Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 420 — page 7: what you’re looking at

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

a ee te ee row on our hands. We had better go slow, keep cool, and wait to see what they really mean todo. We could easily take care of our- selves if we were armed; but the loads in my pistol have of course been spoiled by the water. Do you happen to have your knife about you —the bowie that you showed to Birch at the ‘* Yes, that is all right.” ‘*? don’s seem to feel afraid of those folks, Gerald. If it turns out that they do want to rob us, watch me, and keep your wits awake, and you will know what to do.” They were not kept long in suspense, as the rear door was shortly opened, and in filed Israel Gonder, followed by his son and his wife, CHAPTER VII. THE DOOMED ROWENAS. On board the Rowena Gerald Talcott was not missed until the day following his disappear- ance. He was not visible at breakfast, and his sister was evidently troubled by his absence, though it was easy to suppose that he had overslept himself. After breakfast she sent to his state-room, and the discovery was made that it had not been oc- cupied during the night. ere was indeed cause for apprehension, and Eva was thoroughly alarmed, making her alarm known in such &@ manner that the passengers and crew were thrown into a great state of excitement. The steamer was searched throughout, and every person who could be supposed to know anything about the missing man was closely questioned; but no information concerning Lim could be elicited. He had simply disappeared, suddenly, mysteri- ously and utterly. It was certain that he had drank no liquor since he left the card table, and it was therefore impossible that he should have fallen overboard in astate of inebriation, as was hinted by some. The supposition which naturally occurred to Eva Talcott connected Mark Hannafin with her brother’s disa rance, as she feared that Ger- ald, in spite of hw expressed desire, had taken her annoyer to task, and that an altercation had ensued. But there was Mark Hannafin, with no visible weight of murder on his mind, and as eager and anxious in the search as anybody. As the inquiry progressed there came to light another mysterious circumstance, which was easily connected with the disappearance of Ger- ald Talcott. The passenger from Indiana who had regis- tered as Benjamin Gray was also missing. It was Mark Hannafin, with the aid of Silas Birch, who quietly diffused the insinuation that the two disappearances were dependent on each other or connected with each other, and that impre*sion soon became general; but why had the two passengers disappeared, and what had become of them? The Rowena had made but one landing Curing the night, and that was at a woodyard a little before day; but no passenger had been seen to go ashore, thouch it was possible that both the missing men might have done so without being noticed, Yet Gerald Talcott’s baggace was still on board, and Ben Gray’s carpetbag wes in his state room, and the waliet which he had deposit- ed in the safe was examined by tse clerk and found to be full of moncy. The Indiana man’s property was taken care of, and the conclusion aon torte & at was that both the disappearances must have been involuntary. The only supposition remaining was that there had been, from some unknown cause, a collision between the two men, which had resulted in both of them falling overboard and consequent- ly drowning. Mark Hannafin threw a little darkness upon the case, rather than light, by questioning the character of the Indiana man, who had regis- tered as Benjamin Gray, when his real name was Grayville Gordon, and this statement was confirmed by Mark’s friend, Hank Byers, and subsequently by one of the engineers, Though the fact furnished a suspicious cir- cumstance, it did not really advance the investi- ation. Eva Talcott, who was a young lady of consid- erable force of character, and who had her own ideas of the mystery, though they were some- what confused, tried to get at the root of the matter by boldiy quest oning Hannafin, asking him if he had seen and spoken with her brother since she left him on the afterguard of the boat, outside of the ladies’ cabin, Nothing could have been more frank and open than the young man’s answer. ‘““T am glad that you have spoken tome about that. Miss Talcott,” said he, “as it gives me an opportunity to explain to you what I have al- ready explained to others. I did see your bro- ther after the time you mention, and we had a few words together; but they were friendly words, and Lagreed at once to what he pro- posed, You may be sure of that, and