Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 532 — page 10: what you’re looking at

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

7~ ‘red curtain and Juliette was again alone. 10 Jack Javert, the Independent Detective. shoulders and devoid of all ornaments save a pair of gold wristlets from which bung little chains with polished links, Juliette at first let a sneer wreathe her lips for this make-up, but the eyes that looked over the top of the mask drove it away, and a singular | feeling took possession of her mind. ‘Don’t stand speechless before Zubiano,” came from beneath the mask. ‘‘ You have come to hear what she can reveal. She can find the trail of your ferret, or point out the imnissing path of love,” Juliette seemed to fall back at the allusion to the very errand which had in part brought her to the abode of sorcery. Zubiano came forward till the tips of the out- lips, ‘“Has my lady Juliette a tongue to-night?” she asked. Lucy’s mistress uttered a cry. * Yes, my tongue is here!” she exclaimed. **I | cause I was blindfolded. own that you have touched it with the wand of | magic, but I will loosen it for you. Iam here | to try your skill, Zubiano. You have called my name, Iam Mrs, Jansen when I am not Hae ‘ Juliette.’ Do you pretend to find the ost?’ ‘** [ pretend to have full control of the art I | practice,” was the reply, | ‘You find lost property and uncover mys- teries?” ** IT follow the revealments of the stars.” Juliette looked once more at the glowing eyes before her and continued: ‘‘Tf you do this, tell me something of my past.” “You know that already.” “True, but I would know what your gifts are.” | ‘* Ho! you come to consult me with doubts of my power!” cried the sorceress, with a light laugh ending the sentence, ‘‘ Is that it, woman? The past, eh? You want to know what Zubi- ano can do. If she can uncover the past she | may know the future. You are not the first | person who bas sought this test, Wait.” The strange woman disappeared beyond the | ‘“*Pve found one of the queens of magic!” she thought. ‘* If sbe can put me on the trail I will let Javert the sleuth slip out of my employ for I am equal to whoever has rob me if I once know where to find the guilty.” At this moment the curtain swept across the apartment, leaving the space which it had hid- den entirely open, The lights, though burning brightly over Juliette’s head did not seem to penetrate the part uncovered and the woman in her eagerness to see, leaned forward with bated breath, **Stand back, daughter of fate, and look at the mysterious.” Juliette recoiled at sound of the strange voice, and saw that a thin vapor was rising from a caldron on a brasier of living coals. This lasted for a second, when the vapor lifted and a red spot perfectly round and as large as a shield appeared on the wall before ER Sees er, ** Look at the crimson shield!” said the same voice. In another minute the color of the shield had changed to a brilliant yellow while it increased in size but still retained its rotundity, Presently it covered the whole wall in front of Juliette, and then a rough mountain land- scape appeared on its surface, Juliette saw the towering peaks and pines, and there grew before her a canyon witha road winding between the precipitous walls. It looked like nature itself, ** Does the child of fate see?’ asked the voice. **T see,” answered Juliette. _ Then there came into views down the canyon bed a figure on horseback. It increased in size as it drew nearer till Juliette saw that it wasa woman in the saddle. ‘That is enough!” she cried. ‘‘I am con- vinced that you can open the closed portals of the past,” ** Not yet,” was the response. ‘* Watch the woman in the canyon,” ‘* No!” responded Juliette putting up her hands. **T have seen enough, I tell you.” ** Look once more,” Instinctively Lucy Lemon’s mistress turned her eyes to the yellow disk again when lo! the horse vanished, and the canyon became filled with great birds with large black wings! The spectator went back with a cry which she could not suppress, ste ae F enous! enough!” she exclaimed and the birds and the yellow circle vanished. “You know what I can do,” said a voice at her side and Juliette felt a band at ber wrist. ‘With the past unlocked do you want the future opened, woman? I would not if I were ou. Lam Zubiano, the Daughter of the Stars. [f you want to see into the coming days—if you insist on knowing in what manner the skeleton hand of the canyon’s victim will clutch the oe rg will reveal it all, Do you command? your silence proof of your overweening cu- ‘ riosity? Come! let me lead you to the altar of