P. T. Raymond

“ I am a police detective and the best friend Frank Mansfield has got. May I trouble you to tell me who and what you are?"
The woman trembled before him.
A wild, hunted look overshadowed her face; her eyes wandered restlessly about the room.
"I harm no one, sir," she murmured. "I only wish to be let alone that I may complete the work of vengeance which I have begun against the man who has brought so much misery to me and mine."
"Just so, madam, just so," answered Caleb Hook, soothingly. "You refer to Mr. Callister, no doubt, who is now in the room below. ”

“ The rubbish which filled the cellar had burst out into a sheet of flame.
"It's all up with us, Rube, curses on your folly!" he whispered fiercely, as, grasping by the collar the man who had crouched cowering by his side, he dragged him toward the cellar stairs.
"Fire! Fire! Oh! missus! I've dropped the pan! and the hull business is a-burnin' up!"
Out from among the burning rubbish sprang a frightened boy.
It was Jerry Buck, with every hair standing up in horror, his jacket all ablaze.
"Take her through the window, boys!" cried Frank, springing toward the fleeing men. ”

“ Lower New York is always deserted at night, and the hour of twelve had already passed.
Before them rose the grim stone walls of the Custom House on William street—that upon which the Lispenard bank is situated—from Wall to Beaver, as far as the eye could reach, not a living thing could be seen.
"Come on; it's only a blasted bat!" whispered Billy Cutts, from the top of the steps. "We have no time to fool away, I tell you. First thing we know a cop will be along. The goose is ready for the plucking, and we want to be about it. It's blame strange Rube didn't show up!" ”

“ What do you know about this Jerry Buck?"
"Nothing at all, except meeting him in the wall as I did."
"There is something that boy is keeping back," said the detective, musingly. "Now what is it? That's the question. Have you noticed, Frank, how much he resembles you?"
"No, I'm sure, I haven't. Do you mean to say he looks like me?"
"Enough like you to be your twin brother. I never saw a more marked resemblance in my life. But that is always the way. A man can rarely see a resemblance to himself in the face of any one else." ”

“ Before them standing by the side of the hole in which the buried treasure lay hidden, was the form of the mysterious woman who had played so stirring a part in this tale.
With one warning finger outstretched before her she glided forward and placed her form in front of Frank.
"Go, vile wretches!" she fiercely cried. "Go and work evil no more to me and mine! May Heaven's vengeance fall upon you both for your many crimes."
For an instant Elijah Callister stood regarding her with set teeth and eyes filled with snake-like glittering. ”

“ Blue-fish, white-fish, weak-fish, porgies, twisting eels, and soft clams strung on strings, lobsters alive and lobsters boiled, soft-shell crabs, packed in moss-lined boxes, hard-shell crabs, not packed at all—all are spread about outside of this singular building on the sidewalk in the gutter—yes, even in the very street itself, while the bawling of the fishermen as they cry the merits of their wares, the cackle of housewives, moving about here and there with giant market baskets on their arms, are all mingled in one unearthly clatter and din. ”

“ We never wanted that hidden wealth half as much as we do now. Frank Mansfield is almost of age; my scheme to convict him of crime may have worked and may not. We can't tell into whose hands the papers may fall. What we want is the money now."
"All very true, but how are you going to get it, when you don't know where it is?"
"I'm going to search for it, Rube!" cried Callister bringing his fist down upon the table with a bang. "I'm going to search for it, and I'll find it if I have to tear the old rookery to pieces bit by bit. Come, we've been here too long already. ”

“ And now the old church-yard is robed in white, the snow flakes bearing downward the branches of the spreading trees, covering the tombs and graves of the dead—we doubt very much if the souls of many who lie beneath are as white as the ground above their moldering bones.
Detective Cutts turned the corner of Rector street, and moved silently along the church-yard wall. ”

“ The man raised himself with difficulty, gazing with wild, staring eyes upon the detective's face.
"Alive—alive!" he gasped. "It is hours since we threw you here, dead, as we all supposed."
"But I still live, Reuben Tisdale, and so perhaps may you. Answer, man! Beside that trap-door overhead, is there no way out of this?"
"Yes—yes," murmured the burglar, sinking back upon the muddy floor. "There is a secret passage, and you shall escape; for me there is no hope; Callister has settled me; foul fiend that he is. ”

“ Buried in the earth which composed the cellar floor a flat stone of a grayish color was discovered, above which all now stood.
"The spades, Barney and Sandy!" cried Frank, seizing the pick-ax himself. "Hold the light, Garibaldi, that we may see what we are about. Make what noise you like, boys, there's no one to hear us—this house has been deserted for years." ”

“ I never heard her speak of her past life at all."
"Then you have no idea why she should seek such quarters as that house in the rear of the Catherine Market, where we found her?"
"Not the slightest, Mr. Hook. When I first saw her in the street on that terrible night I never was more surprised in my life. I ought not to have left her even for a moment. I never would have done so had I been myself."
"There, there. Don't think anything more about it," said the detective, kindly, seeing that Frank could no longer restrain the tears. "Whisky makes fools of us all, my boy. ”

“ I'm doomed to be the Jonah of the gang."
"Hush, Rube, for Heaven's sake! Can't you let up on your infernal croaking even in a strait like this? If the police are upon us, why, we'll do the best thing that offers. If it's only this fellow, Hook, why, Sam Cutts' bullet has settled him. But not another word now. Here's Billy coming back."
The young detective, if one so unfaithful to his trust can truthfully be so termed, entered at this moment with a smile of satisfaction on his face.
"It's all right," he exclaimed, closing the door. "There ain't a soul in the room up-stairs. ”