at the same time may guess the nature of his proposal, from the fact that I have not spoken to you to- The Old River Sport. very anxious to do so,” ‘** Was that the last you saw of my brother?” inquired Eva. ‘** The last I saw of him, and the last I heard of him, After that I had a little talk with the engineer, who told me that the Indiana man, whom he knew by the name of Gordon, had been there talking to him about the steam gauge, Itis my impression that your brother was in that part of the boat about the time Gor- don was there.” ‘*T saw you go below with young Talcott last night,” observed a passeuger who stood near. ‘** No doubt you did. the little talk that I spoke of, and it was there that I parted from him. What of that?” | amy, though you may judge that I have been ! | about me. It was then that we hed . ‘*T only know that you went below with him, | and that you came back alone.” ‘** What are you trying to get at?” fiercely de- manded Hennafin. ‘‘ You had better be csreful what yousay. Do you mean to hint that I had anything to do with the disappearance of the young gentleman? Perhaps you had better go on and say that 1 tumbled him and the Indiana man into the river.” The discussion threatened to develop iuto a controversy, and Eva Talcott was about to with- craw, when the startling cry of fire came up from below. An alarm of fire on a Mississippi steamboat usually means destruction, and sudden and com- | piete destruction at that. The inflammable nature of the freight on the | boiler deck, the tinderbox construction of the | upper works, and the accessibility to every breeze that blows of the entire construction and its contents, leave little chance for saving prop- erty or life after the fire has got a start. It is no wonder, therefore, that the utmost consternation prevailed on the Rowena, and that the panic-stricken passengers increased the confusion that was inseparable from the alarm. | | 7 ** Why do you say that, Miss Talcott?” ‘‘ My brother has been lost, and 1 do not care to live.” ‘* But there are others left for ought to hve, whether you wish to or not, is your mother.” He had struck the right chord, and she yielded. ‘* You are right, Mr. Hannafin, and I have been very wicked, standing here and making no effort. But you should not trouble yourself If you can save your own jie, it Look at that Death is as whom you There will be as much as you can do. struggling throng in the water. certain there as here. ‘*But I believe that I can save you, Miss Talcott, if you will trust yourself to me. I have brought a life-p-reserver fer you, and I have a friend waiting for me below here, waiti to help you. Weare both strong men and goo swimmers, and we know what to do and how to G63”. ) Without waiting for any further remon- strances the young man fastened a life-preserver upon her, and attached another to bimself. ‘* Now you must step over to the other side of the boat,” said he, ‘*as there are fewer people there, and we will have a better chance.” She allowed him to lead her through the cabin to the other guard, where he leaned over the rail and hailed bis friend below. ‘‘ Are you there, Birch?” ‘Yes, but you must be quick, as it is getting infernally hot down here.” “All right. Stand by to jump in after the lady when she goes over. Now, Miss Taleott, you must get up on the rail and jump bravely. y friend will look out for yeu below, and I will follow you instantly.” She hesitated, and be pointed to the cabin, which was a'ready full of smoke. ‘* The fire is just rushing at us, Miss Talcott. Five minutes more, and it will be death to stand The captain and other officers kept their | here,” heads in spite of the danger and the clamor, proved their willingness to sacrifice themselves for those in their charge, and did all that it was possible to do in the emergency. As soon as the fire was discovered efforts were made to extinguish it; but they were utterly un- availing, and it was speedily made evident that the Rowena was doomed. The only chance to save life was to run the boat ashore, and she was at once Feaded in that direction, the pilot at the wheel signaling to the enzineer to run her for all she was worth. The pilot—a hero, as ali his tribe have been since steamboats began to be built—stuck to his post to the last moment, and the engineer did not think of leaving his engines until the flames had taken possession of them; but a brisk south wind fanned the fire until the Rowena blazed up like a pile of shavings, dense clouds of smoke hanging and drifting above the scene like a pall upon her coffin. All these heroic efforts were useless or nearly SO. Before she could reach the shore the doomed