Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 413 — page 18: what you’re looking at

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

¥. 4 4 . * - gard bearin Ferguson ‘seemed to prepare himself for some ordeal. ». before Cr aly ae L& " ' ow = ty = 18 _— ---— Why didn’t Captain Coldgrip find the Dragon eat once? What was he a detective for ~ ae gah immediately yaia, Leagu if he could not run the and save the millions to his ward? Fowler even thought that the detective was playing him false, and more than once he was on the eve of trying some other man-fox. But Nydia, who was a beautiful young woman with a clear complexion and lustrous black eyes, always came to the detective’s rescue when the banker mentioned his resolves. ** Give Captain Coldgrip a chance,” the girl would say. ‘* Let bim go on until he comes and man in your employ till he proves himself inca- pable of doing your work.” “You don’t know what he said to me when he was last here,” said Ferg Fowler on one of these occasions. ‘* No,” said Nydia. ‘* He asked me what he should do if he found Frances Percy.” 1% Why; 1 thought she was dead!” exclaimed e gir). ** Dead, she is!” was the reply. ‘*Haven’t I the letter written by Mary Ma Cable, her nurse who died in Manchester? showed him that letter, yet he shook his head.” ~ Nydia was silent for a moment. - * Well, what did you tell Captain Coldgrip?” she asked. * What any man would havo told him under the circumstances. I said there was no Frances Perey, excepting some false one whom the League may attempt to produce,” was the reply. _“ They dare not bring such a woman here! Do you think they dare, Nydia?” **T don’t know,” said the beautiful girl. ‘‘If the man who burned the deadly pastilles in this house is the head of the plot, I shall not be sur- prised at anything.” ‘* Then, you expect—” The millionaire’s sentence was broken by the tones of the knocker and a sudden pallor over- _ spread his face, ‘Go to your room, Nydia,” he said, ‘It may be some important visitor who must see me in private ” Tne girl retired and the servant brougbt ina the name of *‘ Robert Randolph.” ‘‘He says his business is so important that he must see you,” added the porter. “What does he look like, Jason?” asked Fowler ‘Oh, he’s not a bad looking man,” said the servant. ** Does he look anything like this cool demon, Mortimer Nogg?” ‘* Nota + sir,” owler leaned back in his chair and ** Admit him,” he said to the porter, and when the man had retired he turned his head and ' —s- watched the door leading from the hall. / ——s«Yn alittle while he heard a soft, almost cat- Be, like step, and a moment later his visitor stood m, Fowler noticed that Robert Randolph closed the door firmly behind him, and also that he had 34 % - a gliding motion as he came forward. _ There was a gleam of intense triumph in the visitor’s eyes, which took in the luxurious appoint- ments of the room, as well as the pale and anx- ious man in the chair. ‘*T don’t like him,” was Fowler’s mental con- -_ elusion, when he had looked the man over from ve a thou- head to foot. ‘‘ My God! I would “e sand if I had not told Jason to admit him.” But be was there, and it was now too late to recall the command. ** Be seated,” said the gold king, though the words cost him a pang. “ important business, I believe?’ _ © Yes, on important business,” said the man, oy coon Ae Ppa | the finish of his sentence. **T believe I haven’t met you for a long time.” ‘+ When did we ever meet?” asked Fowler. Captain Coldgrip ‘* You come here on’ ee ee + ee eee ee ea eee ee doubt, as I want to drop my beak into your mouey-chest. I want money, as I’ve said before —not very much, for ’m a man with few wants. I am here for twenty thousand dollars,” Ferg Fowler gave utterance toa quick excla- mation of surprise. ‘* You want to break me up?” he ejaculated. ‘** Great God! man, think of the enormity of the sum you want. Twenty thousand dollars! It is more than [ have made in Wall street in ten ears.” ‘* But nothing like the sum you made _ the | night you rode between Oak Meadows and Lon- reports no success. He never fails.. Keep the | don!” hissed the Raven, leaning forward and | dropping one of his velvety handsupon Fowler's knec. ‘‘Come, sir. This is the natural result of the game played in the queen’s country afew years ago. a dollar less! I shall stay here till I getit, or until, by your refusal to accommodate me, you force me to play a hand that'll astonish all Gotham,” ‘* What is that?” ‘*] will merely introduce to you a young girl at whose command you will walk out of this house—a beggar.” A strange ‘ight came suddenly into Fowler's eyes: it noked