Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 413 — page 19: what you’re looking at

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

U . tag vy ae es trap sprung on him in Papa Pangborn’s house was not as terrible. At last the New York sleuth desisted, and leaned against the wall to think and recuperate. ‘‘T must stretch my wits,” he said, half aloud. ‘¢ By the eternal stars! this place shall not hold me! Iam going to get out, for I must. I have too much at stake to die here by the hands of Bowery Burt and Mrs. Hoyle, the Amazon, have sworn to run the Dragon League to earth, and I shall doit, I have also taken a private oath of another kind, and it, too, must be ful- filled |” After awhile, and all at once, a sound above the detective attracted his attention. It was a noise like the opening of a door that did not yield readily. Captain Coldgrip looked up; all was (larkness. ‘“By Jove! there’s a hole here,” he heard a far-away voice say, and the words were followed by a strauge stillness, The sound went through the man-ferret like a thrill. ‘* That isn’t the vixen’s voice, nor the man’s!” he exclaimed, as he waited for something else. ‘*T don’t know of any one whosaw me enter the candy store, but somebody is overhead—some- body who has just made an unexpected discov- ery.” th a little while a light flashed amid the dark- ness above, and the next moment it came down —down until it fell blazing at the detective’s feet—a bit of paper that illumined the bottom of his cell while it burned. ‘* Jehu! it’s along way down there!” said the voice he bad heard awhile before, ‘Vl try my voice.” And then the lost detective heard some one call him: ‘‘Hello! Captain Claude! Are you down there, dead or alive?) Hello—hello!” No enemy would make such a cali as that. The detective uttered a cry of joy: ‘‘T am here!” he said strongly, sending his voice up the shaft. ‘‘I am here, and uninjured, thank heaven!” He heard the person above utter an ejacula- tion of profound. surprise. ‘“'You must bea rubber ball, Captain Claude,” said the friendly voice. ‘‘Can’t you come up?” ‘‘No, I wouldn’t be here now if the walls had Hor me a purchase,” was the reply. ‘*' Would a rope help you?” ‘*Tt would deliver me.” ‘Wait a minute.” “By Jove! with that somebody up there, I y can wait an hour,” said the captain. If he could have seen to the top of his cir- cular prison he would have noticed a little man leave the edge of the well and spring back into Mrs. Hoyle’s confectionery. It was our fugitive acquaintance, Duke Dado, and he was on hunt of a rope long enough to reach the man in the well. Hither and thither he ran with his eyes on the alert. He looked under the counter and behind the shelves—everywhere but no rope. ‘“‘'d strip the Amazon’s bed for a rope if I thought she didn’t enjoy the luxury of patent springs!” he exclaimed. ‘‘Just now, of all things, I want a rope and so does Captain Claude, the Gotham ferret.” But the confectionery had nothing for him beyond its meager stock of sweetmeats, and Dado grew furious. Mowbray had gone off on the trail of Bow- ery Burt, as we already know, and was not by to make any suggestions, and Mrs. Hoyle, so far as he knew, had not recovered from her swoon in the cellar. In the midst of his dilemma the dwarf rushed to the front door and out upon the street. He was not gone more than ten minutes when he came back with something under his coat, In the ice-cream parlcr which he sought at once, this something resolved itself into a stout rope of good length. ' ‘The rope is here!” he said, talking down the pit to the unseen man, and then he began to fasten one end of it to one of the jvists of the false cupboard. Duke Dado had taken pains to lock the front door when he came back, He did not care how much Mrs. Hoyle’s business suffered. The candies would keep and the proprietress would find herself in luck if she did not see the inside of Sing Sing. When Duke Dado had made the rope fast_to the joist he lowered it into the pit and played 1b out rapidly. If he bad looked up from his work toward the door that led into Mrs, Hoyle’s house he would have seen a hideous face and two tigress eyes watching bim. ‘These would have told h m that ‘the Houston street Amazon had come back from the cellar, and that she was watching his every movement, Mrs, Hoyle evidently knew or guessed that the dwarf had the agility of the cat, and that bis quick ears would detect ber heavy tread in the room. She might have covered the distance between them by a single bound, but she was afraid to _risk it, even though the millionaire’s runaway dwarf would, in a certain sense, have been as a ‘ child in her hands, Danes a td a ; >» 