Nick Carter Weekly (no. 78) (1898 06 25)

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issued weekly, Subscription price, $2.50 per year. Entered as second clas matter at the N. Y, Post Office by STREET & Surru, No. 78 NEW YORK, June 25, 1898 Price 5 Cents. SO Coa “4 2 Shuts OK. fe 2 NCCK Carter? if ‘* KNIVE THROWING,’? BREATHED NICK CARTER’S YOUNG DETE , ‘AND IM THE TARGET]”?, a wee ds Ba we or ee ees ae

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NICK CARTER WEEKLY. Bniteved according to Aci of Congress in the year we Fa 9g 3 Smith, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, po ‘on Butered as second class Matler at the New York, N. Y., Post Office. Subscription price, $2.50 per year. NEW. YORK, Issued weekly. June 25, 1898. The Li ving Target; JACK BURTON’S FRIEND FOR LIFE. Bythe Author of ‘‘NICK CARTER.” 5 Ce nts STREET & Smiru, Publishers. $1 Fulton 8t., N. Y. i CHAPTER I. A FRIEND FOR LIFE. **Hit him hard!’ ‘Lay into him!” **It’s a fight!’ **Mistake—it’s a cinch!’ Jack Burton, Nick Carter’s athletic / young detective novice, voiced the last ‘Sentiment, and he believed what he said. There was a certain tough gang in Riverdale. They hated the ‘‘swell, stuck-up acad- emy boys like poison!” and Jack found himself in their midst. They wefe ten in number, but that made no difference to Jack. Strolling from the school, he had come Upon their forest haunt, quoiting ground, ‘loafing Place, hang-out, quite casually. : Then very particularly Jack leaped into” » their midst, a relentless cyclone of won- der, indignation and prowess. ; Their “Flying Dutchman,” or pivot- eae plank, was neglected, no inevi- ble scrapping match was in progress— ” from youngest to oldest, the Riverdale — ard mob of juveniles was sa absorbed. foc bs m (hele Epetiepes: : j eet ee ce eee ‘on, old Sport!” hailed’ the bra ty ~4 Vicious interest and » : ah! ‘"Rhat’s enough for us!’ ‘ : ‘Weill warp him!” 4 “And put bristles along his spine!” ¥° **Markjs o’ Queensberry rules! Come __ Pugilist-p bsed leader. “Rules 6 or iot, it ‘saknockout—whole-

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. That or “nothing, he decided, as he acted, for dangling beyond the crowd that vague, suspended, writhing human being imcited Jack to renewed urgency. Baug—crack—thud—Jack did a nifty thing. The five were standing in a row—in line with one end of the siesta pivot plank. “Jack ran, not at them, but at the other ‘end of that strong tim ber. It cut the air like a knife, it revolved like the dial needle of a lung tester. With such a force as only such muscles asthe trained ones of an expert from Nick Carter’s detective school could ‘exert, Jack Burton gave the ‘‘Flying Dutchman” a whirl. _ It mowed the mob down like grain = peor a scythe. One quick glance only Jack wasted on .’ the howling, prostrate, mixed-up pacoe section of the adversary army. . % 1 Then eyes, hands, interest were cen-— ‘tred on what he was making for—the hanging man. ~ ‘Whew!’ whistled Jack. te | Aauan was hanging, but not hung. > A conglomerate of yellow, white, Se black, his mouth, a vast slit, was pouring th the most hideous shrieks. - His eyes were almond-shaped sparks of. St ~ terror. . is ie **4 Chinaman !’’ shouted Jack. A Chinamaa he was, and his squat limbs gyta ing made him neaguiale Us dwarfed living jumping-jack. ‘ana § Still mere so the string mieeg from his tense-drawn scalp. Figgas deel quene, knotted about a § € nee the wriggling wee out a knife, for Sere to speedily succor i down, 1 Tan ear-s litting yell agonized Celestial at this. Killee! pis? ee he rayed, “‘h pleased, mysterious, = ee of the tree branch easily, dropped with it on a sharp, sudden jerk. Limb and all the Chinamen landed - with a plump thud on the ground. He swung his queue free and bestowed upon itja devoted glance. : was intact, and his relief was magi- ca had een severed his eyes blazed. Hé@gwhirled in a quick, acrobatic way that aught Jack immensely. ’s hand he fondled in an expres- ‘sive clasp, then he made a dive. * Out of a dense bush burrow he duga weapon, previously flung or hidden there. It was a saw. - Armed with this, merved up to sudden t as he noted where a few strands | valor by Jack’s mighty deeds and Jack’s » mpionship and presence, he started lieketty-switch for the mob of ten so Kecutiy coustitnting his persecutors. ‘*Hi-lah!”” ‘*Murder!”’ “*1t’s a massacre !”’ Jack was amused and then appalled. With his clumsy weapon the Chinaman sent his foes scrambling, screaming, _ sprinting. He jabbed, dented, sawed them—Jack actually feared tragic consequences. He pursued aud hindered, but hada tug of it holding back the now aronsed -Celestial, who gritted his teeth and bristled and chattered like a mad mon- key sisted Jack. “Me givee them Jaundly mark!’ cpnat’s s all right, John.” “Me no John,” grinned the China- man “No “pee “Me Sam Tin.” “That's it, eh??? Vou flend—velly big flend. Ah—ah?” Staring at Jack, Sam Tin uttered the final sharp ejaculation looked scared, awed, all at once. “What's struck you, Sam?’ pro- pounded Jack, a little puzzled. “Tlon-flist Jackee—oho, me know!" : hereabouts—Jackson.” ea? Good guesser—that’s what they call circling Jack, viewing him ~ gly significant look, | “Let wp, John—they’re beaten,” in- —

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He nodded his head as if he cowld not keep still for some rattling, bubbling ‘ideas boiling over in it. Say!’ he clacked, vociferously, _ “tsavee lifee, you!” Hi St*Oh, no.’ - | &Savee queue, then!” **Maybe.” : **Slave for lifee!’” ] “Bh 2”? Jack retreated in some dismay. Samm Tin was demonstrative, or noth- in > He flung himself | Gr hic knees at Jack’s feet, and seized his hand in ardent devo- tional homage. “This fellow is likely to be a nui- sauce!’’ mnruttered Jack—‘‘old Chinese tule: Save life, slave for life. Don’t want any slave; Sam,’’ he spoke aloud, smiling indulgently—‘‘can’t hardly grub my- self! a otk for you, then?’” o, Sam, you don’t owe me any- ’£*Hey-hi!’” he vere Sam, gravely | —**got blicycle? f “Oh, yes.” i ‘Plug hat? swell SES: ettes? tlan shoes??? ‘Don’t need those. ” ‘‘Say! me steal them for you!?* = isk started to walk away. bt rt of incidental chivalry was over; ee he wanted to coat? cligell- to get back to the academy, where Buff Hutchinson was waiting for him. His new friend was ai eat ie ever. He began to follow Jack, aad in. the om “hee of a stray dog a new master who n. Fain undue and unexpected m acta gratitude, jabbered along that he must be ati to pa ue sense of obligation ae Jack. ive, die or steal fot him he woald A es ‘must! ee, Jack gathered that he vegies Seed of a roustabout—the first Chimese tramp he ad ever seen. sharp, good-tomeapbing fellow ES alae inatown for his _ baste laughing. vee NICK CARTER WEEKLY. 3 misdeeds,’ guessed Jack, as Sam Tin betrayed a close knowledge of all the ins and outs of New York city. Sam shamelessly confessed to having stolen a pie from the crowd which they had previously stolen, which misde- meanor was the cause of his recent aerial exercise, Under all his actions, however, Jack saw acertain excitability and repression he could not exactly analyze. Sam stared harder at him the longer he — kept im his company, swallowed all kinds of guttural ejaculations only half-ex- pressed. He acted precisely like a child having something to tell, ‘but not quite ready to tell it. ‘‘T must get rid of him,” decided Jack. “Hell be a regular bother if he gets it into his crazy noddle that I’m a great fellow and a great friend—that it’s due to express his champion—worship by sacri- fices and- presents. Hey, John!’ he . hailed, coming to a desperate halt. “No John—Sam Tin.”’ **Sam, then. You listen to me. I must go home.’”’ = **Sanr go, too.”’ **No, can’t have that.” Sam’s face fell as if his heart was broken. A **You go home.”’ “No homee, no homee—Sam tlamp.”’ ‘Well, tramp along, them! You see, I’ve got to get to the school I belong.” ‘*Hi-lah! you belong to schoolee ?” “*Certainly.”’ **Ho-ha!’? Sam blinked and winked, and thrust one yellow puddy fimger at Jack as if he would like to poke him in the ribs and tell him that he was perpetrating the joke of the century. z ““Why! what’s the matter with that?” “You—you acheter" ‘Ves. >? > ‘A clademy rhe . rene cea ye? *“Ho-ha! hi-lah! You Biniee Sam—you bluffee !’ ‘+See h , what: do - manded poe Ieee ii Sack = as ina ‘playh

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was plainly casting aspersions on Jack's’: veracity. | Sam wagged his head solemnl y- 4 ; ‘*Jackee tell whopper !”? “Bh pP? | *Jackee no legelar scholar at schoolee —aclademy schoolee..”’ i - “Yes, I am,” insisted fad“ sepular cholar at academy.”’ ““No, no—me know, say! me know.”’ Sam looked all around cautiously—he came a step or two nearer mysteriously. Then in a sinister, impressive way, he raaid in a hoarse, triumphant whisper: ~ Me know!” ‘What are you giving me?’ ‘Me know—mebbe Jackee schoolee, but not aclademy schoolee!’’ 4 y 3 -\'See here——" - _ “Detectlive schoolee, mebbe ?—hi-lah ! ha-ah! ie 4 rs a ‘* Say See eae eS tellee, Sam know Jackee Burton, _ ilon-flisted Jackee! brave Jackee! bullee @ Jackee”' ; Gs. 6S. sh!? “Blend to——’’ “Took here——”’ Sam Tin shot out the final clincher of . a his amazing 1 SE vabek Clarter!”” PISS 2 eh rath ae : CHAPTER IL ori BLUE SILK HANDKERCHIEF. ack Burton gave the Chinaman a stare hat made him look serious. Sam Tin was shrewd and original. ‘Why! this is almost he py e least publi hint Mtoe: they'we ere in what they seemed to be. sterious criminal case had nece eit entering: Riverdale Academy ts. nship of the warm adn NICK CARTER WEFKLY. - criminal case, and with no ( pi preference for “the de had - " but not professionally idle. It seemed as if fate had placed the fear less trio just where they were most needed, for case after case within their province, had come up. They found that the schoolboy hal wonderfully helped them in prosecuting labors centering directly at the academy) or its vicinity. -They had stayed on, therefore, and after just closing up an intricate slate- writing mystery, where Roxy had made a star play, the present unique incident had transpired. Bob Ferret was in New York city —he} had been summoned there tt e day previ- They had lingered on the school = . ous by Nick Carter. His evidence and that of ‘Aleck White and Larry Moore was needed. in a great culty he had secured a temporary leave of absence, ostensibly to visit his ‘‘guardian’’ in the metropolis. aa : . “Bother this fellow!’’ soliloquized Jack, as he realized that their carefully) guarded secret as to identity was liable to be betrayed. “What are you talking abou: S21 he demanded aloud, but tie Crienio” tefused to be bluffed. ‘““You Jackee, allée sauee!’’ he grinned. ‘‘Oh! me know—one of N liek) Clarter’s blest! I see you on Bowery. ha-oh! You lickee fellee like fun w rob old man on Bloadway!’’ ‘‘Won’t have it, en??? muttered ae 4 “T guess how it~ ‘is! ‘This fellow has seen me in New York city, and ener} bers. Well, see Mere, ee I’m going to tell you something. aie oan ae ba Might.” Apres Seaitee ie That you must never lisp.” ; “Sam be mummee!”’ “You will be a mummy if you don"t?” declared Jack. ‘‘Yes, I’m what. you say —a member of Nick Carter’s detective school, but I wouldn't have the people Aogsatae there know it for a hundred dollars.”? Sam looked grave with the responsi- bility” resting upon him through _ this weighty confidence. $s ‘So, you won't tell?’ tae ill first !’’ vociferated