fate—to the shrine of the mysterious, You are ' Juliette, but you have been more, I will show yen the trail of your human ferret, I will slip _ back upon your finger the serpent-headed ring which he is to find for you, and I will take you down the highway of fate to the end which | none of us can escape.” + The eyes of Zubiano seemed to burn on Juli- | ette’s cheeks, and the grip on her wrist was as red-hot iron, ‘No! no! not now!” shrieked Juliette, break- ingaway. ‘I know you can do itall. Iam suffocating! I am dying! Air! air!” and she threw up her hands only to hear a wild laugh in the room, and to sink back into utter darkness, CHAPTER XIII. THE DWARFS FIND. out o’ here. Captain Cinnabar spins bis webs to suit himself, and this one appears to his liking. I was caught on the street an’ fetched here in a ! stretched fingers almost touched her visitor's | “Tr seems to me that a fellow ought to get | cab, driven by a man I did not get to see, be- My ‘dead game’ did not work with the captain and Monte. He re- minded me that I was not trying to beat the pone’, an’ that I was somewhere else than riding na patrol! wagon. He’s a shrewd scamp, is Captain Cinnabar, an’ he’s added to the tricks he used to play when he was Colonel Nero’s lieutenant in the Spider League country.” Captain Pygmy, whom we left in a web of Cinnabar’s spinning, leaned against the wall of a little room barely eight by ten, and gave utterance to words like the foregoing. _ He was decidedly out of humor, and escape was uppermost in his mind. As he had observed by a close inspection of his surroundings, there seemed no loophole to liberty, and by the time he got through with his expressed ideas, he was almost ready to despair. The one door of the cage was locked, and its two windows were heavily battened. Captain Pygmy was surprised that Cinnabar had left him with any breath in his body, but the strength of the web compensated him for this. More than once he had made the circuit of the little room, Thoughts of Lucy finding out some news, and of Captain Cinnabar winning his game, exaspe- rated the dwarfed Hercules of Gotham to a de- gree indescribable, With an oath he sprung from the wall and made for the door again. Failing there, as he had failed before, he re- turned toa certain place which had before at- tracted him. This was a hole which the rats of New York had at some time gnawed through the floor from beneath the house, Frequent incursions of rodents had made a hole large — for him to insert the tips of his fingers. Already he had taken several strong pulls at the board in hopes of raising it, but, as yet, the nails had caused it to resist all efforts, ** Once more,” said Captain Pygmy through his teeth. ‘* I’ve got more strength than they give me credit for, and now | shall put every bit of it to the test.” In another moment he was pulling upward, with his muscles standing out like whipcords, and his face almost black. Suddenly there sounded the yielding of a lank, and before Captain Pygmy could check is power the board troke at his feet, and he fell backward almost against the furthest wall. ** Victory!” he exclaimegj. ‘‘So this is the web that was to hold the fly, eh, Captain Cin- nabar? Now, by the nine gods! let me follow up this success.’ The Californian’s prisoner went back to the opening. It was not large enough to admit his body, but he soon wrenched loose another board and then feasted his eyes on the cavernous open- ing beneath. t was not difficult for him to reach ground under the floor. He did not know whither a tunnel would lead him, but he did not stop to think, Captain Pygmy was soon enacting the role of gopees under the floor. ‘His bands were as good as the claws of the ground-hog, and he used them to advantage in the loose dirt beneath the house. At the endof two hours he stopped in his labors. He had passed the foundations of Cap- tain Cinnabar’s web, **Let it be up now,” he said to himself, and forthwith he broke the earth of the roof of his tunnel, All at once a quantity of dirt fell in upon him, and at the same time he heard the rumble of wagons and the voices of people. ‘** Not so bad after all!” he laughed, drawing himself out of the hole which the caving in of the earth had made. ‘*‘ Where is that death- clutch of yours, Captain Cinnabar? If it can’t bold any better than it has held me, it is a grasp of straw.” ; Once out of the hole he did not tarry long in the alley where he was. A few leaps carried him to the street where he took as good a survey of his late prison as the light would permit. hee. | _“ A broken web an’ a lively spider!” chuckled the dwarf, drawing back. “It