Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 532 — page 20: what you’re looking at

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

seconds into the 20 Jack Javert, th his fork. He knows who the man is, and now Xerxes is going out to play fox or wolf as the on may warrant, They know Javert, and so ol. Already Javert, so called, was paying his score at the cashier’s desk, waited on by a pretty girl with black eyes. This business operation did not take long, and when he moved toward the door, the two men called Monte and Xerxes were on their feet. They assumed the utmost indifference toward the supposed detective, but Captain Pygmy, if not Felix, saw beneath the skin, Captain Cinnabar’s shadows were at the heels of their prey when he left the house. **Come! We have game in view now!” whis- pered the dwarf. “ If we let all three get away without giving us a point, we had better with- draw from the drama. Now or never, Felix.” In his eagerness to see all pos<ible to be seen, Captain Pygmy was the first man to reach the sidewalk. A3 he stepped from the restaurant he natural- ly threw his eyes around in search of his quarry. ** Hello!” said a voice at his elbow. Captain Pygmy looked up. ** Hello, yourself!” he replie1 to the speaker, whose figure towered above him like a pine, and then he fell back a step as he fully recognized the party addressed, It_was Xerxes! “Did I frighten you, captain?’ continued Cinnabar’s right bower, with a malicious grin, **Come, don’t try to play innocent. I am Xerxes, and you are Captain Pygmy, once cail- ed Major Atom, but not here. Keep your tracks, If you attempt to leave, I'll sink my fingers to your bone, You ought to know my srip, captain, ho, ho, bo!” aptain Pygmy was a prisoner! CHAPTER XXVII. SHADOW AND SHADOW, “ONCE more cauzht!’ growled Captain Pygmy under his breath. ‘‘ Felix has vanished already, and Monte is after the detective,” He again looked up into the face of Xerxes, and saw his eyes still glittering with triumph. Despite his powers, the dwarf knew that to break from the grip by which he was held was next to the impossible, and he did not make the attempt. ‘Don’t try the dead game,” continued Xerxes, seeing the little cap.ain so quiet. *“ You’ve played that trick till it is threadbare, and if you give it tome now you'll come back to life, 1f you should be so fortunate, in a differ- ent place than this,” Meantime, Felix, who had not stopped to see what had become of his companion, was follow- ing Monte and the man he bad singled out in the restaurant, ' He might have been mistaken about the iden- tity of Monte’s quarry, but he was almost cer- tain he was not. He feared and hated Javert to -vhom be owed a term of unpleasant sojourn bebind the bars at a time with which our romance has nothing to 0. It was not to be expected that he would s9 soon forget the man who had sent bim up. He always said that he would recognize Javert no matter how he was disguised, and now he believed that he had proved good the assertion, Felix resolved to keep Monte and bis rey in sight and for some time he thought that Captain Pygmy was close behind. When he took time to look back he found that he was alone on the trail, put he had gone too far, and was too near the game to retrace bis steps. Monte’s quarry kept on apparently oblivious of the fact that any one was at his heels, This is better luck than we expected,” thought ‘Captain Cinnabar’s spy. ‘* While the captain is making the web strong for Lady Panther or Zu- biano we have picked up Nora’s new sleuth and Lam running him down, Xerxes is competent to take care of Captain Pygmy and his pard so { bave this whole trail to myself. Before morn- ing I will report good news to Captain Cinnabar, and then for the deadly closing in!” The hunted man led Monte out of one street can oe e did not seem to be in any particular hurr as Monte had no trouble in keeping sight of nim. Felix, too, was having a good time at his little play; that is, he was congratulating bimself on the turn affairs had taken, for he was certain of finding the baunts of the man who had blocked one of his deep games and given him a prison- cell instead of success. At length the shadowed man made an abrupt turn which brought bim almost face to face with the river, For six blocks he kept straight ahead. Monte increased his gait and got almost with- in =a distance of his quarry, and Felix had to walk faster to keep pace with Monte, All at ouce the victim dodged into an open hallway and vanished. It was so sudden