Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 532 — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

~ + = ee she stood before the astonished man arrayed in > the rich drapery of an Egyptian princess! An exclamation of wonder broke from Ray- mont’s lips, The next instant one of the woman’s hands was lifted to her face, and a cloud of smoke hid it from his gaze, ‘*T am Zubiano now, as you see!” said a voice amid the smoke, and Raymont saw that the woman’s skin had undergone a strange trans- formation, for it now had the dark bue of a face of the Nile, As the smoke lifted and the hand dropped, a small pastille, pyramidal in shape, fell upon the table, and, in a second, Zubiano was holding over it a small match whose flame was touching the apex of the cone, ‘**In God’s name, what manner of creature is ny must have flashed across Raymont’s mind, Zubiano said nothing, but went on quietly with ber work. The flame of the match grew larger, and presently a dense smoke with a pungent though not disagreeable odor began to fill the room. The fumes of the burning pastille seemed to enetrate every quarte of the watcher’s lungs, @ aftempted to expel them, but succeeded only partially. It was astonishing what volumes of smoke could roll from such a little pyramid. They at first rendered the sorceress indistinct, and then hid her altogether, “‘Carry out your design and let me get my breath,” cried Raymont battling heroically with the choking fumes, ‘J don’t see anything wonderful in suffocating a man. Is this the ex- tent of your black arts, woman” ‘In a moment,” came through the smoke. ‘*' We must wait for the moment,’ ‘*No, I will not—no. without air at any rate,” Raymont left his chair and turned toward the nearest window, but he suddenly found his limbs too weak to carry him, His lungs were filled with the noxious vapors; his brains swam! ‘* Woman—there is a deep play in this devil- try!” cried he, trying to face the now unseen magician, though he fell back into the chair. ** Youare right! Iam playing a game that will beggar you and yours, Did you think I would never try to get even, Raymont, as you call yourself now? You’ve wovena pretty web, | you golden spider, since we parted company! | Why didn’t you make some of the old gang keep track of me? You have just told me that you know nothiog of the whereabouts of Xerxes, Monte, Captain Cinnabar and the rest. Liar! | It does my very soui good to throw this into | your teeth. One half of the old gold ang are here, and they are your slaves still. Look at me, general! Do I resemble the woman you left, long ago, in one of the first webs of your spioning? No! you don’t see well now, but you hear every word I say. Xerxes may come and find you here, Or the beautiful fly of the web may be the discoverer, Well, never mind which one comes, You know that I am still able to ey a strong hand!” he speaker drew back with eyes aflame as it were, aud for several moments stood off and | looked at the apparently dead man in the chair. ‘It will be worse than a pastille, next time, if you don’t acknowledge the supremacy of the Queen of Sorcery!” she mocked. ‘Set your dogs on my trail—I wish you would! I want something to do, Good-by, general!” . She went out, and, as the door closed behind her the body of Ruff Raymont pitched forward on the floor, and the hue of the face as it was cian to the ceiling told that the man was ead! ——————— CHAPTER III. JAVERT’S NEW CASE, JACK JAVERT, the detective, prepared imme- diately to follow Lucy Lemon’s exit from his office; but he was unexpectedly delayed by a countryman, who had been robbed the night before, and who wanted him to devote much of his valuable time to the recovery of a watch worth probably ten dollars. ; The unfortunate greenhorn insisted on pouring the entire story of his misfortune into Jack’s ears, The detective listened through it all though he was all the time iu a torture-box. “So Juliette Jansen was unfortunate last night,” he murmured, with the countryman off his hands at last, and himself in a car, bound for the scene of the strange occurrence related by Lucy. ** Juliette iS & peculiar character, and a little mysterious, too. Maybe one of her visitors robbed her, but I do not understand the man lying under the piano, Lucy’s eyes could mon have eceived her; they book too bright for that, 7 It was not long before the detective al] in the vicinity of the house he was to visite Te oy Snes wg aes ea of the gir] ou 6 had not forgotten her engagement j the Park the coming night, ra The hour was still early, but his presence in the neighborhood