Beadle's Dime Library No. 762: The Rounder Rogue in New York — page 28: what you’re looking at

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

bg > ‘ a3 * ,* ee ; > — ¥ le , , T°? t ve c + ; Js Ww > 0 x3 clutch. Ha, ha, ha! Old Grip, the Detective. Near a small shanty at the edge of the work- ing quarry, a number of rough-looking men, some of them with lanterns, were standing in the rain. ‘“* The ring!’ murmured Gladys, in momentary trepidation; ‘‘ you have got it, count. Flash the opal upon them!” ‘*The ring!” echoed the count, taken by sur- prise for an instant. ‘“‘Of course; the opal—my opal. Be quick about it. These ruffians are dangerous on oc- casion.” The count struck his forehead with his hand, ‘* Corpo di Baccho! that I should have left 1t lying on my dressing-case!” he exclaimed. ‘* What! the ring—the opal?” ‘* Alas, yes! Forgive me, signorina; I deserve nothing short of death for my stupidity.” ** Your deserts are close at hand, then,” said Gladys to herself; and going up to one of the men, who fortunately proved to be Bigor, she managed to dispense with the flash of the ring and to procure a lantern. A few minutes later she stood alone with the count in the great fire-lighted quarry-chamber.. She was so sure of him now that she did not even take the trouble to fasten the passage-door behind them. | ‘* Villain!” she exclaimed at last, ‘‘ your treachery is known. tome. I have brought you here to destroy you!” And the change that had taken place in her voice, no less than her appearance, wasabsolute- _ly appalling. ee) 19s CHAPTER XXXIX, TO HIS DEATH. THE count, who had been in the act of offer- ing some yet more pronounced endearment, was less s ed than wonder-struck at the light- ning-like change in his lovely companion. At first he felt sure that she must have sud- denly taken leave of her senses. ** Fascinating signorina! ravisbing dear one!” ‘he exclaimed, soothingly, and at the same time laughingly ; ‘‘ what wild caprice is this? Come, let us be on gentier terms!” And he even made a caressing movement. _Gladys's fury was so excessive as to blind her to certain differences of manner and speech, eee otherwise would now have been apparent to her. . ‘* Don’t touch me!” she hissed; ‘* don’t dare do it, on your life!” She had thrown back her rich furred mantle, revealing the magnificence of her evening toi- lette, One jeweled band was already thrust into the bosom of her dress. Her form was pal- pitating, her dark facs on fire, with the ungov- ernable thirst for revenge that was possessin her. Verily a superb demoness, a beautifu fiend! And still in her face, with its eerie, mocking light, the swift flickering of her phan- tomsmule, - But the gambler was not to be warned. Blasé to the core, his passions were aroused to the highest pitch by the superb diabolism of her beauty, combined with the unexpected pictur- -esqueness of their surroundings, which perhaps he did not care to understand, ‘‘ By my patron saint, you are simply mag- nificent!” he exclaimed, with enthusiasm. Angel! thou art one that a prince might die for. ‘*Content yourself, scoundrel! will die for me, and soon “— hag ‘* Ah! my demoness, my divine fury, if I might but first clasp that lovely form, feast my lips on those delirious charms! ri a made a wild gesture with her disengaged and, ‘* Accursed detective! will you not recognize that I have penetrated the mask under which you have won my woman’s heart, my profound- est confidence?” , **T a detective?” He began to give way to his wonder now, 19 saan would you think to still brave it ou ‘ Montalvo only shrugged bis shoulders, pity- You, for one, re | , You thought to obtain my diary, as you obtained my rin —the diary which [even now z in my bosom, and which in your hands would so readily consign me to the hangman’s retch, you at last turn pale and tremble!” ‘ ** Diavolo! no wonder that I do,” half fal- tered the count, who now when two late began to suspect something of the inextricable trap \ into which he had blundered so egotistically. Here is some ** Actually, I am all at sea. Signorina, I must pro- dreadful mistake. test—” But his words had only served to madden her, and her hand was already withdrawn from her bosom, the dagger glittering in its clutch. The count uttered an alarmed exclamation, -and, retreating a step or two teward the half- ajar door of the e, he drew with trem- bs ‘fling Saisk a weaaal reve ver, | ty alread : ro was upon roi Nag, Bere tiger- , and at the same nt er was ah hoe hear’: She was merciless, insatiable, Even as he ~tottered in death, an 2 before he could measure | | his lifeless length on the ground, again and | again did the remorseless weapon pierce the de- fenseless