Chums No. 785, Vol. XVI — page 16: what you’re looking at

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

136 The Life is a Hard One. | Tux detective's life is not infrequently pictured as being an extremely attractive and interestin one, but those who know the drudgery of his ee lage not to mention the risk to life and hmb, tell a very different tale. Fancy the awful monotony of watching one house day after day for weeks together, and this sometimes when obliged to lie at full length in a wretched garret or hay-loft. Yet such work is frequent in the career of a detective officer, and woe be to him if the man he wants escapes his vigilance, and is known by the detective’s superior officer to have left the house undetected. There is no stated hour when a detective’s work ceases—-that is, when he is on an im- portant case. Sometimes for nights together he is out in the wet and cold, standing in a draughty passage, maybe, waiting for the re- turn home of a man who is wanted. Many other instances of the detective’s arduous duties might be cited, all of which would go to prove that his lot is a far from pleasant one. IMPRISONED WITH A BURNING FUSE. “It Was Now Nearing the Dynamite !”’ Cer See Srey} was known for miles around as the pariah of Red Cafion, a mur- derous, immense fellow with a slash of white on his breast. He had been hunted by the farmers a dozen times, but it was reserved for a youngster named Andy Comber to meet him in a queer, terrible death-and-life battle. I am speaking of a grizzly bear who came somewhere out of the Bitter Root Mountains and gave no end of trouble to the farmers in northern Idaho bebe dese the ranchman who tells this true and exciting tale). One morning Abe Comber had found two of his best sheep with their necks broken and their bodies frightfully mauled. : “The work of the pariah!’ cried Abe. “This settles it! I am going to put a bullet in that beast if it takes me a week to find him.” **T’ll come too,’ said Andy, his boy. ‘“No, you don’t,’ answered Abe. “This is no work for you.”’ But when the farmer was gone, Andy, who had a pretty shrewd idea where to find the grizzly, called his dog Grip, and prepared to set out on his own account. First he went to the harness-room and lifted a rifle from its pegs. From a long box where the workmen engaged in excavating a cellar for the new barn kept their kits he removed a small object which he wrapped carefully in cotton fibre. It was a dynamite cartridge. Then he sauntered with assumed indifference down the driveway. He did not wish to betray too much relish for the business of bear-hunting while the keen eye of his father was upon him. ” Presently he reached the foothills. The tank firs climbing above him stood un- usually black and forbidding, The vast up- lift of rock had always seemed to Andy mys- terious and awe-inspiring. It was in its grim- mest mood now, its tip shrouded in a grey sea storm-clouds, ; 4 cs had discovered bear tracks in this spot two days back, but he had kept his secret, for it was the wish of his heart to kill this bear single-handed. : ner ab hour’s scrambling brought him to & wide V-shaped fissure. The rubble before it was trodden down. The dry, grey rib-bone of a lamb Jay at one side, and Andy 8s sharp eyes detected bn coarse black hairs clinging dges of the opening. ee hens Grip!” be warned, for the dog was gnarling. ; Holding his rifle ready, he walked slowly into the fissure. It ran back straight and ° CHUMS. gradually increasing in dimensions for a sur- prising distance. In the half-darkness Andy made out several dim galleries leading into the main cave, but investigation convinced him that the bear had not passed through them. _ Presently Grip made a little, low gurglin in his throat. e brushed by Andy's legs an went gallantly to the front, mincing like @ cat, while his oag lower jaw worked. Andy felt his heart beat more rapidly. Feel- ing sure the bear was near, he ordered Grip to heel in a stern whisper, and pulling a bit of candle from his pocket, lighted it with fingers that were not quite steady. Holding his hat behind the flame and the rifle under one arm, he walked gently forward, until a deep, inquiring growl told him he had better stop. He moved the light, which be- came reflected in two round spots of hee in the darkness ahead. He put the light down and remained still, Saeed whether to risk a shot between those glowing orbs. Suddenly there was a savage snarl, and the bear re- treated round a sudden twist in the gallery. “No going after you there,” murmured Andy. “A nice little trap, which I don’t mean to walk into. I have a much better idea.’’ He proceeded to unwrap the cotton from the dynamite cartridge, and set it gingerly on a cleft. in the rock floor. Then he applied the candle to the detonating snaky fuse. It ignited with a splutter, and a tiny spark be- gan to crawl down the coil. “Come along, Grip!’’ cried Andy. He hurried towards where he thought the entrance was. The dog seemed reluctant to g0 that way, and Andy had to drag him orcibly. Excited as he was, he paid no at- tention to his surroundings until he was sud- denly stopped by a dead wall! Il. Anpy’s heart almost ceased to beat. For the first time he noticed how absolutely dark was the place. Releasing Grip, he swept the wall with an anxious hand. He was in a cul-de-sac at the end of one of the smaller side galleries. For a moment he hesitated, chilled by the thought of the small red spark crawling inex- orably