4 = °F “ hi we ee ——— continued to regard Duke Dado with eyes that appeared to blaze, so fierce they were. The dwarf worked on until the rope hung down the shaft. ‘*‘ All’s ready now, Captain Claude,” he ex- claimed. ‘* The rope is taut and solid up here. Run up the cord like a squirrel, and we'll show the gang that man-traps don’t hold all the time.” An exclamation of satis‘action came up from below and a moment later the swaying rope told Dado that a man was on it working his way up from his living grave, Mrs. Hoyle kept her eyes on the dwarf as if she knew what was going on. She had an intense curiosity to know whether Captain Coldgrip bad been preserved after his fall down the pit. ‘If Satan did help his own, this is no longer any place for me,” she said in an undertone, ‘They will pounce upon me and drag me before the courts for try ng to take human life. My little shop will have to be given up. I will have to get out of the city. Bowery Burt, all this is your work! Icurse the day I first met you. Ah! someboe*y is almost at the top of the cup- board. Heavens! can it really be Captain Claude Coldgrip?’ She leaned forward in her eagerness to see what would take place next for Duke Dado had drawn back from the entrance to the pit, and seemed ready to welcome somebody, ‘It is he!” almos5 gasped the widow, and then the well-known features of the Gotham detective came into view, “Oh! I owe this assistance to you, do I?” eried Captain Coldgrip catching sight of his dwarfed deliverer before he was wholly out of the pit. **'To Mowbray and me, sir,” said Duke Dado, ‘*Mowbray? where is he?” ‘‘Gone after Bowery Burt,” was the reply. ‘*And Mrs. Hoyle?” The widow drew back at this question. ** We left her in the cellar in a faint!” laughed the dwarf. ‘*She couldn’t look me in the eye and say she hadn’t helped you into a trap.” Captain Coldgrip was out of the trap at last, and as he stood in the light of the gas his eyes seemed to snap for vengeance, “This isa good turn, Duke Dado,” he said wheeling upon the dwarf who seemed proud of his great work, ‘Tl try and do one for you some day.” “If I get into a trap like this, eh, Captain Claude?” laughed the dwarf. ‘‘I wanted to get you out of durance the worst kind. I guess they’re gute play the hig hand very soon— ag oh mebbe.” ** How do you know?” “Thadaright good ride last night under a carriage, and | heard a good deal of important talk on the inside. Queen Helen is impatient. She is going to play her great hand. hat it will be you can guess, if you have got into the merits of the diamond dragon case, Elegant Ahab is ready to help her through. Bowery Burt wants a little more time—for a game of his own, I bave an idea. Mowbray will run him down I hope, but he may give him the slip.” ‘*T am ready for the contest, Dado,” said Cap- tain Claude. ‘‘ All I want to know first is that Floss is safe where I left her.” ” ee your rooms, captain?” ‘** Well, she isn’t there.” ‘‘Not there,do you say?” exclaimed the de- tective. ‘‘ How do you know?” *““Mowbray and [ visited there before we came here. But look at the front door, cap- tain—look furtively—don’t let the man see you! The detective turned his head and glanced be- tween the curtains toward the street. A man was at the door, ‘* The fox has doubled on Mowbray,” whisper- ed the dwarf. ‘‘That man is Elegant Ahab’s right hower—Bowery Burt! Ah! there he goes again!” ‘** Come!” said the detective, rushing forward. ‘* He sha’n’t elude me!” CHAPTER XXII. THE COLDGRIP PLAY. IT was very important that Captain Coldgrip should keep Bowery Burt in sight. The knowledge that Floss was no longer at his quarters in the Bowery had filled him with ter- rible suspicions, bightened by the sudden ap- pearance of Elegant Abab’s right bower at Mrs. Toyle’s shop door, The city sleuth had not forgotten the part p'ayed by Bowery Burt in the springing of the cupboard cep which, by the merest chance, had not cost him his life, and he was anxious to run the villain down as soon as possible. “This man is really more dangerous than EJegant Ahab and his pastilles,” Captain Cold- grip said to bimself. ‘‘He is of a lower order of criminals and will stoop to anything to gain his ends. With Bowery Burt in my hands, I Mr ill agree to play the game out in a short ime,’ But the next thing to be done was to find the Bowery plotter. When the detective reached the street with some of the grime of Mrs, Hoyle’s ‘‘ cupboard ” So she stood with the door slightly ajarand still on his garments, Bowery Burt seemed to = Captain Coldgrip in New York. | | ee dark despite the brilliant morning, and soon af-- 1o 4 =) have vanished like a ghost, and Captain Claude q appeared