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diff --git a/old/67448-0.txt b/old/67448-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 7dbd46a..0000000 --- a/old/67448-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4997 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Fame and Fortune Weekly, No. 2, -October 13, 1905, by Self-Made Man - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Fame and Fortune Weekly, No. 2, October 13, 1905 - Born to Good Luck; or The Boy Who Succeeded. - -Author: Self-Made Man - -Release Date: February 20, 2022 [eBook #67448] - -Language: English - -Produced by: David Edwards, SF2001, and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (Northern - Illinois University Digital Library) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY, NO. -2, OCTOBER 13, 1905 *** - - - - - -Fame and Fortune Weekly - -STORIES OF BOYS WHO MAKE MONEY - -_Issued Weekly--By Subscription $2.50 per year. Entered according to -Act of Congress, in the year 1905, in the office of the Librarian of -Congress, Washington, D. C., by Frank Tousey, Publisher, 24 Union -Square, New York._ - -=No. 2= NEW YORK, OCTOBER 13, 1905. =Price 5 Cents= - - BORN TO GOOD LUCK; - OR - The Boy Who Succeeded. - -By A SELF-MADE MAN. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -THE SCRAP AT COBHAM’S CORNER. - - -“See here, Dick Armstrong; when you’ve taken that water into the house, -I want you to clean these. Do you understand?” - -The speaker, a sallow-complexioned, overgrown boy of seventeen, -threw a pair of mud-bespattered boots at the feet of a sun-burned, -healthy-looking lad about a year his junior, while a grin of satisfied -malice wrinkled his not over-pleasant features as he thrust his hands -into his pockets and started to walk away. - -“Who are you talking to, Luke Maslin?” answered Dick, hotly, not -relishing the contemptuous manner in which he had been addressed. - -“Why, you, of course,” replied Luke, with a sneer, pausing about a yard -away. “You’re dad’s boy-of-all-work, aren’t you?” - -Unfortunately for Dick this remark expressed the exact truth. - -He was Silas Maslin’s boy-of-all-work, and his lot was not an enviable -one. - -His clothes were bad, his food scarce, his education neglected, and -having arrived at the age of sixteen years he eagerly longed to cut -loose from his uncongenial surroundings and make his own way in the -world. - -If Dick felt obliged to submit to Mr. Maslin’s tyrannical treatment, -that was no reason, he contended, why he should allow his son Luke to -bully him also. - -Although he had never done anything to deserve Luke Maslin’s ill will -and often went out of his way to do him a good turn, Luke never lost a -chance to make life miserable for Dick. - -In fact, all friendly advances on Armstrong’s part, instead of winning -his favor, seemed rather to impress him with the idea that Dick was -afraid of him, which was far from the truth. - -On this particular occasion Dick was not in the best of humor, for -Mr. Maslin had just been savagely abusing him because he had taken a -longer time than the old man had considered necessary to fetch certain -supplies for the store from Slocum, a large town about ten miles -distant. So when Luke flung the last remark at him he angrily retorted: - -“Well, I’m not yours, at any rate.” - -“What do you mean by that?” demanded Luke, in a disagreeable tone. - -“Just what I said!” answered Dick, defiantly. - -“Do you mean to say that you don’t intend to do anything I ask you to -do?” - -“That depends.” - -“Depends on what?” - -Luke advanced a step nearer the other, looking decidedly ugly. - -“How you ask me,” replied Dick, setting down the pail to relieve his -arm. - -“I s’pose you’d like me to take my hat off to you, Dick Armstrong, and -say please, and all that,” Luke returned, scowling darkly. “It strikes -me you’re putting on too many frills for a charity boy.” - -Charity boy! - -This slur, which Dick felt to be utterly undeserved, stung him more -than anything Luke could have said. - -He turned pale with sudden rage, and his temper burst forth with a -violence all the more terrible because held so long in check. - -Snatching up the pail of water as though it were a feather, he dashed -its contents over his tormentor, drenching him from head to foot. - -If the heavens had fallen, Luke Maslin couldn’t have been more -astonished. - -That Dick Armstrong, the despised factotum of the establishment, would -dare to resent any aggression on his part was something Luke had not -dreamed of. - -Heretofore when he chose to bully his father’s drudge the boy had -submitted with the best grace he could. - -Now Dick actually had the temerity not only to resist, but to assume -the offensive. - -After the first sputtering gasp of surprise, Luke recovered himself and -sprang at Dick with a howl of the fury that fairly blazed from his eyes. - -Realizing that he was in for trouble, Armstrong prepared to defend -himself to the best of his ability. - -Although his opponent had the advantage of him in height and was -furious enough to be dangerous, Dick was not troubled with any -misgivings as to the result of a clash between them. - -He had every confidence in his own powers, for he was compactly built, -was unusually strong for his years, and moreover, being very angry, was -reckless of the consequences. - -Whether it was that Maslin was naturally clever with his fists or Dick -was awkward or slow in putting himself into a posture of defence, -certain it is Luke’s right arm went through his opponent’s guard and -Dick received a stinging blow on the side of his head that staggered -him for a moment. - -A second whack, this time on the chest, thoroughly aroused Dick and, -seeing his chance, he struck out with all the force he was capable of -and caught Luke full on the nose. - -His head went back with a jerk, he slipped on the grass, and was down -in a moment, the blood flowing freely from his injured organ. - -Contrary to Dick’s expectations, Luke made no effort to get up and -resume the battle. - -It began to look as though that one blow had knocked all the fight out -of him. - -Whatever satisfaction his opponent felt at such a decisive result was -dissipated in a moment by an unexpected whack on the ear from behind, -and turning to confront this new danger he found himself face to face -with Silas Maslin, who was in a towering rage. - -“You young rascal, how dare you strike my son!” he exclaimed, furiously. - -“He struck me first,” Dick answered doggedly, rubbing his ear, for the -slap had been no gentle one. - -“What’s that? Didn’t I see you fling that bucket of water over him, you -little villain?” - -“I did that because he insulted me,” replied the boy, with spirit. - -“Don’t you dare talk back to me in that fashion, or I’ll flay you -within an inch of your life! Go into the store at once!” - -Silas Maslin raised his foot as though it was his intention to boot the -boy. - -He did not do so, however, and it was well for him that he did not. - -That was an indignity Dick would not have submitted to from any person, -not even from Silas Maslin, much as he held him in awe. - -The boy was glad to avail himself of the chance of getting beyond his -tyrant’s reach, and was presently drawing a quart of molasses for one -of the customers of the establishment. - -Mr. Maslin kept a small general store at Cobham’s Corner, on the -outskirts of the village of Walkhill, in the State of New York. - -The building stood within a few yards of the Erie Canal, facing the -country road, which at this point crossed the narrow waterway by means -of a stout wooden bridge. - -The houses that constituted the village were much scattered, and owing -to the heavy growth of trees not one of them could be seen from the -store; but by standing on the centre of the bridge the short, stumpy -steeple of the small, wooden church could just be made out looming up -through the topmost branches in the near distance. - -The post-office was located at the store, and the farmers for miles -around came here for their mail and to replenish their supplies from -Mr. Maslin’s stock of goods, which consisted of about everything needed -by the little community, from a needle to a cultivator. - -Mr. Maslin’s household consisted of his wife, a sour-faced woman on -the shady side of forty; his son Luke; John Huskins, a hired man, who -attended to the main part of the work in the fields--for Silas Maslin -had some forty acres under cultivation--and Dick Armstrong, who helped -in the store when necessary, did the chores, and assisted Huskins. - -Between the two boys, Luke had all the advantages of the situation. - -He went to school as long as school kept, took part in all the village -sports, visited his schoolmates, attended all the social gatherings he -felt disposed to join, and carried his head pretty high generally. - -But for all that he wasn’t at all popular. - -Dick, on the other hand, came in for the short end of everything. - -He attended school when Silas Maslin chose to let him do so, under -which circumstances his attendance was decidedly irregular. - -For the larger part of his time from daylight to dark he was kept on -the hustle, as Mr. Maslin was never at a loss to find something for him -to do. - -Everybody knew Dick Armstrong, of course. - -He was a good-looking boy, naturally bright, was obliging and polite -to everybody with whom he came in contact, and consequently was well -liked by everybody in the district, and was an especial favorite with -the girls, who when they came to the store for mail or to purchase -something preferred to have him wait upon them. - -As Luke was ambitious to shine with the fair sex himself, he resented -their partiality for Dick, and as he couldn’t very well get square with -the young ladies, he vented his ill humor and spite on the object of -their attention. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -ACCUSED OF THEFT. - - -As the customer departed with the jug of molasses, a lad named Joe -Fletcher entered the store. - -“Hello, Dick,” said the newcomer, walking toward the rear of the place. - -“Hello, Joe,” replied Dick, in a pleased voice, for he and Joe were -chums. - -“I didn’t know whether I should find you in here or not,” said Joe. - -“Want to see me about anything particular?” asked Dick, in some -surprise. - -“Yes. I’ve come to say good-bye.” - -“What!” exclaimed Dick, his face clouding. “You don’t mean to say -you’re going away?” - -“Yes. I left Boggs for good a couple of hours ago. He’s a hard, cruel, -grasping tyrant--that’s what he is. You know I threatened to cut loose -from him weeks ago, but somehow I didn’t seem to be able to muster up -the backbone to do it. But it’s all over now. He beat me black and blue -with a whip this morning because one of the cows broke down the corner -of the pasture fence and got into the truck patch. I think he’d have -killed me only I hit him over the head with the handle of a rake. Then -I got my clothes and ran away.” - -For a moment Dick was silent. - -He felt sad at the thought of losing the best friend he had in the -neighborhood. - -It is true he had only known Joe Fletcher five months, which was about -the length of time Joe had been working for Farmer Boggs, but a natural -sympathy had drawn the two boys together. - -Both early in life had been thrown upon their own resources, and both -were subservient to hard taskmasters, though if there was any choice in -the matter, Silas Maslin was perhaps a shade better than Nathan Boggs. - -The latter was notorious throughout the county for the way he treated -his hired help, particularly if that help happened to be a boy. - -Boggs’ method was to hire a stout boy or an able-bodied, newly arrived -foreigner for a period of six months, with the understanding that if -the hand quit work before the end of the stipulated term of service he -was to forfeit all his pay. - -The farmer then managed to make things so hard for his help as the -weeks went by that they found the place simply unendurable and were -glad to disappear of a sudden without making any very serious demand -for what was due them. - -Fletcher had managed to weather the ills that clung about Boggs’ -farm for five months, for he was blessed with a good temper and much -patience, and Nathan, fearing the boy would last the limit and that he -would be obliged to pay him the sum of $60 for which he had contracted, -adopted a specially rigorous line of conduct toward him, which -culminated that morning with a most inhuman beating, after which Joe -gave up the struggle. - -“Where are you going?” asked Dick, at length. - -“I haven’t decided yet but the canal-boat Minnehaha is taking on a load -of shingles at Norton’s Lock, a few miles above, and Captain Beasley -told me he’d take me down to New York if I wanted to go.” - -“I wish I were going with you, Joe,” said Dick, wistfully. - -“I wish you were.” - -“I’m sick of this place. They treat me like a dog, and I won’t stand it -much longer. Had a run-in with Luke a little while ago.” - -“I don’t see that it’s doing you any good to hang on here,” said Joe. -“Maslin hasn’t any claim on you, has he?” - -“Not a bit; it’s all the other way. He hasn’t paid me a cent all these -years I’ve been working for him. All I’ve ever got has been the clothes -he grudgingly gave me--none of the best, at that--and my board, and I -guess you know what sort of a table they set here.” - -“I’ve heard enough from you to make me believe it isn’t much of an -improvement on Boggs’ bill of fare--and that’s about the worst ever!” - -“You never told me how you came to live with the Maslins,” said Joe, -curiously. - -“I didn’t know myself till a couple of months ago.” - -“Is that a fact?” said Joe in surprise. - -“I asked Mr. Maslin and his wife a number of times, but they never -would give me any satisfaction. About two months ago I was up in -the garret one rainy Sunday afternoon, and I found an old diary in -which Mr. Maslin kept a record of important matters in which he -was interested when we lived up in New Hampshire some twelve years -ago. I’ve a faint recollection myself of the farm he owned in the -neighborhood of a place called Franconia. In this diary I found a long -entry relating to myself.” - -“You must have been surprised,” said Fletcher, who was listening -eagerly. - -“Well, I guess I was. Of course I knew I was no relation of the -Maslins, for they had long since taken care to impress that fact on -me. The diary states that a gentleman named George Armstrong, whom Mr. -Maslin wrote down as being tall and fine-looking, but with a melancholy -face, as though he was in trouble or had lately been subject to some -misfortune, boarded at the farm with his little son, Richard, at that -time aged five years, for several months. That one day he received a -letter which Mr. Maslin noticed bore the Boston postmark, and that its -contents disturbed him very much. He immediately started off without -mentioning his destination, leaving the little boy in Mr. Maslin’s -care, with a small sum of money to pay his board for about the time he -expected to be away. He did not return within the time he set, and from -subsequent entries on the same page it would seem that Mr. Maslin never -saw him again.” - -“It’s a good thing you learned that much about yourself. I suppose -something must have happened to your father or he would have come back -after you,” said Joe. - -“I suppose so,” replied Dick, soberly. - -“What did you do with the diary?” - -“I’ve got it in the box where I keep my clothes.” - -“You’d better hold on to it. Might possibly be of value to you one of -these days.” - -“It has a value for me, as it shows to some extent who I am,” replied -Dick. “Luke called me a charity boy, and that taunt caused the scrap. -I’ve worked like a slave for the Maslins without pay, but I’ve received -any amount of abuse. Some morning Mr. Maslin will get up and find me -missing.” - -“What’s that you say, you young villain?” yelled the strident tones of -the storekeeper, behind them. - -He had entered the store and approached them unobserved. - -“Don’t you let me catch you tryin’ to light out of here before I give -you leave, or I’ll be the death of you. What do you mean, anyway, by -hangin’ over the counter and idlin’ your time away when there’s a dozen -things you might be doin’? Go