steamer struck a hidden bar and grounded thore, at a considerable distance from the land which her despairing passengers had hoped to reach, The shock of the grounding toppled over the big smokestacks, and sent them crashing through the upper works, adding to the confusion and greatly increasing the volume of flame. | The fire that had started near the bow of the | boat, and had already consumed the forward part of the cabin, swept rapidly backward, de- vouring everything in its way, and presenting a wall of flame to those who wished to look to- ward the shore. As the stern of the Rowena was in compara- tively deep water, the passengers who had re- treated thither before the fire could only drop off or plunge into the stream as the heat drove a hoping to reach the shore or strike the rh The pillar of smoke and flame that rose above the burning boat attracted the attention of an upward-bound steamer, which endangered her own. existence in her strenuous endeavor to pile on steam and reach the scene in time to save life; but before she could get there many had been destroyed by the fire and the water. Most of the cabin passengers had descended to the lower deck, where those who remained on board were huddled together, as far as possible from the fire, endeavoring to devise means of escape. Eva Talcott had stationed herself on the upper guard near the ladies’ cabin, just where she had her interview with Mark Hannafin, and there she remained motionless, awaiting the fate which appeared to be inevitable. There she was sought and found by the young ‘gambler, who hastened to her with two life- preservers. ‘‘T have been looking everywhere for you, Miss Talcott,” said he,‘‘and am glad that I have found you at last. You have no time to lose if you want to save your life.” ‘**'You are very kind, Mr. Hannafin,” she an- swered; ‘ but you had better try to save your own life, as it will be as much as you can do, do not care what becomes of mime,” . « — % ‘ 4 . ‘ - - - 4 * ta M . Ce The smoke was becoming suffocating and the heat unbearable, and the water was surely better than the fire. She permitted him to lift her up on the rail, and with a bold, free jump, she went over. Hardly had she touched tbe water when Silas Birch leaped in, and the next moment Mark Hannafin came after her. ¥ As she came to the surface both men seized er, CHAPTER VIII. A TOUGH HOTEL, THE light was still burning in the part cf the flatboat occupied by Gordon and Gerald when the Gonder tribe came in, and it was evident that they were armed, As they were thus ready for business, there could no longer be any doubt as to the kind of business they intended, Gray Gordon looked up, and the surprised ex- pression of his countenance was mingled with utter innocence. Israel Gonder was armed with a revolver, his son carried a shotgun, and lis wife held behind her something that was probably a weapon, ‘ What's up?” mildly inquired Gordon. ‘ Are you afraid of robbers?” ‘* Not unless you're that sort,” gruffly answer- ed the old man. ‘* We? Do we look like it? We wculd not be likely to swim ashore from a steamboat to go into the thieving business.” ‘*] don’t know what you'd be likely to do: but I know that you didn’t bring no baggage to this hotel, and that I went my pay in asa That’s all right, though you might have said so sooner; but I don’t see why you need come with guns and clubs to collect what we had in- tended to pay in the morning.” **T want it now, you see.” ‘* How much do you want?” ) ‘* Just the pile that you’ve got about you. We happen to know that you are rich, you two, and we need money right bad, so we want all you've ‘*Tt don’t amount to much, I can tell you; but you will be welcome to what there is of it. It will be pretty rough on us, though, to turn us out in this neck of woods without a dollar, and far from our homes. Can’t you leave us a little?” “Tl see about that when I know what the pile is. Shell out, now, and be quick about it. Gray Gordon rose slowly, and thrust a hand into one of his trowsers pockets. ‘** | will have to be careful how I fetch it out,”. he said, as he walked toward the old flatboat- man. ‘‘What Ihave is mostly in paper, and the water has put it in a bad fix. Have a little patience, and shape as possible.” By this time he had reached the old man, who was holding out an eager and itching palm for the money. ‘Here it is,” said Gordon, as he drew out his hand. Suddenly he drew it backward and launched out a powerful blow with his clinched fist, strik- ing Israel Gonder on the jaw, and knocking him over against his son, will give it to you in as good a Eomicbooks ee eee 7 » ° —s. ~~ aa . __ * “ . G a / F ” * Ll * 4 » 5 *