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| **Tt would be a poor way of showing your gratitude to peach on us—do you no good, us some harm, see? We came here’ on business.’’ _ *Tsee—Sam see. Smart Jackee! gleat _ Jackee! bullee detectlive!”’ 7 I want you to go straight away , from, Riverdale.’’ Sam looked crestfallen. ~ i “Right straight away.” hatee for??? ; “Boyes won’t be Be to betray PETS ; ‘All light—1 g0, 1 bat ‘T never forgetee Jackee—savee lifee, savee queue!”’ J Jack felt relieved—Sam looked dolo- * rous. : | Scapegrace and knave as he naturally was, Jack’s 10yal rescue had touched something that was genuine in the fel- low’s heathen heart. He looked quite sad, started to give Jack a last ardent lodk, and then sud- 1 denly he administered to himself three or four raps on the head that sounded like eggs cracking on a bare cocoanut. “Oh, Jackee!’” he cried, ‘eagerly, his. some suspicious maneuvres on the part of eyes dancing. ‘Idea struck you, Sam ?”’ ‘*Gleat idee!” ‘ire it back, then.” ‘‘Jackee not a much scholar not to eg detectliv Bae “tit you TRY wave leady to fightee bad ‘man OY be **Vou bet!” ‘Rind mystellee ?”’ ~ ‘‘Mystery? That’s our stronghold, you ' know!’ ‘Hi-lah! hi-ah! Sam happy. Can do fi k ‘Jacke ne, and see.” Jack nodd: miled, followed his ; excited friend romptly, . > had run across, or fancied that he had an across, something that he suddenly - remembered was right in Teck tGel— the **detective’’ field. He led the way to where ¢ a 1 split fa the ‘river sent a swift current arm circling ) the academy Tick and by a dabout course tk mes main NICK CARTER WEEKLY. 5 nomthae’s what Ym here for; Z.; He read between the lines” that Sam — Sam inotioned caution to Jack as he penetrated the “last fringe of - bushes lining the waterway. Pointing past them, he indicated a man seated, apparently fishing. : ‘*Jackee watchee!’’ was all the China- man said. ‘“Watch what, Jack. “‘Jackee detective—he soon find out. Goo’-by!”’ ‘Going, Sam, are you?’ ‘Ves, Jackee let Sam do notling for him, so Sam say goo’-by. Maybe Sam see him again.”’ Sam ?”? interrogated “Some time, Sam. Remember! it’s ~— mum, now?’ 4 ‘*Sam nevee say word.’’ ; ‘That’s right.” re The Chinaman started away, straight zt as a beanpole, never looking back. __ - ‘(He'll keep his promise,’’ reflected Jack, watching him till he got out of sight. ‘‘He’s really gone. Poor fellow! Thinks he’s run me up against some de- © tective case, eh? Why? Must have seen that man down yonder. Sam’s sharp, and <a although I don’t see any ‘bad man’ or — ‘mystellee’ in the layout, I'll do Sam the a compliment of finding out who this lone fisherman is, anyway.”’ All Jack saw at first was a back—a ane broad back. ae Then he noticed that its owner was a e colored man. oS Next he observed that the fellow was not paying the slightest attention to his fishing pole. This was stuck in between two stones fast enough to hold a whale. ; “T osay!?? uttered shrewd Jack, sud- denly, and the exclamation marked new and a vivid line of investigation an discovery. / The man had a light peacock blue sil handkerchief spread over his shoulders, — His back was to the academy, and -b was holding in front of him three-si sectional ne mirror. — is Into this he was. looking, int “steadfastly, papas a “Don’t know - who. he is,’ : ia the bande know what the

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_ flection of the academy and grounds : behind him !?? > unwilling to abandon an‘observation that might be the start of a case, impatient to 2 be up and away if there was nothing in It. ___He walked from covert and approached Ethe man boldly. . The latter heard his footsteps, started violently, and whipped handkerchief and mirror from view. Arising, he stood scraping and bowing, a big, overgrown fellow, trying to be - dignifiel while he looked quite sneaking and servile, though crafty. ‘“Howdy, sah, howdy!’’ he smirked. ___ **Rishing?’’ interrogated Jack, trying to look the prowling, aimless shtot icy curious about a stranger. “Fishing, sah!’? smiled the man— ‘“‘rare sport, sah, I estimate.’’ _ ‘*Very rare, indeed !”” reflected Jack— “seeing that a fish was never yet caught in the cut-off, and everybody within a hundred miles knows it!” Then aloud, Jack remarked : “JT see you’ve got no bob to your Tine?” ; ‘Ah, no, sah ? quickly and speciously xplained the angler. ‘I’se trolling, sah = icked up the pole before the man ould Tack pic him. ry lifted it, another remarkable ' tion made him start without show- Lh v1 he spoke, ‘‘you have got either eek sdirbeit on your line?’ ees looked mad, but deftly n a with an affectation ; olar’ an estroor- | decamp, sah. Have the ct Et geo erer: and Jack got tired of guessing at things—’ quite. so, trolling!” oS ee j ‘Sitting still?” criticised Jack, voice- "Bit oe i vie poke and > of 6 NICK CARTER WEEKLY. “Very often, sah, I take a troll in| | these watahs—my line, a lunch, a bottle —nothing stronger than-vicious watah, though, I assure you!”” | Jack smiled as if this was a joke. ~{ “Good-day, sah. If ever we affect! again, you will know my name— Possum Washington. Icome from Vargii “gy direct, sah.”’ Jack started inland as the angle lined the stream. ‘““The man’s lying,’ he Adecided, bluntly, with promptness and conviction. 3 “The name’s a blind, he don’t know a - trout from a pickerel, and he never saw ‘Varginny, sah!’ Now, then, what is s heh. up to??? | The very direction taken by the man, calling himself Possum Washington! proved to Jack that all his specious be- havior had been a smooth way of getting rid of an unwelcome trespasser. The fellow continued down the line of the stream. It was so swollen, and the close shore was so littered with drift and eaten into, that it was a risk to life and limb to trav erse it, especially as it was getting well) on toward dusk. *‘Just wanted to get free of company, eh?’ reflected Jack. ‘‘Nuw, what for?’’ The young athlete-detective had be- come suddenly and mightily interested! Smaller beginnings than this, and far) less sinister and promising, had marked neatly every case that had. drifted into 9 the hands of the professional trio since ‘their visit to Riverdale Academy. He made a feint of leaving the spot— : _ never looking behind—that deceived is Jone fisherman, it seemed. ; Jack was a deft whistler, and although he never went out of sight of the-river, a person stationed. there, tracing the dimin- ishing echoes, would have been certain he was moving rapidly away from its vicinity. Jack’s last initiation of a feint, fara- way whistle was his signal for “getting warm” with Mr. Possum Washington’ again. __ 7 saat distinguished individual had gone down shore, and h ‘= a lég half in the water, ; further feint of fishi hi

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indeed asignal, and as if darkness was soon to destroy its utility, he was wav- ing it. . _ Toward the academy—now, who? why? where? and so forth!’ cogitated Jack, laboriously. ‘“What, now! An en- velope, a letter.’’ The man drew such from his satchel. This he held up as he had the hand- kerchief. _ Then he drew back a step or two as if _he had executed what he came to do. “Wish I knew who he’s signaling— wish I could see the superscription on that envelope,’’ muttered Jack, ‘‘for it’s -gotone. The dickens!—Bob Ferret does ‘these things different !’’ » No matter what Bob did, Jack’s pre- epiate way had brought him into trou- e/ Pressing forward, he detached a water- weakened crown of turf to an overlap- ping shore edge. Jack had to go down in the crumbling ruin. He bolted and rolled. As fate would have it, Jack’s course took him straight through the outspread feet of the startledstaring-faced fisher- man. 3 ‘“Howdy! shouted the man—‘‘what’s this, now!’’ j As Jack went shooting through the inverted V form by the -outplanted feet, the man’s face grew dark with recogni- tion and suspicion. Mr. Possum Washington closed his ponderous limbs wedge-like, as if the was a machine. They clamped shut like the sides of _trap, and there Jack Burton was! ____IN_- FRIGHTFUL PERIL. _ Possum Washington planted himsel like a Colossus, ri 4 ) ; “T glimpse you—I guess “you!” he shouted. ¢ ; = _ Flustered and vociferous, he twisted his head over his shoulder and glared down at his captive. — Bolas “Slipped,” explained Jack, mum- = ae SF , blingly. He discerned that he was recognized late strolling schoolboy. 3 cute a closer clamp of the =: NICK CARTER WEEKLY, 7 mnysterious angler’s stout limbs told that his second appearance was suspiciously resented. “Tt consider you a spy, sah!’ flared Possum Washington. . ‘‘Oh, guess you don’t!” ‘*T shall purceed, theyfore, to treat you as a prisoner of wah !’’ . . “Let me go!’’ ‘“‘No, sah—not till the coaht-martial sits!’’ Mr. Possum Washington sat himself— , a ‘‘coaht-martial’’ of one! His beefy firmness and rotundity of limb had not stood a test he had not anticipated. He had caught rolling Jack Burton’s arms, shoulders and chest, trapping him like a grasshopper, wings and all. “Something of a squezeer, sah!’’ he announced, viciously. “‘I%m a pusher, myself!’’ panted Jack, from extra exertion and pressed out. Those sturdy arms of the young detec-~ tive-athlete had wonderful stored-up energy and nerve. Jack unhinged his elbows. He ‘‘opened up’’ Mr. Possum Washington so suddenly that the astounded squeezer was quite likley to split! _ Possum Washington ‘*bowed.”’ He cut a diamond-shaped caper that took all the strength out of him. The delicate, ticklish sinews of the knees—Jack knew just where to tackle them—broke—his victim ‘‘unspread,’’ and then he went flat. ~ The ugly yellow in his wicked eyes reddened, and he gave an augry suort. If Jack had calmly retreated, the man __ would probably have allowed himto go on his way. > Jack, however, was never satisfied with halfa victory. =| Bae He was curious about the envelope he had seen waved. tex “He was quite sure that the epistle it contained related to some sinister mystery cae attached to Possum Washington, and some certain unknown in or about River- dale Academy, Sa Jack was determined to get hold of this prob

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_ had swung free from its strap amid the violence of Possum Washington’s spread- eagle tumble. -. Jack flashed up to it. : In went his hand, out came the letter. - _d@PBhought so!’ fairly belched the ; an. “Know, so!’? he howled—‘‘you was a-spotting me, sah! You was a eaves- dropping me, sah! Halt, sah!”’ - The bulky form got erect. treating, slowed down. . Safe forward progress could only be accomplished amid the broken, drift- strewn surface of the shore by close atten- tion to the path chosen. Jack dared not risk turning his back to _ the enemy, Possum Washington had picked up two rocks bigger than his big fists. If they ever left his hands they would ~ come like cannon balls. Must keep my eye peeled for those,”’ teflected Jack. ‘Well, sir? well, sir?” he challenged, airily. __ **Give me back my property, sah!’’ Jack determined on a glance at the ‘address on the envelope, at least, before Jack, re- ‘, 7 = . he acceded, if at all. pee es ‘*Drop those rocks, then.’’ — ‘* You audacious !’’ “All right. ” “You obstreperous!—this is highway robbery, sah!’’ _ “What's squeezing the life out of a fel- low as if he was an outlaw ?’’ a2 Possum Washington became politic _ “TI was excited, sah!’’ he pretended to ize, but he edged nearer. — hat’s arming yourself with two ty-pound bowlders?”’ dap those Scuse, young gentle- ; . was — d.”? z rent. row the fellow off his guard. id pretend he had seized the 1 sort of accidental reprisal or A ugh because I was_ nough, the. man abandoned his ided to accept the truce and + frown. NICK CARTER WEEKLY. He did not get it. Possum Washington suddenly lunged forward like a toppling house, and struck Jack like a battering ram. He did not rely on weapons or his arms. His bullet head was the projectile em- ployed. ~ Squarely below the belt he landed a contact that was simply terrific. Jack felt his breath shut off—the bullet head. gored him ‘back against the dirt bank and pinned him there. Jack was momentarily paralyzed, as fully as if a great club had dealt a stun- ning blow. . Then, half reviving to stir into action, he found his way blocked. With stout fish line Possum Washing- ton had made hands and feet helpless. With supreme satisfaction the shining malevolent face glowered down now at Jack, a captive. ‘‘Why! you—you reprobate!’’ gasped jack: ** ‘‘Buttah, sah—professional buttah, sah; sportsman, sometimes. Mostly likeawise African dodger—at shows. Just now ugly, tur-ble, if you don’t show up!” The man’s face had steadied down. He had Jack in his power completely, and he dropped chaffing, servility and airiness with that last sentence. ‘Show up, what?’’ blurted Jack, des- perately, ‘‘Why did you follow me?’’ “Did 52? = ‘‘Why do you want mah letter?”’ Do PPPs ‘‘Chattah away! I must find out for myself.’” ati _ The man recovered his letter. Then he went over Jack’s pockets. Past experience had taught Jack ready for any contingency. He fancied he had safely and discreetly seen to it that there was nothing he car- ried that could possibly show him up to be anything but ‘‘Jackson,’’ student of the Riverdale Academy. “Oh, pshaw!’’? he muttered, with a to be aot _Just one mm romising object the great, ptor had ‘Tun across, — jack had received So | : a { . ri ae!