like a gleam of defiance. ‘This isan old game,” he said, with a show of boldness. ‘‘I know what you mean. You threaten to produce Frances Percy, the child who died in Manchester some time after her fa- ther’s suicide, I have been threatened thus be- fore.” ‘* By whom?” ‘* By your captain, 1 should say.” The Raven broke out into a laugh. ‘*{ don’t b’long to the Dragon League!” he exclaimed. ‘‘IT have no connection with that beautiful gang. I’m an independent player, now that my pard has cashed his last chips at death’s counter. You don’t counect me with Elegant Ahab and company! Oh, no! I can do what I threaten. I can produce Frances Percy within six hours. I know that she carries the tattooed dragon on her arm—the same one men- tioned by the English papers after she disap- peared with her nurse following her father’s opie you callit, I believe. Ha! ha! al’ The soul of a devil seemed to laugh in Raven Rob’s cachinnation, Ferg Fowler looked at him with eyes that longed to possess the power to kill with a glance, ‘* Mebbe,” said the Raven continuing sudden- ly, ‘‘Mebbe, you’d give the twenty thousand for the girl.” ‘Is she in New York?” ‘* No questions, and no lies!” was the answer. “TIsit abargain, Mr. Fowler? Am I to have twenty thousand for Frances Percy delivered here?” ‘* When?” ‘* Within six hours, if it suits you.” ** But don’t you know that the courts have de- clared the girl dead?” ‘* To Satan with the courts!” cried the Raven. ‘*T know that Mary May Cable, the child’s purse, died in Manchester; but I have the child herself, 1 say. You can believe it or not, just as you please. I can proclaim that on a certain night of a certain year, a certain man passed along a certain road in Eng'and; that the next day Major Percy was found at his country seat, dead, a revolver in his hand, a bullet in his brain; that his estate by will fell to the cer- tain night rider who now enjoys it as Fer- son Fowler of New York. ask twenty housand dollars to-night. I need the money. You might call this levying blackmail. I don’t care what you call it. If Elegant Ahab of the Dragon League told you that he can pro- duce Frances Percy he lies like a thief! I am the only person who can produce her—I, the Raven.” Ferguson Fowler could not take his eyes eG: cae man while he spoke. | is a_ better want thesum I have named, not | Ahab willever play. Am I to have the cash? Se stenoses Ps aa > - ; a is ~ . -_* as 7 { ile * rr . P 5 , i's 4 a fh 4 A eM A ‘ “ : ae * - e« . v ‘ ~*~. a in New York. —_—_———— a, ee TT ED Percy at my down-town office at ten o’clock to- morrow.” A smile appeared suddenly at the Raven’s. mouth, ‘‘ And find you there with a bluc-coat and handcuffs? Oh, no, Mr. Fowler!” he said. ‘ Dl? take the money now on no conditions.” The millionaire drew back, e It was clearly to be seen that a brilliant scheme of some kind had failed. * Count it out,” continued Raven Rel». ‘* Count it out, I say, or put it back, and let me a a hand that’ll make Gotham open its eyes” ou don’t want to fool with the man who saw ou on the road between London and Oak eadows, This hand is distinctly n:y own, It oue than Queen Helen and Elegant I can’t stay all day, sir!” and the man got up and took his hat. ‘** ll beat him before night!” said the million- aire under his breath, and then he counted out a. lot of large notes. ‘* Here is your blood-money. We are quits forever!” he cried, tossing the roll of bills to- ward the Raven, who caught them dexterously.. ** Now, sir, keep clear of me!”’ The villain laughed and crushed the notes into his pocket, ** Keep clear of you, eh?” he cried. ‘So I will, Ferg Fowler; so I will—while the boodle lasts!” And then the shutting of a door told the banker that he was alone, CHAPTER XXI. OUT OF THE MAN-TRAP, WE must not lose sight of the New York de- tective, the man we saw Iast falling down a the dark depths of Mrs. Hoyle’s ‘* cup- Captain Cold iP, though well choked by Bowery Burt anit e Amazon in the struggle in the confectionery, was by no means unconscious. when the door of the trap was opened and he was thrust inside. In an instant he found bimself falling through space, but he had presence of mind enough to throw out bis hand in the hope of catching something that would break the terrible de- scent. Once or twice he touched objects that seemed. to be stones, but he could not grasp them. However, they broke his fall, and when he struck he found himself in a walled space which suggested the bottom of a rat well. fter all, he had not fallen rere with that awful ee seas Bd raseten, and when he re- covered he found that, thanks to the narrowness. of the pit, no bones had been