that Monte thought that he had been deceived by his own keen eyes, When he came up and saw the gaping hall he knew what had become of Nora’s shadow. Cinnabar’s ee bower gazed for several urkness on the stairway. | | He wondered which particular part of the building had received his man, He had plunged into a large three-story house which might have a hundred rooms for any- thing he knew to the contrary, and he longed to know which one had taken him in. Monte knew the interior arrangement of bouses of this description. Since transporting himself from the gold region to the great city, he had made himself acquainted with houses in- stead of mining-shafts and cactus trails. ** Where’s the use of following a man if you don’t go to the end?’ said Monte to himself in front of the building. ‘‘Mr, Powers doesn’t dream that any one has been at. bis heels all this time, and just now he may be engaged in some operation, good for my eyes. By Jove! I'm go- ing up.” Monte slipped into the hallway and leaning against the wall just inside, took a pair of very light rubber soles from his pockets and adjusted them to his feet, Then he went up the narrow steps, guiding himself by the wall, and when he bad reached the top he stopped to map out the rest of the campaign. ‘It’s kind o’ like goin’ into a strange mine,” muttered Monte. ‘* You don’t know what youre goin’ to run against nor when, These houses sometimes hold a hundred people, and the one man you want is generally the last one you find.” The Californian’s sleuth felt bis way down a hall to another which was dimly lighted by a feeble jet that burned with a bluish light. Springing noiselessly forward he reached up and turned the light out. ‘*T don’t want any shadows where [ am,” he said under his breath, ‘‘ lm not going to take many chances 0’ bein’ handed over to the police as a common house prowler.” When the light was out Monte saw a light through a transom near the eud of the corridor. He was at the door in a second, ‘“‘My man for a thousand!” he exclaimed, ‘* But who is he talking to? That’s what I want to see,” It cost Monte no effort to raise bis hands and Sa the wooden bar across the top of the In another moment he had lifted his body clear of the floor, and his eyes rose above the bar and looked into the room beyond, It was a small room, plainly furnished and tenanted by two persons. Monte took in the whole scene at a glance, He saw the man he had tracked from street to street. He noticed that he had cast aside the beard in which he had taken supper, and that his face was now smooth, with two expressive black eyes above the full cheeks. ‘**What would Cap’n Cinnabar say if he was hanging here?” exclaimed Monte. ‘I told him that the man I saw at Nora’s had eyes like Javert. Now I’ve gone another step, The man is Javert—Javert, who is supposed to have been roasted in the web that caught bim!” Monte saw his quarry lean toward his com- @anion, who was a young girl, and then heard him say: ‘*'You haven’t been found yet, eh, Lucy?” ‘*No, thanks to you,” was the reply, a smile appearing on the faceof tie speaker. ‘‘T have been thinking ever since you left me here that fortune must bave put you on my trail.” ‘* Let us call it fortune,” answered the man, “T saw your old friend awhile ago,” The girl started. ** You mean my old enemy, don’t you?” ** Perhaps that name does fit him best. At any rate I saw Captain Pygmy.” ‘He is my yee though for awhile I re- garded him in the light of a friend.” ‘* He was not alone when I left him.” ‘Then Felix was with him?” ‘* Yes, they were two carrion crows together,” ‘Who is this Felix?” Mr. Powers laughed. **My note-book would tell you, Lucy,” said he, ‘Felix is a hawk who lives across the river, but he seeks his prey everywhere. I sent him to the bars once, and [ fancy he likes me. But I gave the pair the slip, because I wanted to come back to you,” The girl looked at the detective for several minutes without speaking. An anxious look was seen to fill hereyes, __ ‘* Did you open Juliette’s message while you were gone?” she asked. ‘*T know it all.” Lucy saw the eyes of the speaker fixed upon her, but she said nothing. **Tt was a secret indeed,” he went on, ‘ Juii- ette kept it well.” Ina moment the girl bad left ber chair, and Monte, hanging tothe door with desperation, saw her grasp tke detective’s arm and look straight into his eyes. ** Was it about—” She stopped and removed her hand. ** Was it about who, Lucy?” Lucy’s face lost color, then it came and went again. . “I can’t ask you!” she cried. ‘*I have no right to pry into Juliette’s secret, yet I would like to know.” e Independent Detective. - a - a —_ a She drew off from the smiling detective and dropped her eyes. *‘1 don’t blame you, girl,” he said. ‘' You kept the message through thick and thin; you ran the gantlet with it, and I have itnow. A thousand girls would have surrendered it for their freedom, but you have been as true as steel,” Lucy Lemon stood in the middle of the room, wondering if a revelation would’ follow these words, Her breath seemed to go from her in gasps; she could hear her heart beat, ‘** You will Jet me keep it a while, won't you, child?’ continued Mr. Powers, at which the girl’s heart seemed to drop. There was no reply. The detective stepped forward and touched her gently. ‘Tl untangle the skein,” he went on, ‘*Iam pledged to bring light out of darkness, and I see the first gleams already. I have yet to find the woman who killed General Raymont, and I am now on her trail. I have to discover the new web of the Spider League, and I know which way to look for it. Do not think that since Javert disappeared from the game Mr. Powers has been idle, It is true that 1 am Nora’s detective, but at the same time I am keeping my oath to Juliette.” ‘*T will be silent,” exclaimed the girl. ‘* Don’t let me know anything I should not know, I am in your hands, Javert. Youare my friend, and I trust you. If Juliette’s secret brightens or blights my life, I shall not complain, I was happy before she found me; I shall be happy still. But beware of the League and the man outside,” ‘““The man outside, girl?” ‘Captain Pygmy. Though an atom, he is sbrewd and powerful. He plays desperately for a fortune, and between him and Captain Cinnabar it is tiger and tiger.” ‘““A big tiger and a little one, eh?” laughed the detective. “Yes, Captain Javert.” Monte loosened his grip and dropped to the floor below at this. He had seen and heard enongh. Back he weat toward the stairs, are news for Captain Cinnabar!” he ejacu- ated. He paused at the landing and looked down to- ward the street. About six steps below him something dark like a man stood against the wall. “Ts it a shadow?” sent Monte through his teeth. ‘‘ I shall soon see,” Down he sprung in his rubber soles and as_ he reached the objective spot the shadow moved and two men came tugether. The next instant cpr grappled and rolled struggling toward the lamphght on the side- walk! CHAPTER XXVIII. A FATAL SLEEP. By the merest chance the writhing combatants struck the solid floor of the bottom landing with- out material injury to themselves. There for a moment they panted and still locked in deadly embrace glared at one another like rival tigers. Monte saw that he had attack- ed the man he had left in the Bowery restaurant with Captain Pygmy, and Felix recognized his foe as Cinnabar’s sleuth and pard, **'‘You’ve tracked me!” said Monte, ‘*'You lie!” answered Felix at the same time forcing Monte’s right band loose, ‘You are Captain Pygmy’s spy,” was the second avcusation. ‘€ Another lie!” promptly retorted Felix. Then he turned his attention to Monte’s other hand, and as he broke its hold he pushed his enemy’s head against the wall at the risk of breaking bis neck, and sprung up like a deer. Monte followed Felix as soon as possible, but the man from beyond theriver again pushed him against the wall and with such force that the concussion stunned him slightly, ‘“ Dowt follow me, Tl kill you if you do!” cried Felix, with eyes shooting fire at the same time, andin a second he had cleared the step and was gone. ‘Is he off?" growled Monte reaching the side- walk too late to stop the agile Felix. ‘* What a fool I was, I had bim on the step at my mercy for I could bave stepped back and thrown a knife half way through him. But let him go. I’ve discovered enough anyhow, and after such a tussle I’m lucky to get off without any broken bones,” He left Felix to go back after Captain Pygm or where he listed, end then crept away himself, having marked well the building to which he had tracked the detective and Lucy. “* When Xerxes has placed the dwarf he will turnup. T)l go back and wait for him or report to Captain Cinnabarif I find himin. Won't I shake him out of his boots when I impart the thunderbolt information that Javert didn’t rish in the web which accidentally took fire! F told the cap’n that the man I saw at Nora’s had the Javert eyes. Don’t I know it now? Well, I should think I do!” " Half an hour later Monte let himself into a Eomicbooks. |