Beadle's Dime Library No. 415 — page 19: what you’re looking at

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

-fa ” Be od a yt ais F i ie ' ‘ c j Serve ronan ne at anata mateo MEN. TE. - eet yee cused of theft, but Mr. Neat did nothing of the kind. He told her to go and send in Mrs, Druke, the housekeeper. When she went out Paul demurred, but Neat turned on him and decisively said: ‘‘ Mr. Nettleton, if I work for you at all, you must allow me to manage my own case. Loyola ‘may be guilty, but she impresses me as an inno- cent woman, At any rate, we might as well try to frighten the Pacific Ocean as her. If she is guilty, we must prove it by stratagem, or evidence not as yet discovered.” Mrs. Drake came. Like the majority of wo- men in her position, she claimed to have *‘ seen better days,” and that the heart of a gentlewo- man still beat in her bosom. Likewise, she was devoted to cer employers’ interests, and very much startled.and shocked to hear that robbery had been committed in Coast Castle. Her examination elicited nothing. Until told by Mr. Neat she did not know what was miss- ing. The main object in questioning her fell flat. She had told Loyola and Rosa that some- thing was missing, but bad been too much shocked, herself, to notice how they had re- ceived the news. She was dismissed and Bosa came. She was a neat, comely little maid of the lower walk in life, and though she had managed with her ros cheeks, and brilliant eyes, to make Tim Welc and Joseph Jigson heartily hate each other for her sake, she was always timid when trouble was abroad. ‘ Mr. Neat’s cold, sharp eyes now thoroughly upset her, but she giv satistactory testimony. On bemg asked about the morning revelation of Mrs, Drake, concerning the robbery, she said she *‘ had that horror of robbers that her heart ee jumped into her mouth,” and she had not ooked at Loyola at all. She was dismissed, The men servants, Welch and Jigson, were “ealled, though as one was coachman and the other gardener, it was ae expected there would be anything learned from them. The only hope was that they had seen suspicious per- sons lurking around the previous evening. Nothing was learned from Welch. Jigson was an Englishman with ared face and ** mutton-chop” whiskers, and a ponderous body which was astonishing!y developed around the waist. Asked if he had seen any one lurking around Coast Castle, he replied: ‘*Hundreds of them. There are more vaga- bonds haround ’ere than hany other place I was hever in.” ‘* Whom have you seen?” ‘‘Greasers, Injuns and the like,” “‘ Indians.” 2s Yes.” ‘* Who were they?” *‘Hoh! I see them ’mostevery day. The’alf- - breed, Garth Griffith, his halways hat it. Then there’s the big Injun they call Red Jaguar.” “Did you see any of them last might?” “Me igs girls usually have lovers.” o n, pre irls usuaily have lovers. “Hi sa tack sir.” © f “‘Has Rosa Strong a love ?” Joseph’s red face became almost scarlet. ‘ Hit is ible she ’ave, sir.” ‘‘ Jigson and Welch are both her lovers,” put in Paul. ‘‘What Mr. Neat means is, has she other lovers?” ‘Gracious ’evings, hain’t two hanuff?” ‘‘ Answer the question.” Mr. Neat’s gentle voice came in after Paul’s sharp, imperious tones, saying: ‘‘- Yes, Joseph, what we want is to know if Rosa has a lover besides you and Welch,” ‘‘ Not that I know hof, sir.” ‘Of course, Mrs. Drake has none?” ‘‘T should say not, sir. Ha man would sooner take Loyola, Which reminds me, I think Loyola has ha lover.” ‘*lndeed! Who is he?” ‘Red Jaguar, the Injun chief.” ** Why do you think so.” ‘“‘T saw her mect ‘im by night, not long hago.” Paul here came to the front with impetuosity. ‘‘When was this, Jigson?” ‘‘Three or four nigbts hago, sir.” ‘* Are you sure?” “ Certaia, sir.” Paul was now all anxiety, eagerness and ex- citement; so much so that Mr. Neat looked at him in wonder. He asked Joseph to explain, but the gardener only knew that he bad seen Loyola lide out of the house at a late hour, and meet dJaguar. He thought it none of his business and did not follow them, so he could tell no more, But Paul turned on Neat with an animated ce. ‘‘ This settles the whole matter, and makes it as clearas day. Loyola and Red Jaguar are, beyond question, those who committed the rob- CHAPTER XXIII. PERPLEXITIES MULTIPLY, Detective NEAT sighed in a very melancholy way before answering. : . * Ajlow me to ask why you consider the mat- ter settled, Mr. Nettleton,” he said, quietly, -> & TT LLL LLL LLL LL LC TT TT + rt _* ot ad , ¢ i PD A *, ve pf me a a7 s 1 “Why, you see they are both Indians, and—” Paul suddenly paused »nd remained silent. ‘* And