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NICK CARTER WEEKLY. 9 from Bob Ferret that morning, and Jack had forgotten to destroy it. . It was guarded enough, for it was ad- dressed ‘‘Jackson,’’ and it was signed - “Robinson,’’ but after announcing Bob’s safe arrival in New York city, it bore the line: ‘*Two days in court with N. C., and I’ll be with you again."’ To the average schoolboy or casual ob- server there would have been nothing enlightening or suspicion-awakening in this. 4 eet Possum Washington, however, taking Jack for a spy, must be crooked. . Being crooked, he was on the lookout . for trouble—always. : At any rate, Jack saw him bend his brows darkly, and read once, twice, thrice, Bob’s brief note. ‘Young man,’’ he vouchsafed leerily, ‘I presume you think *you are a student hereabouts ?”’ “Why ain’t I?’’ projected Jack. ““Who is ‘N. C.’ ?” __ **How’s North Carolina?’ ‘‘Don’t you gaff me, sah !’’ is . “Just as reasonable as your ‘Varginy,’ sion! eal “oss Washington gave a hig start ane = ‘oars€ mutter at this challenge iTFeGi, _ *fReckon you’d be best out of the way for a time!’’ he said. ‘*Whose way ?’’ **Never you mind—you’re dangerous, lying around loose!’’ The man looked about him. **How’s that, sah!’’ he half grinned, half frowned. ¢ dragyed Jack across to where eight ten logs, drifted down stream, were “Pll make you comfortable for the night!’? he said, _ Jack was very much disgusted with the situation he found himself in. — A gag had been the last thing Mr. Possum Washington had applied. — He directed a final-unfriendly look at $ captive. os Seeger ‘I may be back when my business is prosecuted, sah,’’ he vouch- +4, % Ss out. you might then, in ordah . er ae ce . to get out of this dilemmah, you might then guess that ‘N. C.’ stands for some- thing nigher New York than North Carolina.’’ ‘‘He guesses, I know he does!’’ re- — flected Jack. ‘‘He’s a city féllow,% s that ‘N. C.’ and my shadowing can’t¥ make him imagine an inkling of truth.’’ . Jack now knew that the fellow wa to something. - “*It’s a case, if there ever was one!”’ decided the student-detective, as Possum Washington disappeared. ‘‘Who’s in it? Some academy fellow ?’’ Jack wiggled and wished. He was sorry now that he had so peremptorily dis- missed poor, faithful Sam Tin. The prospects of being discovered and liberated before morning were exceed- ingly frail ones. *“No one comes this way once in a fort- night for any purpose,’’ calculated Jack, ‘‘and never, when the river’s booming as she is now.”’ The river gave Jack a joggling “*boom’’ just then, and the part of the log that extended out into the water vibrated like the tail ofa stringed fish. “Guess I'll have to. put in a little leisure repenting my brashness,” solilo- quized the captive. ‘‘I jumped on Mr. Possum Washington too previous, it seems !’? 6 Jack had a long spell of gloomy solitude aud dullness. ° Watching the deepening shadows of eventide and listening to croaking frogs and chirping crickets was no fun. = He could not whistle—even free breath- ing was not easy—but terrific excitement _ abruptly forced a violent gasp from Jack clear a ae 8-2 ¥< past the gag. mt ‘Here's a fix!’’ he felt like ec A fix’? it was, of the very worst kind —the mills up stream must have jus slipped their river flood gates, for th water rose magically. = oe The log wobbled, tugged, swun, swirled, : ar In company with others, it tore from shiore. eT os Like jolly fellows off on a riot, leased floats struck the swift es

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eee . 25 eat the swim’’ with a vim and force that made Jack’s head go round and round. Jack got big-eyed thinking what was in store for him. weHis face and form were foam-dashed, id he was thankful to guess that there as no danger of his tipping body down- d; : - is Square-set position on top of the log, its wedge shape—for it broadened - below—admitted of his estimating this -with some degree of accuracy and promise. ‘All the same, it’sa long drift—all kinds of snags, low. bridges, duckings, unless I’m seen!’’ he decided. - One low bridge particularly Jack thought of, as his mind’s eye scanned the course of the cut-off and the main river beyond as far as he was familiar with it. The low railroad trestle, half a mile ahead, he had noticed in his walk that day. _. ‘The water was up within two inches of the stringers then. ~ had moved adrift with the one he was on shot some ahead, some trailing after. Jack heard a dull thud a few seconds jater. RO te “That struck the bridge,’’ he reflected. Boom! *k’s nerves were painfully jarred. is float came to a swaying halt. ‘surmised what he had struck—not bridge timber, but the log just landed boint-ended against the same. ve seconds the current swayed as if a great wooden mallet ert Ral or as his log two . po ORE ee however, that it was a new eae es log. PAS S21 4 | { : 10 NICK CARTER WEEELY. | 7 It shunted the one he was on up across the wet, slippery one ahead. Tilting, 1t drove and teetered. Jack slanted, shot up and forward. Then the log came squarely horizontal —firm and stationary. Jack guessed what had occurred, with) a thrill. } Jack ‘saw what had occurred, witha. shock. : The log he was helplessly tied to rested squarely across the steel tracks of the tailroad bridge. ‘«’Terrible!”” ? The word he could not utter, but a finger of fire seemed to impressiton brain and eye. i He heard a whistle in the distance—a locomotive whistle. | All in a whirl, as senses and thoughts were, Jack estimated time, recognizing the whistle, as could every other boy in the academy. : ‘‘Number twenty-three—the evening. accommodation, ’’ he reflected, with light-) ning flash swiftness. ‘‘It must be—that’s her toot. West bound? How else? Just: made the town depot. Half an hour late. : - * She?}] be here—in twelve minutes!”’ Jack shuddered—it was a bleak, un- profitable prospect. ; _. Adark night, a lonely trestle, a late train thundering on to make up for Test. time! ; ‘*T see no way out of it,’ reflected Jack Burton, squarely facing the situation— ‘this is my finish, I guess!’’ CHAPTER IV. THE THRESHOLD OF A MYSTERY. Twelve minutes! Jack Burton fell to figuring. ; He had a nice, quiet, arithmetical seance all to himself. { Seven hundred and twenty seconds!—_ one—two—three—four i ; ‘*Too horrible!’’ he voicelessly de- | clared—‘‘counting is like feeling the) edge of the axe before it falls. I’ll think, Tf he red one set of musc of strain 5 he} somethin an

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Jack discerned this from observation and by calculating. i The log must have been twelve feet long. He took up less than two-thirds of its surface. ' The remainder—a good four feet—ex- tended out beyond the exterior trestle rail. Ifhe could budge the balance, shift j the weight to a very slight degree, Jack felt certain he could tip it back into the Waters, 2 ee : But even this small life-preserving measure was not within his power. A clammy silence of some minutes ended in a second locomotive toot. ‘“The second station—the making it,’’ traced out Jack. dash train is ‘It’s the | long swift now—four minutes the wheels grind and jelly, or by some fortuitous circumstances would the cow- catcher shunt the log overboard? Then Jack pricked up those keen ears of his sharply. : He certainly heard a voice—a pré- longed “oman shout. i sous ‘SdTike the ‘half-breathless call FOF 2PM NCI _ He waited painfully—it was repeated. | _ Then Jack was all eyes—a figure and——”’ ) Would it be bang, or crash ?— would crossed his range of vision. He had landed not ten feet from the , shore, and here at the side of the cut the . banks rose double that distance. }- They descended in natural steps. Abruptly, through the top bushy fringe of the nearest rise, there shot a hu lan figure as if hurled by some power- a toe _Asit flopped close to the first ridgy tep of the brief incline; however, Jack discerned that it had swung, . . was so still that tive, for It was not yet intensely dark, and it | Jack instantly realized - The C aman had seen, had recog- ned sk ‘: = __ Hestirred into action with wriggling, flying activity. a “Apparently he fully read Jack's urgency of peril—in ae a eee ate, 2 aed _ He wasted no. time tumbling, scram- bling, sliding. Pie eo? aie more ; rs NICK CARTER WEEKLY. rr “Hi-lah!’? he chuckled under breath. ; Jack felt that his throat would. burst open with the frenzied effort he made to shout. Fugitive or not, the loyal Chinaman would spring speedily to his rescue if he discerned his peril. wae Sam, however, did not look down. His face was turned upward, if in any direction. His pose was that of a person intently listening for tokens of a suspected pur- suit. Closer crouched the Chinaman, Jack ylared anew. The fringe of bushes through which Sam had just slipped were parted bya new figure. | A man stood there who peered, lis- tened, and then jangled something in his hand. ‘Lighting a dark lantern,’’ correctly read the absorbed Jack Burton. **It’s the village marshal;’’ recognized his and _the mute starer, additionally. _ The light flickered across the man’s face as he adjusted the lantern. Then he played its rays out, and Jack guessed that his breathless protege must have got into some new trouble since their last parting, and was now trying to elude the drag-net of justice, | Jack blinked, but a great gulp of ar- dent hope tremored in his throat. The lantern’s rays fell first and squarely right directly down across the log, himself, nis face. ‘*Zounds |?’ was forcibly jerked out of — the appalled officer. : ‘“‘Jackee!’? came a scream, regardlessly, on the heels of the first utterance, ; Whee-ee-irk! That was the locomotive whistle, an- nouncing the bridge. a4 < ralyzed, the officer kept the lantern fected. : the track of the

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aq ere eae en The acute rascal, velvet-footed and __spring-limbed as was he probably cute- _ witted and light-fingered, risked every- . thing on a wild leap. : Sam Tin landed on the extending end _ of the human-loaded log with light, felt- _ shod feet. He probably hazarded a miss into the water rather than between the ties.. Fearful as well of landing on the friend z for whose sake he now totally disregarded the pursuing minion of the law, Sam _ ‘Tin came to a stop on the extreme end of the log. Flop! That was all, and that was sudden—a _ natural sequence to the operation of - natural laws. The Chinaman’s weight tipped the log. Re the douse and mix-up that followed Jack Burton was conscious of short, ani- mated maneuvres. His bonds were cut by some keen- bladed instrument. 3 He was dragged to the shore and eee _ A flare, a grind, a skither, and the late “+ expess flashed by. = In its trail of dust and smoke Jack saw the village officer leap down the embankment. - Sam!? he voiced, husky with emo-— tion, fervent with gratitude. “No tlime!”? - “Hold on! I say——” ‘Have to aiiipe-oftcet -wantee!”’ “Stop, you rascal !”? roared the officer in in question just there. “Go it, you—hero!’’ thrilled Jack 3urton. “coe _ Down the shore and up the bluff sped e ag mixture of RUBnIOg, fidelity, el} lessess and orn a ie marshal flitted with site and by time Jack had got his unsteadied wits » working order, he knew they were eyond hail. Wonder what Sam haw: beets up to?” eg * aaa and then knowing it is PAPA eT muchee t “And I wonder what 12 ' ‘NICK CARTER WEEKLY. ible good to hurry and _ Mr. Possum Washington ae eset it behind him, ‘but he did not turn his — ee en mysterious captor, Jack quickly dis- | cerned, was somewhere along the stream : where he had first located him. Jack lined it, all on the alert, but found no trace. He was wet, chilled and uncomfortable. | generally, and decided to ‘‘mend up’’ before he resumed the trail of the certain mystery that was focusing in the vicin- | ity. . The moon had come up. If it had not . been for this fact, Jack would have missed a sight that suddenly reinspired | him. Across the stream, standing under a | tree, was Mr. Possum Washington. He was talking to a boy, and the boy | wore a mask. - Jack could not hear what they were saying, for the distance was too great. He could, however, trace the per- |; emptory insolence of a tyrant in Possum | Washington’s mien. | In that of the strangely masked boy was plainly depicted terror and subjuga- tion. The boy handed a bundle to the negro, which the latter placed in his fish bag. Then the big, burly wretch “pointed at his companion’s vest. The boy took off watch and chain, handed it over to the other as if he was an armed highwayman. Possum Washington turned to go away—the boy made a pleading gesture. He seemed to bend his head as if he was weeping bitterly. Before Jack _could quite make up his mind to swim the stream, Possum Wash- _ ington had disappeared. : | ——EE— hl CO Jack reflected a minute or two. “This end of it is the"surest one in sight, I guess,» he decided, starting down one side of the stream as the boy started down the other. ; At the railroad bridge the boy giieea over. Jack hid till he passed him. He waited till he got up the bank. Instantly the boy made a quick run across clear country. “Headed for the school—an academy boy!’ reflected Jack. | “7 The boy pulled off his mask and threw e fee " a a

