Beadle's Dime Library No. 42 — page 10: what you’re looking at

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

10 can use any device you please. ading joke. JI will be by your side throughout the whole affair.” ‘‘ Well, I will go, but I won’t promise to aid you in this jest until I see the gentleman,” the girl said, slowly. ‘‘There’s no harm in it, I assure you!” Van Rensselaer ex tiaimed, earnestly; ‘‘ but you shall see for yourself. I will come for you in a carriage about nine. What disguise will you wear?” ‘‘ Nothing but my black water-proof cloak, that covers me eompletely.” ‘‘Bxcellent; and now, Coralie, I will bid you good-by Remember, I leave my fate in your hands.” Van Rensselaer rose to go. ‘You do not fear, then, the other love which I have con- fessed is in my heart?” ‘Not a whit,” he replied, gravely; ‘‘ what have I to do with the dead past? Itis with the living future that we must deal. Adieu.” Coralie accompanied him to the door, and Van Rensselaer descended the steps with a light heart. A smile of triumph was on his handsome face as he walked up the street. ‘‘She will snap up the bait, like a hungry trout the un- wary fly that hovers too near the surface of the stream. Make her my wife?” and his lips curled in scorn. ‘‘ Oh, no! I have other views than that, my ambitious little woman. "T'was necessary to use some device to entrap her into: sery ing my purpose at this masquerade, and that is as good ‘as any. Now, if I can wrest the will from the hands of the old savant, I can laugh at this fellow, Keene, and his threats. Find thé heir! there, too, I defy him!” CHAPTER VII. AN UNEXPECTED MEETING. At the Hudson River Railway Depot the cars of the 6” au. Pacific express were in waiting. By the gate leading to the train stood a brown-bearded gentleman, plainly dressed, apparently waiting for some one, for he cast anxious glances around, and every now and then consulted his watch. ‘‘ Why the deuce don’t he come?” he queried, probably for the twentieth time, as he again consulted his time-piece. “Only ten minutes more. I can’t go without instructions; that is very plain.” The brown-bearded gentleman peered earnestly into the fuces of the crowd who were passing by him to take seats in the train, but his inspection was evidently without results. As the impatient watcher tapped nervously with his foot, and fumbled with his watch-chain, another gentleman, who had just entered the depot, sauntered carelessly to his side, and stood there, apparently without any particular object. A single, piercing glance the brown-bearded man gave at the new-comer, and then again resumed his watch upon the little throng pouring forward into the cars, The second man was about the medium hight, dark hair, cut short, and dark eyes; his face cleanly shaven. He was dressed very plain, almost poorly, in dark clothes, and wore a dark cap, pulled over his forehead. ‘“ Why don’t he come?” again muttered the watcher, witb another look at his time-piece. “ Only five minutes more I shall miss this train, sure!” “‘ Getting tired of waiting?” said the poorly-dressed man at his side, calmly. The watcher turned and looked at the questioner in utter surprise; but, as he surveyed him from head to foot, the look apon his face changed from one of wonder to one of recog- nition. It is only a simple masquer- Beadle’s Dime Library. - ~ “Well, you can take me into camp for all I’m worth!” he cried, in amazement. ‘‘ Blessed if I knew you!” ‘‘TIs my get-up as complete as all that?” said the othe, laughing. ‘*That’s so; I took a good look at you when you came up, too,” the brown-bearded man answered. ‘“‘T thought [ would try it on you; if I succeeded in de ceiving the eyes of the sharpest detective in New York, I cap hardly fail with anybody else.” ‘‘No humbug, you know,” the other said, but still with a smile on his face at the compliment. ‘Oh, honest Injun! fame speaks in spite of your mod- esty.” ** But, what is the reason of this get-up?” ‘““The man that I’m after is a cool, desperate hand if he wants to be. When he finds out that I have struck his trail in earnest, he may think that the easiest way to bafile me will be to get some rough to lay me out. In ‘the game I’m playing I don’t intend to lose a single trick if I can help it; so, for the present, James Bright, the California detective, will mysteriously disappear.” : The new-comer, who had, by such simple means as cutting off his hair, changing his clothes, and giving himself a clean shave, so altered his outward appearance, was, indeed, the man who had sworn such bitter vengeance on David Van Rensselaer. His companion, the quick-eyed gentleman with the flow ing brown beard; was Richard Cranshaw, by common report reputed to be one of the cutest detectives in the country. ‘‘ You’re wise,” Cranshaw said; ‘‘ nothing like being pre: pared. But, what instructions? About time for the train to move off, you know.” Bright took a letter from his pocket and put it into the hands of the detective. ‘* You will find all instructions written in this,” he said, as he handed the detective the letter. ‘‘ I partially followed the trail up myself three years ago. I have noted down all the points I gained. All I discovered, though, were the facts about the birth and parentage of the child. I didn’t hunt up the girl herself. But now the case has altered. We must have the girl; work to find her; that is our strong point. Once the girl is in my hands the game is won.” ‘‘T’ll do my best; you have written out the instructions in full?” ‘‘Yes, you change cars at Rome. Sandy Creek is only a little bit of a place,” Bright said. ‘‘ Of course be careful not to let any one guess what you're after, if you can help it. My bird may possibly be in communication with some one up there, although I hardly think it possible. But, if he should happen to be, a hint of your search would put him on his guard.” P “Tl be careful.” Then the bell rung; the detective jumped on board the train, and, as it moved off, Bright sauntered slowly out of the depot. ‘‘So much of the train laid,” he muttered; ‘‘it won’t be very long before the explosion comes. Let me find the heir, and then, Mr. David Van Rensselaer, look out for me.” Bright crossed over to Broadway and walked down that broad thoroughfare. Slowly he walked onward, tusy in meditatior Just as he crossed Twenty-fourth street, he came face to face with a lady walking in the opposite direction. A single glance the keen-eyed detective gave at the face of the lady, and he stood still in speechless astonishment. The lady, who was both young and pretty, never noticed the stare, but passed on up the street. Bright turned and looked after her. | COMIC DOOL<S (E(O) =}