Entered as Second ('1:st Matter at the New York, N. Y., Post ()l‘licv. Copyrighted NIT. by 11mm}; AND ADAMS. July 27, 1897.

 
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“ DON'T BE FUNNY! WHAT’S THAT PLACE ovum YONmzn?” AND THE MAN INDICATED WHAT HE MEANT.

 
2

' .The New York Sharp;

SHADOW SWIPES’ SWOOP

BY BEN D. HALLIDAY.

 
CHAPTER I.

THE MYSTERY OF 'rna TENEMENT.

THERE was mental distress and lamenta-

tion in Mulligan’s Ark.

one of the tenement-houses of the east side

’ of New York, big. ancient and fast going to
pieces; the tenants were many and poor.
Dirt was king there, but the human beings

gid not rebel at his sway or seek to dislodge

1111.

Some sins of omission they surely had, but
most of them possessed warm and friendly
hearts, and that was Why they lamented
now.

“ Oh! the poor young man!” one of them
wailed. “It's a sad end has been his, and
he that young that the whiskers was hardly
pushin’ into sight on his face. Too young to
die, too young by far!”

“ And to think he has worse before him!”
added another mourner. “ Sure, it’s ashame
to be buried that Way; it’s myself will never
die until I’m sure ave better!”

“ But,” interposed a third speaker, “is it
sure he had no money?"

“ Not a dollar!”

“ And no friends?"

“Only us, here, an’ we are that poor we
"can’t help him from goin’ to—you know

where!”
“ Potter’s Field!”
k “Potter’sFieldl Oh,oh!”

‘ These honest souls saw nothing amusing in
their lamentations, and there was nothing.
One of their party had died in his humble
room, and, as he seemed to be absolutely
without means, it looked as if he was destined
for that most melancholy disaster that can
come to the human being when the last
breath has been drawn—Potter‘s Field}

No wonder the 00d women shivered and
bewailed, and wi ed they had the means of
saving him from that distressed fate.

i Their loud grief had attracted the
attention of a youth of sixteen years who
had entered the building, on his way to a
certain room, but was brought to a halt by
the words he heard spoken.

He Was sturdy of frame, with. a healthy
body and a face that usually beamed with

ood humor, but was not without deep
eeiing, and the face had become grave at
the statements of the tenants of the Ark.

_ “ Who’s this that died ?" he inquired.

! “Sure, it’s James Thompson. ”

“ Don’t know him.”

“ He had a room up on the next ﬂoor, but
it was a small room, and he was so poor he
had hard work to pay even for that. ”

N “ Got ter go to Potter’s Field, has be?”

“He has, sure, for he hadn't no money,
and all 0’ the folks in Mulligan’s Ark has all
they kin do ter look out for themselves.
But, say, Stubby Swi es, don’t you know
01f1 mmebod y that con] bury the poor young
0 ap?"

The boy shook his head.

| “Note one. My friends are as poor as

 them who lives here. I'm no miser, an’ I

 ‘ could scrape u a dollar ter go into a pool,

i v- an’ mebbe icolo Vinzetti could do as
much. ”

“It ain’t enough—not enough by a many

dollar. Oh! the poor oung man! Oh! the
l, , horrors of Potter’s Fie di”
3“ ' ‘ "Ohioni" walled the rest of the women,
 in concert. ’
“ a , Just then there was a ﬁrm, heavy step at

the; door and a fat man waddled in. He
look t h bewailin group. but did not

      
The building was .

   
 last longyTl

The New York Sharp

“I want James Thompson!” he abruptly
exclaimed. -

“ Sure, me mon, you’ll have ter look for
himin the next wurruldl” was the quick
response.

“ Isn’t be here?” -.

“ Only his earthly tenement, poor lamb!”

“If you mean his body, that’s what 1
want. I knew he was dead. If I hadn’t
known it I wouldn’t be here; that’s my
business. Abram Mayﬁeld, undertaker.
Terms, cash.”

“ What’s that?”

“Am told that James Thompson, afore-
said, is dead. I’m here to bury him.”

“ Sure, but he hasn’t a dollar—”

“I have. See?" and the fat man
ilourished a slip of paper which looked
to those folIOWers of poverty much big er
than it was in amount. It was a bank-note,
new and crisp.

“ Figures, one hundred dollarsl” he added,
serenely.

“ Has—has somebody paid you to bury the
lad?”

“Don’t make me say it again. Here is
the price, and here is the undertaker—May-
ﬁeld, terms, cashl Where is the subject?”

“ Now, see here, mister,” broke in Swipes
Norton, “we don’t ketch onter this game.
Jimmy Thompson died without a dollar or a
friend but us in here; an’ we couldn‘t raise
enough cash ter buy a full-sized quail, of
it wasa reed-bird. Who has thus poured
glitterin’ dollars at yer feet fer Jimmy?"

“ Read this!”

Mr. Mayﬂeld extended a letter, and as
Swipes took it there was a eneral demand
from the women that he rea it aloud. He
was not avery deepl -learned youth, but he
made it plain. The etter ran thus:

“ DEAR Srnz—Inclosed you will ﬁnd one
hundred dollars, for which I desire you to
proceed to the address given on inclosed card
and there ﬁnd the body of James Thompson,
deceased. and prepare the same for burial,
giving the ease your fullest and most careful
attention. It is a condition of this order that
you use a cofﬁn which is plain outside, but
upholstered inside in handsome style, with
white satin lining. This condition isimpera-
tive. Mr. Thompson has lived poorly; he
must rest well.

“When you are ready to start from the
house to the Cemetery on will be joined by
a single carriage. I s all be there. If you
have not been paid enou h by this inclosure
you shall have all you as for that is right.

“ On the card you will ﬁnd Mr. Thompson’s
address, hour of funeral, moment of starting
from his late residence, and other items. As
to the location of the grave, I will do what is
necessary, and then direct you when the hour
arrives. Mas. GRAY."

" To ABBAM MAYFIELD, undertaker. ”

The last word was read, and Swipes looked
up to see every eye ﬁxed upon him. He had
been listened to attentively. '

“ Mercy me l” cried one of the women.

“ A hundred dollars to bury Jimmy, an’ he
so poor he lacked enough to buy bread, some-
times,”

“ He’s saved from Potter’s Field i”

“Was he so poor as that?” asked May—
ﬁeld.

“He was that."

“ It seems he had well-to-do friends”.

“Say,” broke in Swipes, “ there must hev
begn a mystery about J. Thompson, Es-

u rel"
q Now, humble as the residents of Mulligan‘s
Ark were, they had an element of romance
in their nature, and the suggestion impressed
them deeply Deep breaths were drawn, and
heads wagged wiéely.

“There was a mystery, sure!” they agreed.

Then the company sat spell-bound over the
matter for several seconds, but it could not

I
4.! -
, .

 
were eager to tell how strange

 
it was that the poor young man had livedand ' ‘
died in one way and was going to be buried ,‘
in another, and very different manner.

Abram Mayﬁeld was there on business,
howeVer, and he did not long allow other :

things to interfere. He asked again where
he was to ﬁnd his “ subject,” and the boy
was selected to lead him up.

Swipes Norton, was not unwilling, called‘
Stubby Swipes by his familiars, knew Mulli-, ,
gan’s Ark well. . lie had a friend there, and}
often visited him. Thus, he knew most of
the other tenants, though he never had met‘
James Thompson. '

The deceased man had died in his own '
room. It was of fair size, but low of ceiling,
and altogether was a miserable abode. Every-
thing was in rags, and it would have been a
typical room of Mnlligan's Ark had not
scrupulous cleanliness marked the whole -
place. _ ;

Since James Thompson died, his neigh-
bors had done the best they could for him.
He looked peaceful in his last sleep. but it ,
Was not of this that Daniel Norton,’ ‘
alias Swipes, thought as he looked. a .

“er wuz of a different rank than us 7
folks,” mused the boy. “Queer that even
poverty sent him ter Mulligan‘s Ark. Guess I
he knew more about palaces. Sure as I’m .
livin’, there was a mystery about that fel- I
ler!”

Swipes was given to activity, and, when
others came to assist the undertaker, he ‘
gladly went away. He had seen James, and "
that had satisﬁed him, as far as the room was -
concerned. '

“ Butwon’t I be on hand fer that funeral?”
he goiiioquized. “ You bet yer socks I’ll be .
there! I want ter see Mrs. Gray, who wonn ‘
show up until the last minute, and thet"
come in a herriage. Queer doin’s all a
roundl"

There did not seem to be anything more
for him to see there, so he wandered out 013’ a
the house. He had gone_ only a few stepd ‘
when a gruﬁ voice broke 1n on his medita- 1
tions. l

“ Say, young feller, do you live here?” ‘ I

Swipes looked up. big man stood be-
fore him, regarding him with a question in_
his face as Well as in his voice, and he was‘
impressive in some ’{Iaysnit not in others. 3

He was a specrmen or a. tough with an‘
ambition to be well dressed, and betrayed ‘
evidences of the taste to be expected from
such a person. He had donned a ﬂashy suit, .1
with trowsers like a checkerboard, a very
loud necktie of red, and other things in
keeping. A big tall hat sat on top of a head 1
that was like that of an ox, and stubborn
black hair and mustache made him look aszt
belligerent as his face was “Eli’-

Just now he wanted to be amiable, but hot
could not change that face. It was bound}
to be sour and indicative of the bully. a

Add to this that his right hand was:
gonte at the wrist, and the picture is per-‘-a

ec .

Swipes looked closely at the questioner}
He recogpized the typical bar-room fre-‘
quenter, ut that did not make any differ:
ence, then. .c-

“ Do I live here ‘2" the boy repeated.' 1.
“ What, in the street? No, I don’t live here.i
I live in a house.” » $
’ “Bah!” growled the man, growing surly,
“Don’t be funny. What’s that lace ovei
yender ?” and with his perfect han he point. e
ed to indicate what he meant. l

“Which place i” persisted Swipes, smiling}
maliciously. z a

“Oh, come off er roost! Bay, is that the
rookery called Mu ligan’s Ark?" 1

“That's just it, sport!" .

“An’ 8. tenement house it is. ch?" :4
“Yes, a ten times ten-e-ment house, for i' 1
holds a full hundred—that Ark does. Bu

I say, sport, what's 1your biz, anyhow?" e 1
ing the fellow sharp y. H . ‘3
“My ibiz‘l. What’s. that tor yetbjppy 


The New York Sharp.

 
I-

vedand '-
aburied .
r.
usiness,
w other
[1 where
the boy

;, called
w Mulli-,
ere, and;
most of
had met‘

his own
'ceiling,
. Every-
e been a
had not
.e whole

3 neigh-
for him.
p, but it.
Norton;

than us
mat even

Guess
: as I’m
that fel-

id, when
.aker, he
mas, and"
room was‘

funeral?”
:ks I’ll be
'ho wonn
nd thet"
oin’s all

.ng more
d out oti
'ew stepd
s medita-

H 
rere?
stood be-

lestion in,
d be was'

)thers.
with an
betrayed

:ted from
ashy suit,

i, a very
things in
of a hea
stubborn

:1 look as:

lie, but hetlon

'as boun'
11y.
land was

re is per-u

v Thompson!”

 
- 3
But I’ll say now that I jest want ter see a
dead man over there."

“Hullol You do? How’s that?"

“I’ve come ter bury a sartain James

0

 
CHAPTER II.
'rm; SHARP AND ms AGENT.

Swrmcs NORTON looked at this specimen
of the combined New York Sharp, Shark,
and Sport—the S. S. S. as they are denomi-
nated in bar-room and behind the baize par~
lance—with sudden gravity and astonish-
ment.

“E11?" he cried. ” What’s that?”

" I say,” replied the man, “ that I’m here
to bury James Thompson 1”

“ What James Thompson?”

“Inever heerd 0’ but one. He lived in
Mulligan's Ark, an’ he died there a day or
two ago.”

“ An’ you want ter bury him?”

“ Yes. Is thar any law a rainst that?”
growled the man with one hand.

There was not, and Swipes did not think
of invoking the law, but he still was the pic-
ture of bewilderment.

Here was another man who wanted to bury
James Thompson, and it had been supposed
that James was as friendless as he was
mone less.

. SW pcs tried to pull himself together and
get at them stery.

“Be you is brother, mister?” he asked.

“Not as much as a cousin; no relation.
Never see the man in my life.”

” 01;! you’re an undertaker?”

“Me? Say, do I look like a bird 0’ that
sort? Wal, I should hope not. No, I ain’t
an undertaker, nor aundertaker’s drummer.”

“ Then why do you want ter do the job 0'
buryin’ him?”

The question was bluntly put, at last, and
produced effect. It changed the whole de-
meanor of the stran er. His black brows
contracted, and he loo ed at Swipes as if he
had been deeply insulted, or in some way m'is-
used, and therefore meditated resentment.

“ See yere, w’ot do ye want ter know that
fer?” he demanded.

“Fer information, of course.”

“Wal, I don’t allow nobody ter go quiz-
zin’ inter my biz, I don’t. I won’t hev it.

n

The boy, quick of wit, did'some rapid rea-
soning. He immediately suspected that this
man had some secret connected with the case,
else why should the curiosity of his young
questioner make him angry and suspicious?
Was there something in this sport-sharp‘s
Business that would not bear the light of

a ?
e determined to try for more informa-

“ I don’t want ter meddle, mister,” meek]
and warily replied Stubby. “ All that dug
at my brain Was that Jimmy Thompson was
so r that we were fearin’ he would go ter
Potter's Field, an’ now up you pops and of-

“eStione’tfers to care for him. That’s all.”

'oom fre-

The stranger’s face cleared.

DY dlﬂeri “ He won’t go there. I’m goin’ ter see him
{decently put away. 'Be you sure that that
repeated. 13 Mumgan’s Ark?”
.live hereJ u Yes, that’s the identical shebang.”
' “Tumble-down old shell, ain't it?”
ins surly; "‘That house has got the jim-jams, mis-
lace ove

iter, an’ them who lives there has got an

he Wintlepidemic 0’ dead broke.”

" 'oung teller, the house may be a wreck,

<
33, smiling but I've got the money ter do all I hev

is that thi

said.

“I presume nobody will object over
there.“

“ I don’t care a rap what they want over

lIther . I'm a gentleman, an' I’ve got money
man, for i' m bum,» .
10°" "Bu  The speaker pointed to the tenement, and
7130‘" e  expression became decidedly ﬁerce as he
.. ., , l " ' ‘ exploited hisown qualities.
 b .«H v- * ‘ - the wins, 118;;th in his
 "  i’ '1’.» eta-49‘ ‘ Q'f‘ "

make-up elements that would have been
grotesque had not the occasion been so in-
teresting to Swipes. The latter ignored all
peculiarities of character, however, in con-
sidering other strange facts.

Another man who wanted to take care of.
James Thompson’s remains! It was simply
astonishing.

The one-handed man had apparently satis-
ﬁed himself, and, soothed by the Contempla-
tion of his asserted riches, he grew more
amiable once more. He turned away from
Mulligan’s Ark.

“ That‘s all fer now,” he added. “ Want-
ed ter locate the place positive, so I could
send an undertaker around. I’ll see that it’s
done up in the best 0’ shape. No long an’
vulgar percession, boy, but a comfortable
funeral fer the diseased. Sec? Elegant
coffin, with white satin linin’. Ketch on?”

“That will be swell,” agreed Stubby.

He wanted to ask more questions, but his
companion’s ﬁerce air and easily-aroused
suspicions forbade it. He had another
plan.

The man with one hand had a little more
to say, and then he moved oﬂf down the
block, with his rufﬁanly swagger. Swipes
shook his head.

" Tough case, he is! He would kill a man
for ten dollars, I do believe. Low ruiﬂan, of
ever I seen one. So he wants ter bury
Jimmy Thompson! Jee-blazesi is all New
York goin' ter do that trick? It’s dead sure
this black giant ain’t no philanthropist,
whatever the mysterious Mrs. Gray may be,
an’ I guess I’ll glide after Mister Tall Hat
an’ see w’ot he does.”

It was not hard to follow. The stran er
was slouchin g away at an easy pace, and id
not seem to think of pursuit.

Thus, Stubby had a clear ﬁeld and needed
to do no fine work. ‘

A walk of ten minutes took the S. S. S. to
a saloon on a corner. That it had been his
destination was made clear when he entered,
with a business air. .

“ Bad 1” murmured the pursuer. “I can’t
do that, fer Tall Hat would spot me, an’ then
he’d know I wuz shadowin’ of him. Still,
I’ve got ter have a look in there, an’ that
settles it. Here goes!”

He moved around the corner until he found
aposition where he could get the desired
view. When this was done he saw the man
with one hand again.

This time he was not alone; He was
seated at a table with another person, and
they were engaged in earnest, secret con-
versalion.

The second man was younger, better
looking and more intelligent than the other,
and Stubby speedily marked him down as
the leader of the pair. He was but little
less objectionable to Swipes than his asso-
ciate, however. He was richly dressed in
fashionable garments, but he was quite as
ﬂashy, in his way, as the other.

It was a suspicious couple, but represent-
ing different grades of society and intelli-
gence, if not of character.

" That's a ﬁne pairl" muttered the shadow-
er. “Either‘ one would be likely ter show
up in the Rogues’ Gallery, of a hunt was
made. Looks as ef Tall Hat was reportin’
ter his nibs. That makes Nibsey the leader.
sThey talk mighty serious but not melan-
choly. Mourners? Not much! They hev
got a mystery between them, an’ they’re
chewin' on it.” o ‘ a

He watched for awhile, but ﬁnally aroused
as a man who had a shoe-blacking establish-
ment outside the door came forward and
looked in. The “Shine!” then retreated
to his stand, but Bwipes had an idea.

He accosted the bootblack.

“Did y’e notice them two at the table?” ‘

.“ Yes. . ,
teller named Clar-
ence Basement” ' ~ - 

 
“Ain’t the swell'lookin
~ «so; frm'acsrioavend

 
“ Ohl is it? Who’s that with him?”

“ His name is Bat Morrison.”

“I thought he was Tommy Griggs, the
boxer!"

“Why, Bat hasn’t got but one hand. He
couldn’t box l”

“ 0h! hasn’t he got but one? Wal, I
wasn’t sure 0’ him, but I did think~I knew
the toney chap. Carl Cavendish, eh? Ain't
he a “'all street banker?”

“ Ha, ha! Guess you won’t ﬁnd no banker
in them men, old stock. Cavendish is a
card-sharp, an’ Bat is only a tough that he
works when he needs him."

“ Where do they live?’