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““Wears a mask—slightly mysterious!” continued Jack.” ‘‘He mustn’t slip me.”’ ‘| The boy darted down a side path rounding the academy grounds, and entered a rear efitrance in a_ hurried, stealthy way. ‘) Jack was deftly on his trail—the young detective was unobserved, unsus- pected, not ten feet behind the mysteri- ous masker, as the latter entered an un- lighted corridor on the third floor. He paused at the door of one of the rooms, took ont a key, unlocked it, and pushed it open. _ Jack could hear him panting from the vivid exercise of his rapid run. Just as the boy was about to close the door Jack ran up. He put his foot between the returning door and its frame. ;. ‘““Who—who are you?’ demanded the boy, in a frightened, startled tone, peer- ing in the darkness. ‘*Never mind.”’ | **You can’t come in Here!” “T must come in firmly. He pressed the boy aside, and pushed him away from the door... : Locking it, setting his back against it, Jack Burton felt that he had run at least one-half of his game to quarry. CHAPTER V. PICKING UP GEUES;, *‘Who are you?’ instantly shot out in the darkness. ». announced Jack, Jack took the key out of the door and flared a match, Ee Puff! Sie The other occupant of the room had lipped in behind him and blew it out. — Don’t do that again,’” stern Be? > if <, wotg NICK CARTER WEEKLY. here,’’ spoke Jack, ‘tNo.”? ‘You will ruin me, you will bring new trouble 4; “Ah! there’s old trouble, is here?” ‘*Please go!’ **Not till I have had a talk with you,”’ : ‘“Why—why not?” **Because I want to help you.’’ ‘If you do, leave at once!’’. ‘Because I am the enemy—the relent-~ less enemy of the man you have just left near the river,”’ A poignant cry greeted this. ‘‘He is—he is my friend!’ insisted the masked boy. ‘What! aman who robs you of your watch and chain a friend ?”’ - ~“T gave them to him—freely.’’ ‘‘Then he is a blackmailer!’? The boy tore away—Jack heard him fall or fling himself upon some couch. Tere arose upon the still air of the pitclry dark room a lost, heartbroken cry: “Pm found out—it’s all over!’’ “*It’s just begun, you mean. Brace up! Now, then, to see who you are. Ah!”’ Jack had lita lamp—stepping back, he took a survey of the mysterious recent companion of Mr. Possum Washington. He instantly recognized him, “One of the Buckley twins,’? he com- mented. The boy showed his face, hid his face, and groaned. : “Lewis and Paul,’? went on Jack. ““VYou’ré Paul.’?, ae Jack jogged his memory. “he : The Buckley boys wete ‘‘pretty good fellows,’? who had entered school quite recently. ' They looked a great deal alike, and some festive fun had grown out of this ~ during the first week of their experience, ack remembered now, however, that — hipaa he had missed both from - class-room and campus. “Yes, you’re Paul,’ he went on. — “Where’s Lewis? Oh, I see!’ ae ‘Don’t you do it—don’t. you go near — him! Leave him alone! Pu—P)l——”” the moment awakened his curiosity. = Jack had started for one of the two beds | in the room, hs e3 <a ___A form lay huddled there, and its sus- *g Picious quietude amid the commotion of — Sv ve

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_ detective as Paul Buckley sprang erect, and with all his force attempted to pre- vent him from approaching the recum- bent form. _ ‘Something wrong here!’’ observed Jack. ‘‘Don’t act the lunatic, quite! I’m _ going to investigate things.’’ Jack easily held his adversary aside while he proceeded toward the bed. _. He poked at the silent figure, then he pulled ere bed clothes away from its = head. 3 ‘*Hello! hello! thello!’’ the ejacutaked, loudly. ; Jack took a sdcond look. $3 ve “Stuffed!” He jerked the counterpane clear off. ‘*4 dummy!” he added. Paul Buckley, what is the meaning of ali ‘this ?”’ The boy addressed was crying like an angry schoolgirl. “What business is it of yours?” he ~ flashed out. “Would your rather I'd bring the & faculty to answer that question?’’ de- = ‘“manded Jack, making a feint for the door. ‘No, no—don’t do that!’’ Then be reasonable.’ The boy flung himself into a chair— Jack let him get over his hysterical out- ] burst" before he tackled him again. e“Seere,’’ he said, ease Phe eral ote hamecit". opposite t e other, “I’m a “3 goed ne of a féllow, don’t you “i e eer: “L know you facet ve heard the boys E. talk: of you—buit— ou’re im soable? You don’t want ‘any advi “You resent any interference. veal sts I tell you that the man u ee ome oo man—Mr. Possum “Now, then, NICK CARTER WEEKLY. | with Possum Washington, aud naturally anxious to learn what had brought him -to Riverdale Academy. : ‘‘Who is this Washington fellow, any- way??? inquired Jack. “YT don’t know—I never saw him till” to-night.’ **VYou didu’t?’’ ‘*Honest!”’ “‘What’s the meaning of that dummy ? ; Look here, Paul Buckley. I -want to tell | you something. I’m going to run down © this Possuun Washington—you can help | me. I’m going also to fiud out what : _ gives him the right to haul you around in / amask, and rob you of your jewelry. | Better be frank with me. I’m the fellow i who can help you out of your troubles— | now, J tell you!’’ Jack had some difficulty ia gaining | : Paul Buckley’s confidence—further | | trouble in getting him to be coherent. Finally the boy agreed to tell his | _ wretched story. “Tt’s about my brother—all aoa Lewis,’’ he confessed. ‘‘] thought so,’’ nodded Jack, witha_ glance at the dummy figure on the bed. ‘‘He’s been away from the academy for : five days.”’ ““What?”” “Ves, ‘How could that be—I’ve missed you both, but the professors——”’ ) “Pye played his part,’’ rather shame- © facedly confessed Paul Buckley. ‘‘His . tutor is old, half-blind Soper, and I did it | some way, that’s all,’’ was concluded, desperately. | “And the dummy was te show your brother sick? asleep? when any one bolted in on you??? ‘*Ves,’? gulped Paul Buckley. ot. “You've kept thie up for five days?” ‘*T have.” “e SS Well,” aieueierited Jack slowly, with a critcial survey of the drawn face of the young fellow, ‘‘you look it” “tI’ve suffered horribly!” narrated the ,jatter, in a hollow tone. “I'll tell you the way of it.” os ‘What is the way of it?” aah : “Lewis is the best fellow in the | —

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_ NICK CARLER WEEKLY. 16 “How different ?” interrogated Jack. “Oh, queer! and the pain bothered him. He was a crack champion, and to be laid up worried him. ‘Three times since we came: here he’s bolted for the city—he said the pain of the old hurt was so bad he had to see a doctor.” “I hope he didn’t get reekless, and think drake helped him?” “Say!” fired up: Paul Buckley, with a vim ey was glad to see, ‘“you get right out | lof here if you dare to insinuate such a thing of Lewis!” *‘T don’t, and you say he doesn't, and that settles it, don’t it?’’ placated Jack | Soothingly—‘‘but why should he go to |} New York city to see a doctor, when Riverdale is full of them?” Buckley, helplessly. **Well, go on.”’ _ “Last ‘Saturday he stole away again.”’ Five $ ago.’? | "Ves, e next day came a note to me from ae urging me to hide his absence —he'd be back soon, he claimed. = “As I told you. This morning I got | another note. It told me to pack up his second-best suit, and to watch out fora colored man who would hang around the creek fishing with his blue silk handker- chief strung over his shoulders, and who | would have a letter for me—to give the suit to him,”’ 1 SF see, ” “Lsaw him—this Possum Washington, as you call him. I didas Lewis asked -of the man to tell me where . “All the sa isfaction he gave me was a brief letter from Lewis, an lisped a word of the truth The man asked ae and I = “4 We. are sok through no idea why any one brother a prisoner ate Fs game before he came here, he’s not been the same.”? “IT don’t know,’’? admitted Paul aying that 3225 = Ae lost. yatch and ‘*T have not.”’ ‘‘Nor why he sent for a poor suit of clothes when he had a good one on?’ The baffled boy shook his head nega- tively. “And you’ve never jonad anything suspicious, after these visits of lis to New York ?’” ‘Yes, I have—not exactly suspicious, but queer,” stated Paul Buckley, with a slight spurt of animated memory. ““What ??’ Paul Buckley went over to a bureau drawer, unlocked it, and took out a small. object. “T found sie om the floor where it must have fallen from one of his pockets,”’ he said. He handed the article to Jack Burton. Nick Carter’s young detective said nothing, but one snap of. hig intelligent eyes told that he instantly recognized the article, although he slipped it into his pocket with apparemt carelessness. ‘It’s some kind ef a pipe, isn’t it?’ interrupted Paul Buckley. ‘Seems so. Pll keepitand look itup ~ further. Now, be sure again—there was nothing in the swit pockets you sent to- day?’ < SSN no—oh, yes—one of Lewis’ keys. ” “Key to what?’ demanded Jack, sharply. “T don’t know.”’ : ‘One he always carries?’ “‘One he sometimes carried.’’ ‘* Peculiar key ?”’ “Yes, wet it and pointed—and with tiny wards.’’ ‘“That’s all you know about it?? CATT, » Jack Burton leaned back in his chair and shaded his eyes. He reflected for a moment or two. Then he got up. p His companion’s face was positively — painful in its expression, Ree He regarded Jack as though the latter held in his keeping all big welfare and that of his missing brother. . : “Oh, say somet

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‘*Sure? sure ? how can that be!” **Trust me, that’s all, and not a word to anybody.’’ | **Not a lisp!’’ 5 “Tm going to New York in the morn- DAR ee . ing,’’ said Jack. ~— **To look for him ?”” wae “To find him. Should I.telegraph for _——«*youl, come straight at once.”’ ; **T will, indeed!’ “Pll see you before I go, and may think out something more definite by then.”’ c ‘You're a good fellow! My! how _-—~you’ve relieved me! What can I ever do — for you?” a “Go to sleep, and get freshened up to keep this affair mum forty-eight hours 2 longer,’’ simply advised Jack Burton. 4 Jack was cool enough till he got rid of Paul Buckley. é Once on the way to his room, however, = he broke loose. = “The New York end, quick and _ sharp,”” he soliloquized, — spiritedly. “That ‘pipe’ is clue number one. I think I guess the secret of Lewis Buck- ley’s pain-killing visits to New York city! . “That key is the essence of the whole mystery,’? went on Jack—‘‘it was the key, not the suit, they were after. - Young Lewis Buckley is in hard hands, _ and his captors are playing for some big stake. What??? — __. Jack entered his room to guess, to pre- pare to find out. _. He shivered as he lit the lamp, for his _ clothes were still wet. is ‘Hello! window open!’’ he ejaculated. ei ©That’s what makes it so chilly. How Tigy Nees * , Maeda AS tome a Pe fe en -thig?*:° : Jack Burton almost reeled. A glance at the table in the middle of credulous stare. There faced him a surprise that was a _ There faced him something that fairly ; _his breath away; it announced a threatened to set the mys- et gab NICK CARTER WEEKLY. comes that? Blow me to pieces! What’s — he room grew toa hard, mystified, in- - _ railroad bridge. ih : ms Sine had promised not to reveal Jack's CHAPTER VI. - HEADED DIRECTs In the middle of the table was a mili- tary hat. Beside it lay a fine sword, a gold- headed cane, a costly silk umbrella. A toilet case and an immense bouquet of roses completed the outfit. But for these latter and two crossed peculiar pieces of wood bracing them up, Jack might have puzzled his brain a long time to guess out correctly what the spread could possibly mean. “Chop sticks !’’ he ejaculated. Such the pieces of wood were that sus- | tained the bouquet as a palpable triumphal floral offering. ; “Sam Tin!’’ added Jack, convincedly. That name was the key to the apparent mystery. : The grateful, irrepressible rascal-hero heathen had certainly brought the plunder, He had threatened to do it, and he had kept his word. Jack had ordered him out of Riverdale, f but before going Sam had made one last} effort to ‘‘do himself proud.”’ His rescuer, his preserver, deserved a reward for his kindness. Somewhere and somehow Sam Tin had broken into somebody’s house. | " He had carted off all he could lay his hands on, and there was the result. **And that’s why the marshal was after him !’? decided Jack. The young detective regarded the un- welcome trophies of his valor with a leery eye. ‘“Confound the fellow!’ he uttered, quite concernedly. Then Jack’s fine face softened, as it al- ways did when mixed in with the rough grit of humanity he detected a sparkle orf two of genuine gold. - he added—*‘ poor ‘*T won’t say that,”’ Sam has gone according to his lights. Still, the question is if I’m not in some-} thing of a fix?’ Jack did not fancy being hauled up for teceivin Regs property. i Gaia Bs iad been detected or su hence the presence of the marshal at