breast. Dead at last! There was a sated, devilishly triumphant look in her face, With ber foot spurningly planted upon the corse, ste raised her eyes to the cavern’s roof, and shook the yet reeking blade. ‘* Powers of Darkness, I thank ye!” she cried. ‘Oh, I am my oldself again!” Then, apy down exultantly on the body: ‘‘ By my life, can scarcely realizeit! Dead, powerless at last, he, Old Grip, the great detective, the remorse- less sleuth-hound of my career, my life-long foe, whom I so hated and sofeared! Dead, dead dead! Good! it is almost too good to be cred: ible, I have but to seal up this subterranean den till my followers can dispose of the remains, and then all will be well. known of on earth and by men no more.” A light swift step in the passage startled her, and she looked up. Then, with bloodless face and a. hoarse, chok- ing cry, she staggered back across the firelight aghast, the bloody dagger dropping from her hand. Old Grip, the great detective, was standing in the passage entrance, . Panting and pale, a single glance at the tra- gic scene before him was explanatory of its aw- ful siguificance to his appalled consciousness, He had done bis best, and was yet too late to interrupt, to save. Yet another blameless victim had met the death intended for himself, and yet througheno fault of his, for each fatality bad chanced in the legitimate exercise of his crime - detecting, society-guarding profession. But the thought was maddening beyond ex- pression. ‘* Inhuman woman!” he yelled; ‘‘it is the real | count, the true Montalvo, you haveslain. But think not to escape the consequences of your manifold misdeeds. Asin the past, s0 now am I society’s avenger in your horrible case!” He darted toward her, But Gladys had by this time recovered her nerve, and she eluded him with cat-like activity. Finally she darted under his arm, and gained the passage before he could fairly coutinue his pursuit. Then the heavy door was closed and locked in his face, he heard her footsteps flying along vet passage, and he was a prisoner with the e CHAPTER XL. THE BEGINNING OF THE END. But the detective’s first sensation, after fully realizing the horror and embarrassment of his situation, was one cf joy. A small, compact object, like a book, caught his eye lying on the ground near the body of the murdered man, He seized it, with a hopeful exclamation, and a cursory examination by the ruddy firelight was sufficient to confirm his joy. ° It was the coveted diary, which Gladys had inadvertently dislodged from its place of con- cealment in drawing ber dagger. Old Grip scanned enough of the contents of the thin, closely-written pages to assure himself that the record was all that he had boped for, as a self-incrimination of the writer in all the misdeeds of her guilt-fraught career, and then secured the precious little volume im his own bosom, Then to make his way out of the quarry- chamber! He knew where he had left a squad of oticemen in the lots outside, but hesitated at being found by them in such a place and in the dead man’s company. It might compel a large amount of explanation, and now time was of the utmost value to him, if be would, as he hoped and intended, arrest Gladys in her own home, before she could have thoroughly reha- bilitated her nerve and resolution, He tried the door of the passage, but all idea of the practicability of forcing instant. Then he bethought himself of the cell-door in the face of the rocky wall, whose secret had been partly revealed to him, Approaching tbe spot, he pressed his foot over the ground systematically. At last the hidden spring was touched by chance, the rock opened in obedience to the pressure, and the interior of the luxurious cell was revealed, ; He hurriedly entered, and began searchin for that other spring which Gladys had sai would open communication. with an under- ground passage yrwan,| off into the open lots a quarter of a mile distant. He remembered that it was that portion of the tapestried wall occupied by the picture of Cleo- ’s Barge which she had approached with extended hand just before relinquishing the in- tention of showing him the secret, and it was there that he now directed his efforts. Butin vain. Heeven took down the picture and tore out the han , but, search as he ve up on the \ + oie hie ” ¥, , The detective will | merely have mysteriously disappeared, to be | would, with his professional expertness to aid. eee ee -———iCe er eee ete eee See ee CU eee ee rm nr a ee v him, there was no spring in the, wall that he could discover. Then he tried the floor, but with no better success. W bile thus engaged he was made aware of the rushing approach of many tramplug feet in the main passage. me Couid