Why didn’t I think of if before?” he said, ‘Tf it is still there, it may help the case cf Drake Mowbray; if it is gone, it will showthat i heavens! if dot man Captain Coldgrip should be | he has been here.” aed watchin’ out dare.” He went to one of the side walls and removed = ‘‘A good suggestion, a me ” laughed Bowery | a poor print in a dirty frame. py Og Burt. “The rat who eluded the trap may be Then he put his hand up toaspotcovered Fy watching the door.” the picture, and found a secret spring. Alittle The Shadow turned and left the house by a | door opened. es secret entrance and when he appeared on the street again it was’a square from the trap. ‘*The only man who ever beat that trap!” he ejaculated as his thoughts went back to the man “Tt is here any way!” said Burt, putting his abe hand into the opening thus revealed and feeling -apaper. ‘‘ This secret place escaped theeyeof | the spy on the floor above, With thisand Fless ee. * whose tmniraculous escape had not ceased to sur- Ican bring the victors toterms. Why,I can — prise him. ‘‘ It wouldn’t have been a bad idea | add two shares to the onelamtoget! Buttwo ~~ to have jerked the cord when Papa Pangborn | things must happen first. J must find Flossand = was at his side, The old Jew may give us trou- | Captain Coldgrip must leave the trail forever!” ie ble in the future. If I had the job todo over, He shut the opening in the wall, rehung the hang me, if I wouldn’t havesprung the trap two | picture, and walked away. . 7 ‘*T must find who the Raven is,” he continued, ‘‘ The girl is where heand Foxy left her. Does street to report the detective’s Caceres but turned | the Raven suspect?—Does he know that Floss | his steps toward that quarter of the city where | may be worth her weight in diamonds? Jcbu! he liv-d. Perhaps Floss had come home, He | what a game this is!” hg was eager to see for himself, so, when he reached The next moment Bowery Burt was aD Sd nina the building he rushed up-stairs and sprung into | for another raid into the night. A perfect nis}+t- O- the little room from which he had sent the girl | hawk, he knew the streets of New York thor- “hel ts minutes sooner!” Bowery Burt did not go to the house on Canal on her errand to decoy the detective to his | oughly. J Bas doom, Darkness was daylight to him. fae Nd | Floss did not greet him. He had a game to play that was worth the ‘* Mebbe she came back an’ wentaway again,” | playing. ay oa he said. ‘Ill run up an’ ask the sick man in the He was a member of the Dragon Leagueof room overhead.” three, but that did not prevent him from getting —__ For some days ths room above Bowery Burt’s | a hand of his own. : “heal abods bad been occupied by a man compelled to | If he had known that Queen Helen had lately keep his bed. At first the Shadow was com- : been visited by the Raven—the very man he — pelled to view this person with suspicion, and | wanted to find—he would have gone straight to forbade Floss to visit him, as he was young and | the house on Canal street for a description of good looking; but the girl had overcome these | the cool robber. ateine suspicions, and had become acquainted with the | But this was anevent yet to be known to sick man. Bowery Burt. Bi oy. Bowery Burt did not knock at the door above, ad but pushed it open and entered the room, Darkness met him. . ‘* Hello! Mowbray?” he called, leaning forward He was about to quit the room for a trailin the cold hours of midnight when a footstepin the narrow hall beyond the door arrested his attention. ie . : w- Ps in the gloom. “Who's out thar?’ growled Bowery Burt, © There was no answer, and Bowery Burt re- | taking a step forward. pe ea peated the name in a louder tone. ‘* Nobody wants to molest me just now. [Il Continued silence was the sole reply. show my teeth if they do.” hina Muttering an oath, the Shadow struck a match A moment later the knob turned—the door i a and cr the room, “2 was not locked—and the Shadow drew back to == The outlines of the bed soon became visible, | see who would enter. 4 a and then he discovered that the sick man was| Inasecond Bowery. Burt found himself con- one. fronted by a tall man in a dark uniform. ee ‘* Yesterday he was delirious and weaker nor The Shadow instinctively recoiled. 1 ta a cat: now he isn’t in sight!” ejaculated Bowery | ‘I want you,” said the officer advancing. = = Burt. : ‘“Me? And for what?” 4 ee All at once his old suspicions came back, ‘Ona charge of murder!” , oe ‘*T’ll go bail, if this doesn’t look bad!” he ex- Bowery Burt’s eyes got a flash; he seemed to 5 te claimed. ‘‘ I never liked Drake Mowbray’s look, gather strength, like a tiger abort to spring and I used to tell Floss so. I wonder if he could ‘* Who am I charged with killing?” he asked fia r te look into our room, anyhow? If he could, that | a voice unlike hisown, - es Fer My settles a good deal.” “A man named Foxy Funk nd at Papa Bowery Burt turned on the gas and began to Pangborn’s, The Jew himself is the accuser.” , — ooye) Ss eom (E j