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$till, if arrested, scared, rattled, he ight let a hint drop. : _ At any rate, the plunder must be re- turned, and Jack must square himself as n incidental schoolboy friend of Sam Tin. “JT must get this complication out of the way instantly,’’ he decided. ‘It on’t do to leave loose strings of this tangling kind behind me. Yes, I'll get rid of the stuff, and then put mind and heart into this Buckley case.”’ _ Jack made a comfortable change of attire, ran down stairs, and got a quick eench, i - Coming back to his room, he madea -eompact parcel of the “‘offering to the ze impetuous Sam Tin had so clever- ly sneaked into his apartment. Jack transferred the ‘‘pipe’’ Paul Buck- ley had found in his brother’s pocket, Viewing it critically once more. - He studied the little bowl-like trifle, his lips puckered to a silent, thoughtful whistle, his eyes expressing a good deal of animated surmise. ‘¢ Pretty clear pointer,’’ he spoke, stow- ‘ing it away again. ‘‘This and Possum “Washington make as good a starter asa fellow could.ask for—the trail runs direct to New York city.”’ ¥ Jack left his room, and came outside the academy, a trifle undecided. - He did not like to appear publicly in the matter of Sam Tin’s burglarious epi- sode, if he could help it. es _ He was half-minded to make for the tiver, and try and hunt up the Chinaman. _ He would endeavor to coax some Morality into the fellow’s nature, show him the error of his ways. » At least he had sufficient influence over m to induce him to return the stuff to ae 3 *, Mi The village official’s office wt f the public buildings of R bite ng ee NICK CARTER WEEKLY. de: «tt ©The thief took “I never saw 17 The latter looked as if he had been pulled along the bottom of the creek, at the tail end of a dredger. “‘Sam’s been giving him a brisk run, I see,’’ soliloquized Jack. ‘‘Bet it was for nothing, too!’’ In this Jack found himself mistaken a minute or two afterward. ‘He entered the place, instantly discern- ing that the official recognized him. ‘Why, hello!’ blurted the marshal. *“Know me??? smiled Jack. ‘*Reckon I’ll never forget that thirty seconds I held my mask lantern rays on your face!’’ vociferated the marshal. ‘‘I see you, the locomotive headlight, the log—ugh! it makes me shiver—they’ll haunt my dreams for a month!’ “Tt was a close shave,’’ nodded Jack, carelessly, sorry, however, that the mar- shal remembered. “How came you bridge, anyway?” ‘Oh, there’s lots of rattlebrained peo- ple who tie a fellow to a log, never calcu- lating how soon it my slip down stream into a position they never intended,” evaded Jack cleverly. *‘Oh, some of the fellows hazing )ow, eh >? . : *‘Never mind—that’s over,’ speee- Jack, glad to thus readily get rid of expim nations, ‘‘Marshal, I reckon I’ve fated — some stuff you’ll be glad to recover." ~~~ on the railroad « e~ Jack undid his parcel, and the official's” eyes glowed. ° Good for you!’ he cried. ‘Is that what you want?” ; “Exactly. Where did you get it?” “Ran across it in a heap at the acad emy, where the thief must have stowed it,” truthfully answered Jack. ‘‘What is the stuff, anyway?” “Tt was stolen from a room at the hotel. te uM * pat +4 _ “Military man?” <a ee colonel of -a local militia com- ; , Sword, hat, cane, flowers? Say! i that. beats all! What did the thieving - varmint want of those—some a a the colonel at a reception last aids ht. nothing else?”’ lead _ Jack, shrewdly. “Tried to.”? Ps - STadeed ?"? << seh 0 7

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18 ‘ : NICK CARTER WEEKLY. ‘How so?’’ insinuated Jack, curiously. ‘“He’d moved out a piano—wheeled a safe a foot or two. Honestly, I believe he would have carted them away, and the furniture of the room as well, if he could. have handled them—he’d tackle a red- hot stove—that kind of a fellow would!” Jack smiled, while recognizing the en- tire gravity of the situation. ‘ ‘And he’s as comical and chirp asa cricket,’’ went on the marshal. ‘‘Bless me! when I caught him——”’ Jack gave a start. “Ah! you caught him then, did you ?”’ he murmured. Pet... It s2 lively crook that slips through my fingers, when'1 get good and tight after him!’’ vaunted the official. ‘‘Well, when I caught him, bless me! if he didn’t put on that gutleless grin of his, after leading me through half-a-mile of mud and ten feet down into a clay pit, and tell me ‘Blad walking, marshal—get coatee dustee!’ ”’ . _ **Where is he?” inquired Jack. ' * **¥n the cooler.’ Can I see him ?”’ : The marshal looked not unwillng to _ oblige Jack, but a trifle surprised. < ‘Why!’ he began, but instantly _- ehecked himself—“I see,” he added— “naturally interested.’ a “He saved my life, you know.” _ ‘And never bragged of it. TF sort of __ eoddled to him when I thought of that, but he wouldn’t have it. ‘Savee noth- ing!’ he declared. ‘Jumpee to savee self. ~ Loafee academy boy velly bad!” ** =. a ene rascally aud P? half-chuckled Jack, under his breath. ' But a further astounder greeted him as he was led by the marshal to the little town jail near by. hal, ushering Jack into the cell corridor, — one to see you.” zs ‘Phe Chinaman De alles himself me, eats - ‘Here, Sam Tin,” called out the mar- ~ e308 ees stare that was **Who he?” “*You cheeky rascal!’’ hailed Jack, the minute they were left alone. Sam Tin thought it safe to grin now. **Do you realize that you saved. my life ?”’ ‘Some other fellee! re ? ‘‘No, it wasn’t ‘some other fellee!’ it © was great Sam Tim, and you’re a rare jewel, if things wouldn” t stick so tightly to your fingers!’’ Sam understood perfectly but he sadly — regarded his podgy-ended digits as if they ~ were bad children he could not control. ‘SWhy did you get yourself into this © horrible fix?’’ proceeded Jack. 4 Snipee for Jackee!"’ ‘*Ves, but look here——”’ ‘“Jackee better man than makee-believe _ soldier. ”’, **Think so, eh?’’ ‘‘Warmee spot flor Jackee—here!”’ Sam put his hand to his heart—gro- tesque as he looked, muddy, bedraggled, tattered, there was a rude, eatchy elo- quence in words and manner. ‘‘Well, I’m. sorry, Sam, for you’re ticketted for a sentence, J fear.’’ ‘*Bullee, good !"’ “*They’ll_ keep you locked up for a mouth.’’ **Hi-lah! plenty eatee, plentee sleepee, all lightee, me no kickee!’’ insisted the philosophically happy Sam. ‘Pll speak to the marshal, and try to make it light.”’ ‘*Sam not care.’’ ‘And I'll come and see you when I get back.”’ **Jackee going away py oe ‘Ror a day or two, and say! Sam—not . ‘a word about what we agreed ?”’ ‘What Jackee mean ?”’ xa “ ‘Jackson,’ you | bnew, not Jack Bur. — ton??? ; “Qh—ah! who _ Jacke Burtow?"? do- manded the audaciously ignosant prisoner. ‘‘Nor Nick Carter?” S ated Sam, witha — “Who he???’ i J age) was positiv y 1410 i dol” commended Jack. ‘he 3 boa 4 detective felt sae his secre

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: . i “I’m going to leave you a little change to get extra grub if you find their rations too short here, Sain,’’ he explained, “Sam no wantee.”’ aoe **Sam gottee havee, see ?’ smiled Jack. He hauled out a handful of change, Poking aside in his palm several other articles he had fished up with the coin, Jack noticed Sam make an eager dart and fix a settled stare. “What you looking at, Sam?’ he asked, quite curiously. | : : Sam rather gravely brought the point of his finger down on the object that Paul Buckley had given Jack an hour previous. It was the bowl, the ‘‘pipe,’’ found in the pocket of his brother, Lewis Buckley, _ after one of his pain-easing visits to New York city. Jack had known long before this what it was. He had seen its prototype very often during professional explorations in thie metropolis, Sam knew what it was, too, the min- ute his eyes lit on it. “Bad, Jackee!’’ he pronounced, sol- emnly, ‘‘velly badt?? 0 ‘What is, Sam ?"’ ‘*Jackee yittee pipe!’’ Det ainc es ; ee eae Ht this is an opium pipe? “I thought so.. No, Sam, this is some-_ thing that does not belong to me.”’ ‘You find?” » **¥es, I found it.”’ am. “Blelong New York.” “ee know that, do you?” wives 5 so!’ nes =e SEE: - ee ; = ~ on, sith 3 NICK CARTER WEEKLY. bag An hour since that little bow] had given him a sure hint as to the identity of Lewis Buckley’s ‘‘doctors’? in New York city. If Sam Tin knew where it belonged, where it came from. Why! “Jackee wantee know muchee?”’ queried his almond-eyed friend. “The worst way, Sam!’ “‘Detectlive case?’ _ Yes, Sam, -it is.’’ Ho-ah! Goodee! “Ves? yes?” **See where cuttee kni i Bp rb. ee knife name—Chinee Jack nodded, as peering close he made out some characters carved into the tiny bowl. ; ‘’That who,” informed S. am. ‘*And who is that ?”” Jack Burton felt all his professional hope, zest and acumen veer to a definite point like a pole-drawn magnetic needle at Sam Tin’s reply. : It gave him the hint direct, he was sure. Where that pipe came from was the missing academy student—Lewis Buck- Thiis pipe——”’ ley. And clever Sam Tin had told him in- stantly where that was, “Charley Yen, Chinatown, New York city.”’ CHAPTER VIII. -IN “CHINATOWN.” Jack Burton hovered at the port mystery. Be e He was in New York city, at its most secret recesses. He was in a street within a street, buildings within buildings—the hidden heart of Chinatown, Jack fancied he had seen all the under surface life of the great metropolis here- tofore, but never as now; he somewhat — wonderingly confessed. Even a detective cannot know every- thing. | : ES aleaee While he is learning his full share, the criminal—keen, alert, progressive—keeps. _ steady pacewithhim. = 5 i _As the emissary of justice makes fresh discoveries, the criminal puts up cou-— stantly mew barriers for_ his nataral e340 ee OOn

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Immediately after Sam Tin’s enlight- ening identification of the opium pipe,” : Jack had left Riverdale for the city. He had brought his trusty partner and associate, Buff Hutchinson, with him. ; They and Bob Ferret had made fast _ friend of one of the professors by recently helping him recover some valuable stolen chemicals.- In this they had posed as students, but had worked like the natural born detec- tives they were. Diplomatic Jack, therefore, had little difficulty in convincing this gentleman _ that they were the proper agents to make needed laboratory purchases in the city. Knowing just what to do and how todo it, inside of six hours after their arrival] in the metropolis, Nick Carter’s two young detectives had run their clue to quarry, or fancied they had. ow, disguised as newsboys, and seem- | ingly engaged in a game of ‘‘craps,’’ they sat on the pavement of a passage- way betwecn two buildings, and opposite that which Jack Burton decided held the man lre was after—Charley Yen. ““That’s the place, you thik, Jack?” interrogated Buff, under his breath, sand- wiching imenough voluble slang of the gamie to delude any listeners, should such be in range. ‘‘Rrom all I can gather, the fellow Sam Tin told me about, the owner of the ley’s possession—Charlie Yen—is housed Ing, yes.” $ _ “*Looks like a jail?”’ : = It isn’t. ” at might it be now?’’ “ies. a cniciully guarded theatre, gambling den and Joss house of the ex- clusive four hundred of the sporty and miaal Chinese population.” | _ “We're going to have some trouble, _Sge reer tetiow out of opium pipe bowl found in Lewis Buck- somewhere within that mysterious build- = eae ve ak | 90 NICK CARTER WEEKLY. _ ; has told us, and I have formed a pretty clear theory.”’ : ‘‘Give it, Jack.”’ ‘‘Young Lewis Buckley, when he came periodically to New York city, came to smoke opium.”’ ‘Pretty young for that sort, I should say? ‘‘Perhaps—it’s like every otker lure, however: grappling-hooked once it catches hold. The people who ran the dope den got to know who he was.” ‘*And held him this time?’’ ‘““Exactly.”? “Why ?” ‘“They’ve got him either compromised or scared pretty badly. Possum Washing- ton is simply their agent. He came to Riverdale to get a suit of clothes belong- ing to the missing fellow.”? - ‘‘Which contained a curious key ?”” Paul Buckley says so.’ Oe yee **Guess that, and you’ve got it, likely, Now, either that, or revenge.”’ ‘How!’ ejaculated Buff, with a vivid start. ‘*Revenge, I said.’’ “See here——”’ “well?” ‘“That’s new to me!”’ * ‘*Tt’s very new and pretty vague to me as well,’’? confessed Jack, ‘‘for it was only two hours ago that I found out who these Buckley boys are.”’ a Ea te “Who?” =. J Sas ee ‘*Sons of a famous customs official now off on his vacation in Florida.”’ - 40 e]1 2? ¥ “Very active, most active, in watching out for pauper emigrants and smuggling sharpers.”’ “T didn’t think Chinese importations and opium smuggling bothered much on this coast ?’’ = ‘Enough to enable Mr. Buckley to make some pretty important seizures, and naturally the crooked Chinese crowd would have it in for him.” Here’s a plot, then?”’ es ee ae don’t say so—I only mention facts."? _