into the kitchen now and peel the taters -for Mrs. Maslin; d’ye hear?” And he seized the boy roughly by the arm -and swung him into the middle of the store. - -“I’ll try and see you later, Dick, before I go,” said Joe, holding out -his hand to his chum. - -“I don’t think you will, young man,” said Silas Maslin, significantly. -“My help hain’t got no time to waste on visitors.” - -“I guess he’s got a right to say good-bye to a friend,” retorted Joe, -indignantly. - -“Then he’d better say it right now afore you go,” said the storekeeper, -ungraciously. - -“Well, Dick,” said Joe, bottling up his wrath, for he realized that -Mr. Maslin was master of the situation, “good-bye, if I don’t see you -again.” - -“Good-bye, Joe,” and the two boys clasped hands sadly. - -“I’ll write to you and let you know where I am and what I’m doing,” -said Joe. - -“I hope you will. Be sure I sha’n’t forget you.” - -“And I won’t forget you.” - -And thus the two boys parted, for how long they could not guess. - -As it proved, however, they were shortly to be reunited in a somewhat -startling way. - -Dick went into the kitchen, where Mrs. Maslin handed him a tub of -potatoes and a knife. - -“Take the jackets off ’em, and see you lose no time ’bout it nuther,” -said the lady of the house sharply. - -Dick made no reply, but seated himself on a stool in a corner and began -his work. - -“You ’most ruined Luke’s new suit of clothes this arternoon,” snapped -Mrs. Maslin. “Ef I wuz Silas I’d take it out’r your hide. It seems to -me my boy can’t ask you to do the simplest thing for him eny more but -you must fly at him.” - -Dick knew it was useless to enter into any explanation with her. - -Luke had evidently told the story in his own way, and whatever he might -say now wouldn’t count. - -“Don’t you know it’s your place to do whatever he asks of you?” asked -Mrs. Maslin, shrilly. - -“I’ve never refused to do anything for him when he asked me civilly,” -said Dick. - -“Hoighty toighty!” exclaimed the lady, sarcastically. “Must my boy -bow down before you, you young whipper-snapper? The idea! Who are you -enyway? Ef it hadn’t been for Silas and me, where’d you been now, you -ungrateful cub? We’ve clothed you and fed you and eddicated you, and -now you turn on us.” - -“I think I’ve worked pretty hard for all I’ve received,” replied Dick, -doggedly. - -“What ef you have? It ain’t more’n you ought to do. You’ve finished the -taters, hev you? Put ’em down, then, and don’t stare at me in that way. -Go out and fetch me a pail of water.” - -Dick obeyed without a word and then, as the mistress made no further -demand on his services for the moment, went up to his bare little room -just over the kitchen. - -He opened the box where he kept his things and, diving down into -a corner, fished up a small buckskin bag in which he kept the -pennies, dimes, quarters, and several half-dollars he had been slowly -accumulating from odd jobs he had done for various persons during the -last three or four years. - -He counted his little store slowly over. - -“I’ve a great mind to----” - -He never finished that sentence, for suddenly the door was thrown open -with a bang and Silas Maslin rushed furiously into the room. - -“You thief! Give me back the money you took from the store-till this -afternoon!” - -“This is not your money,” said Dick, dropping the coins into the bag -and holding it behind him. - -“I’ll see whether you’ll give it to me or not!” - -As Silas Maslin sprang at him Dick thrust the bag into his pocket and -proceeded to defend himself as well as he could. - -This would not have been an easy job, for Mr. Maslin was strong and -wiry; but chance aided the boy. - -The storekeeper’s foot caught on a rent in the rag-carpet, he pitched -forward and struck his forehead against a corner of Dick’s box with -such force as to cause a nasty wound that stretched him, stunned, on -the floor. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -LEAVING HIS HOME. - - -At that moment Mrs. Maslin appeared in the doorway and, perceiving her -husband stretched motionless on the floor with the blood streaming down -his face and Dick Armstrong standing over him in an attitude of defence -with his fists half clenched--for the mishap which had overtaken -Silas Maslin had been so sudden that he stood quite stupefied with -surprise--she conceived the idea that the boy had struck down her lord -and master, perhaps killed him. - -“Help! Help! Murder!” she screamed loudly, dashing open the window and -making the air ring with her shill cry. - -Huskins, the hired man, was coming into the yard from the fields. - -He heard Mrs. Maslin’s frenzied cries, saw her violent gesticulations -as she leaned out of the window, and thinking the house was on fire, he -dropped the implements he was carrying and ran forward. - -In the meantime Dick had raised Silas Maslin to a sitting posture and -was trying to stanch the blood with a corner of the coverlet which -belonged to his bed, when Mrs. Maslin turned around and saw what he was -doing. - -“Don’t you dare touch him again, you young villain!” she screamed, -suddenly attacking the boy with her bony fists. - -“What’s the matter with you?” objected Dick, trying to ward off her -blows. “Why don’t you get some water and try to bring him to? What do -you mean by pounding me in that way?” - -“You ruffian! You murderer! I knowed you was born to be hanged!” yelled -the excited woman, thumping the boy about the head and arms till he -had to retreat out of her reach to save himself, for he had no idea of -striking back at her. - -Then she grabbed her husband in her sinewy arms and started to drag -him from the room just as Huskins appeared on the scene and stared in -astonishment at what he saw. - -“Don’t let that boy escape, John!” cried Mrs. Maslin. “He’s made a -murderous attack on Silas, and ef he hasn’t killed him it’ll be a great -wonder.” - -“You don’t mean Dick, ma’am?” exclaimed Huskins, in evident wonder. - -“I don’t mean nobuddy else,” snapped his mistress, sharply. “Tie him up -so he can’t get away, and then run for the constable. Lands sake! It’s -a wonder we haven’t all been killed in our beds afore this! I never -knowed he was such a desprit boy.” - -Mrs. Maslin then bore Silas into her own chamber in the front of the -house, and set about bringing him to his senses. - -“What’s up?” asked Huskins of Dick. - -He had always liked the boy and didn’t know what to make of the -situation. - -“Mr. Maslin came up here and accused me of taking money out of his -till in the store, and when I denied it he started to seize me, when -his foot caught in that hole in the carpet and he pitched forward, -striking his head against the corner of my box and cutting his forehead -open. The shock must have stunned him. Then Mrs. Maslin appeared, threw -up the window and began yelling like a crazy person. I tried to do -something for Mr. Maslin, but she attacked me furiously, calling me a -ruffian and a murderer, and I don’t remember what else. I tell you, -John, things are getting altogether too hot for me here. Between Luke -and the rest of them I am having a dog’s life of it. I might as well -get out now as at any other time.” - -“I shouldn’t blame you if you did. I should, if it was me,” replied -Huskins, who knew what a hard time the boy had of it and really pitied -him. - -“I don’t believe Mr. Maslin has lost any money,” said Dick, -indignantly. “I know I didn’t take any. I’m not a thief.” - -“Maybe Luke took it,” suggested the hired man, with a peculiar wink. - -“Luke!” exclaimed Dick in surprise. “What makes you think he did?” - -“Well, he wanted five dollars mighty bad this morning, for he tried to -borrow it of me. I asked him what he wanted it for; but he wouldn’t -tell me. I guess he wants to send for something he’s seen advertised in -the paper.” - -“How do you know he does?” - -“From something he said to me the other day,” said Huskins, sagely. - -“If Luke took the money, he’ll deny it, all right. His father will take -his word before mine, and his mother will back him up as she’s done -fifty times before. I’ve got a few dollars saved up, and as Mr. Maslin -has discovered that fact he won’t rest till he’s