broken. | ‘‘ This is one of the traps I did not know any- thing about.” the detective said to himself. ‘Mrs, Hoyle keeps an elegant shop, sure enough, and Bowery Burt has her under his thumb. The Dragon League is at work in earnest, just now, and the plotters inte. d that I shall never report to Ferg Fowler. We will see about that here- after.” . It was not the detective’s intention to remain a moment longer than he had in the infamous man-trap. He believed he was at the bottom of an old well which had been dry a long time, and his first thought was to get out. ** There ’ll be a surprise in your little candy- shop if I get up, Madame Hoyle!” he exclaimed. ‘* You may wish that you hud never sent the let- ter to my quarters. This is one of the liveliest trails of my experience, and I can safely say that the end is not yet.” hae Captain Coldgrip found the walls of his prison: comparatively smooth. He could find no purchase fox his hands, and after some bard work he was forced to desist, but not from despair. This was a state of mind unknown to the city ferret. He imagined Bowery Burt and the widow . i “Ah! you have forgotten it, no doubt!” and give a thousand if I could put Captain | _ Randolph smiled like a hyena shows his teeth. It was in England, on the road between Lon- don and Oak Meadows, Major Pe cy’s estate.” Ferg Fowler seemed about to start from his ' _ chair, but he tried to control himself by a } ~~ “Another money leech,” he said to himself, | __ and then he looked at the man who was enjoy- Coldgrip on this fellow’s track,” he ejaculated | congratulating one another over the success of mentally. ‘‘Has he really got the girl? Or, | their scheme, and it took no stretch of the im- is all this a game of his own for gold?) What ; agination to see the Bowery thug report to Ele- does he know abont the man who rode from | gant Abab and Queen Helen, the Oak Meadows to London the night he} In his skort hunt for the Dragon League, the talks aboxt? I fear I must compromise the | detective bad discovered that Mortimer Nogg, f case, and then by the eternal heavens! I’!l | the man with the pastilles, was Elegant Ahab, have him run down!” and this discovery bad been followed by the un- _ —_— = | nea ing the effects of his bomb. Ferg Fowler leaned forward and. opened one | carthing of Helen Hotspur, the cool Cleopatra | ae ‘Your memory is better than mine,” Fowler | of the drawers of his writing-des'r. of the gigantic game, What if they should Mee” * > gaid. ‘* No check,” said the Raven witha grin. ‘‘1 | make their great play while he was forced to» _. * It oughtn’t to be, seein’ what you have to | don’t want to present my face at any of your | keep the prison into which he had been thrown? 3 remember,” was the retort. ‘‘Sball I tell you | city banks. I want the cash! You rich men | Whatif the Raven should rediscover Floss, or’ just where I happened to meet you? Do you } have secret marks on your checks which tell | Bowery Burt himself find the girl? = your bankers to refuse payment, or to hold the Thoughts like these set the detective at work bearer for the police. I'm an old bird, Ferg | again, but with the same result—he could not Fowler. I’ve lost a good deal of my youthful | rise above a certain hight. plumage, but chaff doesn’t catch me. There’s,; We need not detail the repeated efforts made- - want me to name the year, the night, and the hour?” “Tt isn’t necessary.” and Fowler waved his hand impatiently, “‘Iam willing to take your ~ 4 we )_-word for the statement that we may have met | a treasury behind you: the sum is there.” | in the darkness, _ a" |} before to-night.” The millifnaire bit his lip and glanced madly Again and again he failed, only to renew the =) ) £© Allright,” said Randolph, with a smile, ‘‘I | at the cool fellow, then he wheeled his chair to- | atteropt and to fall back to the bottom of the | f - want a little money, Mr. Fewler.” ward the safe, pit with curses for the villainous pair who had | a _ * Money?” echoed the Wall street nabob, ‘| The next minute he had opened the door and | entrapped him. , * The root of all evil!” said the man. ‘ My | taken outa big roll of bills. By the merest chance he had escaped death, card told you simply that I am Robert Ran- ‘**T accede to your demands on one condition,” | but what was that chance worth if he could not dolph. I have a nick-name which is known in | he said. - leave his prison? ete ‘AM I am sometimes called the Ra- ** Well, what's that?” | Claude Coldgrip had beerin several . tie two worlds, < oad very appropriate name, you think no ‘That you produce the girl you call Frances ' fore, but this one & = = me — _ Le