Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 419 — page 16: what you’re looking at

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

— = <r a th yee e ~ Sa = a hex “ye z= Sur _- Me > meee 2. - cS Oe Ee) SS a OS 52a AO ~ oe x sa a 5 Fe ee on -— - ; = a - mt 2-7 - bai - —_~ Be Ry ~ 5 = } > = 3 : —s-> Ee > a So a ¢*- tu o_o * % ~—¢ = poe ee ee ee ee - . . | od * —s I~ = re alk . —— “ey " ae “i ~. oe a oe Cm, ~ %¢ Culpepper whistled; his way of expressing vast astcnishment, ** Well, well, you were putin the hole!” ** Yes, and between you and me, in strict con- fidence, I can’t really afford to spare the money just now. It will make me deuced short. I’ve worked like a nigger to pay like a prince; you can see for yourself that I am all used up.” ‘* You certainly do not appear to be in a first- class condition. Who were the parties?” ‘Oh, I couldn’t tell you that, Frank, you know; the game was strictly cn the quiet. We had one of the private card-rooms, and no one had the slightest suspicion that we were gam- bling on a great scale. But, to turn the conver- sation, what brings you over at this late hour? Something important,.I presume.” ‘Yes, very important.” ‘*So Limagined, Let me see! why. I haven't seen you since the day we met on the steamer dock when the girl was expected.” **That’s a fact; Pve been busy, and then there wasn’t anything of any importance to communi- cate,” ‘* Fire away!” ‘“Of course I have kept my eyes open, and thanks to the ingenicus spy system that I de- vised I can overhear every word that is seid whenever Mr. Lamardale has a conference with any one in bis private office.” * That was a capital idea,” ‘* Yes, and owing to it I have been as well in- formed bow the search for the girl progresses as the banker himself.” ‘Well, has the search progressed at all—has eny clew to the girl been discovered?” ** Yes, a clew has been found at last, not much of a one, but still if followed up it may amount tosemething. The cirl was abducted from the deck of the steamer by a fellow in a boat, but why the outrace was perfcrmed no one hes the slightest idea, He was chased sround Sandy Heok, then in a storm the beat upset: the girl filcated to shore, clinging to the mast, was taken to the house of a fisherman, but fed from there just before Mr, Lamardale arrived, ard a dili- gent scarch has failed to discover where she went, That was two weeks aro. Lermardale returned to New Yerk, but left agents on the ground who kept up the seerch end ene of them stumbled upon the treck, so in mediately wired the hanker. The girl, after kavire the bouce where she had been sheltercd, went straight to “ way depot and tock a train for New Tork. ‘* Aha!” cried Almayne, who bad been listen- ing with the deepest attention, ‘“‘she is in the city, then?” * “here doesn’t seem to be any doubt about it. ‘* But how strange that it shculd have taken two weeks to make this discovery.” _ “It is easily explained; the station-agent from whom she bought her ticket and inquired the way to the city, went on a vacation immce- diately after the train departed, and did not re- turn till yesterday. There does not seem to be any doubt about the matter, for the man de- scribes the girl to a hair; and tken, too, be had a good reason for remembering ber. When she came to pay for her ticket she nud nothing but English money, and she explained that she had only been a few hours in the country. The agent was an accommodating fellow, and took the money; he was coming to the city and he knew he could ge it changed so as to keep his accounts straight. This circumstance seems to fix the identity of the girl beyond a doubt.” “Ves, yes, certainly; the detective got upon the right track: but that was two weeks ago; what has become of the girl? How is it that if she is in the city no one has heard of her?” ‘* That isexactly what bothers Lamardale and his spies. The banker, Batterhofer, his lawyer, and a Mr. Blount, who was an officer on the steamer that brought the girl over, but who has left the service and taken a commission from Lamardale to find the girl, held a long consulta- tion in Lamardale’s sanctum this evening. Blount is the man who gained the information from the station-ageut.” ‘‘He must be a persevering fellow to keep at it all this time,” Almayne observed. ‘‘From the conversation I gathered that he is eatly interested in the girl. He is the man fhat commanded the boat that gave chase to ihe abductor.” ‘*T see; a case of love at first sight, I pre- sume,” observed the other, with a sneer. 