Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 532 — page 24: what you’re looking at

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

24. Jack Javert, the Independent Detective. Nora was silent for a moment, ‘It is a strange proposition,” said she, * You reject it, then?” ‘*T have not said so,” In a moment Captain Cinnabar had left his seat, and a stride—which seemed a spring—took him to the young girl’s side, ** ‘You will never find the slayer if you reject my proposition!” cried the spider. ‘* The whole lan of success will vanish in an instant, and in its place will appear something more bitter than failure. Do not think that the man who was owerful among the Sierras is weak in New Fork. Coionel Nero had some secrets which he did not commit to his papers—one in particular which he would not have whispered to you for the world. **Do you know it?” asked the girl, her lips, ashen in hue, meeting firmly behind the last word. ‘* Yes; I hold it as my own,” was the response. ‘You may be ina position ere long to regret your refusal to accept Captain Cinnabar’s pro- y0sition. Why, you have not given me time to int at the reward I would name,” **No; I did not think you would broach it without my acceptance of your offer,” The Californian gave Nora a smile. ‘* We willlet the secret pass for the present,” he went on. “I can lead you to success or throw you back upon the rocks of failure. Without my assistance all the human ferrets of Gotham cannot find the woman you want. I am the successful trail-hound on this trail. | to become my wife. And Ill parade your lin- Captain Cinnabar has found the prize of the | chase, and the secret belongs to him alone! He does not have to hold his proposition back be- cause you have not asked for it. There is but one path to the vengeance you want, Miss Nora, and that is as the wife of Cinnabar of Cali- fornia,” It was evident that Nora Raymont expected a ‘startling climax, but not one of this sort. She was on her feet almost before the words had left his tongue, and stepping back a short distance, she stood before him with her face flushed and her hands clinched, Eye met eye in silence for several moments. ** So I am to sell my honor for the secret of a crime, am I?” exclaimed Nora, “*Call it what you please,” retorted Captain Cinnabar, his bronze face relaxing none of its Satanic coolness, ‘*T have no liberty to barter in that manner,” “Then you don’t want to go to the end of the trail.” **¥ do and I shall)” ** Without my aid?” ‘* Yes, if that aid depends solely on the ac- ceptance of your proposition,” ‘** It depends on nothing else,” replied Captain Cinnabar. ‘‘ Then the base proposition fails,” To Nora’s surprise, the man laughed outright. ** Base, eh?” be cried, emphasizing one of her own expressions, ‘* The heiress of Colonel Nero, with much of his ithfamous career known to her, eage before the whole city, and—” e suddenly stopped, for Nora was lying in a dead faint at the foot of the door! CHAPTER XXXIITI, STILL SHOWING HIS TEETH, SHE will know when she recovers that I am not to be fooled with!” exclaimed Captain Cin- nabar with asinister look at Nora as he turned away. : Nobody came forward to bar bis passage from the room and witb the tread of a victor he walked out, leaving Nora still unconscious where she had fallen, Out in the sunlight of the streets the golden Spider of the Sierras readjusted his kids and in- creased his gait toa rapid walk. _ , He had not gone the length of the first block when Mariette, Nora’s maid, entered the room which had witnessed the interview and found her mistress still in the swoon. Nora was taken to ber own apartments where she was brought back to life by the faithful girl, but when questioned about the cause of the dead faint she sealed her lips and made no reply. ‘* In Heaven’s name, did the monster tell the truth?” exclaimed Nora when she found herself alone. ‘‘ lam not General Raymont’s daughter! I would disown the mother he can bring hither! What shall [ do to break the villains power? Javert must strike, It shall be war to the knife —I see no other way, for nothing in the world could induce me to become Captain Cinnabar’s wife,” The captain by this time had progressed some distance and had entered a building and passed to a room in the rear. This wasa small room with two round tables and several chairs, and when he had ordered re- freshment for the inner man he picked up one of the papers that littered the little place. He ran his eye rapidly up one column and down another in search of a particular item. “There ought to be a mention of it some- where,” muttered he, ‘‘ This is the paper that gathers in such items and— Ah! here it is!” Cinnabar’s eyes snapped with delight and in a moment he was devouring the paragraph which had