“ Don’t know. All I can tell is that they
come here, now an’ then I shines ’em up fer
’em, but I hate the two ave them. They’re
a bad pair all through. Wonder what busi—
ness thev have now, that they’re so earnest
over? Mebbe Cavendish has planned to
brgak inter a bank, an’ Bat is ter do the
J0 .”

Stubby saw that it was safe to talk, and so
asked more questions about the card-sharp
and his ugly associate, but he learned noth-

in .

Iie lingered for some time, hoping they
would come out, but, as they kept by the
table, he ﬁnally decided to go his way. He
did so at a slow pace.

“Idon’t know that I’m called upon ter
meddle with them,” he meditated, “but it’s
queer why that Bat is interested in James
Thompson. He ain't the sort ter do a good
deed to nobody. Mi ht odd!”

Deep in thought Wipes moved on, but,
when he had gone several blocks, he was ab-
ruptly aroused. Turning a corner he came
upon a scene of excitement.

Ayoung man was there in the grasp of
two policcmcn. This was nothing strange,
but the boy was impressed by the prisoner.
He was a well dressed, rather ﬁne-looking
person, and both intelligent and aristocratic.
Just now he was in great mental distress.

“Gentlemen,” he was saying to the oili-
cers, “ there is a terrible mistake about this.
I am not the man!"

“Then your looks are against you,” re-
plied one of the policemen.

“ I am not to blame for that.
error. I am innocent.”

“ Prove it on trial and you will go free."

“ On trial i” cried the prisoner, wildly.
“ It will then be too late. I need m free-
dom now, and I need it desperately. ntleo
men. I beg of you to release me. If you do
not an awful calamity will follow!"

CHAPTER III.
A STRANGE SURPRISE.

THE policemen remained cool and uncon-
cerned, but Swipes Norton was more moved.
He believed the prisoner to be sincere in one
thing, if not in another, and his declaration
of calamity to follow his arrest was made
with a despairing utterance. ‘

“ You should have thought of that before,"
replied an oﬁicer.

“ ‘I am not to blame for this situation,” re-
minded the prisoner ‘

“ How about the jugglery in Denver?”

“ I tell you I am not the criminal you
mention. .I am an honest man. My name
is Harold Forresta‘l, and I have no connection
with crime. I am innocent."

” We will take you to Police Headquar-
ters, and then all you have to do is to sum-
mon our friends and prove that on are not
Crac sman Tommy, the Denver u tive.”
‘;But,I have lived in New Yor only a
year, and you tell me your man has been a
fugitive along as that. . How can I prove
my innocence,- oﬂ-hand?"

“Prove it ‘on trial, then.” a
, “It will be  late-too late!" cried the}

You are in

man who meet F0
wag 'A~ v  ~ .. v 
‘cij  L93

 
"e

  
.
.
.

‘ would have run

 
“ I am not the escaped criminal. I beg of
you to let me go."

“Can't do it. You look like the descrip-
tion of the cracksman, and we have orders
to arrest such a man on sight. We have
done it, and now you will have to go to
Headquarters. If you are innocent, you
need not be shut up more than a week.”

“A week! Ohi horror, horrori”

Forrestal clutched at his throat and seemed
to, be gasping for breath. The policemen
smiled skeptically, but Swipes, looking on,
was sure that the young man was quite as
much moved as he claimed to be.

“ Are you an actor?" asked one of the ofﬁ-
cers.

“ I need to act—if ever man needed to do
it I do now. If I don’t act, and promptly—
Oh! what calamit will follow!”

The pallor that ad come to the face of the
man, added to his appearance of anguish,
moved one of the policemen to inquire:

“ What do you want to do?”

A swift change went over Forrestal’s face.
He hesitated, wavered and seemed incap tble
of reply until the smiles of the ofﬁcers
brought back the power of speech.

“I have a friend, a very dear friend.” he
explained, “who needs me sorely. He is
dead—”

“Is that all?”

“All? No! It is not all. Death is a
small thing compared to that which will
come if Ido not get to him. I must go—
now, now l”

“ Who is this friend?”

Again Forrestal paused and hesitated, but
he ﬁnally spoke with plain reluctance:

“ His name is James Thompson. He has
no friend but me, and Potter’s ﬁeld menaces
him. I must go to him, I must see that he
has respectable burial.”

“Jiminyi” gasped Stubbs; “here’s an-
other!”

“Send our money around and your
friend will be buried all right,” suggested
the officer. “ That can be arranged, for it is
a small matter.”

“ Small? Oh, man, man. you do not
know. It is not all. Something awful be-

ond description will happen. I‘beg of you,
et'me go! If you do not, I shall go mad 2"

For-restal threw up his arms with‘ a wild-
ness of tragic gesture that carried conviction
to Swipes Norton’s mind and chilled him,
but the very vehemence of Forrestal's emo-
tion aroused new doubts in the minds of the
policemen,

“Gammon!” exclaimed one. “You are
putting all this on. We won‘t let on
ﬁpmbug us any longer. Get him to gomg,

m!”

Both ofﬁcers laid hold of their prisoner
roughly, and he was dragged away. He
went calling out almost in frenzy, and the
horror expressed in his tones, and pictured
on his face, seemed to have turned Swipes
to stone.

Scared and bewildered, he kept his place
on the corner.

' “What does it mean?” he wondered, star-
ing after them. “ He is in a regular collapse,
an’ he means it all.”

bug 11281: then the voice of the prisoner ﬂoated

“0h, James, ' James!” he walled; “this
awful thing is all my doing!"

Then the party moved out of sight of the
bewildered boy.

Swipes rubbed his head hard and tried to
get a clear understanding, but in vain. It
was singular enou h that here was a third
person who want to bury James Thomp-
son, the friendless, but this time there was
far more. The assertions of the prisoner
were seething through the boy's mind.

“Somethin’ terrib e is goin' ter happen!"
he muttered.

Minutes passed before he could think
clearly. Then, if it had not been too late,

I
't’  .

It]

     
after Forrestal to offer

The New York Sharp

his aid; but the others had been allowed
time for a good start, and ht: remembered
that the prisoner had declared there was no-
body to whom he could appeal to identify
him and free him from arrest.

“Don’t see that I kin help him,” was the
decision, at length. “I guess about all I
kin do is ter go back ter Mulligan’s Ark an’
see how things is goin’ on there. My help
may be needed, ef Forrestal is so anxious
about Jimmy’s bein’ buried right. But
there is more. He said somethin’ terrible
would happen, ef he wasn’t around. Now,
there is another string ter this thing.
What 7”

He thought it over earnestly.

“Must be another person who will be hit
hard. Who is it? Ef somebody don’t do
the right thing by Jimmy, somebody will
meet with some awful calamity— Say, I
can’t see into it at all, but I’m goin’ ter haunt
Mulligan’s block an’ see all that’s done
there.”

Back to the Ark he went. The shadows
of night were falling when he arrived, and
when he went in he had another story to
hear. It was from the indignant women.

Bat Morrison had been there with another
undertaker, and, when the tough learned
that they were too late, he had made a scene.
Despite the fact that all the work he
claimed to wish to do was done already, he
had tried to force himself and his under-
taker upon them, and when he was refused
he stormed like a madman.

He had ﬁnally been forcibly expelled from
the building by male tenants, and then he
disappeared, but he went seriously disap-
pointed, and vowing vengeance.

This was the situation when Stubby
returned, and it surpriscd him anew. Why
was Bat so determined to act as master of
the funeral?

The bo lingered at the Ark until ten
o’clock. e talked much with the tenants,
but gained no new light, and, at last, be de-
cided to go to his own home.

“But I’ll be on hand fer the funeral," he
promised. “ That Bat Morrison Will make a
row, an’ mebbe others will. I’ll be here.”

When the shadower ﬁrst touched the bed
he was so nervous that he believed he should
sleep but little, but he was too young to be
long affected thus. He fell asleep and rested
well until dayli ht.

The “funera ” of James Thompson had
been set by Mrs. Gray at a very early h ur in
the morning, and Stubby hastened aro nd to
see the ﬁrst of everything.

He saw no sign of Bat, and nothing of a
mysterious w0man in a carriage, but Under-
ta er Mayﬁeld soon appeared.

“ All is read ," remarked Abram, “and,
as I am busy, will go ahead at once. We
will brin the subject down.”

He n ded to his man, and the climbed
the stairs. The women of the Ar stood in
a group at the foot of the lower ﬂight, eager
to' see and ossip.

Swipes orton wanted more than that,
and he followed Mayﬁeld and his man. The
ﬂoor was soon reached where Mr. Thompson
had had his room, and then Abram rapped on
the door. There was no reply.

“ I presume the watcher is at breakfast,”
he observed. “ We will go in on our melan-
choly errand ” 7

He opened the door, and passed inside with
his man at his heels. Stubby was not with-
out some awe of the dead, and he lingered
irresolutely in the hall. ~

A moment of delay; then he heard a cry
from the room.

” What’s this?”

“ What does it mean?”

Following the cry both men had spoken
in concert, and the boy summoned his cour-
age and pushed forward. There was so
much of im ort in their tones that he wanted
to see what t meant.

He crossed the threshold; he saw them

 
standing by James Thompson’s cofﬁn, and as
he knew the man had been laid there, he '
supposed that the raised cover gave them

 
view of the dead. What, then, had caused 
their excitement? in I
He pushed further forward and looked for WE
himself. he,
The cofﬁn was empty! MC
ito (

CHAPTER IV.
MYSTEIUOUSLY GONE. ..
SWIPES NORTON looked for a moment inn thu.
surprise; then he changed his gaze from the 088,
cofﬁn to the face of Undertaker Ma ﬁeld. to g
The wonder expressed there did not in 1y eno will
lighten the shadower. War
“ Say, where is Jimmy Thompson?” in— B,
quired the boy. but
“ Just What I want to know,” answered I:
Mayﬁeld. ‘
“Did you expect ter
“We put the subject in the cofﬁn, and
there we surely expected to ﬁnd him now.”
The undertaker turned and looked around}ms ‘
the room. It was precisely as Stubby hadWas§
seen it last, but nowhere could they see thqsome‘
body of James Thompson. j u ‘
“ Call the folks of the house!” sharply
directed Abram. u
His man hastened off with celcrity, and,“ Om
in a few moments, the women all came trooch00 m
ing in. Their expressions showed that theyntend
had been told the latest news. .16 SM
“ What has happened?" cried one of then! u T,
named Maginnis. 381d ,-
“ Just what I want to know,” replied May Sifel
ﬁeld. “ Where is the subject?" -,h0ugl
“ Sure, we thought he was here.” be m“
“ In the cofﬁn?” “n, th
H 1'88.”
“ Then how has he got out ?” The
With one voice they declared that they ditame a
not know.  be qu
“When did you see him last ?” proceedeumires
Abram. . ad SE0]
“ About ten o’clock, last night.” wh
‘,; Who watched with him?" 1118 a}
"Sure, there was no watcher. He didnobgdy
seem ter nade it. He lived, alone all his lhgllmel
—poor soull—an’ we thought he would!) Demo,
mind it last night. No, there wasn’t nobod‘mal in,
He lay alone, an’ nobody was in afther tle who]
o’clock.” e rem
“ Then body-snatchers have got him. geir dis,
is in some medical college by this time!” a The SC
clared Mayﬂeld. 'as a 1
“ Nol” exclaimed Swipes Norton. “ Iressed i
that measly Bat Morrison has did it all, ,ded U“

ml Sh
“Who is Bat?” u erg):
Explanations Were made, and the un n d ‘
taker had a full account of the one-han u I an;
man who had been so anxious to bury Ian.
Thompson. He shook his head slowly. “What
“ I thought the subject was poor auMudm
f riendless. ” ' ﬂay?”
“ So he wuz, poor feller.” ‘
"Then why should Bat be eager eno start w’i
to bury him to come and steal him in re going
way?" “The su
“ Don’t know, mister; but it was that s, ' hat?
Bat who did it. It must have been. A“ The be
that so, ladies ?” ngely a
“ Sure, it was!” asserted Mrs. Maginn ply van
“It was that same man with one hartaone 7n
echoed another person. Fsiblcx
It was thus satisfactorily settled, but ted, excw
wisdom soon received a set-back. 0‘50 the,
footste sounded. and a woman of the lat. Th
entere with a tall, professional-looking lyﬁeld to}
close behind her. , rs, Gm)
“ Here’s somebody ter say a wurrnd, g bum {0
announced. ‘Infamou
The stranger bowed stifﬁy to Mayﬁeldg poor rel
“ Are you the undertaker?” he inquirﬁ‘ We 1,,"
“Yes, air.” 3—” ‘
‘.‘ I am Otis Peters, and I am a deteO It was a
I have been sent to tell you that you red, wild]

ﬁnd him in there?” :ﬁsga,

U]

((1

have trouble i getting your deceased , Madam ,
the cemetery. I? A rival undertaker is it; us mnc’]
to make mischief." pmpm.

u

.32.."‘9, :- 91}?- ._  ’"3

The New York Sharp.

. . rP-‘wn‘ym'r"  run-In:

5G

 
, and as I “How is that ‘2” “ No,” she replied. zetti, a minute,”he remarked, carelessly, and

rere. he 3 “An undertaker named Broadly—perhaps “Who were his relatives?” he, too, ascended the stairs.

7e them you know him; a fellow of dubious repute— “ I don’t know." “It may not mean anything,” he mused,

l ca : wanted this job, and he is so sore about 105- “Then,” added Mayﬁeld, “ how does it “ but it looks ter me as ef she wanted a clear
ing it that he is going to try to get it, happen you were willing to pay me for coast so she could do someahin’. I’ll try ter

oked for ‘ whether or no. However, he is only a ﬁgure- burying him?" shadder her an’ solve the interrogatory that’s

I head in the plot. A man of the name of Bat
Morrison is his employer, and Bat is bound
lto do the Work.”
.1 ( Iio‘hV t?!)

. “The police have undoubted evidence
oment 111‘» that Bat and a gang will lay for your pro-
from the cession on the way to the cemetery, and try
Ma ﬁeld- to steal the deceased. Of course the police
tfu lyen~ will take a hand in that, but we wanted to
warn you.”

Bewilderment was expressed on every face
but that of the detective.
answere - “ Say,” resumed Mayﬁeld, after a strik-

” ting pause, “do you know the subject has
Where? disappeared?"
cofﬁn, 3‘} “ Disappeared?”

im nOW. “ Yes. The body of James Thompson
:ed aroundhas gone completely and mysteriously. He
tubby h was awaiting me here, but. during the night,
my 868 ‘7 omebody has stolen the body.”
“ Why, that’s strange!"
i” sharply “ I say this Bat Morrison has done it.”
“ Wrong!” decidedly replied the detective.
llerity, Midi“ Our information is exact on the point, and
cametl'ooptoo recent to admit of doubt. Bat Morrison
ed that thehntends to do just what I have told you, and
ae surely did not steal the deceased.”
)ne of then? “ Then who in the world did ?” cried May-
ield, in wonder.
'eplied May Silence followed the question. Stubby
‘,hought of the young man who had given
:e.” he name of Harold Forrestal, but it was so
Lure that he had Spent the night in a police
ell that he was not to be considered.
The mystery was deepenin , and it be-
that they dI‘ame a matter of vast interes to consider
“ he question: Why was all this concern
?” proceedeianifested in James Thompson, and who
ad stolen his body?
Why. no one could say. They had no
inc, and all theories were so weak that
it. He gldnobody was convinced even by his own
ne all his uments.
he wouldll etective Peters had come to feel a per-
vasn’tnobo anal interest, and he insisted on searching
in either he Whole of the tenement. It was done, but
' eternalns were not found, and no clue to
got him. ” err disappearance.
this timel The search had just ended when there
‘ ’as a new Visitor to the Ark. A lady,
Norton. ‘ Iressed in plain but expensive black, in-
; did it all. ided the premises, without stopping torap.
She looked the group over carefully.
’ “ were is the undertaker i" she de-
md the ungm . ,
the one-ban ,“ I am Mr. Mayﬁeld,” replied that gentle-
Is to bury n.
cad slowly. f“ What means this delay in the start?”
was poor il,“lid?adam, are you my employer, Mrs.

. ay‘ I)
'I “m. and I have waited outside, ready
start with you, but I saw no sign that you
rerglomgbto rinse. d Why is that ‘2”

‘ e su jec as isa cared.”

‘ What?” pp

Al‘ The body of James Thompson has gone
. ginger and we don’t know where. It has
Mrs. Maginn ply vanished.”
with one haﬁ‘Gone 7” she echoed, in agitation. “Im-

)Son T” in“

ht."

.e eager 6110
33,1 him in

it. was that
we been.

sihlel There is some trick herel” she
settled, but ‘ d, excitedly.
set-back. 0‘So there 3, but we don‘t understand

voman of the net. This is the story;” and then Mr_
ional-looking ’yﬂeld told all.
rs.,Gray listened breathlessly, and then

ﬂy a wurrud. 3 burst forth:

~‘Infamous, infamousl Who would molest
1y to Mayﬂelds poor relic of mortality?"
at?” he inquh“ We have no clew, for we did not know

3—”

I am a dew It wasa wrong, a cruel thing!" she de‘

You a,“ you ed. wildly.
_ ‘, Madam,” interposed Peters. “you can
“dim-,3qu is ii) us much by telling all you know of Mr.
. . tonipsen. Was he a relative of yours?”

 
“I had met him—indeed, he did me a
great service—and when I read in the news-
paper that he died suddenly, and was ut-
terly friendless, I determined to repay the
debt as well as I could. Further than that
I know nothing. He was an entire stranger
to me, I never saw him but twice, and then
only casually. I know nothing of his family
or history.”

Mrs. Gray spoke rapidly, and she was
never at a loss for words, but something led
Swipes Norton to a theory.

“ That woman is lyin’!” he thought, in his
blunt way.

If anybody else had the same theory it
was not expressed. Even the detective
seemed to accept her explanation without a
doubt as to its truthfulness.

There was more talk, and then she was
told of Bat Morrison and the rival under-
taker. She looked genuinely surprised.

“ I don’t know what to make of this,” she
declared. “Who is this Bat Morrison?”

“ Alow, yicious fellow,” explained Peters;
“a man always suspected of lawless work
by the police. but not yet in their net. He
is uneducated, mean, turbulent and a typical
city tough.”

“ And hcwhe—a man like that—is interest-
ed in James Thompson?" s‘ne enunciated, in
bewilderment.

(( l’es.,’

“How can he be? James was never the
associate of such a person.”

“ Never!” echoed the wcmen on Mulligan’s
Ark, in chorus.

“The long and short of it is,” pursued
Detective Peters, “ we have a most re arka-
ble mystery to deal with. It is Idimply
amazing!”

