Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 475 — page 25: what you’re looking at

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

Chin Chin, the Chinese Detective. 25 give you points on Wall street, I’m the boy who They laid hold of Johnson, carried him down- can do the job up to the queen’s taste.” stairs and stowed him away in the trunk— He stood aside to allow the stranger to pass | when the lid was opened, the holes which ha into the house, and then closed the door care- | been made in this novel vehicle so that the man fully behind him. | who was to be placed therein could breathe, could ‘Come up-stairs to my den,” he said; ‘‘ we'll | plainly be seen. be nice and quiet there, and I’ve got some good | __ In less time almost than it has taken to write brandy with which we can wet our whistles | a description of the affair, Johnson was lugged while we talk.” | down-stairs and placed in the trunk, his hands ** That’s a capital idea,” the other observed, as and feet bound with a strong cord, and a gag he followed the host up the stairs. | placed in bis mouth. Mr. Johnson occupied a back room on the| The cover was fastened down, and the two second story; it was plainly furnished,andfrom | men carried the trunk out-doors again, placed it the appearance of the round table in the center | in the express-wagon and drove off. of the apartment, with its litter of bottles and | There wasn’t anything about this movement or something of that sort and isaway most of the time. ‘* When the cuss fet out "bout how dull it was for him with nobody but the Dutch gal'to talk to, and she’s a squat, slab-sided ga oot, ugly enough for to frighten a hoss into fits, I up and axed him why he didn’ gO in for to get a better job, but he only laughed in a silly sort of way and allowed that he had a pretty fat thing of it as it was; a reg’lar picnic; them was the very identical words he used, ‘*The captain would raise merry blazes if he caught mo on the boose, but I’m jest fly enough for to have my lush when I want it without his knowing anything about it.” - eS : —— i he ~ . nr ' ‘*Who did ho mean by the captain?” the stranger asked in the most innocent way im- aginable. ‘* Why, his boss of course, and there’s some- thing strange about that, too; the cuss is always as careful and polite as you please in speaking about his boss when he’s all mght. ‘Always calls him Mister Rochville, you know, but jest as soon as he gets his still on he commences the captain business.” ‘* Well, that is odd,” observed the other, ** Yes, and once in a while he tries to give me the old gag that he’s got a big puli on the cap- tain, and that the boss couldn’t get along with- out him nohow,” and the bartender elevated his nose significantly, as much as to say that he didn’t place any credence in the statement. ‘*Of course, of course, that’s the old story,” said the stranger. F ** Oh, he’s given me a lot of that kind of wind when he’s been filled clear way up to the neck, you know!” the barkeeper asserted with an air of disgust. ** He’s given out too, once or twice, that his boss had let him in for a good thing—” ‘*In the stock-market, I sup !” exclaimed the other eagerly, betraying a deal of interest. ‘* Yes, of course, I suppose so, but I didn’t take much stock in it.” ‘‘Ttmay be possible, you know, that Rochville sometimes drops a hint of how things are going to work,” the stranger suggested. **By Jove! do you know, Id like to get a chance to have a talk with him! Ive got a bit of money which I can use just now, and if I could get a hint from him Id be willing to pay - ~well for it.” » with the cigars. +4 “’ as rolling off a ‘*T can fix it for you as , with an air of log!” the barkeeper exclaim loft pride. ou see I’ve been giving the cuss a lot of wind lately about a rich uncle of mine up in the country, and how I was going to get him to come down to the city and rope him into a «tock speculation. It was all gas, of course, but I couldn’t let him do all the blowing, you know. ‘* Now, to-day, I promised to send him down a box of cigars when they came in; we were out of the kind he wanted, but after he was gone I ound a box. You can take it down and intro- uce yourself as my uncle—Traynor is rg name, Mike Traynor—and you can say that pee you up for to pump him for some i ou’ve got a clear field, for the boss and his sis- ter won't be home until about five, and the ser- vant gal is down in the basement.” The gre thanked the barkeeper warmly for his kind assistance, promised that if he succeeded in making a successful deal, he should have a “‘stake” out of it, and then departed e CHAPTER