rewarded bis search. It was brief and as follows; “THE RIGHT MAN! ‘The little man taken as dead from the arms of the stranger in front of the Eureka Restaurant, No. — Bowery, by Sergeant Pepper, turns out to be the cle wanted by the police for suspec.ed house- reaking. He possesses the marvelous power of playing death at will, and on the occasion of his for- mer arrest he came suddenly out of one of his trances _ and escaped by leaping from the patrol wagon, It ' concerning himself. is thought that he can throw some light on the sin- lar suicide of Mrs. Jansen, though up to this time e has not volunteered the slightest information It has been discovered, how- _ ever, that he is sometimes cailed Captain Pygmy, characterizes a fair proposition from Captain | Cinnabar as base! Why, girl, you don’t know what is base when you talk thus, I could stand where [am and disclose a secret which would drive you with a cry from this room, Don’t lay the stubborn head when you have all to ose in this game involving human life, want the blood of the woman who left General | | | You | Raymont dead on the floor of bis library, suffo-— cated by strange gases, You have devoted your life to the finding of this woman and to another purpose. in the anxiety attendant on the bunt. Your sleuths have found nothing; they are not worth the paper they write their reports on. Now, when the only door to success is opened to you, you shrink back and reject the prize. I say again that only as Cinnabar’s wife can you reach the goal and avert ruin from the house and fortunes of General Raymont!” ** You use the language of one who has not the goods he offers for sale,” exclaimed Nora, te the stalwart fellow squarely in the ace, ‘** Don’t push Captain Cinnabar too far!” was the quick retort. “You throw a subtle threat into your sen- tence,” laughed Nora, ‘**T can afford to threaten. Captain Cinrabar the Sierra League is not powerless in Go- ‘* Show your hand, then!” cried the girl, fall- ing back and halting at the door, the knob of which her fingers touched. ‘‘ Your infamous ao gar ie is rejected once and forever, Spider of California and New York! Look to the web you have spun for General Kaymont’s gold, It may break in your sight and dissolve like dew before the sun. Mariette will show you out.” Nora opened the door with a last look at the tiger-browed man in the middle of the room, “Oue word!” he hissed, as bis hand went up and covered her. ‘Til make you lower than the low for this defiance! By the eternal gods! Pll fetch your mother here and make you wish in her presence that you had never been born! : am pleased to defer to you, You are no more Raymont’s child thanI am. I lower my self—tough as I am—when I ask you You bave lost flesh and color > en and as the police have a firm grip on him this time, he will be held indefinitely on suspicion, and is quite likely to practice his mortuary trick tor the amuse- ment of a lot of prison officials.’’ ‘‘Safe yet!” laughed Captain Cinnabar, at the end of the paragraph, and just as his order came in, ‘t Xerxes need not look further after his late charge, and I can turn him upon Javert, the girl’s sleuth. Of course they will hold Captain Pygmy; they’ll do that dead or alive. If he goes off into his death-trance again he may find himself on the slab of the morgue, with a stream of cold water pouring over him, and a lot of police looking on. No, my dear captain, you don’t want to play fakir just now,” and Cinnabar turned to his wine, for he was alone again, He had scarcely touched his lips with the rim of the gluss when he heard the door move, and as it opened, a loud voice beyond sung out: ‘* Hold on there! That room is occupied!” But the door opened wider, and as,the Cali- fornian looked a man came in, and found him at once. Captain Cinnabar noticed that his visitor shut the door behind him, He came forward, and spoke in a clear voice: **Good-morning, You are quite alone.” ‘*T am, sir,” answered the captain, whose eyes had suddenly got a fierce look, as if he had recognizec in the man before him a person whom he did not want to meet. A faint smile broke the contour of the stran- ger’s lips, and as he dropped into the chair op- posite the Californian, he spoke again. **T need not introduce myself, for it is evident that you know me,” ‘**T ought to,” replied Cinnabar coolly. ‘‘ You are Javert, the detective.” The smile broadened on the listener’s face. **You may have wondered within the last five seconds how 1 escaped from the web of your own spinning,” he went on. ** You need not tell me,” answered Cinnabar, with a gesture, ‘‘ 1 see that you are here, and that isenough. I knew before this that Satan helped you out of the trap, and we need not dis- cuss that matter here.” ‘** Just as you like,” came across the table, ‘I Captain Cinnabar. Are you congratulating yourself on the success of the last play?” | eet tp SSss=ees~lsseesssesessseeepenenp——~sie rr Javert glanced at the glass standing empty at the captain’s hand. ‘* My last play?” echoed the spider, ‘t Yes; the one you made in Zubiano’s house,” The Californian started slightly. Evidently it was not the reply be had expect- ed. Javert had taken him back to Zubiano when he had luoked for a reference te his play at Nora’s home. ** Do you think I have been to Zubiano?”’ he asked, ** You struck like a madman there,” “Then,” said Captain Cinnabar, leaning across the table, ‘‘ then, you must have been to the house in person.” ** | know who inhabits the silent place.” ‘“* Is she still in her chair?” ‘*T left her there.” The man from the Sierras pushed back his chair and stood erect. As he executed the move- ment, he threw a hot glance at the detective, i without rising, looked calmly up into his ace. For a moment Captain Cinnabar seemed on the point of throwing his whole weight upon a an before him, but he suddenly stepped ack. ‘* You have found the trail—in your mind,” said he, grinning maliciously to the baleful twinkling of his dark eyes, ‘* You come to me and talk of a dead woman in a chair, just as if I placed her there, Well, whatif I did, Captain Javert? Are you willing to blast the life of your beautiful employer by pushing me to the wall?” There was the deepest malignity in the tones of the man who dropped these sentences, ‘* You want to let a gulf stretch between us if you have any respect for your client,” he continued. ‘* This is a game in which the hand of Captain Cinnabar can give to the young lady the tortures of a living death. I caught ou in my web because I found you play- ing, spy at my window. I dcen’t want to know how you got away. I confess that I thought you perisbed in the web which was afterward destroyed by fire. But you are before me in the flesh, and that is enough. You are playing trail-dog on me, for the money which a certain young lady is willing to cast at your feet in her search for vengeance, Don’t follow the wolf too far nor teo close, Captain Javert. He has turned on his foes before; he is liable to turn again.” ** You show your teeth whenever you take a notion. We know this,” said the young sleuth. ‘* Of course I do?” ‘*' You have cleared the way to General Ray-~ mont’s wealth by the play in the house of the sorceress. The woman followed by Xerxes in the land of gold did not perish at his hand.” ‘* She did not,” , But she did not escape you, Captain Cinna- ‘“* That will do!” cried the Californian. ‘I have business elsewhere. You may go back tu our employer, Ferret Javert. You think you tee reached the end of the trail, Because you have found Zubiano the witch you ma flatter yourself that you bave carried out Nora’s commands. She will tell you that I have just quitted her presence. With flashing eyes and heaving bosom she may retail our interview and I aoubt not that the parrative will possess some interest for you. What is her lawyer lover’s name?—Nvel Nixon, eb? Well, when he hears that Captain Cinnabar can drop a bomb ofa certain kind at Nora’s feet, 1 guess he will withdraw from the net of Cupid. Ha! ba! ha! they think I came from the Sierras unarmed, [ have weapons which no eye can find end no hand wrest from me. I know you city sleuths, and I guess you are cne of the best, Captain Javert, But good as you are—keen as your life experience bas made you—you fail when you cross arms with the man from the Sierras! Follow me or sit there and lay a snare for the wolf of California. Icare not which you do. Only keep out of my way, and when you have heard Nora’s story advise her to keep back by every means in her power the publishing of the secret I possess!” te rma Cinnabar touched the door as he con- cluded. This man had the audacity of the devil in his nature. He gave Javert a parting look, and then opened the door, ‘‘ Captain Cinnabar, I don’t know what you told Nora Raymont,” said the detective from his chair. ‘‘ She may tell me and she may not. I have become acquainted with the threads of the web you have spun for the genera)’s millions. I know the faces and the trails of the two spies who came from California to serve you in Gotham. One of the papers on this table tells that the sneaking career of one of your old ac- uaintances has ended. Captain Pygmy is in the grip of the police, but you will not weep at this, I know. ou and the dwarf are not on good terms, I should think not! You know no secret that can blight Nora’s life. She may be beggared by circumstances, but she will be bap- pier than she is to-day. You bave tried to clear our way to the stakes of the game by murder. The woman in the chair will strike back, cap- com Ebooks