 
CHAPTER V.
AN EXCITED MAN ARRIVES.

DETECTIVE PETERS was interested, and he
proceeded to ask many more questions. All
of his efforts failed to develop an explana-
tion of why James Thompson’s body had
been taken, or how it had been done, or who
had been the means of etting it away.

Swipes Norton heard all. and he made a
good listener. He was willing that Peters
should do the investigating then, but he
then and there made a resolution to look
into the matter on his own book, presently.

After much talk the company broke up.
Mayﬁeld had nothing more to do, if his “ sub-
ject” was lcst, and Mrs. Gray did not ap-
pear to want to linger. Peters went with
the avowed intention of looking more close-
ly into the aﬁair, and the women of Mulli-

an’s Ark had their work to attend to, and

t was already much' behind.

In a body the actors in the drama strolled
down to the outer door. There a little more
was said, after which Mayﬁeld and Peters
went their way. Mrs. Gray, making a show
of going but not putting it into effect. asked
the women something more about Thomp-
son’s daily life.

“ It isa pity the poor should suﬁer both
before and after death," she ﬁnally remarked.

“Sure, we know that to our sorter!" de-
clared Mrs. Maginnis. _

“That humble room must have been al-
most a prison to him. Its squalor, its barren
furniture, its rags—1 have a mind to go and
take one more look at it before I go, if you
don’t object.” ,

"Go an' welcome, leddy. We must be
busy—ye don’t mind goin’ alone, do ye?”

Mrs Gray very sweetly Said she did not,
and then she tripped lightly up the stairs.

Swipes Norton winked seriousl . ‘

t . “Ithink‘l‘ll visit my friend, icolo Vin-

 
in my thinker.”

He was soon outside the door of James
Thompson’s room. More than that, he re-
mained there. He was bold, and he tried to
open the door a bit so he could look inside,
but it proved to be fastened.

“\Vhew!” he muttered, “that looks like
bizl Why does she lock the thing when she
goes for such an errand? Say, that female
woman has more of a motive than she let
01].)!

He attempted to make use of the Keyhole,
and fastened his eye to that point of view.
He could see but little, and that little did
him less good. Mrs. Gray was moving about,
and he heard her change the position of
various things.

“Seems ter be makin’ a search 0’ the
premises. Queer! What is she after?”

Like an echo to his thought came an ex-
clamation inside;

“ It is gone, gone !”

Agitation and deep disappointment seemed
to accompany the words, and‘ Swipes was
more perplexed than ever. What was she
seeking, and what could she have hoped
to ﬁnd that was important enough to
cause such regret when its loss was
known?

“I’ll be jiggered ef I ain’t fell afoul of a
full-sized mystery," he muttered. “ Stubby
Swipes, my boy, here is somethin’ fer you
ter do. You must shadder this gang an’
swoop down onter them like an eagle.”

He remained at the keyhole for several
minutes, and all the while Mrs. Gray rum-
maged around inside. When she grew quiet
Swipes suspected tha—t it was time for him to
make himself.invisible, so he moved a little
back in the hall and waited.

Presently the woman came out, looked
hurriedly about her, and then descended the
stairs with quick steps. Swipes watched
from the upper hall. and saw her bustle out
into the street.

“Just as ef she didn‘t want the women-
folks ter know she was up here so long," he
decided.

He went into James Thompson's room.
There was nothing to show what she had been
doing. All was in good order, and as he had
seen thin s before.

The co n still stood on the bench, and he
gazed at it curiously.

“Wonder who will heir that thing?” he
soliloquizcd “Jimmy won’t need it no
more, an’ it's too pretty ter be wasted.”

He looked into the box. There Thomp-
son had lain to sleep his last sleep, his
friends thought. How bad he gone?

“Can’t see fer the life 0’ me why an body
should steal him," mused the sha ower.
“When a feller’s dead he’s dead. It’s our
duty ter use him right, but, why should we
ﬁght onver him? Why should we crib his
mortal remains? There’s Mrs. Gray, an'
there's Bat Morrison,an’—I wonder where
Harold Forrestal comes in ‘2”

Swipes rubbed his nose meditatively.

“By jing! I’m goin’ over ter Police
Head uarters an’ sec ef I kin git in ter see
Harol . Ef I can I'll announce this new
de arture an’-see w'ot he thinks of it!"

rightening up over this plan the boy
hastened out of the room. He rattled (loam
the stairs, reached the lower hall and was
on his way to the street when he had a
shock. ‘ v

The outer door was ﬂung open forcibly and
a man entered.

Stubby recoiled. - he newcomer was ,.
wild of expression an
ward commbtion. Altogether, he looked so
much like a madman that Swipes 'was\

r
s

’78.

 
anting with some in‘ r '

 
The New York Sharp.

 
He put several feet between himself and the
stranger, whereupon the latter leaned against
the Wall and, pressing his hand to his breast,
kept up his hard breathing.

1f the street shadower had been calmer,
himself, he Would have seen that all this
was like the manner of a man who had run
himself out of breath, but the one thought
of the boy was that he had to deal with a
crazy man.

“ Is——is it done?” gasped the intruder.

Swipes did not know what was referred
to, but he tried to be reassuring and easy of
conduct.

“All done,” he replied, promptly.

" Merciful heavens! Is it over already?”

“ All over.”

“It was a mad, a cruel act.
such haste used ?”

“ So as to avoid bother.”

IVh y was

“Bother! Oh, to think of it! Bother!
And was that man worth so little 1’ Where
did they bur him? Quick, boy! Speak

outl Where id they bury him?"

“ Ohl that's what’s eatin’ ye, 'is it?”

For the ﬁrst time Stubby began to under-
stand; and, more, he was not puzzled to ﬁnd
a brand-new man interested in the now cele-
brated case! On the contrary, as he looked
more critical] at his companion, he recog-
nized Harold orrestal!

“Escaped from the police, by jing!” the
shadower thought.

“ Quick!” repeated Harold.
they bury James Thompson?"

“So you knew him, did ye?” pursued
Swipes, with the same innocent air, anxious
to learn something.

“Boy, will on answer me ‘1" cried Harold,
excitedly. “ 9 Thompson buried?"

“ Yep,” was cheerfully responded.

Forrestal clutched at his throat.

“ Horror, horror!” he gurgled, rather than
spoke, and his manner told of the deepest
mental distress.

“Why do you want ter know?” asked
Stubbs. “Did ye know Jimmy? Be you
his brother, or his uncle, or his‘ nephew?
W‘ot was he to to you ‘2"

“I ask you, where was be buried?"

Forrestal suddenly displayed angry emo-

“ Vhere did

tion, and he leaped forward and grasped
Stubby by the throat.
“Speak!” he almost howled. “Where is

be buried ?”

The violence did not frighten the boy, but
he saw plainly that it was too serious 9. sub-
l'lect to joke upon, so he was willing to re-

'eve Forrestal‘s mind.

“Mister,” he returned, “there’s a mys-
ter . Somebody has stole poor Jimmy’s
bo y.”

“What?”

‘t When we got up, this mornin’, the body
was gone. The undertaker come ter do his
job, but there wasn’t no subjick for him ter
operate enter. We hev hunted high an’
low, but the body of James Thompson,
Esquire, has gone an’ we can't ﬁnd it. No-
body kin. It has been stole.”

The small remnant of color in the listen-
er’s face died away. His horror seemed to
increase.

“ Oh, this is awful!” he gasped. “ Gone?
Stolen? Then he has been seized by medi-
cal students, and, before now, is cut to
pieces!"

 
CHAPTER VI.
CARL anDs FOR HELP.

SWIPEs NORTON looked very seriously at
his companion.
~" It wouldn’t be no joke ter git cut up by

 0‘ medical tellers,” he admitted, "‘bnt others
 _ hev been through it.”

Forrestal evi ently tried to rally. -
“Thompson was 11: ' friend," he explain.

 k‘He and I have , nv intimatexfor
L«smiths.  he was a good! allow. Why

_ ,.J ,_ ,
l \

 
should it not impress me terribly to think
of him under the kniVes of the surgeons?
I say it is infamous to maltreat the dear .”

“ Say,” abruptly questioned Swipes, “ how
did ye escape them policemen that gobbled
ye. last night?”

Forrestal regarded him more sharply.

1“ What do you know of that?” he demand-
et.

“ By mere accident I seen you arrested an’
lugged off tcr the frownin’ Bastile.”

“Assuming that you speak the truth, I
will brieﬂy say that I was arrested becausa it
was ill luck to look like a ‘ wanted’ criminal
from the West. This morning my Cell was
opened and Iwas told that news had Come
that the law-breaker was surely arrested in
St. Louis, Hence, I was liberated. But,
boy, this disappearance of James Thom pson’s
body! I want to know more about it.”

He produced a dollar bill, and Swipes did
not scruple to accept it. When he had done
so he felt that he ought to earn his money,
and he told Forrestal all that he could.

The latter listened in wonder and bewilder—
Incut.

“ I cannot conceive why all these per-
sons are so interested in poor James,” he as
serted, “ but that is not the point. James is
in the hands of medical men. It may not he
too late to rescue him. I will try to locate
the poor fellow!”

With this Forrestal turned and fairly raced
out of the house and down the street. Stub-
by watched him thoughtfully.

“ Mebbc you're right,” he muttered, “but
I don‘t take no stock in medical men. this
trip. I don’t believe it was them who did it.
No; but, jingol who was it?"

Swipes did not feel content to remainin-
active, and, as his suspicions would not let
Bat Morrison remain forgotten. he presently
took a walk to investigate the rumor that
But hsd planned to waylay the procession
and steal the body.

He did investigate it, and found it to be
strictly true.

For awhile he was staggered, but the
doubt did not remain.

“ May hev been all a bluff," he soliloquized.
“ They could hev done it easy, an’it would
hev throwed suspicion oﬂ"n them, mebbe.
Now, Swipes, my boy, why can’t you ﬁnd
Bat, talk pretty ter him, git inter his good
graces an’ so shadder the gang from a point
inside the enemy’s own camp? Great idea!
I’ll do it.”

He looked for Bat, but did not find him,
so he returnedto Mulligan’s Ark.

He had not been there more than ﬁve min-
utes, and had just ﬁnished making inquiries
of the tenants when Harold Forrestal reap-
peared.

“ Is there anything new ?”he asked.

“Not a thing,” replied Stubby.

“ I have been busy, but I ﬁnd nothing to
give me light yet. Possibly I was wron
in suspecting medical students. My mind
returns to the other partics who wanted to do
the burying. This Bat Morrison you have
mentioned—did he look like a detective ?”

Swipes laughed ,aloud.

“ Not much, he didn't! He was a tough !”

“ May he not have been disguised ‘2"

“Bat Morrison couldn’t no more disguise
himself than a whisky-barrel could. Be-
sides, there wouldn’t be much good in a de-
tective with only one hand."

“ What do you mean?”

Forrestal showed new interest, and several
quick changes passed over his face. Then
he suddenly grew excited and exclaimed:

“ A tough-looking person minus one
hand? Strange! Do- you mean to say that

is ri ht?" ‘

“gent right, m’ster. Do you know him i"-

“ now him? This settles—I mean, this
does not settle anythin , boy. Thompson
never had such an assoc ate—he was not of
that class, in life. We will dro the party
you mention. I’ll bid you good ay for now

 
; —-I want to go to another medical college.
‘ Good-day!” v
Forrestal seemed to be afraid he. would be

questioned further, and he once more has—
tened off with long steps. Swipes watched
him soberly and then shook his head.

“ Gammon! I ain‘t quite stone blind, old
chap. You know who the one-handed man
is, an’ it has given you an idea. Bat wasn’t
all a benevolent doer 0’ good when he Volun-
teered ter care fer Jimmy. Not by a marine
mile or two!"

The speaker proceeded to do some more
reconnoitering, carrying out his idea of
shadowing those who had taken part in it.

He interviewed persons a10ng the block,

and cabmen, and others who were likely to '

haVe seen the undertaker’s subject carried
off the night before. He learned absolutely
nothing.

He was on his way back to Mulligan’s
Ark when an old ac uaintance suddenly ap-
poured in his way. t was a person no less.
than Bat Morrison, and, though the attempt
was a dismal failure, that man clearly tried.
to look amiable as be greeted Swipes.

“ l'Iullo, old feller! I want ter see ye !”

“Keep yer lamps open an’ it will be dead
easy.”

“ It wuz about James Thompson,
know.”

“ W’ot o’
Swipes.

“ What's this mystery at Mulligan’s Ark?”

“ Don’t you know?”

“ I‘ll be shot cf 1 do!” declared Bat.
“But, I say, you’ve been on the ground;
you have seen with your own eyes, an’ heerd
others talk. Ain’t you no clue? Don’t you
know how James went out o’ sight so pert
an’ sudden ‘2”

“Bartholomew, I don’t.”

Bat meditated for a moment,and then as-
sumed a genial air.

“ Do yer want ter earn a few dollars?"

“ Bet yer bicycle I do!”

“I know a gent who wants ter talk with
you about this biz. Will you go ter him, of
there is cash inter it?"

Stubby thought of Carl Cavendish, the
card-sharp, and his reply was ready. As-
suming a swagger in keeping with Bat’s style-
of people he said that he was just the “peach”
for the job.

Bat was pleased, and he said so. Then he
led on and Swipes followed. Five blocks

ye

him ?” alluringly inquired

they walked, until reached a house to
wh eh the leader gained entrance by means.
of a key.

He conducted the shadower up-stairs, and.‘
ushered him into a room of some style.

As had been expected Carl Cavendish was
there.

“This is the young gent,” announced
Bat.

If the speaker had a grim face Carl had
not. He could be very amiable when he
wished, and he brou ht his batteries to bear on
the boy, and acted t e host graciously.

“We want to talk with you about the
mystery of Mulligan’s Ark,”

“ We do sol” agreed Bat.

“The remains of James Thompson have
disappeared. Can you tell us how, and where
to?” the sharp added.

‘,‘I only wish I could, but I ain’t no
clue.”

“What of the others? Thompson had
friends in Mulligan’s Ark, and the police
have been there. What is their theory?”

“B'ile it down an’ they say it’s a perfect
mystery.”

“There must have been opinions ad-
vanced,” persisted the sharp.

" Wal, one person did say that a medical

mm

in, We“. -. M... v...

college mi ht hev done it, but he hadn’t -

no proof. t was gust theory ”

“Student's mad or medical knowledge,”
musineg continued Cavendish. “I do not
think that.

 
Boy, I am interested in the caseu '
I want to. get the facts. and I will make it

  
The New York Sharp.

 
rth your while if you can tell me, now or
rather, what I wish. Who was this
.. iiiman who tried to engineer the fune-
r' a ?Y)
:hed “Give it up. Jimmy Thompson seemed
er be hemmed in with a web 0’ mystery
old deep as the East River. He hadn't no
nan lfrieuds while he lived, but she popped inter

legs}  :

   
7

d be
has—

 
su’t ‘/ sight sudden when he was gone."
[In- “ Oblige me by telling all you can. Come
riue here 1"
Cavendish walked to a writing desk that
ore stood at one side. He produced a key and
of unlocked the desk. Then he turned a sober
t. face toward Swipes.
Ck. “ I hope your nerves are good,” he added.
.tO " Look here!”
ted ' He ﬂung back the cover; the interior was
ely' exposed. Swipes looked a moment, and then
A started back abruptly.
D's ii “ Great ginger!" he exclaimed.
Lp-
ass
pt CHAPTER VII.
ed  swrras MAKES A FIND.
 THE Wonder of the boy was natural. To
id  hiseyes there had been revealed a big pile
of bank-notes, and he was so unaccustomed
Ye , to the sight of such things, even in small
amounts, that he was dazzled.
3d Carl Cavendish laughed lightly. '
“ How do you like it?" he-iuquircd.
i” “ Great!” admitted Swipes.
“Rather nice pictures to look at, eh?”
‘3. “A pile better ter spend,” declared the
1; shadower.
d v “ They would buy many things, and their
L1 l owner can live in luxury and idleness. He
't can wear good clothes, smoke ﬁne cigars,
and deny himself nothing that he wishes.
That‘s what money will do.”
- ‘3 “It’s a huge lay out!” admiriugly added
the lad.
] - “ Would you like such a bonanza?”
V “ Bet yer bicycles!”
r Carl closed the desk and locked it.
E “ Come here!” he then directed.
Walking to the end of the room, he opened

 
it another door and ushered Swipes into the
room beyond.

The shadower had thought that Carl’s
outer apartment was very ﬁne, but here he
saw something even more gorgeous. The
second 'room was furnished richly, carpets.
chairs and the like being of elegant style and
make, while the walls were hung with rich
curtains, and the whole place a depository of
things that appealed"to the male lover of
comfort and display

The card sharp watched Swipes’s face,
and the result seemed to satisfy him. He
smiled slightly and then motioned his guest
to a seat.

“ How do you like it?" he inquired.

j “Boss, you're a high-roller, fer sure!” ex-

' claimed Stubby. “Why, there ain't nothin’

equal ter this in the bonse o’ the King 0’

Turkey, or Emperor of Cuba.”

, Swipes was still determined to cater to his

i host, and some rim humor had crept into
his reply, as welI.

“We 1, I have shown you all this to let

on see that 1 am a man of means. Fact is,

am related to the leading families of New
York, and I was born to luxury. Now, you
see that I can pay all I agree.”

“Looks that wa , by jing!”

"Boy," added Air]. in a different voice,
"I want to hire you. It so happens that
you are knowing to things of interest to me,
and right on the ground.”

“ I’m out fer cash!” asserted Stubby.

"I have said. that I want to learn more
about that affair at Mulligan's Ark. Can
you tell me?”

“ Sprry, boss, but I don’t know no more—

, 0W. . ‘

1" ‘f-f Still, 1you may. learn more? Will you
'91:? , t. will pay you handsome! .

to, Just how the body of ames

A, a

._ , . . A-

 
g. ,_. __ ‘ ’ ' “Nor-k

 
Thompson went out of sight so strangely. ‘ around, for we shall be busy, but you must
I will give you ﬁfty dollars to tell me how it j not seem to be our ally.”

was.” i
“ Great inger! that’s a pile 0’ men.” I

“ All right, boss.”
Swipes left the house with his head full of

“ All of it shall be yours if you solve the  instructions, and with much ﬂattery and

riddle. You have entrance to Mulligau’s
Ark. Go there often! Watch, listen, ques-

tion! You can learn things unsuspected,
whereas I can't. Will you enter my ser-'
vice?”

“ Bet yer bicyclei” with enthusiasm.