got it away from me. I -need that to help me out after I leave here. So I guess I’d better go -before Mr. Maslin gets his hands on it.” - -“You’re right there, Dick. The old man’s fingers are like -pot-hooks--they hold on to everything they fasten to. Once he gets -possession of your money, you’ll never see it again.” - -“You’d better go down and look out for the store, John, till Mr. Maslin -turns up. I’m going to make a bundle of my things and start off.” - -“Then you’re really determined to go, Dick?” - -“Yes,” replied the boy, resolutely, “I am. Mr. Maslin has called me a -thief, and that’s the limit with me.” - -“Well, I wish you luck. Let me hear from you some time. I’d like to -know how ye get on,” and the hired man held out his hand. - -“Thank you, John. I sha’n’t forget you.” - -They shook hands, and Huskins went down stairs. - -Dick closed his room-door and pushed the chest of drawers against it, -as he did not want to be interrupted or taken at a disadvantage. - -Then he put on his best suit, made a compact bundle of such articles -as he deemed indispensable, put Mr. Maslin’s old diary into an inside -pocket of his jacket, and was ready to leave the house. - -He was about to remove the chest of drawers when he heard the -unmistakable voice of Silas Maslin mingled with the shriller tones of -Mrs. Maslin, on the landing approaching his door. - -His retreat by the stairway was evidently cut off. - -What was he to do? - -The door of his room was pushed in an inch or two, as far as the -obstruction would permit. - -“Open the door, you young villain!” exclaimed the voice of Silas -Maslin, whose temper had by no means been improved by the injury he had -received. - -“Push the door in, Silas,” said his wife. “There ain’t no lock to it.” - -“He’s got somethin’ against it,” replied her husband, impatiently. - -“Mebbe it’s the chest of drawers or the bed.” - -“It ain’t the bed,” said the storekeeper, and he flung himself suddenly -against the panel with a force sufficient to push the obstruction back -a foot at least. - -Through this opening he thrust his head and saw Dick Armstrong beating -a hasty retreat by way of the window. - -“He’s gettin’ out of the winder. You stay here, Maria, and I’ll try to -catch him below.” - -Mr. Maslin, whose head was bound up with a towel, was a pretty lively -man for his sixty odd years, and the way he got down the stairway and -out into the yard would have put many a younger man to shame. - -But the boy was as active as a young monkey, and guessed pretty closely -what his persecutor’s tactics would be. - -He dropped his bundle into the yard, swung himself out and alighted -nimbly on his feet, and when Mr. Maslin dashed out to cut him off Dick -was passing through the gate into the road. - -“Come back here, you young rascal, or I’ll skin you alive!” he shouted -angrily. - -But the boy had no intention of returning now that he had crossed the -Rubicon at last. - -“I’ll have you took up and put in the calaboose; do you hear?” - -Dick heard, but the threat had no effect on him. - -He bounded around the corner of the fence and ran full tilt into -another boy, knocking him head over heels. - -The floored youth proved to be Luke Maslin, who was returning from the -village. - -The storekeeper’s son uttered a yell of pain and terror as he -floundered about on the grass. - -Dick had gone down also, his bundle flying out of his hand a yard away. - -As he picked himself up, a familiar voice exclaimed: - -“Hello! What’s the trouble? Is that you, Dick?” - -“That you, Joe?” - -“Sure it’s me! I was hanging about for a chance to see you again if I -could. What muss have you got in now?” - -“Come along with me and I’ll tell you about it,” Dick said as he picked -up his bundle. - -Mr. Maslin now hove in sight a few feet away. - -“Now I’ve got you, you pesky little villain!” and he made a dash at the -boy. - -“Run, Joe!” - -Fletcher took the hint and scampered after his chum, who was flying -along the “heel” path of the canal as fast as he could go. - -In the gathering dusk the storekeeper failed to recognize his son and -heir as the latter lay sprawling in the path, and as a consequence he -stumbled over Luke’s extended legs and pitched forward, head first, -like a stone from a catapult. - -The momentum he had acquired in his eagerness to lay hold of Dick now -worked greatly to his disadvantage. - -Striking the path, he rolled over and over, clutching vainly at the -grass to stay his progress. - -As the space between the fence and the canal was narrow at this point, -before he realized his predicament he was carried over the embankment -and fell with a splash into the water. - -“Help!” he yelled, and then his head went under. - -Huskins had been attracted to the spot by the rumpus and was in time to -fish his employer out of the canal; but by that time Dick Armstrong and -his friend Fletcher were safe from any immediate pursuit. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -ON BOARD THE MINNEHAHA. - - -“So you aren’t going back any more, then?” said Joe Fletcher, after -Dick had related to him the exciting experience through which he had -passed since the two lads had parted, apparently for good, in Mr. -Maslin’s store, a little more than an hour before. - -“No,” replied Dick, firmly, “I’m not. I am done with Silas Maslin for -good and all.” - -The boys were resting on a decayed tree-trunk by the side of the canal. - -It was now almost dark, and both of them, having had nothing to eat -since noon, were hungry. - -“I guess you’ve done the right thing, Dick,” said his friend. “You -aren’t likely to be any worse off than you’ve been at the Corner.” - -“I’d have pretty hard luck if I was. I’d never amount to much as long -as I stayed with Mr. Maslin. He took care that I didn’t get much chance -to get up in the world. I wish now I’d more schooling,” said the boy, -regretfully. - -“I’ll bet you know more than Luke Maslin, and he’s gone regularly to -the district school. At his age--he’s a year older than you--he ought -to be at the Slocum High School. I don’t think he cares a lot to study.” - -“Many boys don’t seem to realize what they let get by them until it is -too late,” said Dick. “You and I, Joe, have got to cut our own way in -life without any help from anybody. I guess you can hold up your end. -As for me, I don’t intend to let any grass grow under my feet from this -on. If you’ve rested enough, we’ll move on to Norton’s. Perhaps your -friend Cap’n Beasley will give us something to eat. I haven’t had a -mouthful since dinner, and I feel as if I could clean out a pantry.” - -“Same here. Captain Beasley is all right, and so is his wife. They -wouldn’t see anyone, even a tramp, go hungry if they could help it,” -said Joe as the boys resumed their march. “They’ve a daughter, too, -named Florrie. She’s as pretty as a picture,” and Joe grinned broadly. - -Dick wasn’t particularly interested in pretty girls at that moment. He -was thinking whether Captain Beasley would consent to take him down to -New York along with Joe on the canal-boat. - -“I guess he will if I pay him something, and I’m willing to put up -what’s fair,” mused the boy. - -Norton’s Lock was about six miles from Cobham’s Corner. - -Dick and Joe reached there at eight o’clock. - -Captain Beasley’s boat was moored against the eastern bank of the -canal, and a few yards away was a good-sized liquor store, lit up with -kerosene lamps, and, judging from the crowd within, doing a thriving -trade. - -There was also an open shed close by, partially filled with bundles of -shingles brought there for shipment from the mill a mile or so away. - -Dick followed Joe aboard the canal-boat and was introduced to Captain -Beasley and his wife and daughter. - -As soon as Mrs. Beasley found out that the boys were hungry, she spread -a corner of the table in the little cabin for them, laid out the -remains of a joint of cold mutton, boiled a pot of coffee, and upon -this, flanked by a plentiful supply of bread and butter, the two lads -made a very satisfactory meal. - -Dick offered to pay his way to New York City, but the good-natured -skipper of the Minnehaha wouldn’t hear of it for a moment. - -“You