what?” the detective asked. ** Why, if one wasin mischief, the other would naturally be in mischief, too.” ‘** Your argument is so ingenious that I can’t well combat it, Mr. Nettleton, and now that I think of it, I remember that the North American has always been famous for interest in ciphers, i problems and the conundrums of Eu- clid. Paul flushed slightly. The sarcasin of the last few sentences was not to be mistaken, ' Bi see least, you will admit that they are a bad ot. ‘*Some of them are. Mr. Nettleton, may I ot Heart, the Detective Spy. — thieves, though he would give no explanation of the strange fact that two Indians should desire to possess a mere cipher. aving obtained permission to make himself free about the house, Neat strolled around alone and carelessly talked with the servants. From Mrs. Drake he learned that every one had been much perplexed to know what Paul and Hazlitt were doing in the east room; that all the other people had commented on their | strange actions; and that the rumor bad been ask you to accompany Jigson, and officially lo- . cate the exact spot where the two Indians met, | surely Paul would, or ought, take a different while I continue my work here?” out. ‘*By the way, Professor Hazlitt.” said Mr. you to live?” Paul readily agreed, and he and Joseph went | | afloat that they bad diamonds there which Paul bad found in Brazil, and on which the professor” was fixing a value, Mr. Neat studied on this point. Had there been diamonds, and was the story of the yellow parchment all a fiction? It did not seem reascn- able; if the robbery was one of diamonds, course. The detective found and interviewed Commo-. _ dore Nick in his usual roundabout way. Neat, almost lazily, ‘‘where did I understand | _ tongue, and Neat was allowed to see that the ‘For the last year I have been in San Fran- | cisco,” ‘*Ffa! I thought Ihad seen you there,” said the detective, though be thought nothing of the kind. ‘* Haven’t I seen you with Mr. Nettleton? I mean Mr. Paul Nettleton.” ‘* | never saw him until a week ago.” ‘‘Tt must be I was mistaken then. you like Clifftown and vicinity?” “I have hardly looked around me once, but there is little here to interest me.” How do ‘‘Odd tnat you have decided to settle here | permanently.” “Tf have not so decided. I am here to stop | might have had a copy sent him, if the matter” only a short time,” ‘Oh! I believe Mr, Nettleton did say that you 799" down solely to study the cipher with im. ** Such was my object.” Hazlitt looked a trifle annoyed as soon as he made this admission, hut Mr. Neat went on to speak of Commodore Nick, and his long service in the United States Navy, showing a slight en- ——_ = —_—— thusiasm which somewhat dissipated his melan- | choly. It also quieted any suspicion the profes- sor might have had, but he had already been > amped dry” by the adroit detective. aul soon returned, and then Mr. Neat ex- ressed a fear that listeners might try to over- lear their conversation. Would Professor Haz- litt kindly oblige him by patro'ling the hall while he summed up the case with Mr. Nettleton? The professor ‘vould and did, and Neat went over the ground. He gave no definite opinion, but delighted Paul by throwing out_dark hints aire t ca Loyola Jaguar and Philip War- burton. Paul'made the most of the fact that the overseer and Red Jaguar had been seen to- gether, and Mr. Neat said it looked suspicious, very suspicious, ‘* By the way,” the detective added, in his softest voice, *‘ of course your friend, Professor Hazlitt, is above suspicion? You and he are in perfect accord, ch?” ‘“* Certainly, sir.” ‘* Have you known him intimately long?” ‘*Oh! yes, for five years.” ** Does he intend to locate near here, or is this only a friendly visit to you?” ‘* The latter; that’s all.” “*T suppose,” and here Mr. Neat actually smiled beamingly, ‘‘ that you decoyed him down here with talk of friendship, and then suprised him with a sight of the cipher?” ‘* Exactly.” Paul swallowed the bait, hook and all, making a mental note to the effect that he would speak to Hazlitt and have this fact un- derstood. Mr. Neat pursued the pointno further. From the first he had seen that he was engaged in a complicated case. Not only were all the other members of the family against Paul and Hazlitt, but Paul was obliging him to work in the dark, and was deceiving him on several points, He had now trapped his two associates in the game into flatly contradicting each other. Paul said he had intimately known the professor five years; Hazlitt said they had never mct until a week before. Paul said the professor came down