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ple AS “Oh $7? 4 ‘And the pipe may turn out a far- + fetched clue, after all.” “We can only try, then, to locate. this - Yen.” “You've got it.”’ ; ; “And if young Buckley isn’t in the place, see if Yen knows where he is??? _ ‘That's the programme, precisely. Get up, Buff. Time for action!” ‘““What’s your cue?”’ oe ia, “We can’t get in by that big portico entrance unless we’re yellow, have the and a password. See that fence connecting two buildings?” “«Over it?” ra “Yes. Out with our ball—one or two catches, then make a break.”’ ‘*Here you are!”’ Any person observing would have seen the two boys tossing and catching—an apparently accidental flip over the short but high fence, concealing yard or court, the young experimenters did not know which. The top of the fence was formed of boards sawed into points. From point to point ran twisted strands of barbed wire. —— Getting up with a leap, over witha spring, and landing as lightly as a cat, _-was mere easy exercise for these proficient experts from the gymnasium of Nick - Carter’s detective school. __It was only an excuse they had sought - to get over that fence. Now, while Buff hunted for the ball, Jack took in their environment. _ Assmall yard showed with a canopy - covering it entire, thirty feet above. | s looked into it. ““Hide— yur point! Ill guard Pperey. © i some other way,’ gi IG tickly. “No one | king?” . Ves, up yonder.” one coming Pp? . ” Buff saw a man approac ‘to casually look out. reated as a deft fling of the ball le on and it bounded back to el ' looked quickly around— coming” was a China- ti, er + NICK CARTER WEEKLY. De a, re | 21 man bearing a coal scuttle and humming a song. ‘*Ay-ya! ho-he! hi-a—hello! who?”? ; The fellow’s eyes snapping suspi- ciously, he sprang at Buff. The latter guessed his comrade was safely stowed, and was ready for banish- ment. He showed the ball and explained, but the Chinaman gritted his teeth at him, You— “unlocked a gate in the fence, and would have pushed Buff forth violently had he not skipped out without waiting. Jack was out of sight, but not out of the yard. When he saw the man at the window he darted toward a dark open hallway. _. Then he heard some one coming from it, and decided it was hide instead of enter, __ Near a little pile of wood was a huge inverted wooden bowl. It was cracked and seamed—an im- mense€ company rice receptacle, big as the top of a cistern, It was slight] d into th ait of fhe si x pressed down into the Its bulging hollowness attracted Jack. In a jiffy he lifted it, in a flash he was under it, in a twinkling it flopped back into place. “So far, so good!’ commented Jack, complacently, watching Buff’s summary banishment through one of the broad splits in the bowl. He coddled down snugly and kept his eye on the Chinaman with the coal scuttle. “When he gets out of the way, I'll . make a sneak into this barn of a build- ing,’’ decided Jack. He lay flat, calm and confident of this first step in his programme soon leading to more tangible results. It did—very promptly. Right on top, there commenced the first of the series of Jack Burton’s extras - ordinary and startling adventures in Chinatown, quick and bracing as a black thunderstorm ! : CHAPTER VIII. ieee A LIVING TARGET. cp “Oho!” suddenly exclaimed Nick Car-_ J are ke a hs ‘etttiel aut ez, Py chee + es ; ew -

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22 NICK CARTER WEEKLY, Jack Burton abruptly discovered what the immense wooden. bowl under which he rested was used for. Leaky and frazzled, it had been re- jected as a dish, and now did service asa chopping log. At all events, the Chinaman whose prompt coming had prevented Jack from’ entering the house, and who had so sum- marily evicted Buff, now set his coal scut- tle down by the side of Jack’s covert. He drew a short-handled axe and a thick wood slab out of the woodpile. Crack—bang! went a blow that jarred the bowl, and vibrated like a shock along Jack’s sturdy nerves. Then, crack, crack, crack—the fellow struck a big knot, but stubbornly hacked away at it. Immediately a crack distended the bowl, and Jack’s eyes opened accordingly. “T wouldn’t like to be hit!”” sqtirmed the apprehensive lurker. Jack was hit—the next instant—but not with the axe. With a plunk of the pistol-sbot order, quite a chunk of the rounding surface of *the bowl burst through. Jack saw why at once. In disturbing the bowl to slip under it, _he had let it down manly out of its old rut, One rim rested on a half-sunken brick, and this gave less solidity to it. The chopper moved stick and axe away from the gap he had made, but that rent was now the starting point for general - disintegration. A clump shattered, and Jack drew up one leg sharp’and far as he could. _The stick went, through like a driven ' mail, the axe grazed his ankle, and the mS Chinaman; thrown off his balance, fell over flat. Jack burrowed his hands under the dirt : — sunk tim of the bowl back of his head. _ On the same principle that he had — oftens, lying flat, raised Bob, or Buff, or “Aleck, ot Larry, in the detective school ymnasium on his Pa he essayed the as he sprawled, reversing the bowl sur. face with the adroitness of a skilled plate-spinner, Jack popped it across the dazzied, bewildered fellow. Jack did not know if, amid all these violent gyrations, the Chinaman caught clear sight of him or not. ~ He had his point in view, and he promptly made it. The open hallway out of which the fellow had come Jack dove into. _ To getinto the house as he had got into the yard was his intent tai and he went fast. The hall ran ten feet, and the light i in it was din. First thing, Jack dove into a door... , That door must have been set on oiled | pivots, for it seemed as if a feather would © tip it. | It‘was constructed ona principle Jack had never run across before—had neither hinges, lock, nor knob. It simply went back like a swinging panel, and Jack followed its forward, up- ward movement. Whack! “Worse than a turnstile!’’ Jack, being unfamiliar with the ote ises and the queer door arrang*:.«: instantly hustled into trouble. The top of the door, reversiv5, came down like a paddle and struck him like a giant cricket bat. Heavy weighted, on full swing, it sent Jack so fast and far that he scurried afloat and landed in a disordered heap. Where he struck was a wall—all metal. All gong, too, it seemed, for instantly the pressure of his body set loose a hum dred brisk tanging hammers. “T’ve come the wrong way—the trap way for strangers!’ breathed Jack, springing to his feet. He at once discerned that what he had heard of this secret haunt of shifty, ex- clusive fellows was no fiction. They were equipped for intruders— human or mechanical sentinels were probably on guard everywhere. ‘‘What’s the right way?’’ soliloquized ) Jack. “ An opening at one side was the only avenue apparent. Jack made a run. ja in bee Be soetly

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‘ "guessed, as he trod a corridor free of any more of those alarming doors and gongs. A turn called for a halt or advance into a small room. Jack started across it, looking vainly for some good hiding-place where he could snuggle till he saw what came of the gong alarm. **Cracky !’’ he muttered. He forged ahead, for he was startled. It was ‘‘crackey!’’ in Sak And cracketty-crick! puff! hiss-ss! .. Jack had struck another pitfall. - How arranged he knew not, but here and there, stuck up in the cracks of the floor, were match heads. His flying feet striking these, a series of snapS sounded forth that would attract .attention half a dozen rooms away. rey were put there for just that pur- se, Jack was certain. What surprised him was the fact that ‘no outcry from the yard sounded, no pur- suit inside had followed his gong experi- ence, Be A “Bound to dive “into something!’ he ‘soliloquized. ‘‘All this doesn’t mean _ nothing!’’ “Jack slid'the last match—twenty must have snapped, flared and smoked out in his wake. : A spring past a threshold landed him in a large room, : - It landed him as well up against the fate that had been waiting for him. _ _ *Snared!’’ breathed Jack, quickly. _ He saw what was coming, but too late to dodge out of the way. ¢ 3 “ie fat Chinaman popped into his at ed to a perfecthy rig ’s arms alongside his bod kk, thus blindfo ~y n ’ NICK CARTER WEERLY. 23 A fluffy fold of his silk nighteap came thus between his lips, and then his teeth. Jack chewed and jerked, blew out the mouthful, and saw through the slit he had rended. ; The man who had halted his forward “progress was surveying him curiously. He took out his snuff box and thought- full took a pinch to fortify himself fora further disposition of his captive. “‘Now or never!?’ muttered Jack. ‘Here goes!?’ He measured distance with a-shrewd glance—it was the preface to a sudden bolt. His head circled, and then came up. Jack had aimed to strike the fellow under his unguarded chin, and tip him back keeling, “Tve done it!’’ he decided, as there was a snap, a tumble and a roar. Then Jack’s exertions were bulked in pressure aganist the imprisoning ring of the bag. He snapped it more readily than he had anticipated, and drew free. The man was sprawled about the floor, tubbing eyes and mouth in a frenzy of pain and rage. Jack’s quick eye made out four cur- tained doorways. He parted one—a closet beyond—the second, frame door, and locked; the third, door, ajar. A glance at the snuffed-out Chinaman convinced him he was too blinded to see what had become of his recent captive. “One way good as another, I suppose,’’ concluded Jack. ‘‘I’ll try this.”’ He pushed the door open, pushed it shut, and found himself in a queer place. Sttips of green-painted muslin ran Several feet apart across a floor. = _ It was like a stage-setting placed to

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a4 NICK CARTER WEEKLY. ‘‘What for?’’ he questioned himself, rapidly. - Before Jack could answer that question satisfactorily, beyond a heavy curtain shutting in the stage-like space the twang of some instrument and the drawl of several voices startled. © Jack was thus hemmed in—unless he risked a, retreat, which after the series of alarms he had started going he con- sidered worse than no way at all. Then he formed his mind quickly, and acted accordingly. Jack had the stuffed mandarin out of the swing, disrobed and placed in a muslin-guarded aisle, very promptly. Arrayed in the fake mandarin’s garb, he was in the swing quick as he could perch there. The mandarin’s face mask came out so he could turn his eyes any way he chose. Jack turned them toward the curtain with a certain nervous, expectant stare, as it suddenly ran back on its rings. The length of a room showed. Just beyond the curtain was a counter resembling that of a shooting gallery, only that it held long, bright knives with wicked-looking points, instead of rifles. A celestial inside of the counter picked _ up a pole. He reached with this fifteen feet over just behind Jack’s back and started him swinging. Several jabbering fellows on the other side of the counter were picking over the knives. Jack read the situation in a flash. “ve put my foot in it!” he muttered in some dismay. Then, gripping the side ropes of the _ swing firmly, he: knew not whether to Stick or jump ou CK nif theowing !? breathed Nick Car- ter’s young detective with seriousness— ‘fand I’m the target!’’ CHAPTER IX. HONS s . The man inside the counter gave jack another swing. There was a chorus of animated voices, as if some exciting exploit was due. Jack, peering through his thin mask, saw three knives being poised. ; ‘All coming at once—more than I can stand!’’ he jerked out decisively. Bang—bang—sideways, impelled by a sensational excitement he could not re# press, he fired his revolver twice. Jack accomplished his purpose—the room beyond was instantly in an uproar —the wholesale knife onslaught ‘was evaded, at least temporarily. ' There was a rush of frightened feet, knives clattered to the floor. 8 The keeper piled over the counter, and) all hands scurried away from the room: amid a wild babel of outcries. Upon this exact outcome Jack~ had! scarcely counted, but he immediately availed himself of the opportunity offered. for making a disappearance. He was out of the swing, had the re-; decorated mandarin in it, himself secreted between the painted musiin strips, quick, as he knew how. Prompt as he was, however, there ap-:. peared startled, hesitating faces at the end of the room just as he ducked below the floor level. Jack could trace fright, argument, per- suasion, in the vociferous chattering that ensued. Then, while the others hung back, the man who had charge of the room ad- vanced timorously.. He armed himself with a knife, fart abandoned it as too short—took up an iron bar, and dropped it as too heavy, Théen, picking up a _ long-handled sword, he pressed forward cautiously, his startled eyes showing that he was pre- pared to meet some astonishing surprise. There was breathless silence with the group watching him. The man took fully five minutes in ap- - proaching the figurein the swing. ; He glared, advanced, goggled, halted—_ poked at the dummy—into the dummy. _ ‘Then he stood spellbound, so close to. the crouching Jack that ean could eben him ie a under his breath a jargon _ pressed parectction.