“ Caleb Hook kneeled by his side.
"Courage, friend!" he whispered. "Courage! God may help us yet!"
"Ah—ah! Keep off—keep off!" shrieked the dying man. "Is not one ghost enough to haunt me, that the voice of the man I helped to bury in this devil's den must come ringing in my ears? Keep off, I say! Detective Hook, I know your voice! I did not raise a hand to kill you! You know it well enough!"
Crack!
The last match possessed by the detective is lighted—he holds it to the face before him.
"Reuben Tisdale, you, the most successful maker of burglars' tools known among the crooks of New York!" ”

“ At the same instant Frank heard just such a sound as that which a heavy stone dropped upon frozen ground might make.
The two boys sprang from the ladder to the floor of the vault, laughing aloud.
"We fixed him, Barney!" cried one, giving utterance at the same time to the strange, bat-like cry which had so puzzled the worthy Schneider. "He's running up and down the wall, swearing every Dutch swear he knows. An' dis is your friend, is it? I suppose de fellers will kill us for what we've done, but it's too late to help it now."
"Bully for you, Sandy! Garibaldi, you're a trump! ”

“ As the stock broker and the detective hurried along the southerly side of Exchange place—we mean the side where the street dealers in government bonds spend their entire time during business hours in leaning against the iron railings of the basement offices awaiting customers for their wares—there crept out from a doorway a ragged, shivering newsboy, hugging a great bundle of the evening papers tightly under his arm. ”

“ He leaped the fence railing as he spoke with the lightness of a cat, landing by the woman's side.
Cutts instantly followed him, as did the two young men, who had during this strange scene come to a halt a little in the rear of the spot where Frank and the detective had stood.
"No, no, you shall not go! You shall not rob the bank!" shrieked the woman, seizing Frank by the skirts of his coat. "Don't listen to these wicked men, my son; they only seek your harm!"
"Confound the old hag!" muttered the detective, angrily. "What are we going to do? If we don't stop her mouth she will ruin all." ”

“ The body of the unfortunate detective was unceremoniously dragged into the room adjoining, the door of which was immediately bolted from within.
"Is he dead?" asked Billy Cutts, hoarsely. "By thunder, father, I suppose you had to do it, but his death will kick up a Satan's own row upon the force. The chief of police will never rest night or day until he has run us down."
"Do it! Why, of course I had to do it!" replied the elder Cutts—a grizzled reproduction of his hopeful son in appearance. "It's my belief, gents, that that there iron lifter dropped down upon us by mistake. ”

“ With one arm outstretched he clutched at the banisters, missed them, clutched again, and pitched headlong to the foot of the stairs.
"Three cheers and a tiger for the man who fired that shot!" whispered Callister, as all hands crowded about the inanimate form of the fallen man. "Sam Cutts, old man, there's some life left in you yet. Now, what's to be done with the carcass before the whole neighborhood comes piling in?"
"Into the room with him—quick!" exclaimed Billy Cutts. "We are safe there for a while, at all events. We do not even know that he is dead, meddling fool that he is." ”

“ The stock operator seated himself at the table upon entering.
His companion, sinking into a chair and burying his face in his hands, groaned aloud.
For a moment Mr. Callister regarded him gloomily.
Then, extending his hand, he grasped his shoulder and shook the man with some violence.
"Rube, Rube, I say!"
"Well, what is it, Lije? Why the deuce can't you let me be?"
"But there's no use in this kind of business. What's done is done, and can't be helped. Brace up man, and try to look as near like yourself as you can. Here comes Paddy to see what we'll take." ”

“ The words had not fully left his lips when with a sudden spring, his now upraised hand descended, and Reuben Tisdale fell to the floor with a groan.
And while these events are transpiring how fares it with our old friend, Mr. Detective Hook.
"Why, he is dead!" did we hear some one exclaim?
Not at all.
Detectives, as a race, are hard to kill, and Caleb Hook offers no exception to his class!
Beneath the cellar of the Donegal Shades lies that brave man, neither dead nor helpless, but able to stand erect and move about, eagerly longing to escape. ”

“ Detectives are on our track, man; the capture of Joe Dutton, unless he can be silenced most effectually, is likely to prove a fatal blow to us, and what we want is money—money alone will pull us through; without it all my influence in the business world will go for naught."
"Well, you have money, folks say. Use it—it is as much to your interest as the rest of us."
"Have I? So you say. Let me tell you, Rube Tisdale, that my stock operations of the last year have left me a well-nigh ruined man. I depended upon this bank affair to put me on my feet again. ”

“ I swear to God I never meant to kill her, and now——"
"And now she's dead," returned Callister, with an air of hardened indifference. "She was hopelessly mad, and a nuisance to herself and to us. She's dead, and it can't be helped. You let your temper get the better of you, and you killed her. That's all there is to be said."
"For which act may God forgive me," groaned Rube again. "Oh, Lije, it seems but yesterday since I married her! Do you remember what beautiful girls they were when you and I and Frank Mansfield went a-courting them? ”

“ If you are positive that the woman murdered in Catherine street was your mother, that the woman I followed through the streets last night was your mother, then, although I am an utter disbeliever in spiritual manifestations of all kinds, I see but one conclusion to draw——"
As the detective paused, staring about the church-yard in deep perplexity, Frank felt a shudder pass through his frame from his head to his feet.
If the man by his side did not believe in ghosts, no more did he. ”

“ Caleb Hook set the candle upon the floor, and taking the woman's hand in his own, silently felt her pulse.
It had ceased to beat—the hand was already cold.
"Is she dead?" demanded the saloon-keeper, in a frightened whisper.
"She certainly is," replied the detective. "Can you look at her and ask? That blow must have been the work of a powerful man—coward, I should rather say, whoever he was, to use a woman so."
"God save us! an' yer right," exclaimed Slattery, with a shudder. "An' she was a dacent body, if she war mad. ”