that be his squad of police, hastening to hisrescue? Hardly; for he had merely point- ed out the masked entrance to them from a con- siderable distance through the driving storm, and, moreover, they would be oply likely to Sey to him in response to his preconcerted sig- nal. He sprung into the center of the cave as the doc r was burst, and the Followers, with Bigor at their head, came rushing furiously into view. It was evident ata glance tiat, eveu without the magic of her opal ring, Gladys had succeed- ed in inflaming the Followers in her favor, and that they were come to murder the detective at her behest. Tit All werearmed to the teeth, their faces flushed with drink, their gestures furiously hostile. ‘‘Upon him!” shouted the brutish Bigor. ‘See! pointing with bis bludgeon toward the dead body, ** our mistress spoke truly. Yonder’s the corpse of the man he murdered just before trying to cut her throat, too. Uponhim! Tear him to pieces! hammer him to death!” With a simultaneous howl, and brandishing their weapons, they launched themselves toward the detective in a serried body, But at that instant the detective, in drawing his revolver, and_all unconsciously, flashed upon them the opal ring. It seemed to gather the fire-gleams into its lustrous heart, and then hurl them back into © those savage faces like dazzling points of silver and gold and steel, while the encircling rubies clung around the gleaming source of it all like gouts of blood transfused with sullen flame, Midway in their fierce onset, the Followers hung back, astounded and dismayed, ‘‘Curss you for poltroons!” roared Bigor, who was the first to recover from his surprise. ‘‘ He has no right to the magic ring, and may have forced it from our dear mistress. Upon him, I say ! ut Old Grip caused the opal to dazzle again and again, and the ruffians continued to hesi- tate. , ‘* Followers, respect the symbol!” he cried, exultingly. ‘‘ Ye are bound by oath—ye dare not disregard it, How do Followers assemble?” ‘* At the Flash of the Ring!” shouted the ma- jority, as if from long habit. ‘* Don’t forget that, Followers,” continued the detective. ‘‘ Yeowe me homage by this sign, and I shall exact it,” But the dwarfish Bigor was still rebellious, others began to take sides with him, and it dily became evident that even the power of the ring would not much longer interrupt their hostile intentions, at the remembered bidding of their terrible mistress. The detective placed his back against the wall, slipped a whistle to his lips, and suddenly sounded three successive ear-splitting blasts, that well-nigh rivaled a locomotive’s champion scream, The astounded Followers fairly hopped on the ground, with their hands to their ears. | ‘*Treachery!” bellowed Bigor, as there came on the heels of the last blast the sound of a fresh trampling throughthe passage. ‘‘ Kill him now, and make an end!” But even then the blue-coats were among. them, ding-dong. clubs were trumps on the in- stant, with no call for anything but face-cards, and it seemed that in less than three minutes there was not an unbroken head among the ruffianly band, nor one of them that had not measured his ch bi upon the ground,’ Old Grip hastily explained the situation to the roundsman in command of the squad, ‘‘No time is now to be lost,” be added, ‘‘if the woman’s flight is to be interrupted, for I am certain she will attempt a flight. I want two officers to accompany me.” The ofiicers were placed at his disposal, and in their company he quitted the sanguinary scene, and proceeded at once to Mr. Hardy’s house, To Old Grip’s astonishment, the drawing- rooms were lighted up, and there were soun of music and pleasant voices from within. He at last succeeded in quietly communicat- ing, through one cf the servants, with Eleanor illiams, who had succeeded in effecting her ay 1 from her place ef confinement an hour or two before. k She was still wrathful over the indignities she had endured, and would have forthwith over- whelmed the detective with a detailed account of them, but that he silenced hee with a peremptory gesture. There was also something in his hard, set face, to say nothing of the policemen accom- nying him, that must have afforded her some ng as to the crisis at hand. Old Mr, Hardy was feeling so improved in health this evening tbat he was holding & sort of family gathering in celebration of the event. Both Avice and Leslie were doing their best make it pleasant for the invalid; the St. J: -hns, brother and sister, were there; and, »irabile ‘Pa. * 4 $ j M “sy e ') ~ : o Fey ‘ 8 ® \ 4 * *, . { 'e a iy ‘en a Vey ° ~ —— ‘i if 5 : F ei 7 Le | { ‘ : ’ . $i. » 29 ee. We Tee SET 88 a 7 Mi; a A: , ory : be, - 2 — ae —— ee + Oa we