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- All would probably have been well, and the wondering man might have re- turned to his fellows trying to convince them that the recent shooting was all back ward. - 3 : In doing soshe trod squarely, heavily on prostrate Jack’s hand. - Instantly he noticed the lack of level floor, and looked down. Instantly, too, he raised tine long- handled sword. ~ Jack, imprisoned, menaced, bit out. _ He gave the fellow’s ankle a grip that tinsteadied his aim and made him bellow. Recklessly tearing the muslin strips to finders, he dashed toward his comrades with the most frightful cries, starting 4 new stampede. Up jumped Jack—lying down he had been studying overhead. - Now he availed himself of the knowl- edge so gleaned. His first movement was to tear back - the curtain into place. -Shutting himself in, shutting the others out, Jack sprang into his element. Ropes, bars, rafters—over the stage space was a network of these. It had..been left thus for acrobatic pos- - felt safer and safer. ie Within ten minutes, despite all” the alarms he had set off, all the commotion _ he had caused, he felt that his aerial fight _and its result could not. be traced. _ — He had finally gained an immense, Un- floored attic through a variety of squeez- ings between partitions, scaling of lathed surfaces. Sat ates - Stairs led up to it, and at the direct top of these was a latge double door, - _ Next across fr it w: a smaller door, ed, half-opened, and penetrated the apart- Pimeet* eee ; wo broken bicycles lay in one corner ~ —half-a-dozen bicycle casings hung over j : r peg. wee + etic. such as broken chairs, and imagination, had he not taken a step - sibilities, and climbing up and up, Jack : ockery, showed the place to be a kind NICK CARTER WEEKLY. , 2. Yawns, groans or mutterings sounded directly under his feet. The noise was so distinct that he peered quite. closely at the floor. : “Thought there was some aperture open,’’ he soliloquized—‘‘a trap, not clear shut.”’ ; Jack sat down beside the opening in question. _ Cautiously he lifted the tilted edge an Inch or two. ‘Hello!’ he uttered simply. The young detective’s emotions, how- ever, were of a complicated description. Jack Burton had found what he had come to seek, _A small, close room, with only one little window. near its top, and a door evidently locked from the outside, showed. It held a couch and table only. _ Upon the couch sat a young fellow a few years Jack’s senior. 4eWis Buckley!’ peering Jack. € was very much shocked to note the change in the missing academy student since last he had seen him. i The latter was dozily swaying with half-closed eyes. Stupefied as he was, Jack discerned that he was groping for the little table upon which lay an opium smoker’s outfit. “Here’s work!’ declared Jack, ardent- ly. “Dm going to get down to him. = _ That was a movement easy to plan— it was the getting up again that must be provided for. ae ian More than that, young Buckley must recognized the be hoisted up as well, if that could be ac- complished. : : ‘“This way the coast is clear. Beyond that door it may be all bad lands,’ mused Jack, “even if I could face it, which is doubtful.” BO Jack did some thinking, some looking around the old storeroom, and then some > + a - ‘had two of the bicycle tub iy ring ©

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26 NICK CARTER WEEKLY, The mumbling, rocking ‘‘fiend victim”’ on the couch started and stared, much in the the manner of a drunken man, as -« Jack landed before him. ‘‘Lewis Buckley,’’ pronounced , the young detective, shaking the fellow well. z -““That’s—that’s my name,’’ came the dreamy voice. ‘‘Of course it’s your name. rouse up!”? ‘¢Slee py!” The uae had his eyes sufficiently open to make out the drug outfit on the table. “No more of that!’’ announced Jack sternly, pocketing pipe, matches, needle ~ and thimbleful of the drug, as his com- panion reached for them. ‘‘Who are you?’’ droned young Buck- ley, jooking weakly dissatisfied. ‘From Riverdale Academy—from your brother, Paul.’’ “Eh! Oh——” Lewis Buckley clapped his hand to his forehead. Some sentient memory was poignantly stirred. Soon, however, he relapsed into maud- lin mutterings. **See here,” spoke Jack rapidly, but - with impressiveness, “you want to get out of here.”’ ; ‘Can Ls a ”» ‘*I’ve come to help you. Do you under- stand that you are a prisoner—alimost a week here?’ ° ‘No, no—I came only, let me see—let me see——’? “Six days ago. They may intend to < kill you. They have robbed your brother. -. Do you understand all this—you must __ get out of here!” See here— ri , can tt” _. **Will you try? See this? Climb — en ee Jack urged the captive to his feet, — No use!’? he instantly decided, as _ - Buckley staggered and nearly fell, “‘If this fellow is got out of this den at all, it’s carry him out!” Carry him out, Ing him up, it indeed seemed necessary to do—and Jack age ; as he was, persistent as he was, in ain a ar Sei both severely < duing made to get? young up | ze oes cabl ot eft | charge while he pursued a1 investigation of their environment. The double doorway led into a great decorated roomy hall. The minute Jack saw its rich draperies, altars, and incense stands, he knew what the place was, ‘‘Joss room—temple of these fellows,’’ he guessed, correctly. ‘‘Perhaps the safest place to stow young Buckley in I could possibly find, till he gets his wits and strength back more clearly.’’ Into the room Jack led and helped his’ charge. He made him lie down in the sheltered - space behind a dais.. Discovering a font full of water, Jack made several applications of some cloths ~ dipped in the same to the head of the dazed drug fiend. | Young Buckley braced up quite a little under these ministrations. _ He seemed to understand now who Jack was. When the latter attempted to question him as to the past week, however, he was dense and confused as ever. *1]l find out what he knows about that mfysterious key before we leave this place!’’ Jack declared determinedly to himself. Nick Carter’s young detective started teleaye the temple room to make a fur- ther hunt for Charley Yen, for some per- son or persons who might have an interest in the key question, when he halted, listened, and every keen sense was set on acute edge. Jack heard the voice of the very man who had secured the mysterious key—— Mr. Possum Washington, CHAPTER X. ' THE MYSTERIOUS OMNIBUS. Jack slipped behind the dais where Lewis Buckley lay concealed. ~ Into the room came a sallow, sharp- -eyed half-Chinaman, quite American in dress, and the lone fisherman of Riverdale. — “Tell you, sah! tell you, Valda, I~ *proximate myself rather shrewd)? . vaOnl bb aeae ue PA s uic interrupted the other impe- tiently—" ‘did the sal aS. ‘It fitted, age .

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2 ‘“The office door of young father—the customs official?” “Office, sah, desk, sah, private box, sah!’ ~ “And you got——’”’ ‘The blanks.’’ The half-Chinaman grabbed from his companion’s grasp some papers he pro- duced, : "He glanced them over eagerly. _» “Fine—glorious! good for you!”’ he -exulted. ‘They'll do?’ “Do? They fix.us out!’’ ‘I got bettah to come, sah!’ ‘©What do you mean ?”’ **How’s that ?”’ The colored man produced a pocket official Seal operating with a spring. The man called Valda uttered a raptur- ous shout as he examined it. : As he slipped a piece of paper under 1t, and noticed the impress, he fairly hur- rahed. ~ ‘‘Why, we're the Government for the next twelve hours!’’ he cried. ‘*Get to work, sah!”’ ‘‘And you too—listen!’? went on the man hutriedly. ‘‘Melaney—we can trust him—get his c Ebus..” ‘Bring it here?’’ ‘Right away. Ill fill out and prepare the document—I’ll be ready to go wit! him inside of fifteen minutes.” “Very good, sah! I esteem we've done a fair night’s work, sah!’? ' 5 “Glorious! I don’t see how we miss. Hasten, now—hasten!’’ Clicking the seal compressor, the man bustled from the place, the other follow- _ jng fast as his portly form would allow. Directly after them, vividly alive with == conjecture, suspicion, alarm, trailed Jack =e eEfarh | as Disgruntled, he came to @ halt. ; A door slammed in his face, spring s olted, three stories down @ narrow stair- Buckley’s ‘can . case, Te Feet wat al he lowermost step, -ed in more ways than one. #.- he gid ©f valuable informa. follow up the one “2 NICK CARTER WEEKLY. th Lewis Buckley found, Jack, orescape ‘I 27 it was fifteen feet to the ground, and young Buclkey was helpless. ‘That key!’ uttered the baffled Jack. “It is as I fancied all along the—boy’s detention was based on some complication of ‘his father’s business. The key- fitted his father’s desk. ‘The father probably left it with the son. They knewit. He is away in Florida. They got a blank, an official seal. Now, what is the riddle?” Jack sat reflecting seriously. The fact that within fifteen minutes a decisive move was to be made by Lewis Buckley’s kidnappers, urged Jack to his st mettle. ~ The further fact that the conspirators alda and Possum Washington were to. € the ‘“‘Government itself for twelve hours’? made him tingle with desire to break down the door that had so-sum- marily shut him off their trail. must get out of this!’’. decided Jack. “I must get word to Buff to follow this mysterious omnibus, or do it my- self, »” Jack had to choose the window route, Perforce—the door was jail-like in its stoutness, It was growing dark now, and once in the yard below, high-fenced and lock- gated as it was, he could readily get to the street outside. Jack found some difficulty in reaching Open air, however. he window was one long sash. . To remove it he had to cut and pry at side casings, for it naturally lifted from the outside. ; _ ‘Got it at last, and the fifteen minutes isup!’ he breathed, lifting it into the Stairs, ‘The bus!’’ aes At that’ moment, with the clicking open and clicking shut of a gate, a two- horse vehicle dashed into the yard. 3 Jack fairly drew back and held his breath for fear of discovery. The bus halting, the high front seat was not two feet away from him. : was the driver. ed in a rain-coat—a - = F 7 ey sp OE 3 Stet

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His eyes flashed, and his stout nerves tingled till they shook. An old ruse, but a daring ruse, under the present circumstances, suggested itself to him. If he could take the fellow’s place, act the fellow’s part in the mysterious jour- ney projected, he would score, he was confident, a grand finish! ‘‘I’ll try it!” To try was to do with Jack Burton. On the stairs was the whole bicycle easing which he had dropped while re- moving the window. Jack picked it up—he looped it toa small-topped eight, got the knot needed, reached out. = “Augh | had ‘*Silenee, if you value your life!” ‘*Say=a—"? ‘‘Want it tighter—up you come!”’ Jack Burton had lassoed the man on the driver’s seat. - He had got a terrific twist about his meck. 3 ‘ : The man was light, and one vigorous a jerk snaked him through the window. Jack wondered later how he managed ~~ everything so superbly. Within three minutes he had the man up three.stories, dropped into the room whence he had rescued Lewis Buckley, and the trap closed. In another sixty seconds he was in the fellow’s enveloping gossamer, and erect on the seat of the omnibus, large as life. vy © “Close graze!)”: "©" Jt was that, for a man came to the - front wheel and hailed up at him not half a minute after he had got into place. =~ **Melaney !”’ 65, Rh? : “Over to Jersey City.’’ ey Pe Oh-—hah?” “South beyond Dacey slip.” pee Right?’ _P “111 tell you then where.”’ into the bus behind and a gate nto the street, phal - man got Sure nis ba deseo eas sat he ps NICK CARTER WEEKLY. where. he likes, later, I’m not Jack Burton!’’ Buff was not in view in the vicinity of the buildings they were leaving. Jack drove as directed. His fare or- dered a halt near a lonely slip across the river. Jack wondered where he was headed for, as he put down a long wharf. It had a brick building, lighted, at its extreme end, guarded by a gate. Near it was an old boat that looked like a floating boarding-house, and several smaller craft. F “Looks something like a government outfit,’’ mused Jack. ‘‘Ah, here comes my man!”’ Valda was coming back, sure enough. Behind him trailed six Chinamen, raw, green-looking fellows. Each carried an - enormous bundle, which, covered with rice-straw inatting, resembled images or pieces of statuary. They had great diffi- culty in forcing their baggage ito the *bus. “ Once in, however, Valda spoke to them in Chinese, and the windows were all pulled up and the shades pulled down, He himself got on the back step, and Jack heard him turn a key in-the-door. **Home, Melaney!’’ he spoke. “Of all the queer loads!’’ commented : Jack, and kept up a furious thinking. What was his load—important? surely, Too much trouble and circumlocution. were involved in the secing of this strange cargo to make it a trivial one. __ Jack had fully decided that it should: never go to Chinatown, and was plan- ning several brilliant moves, when, six squares from the scene of his recent ad- ventures, Valda called a halt. He came up alongside the ’bus. ‘“Melaney !’’ : “Bh ? ’ “Stop here. want to stow my people for the night . _ somewhere else.”’ © Jack felt as proud and exultant asthe “"Mayp — “Ah ? .: ‘ “Cattle, but useful, and—valuable. , Wait.” ie Valda glided away. ter Jack saw him enter the door of a . cheap lodging-house. ‘The minute he disappeared ce Jack Burton whipped up. pee heat ater, atter in the’ + a =e + I’m not going home. a. 7