seemed to occasion no surprise, He went straight from the car to Madame Jansen’s abode, and soon found himself in a cool and darkened parlor in one corner of which stood an elegant piano, Jack Javert had reached the conclusion that he was in the room mentioned by the girl when | a voice came in over the open transom, ‘* Remember I am engaged, Mariette,” said the voice, ‘ Don’t admit anybody till the gen- tleman leaves. Meet every caller on the steps and say ‘no’ decisively,” The next moment fcotsteps came toward the door, accompanied by the rustle of skirts and when it opened on its silent hinges the inde- et shadow saw before him the woman who ad summoned bim to the house, The light was not strong enough to let bim scan her face and figure, but a ree hand pushed back a heavy curtain and let in a flood of morning sunshine; then Javert saw that he was confronted by Juhette herself—a queenly-look- ing woman with a beautiful, though somewhat coid face, expressive brown eyes, and a luxuriant crop of tresses, er face broke into smiles when she saw the young man, studying him as it were with all ber wer, ‘IT sent for you if you are Jack Javert,” said she. ‘I have a little piece of business for you. I was robbed last night.” . The suddenness with which she made the an- nouncement rather startled the other, and be- fore he could ask the usual questions the madam went on: ‘*Lam going to give you all theclew I have, whicb is not much; but I know yon by reputa- tion and I am satisfied that I have not called the wrong man. You detectives don’t demand to know your client’s history I presume?” ** Not at all, madam, as a rule.” “That is good,” seemingly put at her ease by the reply. ‘‘ lam the victim of a secret con- spiracy which is designed to break me down by any means. I have not always lived in New York, as you may know. I have been tracked hither by the villains who are playinga big hand fora purpose which it 1s not necessary that I sbould unfold to you. When I awoke this morning somewhat earlier than usual, there was a singular, almost suffocating, odor in my bedroom. It was pungent though not repulsive, notwithstanding the nausea it occasioned. At first my head swam ina fit of giddiness but a _ breath of fresh air cleared the room and almost instantly restored me, ‘“*T found, and it was the first thing I discov- ered, that my eh bi pls had been carried to the side of my bed. On its polished surface, as 7 shall see, wasa grayish powder, like ashes, tresembled the remains of those little cones known in toy-shops as Pharoah’s Serpents. My first impulse was to 7 ined up and go direct to my jewel-case. I did so, The case itself was where I had left it, but it was unlocked, and a ring and a brooch were gone. Thering is easily described, for there is not to my knowledge an- other like it in existence. It was of solid gold and the form of a hoop-snake. The scales were rfect. The crest was formed by the serpent’s ead, the eyes of which were diamonds of the first water. The whole was the work of a bril- liant, though unfortunate young Japidary, who was found dead over his finished work some years ago. : “The brooch I si mention,” continued Juliette, with a waveof theband. ‘I am near- ly at a loss to know why it wastaken It wasa simple agate in a plain gold setting. But the ring is the valuable property that was lost. Now to the clew.” Juliette leaned toward the detective and col- lected ber thoughts for a moment. ‘*When I rushed into the parlor with my brain in a whirl, I stumbled over an object doubled up on the floor,” she went on. ‘The unexpected collision nearly threw me beadlon against the wall, but when I recovered, an came back, I discovered that I had fallen over a man. He lay yonder, half-way under the piano, and with all the immobility of one dead. Fright- ened out of my wits,as you may imagine, I did not know what to do for several seconds then I went over to the man and let a flood of light fall upon him, To my horror [ discovered that he was dead,” ** Dead?” echoed Javert. “Yes. His peculiar position should have told mé this at first, but it did not take me long to make the discovery. I called the girl Lucy, who sometimes sleeps in my house, and sent ber after you. After her departure, Mariette and I searched the man in the rior, but found no ring or brooch on the body. Having done this, I called up the patrol, and, just before your arrival, the body was taken to the morgue with the statement that I knew nothing of the man beyond the fact that he was found dead in my house, which was true. The stranger was a dwarf, Captain Javert—one of those freaks of nature which we see occasionally nowadays. His arms were v long, like those of a large a When he stood erect they must have reached to his knees, I should think he was an agile climber; however, he looked to be so,” ““How did you find your doors when you looked?” inquired the detective. Jack J avert, the Independent Detective. 