seems to me ’ that J have been an age in that house, but I have not been there many hours, Now Id like to know whether Lucy has made any new dis- coveries, Has Jack Javert reported yet to Juliette, and if so does he know who killed Gen- eral Raymont and for what?” Captain Pygmy was not tbe person to let grass grow under his feet when he had anything important on hand, He went to the Park in faint hopes of finding Lucy there, but as he was not successful he turned his steps toward Juliette’s house. There for two hours he watched like a spy with his body deftly concealed by the shadows that lui ked around, He lost sight of nobody who approached the premises. He saw ail pedestrians who passed the steps, and every one was watched till he was no longer visible. Captain Pygmy had the faculty of patience well developed, but his vigils at length tired him out. He turned to go with a last Jingering look at the house.when a cab approached the curb and then halted in the gutter. ** Hello! Juliette coming home?’ ejaculated the dwarf, ‘‘ This is the reward of patience, an’ I’ve won it fairly.” He saw the cab-door open and the figure of a woman step out, This opened the captain’s eyes more than ever, The next instant the woman handed out an- other member of her own sex, and assisted her up the steps. ‘* Remember! Silent tongue and victory!” Captain Pygmy heard. ‘‘A noise—or an at- tempt to set a single ferret after me—and over you go to the police!” The person who seemed to speak these words jerked the knocker and supported her compan- ion till the door was opened. ** Good-night,” she said in audible tones as she pushed Juliette into the hall and almost before the door had closed she was going back to the cab. “Tl let Juliette go an’ look after the other one,” exclaimed Captain Pygmy. ‘ There has been some dark work here. It is midnight an’ Juliette comes home in the erip—yes, that is the word—of an unknown woman. can afford to keep track of the stranger.” By this time the vebicle was getting out of the gutter, and it was no trick at all for the dwarf to spring forward and swing his body into a nice position between the hind wheels, Away went the horses with the twisted body of the midnight spy clinging to the place he had assumed, It was a jolting ride over almost deserted streets, but the captain was not the man to give up the chase with anything left undiscovered, He was rewarded at last for the cab stopped at last a long distance from Juliette’s house, and in a quarter of the city entirely strange to him. Still keeping his position, he saw the occupant of the cab alight and enter a house with a night key. At the next corner be left his uncom- fortable perch and ran back, ‘*Ho! I see the number now,” he cried, draw- ing close to the building. ‘*Ah! I saw it in the paper I looked over in the lunch-room where I stopped to satisfy my hunger after getting out o’ Captain Cinnabar’s web, I connect a name with the figures. It is Zubiano’s house I have found, and Zubiano is a sorceress.” _ He seemed to step back for the sole purpose of collecting his thoughts. ‘* Tt was Zubiano who brought Juliette home,” he went on. ‘‘ Now, why did she do this? Is Juliette playing sleuth herself after her serpent- headed ring and her other valuables? She has grown tired of her detective’s failure to report, She is going to trust Javert no longer, so she goes to Zubiano the Sorceress, mebbe to see if the queen of humbugs cannot put her on the trail, Pish! the female fraud can do nothing but bleed Juliette. I will do more than that mee Come, Captain Pygmy, you must go back, Away went the nimble-footed dwarf, witha final glance at the home of the sorceress. He seemed to have but one destination now— Juliette’s abode, for balf an hour after taking the back track he reached the place. Captain Pygmy was possessed with a fierce desire to know what was going ou in the house, He wondered if Lucy was there, and whether she had discovered Juliette’s connection with the sorceress. Neither did he forget his last visit to the house, nor how, in one of his tricks which admirably counterfeited death, he had been bundled into the patrol wagon and taken to the morgue. He was playing for a fortune, which he said belonged to Lucy Lemon, with whose identity he 2 aanapsig to be familiar. trange man that he was—hated by Captain Cinnabar, and wanted by more hands than the Californian’s—he wanted to see what had be- come of Juliette since coming home. He watched the house as he had done before, hoping that the girl Lucy would come out, but the fates were against htm, “Tmust know. I will know!” he cried at Eomichboo S).iG