XXXVI. ‘ A SURPRISE. Drrectiy to the house of the broker went the stranger, rung the door-bell, and in answer thereto a dark-faced, short, thick-set man ap- Thore wasn’t any doubt in the stranger’s mind that this was the Peter Johnson to whom the obliging barkeeper had referred. **Ts this Afr. Johnson?” he inquired, ‘Yes. that is my name,” responded the other, in a rather surly way, but from the appearance of the man’s face, the stranger came to the con- clusion that it was the liquor which he had im- bibed which made him appear surly rather than any disposition on his part to bedisobliging. “My name is Traynor, James Traynor,” said the stranger, giving the fixst name which came into hishead. ‘‘ I am uncle to Mike Traynor, in the saloon, you know, at the corner. Johnson nodded; he knew the saloon and the urbane barkeeper only too well. i dUst come to tom. Ong. Mike hes ; 1 ae a Te, bee Mike the ve to town for quite a wanti come time, as pag had a little money to risk could put me in the way of making a good thin : 80 I on. “7 cash together and came 0 wn. “He has just explained to me that you are the man wit ean t me, and if hi ag be kind ones to give me a few points, «1m will- ing to pay liberally for the information. > with a wise shake of the head. Pee ** Here's oe box of cigars, by ne , e wanted me to bring down Ss “Yes, yes; well, elie in, Mr. Traynor; the ‘giad to see you, and it there’s any man WHO0 eats ~£ — o «7 glasses, it was evident that the spree which Rochville’s confidential man had begun at the corner saloon had been continued in the privacy of his own apartment. ** Help yourself to a chair, and try a little of the brandy!” exclaimed Johnson, filling out a liberal supply of the generous liquor in two glasses one of which he pushed toward Mr. ** Traynor.” ‘** Thanks, here’s success to both of us!” The liquor was duly dispatched and then the stranger said: ** Pve got just about five thousand dollars that I can afford to risk—” ‘* Five thousand!” interrupted Johnson; ‘‘ well, that’s a tidy little sum.” ‘* Now if you know of. any chance for me to make something handsome by the use of that money—” ‘*A chance!” exclaimed the other, ‘‘ why, I know a hundred! A man like myself who is up to all the tricks in the game—but is this all good and solid—no wind about it? Have you got the ducats so you can put your hand on them with- out any trouble?” The stranger rose to kis feet and drew a erste! rape wallet from the inner breast pocket of his coat and threw it down carelessly on the table. ‘*The money is in that pocket-book,” he said. ** Count it, and then you will be satisfied that I’m not telling you any falsehood when I say that I have that sum of money to invest.” The usually dull eyes of the other sparkled like the orbs of a beast of prey, stealing on its vic- tim in the gloom of the night when he beheld the wallet apparently distended with bank-bills. ** Oh, yes, this looks like real old business,” he Ser riper as he bent over to examine the pocket- This was the opportunity which the other oa and for which he had so skillfully plan- ned. He had thrust his hands carelessly, as it-ap- peared, into the side pockets of the sack-coat Me a he wore, after casting the wallet upon the e, And now, quick asa flash, out came his right hand, and the hand grasped the murderous wea- n, originally devised by the savage Thugs of ndia, and now a favorite instrument of the modern ruffians, which is called a sand-club. With wonderful quickness he struck a terrible blow at the head of Johnson as the latter stooped to examine the wallet. But drunk as he was the other had sense enough to perceive the attack, and involuntarily he threw up his hands, and, in a measure, broke the force of the stroke. It staggered him backward, however, and the stranger followed him up with the ferocity of a tiger. ohnson was a natural-born fighter, though, and now tnat he understood what the other was about he offered a desperate resistance. He evaded the second attack bya dextrous dodge, and closing in with the other essayed to grapple with him. In the struggle the hat, wig and beard of the stranger were bnodkad off, and a howl of rage came from the throat of the assailed man as his eyes rested upon the yellow face of the Chi- nese Detective. For it was our hero who in this disguise had penetrated to the lair of the Wall street broker. The cry of rage was the last sound that John- son was to have a chance to utter for some time, for hardly had the cry escaped from. his lips when the assailant caught him by the throat with his muscular left hand, and with a single well-directed blow of the