on its errand, for it was now nearing the dynamite! Then, clutching Grip, he ran stumbling down the passage. He came out into the main chamber, recog- nising it by its width, and turned to the right. The fuse would only burn ten minutes, and then—— How much time he had wasted or pew far away lay the entrance he could not tell. It seemed any time, no time, since he had left the pariah’s lair. Rocks that he had not noticed before rose maliciously in his path ant sent him sprawling. The loose rubble slid like sand under his feet, and he collided with the walls, cutting his hands and bruising his shoulders. Suddenly he saw a circle of light ahead. It was the open air. Could he reach it in time? He raced forward madly. Then, with a great sigh, he felt the air sucked inward. The next instant it was belched forth with a shaking roar,.and Andy was hurled upon his face with a force that stunned him. An anxious whine and the lick of a wet tongue convinced him that he was still alive. He crawled to his knees, half-strangled by the gaseous and earthy air, What had become of the grizzly?” The question did not occur to him at that moment. Leaning on Grip, he staggered for- ward and stumbled over his rifle. Apparently it had sustained no injury. Using it as a staff, Andy reached the caves exit, where he sat down on a flat rock, too unnerved and exhausted to move farther. ; He failed to notice the lank-muzzled, waver- ing head of the grizzly as it emerged from the fissure; but Grip perceived the peril, and sprang up with a wild bark of challenge. Andy stared at the bear, too astonished to think of shooting. Luckily for the hunter, the rizzly wasn’t feeling at all up to the mark. ie was more dazed than Andy. With eyes half-closed and huge ay open, he swayed drunkenly as he inhaled the fresh air. As Andy’s surprise passed he sprang to his feet. He had not a moment to lose, but the short ger 2 meant a safe shot. The bullet sped to the brain, and the grizzly fell dead across its own threshold. THE HISPANIOLA A Grue Greasure Hunt of Gwo Centuries, By JOHN BLOUNDELLE-BUR’ Author of ‘In the Day of “‘ The Year One,” ete. os CHAPTER IX. (continued). The Old Man's Story, W* talked long with this poor relic past—who so angered Phips wi collections of the dead and the gone, ¢ the girls, that he almost ordered him ship_—and, indeed, it did seem as if at Ii had lighted on some good news. He said, he could persuade no one to believe or lent hand to search further, he went away to mines of Hayna, in the interior, where a find of gold was made, and. there he stay all the years, mae a little livelihoo forgetting all about the plate ship. , Then, having at last struck ninety—on he laid great stress, as though an acti credit done by himself—he came back to where he belonged, and fell in with Juan this black told us that when he did, come back, and heard that we had been gone, he fell into such a paroxysm of rage grief that he nearly died, for now, d ‘my chance is gone.” ¥ So the old figger thought all was lost to and bemoaned his fate and nigh went mad, one day the Buzo went off to find him and t him that the Captain Phips was come once mor back, but in another ship. Whereupon he @ once more go nearly mad, this time with and then made Juan bring him ont in © periaga to us. t ¢ - So, after hearing all this, Phips says to hi “Supposing you put us in the way to find plate, what terms are we to make? Wha you want?” at “Half,” says the old man. “I am now n years of age. I want to be rich for the my life.” ““Tush!’? says the Captain, “‘this is foolish- ness. Why should I give you half? I kno now the carrack has shifted; I can find it myself. You shall have nothing.” “No, no!” screamed the old Portygee, wh the big black negro began to mutter; and then Geronimo, as he was called, threw himself do on his knees with most marvellous dexterity his great age. “No, no!” says he, “not that — will tell you, and you shall offer me what will. Me and Juan, Give us what you will.” — “Indeed I shall,” says Phips, “seein hat you came to me, and not I songht you. ‘Ther fore, let us see. How much, think you, there below the water?” . _“The Saints only know,” said Geronimo, since she was taking home to Spain the tunes of many from Cuba, as the sailors to me, she must have been full. Oh! Signor Ca tano, promise me something, give me thing!” and he clasped the Captain’s legs and wept. if “Well, now,” says Phips, “see what I will do for you. You and this negro diver shall tell me exactly where she lies, or as near as may” be, and if I find her you shall have this.” “The Saints bless you, capitano; I am nearly — ninety years.” : “Be still. You shall have this between you, the negro to dive for me with my own English diver. You shall have for every fiye pounds of silver or of gold, one ounce, no matter whether we find much or little. Are you content?” _ At first both of them hee to grumble, say+— ing it was not enough. But soon Phips per. suaded them to reason in a way that was all his own. 2 “Then,” says he, doing so all in an a - ance of sudden vhdgeoe, “begone ont 4 gee ship. Away with you! What! shall I come from England twice to find what I knew of a surety five years ago was here, only to traffic with such as-you, and you?” pointing his finger : e will find it by ’ 2 ateach. “Nay, never! Wi our selves. Begone, I say!” . sf But to begone was not their purpose, since very well they knew that without us they could do nought. Strange as it may seem—and ver