“Here is a starter. This does not count
on the ﬁfty; it is an extra, for current ex-
penses.”

Carl handed out two-ﬁve dollar bills, and
Swipes was really touched. The sharp
might be a rascal, but he was generous.
Five dollar bills were good to have.

He expressed his gratitude, and Carl look-
ed as if he thought he had made an unusual-
ly good bargain.

Now,” he pursued, “ excuseme for a mo

 
ment whileI talk with Bat Morrison. 1 will .
return directly."

He went into the adjoining room, leaving
the boy to himself.

amiable comment from Carl.

“ That sharp is a corker!” mused the boy,
as he Walked off down the block. “He
would make honey look sour. Thinks he’s
got me right inter line with him, does he?
Wal, mebbe! Then, again, mebbe—nit!”

PreSently the shadower's thoughts wan-
dered to the newspaper clipping. It inter-
ested him, but due thought brought no satis-
faction ou that point until something else fell
into line.

“Looks as of Carl an’ Bat was burglars,
or wanted ter be. but W’ot has that ter do
with this case? No robbery has been done,
an’ the pair with only three hands between
them uin't—”

He stopped short in his walk. His face
took on a new expression, and he gave due

1 heed to a sudden recollection.

“ Say.” he continued, unconsciously speak-

Now, as much as the . ing aloud, “Harold Forrestal was took all

shadower was interested in his game, he was 1 aback when he heard that a man with only
not blind to the luxury around him, and his ‘, one hand wanted ter git Jimmy Thompson.
gaze wandered to the costly ornaments with I That clippin’ told of a one-handed feller, too.

real satisfaction,
“ It’s a reg‘lar palace!" he muttered.

Wonder ef there is a Connection?”
Forrestal immediately became of deerwr

Close to him, on the table, was a small { importance, and he regretted that he had i t
ﬁgure of a man of ancient times, done in some i tried to learn where he lived.

sort of yellow material. To Stubby, it look-

edlike gold, and he reached out to handle it. 3

Just then he noticed a slip of paper beside it.

“Don't s‘pose it will be of any use :.r
look inter the Directory,” he pursued.
“That bulky book only mentions a small

It was only a newspaper clipping. but the part of our poperlation, an’ as it ain’t likely
shadower was not one to let anything pass. lForresta! keeps house, he won't be men~

He picked up the clipping, and his eager eyes I tioned.
quickly made out the following words: I

“ The robbery at Wisehardt, Veacli & Co.’s
establishment, remains as much of a mystery
as ever.
upon which they were working.r a few weeks
ago, but nothingr has come of it. The sus-
pected man is missing, and so is the money.
The identity of the man who looked like a
sport, and his companion with the missing
hand, has been solved; but the police refuse
to say who they were, for it is very plain
that the robbery was done by somebody who
had access to the premises. it is believed
that the thief is hiding now in the city. His
capture is expected, the oﬂicers say.”

Swipes read the last word and then looked
up thoughtfully.

“ Sport, eh?” he mused.
one hand, eh? Irecognize them.
is inter it?"

Various thoughts went rapidly through the
boy’s mind, but he was interrupted by steps
near the door.

He tossed the clipping back where he
found it,‘and was looking meek and innocent
when Carl Cavendish re-entered.

“ We want,” abruptly announced the
sharp, “ that you should do us 8- good turn.
Bat has suggested that one of us hire the room
James Thompson has had, and so get onto
the house, and be near you while you work.”

“Et won’t do, boss. Peters, the cop,
knows you both.”

“That has been considered. A disguise
would have to be used. Bat wants to make
himself up—” '

“Why, bless ye, mister, that won‘t do.
Bat disguise hisself‘! He couldn’t do that,
with his face fastened outer him.”

“Your remark is not complimentary, but
it is true. Bat has a characteristic face,
not to be disguised. I might work it,

though."
good would it do? Ain’t I there

“ Man with only
What else

H
ter watch?’ ‘ V

Carl knit his brows. He thought deeply
for a moment, and then replied slowly: -

“Maybe we can defer this step for a
while. We will not act just yet, an how.
Do on go back to Mulligan’s Ar and,

mac sharply. It may be you win see us]‘ ;“Hey, hedoés‘? Who’s he!"

 
!

The police have followed the clue 

 
Still. I‘ll try.”

He entered a drug-store and looked at the
hook mentioned. Much to his surprise, he
found the name and address. He found
more. After Forrestal’s name was the de-
scriptiou, “medical student.”

“The dickens he is!" muttered Swipes.
“ Ef that's his own trade, he may hev known
more thanI allowed when he talked of medi-
cal students haviu’ got Jimmy.” ' ;

Anxious to pursue his investigation, he
walked on until he reached the block where
Forrestal was alleged to reside.

He found it a much better place than was
usual to that neighborhood, and the par—
ticular number mentioned proved to be 8.
neat building devoted to ﬂats. I

“ I’ll go in an’ See Harold,” the shadower

decided. "He may want— No; I won’t
go. I‘ll quiz somebody else. Who kin tell

me things?"

 
CHAPTER VIII.
wnx'r HAD BEEN HIDDEN?

SWIPES looked around, and he was not long
in ﬁnding a promising subject. A small boy
was playing near at hand, but the fre uent
glances be cast toward the ﬂat settle his
habitation to the elder boy’s satisfaction. The
latter went to the corner, bought asupply of
candy, and then came down the block munch-
ing it couteutedly. He paused near the ob-
ject of his interest. r-

“ Playiu' boss?” he asked.

“ I would, if I had anybody to be the
horse,"was the quick reply.

“I would be that same, but I am lame in
my off hind leg, and I’ve a touch 0’ spavin’
an ringboue outer my jaw."

The child looked puzzled, whereupon
Swipes held out his candy.

“ Want a hunk?” he asked.

The boy did; he said so, and he took
same.

“ Live near here?" pursued Swipes.

“ Over in those ﬂats.”

“ Ohl Big house, ain't it? Lots of other
folks there, I s’pose t”

“ Yes, the 'Howards.
and the Crockers; and Harold Forrestal has a..
ﬂat near ours, too.” ' v

i1

and the Perkinses, .

 
‘. ,3 ,l .1. e do be sound sleeper. here's a I 

The New York Sharp.‘

 
“ He’s going to be a doctor. ’

“ Bully fer Harold! So he keeps a ﬂat, eh?
Nice place?”

“ Oh! it’s just Splendid!”

“Rich, is he?"

" Maybe so, but I know his friend is,”

“ What friend ‘2”

“Mr. James.”

“ Who‘s he? Does be live there, too?”

“ No, he visits there—though Harold did
tell my mother, once, that it was Mr. James
who furnished all the money to put things in
the ﬂat. He's awful rich,‘Mr. Jamesis.”

“What fer a looker is be?"

This question had to be translated to the
other boy, who was not of the class in life ad-
dicted to slang, but, whenhe knew what was
wanted, he told in his childish way how
“Mr. James” looked. He was vividenough
to astonish Swipes. He was sure that “ Mr,
James" was none other than James Thomp-
son, and he was staggered.

“ Do you say he’s rich ‘2" the shadower de-
manded.

“ Yes.”

“ How do you know?”

“Because he and Mr. Forrestal spend so
much money. They smoke awful good ci-
gars, my father says, and they have ﬁne
suppers sent to the ﬂat; and they go to eat at
a place called Delmonico‘s when they feel
like it, and Mr. James gave my sister a dia-
mond ring, he did!”

The speaker seemed to feel that this was a
clincher, and so it was. Stubby looked rat-
tled. James Thompson, who lived like a
beggar in his wretched room at .‘vliilligan’s
Ark, had the means of supping at Delmoni-
00’s and giving away diamond rings!

“I’m groggy i” muttered the investigator.

“ You’re what?"

“Say, tell me all about your Mr. James.”

The small boy was not reluctant, and,
though his way u as that of a child, he was
clear enough to suit Swipcs. He told of
various things that went to prove all he had
claimed, and when it was done, the shadower
could not doubt.

James Thompson had passed a part of his
time at Mulli an’s Ark, and there lived like
a beggar, an the other part in grandeur,
hi h living and elegance at the flat!

iiysterious Thompson!

The small boy offered to take his new
friend in and introduce him to Forrestal; but
this was notin keeping with Stubby’s wishes,
so, when he had learned all that was pos-
sible, he wandered off.

“Fact, by jingl” he muttered. “Jimmy
Thompson was a Corker while he lived, but
that does not explain who has him now.
Mayﬁeld don't know, and Bat Morrison an’
Carl don’t, an’ Harold don’t. Who does?
An’ why was he stole after he was de-
funct?”

It surely was perplexing, and Swipes did
not see his way clear. He was wholly com-
mitted to his project of ﬁnding out some-
thing, not because he had made a bogus bar—
gain with Carl, but on account of his pre-
vious devotion to the case.

“ I’ve got ter swoop down enter them,” he
declared, -“ but—how i”

Unconscioust he was walking toward
Mulligan’s Ark, and arriving there in due
time, he ascended to the room where Thomp-
SOn had lived.

Everything was as he had last seen it,
and the comn was eloquent with- its silent
voice. It was the only speaker, audible or
dumb.

He was looking around when Mrs. Flynn,
a tenant, appeared.

“ Sure, an’ are. you here, Stubby, me
boy?” she exclaimed. “Maybe you’re loike
me—the place draws me, whether I will or
no. Sorry it is about the poor lad that lived
here.”

“ Say, how could they carry Jimmy oﬁ?”
abrn tly demanded Stubby. I ,

\
\
\

l

 
“ I should sneeze! You must be that way,
bad. They must hev made some racket, yet
you slept through it all. Mighty odd! The
whole biz is mysterious.”

“ It is thotl”

The good woman wagged her head, and
then she suddenly came nearer to Swipes.
Her expression was serious and worried.

“Say,” she continued, "do I look wild,
like as if I was losin’ me moind?”

lIer manner was that of a person all in
earnest, and the shadower took her at her
word.

“Not a bit of it,” he replied, heartily.

“N0 glare ave me eyes—no frenzy ave
manner?”

“Not a hit of it, mum.”
11“Thcn I don’t understand it at all, at
a V!

“What?”

“I’ll tell you a story, Stubby, me lad,
but niver a soul must you say a worrud to
about it.”

“ ileave ahead !”

“ You mind the noight but one after
Jimmy Thompson died? lie was left here,
waitin‘ fer the mornin’ ter come so he could
be carried ter his last home. He hadn‘t no
watchers, you know.”

“ Idothat. Ef hehad had them he wouldn‘t
been stole." .

“ Bight, lad, right! Well, it was along in
the noight that I woke up, an’ me ﬁrst
thought, it was ave poor Jimmy. It come
ter me that it was lonesome fer him to wait
alone up here, if he was dead, so I made
3p me moind to slide up an’ see him a wee

it.”

“ You
“ \Vhat?”

“ Did I see it, or did I dream the WhOIC?
That’s what I want to know. I come up—
or dreamed I did—an’ I was walkln’ inter
the room as bold as you please whin I see
there was somebody else here, ahead ave me
—or I dreamed I did."

“Git a move on an’ tell it quick
urged Swipes.

“ I looked in, an’ thin I see a vailed
woman here. She wasn’t none ave our sort
—I could see that, ﬁrst off, ef she was clothed
all in black—she looked aristocratic an’ rich,
you know.”

“ What was she doin’ of?”

“Standin’ by the cofﬁn, with her hand
run down inter it near the head ave the
box.”

“ What?” .

“ It’s true—unless I dreamed it. Yes.
there was that woman by the box, an’ she
must have touched Jimmy as she did it.
Now, what was she doin' of?”

Swipes was bewildered, and he did some
quick thinking.

“ Be you sure she didn’t live in Mulligan’s
Ark?”

“I be that.”

“ What did she do next?”

“ I’ll never tell yous. I thought it was a
ghost, an’ the way I run was astonishin’. I
skipped back to my own peaceful couch, an’
there I lay an’_ shook an’ shivered. It took
me all ave two hours to get asleep.
Whin I woke up I said to mesilf it was a
dream, an' I would kape on thinkin’ so ef
Jimmy hadn’t been gone in the mornin'.”

“ Say, Mrs. Flynn, she couldn’t have stole
him alone. Wasn’t there no men near?”

“ Not a man; that’s true."

“You live right by the hall and you
would have heard it ef Jimmy had been
carried out while you was awake, wouldn’t

out”

“ Sure! A mouse would have startled
me. I did think I heard the women go out,
alpi’t after I got back to bed, an’ that was
a .’

“ What could she have been doin’ with the
comn?”

“ That I don’t know.”

The shadower was silent.

see somethin’l" cried Swipes.

In

People were

-' .

 
not given to disturbing those who had been
put in their last resting place without good
reason.
fumbling in the cofﬁn?”

Like an answer came recollection of the
time, later, that he had secretly followed
Mrs. Gray upstairs and heard her make a
Vain search in the room for something. Was
there any connection between the two?

 
CHAPTER IX. 
TIIE morrr INTRUDERS.

MRS. FLYNN moved forward to the cofﬁn.
“It was about here the unknown woman

was fumblin’,” she added. 3

Mechanically Swipes went to her side and
thrust his own hand inside. IIe touched the
white satin lining and ran his ﬁngers over it
almost unconsciously. "

“What could she have wanted?" pursued .
Mrs. Flynn.

The boy‘s moving hand suddenly disar-
ranged the satin.

“ Undertaker Mayfield didn‘t do his work.
any too well,” he remarked, idly. “ Here’s a
spot the lining ain‘t fastened down.”

Mrs. Flynn bent forward suddenly.

" That’s a tear,” she exclaimed—“some. '
body tore that open! See! It was fastened
down all right, ﬁrst off, but it has been
wrenched loose. A hole has been made in
the linin’, at one side.”

“The dickens, you say!” and the shad.
ower’s sharp face gleamed with zeal, as he 5
ran his own hand under the lining. Then he '
felt all along the top, trying to discover if
there was anything beneath. '-

Hc had connected various things he knew .
about, and the result was expressed in his .
next words. 1

“ Say, your mysterious woman was hidin’ ';
soniethin’ in there!” '

” What should she hide?" ' 3

“Just what I want ter know. If it wasn’t
no value, why do it? an’ ef it was 0’ value, s
it would be a mighty queer thing, when it 
was expected this box would be put under '
ground in a few hours.”

“Deary me, yes! It would be a funny
place to hide anything.”

. Mrs. Flynn was so impressed with this be- ,
hefthat she rolled her eyes up toward the
ceiling and looked utterly bewildered, but
the boy Was more practical. He kept on a
hunting until he was certain that he could
ﬁnd nothing. , . 3

Whatever had been put there had gone ‘.
completely. l

Swipes could not understand it, and the '
more he meditated the less he felt able to see
the way out. He did believe that somebody ,
had stolen into the Ark when the watchers
were absent, had seen Thompson and hidden
something. It looked as if Mrs. Gray might,
on the visit when Swipes shadowed. her, ,
have hunted for this same object, but she had *2
looked in vain.

It had gone already, and as strangely as
the regular inmate of the box.

By the time they had ﬁnished their unavail-
ing search the day was drawing to an end,
and when they went out, together, they found
some of the women of the Ark excitedly
poring over an evening paper.

Mrs. Flynn asked what the found to in-
terest them so, and they all tried to speak at
once, in their zeal. It ended in the handin
of theéiaper to Stubby, who was request
to rea aloud.

He obeyed, and this was the result:

“Five thousand dollars reward l” he be-

an, “ for the recovery of the body of James

hompsonl" ,

“Saint Pathrick deﬂnd us!” gasped the
Mrs. Flynn.

“Great ginger!” added Swipes, astonish-3

 
ed. .
It was not long before his curiosity over-‘3,
came his surprise, and he began over again?
and read to the end.

Why had this strange woman been ,3":

A "i A ﬁb—l—A-A

»

(B

an

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The New York Sharp.

i

.9.

 
“ $5.000 REWARD!

"The above sum will be paid, and no
questions asked, to any one who will give
information leading to the recovery of the
body of James Thompson, recently stolen
from Mulligan’s Ark. The cash has been
deposited with the banking ﬁrm of Ember-
sey Brothers, who will faithfully fill all the
conditions of this advertisement.”

The women of Mulligan’s Ark held up
their hands in concert.

“ Five thousand dollars, an’ fer that!” they
exploded.

“Jimmy must have been rated mighty
high when alive, ef that’s his market value
now,” added the boy.

“ He must have been a prince, or a duke
at least!”

“Sure, I can’t fer the loife ave me see
what all this is about!” declared Mrs. Flynn.

The other women joined in the assertion,
but Swipes said nothing. He was not so
dull as to be oblivious to the things he al-
ready had learned, and began to have well-
deﬁned views which he intended to follow
:to the end.

The circle of women ﬁnally broke up and
went about their business Swipes had
thought of going home, but, when he looked
out of the window of Mrs. Flynn’s room, at
the front of the Ark, he noticed something
that impressed him as suspicious.

A man was standing not far away, and
surveying the Ark closely, but apparently
thinking himself quite unnoticed.

The boy, alert to everything, determined
to see what it meant.

For at least twenty minutes the stranger
hung around, eying the premises; then he
made off up the block.

‘jNow, this may be all right,” thought
Swrpes, “an’ then, again, it may be all
wrong. I hate to leave here uncertain.”

His friend, Nicolo, being absent for a day
Dr'two, Swipes decided to take possession of
Nicole‘s room and see the matter out; so,
proceeding to the Italian's lodgings, he set
Nicolo’s cloc kto sound an alarm at just
midnight. Then he lay down and was soon
asleep.

The clock awakened him at the right
time. The 'Ark had grown quiet, and
everybody but himself seemed to be asleep.
He arose, went into the hall and listened.

Hearing nothing, he went to the front
and looked out. A few belated pedes-
trians were walking past—that was all he
saw.

Not to be discouraged, he sat down on
the stairs and waited, making trips, occa-
sionally, to the front to reconnoiter.

This watch and ward were rewarded.

"There they be, by jing!” was, at length,
his satisﬁed announcement.

Two men were discovered moving along
the street and looking up at Mulligan’s Ark.

“ They’re the night birds I'm waitin’ for!”
and he smiled as he spoke.

"I’ll bet a bicycle they’re comin’ in!” he
soon murmured, and the oung amateur de-
tective retreated to the sta rs again.

Soon he heard steps in the hall below. This
was suspicxous,‘ for he had not heard any.
body on the lower stairs, so his inference was
12:18.1} they had ascended with exceeding cau-
t on.

l Stubby bent forward and listened atten-
tivela.

, " ingerl” he ﬁnally exclaimed, “they’ve
gone in somewheres! Where?” and then his
face brightened.