nonplused for a moment. +. ‘‘He went toward Broadway, captain,” said Duke Dado, who had followed him from the- shop. ‘‘ Ah! that weasel is a sleek one, Ele- : gant Ahab must have known him thoroughly ~_ when he called him to his aid.” The ferret did not stop to hear the dwarf through, for he sprung forward, and the next. moment he was himself again—a sleuth-houn: 4 on the trail, a Bowery Burt had discovered that Mrs. el Hoyle’s door was Jocked from the inside, and . he knew that it would not do for him to try to. call the proprietress of the trap into the shop, y for he was still hunted by the police for tre at strangling of Foxy at Papa Pangborn’s. was, Without seeing Captain Coldgrip and the- dwarf beyond the coor, the villain turned away and proceeded to make himself scarce. He had already eluded Mowbray, the young man re- cently upon his track, and by a well-learned system of doubling had reappeared at the wid-- ow’s eager to learn what her two visitors: wanted. Bowery Burt seemed to lose himself in the re whirl of Broadway. x He did not look like his old self, andthe ar-- gus-eyed police were not likely to arrest him for the murder of Foxy, Raven Rob’s pard. If he bad looked back he might have seem — the man who was pressing forward on the bunt, and he would have uttered an exclamation of surprise, for he had seen his tracker pushed inte: . the dark recesses of Mrs, Hoyle’s cupboard. a ‘* Mebbe I'd better go back and see how Floss: gets along,” suddenly ejaculated Bowery Burt. ‘* The girl is worth her weight in greenbacks to» me, and [ can’t afford to let her slip now, Helen and Ahab propose to make their big play to— s night, but what will it amount to if] bave Floss in my hands? Ferg Fowler, the million-- aire, may show his teeth at them, and even: ott laugh at the tattoo on Helen’s arm, but, by” glory! he’ll look different when I present my: trumps!” pues Bowery Burt turned and walked south om: Broadway. He no longer thought of Mowbray, and Cap- tain Coldgrip was entirely out of bis mind. = He wondered occasionally how Mrs, Hoyle fa was getting along, and why her door was lock-- ed when he went »ack the second time. | Rey, The shrewd villain kept on till he reached’ __ Grand street, when he turned abruptly toward | the East River. More than once he glanced back over bis shoul-- der now. He seemed to be nearsome important: _ place where he did not want to be seen. All at once he turned into a narrow alley, © “Eee > —_— © * terward darted into a hallway and was lost to- view, oy Bowery Burt was soon on the second floor of a dingy brick building, and in a moment he had inserted a key into a lock. | As he opened the door before him he uttered an ejaculation of surprise and stood still. The room wes cmpty! For a moment the astonished rascal looked a like a person who had been suddenly deprivedof ax senses; his look was a stare,and hisfacewase white. ‘‘In Satan’s name,where is Floss?” he exclaim-- ed, and then a bound took him to the middle of the room. ‘‘I fetched her hereafter 1lifted her from the detective’s nest. I left her locked up up in this verv room when I went away, and the- door was locked when I came back.” =~ Re He went to the one window of the room and saw that it was still fastened on the inside. He opened a small closet at one sideoftheapart-- ment and explored it thoroughly, but Floss was © not found. ae ‘Tt takes the wind ccmpletely out of my sails,” _ said Bowery Burt, sinking upon a chair with ce “om the air of a person completely beaten. “‘Who ~— could have tracked me? Mowbr:y? No!—Duke- Dado!—I can’t believe it. The Ravent—ah! LT | did not think of him!” aa He sprung up with an oath. Hing ‘If you are playing a hand against me, Mr, Raven, I'll meet you with your own weapons,” he cried. ‘‘If Floss has been transferred 1 at your clutches, I'll get her back and show you the coldest deck youeversaw! Evenif Idomt — find the girl before night, Il] see that Helen’s ss ‘hand’ amounts to nothing. If | do belong to “ the Dragon League, !m not going tolet Elegant Ahab and the American Cleopatra rake in the stakes. They think mea tool who will Pe up= SF with a few thousands of the bonanza. want «= more than that. 1 intend to handle millions, “ae and Ill do it when I get Floss fairly back into my hands.” ae Bowery Burt was not disposed to remain im the vacant room. oe Floss was gone, and there was nohelp for He was confident that she had noteffected her = escape unaided. and by some kind of ing ones eae he was incline! to believe that the ®ubtle han a of Raven Rob was 1n the play. Shae He shut the door, locked it, and went down im A no good humer. se | hadn't aye} 99} iret @ (ee) ; “5 é 4 7 \ . Sf 7s > —