and Joe here are both of you welcome to go along with us, and it -sha’n’t cost you a cent. All I ask of you is to turn your hands to an -odd job or two, maybe, till we hitch on behind the tug that takes us -down the river.” - -Dick accepted his generous offer with thanks, as Joe had already done -earlier in the day when he brought his meagre bundle aboard on the -strength of the captain’s former invitation. - -“Neither of you lads seems to be encumbered with much dunnage,” said -the skipper, with a humorous glance at the two attenuated bundles -ranged side by side on a shelf and which contained all they boasted of -in the world. - -“We both lit out in such a hurry that we didn’t have time to pack our -trunks,” grinned Joe. “Boggs skinned me out of sixty dollars; and as -for Dick, I believe there wasn’t anything coming to him, though he put -in many a year of good hard work down at Cobham’s Corner for Silas -Maslin, who runs the store and the village post-office.” - -“I’ve heard of him,” nodded Captain Beasley, recharging his pipe, “and -I’ve heard of you, too, Master Dick, afore this,” and the skipper -looked at the bright, stalwart, young runaway. “Silas Maslin, I -understand, is a hard man to work for, though I reckon Nathan Boggs -can give him a few points in that line. Both of ’em have wives that -folks say would skin a flea for its fat. From which I judge that one’s -appetite isn’t pampered at either place.” - -“That’s right,” corroborated Dick. “We’ve both been through the mill -and ought to know. I haven’t had such a good spread as was set before -us to-night right here since I can remember, and I’ve a pretty good -recollection.” - -Mrs. Beasley and her daughter looked at one another in astonishment. - -“Well,” said the captain’s wife, “you sha’n’t neither of you want for -enough to eat as long as you are with us.” - -“What are you going to do when you reach the city?” asked the captain -curiously. “Got any money at all?” - -“I’ve got about sixteen dollars,” replied Dick, and he told Captain -Beasley by what slow and arduous means he had amassed it. - -“I haven’t a red cent,” admitted Joe, making such a comical face that -Florence Beasley burst out laughing. - -“It’s possible I may start a bank and take Joe in as cashier,” grinned -Dick. - -“Not a bad idea,” smiled the skipper, “so long as it isn’t a faro bank -or something of that sort.” - -“I wouldn’t mind investing my capital in a sand-bank if I thought I -could sell the sand and make a profit,” put in Dick. - -“Perhaps you would make a good speculator,” said the captain, -thoughtfully. - -“Perhaps I would; but I’ve never tried my hand at it.” - -“A successful speculator should, first of all, have brains, and then -money,” said Captain Beasley, punctuating each point in the air with -the stem of his briar pipe. “I judge you have the brains----” - -“So have I,” interrupted Joe, with some animation. - -“It was a rather poor speculation you entered into with Nathan Boggs, -wasn’t it?” and the skipper turned to Joe. - -“I don’t call that a speculation; that was a dead skin,” cried Fletcher -stoutly. - -“Well, you made an agreement with him to forfeit your wages if you quit -work before the end of your term of service; you put yourself at a -great disadvantage with such a man. It was to his interest to make you -quit beforehand if he could.” - -“If I hadn’t quit I guess I’d been carried away in a box, so I’d have -lost anyway.” - -“Well, you speculated on the chance of holding out, and came in for the -short end of the deal.” - -“That was because I didn’t know what I was up against.” - -“Even so; that is a risk that often confronts the speculator. That’s -where brains count.” - -Captain Beasley looked at the clock, laid down his pipe and intimated -it was time to turn in. - -He led the boys to the forward part of the boat, pointed to a small -open scuttle in the deck, and told them they’d find a mattress and a -couple of blankets down there. Then wishing them good night, he left -them to make the best of their narrow quarters. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -IN WHICH SILAS MASLIN FAILS TO RECOVER HIS RUNAWAY. - - -In the morning the boat was hauled across to the other side of the -canal, the side on which the towpath ran; a tandem mule team in charge -of a boy who sported the biggest and most disreputable straw hat Dick -had ever seen, was hitched on, and the boat began to move slowly down -the canal. - -As they approached the bridge at Cobham’s Corner, Dick got out of sight -of the shore. - -He knew there would be trouble if any member of the Maslin family -caught a glimpse of him on board the Minnehaha. - -So he squatted down inside the limited bit of hold in the eyes of the -canal-boat which he and Joe had used for sleeping quarters, while his -chum sat on the combings of the hatch with his legs swinging down and -his gaze fixed on Cobham’s Corner. - -“I don’t see anybody about,” reported Joe, as the boat drew near the -bridge which crossed the canal at this point and connected the two -sections of the county road. - -Captain Beasley came forward and called on Fletcher to help detach the -tow-line so that the boat could pass under the bridge. - -While they were doing this, Luke Maslin appeared at the door of the -store. - -His eyes roamed over the canal-boat from stem to stern and finally -fixed themselves on Fletcher, whom he recognized, having seen and -spoken to him many times when Joe called at the store to get supplies -for Nathan Boggs or to see Dick. - -Suddenly he ran out on the bridge and took his position just above -where the boat had to pass under. - -“Hello, Fletcher!” he shouted. - -“Hello, yourself,” growled Joe, casting a side glance at him. - -“What are you doing aboard that boat?” - -“Taking a sail.” - -“What for?” - -“For my health,” snorted Joe, as he pitched the end of the tow-line -ashore. - -“Have you left Nathan Boggs?” continued Luke, with a grin. - -“Better ask him when you see him,” answered the boy, squatting down -with his back to young Maslin, a pretty good sign that he wanted no -further communication with his questioner. - -But Luke wouldn’t take the hint. - -“Seen anything of Dick Armstrong?” he persisted. “He’s run away from -here with some of my father’s money. Constable Smock is hunting for -him. Father is going to have him put in the village lock-up.” - -Joe didn’t answer him. - -“Maybe you’ve got him hid away aboard the boat,” added Luke, -suspiciously. “If you have, you’d better give him up, or it will be the -worse for you.” - -As those words passed his lips the forward end of the canal-boat passed -under the bridge, and Luke ran over to the other side of the structure -to meet it as it floated clear. - -Dick easily overheard his young enemy’s remarks from the spot where he -was screened from Luke’s line of observation. - -He forgot, however, to change his position below as the boat passed -under the bridge, not thinking that Luke, by crossing the planks to the -opposite rail, would be able to obtain a different focus down into his -hiding-place if he was wideawake enough to keep his eyes well employed. - -As this is exactly what Master Maslin did do, the result was he -discovered Dick’s crouching figure in the narrow hold as soon as the -head of the canal-boat shot out into sight again. - -“I see you down there, Dick Armstrong!” he cried, of a sudden, -triumphantly. - -Then he rushed off to the store to tell his father. - -“I’m afraid it’s all up with me,” said Dick, as he scrambled out of his -hiding-place. - -“Well, I’d like to see them try to take you off this boat if you -don’t want to go,” said Joe, rolling up his sleeves, while a look of -determination came over his freckled features. - -“It won’t do to resist the constable,” warned Dick. “I won’t have you -get into trouble over me.” - -“But the constable isn’t around here now,” put in Joe. - -“They’ll send him word as to my whereabouts, and he’ll get a rig and -cut me off further along down the canal, don’t you see?” - -“The only thing for me to do now is to leave the boat before I’m -overhauled,” Dick continued. “For if I wait until Constable Smock comes -along and invites me to go