“It’s into Thompson’s room, sure-pop!
Now for biz!” and he stealthin crept down
the stairs to Thompson’s ﬂoor. .

The door was open, but the visitors evi-
dently intended to be very cautious, for not
even the light of a bull’s-eye lantern was
used; only a little ray of moonlight sifting in

I gerongh the window revealed them to his

- w

' at 

 
But, I say, who is this that is so interested
in that empty box? I reckon— Hullo!”

One of the men had moved a little, and
Stubby discovered that the man was masked!

“ They mean ter be on the safe side.
Wonder w’ot they’ll do next?”

They did not seem in haste, but kept their
places and whispered softly. Presently the
shadower had a. new shock. They lifted the
box from its resting-place, and deliberately
adjusted it to their shoulders!

“Great guns! they're goin’ goin’ ter steal
the sarcophagous!”

It did look like it, strange theft though it
would be, and his frame shock with a shiver.
Weird and unnatural theft, indeed!

They moved toward the door, and his reso-
lution was taken in a moment. He did not
know that the coﬁin was of any value to
anybody, but the lad did not intend to let it
go thus.

“I’ve got ter stop the scamps!" he de-
cided. “ Yts, sirree!"

 
= - CHAPTER X.
A FIGHT AGAINST ODDS.

Stubby had made a brave but rash
resolution. He was but one against two
strong men, but this did not worry him.

Bearing the box, the night prowlers
crossed the threshold. Swipes having
stolen down the upper stairs, was near
at hand, but fully concealed by the dark-
ness. .

They moved, taking heed only to be
cautious and thus avoid discovery.

Stubby braced himself for the effort;
then bounding forward, he dashed into
the nearest man like a battering-rain.

The man was thrown off his feet and
fell heavily to the ﬂoor. The cofﬁn, of
course, went down also, tumbling with
a tremendous clatter, The sound ﬁlled
all of Mulligan’s Ark with a racket.

The one man who kept his feet stood
as if dazed, but the plucky boy did not
pause in his proceedings; immediately
be lunged forward, headlong, again.

The second cofﬁn thief, also, was top—
pled over, but he managed to seize hold
of Swipes, and the young shadower was
dragged down with him.

Both sprawled on the ﬂoor, but the
night visitor proved himself a person
ready for an emergency, for he wound
his arms around Swipes, imprisoning
him fully, and then his ﬁngers sought
the boy’s throat.

The shadower realized that the game
was to keep him from sounding an
alarm, but there was more in it; the
fellow might press too hard, and Swipes
realized that his life was in danger.

The undaunted boy squirmed like a
football athlete, and, freeing his throat
for a moment, sounded an outcry.

“Help, help! Robbers, thieves, mur-
r__r_)’

But, right there, the hold was renewed,
and the cry ended in a gurgle.

“ You will, will you?” hissed his cap-
tor. “You meddling knave, I’ll show
you!”

Tighter grew his grasp, and, realizing

that he was in mortal peril, the boy
struggled desperately.
“Quiet!” was the command. “ You

won’t do that again!”

The youth’s strength was inadequate,
but he was not without expedients.
Two could play at the game, and doubl-
ing his well—hardened ﬁsts, he began to
hammer the face of his. enemy.

The man’s hold relaxed at this as-
sault, and again the boy’s cry sounded
shrilly ‘through Mulligan’s Ark.

“Help, help! Robbers! Thie—e—e—”

Again he was silenced, but, though
he heard nothing of it. he had made an

impression, The Mulliganites could not,

1,,.

 
. tity would

help hearing that call, and were leap-
ing out of bed in a body. There were
thumps on the ﬂoor, and excited voices
were calling out here and there.

“ Dished!”

The single word passed the lips of the
man, and he ﬂung his prisoner off and
essayed to rise. Swipes was still on
the ﬁght, and seizing a fresh hold, he
hung on tenaciously.

“ This way!” he shouted.
measly thieves!”

Driven to desperation, the unknown
shook Swipes off, and he fell sprawling
to the ﬂoor, but he was up again almost
like a rubber ball, to hear his enemies
making for the head of the stairs.

He sprang after them, and his hand
encountered a man’s coat. He held fast.
Again his call sounded.

“This way! I’ve got him!” 3'

His captive grappled with him. Some-
how they became entangled, and both
fell heavily. Swipes was not to be
shaken off, and though his opponent
fought lustin he kept him where he was.

“Ginger!” he thought, “this is a
round-up, sure pop!”

There were men enough in the hall
then, but not until a woman appeared
among them with a light, and its rays
fell on the ﬁghting pair, could the sit-
uation be disclosed. Then there was an
unexpected discovery.

“ Pat Flynn!” gasped Swipes.

“ Say, it’s the kid!” muttered Flynn.

“Oh! you stupid Chump!” howled the
boy, “ what did you get in the way fer?
I thought you was them, an’ now—”

He broke off and rushed to the. head
of the stairs. There was then light all
the way down, and to his disgust he had
to admit that the thieves had made
good their exit from the Ark. Again
Swipes turned upon poor Flynn.

" Say, you dumb animal, what did you
get in my way for? While you an’ me
was ﬁghtin’ they have all got off clear!”

It was true. Swipes and Flynn had
each mistaken the other for an intruder,
and their batle had given the real law-
breakers time to make good their escape.

The boy detective ran down and took
a look from the street door; but one
view was enough. There was not a sign
of his late adversaries. Understanding
that they had gone beyond hope of dis-
covery, he went ba‘ck and joined his
friends.

They stood around ‘the fallen cofﬁn,
full of wonder and talk, but wholly per-
plexed until Stubby explained the events
of the last few minutes. Then there
was fresh surprise in Mulligan’s Ark. 1

“Why should they want ter steal this ,
thing?”

“It ain’t worth carryin’ off, ter a live
man.”

“ They saw somethin’ in it.” >,.

“What could be in it?”

Swipes out these questions short by
sharply exclaiming:

“You fellers are as dull as sticks!
Can’t you see this is a part 0’ the strange
lay-out we’ve had here? When we know
so much we can see it wasn’t the box
that interested the thieves, but some-
thing connected with. Jimmy Thompson.”

Conviction came to the party. They ,
were willing to believe all he said, but .
it only added another complication to
the mystery, they thought. Why should
anybody want the cofﬁn, even if they
had felt interest in Thompson? : .

Swipes did not mention certain theo- ‘
ries which he had to account for it.
He was too much angered by the escape
of the intruders to look .upon the matter
calmly.

If he had. captured the men their iden-
have been (learned and 'one

“ Here’s the

 
. sorry; that cofﬁn might yet play an im- ;

 
10

mystery, at least, would have been
solved.

There was nothing to do but take it
as calmly as possible, so the casket was
carried back to its place, and Flynn
agreed to sleep the rest of the night
on the ﬂoor in front of the door. They
did not intend to have the theft made
successful by another attempt.

Swipes did not believe there would be
another, so he proceeded up to his tem-
porary quarters and went to bed.

Morning found everything peaceful
about Mulligan’s Ark, but the women
of the place held a meeting and decided
that they must take action on the case.

“ Nobody don’t steal that cofﬁn!”
averred Mrs. Mahoney. “ It belongs ter
Jimmy, an’ ef he don’t ﬁll it nobody else ‘
shall.”

“Good, good!” echoed her sister ten-
ants.

, “ I’ll take it into me own rooms, sure.”
I “ That’ll beat the thieves out!"
It was so decided, and Stubby was not

portant part in the drama to come.
Swipes had been doing some thinking,

‘and faced Swipes.

 
and he had decided to speak plainly to
some who were so mixed up with
Thompson’s case. He had ﬁxed upon.
Harold Forrestal as his most promising}
subject.

“I’ll swoop down onter him,” he ‘
vowed, “ an’ jest let him see I ain’t a
deef-mute, ef some others be.”

Stubby then took his way to the block
where Forrestal lived, and, ringing the
bell, was directed to the medical stu-
dent’s ﬂat.

He knocked at the door, but receiving
no answer, and ﬁnding .the door un-
locked he coolly walked in. He had been
told that Forrestal was there, and in-
tended to learn if it was true.

He passed along to another room, and
then stopped short. A man was lying
on the bed, and before the boy had time
to reconnoiter further there was a stir
on the part of the other.

It was Harold, but Stubby was startled
by the appearance of the student. Dress
and hair were alike disheveled, and the
man’s reddened eyes looked out of a.
ghastly face.

In all ways he appeared to be miser-
ably sick and upset, and the shadower
lost his power of speech for once. He
could do nothing more than stare at the
wretched-looking young man.

 
CHAPTER XI.
THE SHARP snows ACTIVE.

Forrestal was the first to speak. He
did not recognize the caller, and his
voice was peevish.

“Well, what is it?” he demanded.

“ Mister, I’ve dropped in ter orate
with ye a bit,” Swipes replied.

“ Who the dickens are you, and what
do you want?” snapped the student, al-
most with hostility.

“ Don’t ye remember me?”

Forrestal looked more sharply.

“Oh! so it’s you, is it?”

“ Nobody else. Name, Swipes;
dence, Mulligan’s Ark.” .

“ Curse Mulligan’s Ark!” cried For-
rental, wildly.

u Why?”

“ The place is accursed.”

“ Then why do you cuss it?" demanded
Swipes. “ Come, ol’ teller, don’t feel
so bad. Brace up an’ hang ter yer bi-
cycle. It will all come out right, I
guess." . .

“ Bay, will you do me a. favor?” wildly
demanded the student. . ,

vu  so",

resi-

 
Threelquick stepsithe man took; then

it

.ﬁ.

The New York Sharp.

 
he caught up a revolver from the table
He held out the
weapon.

“ Shoot me!” he directed.

For a moment the detective’s gaze
wavered. Then he composedly accepted
the revolVGr.

“ All right,” he evenly responded. “ I’ll
count three an’ then ﬁre for keeps. One!”

Forrestal folded his arms and faced
the weapon with knit brows.

“ Two!"

Swipes looked for signs of weakening,
but there was nothing of the sort.

“Three! Fire!”

The student’s lips were compressed
with iron will, and he did not even shiv-
er. He had meant all‘ he said, and he
still clung to his purpose. He wished
to die.

Swipes lowered the revolver.

“ Say, why do you want ter take this
rash step, mister?”

“Never mind! Go on!”

“ Ef you die you won’t be alive-——but,
of course you won’t. Look-a-here, this
is folly.”

“Shoot, I tell you.
shoot?”

“Not if I know my uncle Ebenezer.
Why, you crazy man, you must be in
an awful panic. Shoot ye? Not ef the
court knows her biz. No, and you shall
not shoot yerself, either.”

Swipes pocketed the weapon.

“Say, is all this the result 0’ Jimmy
Thompson’s trouble?"

“He is gone to the dissection-table!”
cried Forrestal, his wildness returning.
“He has been butchered by those
ﬁends.”

“ Be you sure?”

“Where else can he have gone?”

“ Have you found any trace?”

(K No.9)

“Then why feel so down-hearted?
You know there are them who want
Jimmy. They’re the ones who have stole
him. Medical students be dinged! They
didn’t do it.”

“ Hopeless, hopeless!”

“Come, Harold, brace up an’ take a
more cheerful view 0’ the future. But,
say, what is all this racket about Jimmy,
anyhow?”

Forrestal suddenly cast off his melan—
choly. He regarded his caller sharply
and suspiciously.

“ What do you mean?”

“ The competition fer him,
stealin’ of him.”

“I know nothing about it.”

“ Gammon?”

“I know nothing,” doggedly asserted
Forrestal.

“Say, old man, that won’t go. You
knew Jimmy like a book. You an’ him
was boon companions. He Was much at
this ﬂat with you, an’ you an’ him had
piles 0’ fun together. Lived like a lord
here, an’ took dinners at Del’s at about
twenty dollars a feed, I reckon. That
was queer in a man so poor that he had
to live at Mulligan’s Ark.”

Forrestal looked worried.

i “ What is this nonsense you are talk-
11g?"

“ I know it all. Jimmy lived a double
life. Pretended ter be poor as Job at
the Ark, an’ then come here an’ helped
you blow in the shiners like a. million—
aire.”

“ Boy, who says that?”

“ I'm 'the teller.”

“ You have been deceived.”

“ I’ve got it down fine. No song-and-
dance about it, mister. It was just that
way. Now, w y was Jimmy that way?”

“I can’t I ten! to such nonsense. If
you think as you speak, then you are
crazy. James Thompson Was a poor

Shoot! Will you

an’ the

 
man—as poor as he seemed to he.
won’t have you defame his memory.”

“ All right, my friend. But, look here!
You can’t make others swaller that.
Why not take me inter partnership an’
tell me all? Do I look like a sleepy—
Freddie? Don’t you think a partner in
yer biz would bring trade? Let me in,
an’ I’ll find out all about Jimmy.”

“ Have you news?”

‘( NO-J) i

“Then leave me to my thoughts. I
Won't bother with you, boy.”

“ All right, my gay bambolier. Ef
you see cause in the future ter be sorry
fer this, remember I gave .you first
chance. Now, I’ll give the show ter
somebody else.”

Forrestal had grown more serious,
and he eyed his caller keenly, but even
his suggestive words did not offset his
youth in the student’s eyes. He did not
see ﬁt to stop him.

The detective was willing to give him
full chance, but it was a waste of time.
He backed out of the ﬂat, and reached
the hall without being summoned back.

“ Shoot him!” he then muttered. “ I
won’t bother with his nibs.”

Down to the door went Swipes, and
he was soon on the street.

“ Mister Forrestal kin go his own
gait; I ain’t no chum 0’ his from this
time on. I’ll strike somewheres else."

He had no clear plan in his mind, but
chance gave him work to do. He had
walked only a few blocks when he
caught sight of Carl Cavendish moving
rapidly along the street. ,The sharp
was dressed in his best clothes, it seemed,
and presented a very striking picture.
If his clothes had made him he would
have been well made.

“Say, my wicked boss has got biz
on hand,” muttered Swipes. “Suppose
I kinder negotiate a gait an’ swoop
along after him.”

To think was to do, and Carl was pur—
sued with tireless zeal. He evidently
did not anticipate anything of the sort,
for he did not once look behind him.

After quite an expedition they reached
a ﬁne block of the middle-class sort,
and there Carl mounted to a stoop and
rang the bell. There was the usual de-
lay, and then he was admitted by a col-
ored girl.

The shadower went closer. The door
was closed, though the open parlor win-
dow disclosed a tidy room beyond, when
the wind occasionally wafted the lace
curtains aside.

Swipes read the name onthe door.

“ Marchmont! Don’t know them.
Where do they come in?”

Voices ﬂoated out from the parlor,
and the detective grew reckless. He
mounted to the stoop, leaned against the
wall with all the careless ease he could
muster, and then listened.

Carl’s tones were clearly distinguish-
able, and—something made Swipes start
as he heard the reply.

“A woman,” he murmured, “ an’, by
jing, it sounds like—”

He made a bold move, and, leaning for—
ward, pushed the lace curtain back. 120
thus had view of the parlor.

“ Ginger!” he muttered; “it’s her! ”

He had seen Mrs. Gray, or the woman
he knew by that name, and it was some—
thing of a surprise. She was looking
uncertain and anxious, but Carl, sitting.
near her, was the picture of smiling ease.

Swipes soon recovered from his aston—
ishment, and, still pretending to be tak—
ing comfort by leaning against the Wall,
he listened keenly.

“ Yes, Mrs. Marchmont,” Carl was say—

yours; I trust I am not unwelcome?”


ing, “ I am the friend of a friend of,

   
)iz
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01)

ir—
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rt,

.ed
rrt,
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ic-
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our
in-
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ace

gm.

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' friend,"

 
The New York Sharp

11

 
“Who is our mutual friend?” she

‘  iasked, guardedly.

“ You may be surprised on hearing the

v name.”

“ I would like to hear it, nevertheless.”

“ It is James Thompson!”

“Aha!” muttered Swipes.

There was a deeper sound from the
parlor, and the spy, risking another look,
saw that Mrs. Gray was regarding her
caller with a most anxious expression.
She seemed to be trying to control her~
self, with but poor success.

“James Thompson,” she ﬁnally re-
peated.

“ Yes, madam.”

“ I know of no such man.”

“ Let us use the name, since he did.
I know his true name, but it need not be
referred to here. We are his friends;
We know why.”

“I assure you that I know of no
James Thompson.”

“Let us not disouss the name, Mrs.
Marchmont.”

“Then what shall we say?”

“ Many things. I am here on business
of importance.”

 
CHAPTER XII.
THE STORY or This ALLEY.

Carl was still smiling, but there was
that in his voice which made Swipes
shake his head.

“There is ugly in that chap,” he de—
cided, “ an’ it is bound ter come out.”

Mrs. Marchmont, since that seemed to
be her real name, moved uneasily and
seemed paler than ever. ,

“I will hear you," she answered.

“ I was poor Jimmy‘s friend,” resumed
Carl. “ I was anxious to be present at
his funeral, but the peculiar turn of
events upset my plans. Allow me to ask
if you have his remains now in this
house?”

to sir?!

“Well, madam?”

“I do not understand your strange
‘words. I repeat that I know of no
Mr. Thompson—”

“Well, what of Mulligan’s Ark?”

“ I never heard of the place.”

" Have you not been there? Are
you not the Mrs. Gray who offered to
pay for the funeral of the man Thomp-
son?”

“I am not!” ‘she steadily, deﬁantly
responded.

“Ginger! she says it wal,” thought
Swipes, “ but it won’t go.”

Carl made a gesture of impatience.

“Then let me tell you of that un-
fortunate man, madam. I have told you
that I am his friend, and you will see
that I have no ill-will in mentioning
some things very plainly. Thompson
was sailing under a false name at Mulli-
gan’s Ark, and he was doing it because
he feared the law, madam—the terrible
law!” ‘

Carl waxed dramatic, and he had full
effect upon his companion. She breathed
hard, and was manifestly agitated and
Scared.

“I have always felt keenly for my
pursued the sharp. “He had a
good heart, and would not willingly have
one evil to anybody, only—well, you

ow how it was. Now, I understand
how he went out of sight. Nobody but you

- could have had interest in getting him

OR as you did. He went, but I feel that

, I should have a chance to pay some trib-
K “to of friendship to him. Unless he has

I, n consigned to his final
madly look upon his face."
{p.sil‘?’ exclaimed'Mrs. Marchmont, “ I
mommy declare to you that I know

.. : otvlthi's. I

home I would

,-am 9»

 
“You are the woman who took the:

part of Mrs. Gray—”

“ How did I succeed?”

“ You should know.”