sand-club felled him to the floor. Then hurriedly replacing his wig, hat and beard, the victor hurried to the front door which he opened noiselessly, A covered express-wagon was drawn up by the cur né, not in front of the house exactly, but rather a little above it, Two stout fellows were lounging by the back of the wagon, and the moment they saw the door of the broker’s house cautiously opened, they proceeded to get out a large trunk from the wagon which they carried into the house, and m the way in which they handled the trunk one would have been apt to believe that it was pretty heavy. The momen and the door lid, revealing then they tion from ¢ they were in the entry, though, was Closed, they threw open the that the trunk was empty, and hurried up-stairs in obedience to a mo- the acute detective, Ju a a2 } | | | | _CLCL LO ic) = to excite any attention, and it did not. Never in the world had an abduction been more boldly planned or more successfully carried When the express-wagon had got out of the way the detective left the house, closing the door carefully behind him, and took his way to the corner saloon. “What luck, pard?” asked the barkeeper, the moment he entered. ** None at all; he’s too drunk to talk, and just as I got to the house he was going out. ‘He said that at some other time he would have a talk with me, and that was all the satis- faction I could get.” ‘*He’s getting worse and worse,” the bar- keeper commented. ‘‘ The still that he had on ay was the toughest one yet, and the first thing you know the boss will catch on to him, and then it will be all up with his soft thing.” The other agreed with the barkeeper in this statement, then the two took a social glass of ale together, and the stranger departed. The trick had been worked. Rochville’s confidential man was a prisoner in the hands of the bloodhound, who chose to use his own machinery rather than depend upon the more cumbersome agency of the law. / The detective had found a way to make the ruffian, Conkey yer talk, and if he could not learn what secrets be strange. He must be more than man if he did not yield to the “ persuasive” ways of the odd genius, who in his own strange fashion was doing such really wonderful work in the man-hunting ine, Perhaps it was because he did not follow in the old ruts, but struck out into new paths, that such success attended him. His proceedings were very irregular, of course, but then, possibly, he excused his act by quoting the old saying: ‘*The end justifies the means,” CHAPTER XXXVII, THE JOURNEY. THE device adopted by the Chinaman in hir- ing the room in the opposite house put a stop to the game which the saloon-keeper intended to lay. . ee It doesn’t matter,” he remarked, after con- sidering the matter. . signify why he watches, or who employs him? ‘Bah! it doesn’t matter at all!” the son of Guadalupe observed, ‘*We can beat his game easily enough, now that we know what it is,” the boy Henri de- lared. ** Yes, we know what he is up to, and he must be a more clever spy than I take him to be if he pera Sa in bothering us at all now,” Boloni said. ‘* Let me see,” he remarked, after reflecting for a few minutes. ‘* I think you had best set out on your trip to- night,” and he addressed the Frenchman. **Henri here will go with you, so you can on yourself until taat time in any way you e, ‘That will suit me all right. silver in my pocket and as billiard coins. ‘**T am told that on the Bowery there is to be found much sport.” ‘* Amuse yourself as you please but be here by eleven to-night,” the saloon-keeper remarked. ** And if you should chance to find a spy upon oe track it will be enjoyment for you to lead im estray.” ‘ **Oh, trust mo for that! I will lead him a graceful adien, rare chase!” and then with a Durange sallied forth, The other two watched to see if the Chinam emerged from his ambush and gave chase, bu no one came from the house. ‘Tt is natural; why questioned Boloni. ‘He might be, as he is a stranger and not one’ of the regular patrons of the house,” the boy suggested. a Ah, yes, but I do not believe that this spy’ has watched long enough to know who are pa- trons and who are not. , ‘¢ What think of the brave, Henri?” ‘** He seems to be a dull brute,” answered the boy. - I eeeay date am a pre air player, I may be able to pick up a few Bill, and the wily Tombs law- were in possession of the entrapped men it would ‘* We know that he is a spy, and what does it a should he be suspected?” -_ =! = a | - * &% ae - ° 4 ? ‘ “rE . == a = ye » Ph Peer y Fa aA eT oe a" » miGboOoKksS:.€o ET ee) ae Ree eae hart * i A ~O. atieall Oy Ee Paid ass : : :