7 Well, it looks a little like it, but he has given up beat now, and he advised Mr, Lamardale to- night to employ some skilled New York detec- tive, for he frankly confessed that he hadn’t the least idea how to go to work to trace the girl in such a big city as New York.” ** A sensible conclus/on.” ** So, by Batterhofer’s advice, Lamardsle to- morrow will put upon the track ove of tha best detectives in the country, and the lawyer says that if the girl is in the city the detective will surely find her.” ‘‘He must be a valuable man, this detective, for Batterhofer is a cautious old coon, and is never very ready to recommend any one,” ‘* The detective is called Joe Phenix.” wwe ** Phenix?’ and then Almayne filled his glass nearly full of brandy and swallowed it at a gu!p without winking. | The Bat of the Battery. | ; ‘“By Jove! you must bea deuce of a fellow | to be able to put away the brandy in that whole- | sale fashion!” Culpepper observed, in evident | admiration. ‘¢Oh, that’s nothing; I served my apprentice- | ship abroad, you know, where the natives dis- dain to water their liquor. So this detective— how do you call him?’ * Phenix—Joe Phenix.” ** An odd name, isn’t it? And heis going to try his skill?” ‘* Yes; it is a very strange case. Lamardale ‘managed the matter so that neither his, nor Batterhofer’s name should Le known to the girl; therefore, when she arrived in New York, sbe could not hunt either one of them up, but as she knew she was to be met by some one, you would think she would go to the steamer office and inquire about the matter, particularly, as she knew Mr. Blount to bea warm friend, and he had assured her that 1f she needed any assistance he would be glad to oblige her; at the steamer ffice, you know, she would be able to find out where he was.” ‘* How do they know that the girl arrived in the city? Because she took the New York train is no proof that she continued in it until the city was reached.” ‘That idea occurred to Blount, who seems to be a sensible, long-headed fellow, and he follow- ed the railroad clear from Branchport, where she took the train to New York, inquiring all niong the line, but was not able to discover a “low tothe girl. so it seems certain that she must have reached the city.” ‘The case excites my curiosity, although un- s1 the girl is found it does not matter to us. ier continued absence is our gain. By the vay, about that will of Lamardale’s—is it signed vet?” o6 Tt is,” ; ‘‘ Suppose the girl is never found, to whom ill the money go?” ‘*Ho will make a codicil, giving a share to lifferent charities, and providing a littie more it.erally for Cassandra and myself.” ‘‘ Let ns bope the girl will no be found then. You will be sare to keep me posted if anything new occurs?” ‘* Oh, yes.” | Tben the two indulged in a parting glass and Culpepper withdrew, leaving Almayne to brood over an idea that had entered his brain, CHAPTER XXVI. A. DEFIANCE. Tue chief of police sat in his office in a very unpleasant state of mind, Days bad come and cone since Phenix had set out to hunt down the mysterious assassin, and the only word that had been received from him was the request to send out a general alarm to arrest the woman known as Guadaloupe Barcelona, This had been promptly done: four-and-twenty hours had elapsed, but not the slightest clew had been gained in regard to the woman, neither hed Phenix been heard from. As the superintendent meditated over the matter, inwardly heaping imprecations upon the head of the unknown villain, the maycr made his appearance. ‘* Lamardale has been after me again,” he ex- plained. ‘‘He regards it as an outrage that the murderer of his brother has not been dis- covered, and really, superintendent, it seems strange tome that your men cannot get upon the track of the rigbt parties,” ‘* Sit down,” said the police official, placing a chair for bis Honor, ‘** and just take a look at this—you will see tuat neither I nor my men have been idle.” And as he spoke he gave Phenix’s dispatch to the mayor. ** Aba! this looks like business,” his Honor ex- claimed, great)y gratified. : ‘Oh, yes; we’re on tbe track now. It will take time, but in the long run I'll have the as- sassin.” . ‘* But this refers to a woman,” the mayor re- marked, after he had read tho dispatch. **Oh, yes.” **But you don’t mean to say thaf the author of these mysterious murders is a Woman!” exclaimed the amazed official. ‘ It is not pos- sible!” ‘*Oh! there’s no doubt that tho murderer isa man, but this party is evidently an accomplice. You know these rascals generally travel in gangs, and when one of the band is laid by the heels it usually results in the capture cf the rest, ‘*Superintendent, you havo realiy taken a load from my mind,” tho offi. ial exclaimed,’ ‘ I had begun to think that your new man would not make any more headway at the job than the poor fellow who was killed; and in fact, chicf, so great a respect have I for the skill and cun- ning of