“ I declare to you that I do not know
what became of the man you mention.
I will swear it, if you wish.”

Carl seemed staggered for a moment,
and there was surly concern in his
voice as he replied:

“Will you let me search this house?”

“ Search my house!”

“ Yes.”

“ Surely not.”

“ Then I shall believe that the miss-
ing body is here:”

“Believe what you please,” she re-
torted. “You cannot, shall not do it.
Search? The idea is absurd. I forbid

it, not because I fear to have you, but
because I will not cater to such idle
curiosity. I know nothing of the strange
disappearance. Would to Providence I
did—would that I did!”

“Madam, you can remove all my
doubts by allowing me to look your
house over.”

“Possibly I can, but I will not.”

“ Say!” cried Carl, all of the ugliness
of his nature breaking forth, “do you
want me to publish his history to the
world?"

“I cannot prevent it, if you see ﬁt.”

“But his name—do you want me to

tell that to the world? W’ould you
have everybody know the terrible
truth?”

For the ﬁrst time Mrs. Marchmont
seemed to lose all courage.

“ You would not do that!" she cried.

“I would—I will!”

“ You are without mercy.”

“ Exactly! I am no weakling. I

look out for myself, ﬁrst of all; and
that’s my way now. Frankly, I do not
think the remains are here, but I want
to satisfy myself. I don’t want to hunt
elsewhere on a blind chase. If you are
as innocent as you claim you can satisfy
me and do yourself no harm.”

There was a struggle in her mind.
Plainly, she did not wish to yield, but
she feared this sharp.

“If I gratify you,” she asked, “will
you keep his true name—and—and the
rest of it—his history—a secret?”

“I solemnly promise to do so.”

“Then you may look as you wish."

“Bah!” muttered Swipes, in disgust.
“ Why, his promise ain’t worth a row 0’
sp’iled cabbages!”

The detective did not see ﬁt to inter-
fere, and the couple, rose and passed out
of the parlor.

“I guess it’s time fer Esquire Norton
ter skip,” added the shadower. “Ef I
hang around here my boss will get outer
my center-rush an’ block the play."

He left the stoop and walked off down
the street.

“That Carl is a corker!” he thought,
in disgust. “ Tries ter bully a woman,
does be? Well, now, that’s the meanest
biz a man kin be in. Say, but I got onter
one thing, though——-there was scratches
and marks on Carl’s face, an’ that con-
ﬁrms what I’ve thought all along. It
was Carl who tried ter steal the cofﬁn,
an’ the same gent who choked me in the
hall. I pummeled his face then, an’ I
see I left my trade-mark there. Yes, it
was Carl, an’ I s’pose Bat was his help—
or.”

The shadower walked on until he had
nearly reached the block where he had
been so much of late. He intended to
drop into the old resort for a moment.
and then go down town on an errand
that he hoped would give him light.

He was ﬁxed in his opinion on certain

\

 
.the-shadeWer.  .. . .

subjects, and believed he could solve
one mystery, if not another.

He was walking along when he was
hailed from the mouth of an alley by the
way.

“Say, young feller, hold up a bit.”

He looked and saw a seedy-looking
person unknown to him.

“Don’t you live at Mulligan’s Ark?”
the questioner added.

“Yes,” Swipes responded.

“Then we would like you in here .a.
bit.”

“ Why ?”

“We think we’ve found the missin’
body. James Thompson died, you know.
As you lived there you kin identify him.
There is a lonely spot at the end of this
alley, an’ we found it there.”

Swipes dropped his head in thought.
He had not known James Thompson by
sight. Could he be of any use? He did
not see that he could, but he was not.
without curiosity.

“ I’ll go,” he announced.

The seedy man turned and moved into
the alley.

Swipes had been there himself before.
then, but not since he used to play as a.
child in that section. He knw nothing

‘2
l
l

of the alley as it was then, but it seemed'

likely that.anything could be hidden.
there and not found for some time.

The story seemed very reasonable.
followed the man.

It was not far through the alley, and
then they emerged into a yard. Several
tumble—down shanties ﬁlled the rear,
and at that point another man was
standing as if waiting for deveIOpments.

“ Sammy Morse is guardin’ it,” the
seedy man explained, motioning to the
other man.

Swipes hastened forward. If he had.
beaten everybody out in the race to.
solve one part of the mystery it would
reﬂect great credit on his work as an
amateur detective.

He reached the side of the second man;
he looked around sharply.

“Where’s the body?” he asked.

He had seen none, so he raised his
gaze to the faces of the men. The ﬁrst
of the two had followed him into a space
between the shanties, so they had a little
area all to themselves.

Both of the men grinned as if there
was some great joke afoot. '

“ Don’t you see it?” one asked.

If No.1,

“ We don’t, either.”

“ What in thunder do ye mean?”

“Fact is, there ain’t nothin’ o’ the
sort.”

“Then what is it?”

“Nothin’ but us two an’ you; that’s
all there is here.”

“Say, hev you been foolin’ me?”

“ You kin call it what you please. The
story tol’ you outside was all moonshine,
an’ we jest decoyed ye in; here on a.
bluff."

Swipes eyed his companions closely.
The grins had disappeared from their-
faces, and with them went the last sem—
blance of decency. Seen as they were
then, the faces were vicious and ugly'
to an extreme.

It ﬂashed upon Swipes that he was in.
peril. What the motive of the men
might be he did not know, but it was;
clear they were his enemies and bound
on making mischief. \

“Ef that’s all you hev’ ter say I will
git out,” he remarked. .

The man nearest to him blocked hi
way.

“ Not so fast, my rooster.
business with you.
’ The second man

He:

      
made a move to

l

'9‘???

 
. . .~."‘
'l'.
:H

We have : ‘
Grapple him, Toml’ﬁ.

" '12

4.4—-

 
CHAPTER XIII.
FIGHTING HIS WAY.

Swipes had no intention of submit-
ting to the indignity which menaced
him. Whatever the object of the men
was it was one of hostility, and he
governed himself accordingly.

With one man moving upon him and
the other blocking the mouth of the
little passage between the shanties, he
had but a small chance, but he proceed-
ed to make the best possible use of it.

With his eyes open to their fullest ex-
tent he studied the advance of his most
active foe, and when the proper moment
came he acted.

Ducking his head he made a forward
dive to pass under the fellow’s arm. He
was like a ﬂash, and not only was the
trick successful, but he hit the man and
nearly knocked him over.

Then Swipes had both foes on one
side of him, but his escape was not pos—
sible. The little passage ended right
there, and he could not go on. He faced
them deﬁantly, however.

“ Say, Tom, you’re no good!” cried
the man who had not tried to do the
catching.

“I’ll have him this time!”

The ruﬂian wheeled again and came
«on, and this time Swipes was in more
serious danger. He could not hOpe to
work his artiﬁce again, and the outlook
was dark.

“ I’ve got ter wade in fer keeps! ” was
his thought, and he acted upon it.

He waited not for his foe, but, stirring
every muscle into action, started forward
and plunged headlong into the would-be
captor. He had ignored possible danger
to himself from the collision, and he
.struck his enemy full in the stomach
with the impetus he had gained.

“ Take that! ” he exclaimed, mechanic-
ally.

It was too much to withstand, and he
bowled the man over, but another ob-
stacle was in the way. As he was mak-
ing his rush for liberty continue sharp-
ly he was seized by the strong arms of
the person who had lured him into the
alley. The man held fast.

“ I’ve got ye, you little brat! ” he cried.

So he had, but it was an armful, and
no mistake. Swipes struck out with his
ﬁsts, and he kept his legs going so con-
stantly that the captor was showered
with blows on all sides.

The entrapper surely “ had him.”

This ﬁerce counter—attack was too
much for the courage of the man, and
he called out in his distress with pitiful
intonation.

“Outch! outch!
Help me, Tommy! "

But Tommy only sprawled in the yard
and groaned as he caressed his stomach.

Swipes did not let up in his work, and
presently he had cause to get fresh en-
couragement. Although his foe held fast
he yielded to a natural but illogical im-
pulse, and began to back away from the
blows. As he took the giver of the blows
with him this could do him no good, and
it did do much harm. He struck his heel,
and over he went, with Swipes on top of
him.

The amateur detective laughed aloud
at his mishap, and then, with a ﬁnal
effort, he wrenched himself loose and
darted out of the recess.

He was fully free.

The man who had last gone down came
up slowly, and, when he was on his feet
he saw Swipes, several feet away, laugh-
ing at him.

jubi-

This way, Tommy!

“ Hulln. Sandow! " cried the boy,
lantly. "how be you feelin?’ ”

response; " you come back here."
i " [v . /

 
The New York Sharp.

“ Not Iter save yer bicycle!”

“I’ll be after ye, ef you don’t."

" Yes, a good ways after me.”

“ Come on, Tommy; come on!”

The decoyer was full of ﬁght, and he
made a forward rush, but he never had
been so helpless as then. It was simply
a case of fcotrace, and Swipes dashed
out of the yard and out of the alley
with his hearty and mocking laughter
ﬂoating back.

He was not followed to the street. The
men knew better than that, and Swipes
halted on the further sidewalk and stood
waiting developments. Really, he did
not expect any, and none came.

“Backed out!” he ﬁnally muttered.
“ They had better, ef they don’t want
ter sleep in the police station until next
grass. Say, now, what does this mean?”

He asked the question of himself with
real concern. Plainly, the affair was
not trivial, and he could see but one
way of explaining it. .

“ Them fellers meant ter do me up,
an’ they had a reason. I never see them
before, an’ they can’t hev any grudge
against me individually. Somebody set
them on. Who was it?”

Seriously, he looked at the alley for
awhile, and then came the additional
question:

“Has Carl Cavendish got enter my
curves? ”

It was not to the shadower’s liking,
but he was compelled to believe that this
was the case. He could not think of
anybody else who would have a motive
in molesting him, and he would have
been dull not to see that deepest malice
was behind the recent attack.

“ It’s right lucky fer my future bliss
that them snakes didn’t ketch me!” he
muttered, seriously.

Presently his good spirits returned,
and, as considerable time had been con-
sumed in the adventure, he decided not
to go to Mulligan’s Ark until he had at-
tended to his other business.

It lay down town, and he went that
way without delay.

He had not forgotten the newspaper
clipping he had found on Carl Caven-
dish’s table, and he intended to know
more of the case thus dimly outlined.
The way to do it, he thought, was to
visit a newspaper oﬂice and consult a
ﬁle, though he was not sure he would be
permitted to see it.

He had reached City Hall Park when
he ran upon a man who had been a po—
liceman a few years before. He had
lived near Swipes, a d they knew each
other well, but his work had been around
the municipal buildings.

“ Just the person!” thought the ama-
teur detective, and he accosted his old
acquaintance at once.

“ Say, Betts,” he exclaimed, after a
short conversation; “do you remember
a burglary, or anything 0’ that sort, at
Wisehardt, Veach & Co.’s? ”

The ofﬁcer looked thoughtful.

“ About a year ago?” he inqnil‘ed-

“ Yes, I reckon so.”

“I remember it well. We have it up
around the ofﬁce somewhat.”

“ What was there inter it? ”

“ Well, it never has been solved.”

" What is known, then? ”

" Simply that there was a robbery. A
big sum of money was taken from the
safe: I don’t know how much: and Wise-
hardt, Veach & Co., were all stirred up
over it then. I presume they feel the
same way now.”

“ Didn’t get the thief? ”

at No.”

"Who was he?”

 
“You "We knave.” was We furious

 
" That is what they would be glad. to
. know. A, certain man was suspected, but

 
there was but little more evidence against
him than against you or me, and, as they
couldn’t ﬁnd him, it was a loss of time
to suspect him.”

“ What was
name?”

Mr. Betts looked more thoughtful than
ever, and he studied the ground in an
effort to remember, until Swipes grew
impatient.

“ Pliny Hargrave was the name,” he
finally replied.

“ Who the dickens was he?”

“ If I ever knew his history I don’t
remember it now. It seems that he had
means of knowing about the money not
possessed by others—that’s the way I
remember it—and then there were other
suspected parties; a one—handed man who
was an old acquaintance of the police.
This fellow was called a slippery cus—
tomer. He always had slipped through
the police ﬁngers, and, if he was con-
cerned in the break you mentioned, he
had his usual good luck. The police
never dared to arrest him on suspicion.”

“ Still, the one—handed chap may have
been in it?”

H Yes.)’

“Wish you could tell me more about
that Pliny Hargrave.”

“ I remember no more.”

"' Did the newspapers have an account
0’ him? ”

U Yes.”

“Will you go in an’ look over a ﬁle
with me?”

Betts was surprised by the request,
even more than he had been by the pre-
vious conversation, but he consented.
They went in, and, at the ex-ofiicer’s
request, were accommodated with a ﬁle.
The item was soon found, and Swipes
found full reward for his trouble.

The newspaper dealt gently with Pliny
Hargrave. The suSpicion against him
had been weak, and the police timid of
accusing him, so the only way the paper
learned of it was in a half-underhand
manner.
were careful.

the suspected man’s

n

Page: ,.

zit;

As a consequence, they, too, 

a
“Seems there was ﬁfty thousand dol- 1

lars stolen,” remarked Betts, reading.

“Yes.
fer which Mr. Wisehardt was adminis-
trator, and was in the safe ter be kept
safe—eh, Bettsy?—-an’ it disappeared all
of a sudden.”

“Pliny Hargrave was knowing to its
presence, so he was suspected.”

“Sure! An’, oh! Betts, do ye see what
follers? By jing! I' guess there is meat
in this article. It jibes with my theo- I
ries, an’ I begin ter see my swoop
crowned with success. Look there! ”

 
CHAPTER XIV. }
swrpns IS ARRESTED. 

The speaker’s ﬁnger was pointing to a.’
certain place, and Betts nodded as he,
read.

“Clew to Pliny Hargrave’s relations,‘
eh? ”

“ It says,” replied Swipes, “that he
had a sister named Mrs. Marchmont! ”

“That does not tell us anything.”

(4  H

“ We don’t know where she is.”

“ Mebbe she might be found,” gravely
observed Swipes. "A good deal kin be
found out by huntin’.”

“Why are you so interested in Pliny
Hargrave? ”

“ I heard a man mention it, an’ I gotl

\l

Quite a feelin’ over it. You say Pliny,
ain’t been ketched? " ' j"
“ I am quite sure he has not.” I
" All right.” 6
Swipes turned away from the ﬁle, an

 
then he and Betts went out to City S

An’ it belonged to an estate ‘1

u 
spons
H W
a 
man."
The
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are? ”
u I
u 
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are 0
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ay I
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wipes

 
Pliny
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id of 
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'hand 1
too, i

, dol— ,
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astate 1‘
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kept I
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ravely
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PlinY;
’ I gob

Pliny. 

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i ful.

 
Ha o~ ~Swipes turned ‘upon

The New York Sharp

 
13

 
Park. The ex-ofﬁcer had business on
hand, and he said he would have to go
about it. He went, but not to the shad-
ower’s regret. Betts was no longer use-

“ Jest as I thought,” muttered Swipes.
" Jimmy Thompson an’ Mrs. Gray are
brother an' sister, an’ that explains her
interest in him. They can’t hev been
Very sociable, or they would not have
been so fur apart in this last affair. Well,
I've run a part 0' this game ter earth."

He believed he had, and he summed it
up thuszz

“ Jimmy Thompson was a thief. He
swiped the money from Wisehardt,
Neach & Co.’s safe, an’ he’s been livin’
on the fat 0’ the land. That Mulli-
gan’s Ark part was all a bluff. He kept
up a ﬁne establishment at Harold For-
restal’s ﬁat, an’ he an’ the medical stu-
dent lived like lords. That’s clear. Now,
.what about the main feature of it all ?—
who stole Jimmy’s body, an’ why did
they do it?”

Right here the detective found him-
self wholly at fault. He was not able to
advance the slightest theory, and it an-
noyed him.

True, it did not seem to make much
difference, since a man’s career ends with
his last breath, but the mystery of the
thing was fascinating and irritating, so
to speak. '

His thoughts returned to the earlier
phases of the case.

“ Had I ought ter go ter the police an’
tell them what I know?” he wondered.
“ I s’pose they would like ter know, an’
I’m willin’ enough, but I guess I’ll hold
on a bit. I’l go home now.”

“Home,” n this case, meant Mulli-
gan’s Ark. That place of dirt and pov-
erty would remain a magnet to him un-
til all was made clear.

In due time he was near his destina-
tion, but he was not to reach Mulligan’s
“Ark Just then. As he neared the tene-
ment he was suddenly aroused by sight
of Harold Forrestal.

“Comin’ this way, an’-—hullo! them
two fellers with him look a good deal
like detectives. Wonder ef he has been
arrested? ”

Down the street came the three men
Side by Slde- SWipes noticed that they
regarded him very ﬁxedly, but this did
not seem to amount to anything. He
was considering whether he had better
address Harold, when he was surprised
by the actions of the trio’, themselves.

They spread out somewhat, and Swipes
found himself obliged to pass between
them. As he was doing this one of the
party suddenly clapped a heavy hand
upon the shadower’s shoulder.

Wait a bit! ” he directed.

“ All right, boss,” was the cheerful re-
spouse.

‘2‘ We want you."
correct! Ef I kin help you I.’m Yer
man.
The speaker laughed aloud.
Paelp us! Say, do .you know who we
are? '
:I Busyect you are detectives.”
Thats just what we are. Now, do
you see clearer? We want you! You
arg our prisoner! ”
w pes stared in silen e ‘
prisgg to be alarmed. c , too much sur
" e are going to l ” -
sued the omcer. OCk you up, put
You be? What fer?”
You are charged with having robbed
James Thompson after his death! ”
in, "Say, thunder an” measles! you’re jok-
‘zllfi'. Forrestal is the com lainant”
“ That’s so,” agreed Harold? '
the last speaker.

 
Forrestal did not meet his gaze like an
honest man, but his eyes sought the
ground with all of the persistency of a
convicted criminal’s.

“ You! ” returned Swipes; “ you charge
me with stealin’ Jimmy’s cash? ”

“ Anyhow, it’s gone,” explained For-
restal, desperately.

The shadower looked at him sharply
for a moment in silence. Then he turned
away with the single sound from his
ips:

“Humph!”

It meant a good deal, but Swipes
was not yet ready to express himself
more fully. He turned next to the of-
ﬁcers again.

“Say, gents, hev you been tooken in
by this skin game?”

“ Do you deny your guilt?”

“ Deny my grandmother! The case
ain’t 0' that sort. Why should I deny
what can’t be true? Rob Jimmy! Bah!
Gents, do you know who I be?”