3 Se Me ne ge a a A he a ESN SSeS threshold of his 7a ae - ‘** Locked—all of them,” was the prompt re- sponse, ‘*The person who robbed me locked every door behind him as he went out. The dead dwarf had no keys on bis body. I have nothing left to show you but the ashes of the pastille on my dressing stand. The morgue will show you my dead guest.” Juliette parted the heavy curtains which separated her bourdoir from the parlor, and Javert leaned over the strange relic of the mys- terious robbery. This was nothing but a little heap of ep ri ashes. Dipping bis finger into it, be raised it to his face and tried to extract some odor from the ash, but he failed to do so, and the woman, who was watching bim all the time, exclaimed: ‘**The smel] has departed, captain. The ashes will give you noclew. The morgue might do better,” ‘* We will see,” answered Javert, witha smile, “IT think I shall become interested in this case.” **T hope so.” **Do you profess to see in this piece of work the band of your foes?” Tne madam started, **T think I do; but the rest is your own work. You are to track the robber down: you are to drop the ring into my hand when I hold it out to you, But first 1 must bave your oath,” ** My oath?” ** Nothing else, Captain Javert,” Jack drew back and looked at the woman, who was so strangely commanding in his pres- ence. . ‘*T know this is an unusual proceeding,” she went on. “I am a peculiar woman. will have no unleashed hound on a trail of mine, You must swear to serve no one while you serve me, and to betray nothing which you may dis- cover while on the trail.” “Ts that what you require?” te Yes.” An uncontrollable desire seized the detective. . - arene the oath!” said he, raising his right and, ‘*Then you will take itt” “Tf you will be content with nothing less.” **T will not,” The brown eyes of Madam Jansen seemed to turn to black while she swore into her service the young detective, and when Javert’s arm dropped again at bis side, she bad achieved her triumph, ‘You may see strange things on this trail,” she remarked. ‘ There will be by-paths tempt you off, but the main trail is what you are to stick to. A man like I know you to be, need not make a failure of this bunt. If they find out that you are on the scent, you will have snares to meet, and cunning devils to fight. Now, Captain Javert, I have nothing more to say. The case isin your hands.” Five minutes later the silken detective was beyond the house, and on his way to the morgue, ‘* This case promises both adventure and mystery,” he confessed,” ‘‘I may know some- ng.about Lucy Lemon’s mistress before I am through,” He was well known at the establishment of the dead by the authorities in charge there, but when he inquired after the man who had been brought in from Madam Jansen’s house, was met with a laugh. ‘You've come to the wrong place this time, Jack,” ‘*The wrong place?” ‘Yes. It was acase of suspended animation, and, if the fellow isn’t at large, you'll find him at the station.” Javert took a long breath, and then laughed with the speaker. CHAPTER IV, TRONS IN THE FIRE, ‘* A CASE of suspended animation, eh?’ mut- tered the Independent Detective as he left the morgue and turned toward the police station, where he thought he would be apt to find the strange being in whom he had suddenly become interested. “I can any see how the case could have deceived Juliette Jansen, for she must have been considerably frightened, but he was not likely to fool a police surgeon long.” The station reached, Javert was met witha smile mucb like the one by which he had been received at the morgue. ‘** The man isn’t here,” assured the lieutenant in charge, ‘* Not here?” ** That is it exactly.” ** Wasn’t he Beene in from the morgue?” ‘**No, The patrol wagon started back with him, but, all at once he jum out and van- ished before the boys could clutch him, It was a neat trick.” i ‘* A trick?” ecboed the detective. “Tt was nothing else. The doctor says the man is undoubtedly one of the few whocan feign death at will. He was simply exercising his powers,” Jack, not a little nonplused, went back over the whole ground in thought. He saw that at the very outset the cleverness of an adroit rogue had baffled him—that, at the iGbhooks: oor