ashore I’ll be deprived of my savings by Mr. -Maslin, even if he doesn’t follow up his threat to put me in jail.” - -“I dare say you’re right, Dick; but you can’t skip yet a while, for -here comes the old man and Luke across the bridge. They’ll be down -on us in a couple of minutes. You needn’t be afraid that Captain -Beasley’ll make you go ashore to oblige that old rhinoceros. And if -he attempts to board us, he’ll be trespassing, and a douse in the canal -would be the proper thing to cool him off.” - -Captain Beasley was leaning negligently against the forward end of his -cabin, smoking his favorite briar-root pipe in the autumn sunshine, -when Mr. Maslin came running down the tow-path and hailed him, his son -following along behind. - -“You’ve got a boy on board your boat I want. He’s runnin’ away from my -place yonder, after stealin’ a five-dollar bill. I want you to put him -on shore,” demanded Silas Maslin, keeping pace with the canal-boat. - -“I’ve got two boys aboard,” said the captain, in an indifferent tone. -“Which one do you refer to?” - -“The one with the new suit of clothes on,” replied the storekeeper, -pointing to Dick. “His name is Armstrong.” - -“All right,” agreed Captain Beasley. “He came on board of his own -accord, and if he’s willing to go ashore he can go now.” - -“I want you to make him come on shore whether he’s willin’ or not,” -said Silas Maslin, energetically. - -“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” said the skipper, shaking his head. - -“Why can’t you? You’re captain of that boat, and I reckon you can do -’bout as you please on board of her. If he doesn’t come back with me -and hand over the money he took from me, I’m going to have him arrested -and put in the lock-up.” - -Captain Beasley walked forward to where the two boys were standing, Mr. -Maslin hastening his steps to keep abreast of him. - -“That’s the man you’ve been living with, ain’t it, Armstrong?” asked -Captain Beasley. - -“Yes, sir,” admitted Dick, respectfully. - -“You’ve heard the charge he made against you and his demand that you -leave this boat and go back with him?” - -“Yes, sir,” replied the boy, beginning to fear that he was to be given -up. - -“Have you any of his money about you?” - -“No, sir; I never took one cent of his money from the store,” replied -the lad, stoutly. - -“Are you willing to go ashore as he wants you to do?” - -“No, sir; I’d rather you’d throw me overboard,” said Dick, with -flashing eyes. - -“You hear what he says,” said the skipper, turning to the storekeeper. - -“I reckon I ain’t deaf,” replied Mr. Maslin, in a surly tone. - -“I’m afraid I can’t do anything for you,” said Captain Beasley, turning -on his heel and walking away. - -“Ain’t you going to make him come on shore?” demanded the storekeeper, -angrily. - -“No, sir; I’ve nothing whatever to do with your quarrel with the boy.” - -“The boy is a thief, and you’re helpin’ him to get away,” cried Mr. -Maslin. “Don’t you know that’s ag’in the law and that I can make you -sweat for it?” - -“He has denied the charge, and as there is no proof against him his -word is as good as yours,” replied the skipper, resuming his former -station against the cabin wall. - -“I’ll have you up before the justice for this,” shouted Mr. Maslin, -coming to a stop and shaking his fist at the captain of the Minnehaha. -“And what’s more, I’ll have that boy took up by the constable afore you -get many miles further down the canal.” - -After hurling his threats after the receding boat he and Luke turned -about and hurried back the way they came. - -“I guess the storekeeper means to send the constable after you with a -warrant for your arrest, Armstrong,” said the captain when the two boys -ranged up alongside of him after Mr. Maslin took his departure, “in -which case you’ll have to go along with the officer. Now, if you will -take my advice, young man, you’ll get ashore at Caspar’s, a mile below -here, and make your way by land to Albany, where we’ll lay up a week or -so, as I’ve got to load up there for New York after discharging what -I’ve brought on from Buffalo and Syracuse. You can leave your bundle -aboard--your friend will look out for it.” - -As the captain’s advice was good, Dick determined to act on it. - -After receiving explicit directions where to rejoin the boat at Albany, -Dick bade all hands good-bye for the time being and left the boat at -Caspar’s. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -HOW DICK RUNS ACROSS A DESERTED FARMHOUSE, AND WHAT HE FINDS THERE. - - -Caspar’s was simply a small roadhouse, situated near a bridge. - -Dick Armstrong crossed the bridge and struck out across the country, -following the country road. - -He had general directions how to proceed, but expected to depend on -people he might meet along the road to keep him from going astray. - -The morning was young when he set out, and as he was in good spirits -and accustomed to plenty of exercise, he walked along at a swinging -gait. - -About eleven o’clock he was overtaken by a farm wagon, the owner of -which not only gave him a lift for several miles on his way, but his -dinner also at a neat farmhouse a short distance back from the turnpike. - -Although the farmer refused payment, Dick insisted on helping him -for an hour about the barn, and when he finally left to continue his -journey the farmer’s wife handed him a substantial package of eatables -which included a pint bottle of milk. - -About dark Dick reached a junction of two roads. - -It was a lonesome neighborhood, and as nobody was in sight to direct -him which was the better one to take, he turned into the road leading -off to the right. - -He was glancing around for a large stone or a tree-stump for a seat -on which to rest while he ate his supper, when he spied a light dimly -shining through a window a little distance back from the road. - -“I’ve walked enough for to-day,” he mused. “I’ll see if I can’t get a -bed or a chance to sleep on the hay in the barn, perhaps, up yonder.” - -The gate opening on the lane leading to the house was wide open and -hanging by one hinge only. - -As Dick approached the dwelling he was impressed by the air of neglect -and desolation which hung about the place. - -But for the solitary gleam of light which penetrated the gloom he would -have believed the premises to be deserted. - -The boy knocked several times on the weather-seamed door, but no one -answered his summons. - -Finally he decided to turn the handle of the door. - -It yielded to his touch, and he entered a large room that was quite -bare and cheerless from floor to ceiling. - -The dim light from a candle stuck in the neck of a bottle standing on a -dusty mantel shelf showed him the motionless figure of a man crouching -over an old stove, in which was a fire, at one side of the room. - -“Hello!” Dick exclaimed, by way of introduction. - -Slowly the figure turned its head and presented a face almost ghostly -from its whiteness. - -“What’s the trouble with you?” asked Dick, for he easily made out that -something ailed the man. - -“I’m sick,” was the half moaned reply. - -“Sick,” repeated the boy, looking at him attentively. “Gee! You do look -bad, for a fact. What can I do for you?” - -“If you would do me a favor, go out to the barn back of the building. -You’ll find my team there. There’s a couple of blankets in the wagon -and a number of gunny-sacks. Bring them in here so I can make a bed and -lie down,” said the man, slowly and with much difficulty. - -Dick put his bundle of food on the floor and hastened to do as the -stranger had requested. - -He found the team--a pair of stout horses hitched to a large, covered -wagon--just as it had been led into the deserted and mildewed barn and -left standing there. - -With the aid of a match or two, a supply of which Dick from habit -always carried about with him, he climbed into the wagon and found the -things the man wanted. - -The only other articles the boy noticed in the vehicle were a couple of -empty bushel baskets, a sack half filled with oats, a horse bucket, a -long whip and a small wicker hamper. - -Dick carried the bags and blankets into the house and spread them out -so as to form a