Swipes thrust his hands into his pock-
ets, threw back his head, and assumed
a most imposing air as he asked the
question.

” Who are you?” one of the ofﬁcers
returned.

“A detective! ”

“ Oh! are you?”

“ Yep! ”

“Maybe you are the Superintendent
of Police?”

‘5 You’re kiddin’ me now. None 0’ that,
gents. I don’t claim ter be what I’m
not. I only say I am a detective, an’
you will do a wrong deed ef you molest
me in the discharge 0’ my duty.”

“Put an end to this!” sharply de-
manded Forrestal, looking nervously up
and down the block, as if fearful of a

crowd. “ We want no more words from
this cheeky boy.”
“ Oh! don't you? ” cried the boy.

“Well, Mister Forrestal, you are likely
ter get more than you want. When I
open my mouth fully you may ﬁnd you
hev put yer foot inter it. See? ”

“ He grows insolent,” exclaimed an of-
ﬁcer. " Yank him along!”

Swipes faced Harold again.

“Ef it’s you that’s made this charge
you had better go slow,” he warned.
“ Stole Jimmy’s mon? Bah! Have you
seen me cuttin’ any swath with it? Have
I set up a richly furnished ﬁat? Have
I had big cats at Del’s? Have I helped
a sinner get away with his plunder?
Have I ever known Pliny Hargrave in
his days 0’ rascality?"

A sensation was intended, and one
was made. Clearly, Forrestal did not
think so well of his plan as he did. He
changed color, and was plainly startled.

“ I—I— Perhaps there is a mistake! ”
he stammered. '

“ Bet yer bicycle there is, boss! ”

“Oﬂicers, maybe you had better re-
lease the lad,” ventured Harold.

“ It is too late, sir; the matter has
gone beyond your control. You have
made deﬁnite charges, and our supe-
riors have given us orders. If you see
ﬁt to talk with them at Headquarters,
you can; but we have no right to let
him off. Come!”

" Hold on a bit!” began the boy; but
he only got an additional jerk.

“ Come! ”

This time there was real roughness in
the man’s way, and Swipes was dragged
along. He was so angry at Forrestal for
so unjustly accusing him that he lost all
prudence, and he struggled ﬁercely.

“I won’t go, you measly fools! I’m

an omcer, myself, an’ on an important
tra'il, an’ I’ve‘got ter see it out. I won’t
8.0. n

Recklesst he began to kick at his

 
1captors, and that settled their course

fully. Swipes received several sound
thumps from their hands, and he was
dragged away harshly.

Forrestal did not go with the party.
He stood as if ﬁxed to the spot where
the arrest had been made, and his ex-
pression was that of a man with his
mind in a collapse. Swipes had spoken
words that carried consternation in their
train, and the medical student would.
gladly have undone his rash work.

He watched them go, hesitating as to!
his own course; but he soon had some-
thing else to think about.

One moment the trio had only a peace—
ful scene around them; the next, two
men darted out of a deep doorway and
ﬂung themselves upon the ofﬁcers with
ﬁerce impetuosity.

It was an attack, and made- with a
deﬁnite purpose, and the ofﬁcers, taken
wholly by surprise, could not withstand
it. One of them was felled by a blow,
and the other toppled over heavily.

The assailants were Carl Cavendish
and Bat Morrison.

Bat caught Swipes by the arm.

“Come on! ” he cried.

One of the detectives struggled up, but
Carl knocked him over again, and then
both men seized hold of the boy.

“Come!” urged Carl. “You’ll be ar-
rested if you don’t! ”

Swipes was young, and he yielded to
such an earnest demand. He was being
dragged off, but he did not long need‘
such aid. His own legs began to play,
and he raced off in company with his
new associates.

“ Them detecti‘es are up an’ after us! ”'
he cried, looking back.

“ Let them come!” snapped Carl.

“ They be comin’, an’ like deer, too.
Worse than that, they’ll soon begin ter
holler fer help. Gents, we’re gone up!"

 
CHAPTER XV.
FROM ALARM TO ALARM.

“ Not much! ” declared Carl Cavendish.
“ Those fellows are not smart enough
to catch us.”

As he spoke he turned Swipes from
his course and steered him into an al-
ley. It dawned upon the youngest fugi—
tive that this was their best course, and
he went willingly.

Beyond them was a dark passage, with
a row of old buildings on either side,
and a view of tumble-down ediﬁces be-
yond all else there. Into this choice
place the trio went, and after them
bounded the detectives. Quite a start had
been gained, however, and the conﬁdence
of the leader did not waver.

The shadower had wondered what they
would do next, but his associates clearly
had a deﬁnite plan. Once the yards had
been separated by fences, but these had
in some places yielded to the inroads of
time, and there were breaks in the lines
of boards.

Through one of these holes Carl dart-
ed, and Bat and Swipes followed. For
a moment they paused and looked back.

“ There come the cops! ” exclaimed
Bat.

“Hot on dur trail,” agreed Swipes.

“ They search for us there-they'think
we are in hiding! ” cried the sharp, with
a laugh. “ Good!
hoped. Now, on this way, boy. We will
soon have you out of it.”

They resumed their course and passed
through several yards. In some cases
they vaulted over the fences, and Swipes

was beginning to get winded when they '~ 

reached another alley.

)-

Through, this they hastened to the
street. A . :

That is just as I‘

l

 
The New York Sharp.

 
“I guess I kin look out fer myself
now,” remarked the shadower.

“ It will be madness to stay around
here,” asserted Carl. “Wait until this
thing blows over. Come with us! We
have a cab here.”

, The vehicle was certainly there, and
, awaiting them, but Swipes hesitated. He
did not think he wanted to enter into
further partnership with them.

“On! on! You will be locked up, if
you don’t. On, boy!”

Carl’s impetuosity carried the day, and
Swipes allowed himself to be helped into
the cab. Quickly the door was closed,
and the driver took them away at good
speed.

The shadower was too much bewil-
dered to do any very clear thinking
then. He had a well-defined impression
that he was in bad company; but, with
a prison cell menacing him on the other
hand, he was not disposed to be too
captious.

Almost in silence they went on for
several blocks.
driver to halt, and they stepped out. The
cab was dismissed and the sharp pointed
to an ancient house near them.

“ That’s our refuge," he explained.
" Come in!”

Again Swipes hesitated, but he was
overruled. They entered, and Carl led
the way to a room up stairs. It was
furnished very cheaply, and was wholly
unlike his usual resort, but he seemed
at home and had keys to everything.

He ﬂung himself into a chair and
laughed aloud.

“Sit down, boy!”
are safe now.”

“Jiminy!” exclaimed Swipes;

ihas been quite a brush.”

' “ All over now, and you are perfectly
safe. You owe us something for taking
you clear so prettily.”

“Them measly fellers would have ar-
rested me.”

u  u

“ Ask them. I can’t see why. Harold
Forrestal accused me o’ stealln’ money
from Jimmy Thompson. Great guns!
Why, Jimmy didn’t have ten cents ter
his name.”

Swipes was beginning to be wise again,
and he looked shrewdly at Carl to see
how the assertion would be taken.

“ They do say he was a beggar,” the
sharp coolly responded. ‘

“Queer, ain’t it? ” ‘

“ Very! But it was confounded mean
of Forrestal to use you so.”

“ I’ll give him a run fer his money
when I see him again."

" You will do well to let him alone.
Remember you are accused of crime, and
can no longer go about as you please.”

“Ginger!”

Swipes’s face grew very serious. As
this view was fully presented to him
he lost courage. He had always been
law-abiding, and had no intention of be-
ing otherwise. To be a hunted person
gas something terrible in his estima-

on.

The sharp laughed merrily.

 "Don’t be so downcast. It will all
come out right. Bat and I will take
care of you; we will protect you from
w the police, find a living for you, and
, make you” one of us.”
‘ The boy said nothing, but, to him-
self, he exclaimed:
“ Not much you won’t! ” .
_' “ You know how I live,” pursued Carl.
“Luxury, money in plenty, .and every-
thing the heart can desire. I am a high-
:roller, so called. Don’t you want to be
one?” » . i ..
swipes did not, but he was not rash
, hto say sohWhile ,he was in the

he’ directed. “ You
“ this

. t

Then Carl ordered the.

  
company of his lawless companions he
was also in their power, and it was the
part of prudence to avoid angering them
or making them suspicious.
“ The picture is rather fascinating,” he
agreed, seeming suddenly exhilarated.
“ That’s what it is. Give me charge of
your future, and it will be brilliant.”
“Boss, I’ll think that same over!”
He spoke with a pretense of great
earnestness, and Carl seemed duly
pleased. Little did he know what was
in the boy’s mind, or that he was regard-

' ed as a repulsive snake. Swipes had not

one element of a law—breaker.

One thing was answered for him fully.
He was still in the good graces of the
pair. Carl’s face still bore the marks
of the blows the shadower had given
him at Mulligan’s Ark, but he did not
suspect that his defeat there was due
to his present companion.

The three men remained in the room
until dark. Carl and Bat smoked and
drank, and evidently enjoyed themselves
very much, but Swipes declined an invi-
tation to join in their pleasures.

Supper was served in their room, and
then the men prepared to go out. They
gave Swipes many injunctions not to
venture from the room, and then armed
themselves with revolvers and slung-
shots, and took their departure.

,Their young guest was left alone, but
he had plenty of food for thought to
occupy his time.

“Say, that’s a fine gang! ” he ex-
claimed. “ Revolvers and slungshots! An’
ter think the police never hev got onter
their curves! Maybe they will when I
tell my story. Carl rescued me from
danger, but why did he do it? Simply
because he wanted ter make me a crook,
too, an’ get my help in his breaks. I
reckon I ain’t under no moral oblerga-
tion ter keep his work secret. What fer
a den be I in, anyhow? ”

He looked around critically. The room
looked innocent enough, but he had his
opinion of it. Carl kept his home quar-
ters like a palace. This was different.
What could be its use, unless it was
more closely connected with his
crimes? ’

Swipes looked the place over, peer-
ing into closets and bureau drawers. A
scant wardrobe was there, but nothing
to incriminate the high-roller.

Suddenly the searcher caught sight of
something more. It was like a tiny key-
hole in the wall, well concealed; 'but,
having once seen it, his suspicions grew
greater.

“ Wish I cpuld get it open. If I had a
key—say, I've got one about that size.”

He fumbled in his pocket and drew
out the article named. He tried it, and
then uttered a low cry of triumph. 1t
ﬁtted. .

He turned the key; he threw back a
blind door of small size.

M   n

An exclamation of wonder passed his
lips. Beyond was a sort of cupboard,
and it was full of things strange to see
there. Silks, laces, boxes which, he be-
lieved, indicated the presence of jewelry,
and various other things met his aston-
ished gaze.

“ A thieves’ den, sure pop! ”

He unclosed the cover of some of the
boxes. Jewels were there, sure enough,
and he was bewildered.

“Oh! what a haul this would be fer
the police!” he exclaimed. “So they
never hev‘ been able ter connect Carl and
Bat with a known crime? Well, I’m the
huckleberry who can connect them like
a. ﬂy. This would be a rare "ﬁnd for the
cops."

- There, was“ “ms knowing when Carl

 
would return, so Swipes closed the blind
door and relocked the place.

‘“ What be ye goin’ ter do next, me
boy?” he soliloquized. “As near as I
kin tell, there is nothin’ ter prevent ye
from leavin’ the house, an’ you could
lead the police here in a jiff an’ win
undyin’ fame, but—”

He paused and shook his head.

“These crooks ain’t the only ones
wanted by the police. I’m hunted by
them, myself, an’ I ain’t sure I kin risk
a gallop outside. Is it best fer me ter go
boldly forth, seekin’ whom I may de-
your, or not? ”

He meditated on the point. He felt
sure he could tell the authorities just
who James Thompson had been. They
wanted to know badly, but the awful
ﬁgure of the law, as spurred on by Har-
old Forrestal. loomed before him.

“ I’m afraid it’s no go. I dare not—”

The door of his room was thrown open
and a woman rushed in wildly.

“Hide!” she cried, excitedly. “ The
police are here ter arrest you! ”

 
CHAPTER XVI. '
THE STRANGE DEFENDER.

Swipes heard with a sinking heart.

“ What’s that you say? ” he demanded. l

“ The police are here!” repeated the
woman, breathlessly. “Hide, oh, do
hide somewhere! ”

“Police, eh? Well, I don’t believe I’ll
hide fer a cent.”

“ They will seize you.”

“ I don’t think it’s me they’re after.”

“ It is; they said so. They have called
for the boy who entered here. There is
no other boy. You’re the one they
want! "

Swipes stood in dismay. It seemed
that her warning was well-founded, and
Elie near presence of danger frightened

m. ‘

“ My sister is holding them at bay,"
resumed the woman, “ so as to give you
time. Go to some other room—hide,
hide! ”

A rather good-looking young man
rushed into the room.

“This way, boy! ” he exclaimed.
“ Come with me and I will see you safe
through it all. I have just the place.
Quick! They are done with parley below!

'It is hide now, or surrender to them.

Come! ”

Swipes hesitated no longer. The latest
comer had the air of a respectable man,
and the boy determined to put himself
under his protection. He eagerly fol-
lowed where the stranger led, and was
conducted to a room on the upper ﬂoor.

“ I hear them comin’ up! ” he cried.

“ They will hunt the second ﬂoor
ﬁrst," was the answer. “ When they get
here it will be mighty little they will
ﬁnd. Here! In with you. There is safe-
ty here‘. ”

Carl Cavendish’s room seemed not to

e the only place of secrets, for Swipes’s

ew friend had opened a blind door ;

which revealed a secret closet beyond.
It was a comfortable-looking place, and
the fugitive dove in readily.

The door closed; he was alone in the
dark.

There was a lull of several minutes.
It gave him time to think more seriously,
and he began to be doubtful of the wis-
dom of his course.

 
., ._,-_<)1011 at:

\L'J;

i;

l

.w

,. ,1

J “Why should I run away from the
cops? ” he muttered. “ I ain’t done noth- ,

in’ illegal ter nobody an’ nothin’.”

The position was well taken, but his 

opinion was not ﬁxed enough to make"
him venture forth when he heard 

police come. Evidently the‘tenant»! 0%
the room was sperm Offlong ‘ ‘

)
v

  
WHQH Mn...

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t.

nded. ‘
d the
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re I’ll

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called 1

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!

ere is
they

eemed
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itened

bay,"
ve you
—hide,

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aimed. ',

in safe i
place.

below! 1
them.

a latest
.e man,
himself
-ly fol-
nd was
ﬂoor.
ried.
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hey get 1
.ey will
is safe-

 
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Swipes's
id door
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e in the
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 ’

as

r.

The New York Shar .~

15"

 
after expressing surprise when he had
been told the nature of their errand, he
bade them search and welcome.

It was done. They found nothing.
Then they went away.

It was ten minutes later that the door
of the secret closet was opened. The
stganger stood smiling on the further
s1 e. ~

“ You can come out,” he remarked.
“The whole party have left the house.
You are safe. Come! ”

Swipes obeyed.

“Rather a close call,” he exclaimed.

“ Decidedly so.”

“Mister, I am awfully obliged ter you.
I don’t want ter be gobbled, an' you did
the white by me. I’m yer friend from
this on.”

“ I like to help a person in need.”

“ I s’pose you are a friend 0’
Cavendish’s? ”

“No. On the contrary, I never saw
him. I am a newcomer in this house, and
I know nobody here. I don’t suppose I
should have interfered in this case only
you were so young. I know what it is
to be hounded by the police! ”

‘The speaker grew suddenly grave and
1118 lips trembled. He sighed deeply,
and Swipes felt his pity rise.

“ Mebbe you didn’t deserve it.”

“ I am sorry to say I did deserve it all.
I was a fool—a blind fool! Why, oh! why
did I take such a step. But I wander.
Boy, sit down! This is a lonely life here,
and your company will be welcome. Then,
if there is more danger, you can ﬂee
to the secret recess again."

“ Have you been usin’ it, too? " asked
Swipes, his curiosity aroused.

ﬂ 0 H

Carl

“ You look as ef you’d had a pile o’
trouble.”

“ I have—trouble and illness."

The speaker sighed and leaned his
head heavily on his hand. His looks bore
witness to his last assertion. He looked
far from well then. .

“ Hidin’ from the police, boss? ”

“You ask too much now. But then,
of course, if it were so I should not have
taken you in. Oh! I am a free man!”

He said it bravely, but Swipes was not
so sure it was true. He had his own
opinion of the man, though he wondered
at seeing a criminal with such a face. It
w? a prepossessing face, all things con-
si ered.

“ What’s your name? ” he pursued,

“ John Barnes.”

“A plain, sensible name.”

“ What’s yours? ”

“ Daniel Swipes Norton,” boldly ad
mitted the fugitive. ‘

“ What is your trouble? ”

“Too much inquisitiveness. Ef I
hadn’t been foolish enough to play de-
tective I wouldn’t be in this measly fix
now. Do ye read the papes?”

“ Yes.” ‘ , .

Swipes was not willing to rest under
the shadow of suspicion, and he deter-
mined to clear himself to this pleasant-
faced young man. Thus he continued his
questioning:

“Have you read anything about one
Jimmy Thompson? ”

The man who claimed to be John
Barnes had been sitting listlessly, but
the question brought him up in his chair
like a ﬂash. He looked hard at Swipes,
and seemed to be frightened by some'
thing.

:What?” he demanded. ,

Ever hear of Jimmy Thompson?’

This repetition was very mildly and
hesitatinsly put. There was a glare in
I‘m-Barnes; eyes that worried Swipes.

‘e‘:

 
— soanxious to press ms

for he received them very politely, and, l interrogations. He felt obliged to do

so, however,.and then was impressed by
the pause which ensued. John Barnes
was breathing heavily, but it was long
before he found words. Finally he re-
sponded, almost gaspingly:

“No! Yes! I don’t know—I seem to
have read—Who was he?”

“Lived at Mulligan’s Ark.”

“ I—I think I read of him.”

John Barnes was excited and trem-
bling, and the words passed his lips with
tones that quavered as much as his
body. Swipes saw all this, and, quick to
seize upon circumstances, he was almost
overwhelmed by the thought that rushed
upon him. ~

“ This feller is the one who stole Jim-
my Thompson’s body!”

The shadower became a very different
person. All of his keenness was aroused,
and he eyed John Barnes with emotions
surging through him which made his re-
gard wild and strange.

His companion said no more, and
Swipes tried desperately to get his wits
back so he could speak further.

“ He went an’ died,” he ﬁnally re-
marked.

“I read of it,” admitted John Barnes.

“Then he was stole.”