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So Ro Ae a NICK CARTER WEEKLY. 2 two horses to their best rate of speed, took a glance at a neat, familiar resi- His eyes grew brighter and his breath came quicker every corner he turned. His face was supremely satisfied as he dence, and halted in front of it. ‘‘“Home!”? he breathed, softly, with a chuckle. He got down and pretended to be ar- but ranging the bit of one of the horses. From a little front ’bus window one of “the leery-eyed occupants of the vehicle eered out. Bob bustled at the harness, whistling loud as he could. Casual passers-by saw only a common omnibus halt for repairs in front of a pleasant-louking residence—only a driver whistling aimlessly as he moved about. | The whistle, however, was couched 1” the signal code of Nick Carter’s detec- tive school. ‘The house was the home of the great New York detective. _ + “Who's in the house?” quickly. Get them——” _-~ **What you got?” = CHAPTER XI. JACK BURTON’S FAMOUS CATCH. Out of the doorway of Nick Cartet’s house promptly peered a face. It was that of Mr. Carter’s serving man. — Jack trilled a further bar of whistling melody. ’ In popped Nick’s posted attache—out came a uew form. _ ‘*Bob!?” recognized Jack. “Broke down, mister??? queried Bob Ferret, staring and guessing: ‘‘Looks so—get nearer,’’ ack’s low-toned confidence made words ~ count for all they were worth. he ” “ Aleck—Larry.”” ene: € And Mr. Carter?” eo Don’t want to **A load of Chiname! that front win- ‘reported Bob. and another section : TTS ee Se a R on Se “TX iy aS yon 4 casually - getting an audience!”’ calculated Jack. — 29 “How’s ‘Tannehill’s livery—next block ?”’ ; “Good !”’ ‘“‘Briend of Mr. Carter’s——”’ 4 “T know.”’ - “Drive right in—by the time you’re there we’ll be on hand.”’ Tl] coop my catch just so.”” ‘“‘Jack,”” whispered Bob — ‘‘academy case ?”” f “Of the biggest kind!’’ “Done brown of the brownest kind!” commented Bob, enthusiastically, five ininutes later. The ’bus had made a run up the livery slant way, and stood under guard and inspection behind closed doors. : Jack Burton spun his rapid story in yard lengths. He only gave sentient skeleton points, but, Nick Carter understood. Take charge of them,” « directed Jack. ‘‘And their baggage ?”’ he veteran detective and his three assistants were so busy with the alarmed, vociferous passengers of the ’bus that they never missed Jack. Jack, with an unfinished piece of work to do, mightily spurred up by his success, had started squarely back for the Chinese haunts One stop he made—a bolt into Nick Carter’s, a bolt out of it. It was to get a handy silk and wire- hooked ladder rope, which he knew would be effectively useful. ee nnen he sped forward for the Chinese n. A flip of the ladder—Jack was over the ence, A second—he was up through the sashless window. hd His course, he determined, must be Speedy one. Jack ran up the winding staircase to the Joss room. Under the floor of the trap apartment he could hear loud outcries. ~ It was the driver whose taken. “They'll think it’s their captive— young Buckley—no danger of Melaney place he had ~found young Buckley with — 2. ete eae \

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20 NICK CARTER WEEKLY. clearer head, but yet dazed with the drug. He half understood what Jack pro- ‘Jected—a rescue, am escape. Jack got him to his feet down the stairs. . Guiding him through the window and to the rope ladder, young Buckley ‘slipped. ‘Too bad!’ voiced Jack, in dismay. There was a fearful clatter. The boy had tumbled against, over, into the long sash light taken from the window frame. _ “Ont, out—quick! Youve roused the sleepers, I guess!’’ urged Jack. The crash had. Just as they reached the ground, before Jack could remove the hooked ladder, a dozen windows seemed to go up. Cries rang ont everywhere—lanterns flashed down into the yard. Jack was hampered—he made a run for the gate, jerking at the ladder, but it had got caught, and he dared lose no time trying to remove it. The gate was locked——Jack dragged his companion to a box, “Pll boost you over—the street, or a massacre !*? he declared. A shot was fired—a sharp hatchet _whizzed. Crash! : The box, frail, broken, went down with both. rf Jack put his charge behind him—he drew his revolver. Jack thrilled a little as he saw ata window Valda, returned. Beside him was Possum Washington. Both had weapons. ; Slam—crack—bang! ; The two would-be marksmen were sud- denly squelched. ; ~ S _ From a screening lattice near the gate _ there poured up at the window a dozen _ projectiles, fired in quick succession. = _ weight, an egg, a door knob, another _ brick, and so on, a heterogeneous fusilade from some refuse heap. is way !’’ spoke a welcome voice. Pered Jacks A brick, a piece of wood, a window | apap sy. A Jack, with a start. As he seurried with young Buckley © behind the screen, Jack noticed a- shadowy figure working at some dour. **Fellow I nosed into,’’ explained Buff. **A Chinaman ?’’ , ‘‘Knows you—just gave me a magic password, too.”’ ‘““What?’? ** “Nlick Clarter.’ ’” ‘““Why! it’s—-—” “Ont!” sonnded with a roar at the smashing of a lock. Into the street the four poured. “Hello, Jackee!?’ ‘‘Sam Tin!’? shouted Jack. ‘*No givee away—callee me McGint!’* grinned the audacious Chinaman. **How did you get here——’’» ‘*Beakee jail—wantee clabby Go in. Gooby!’’ Sam Tin acted with a rush—he fairly slid the others across the paventent. He made their heads spin bundling them into a cab happening to stand there, “Hold on!” eried Jack. **Sain velly busy!” “*? want——”? ““Helpee Jackee!’’ chuckled Sam. ‘“*See again—bullee detectlive—gooby !”’ He was off like a flash—they were off Hey! ‘da the same trim order. ‘(Where ?’’ shot down the cabman. ‘“‘Nick Carter’s—know it ?’’ “Like a book !’’ Like a vivid climax chapter out ofa book, were the revelations of the hour succeeding. Nick Carter, after hearing Jack’s story complete, sent a rush message to the police. , ‘*Well have Possum Washington and Valda within an hour,’’ he said. ‘‘And my ’bus load?’ queried Jack. ‘‘Your famous catch? Six Chinamen.’’ **T saw that.’? Six idols.” “Why! What——” “Stuffed with opium.” (Aha! “They were ordered detained by Cus- toms Officer Jolin Buckley till he could see them—held at the revenue barracks, Claimed to have free admittance /to the country as ‘idol keepers’ for Chinese Joss houses. 7°" eee ta ‘And Valda?®—

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eek NICK CARTER WEEK _ , “Got a blank and Buckley’s seal— “= forged an order of release.’ “*] see the play.’ ‘ «And you've caught all hands. Valda told a specious story of telegraphing to ' Florida for the release order. Anyway, he worked it.?? —— _ Bob Ferret, Raving concluded his business in court, returned with Jack and ~ Buff to Riverdale Academy. wis Buckley in, » his. brother ever : ' r experience he had _ undergone in Chi town, what a scared, ~ repentant fellow—with a narrow graze “lesson taken fully to heart—he really Nick Carter’s three young detectives kept his secret, and he kept theirs. — The whole affair came near being _ given away two nights later, however. A terrific explosion, the sudden strange lifting off of a whole cartload of fire- ~ works on the campus, startled the school to excitement, and then a wonderment n = _ He disappeared for two hours. aS Whee be came back he called Bob and oo <z vl “Bh!” stared Bob. “Sure. The crazy fellow felt thata tand finale was due. He brought the fireworks here to set off in a bunch, an heak. | Premature explosion.”’ *“Vou got him away ?’’ guessed Buff. ‘One patch of rags and blisters, but py as a lark even in his misery. I’ve oaded him to a hospital, and told to behave himself.’’ ill he?”’ e’s afraid to come back here, for oke jail, you know, aud is wanted ys it’s ‘gooby’ certain this time— g to China.” . Well!” “tFirst chance. Going to start ‘a detec tlivé.school’ there, he says—‘allee samee bullee Nlick Clarter!”? . a Ta he Zoi [THE END. ] The'pext number of the Nick Carter Weekly will contain ‘‘Buff’s Slide for Life jor, The Man Who Planted Money,’’ by the-author of ‘Nick Carter.” - ~

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< ‘The earlier issues of Diamond Dick, Jr. are now on sale in the form of Quarterlies, each including 13 consecutive issues of thig favorite weekly, together with the 13 original ituminated ilustra~ tions, and an elegant cover in colors. The price is 50 Cents per | volume, for which sum they will be sent by mail post-paid to any “. address in the United States. = = NOW READY. = = No. 1, including Nos. 1 to 13 of Diamond Dick, Jr. No. 2, Nos. 14 to 2 of Diamond Dick, Jr, No. 3, Nos. 27 to 39 of Diamond Dick, Jr, If your Newsdealer has not got the Quarteriies, remit direct the publishers, STREET & Nick Carter Wee “BINDERS. SF “ - t - a - « , kly z z é SMITH 81 Fulton St., N. ¥, ~ é 7 € e Vie} This binder will hold twenty-six copies, and will» _ keep your papers always clean and smooth. sing numbers. . Handy to _ STREET & SMITH, New York City. . * < ae eval ef o more refer to and ornamental a : ee se : eool HOW TO DO BUSINESS. This book isa guide to success in Ife, embracing Principles Business, Choice of Pursuit, Buying and Selling, Baers sed as ment, Mechanical ‘Trades, Manufacturing, Bookkeeping, Careos of Success and Failure, Business Maxims and Forms, ete.” Jt. contains an appendix of complete business forms and a dictior « of commercial terms. No young man should be without » uable book. It gives complete information about tra. ireene and occupatoin in which any young man is interes: tencents, Address STREET & SMITH, 25 Rose street, New Y partment.) (Manual Library De) orm of Quarterlies, each including 13 consecutive issues of +» favorite weekly, together with the 13 original illuminated illus tions, and an elegant cover in colors. The price is 50 Cents volume, for which sum they will be sent by mail post-paid to » address in the United States, = = NOW READY. No, 2, a Nos. 14 to 26 of Tip Top Weekly. No. 8, sed Nos. 27 to 39 of Tip Top Weekly. No. 4, gs Nos, 40 to 52 of Tip Top Weekly. No. 5, is: Nos. 53 to 65 of Tip Top Weekly. No. 6, ne Nos, 66 to 78 of Tip Top Weekly. If your Newsdealer bas not got: the Quarteriies, remit direct the pubiishers, STREET & SMITH, 81 Fulton St., N, ¥. AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHY. tographer’s camera is a diMcss Many people imagine that a pho machine to haudie, ind Wat the work siete and disagreeable. 4 this isa mistake. Photography is a clean, light, and pleasant complishment, within the reach of all. ‘The canera will prové © friend, reporter, and helper. With a very inexpensive camera ay boy or girl can now learn not only to take good pictures, but pletuge that there is everywhere a demand for at remunerative prices. 4 complete guide to this fascinating art, entided AMATKUR Manu-t OF PHOTOGRAI HY will be sent on receipt of ten cents. STREET & SMITH, 25 Rose street, New York, Manual Library Department). Nick Carter Quarterly. The earlier issues of Nick Carter Weekly, are now onsale in Gre form of Quarterlies, each including 13 consecutive issues of the favorite weekly, together with the 13 original illuminated Hiusty~ tions, and an elegant cover in colors. The price is 50 Cents p= volume, for which sum they will be sent by mail post-paid to aro address in the United States. - = NOW READY. No. 1, including Nos. 1 to 13 of Nick Carter Weekly. No. 2, Nos, 14 to 26 of Nick Carter Weekly. No. 3, Nos, 27 to 39. of Nick Carter Weekly. If your Newsdealer has not got the Quarterlies, remit {direct the publishers, ‘ STREET & SMITH. 81 Eulton St., N- ¥. well as useful. Sent post-paid to any address on teceipt ~~~ of pice me: WRESTLING. ‘ that wrestling was the first form of athlet» Without aoubt, it gives srrength ‘aud firmness, combines liability, to the limbs, vigor to the body roi dliseri eae wineis: the greates he - Srimng an ; jer a. LDOON’S WRxsTiInG, It is fully aid ou receipt Of ten cents, Address a STREET & SMITH, 25 Rose street, NewYork, Library Department). ; -

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Thirty-two Pages. Price, 5 Cents, Illuminated Cover. ae . THE BEST LIBRARY OF DETECTIVE STORIES. HOHE HEE HEHE HEE HEE HE Back Numbers always on hand. Price, post-paid, Five cents each HP THP OH HHE THREE HE ttE 30—Nick Carter’s Railroad Case. ~ | 31—Trim’s Electric Machine; or, The Man Who + Had Charge of the Office. 32—Nick Carter at the Iron Pier; or, The Body of the Crown Jewels. ar with a Click; or, The Mystery of the ainte me Found in the Boat. ve begs ‘Eye; or, The Girl Detectiy: _ 33—Trim Turns Professor and Teaches a L rack Case, es a@ Queer Pupil. = Fopl and His Money Soon Parted. - 40—Nick Carter’s Pi ay Reboohs ur, The Toms Reporter’s First Case. ~~ 41— Carter at H uartere; or, Work on if ne the Inspector's Book. «_"¥ Deas 67—Mone’ _42—Nick Carter's Brightest ad ve The Great lar Vase, | og Te ala ep one. e we _ na —_" Plawt 56—Nick Carter’s Girl Detective; or, What Beeate © Tack Burton’s Friend