bed. - -“There,” he said, in his cheery tones, “you can lie down now. If -there’s anything else I can do for you, let me know.” - -“You’re very kind, my lad,” gratefully replied the man, who seemed to -be about fifty years of age. “You might get a few sticks for the fire; -the night is cold, and I’ll be glad if you could find me a drink of -water anywhere near by--you’ll find a cup in the hamper in the wagon. -And then, if you’d not feel it was too much trouble to give those -animals a mess of oats which you will find in a bag in the wagon, you -will do all that I would ask of you.” - -“All right,” said Dick, and he cheerfully proceeded to do what the sick -man asked of him. - -He found a tin cup in the hamper, which also contained a neat sandwich, -half of an apple pie, a piece of gingerbread and two pieces of candle -wrapped in a bit of newspaper. - -Dick fortunately turning his steps in the right direction, found a -spring at the back of the barn, and fetched a cupful of the cold water -to the stricken stranger, which he drank with evident relish. - -The boy then replenished the fire in the stove and returned to the barn. - -Lighting one of the bits of candle, he took the bucket and watered the -horses. - -Then he released them from their traces, led them into two of the dusty -stalls, and dumping a liberal quantity of oats into the bins, left them -to themselves. - -“Have a drink of milk?” said Dick to the sick man as he untied his -bundle preparatory to eating his supper. - -The stranger thankfully accepted his offer, then turned on his side and -apparently went to sleep. - -Dick had brought in a horse blanket which he had found folded on the -wagon seat, and after he had eaten all he wanted and put more wood in -the grate, curled himself up near the stove and was presently oblivious -to his surroundings. - -He was up before sunrise, as he was accustomed to being routed out of -bed at five o’clock at that season of the year by Mr. Maslin. - -The morning was chilly, so he started a fire in the stove for the -benefit of the stranger, who seemed to be sleeping easily. - -After that Dick went to the barn and fed the horses. - -Then, as the sun was beginning to peep above the horizon, he thought he -would take a look around the place, which seemed to be going to rack -and ruin. - -His investigations did not extend very far, for just beyond the line of -broken fence which marked the boundary of what had probably been the -truck patch Dick found an apple orchard. - -A large number of the trees were not only loaded with this fruit, but -the boy’s experienced eye told him that many of the trees were of a -superior variety. - -The apples on these trees were large, solid, and rosy. - -Dick gathered an armful and carried them to the house. The strange man -was awake, but very weak and not in condition to get up. - -“You’d better drink the rest of this milk,” said Dick, offering the tin -cup. - -“Thank you, lad. What is your name?” he asked after drinking it. - -“Dick Armstrong.” - -“Mine is Hiram Bond. You’ve been very kind to me. I don’t know what I -should have done if you hadn’t turned up. Where do you live?” - -“I don’t live anywhere just at present,” answered the boy, frankly. - -“How is that?” asked Bond, with some surprise. - -Dick gave him a brief outline of his life, and more particularly of his -recent experiences. - -“You’ve had a hard time of it,” said the man, feebly, “and I don’t -wonder you cut loose from that storekeeper. I live in Albany, and make -a living--not a very good one--with my team, carrying loads of stuff -around the country. I just moved a family from the city suburbs to -Wayback, some fifteen miles from here, and was on my return when I -was took bad. I’m subject to spells of heart trouble, and I’m afraid -I sha’n’t last long. I don’t feel at all good this morning. Perhaps -I’ll feel better by and by. If you don’t mind staying with me till the -afternoon, I may feel able to sit up in the wagon, and you can drive me -back to the city. It’ll save you a walk of thirty odd miles.” - -Dick immediately agreed to this proposition, and then his eyes resting -on the pile of rosy apples he had brought in, an idea struck him. - -“There’s an orchard back of the barn that’s full of this kind of -apples,” he said, showing a couple to Bond. “If you don’t mind, I could -load the wagon with them, and we could sell them at a good profit in -Albany. They’re only going to waste here, and as your wagon is empty, -it’s a chance for both of us to make a stake.” - -“Do so, my lad, if you think there’s anything in it for you. I won’t -touch a cent of what you may get. I’ll give you the use of the team for -what you’ve done for me already.” - -Dick was delighted and thanked him heartily. - -“Can you eat anything at all this morning?” he asked Bond. - -The man shook his head, said he felt tired, turned over, and tried to -go to sleep again. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -DICK’S FIRST SPECULATION. - - -Dick spent the entire morning gathering apples, making selection of the -best that he shook down or knocked from the limbs. - -“It’s like picking up money,” he mused as he gathered them into one of -the bushel baskets and then carried them to the wagon, which he had -drawn out into the yard, and dumped them inside. - -“I wonder how many bushels I can get away with,” he figured, after a -careful estimate of the load he had already secured. “I believe this -wagon will hold close on to forty bushels, but it’ll be an all-day job -to gather that many. I’m afraid I’ll have to be satisfied with twenty, -if we’re going to leave here early this afternoon. That ought to give -me fifty dollars out of the spec. Gee! That’s better than working like -a slave for Silas Maslin at nothing a week and skimpy board.” - -Dick looked in on Hiram Bond every little while, but the man appeared -to be sleeping right along. - -Noon came, and the boy began to feel decidedly hungry. - -“I guess I might as well clean up Mr. Bond’s basket,” he argued. “It -isn’t likely he’ll care for any solid food to-day. I’ll get him some -milk at the first house I see along the road.” - -So Dick ate the sandwich, the piece of gingerbread, and the remains of -the apple pie, topping off with a big drink of spring water. - -After that he felt very much better and resumed his work with fresh -energy. - -At two o’clock he found Hiram Bond awake, but as weak as a cat, to use -his own expression. - -Clearly the man was in no condition to leave the place that day. - -“I fear this will finish me,” said Bond, in a weak voice. - -“I’ll take one of the horses and start on down the road for help,” said -Dick, regarding the man with an anxious eye. “You’ll die at this rate, -for you haven’t had any nourishment but that small cup of milk all day.” - -“Perhaps you had better do so,” acquiesced Bond, feebly. “I think -there’s a farmhouse about five or six miles below here.” - -“Then I’m off,” said Dick. “I’ll get them to send a vehicle to remove -you from this place--you can’t stay here another night.” - -Dick mounted one of the animals and started off down the road, the -horse being accustomed to nothing faster than a gentle trot. - -It was something over an hour before the boy reached a house. - -Here he told his story, which aroused the practical sympathy of the -farmer, who hitched up a light wagon, collected such things, including -a bag of feed for the horses, as the occasion seemed to demand, and in -company with Dick started for the deserted homestead. - -The farmer, after talking to Hiram Bond, decided to convey him to his -house. - -Wrapping him up in the blankets, he and Dick started him to the wagon -and made him as comfortable as possible for the ride. - -“I’ll bring the team on later,” said the boy. - -Farmer Haywood nodded and then drove off, Dick returning to the work of -gathering more apples. - -By dark he had turned into the wagon thirty bushels by actual count. - -“I can carry another ten bushels just as well as not,” he said to -himself. “I will stay here all night and finish the job in the morning. -I’ll be twenty-five dollars more to the good by hanging on. I guess I -can stand a diet of