“ Yes. Pitiful fact! ”

“ Well, I dunno about that. This Jim-
my Thompson was a rascal o’ the ﬁrst
water. A thief, a swindler, an’ a mur-

derer! ”

The young detective said this to get.
into John Barnes’s good graces and make
him confess that he had stolen the body,
if possible. The result, when seen, was
a surprise to Swipes.

John Barnes leaped to his feet. His
eyes glowed almost like those of a mad-
man, and he threw up his hand as if
to strike the boy.

“ It is a lie!” he shouted. “ He was
nothing of the sort—he was weak and
foolish, but never criminal. A thief, per-
haps, but a swindler, or murderer, never!
It is false, false, false! ”

He repeated the word with constantly
rising power, and it became almost a
shout at the end.

Swipes was bewildered. Why should
a body-snatcher defend his victim?

“ Others don't say so,” stubbornly re-
sponded the boy.

“I care not what they say. Time will
tell—I, at least, know now. Do I not
know? Have I not suffered enough to
know? You say that others don’t say
so. What others? ”

“ The police.”

“ What do they say? "

“ That Jimmy stole the money from
Wisehardt, Veach & Co.’s safe,” persist-
ed Swipes, getting too interested in his
argument to be exactly aware of what
he was saying.

“ Are they on the track? ”

8‘ Yes."

“ Providence grant they may be too
late! ” exclaimed John Barnes.

He began to pace the ﬂoor in a head-
long way. Swipes could not guess why
he was so upset, but the visitor deter-
mined to press the point and see what
could be made out of John.

“ Yes, they’re hot on the track. They
say Jimmy will get twenty years, an’
it's none too much. Ha, ha, ha! won’t
he look ﬁne, peerin’ out of a prison cell
up Sing Sing way? ”

John Barnes threw up his arms wildly.

"I will die before I will go there!”
he shouted.

“ You will die? What hev you ter do
with it? You, you? Why, 'I was talkin’
of Jimmy Thompson! Why should. you

be so upset over his affairs? I’ve heard
‘ . 1 ,a v I:

it .said‘ he hadn’t ‘1an

 
for'stealing- money from the safe of " .
.smf‘eeo. ‘and. also. on an r

nobody ter feel much interest. Why the
dickens be you so wrought up over his
case? ”

 
CHAPTER XVII.
THE END OF MYSTERY.

The plain question was too much for
John Barnes. He stopped in his ex-
cited walk and stared at the shadower
blankly. He was confused, and, though
he appeared to want to speak, not a.
ward passed his lips.

Swipes, now all aroused, ran his gaze
over his companion. New ideas had
come to him, and he was breathless with
his suspicions.

“ By jing!” he added, excitedly, "ef
such a thing was possible I should say
you was Jimmy Thompson, alive! ”

The master of the room reeled back.

" What?” he cried.

“ You look jest as I hev heard Jimmy
described. But then, Jimmy died—for was
supposed to. It’s been a great mystery
who stole him after he died—”

The shadower leaped to his feet.

“Say,” he added, loudly, “ I do believe
you are Jimmy Thompson himself,
alive! ”

The man staggered and fell into a.
chair.

“ Lost, lost! ” he gasped.

The young detective was amazed. His
companion’s manner conﬁrmed his sus-
picion, but, as he reﬂected upon it fur-
ther, it seemed too wild and absurd to
be entertained.

There was a lull of a full minute; then
the silence was broken in an unexpected
manner. The boy heard light, quick
steps in the hall, then the door was
dashed open and a woman ran in.

Stubby had an additional surprise.

It was Mrs. Gray—Mrs. Gray, excited,
flushed and trembling.

She looked about; she ignored the boy;
she rushed to John Barnes’s side. She
spoke vehemently.

“Flee, ﬂee!” was the warning from
her lips. “ The police are coming!”

The word “police” stirred the man
out of his other troubles. He looked up
and saw who was there; then his face
hardened.

“ So it’s you! ” heexclaimed, bitterly.

“ Yes. Go, Pliny, go! The police are
coming! ”

“What do you care? A pretty person
you are to visit me! You did not take
the trouble to do it when I needed you
most.”

“Brother, let us not speak of our old
estrangement. Enough that I am glad to
help you now. Go, go! I beseech you!”

“ I have no refuge to seek. If I am run
down I will face the danger and ﬁght it
out. I will not run. I remain here!"

He folded his hands and stood erect.

“ The closet! " now cried Stubby. “ In
there with ye, Jeems! ” ‘

" I say I will not run. I remain where '
I am.”

“No, no!” panted Mrs. Gray. “ You
must, you shall go! I have a carriage
at the door. We will—Too late! " » v

Heavy steps sounded on the stairs out- - v
side the door. Every one instinctively '-
realized what that meant. Mrs. Gray
sunk into a chair, weak and trembling.

“ Lost!” she moaned.

Nearer came the steps; then three of-
ﬂcial-looking men marched into the

   
room. At their head was Peters, the de- , ’7

tective. With a. glance around the place
he moved toward the master of the room.

“ Pliny Hargrave," he severely spoke
“ you are our prisoner! We arrest you

it?“ he- "

The New York Sharp.

 
clan that you have acted ' the body-
snatcher and purloined the remains of
one James Thompson! ”
Stubby heard the laborious speech with
, :momentary confusion; then, as he real-
ized that Peters had made some great
nistake the boy burst out into a ringing
laugh.
Peters regarded his sharply, where-
upon Swipes added: 5
“ That’s the first time I ever heard Of
,a man stealin' his own body!”

“I may be wrong about that part,” re—
plied Peters, with dignity, “ but I believe
this is-the body-snatcher. Let that rest,
however. Pliny Hargrave, we arrest you
for theft!” , '

Hargrave held up his empty hands.

“ I yield! ” he calmly answered.

“ Lost, lost! ” murmured Mrs. Gray.

“ No, no!” shouted a voice:at the door.
i“ Not lost, but saved!”

And yet another man rushed in and
stood there, panting.

Hargrave brightened up wonderfully.

“Kellogg,” he cried, “ what luck?”

“ Good! The very best! You are
saved! The money is restored to its
rightful owners, and they agree not to
prosecute you. You are saved! ”

“ Thank Providence!” murmured Har-
grave. “It will be a lesson to me. It
was my ﬁrst and only lapse from grace,
and, it will be my last. I am saved,
saved! ” '

Peters looked suspiciously at his com—
panions.

" What’s all this? " he demanded.

“ There is no mistake! ” declared Har-
grave. “The facts are that I have re-
stored the money I so insanely took, and
.I am saved.”

.“ I guess not! ” gruﬁiy retorted- Peters.
“ You will go with us to Police Head-
-guarters.”

“That is to be expected. I do not de-
mur, for I go, knowing that, as Kellogg
here says, all will be wiped off the books,.
and that I shall soon be free.”

' “ I don’t understand this.” _

“ I can make it plain,” responded Har- '
grave. “ I did take the money from
NVisehardt, Veach & Co.’s safe. It was
an evil deed, but I yielded to temptation.
'I had the means of taking it, and I want-
ed to speculate on somebody’s money. I
had none of my own. I took it. I risked
two thousand dollars in speculation and
lost it all.

, “By that time I knew the police sus-
pected just who had taken it. By then,
too, my better nature was at work. I
deeply regretted my course. I determined
to make good my theft.
. “ I obtained some law work to do, and
' began to labor desperately to get money
3 to accomplish my end. I worked day and
 night. I had assumed the name of James
I Thompson and taken quarters in Mul-
5 , ligan’s Ark. There I lived with miserable

r

 frugality, from which I rarely departed.

,; My friend, Harold Forrestal, had a well—
” J furnished ﬂat. I now and then indulged
- in rich suppers there, and even at costly
restaurants, but I should have gone mad

L ‘ without some relaxation from my grind-

'. ing toil.

r “ At Mulligan’s Ark I was always busy,
seeking desperately to pay what I had
stolen. At last‘the,money was earned,

"‘3 and it only remained torestore it. But,

, I‘feared I could; not make peace with

/ those I had wronged. In this crisis my
friend, Harold Forrestal, came to my
aid, and hisr'suggestion' opened a way
not before thought of by me.“ ' r

“ It was that I should seem to die: that
I should take a medical drug which
would suspend the actionsof even breath
and make me seem dead.- He knew of

{such a‘drug. It was settled that I Was!

l .

 
ms,

to die. He was to take charge of my su -
posed corpse, after I had been identiﬁed
as the thief, and was then .to save me.
from burial.

“ After this he was to make peace with
those.I had wronged, and, in time, I
thought I could reappear as a free, safe
man. .

“I took the drug; I lost consciOus—
ness. Maybe Forrestal was timid; but,
somehow, it did not work as I had'ex-
pected. I think there was less than the
proper dose given me.

“I recovered consciousness to ﬁnd my-
self in my cofﬁn. I was not alone in the
room. My sister here, from whom I had
long been estranged, was there.‘ She
had read of my death, so called, and
come to see me. It was done secretly,
at night. Now, the money I had earned
had been accidentally left by Forrestal, in
his nervousness. She found it, > and,
reaching into my cofﬁn, tore up the lin-
ing at one point and thrust the money
into the recess. Doubtless she thought
it had better be buried with me and
my crime.

“She went away. Then nature fully
asserted itself. I aroused, threw off the
spell of the drug, and then yielded to
horror. It was an awful thought to me
that I had been in my own cofﬁn. I
dressed, took the money, ﬂed from the
house and sought a new refugee I found
it here, and here I have since been, but
not inactive. Giving Forrestal no ﬂew
to my escape, I sent for this other friend,
Kellogg, and he has negotiated with those
I wronged, and has restored the money.”

“Yes,” added Kellogg, “and you are
safe from prosecution.”

“Looks as if I am to make no haul,”
murmured Peters; I -

“ I’ll give you one!” cried the boy
shadower eagerly. “Come. down stairs
an’ I’ll show you a thieves’ den, with
all the plunder inter it! I.want you ter
see what Mister Carl Cavendish is, in
real life! As for you, Jimmy Thompson
Hargrave, you are a stunner, an’ no mis-
take, but we all hold out our hands ter
you. A repentant sinner isa lad o’ prom:
ise. ‘ hemlish my sentiments, an’ I’m
rather glad-yo)! are all hunk. Come on,
tellers! Let’s raid Cilrl’s den. Oh! but
won’t the NewYork Sharp be mad! ”

The next day there was- a sensation
in New York. It was then known that a
mere youth had been the means of capt-
uring two dangerous crooks, and yet
more, there was the remarkable case of
Pliny Hargrave. Taken all in all, it was
sensation galore! "

Carl’s connection with the mystery was
easily explained. He . had obtained a
clew to Pliny’s secret" before the bogus
death, and Pliny and Forrestal knew it
—-they had seen him and a one-handed
man spying upon them. Carl had a wo-
man accomplica in Mulligan’s Ark, and
it was from her he learned enough to
assure him that he might ﬁnd treasure
in the coﬂin, so he made his big bid to se-
cure it, before and after the “ body " dis-
appeared.

The reward of ﬁre thousand dollars
for :the recovery oi! the body had been
offered by Forrestal. He it was who had
hired two men to lure Stubby Swipes into
the alley. He wanted him out ,of the way,
for a time. Swipes was inclined not to
forgive this, but finallyjoined in the
era of good feeling. '

’Carl Cavendish, and Bat were duly

tried, convicted and sent to \S‘tate’s Pris!
Ion. ‘ ‘ '

Pliny was, released” from police sur-
veillance, and then he began his career

anew, seeking to be an upright man.

He was reconciled to his sister, andFor-

 
restal continued to be his steadfast
friend. -

All remains well at Mulligan’s Ark-
The people live and ﬂourish, and Stubby
Swipes is their hero of heroes. '

“Sure,” they say, “the lad is a born‘
detective. Only fer him poor Jimmy
would have fared hard, an’ there’s a glo-
rious future befbre him. He’s doing well
now, an’ he’ll make a. great man yet.
Every wan ave us love him. That boy
is a jewel! ”

THE END.

Beadle’s Hail-Dime lihrary.

BUFFALO BILL NOVELS.

in: COL. PRENTISS INGRAHAM.

1018 Buffalo Blll'a Texan Team.

1007 Bulfan Blll’n Sure-Shelli.

1000 Buffalo Blll‘n lleeoy Boys. ,
995 Buffqu Blll‘n Drop: nr, Dead-Shot Ned , the Kansas Kid,
91'“ Buffalo Blll'n Lasso Throwers. ' ,

981 Bulfqu Bill‘n Fightin Five.

975 Bulfqu Blll'n lillleh~ on.

968 Bulfuio Bill’s Rush Ride; or, Sure-Shot,the lligh-Flyer.
964 Buffalo Bill’s Decoy: or,"l‘he Arizona Crack Shot.
9:“ Buffalo Bill's Malt-p ll-Cllalle. .
948 Bulfqu Bill‘s Slurp-h not ; m, Wild Kld‘a Texan Tally
942 Buffalo Bill’s 'l'ou ll Tum- e.

986 Buffalo Bill’s Boy uncoulor, Joe Jarvis' Hold-up.
929 Bulfqu Bill’n (‘ruok-uhot ’urd.

0.30 Bulfulo Bill'u Boy Part]: or, Uuiixrlly Billy.

310 Blnou Bill. the Prince of the sins.

 lllgon I‘lll’g Clue; or. Grit, the Bravo Sport.

BY n‘L'rrALo BILL.

55 Badly-Eye. the Unknown Scent. or, The Banded Brotherhood
6’3 Border Robin Hood 3 or, The Prim"? RM?"
158 Fancy Frank of Colorado: or. The THPPCY'I TN“-
1029 The Phantom Sp).

’BY CAPT. ALFRED B. TAYLOR, 11. S. A.

191 Buffalo Billy. the Boy Bullwhncker.
194 Buffalo Bill I Bet: or. The Gambler Guide.

 
BY COL. PREN'I‘ISS INGRAHAM.

1081 The Texam lluﬂflern In Cuba.

1027 The (‘owlroy Raiders in Cuba

1025 The Flying \ unkee or, The Ocean Outcast.
I023 The Cowboy ('lun In Cuna.

1016 The “0' Bugler- In (dim.

982 New Yor ' Nari”! Drop: or, Ex-Ferrei Fx'kes’ Ill-1d Game ' f
w

926 New York Nut and t 'l rultor lr-rret.
920 New York Nut Trapped. '
914 New York Nur'n 'l hreo‘ of it kind.
90" New York Nat“: Double.
902 New York Kat’s 'iu (‘ulorudm
896 New Nor-k Not in Gold Nugget Camp.
8’19 New \ork Nul’a lleudly lN-al.
5N3 New York Nut'n Crook-Chane.
£77 New York Nnt’n Trump Card.
71 New \ ork Nut und the Grave Chorale.
R65 New York Nulr’r- asked Marmot.
859 New Work ﬁll. the Gurnin thertlve.
£53 Dick 'Poom'n Kidnap er Knock-Out.
H47 "Ir-k Doom’l Terr Sir lie.
842 Dick Doom’n Flush "and.
772 Dick, Doom’o lleuthrip; or, The Detective hr Destiny.
7?? Incl; room’s Del-tiny; 0r, '1 he River Blacklez‘s Terror.
1H4 Dick Doom: or. ’I he Sharps and Shark: nl New York.
7Q.“ Dick Doom In Boston: or, A Man oihlany Malkl.
fl”! Biok Doom in (‘ Inigo. v .,
798 Dick Boom in t e “ild “out. '
M loopn’o (Tlenn Sweep; or, Five Links ill a Clue.
loom’m lhath Clue.
Doom’n 'lllumom! Deal. ‘.
Iobm’n Glrl IK'OI. ‘
Doorn’rt Shadow Hunt.
lIoom'a BI; llaul. & _
9 I - -I-: (jinn-lie: or The Kentucky'l‘enderfoot’l FintTrnin
‘ illll. (‘hurllc’n Berth-y: or, The Renee-60'. Gag".
luv-hing (‘lrurlle’n Pawnee l’ard. ~ v
706 ‘ ' Charlie, the Rescuer.
49? Buck fnylor, King of the Cowboyi- I
2'37 Bur-k Taylor. the (‘onmncho‘n Cagtlve.
743 Ruck Ta 10...; no,“ (it"l'l'ie Re Rider: oithe Rio Grande
560 Pawnee III, the Prairie Shadow".
713 Pawnee Blllz or. Curl, the Mad Cowboy.‘
“(l0 Pawnee Bill I Pledge: 0! Th0 (OWNS “900"!-
725 Pawnee run: or, name Dict-
692 Bedfern’n Curiou- Case: 01.7"! Rh!” Slurp!-
69‘! Itedi’ern at. lie \‘Il’n lianehkor. Tb? Sh"? hm“ T01“.
70! Bedf’ern’n lllgh "and; on, he Jacket.
707 liedl‘ern’s Lust Troll: of. The Red Sombl't'WRulﬂi- '
And Filly Others.

NEW ISSUES.

1042 “(no 91-“, the Pony Express Rider.
1043 You Bet‘Bob from Cross Crick.
1044 The New York Sharp. By Ben D. lialliday.

1045 Mun-tang Kerie’s line. By Maj. Sum. S. Scott,

10-16 Gold Plume, His Boy liand'nl: or, Bulfth Bill,tho Pon}
Express Rider. By (‘01, l‘rentis: Ingrlhnm.

1042' Flyer Fred. the Cyclist Ferret. By Roy Rockwood

JUST ISSUED.

1088 You net Bob‘n (Til-cup. By Arizona Cy.
1084 The Gold Witch‘s Shadower. By Col. 9- lnxrmhmn1
1085 Antelope Abe, the Boy Guide. By 011 Coomu. .‘
1080 Dandy Bkk’l Double. By Robert R.‘ lu?n. '1

 
By Col. lngraham-
By Arizona Cy.

103? The Artist Detective. Exacvl- Pilitmhm- " gv.
10893 Kansas Rum or,""rr- nod Rightlllnd. By sumo an; ,
.1089 Mutton; Mar-left“ 303i R‘Y‘CIM- 3) “*6, 8 3-5"? .

1040 Buffalo Bill's I’on rarer: ‘By Col. P. inn-horn. ‘
1041' Cowboy cm. to. "1‘12!" Bx“ meiﬁ'i'wlldm ‘,
A New Ian-ire" very Tuesday.  i *

, an; rr I
"per ,erumpymailelneoiptoilhenhood.
BEADLE AND annual; Pupil-ﬁery. 1, 
92 William street. New 

. r ‘ 4,‘ 9 eyﬂijv

_ r4.

s‘.‘

. no may, i. for an. by .n  ,