this murderous assassin that [ sheuld havo been far more willing to bet that he would insnare the detective than that the detective would entrap kim,” | | ——s “°Tt will take time. hut we'll hove him in the end,” responded the superintendent, in an oracu- lar manner. The mayor withdrew, perfectly satisied with the assurance, and the chicf smiled sarcastica.ly as the door c'osed behind him, ** He thinks that the race is all over but the shouting,” he muttered—‘‘ ard I wish to Heaven it was, but it isn’t. No news, they say, is good nows, but I never found it soin police matters, Not hearing from Phenix annoys me. I am afraid that Re has come to a halt; the woman has succeeded in getting away, and that means that she must be smarter than lightning, cr else Phenix would have had her dead to rights lopg ago.” At this point his messenger came in with the intelligence that a gentleman desired to see him for a few minutes upon important business. The chief gave orders to admit him, and soon a tall, distinguished-looking old gentleman made his appearance. He wore his iron-cray hair quite long, had very shaggy eyebrows that over- hung tho orbs beneath, and his gray beard swept low upon bis breast. He was attired in complete black, and jeweled rings of great value adorned his fingers. In brief, he was a fine specimen of the old-time gentleman, and the superintendent, who was a good judge of men, set him down for a for- elgner. **Have I the honah of addressing the chicf of police, sah?” asked the gentleman, with a court- ly bow, and the instant he spoke, from tho po- culiar intonation, the superintendent guessed that he was a Southerner. ‘Yes, sir; I hold that office.” ‘*I came to see you, sah, upon important business; but before I enter upon it, may T ask if our interview will be strictly private? Is there any danger of our conversation being overheard?” ‘“Not the slightest, sir; you can speak with perfect freedom.” The stranger was evidently an oddity, and the idea flashed into the superintendent’s head that he might be a crank, but tho chief was a war bird and always prepared for unpleasant visi- tors who might become dangerous. He was seated at his Cesk, fucing the stranger, and ina pigeon-hole under the top of the desk, conve- nient to bis hand, was a cocked and loaded re- volver. ‘“*T am glad, sah, that such is the case, for what I have to say must not be heard by any ears but our own. My name, sah, is Serare— Antoine Segare, and I am from Terrebonne, Louisiana,” The superintendent bowed. The peculiarit of the man’s speech was now explained. He was a Creole, and spoke with tke odd accent common to the Southron of the extreme South. **See, sah; what cdo you make of this?’ con- tinued the stranger, and he took from his pocket a bit of polisbed steel and laid 1t upon the desk, At the first glance the superintendent thought it was a piece of a broken knitting-necdle, but when he took it up, and the light of the gas played upon its polished surface, he saw that it was larger in diameter and of far superior qual- ity of steél to that used for knitting-needles, Then, too, it was blunt at one end, with siens of a fracture showing that if had been broken, and the other end was drawn to a point as keen as the edge of a razor, And as the chief glanced inquiringly at the shining stee], turning it around in his fingers, an “Ng of what it was flashed suddenly into his mind, It was the broken blade of a dagger, or, more correctly speaking, poniard—as the small, fanci- fully shaped daggers used by the southern races of Europe are termed, and by the means of just such a weapon all the victims of the mysterious assassin had come to their death. The superintendent drew a long breath, and surveyed bis visitor with a glance that betoken- ed uncommon interest. Was this the secret slayer come in person to beard him? ** Well, well, sah, what think you of that toy?” asked the man, apparently growing impatient at the chief's silence. ‘Tt is the broken blade of a dagger, I pre- sume?” ‘Richt, <A pretty little instrument, a fragile thing, and yet in the hands of a master, who knows where to strike, it will find and sap the life as surely as the largest blade that the armor- er ever forged.” ‘* What is the idea of showing me this broken \ blade?” ‘*Can you not guess?” asked the other, in a theatrical sort of way. ‘*7'm not good at conundrums.” “It isthe weapon of the slayer who always: strikes to kill!” the Southerner declared, becom- ing still more dramatic and mysterious in man- ner. ‘*Ts that so? I don’t exactly understand— explain yourse!f,” ‘Now you begin totalk business, is it worth?” ** That depends entirely upon tho information you are able to give.” EOmMicboo How much 4 —o. — a a — — ge ne i : <SiGO