on a friendly visit; Hazlitt said he came especially, and solely, to study on the cipher. The detective was not in the habit of working on cases where his employers deliberately de- ceived him, if he knew it, but be had once vain- ly accused Paul of double dealing, and baving become unusually interested in the yellow pa rch- ment, he determined to go on and see what he could make of it. _His next. step was to learn why Paul's rela- tives were all against him in the matter, and, without intimating that they were thus, be re- ceived the younger man’s explanation. were angry because he shut himself up with the professor, and the parchment, and neglected the rest of the housebold. A vailed attempt to secure an admission that | the parchment was of value to any one, pecu- niary or otherwise, utterly failed. Paul persist- ed that. as far as he knew, it was of value to no one. He was also doggedly det2rmined to have Loyola and Red Jaguar to the front as the } Lene ee a ee eee” | The ex-mariner put litt'e restraint on his. father was disappointed in his son. He could not Jearn, however, that there was any further trouble about the son’s secret occupation than that the commodore resented the secrecy of the affair—the fre uent, long interviews behind locked doors. Of one thing Neat now felt sure. Paul had said that he found the ‘“ secret cipher” in a mass of waste paper, in San Fran- cisco, and had no knowledge of its contents. ~~ was given the lie by every event connected. with 1t, First, Hazlitt would not have journeyed so far to indulge in occupation fit only fora boy. He was so. unimportant, Secondly, when the two men pored over the parchment, they did so with doors locked and curtains lowered. This showed the need of secrecy, Thirdly, Paul had been womanisbly anxions to have the house secured every night; bad him-- self looked to every door and window; yet he had often slept on the ground where wild beasts and wild men roamed, with no guard or protection. Clearly, the parchment, or what-—- ever had been there, had great value to him, monetary or otherwise. A possible solution of all this occurred to Mr. Neat in this form: Possibly Paul desired to have people think he had been robbed of something which he still had; in other words, that the robbery was a pretense, and all the singular events of the last few days only so much prearranged evidence leading up to it, and calculated as a blind. This was worth studying, but the detective did not intend to leap to a settled conclusicn at once, He wandered out of the house, and, chancing ~ upon Philip Warburton, held a somewhat lengthy conversation with him. Not once in-- timating that Paul had speken suspiciously of him, he talked with the young man abcut the ranch and other matters, naey referring to- the robbery, and then wandered i den where Joseph Jigson wes at work. At his request the corpulent Englishmon nto the gar- - showed him the place where he had seen Loy- - ola meet Red Jaguar. Neat’s work had taken him everywhere, and made him a fair trailer, and as the soil was- light at this point, he was able to follow the chief's trail several rods. Then it became lost in ‘he harder soil of the - ridge, but Mr. Neat went on, hoping to recever it, until he suddenly came upon a young man who lay on the ground, fin an open space be-. tween the bushes, reading a book. Each looked at the other, and then the young” man resumed reading. ‘** ‘You seem to be enjoying yourself, friend,”” said Neat. ‘* Madly so,” was the careless reply. ‘‘Then you must have an exciting book?” ‘“Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost,’ and, do you knowf* _ when I saw you scanning the ground so closely, it struck me you might be trying to find it.” With this absurd speech the ycung man sat erect, while Neat looked at him with more than ordinary interest. ‘*Juaging by your proximity to Coast Castle . vou may be searching for Paradise, with a pret-— ty clear idea how to find it.” ‘Which refers to the young ladies, I suppose? ‘You have seen them, yet you are a stranger, Possibly ycu are a detective, come to solve the. — mystery cf young Nettleton’s irreparable loss?” ‘* Trreparable?”’ ‘** Great loss, [ should say.” ‘* Do you live near here?” The young man pointed to the ruined con- They | vent. . | ‘Behold my palatial abode!” “Ah! So ycu are Frazer Hot Heart, the» — Fire-Eater?”’ ** So called.” “You don’t look exactly like a furious and. bloodthirsty bravo, 1 must say.” ““lem a manof two moods, like an April day. Use me well, and I am harmless as man can be. Misuse me, and the spark! fly. Gomicbooks (ere) ia __.