apples and water for a few hours, at that rate. -It won’t be the first time I’ve gone to sleep or to work half fed. If -a fellow expects to get along in the world he’s got to take things as -they come, and say nothing.” - -Next morning about eleven o’clock Dick walked his team, with his load -of some forty bushels of harvest apples, into Farmer Haywood’s yard. - -“How is Mr. Bond?” was his first question of Mrs. Haywood, who greeted -him at the door. - -“Very poorly, indeed. We had to send for a doctor. I’m afraid he isn’t -going to recover.” - -Dick was very sorry to learn this news. - -After he had hauled the wagon into a corner of the yard, and put the -horses into the barn, the lad had something to eat and was then taken -up to see Hiram Bond, who had been accommodated with a spare room and -was the object of considerate attention. - -“I’m glad to see you again, my lad,” said Mr. Bond, in a very weak -voice, regarding Dick with an earnest expression. “I should like you to -stay with me while I last; I will make it all right with you.” - -“I shall be glad to stay with you till I can get you back to your home -in Albany,” replied Dick, cheerfully. “I’m sure you’ll be all right in -a day or two.” - -Hiram Bond shook his head. - -“I shall never be all right again. This isn’t the first attack of heart -failure I’ve had, but I feel it will be the last. I’ve lost all my -strength. My insides seem to have collapsed entirely. It is a strange, -indescribable sensation that warns me to prepare for my last journey. -Boy, it is useless to disguise the truth--I am going to die. The doctor -didn’t say so, but I read the fact in his face. He saw that he could do -nothing for me. Well, it matters little whether I die now or a little -later on. I have no kith or kin to whom my death would be a blow. I -am entirely alone in the world. At one time it was different, and I -was well off; but now my team and the few dollars in my pocket-book -represent all my earthly possessions. My boy, I have been thinking of -you while I have been stretched on my back. You are beginning life -quite as friendless, I might say, as I am leaving it. But you appear to -have energy and the capacity for hard work. I have little doubt but you -will succeed. You have been kind to me and I wish I was in a position -to return the favor substantially. What little I can do for you to help -you along I will do. You shall have my team to use or dispose of as you -may think best. The money I possess will scarcely more than recompense -Farmer Haywood for his trouble and pay the expenses of my funeral. -I should like to be buried in some quiet spot--the nearest village -burying-ground. If you will see that this is done, it is all I ask of -you.” - -Dick was exceedingly shocked as he listened to the words of the dying -man--for that Hiram Bond really was passing away, slowly but surely, -there didn’t seem to be any doubt. - -When he finished, he asked the boy to fetch Farmer Haywood. - -He requested the farmer to execute a bill of sale, which he signed with -difficulty, transferring his wagon and team of horses to Dick. - -After that was done he seemed to feel better. - -There was little change in his condition until after midnight, when he -gradually grew weaker and weaker, and finally died just before daylight. - -Although Dick had met him so strangely only a couple of days before, -his death affected the boy greatly for the time being. - -He felt as though he had lost a good friend that he had known for many -years. - -A simple funeral from Farmer Haywood’s to the nearby churchyard wound -up the life history of Hiram Bond, and the day following Dick Armstrong -drove his suddenly acquired property into the streets of Albany. - -He had an idea that by visiting the various hotels in the city he might -dispose of his apples to good advantage and with more profit than if he -did business with a commission merchant. - -His plan was successful, largely because the stewards of the places he -visited happened to be running out of the fruit and because his apples -were uncommonly fine and quite scarce in the market. - -As a consequence he obtained an average of about $2.60 a bushel for -them, and when he put his team up at the place where Hiram Bond had -been accustomed to keep it he was in possession of bills and silver to -the amount of $120, which included the money he had brought away from -his former home at Cobham’s Corner. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -IN WHICH DICK TAKES A PARTNER, AND THE FIRM WINDS UP THE APPLE -SPECULATION. - - -Late that afternoon Dick Armstrong, feeling all the importance of a -small capitalist, started out to locate the canal-boat Minnehaha. - -He found the rendezvous of those craft without much difficulty, but to -pick out the particular boat of which he was in search was not quite -such a simple matter. - -At length he found her, hauled up against the wharf, discharging the -last of her cargo. - -Joe Fletcher was working like a good fellow, helping Captain Beasley’s -regular deckhand, when he caught sight of his chum. - -“Dick, old man, I’m just tickled to death to see you again,” he -exclaimed, grabbing Dick’s hand and shaking it as though he would -pull it off. “We expected to see you yesterday, according to my -calculations. How have you fared since you went ashore at Caspar’s?” - -“First class. I’ve news that’ll surprise you,” replied Dick, with -sparkling eyes. - -“You don’t say.” - -“By the way, how about Constable Smock? Did he show up?” - -“Did he? I guess yes. He came up with us about eight miles below -Caspar’s. Wouldn’t take our word that you had gone ashore, but insisted -on searching the boat. Of course, Captain Beasley let him have full -swing. After he had gone into every nook and corner that might have -concealed you, he gave the job up and left, the maddest man I’ve seen -for many a day. I was afraid he might get wind of you at Caspar’s and -run you down; but it appears he didn’t. I’ll bet Silas Maslin and Luke -ain’t feeling any too good over the constable’s failure to fetch you -back,” and Joe snapped his rough, brown fingers and laughed gleefully. - -“You don’t think that Silas Maslin would come on to Albany on the -chance of picking me up, do you?” asked Dick, with a shade of -apprehension in his voice. - -“You ought to be better able to judge of that than me, Dick. You know -what he is and what his feelings probably are on the subject. If I was -you, I’d keep my eye skinned and not let him catch me, if he should -come.” - -In a few minutes they knocked off work for the day, and while Joe was -washing up, Captain Beasley came on board and greeted Dick in his usual -breezy manner. - -He accepted the skipper’s invitation to supper, and when he made his -appearance in the cabin was warmly welcomed by Mrs. Beasley and Florrie. - -Joe and the others were curious to learn the particulars of his journey -from Caspar’s, though they had no idea that he had met with any -particular adventure by the way. - -What he had to tell was therefore received with much surprise. - -“Gee!” exclaimed Joe, when Dick had finished his recital. “If that -doesn’t read like a story-book! So the man actually gave you the wagon -and the pair of horses?” - -“That’s what he did. The outfit is housed at McGee’s stables at this -moment.” - -“What are you going to do with them? Sell them, I s’pose, ’cause you -can’t take them with you on this boat.” - -“I haven’t decided what I’ll do yet,” said the boy, with a thoughtful -expression. - -“And what about the load of apples?” asked Joe, interestedly. - -“I brought on forty bushels and sold them to half a dozen of the hotels -just as soon as I struck town.” - -“Good for you! How much did you realize?” - -“One hundred and four dollars.” - -“No!” exclaimed Joe, in surprise. - -“That’s right,” nodded Dick, while his face lighted up with -satisfaction. “That wasn’t a bad speculation, was it, Captain Beasley?” - -“I should say it was a very good one,” replied the skipper of the -Minnehaha. - -“And I’ve got another one in my eye now that ought to pan out even -better.” - -“What is it?” asked Joe, eagerly. - -“There’s a fine grove of walnuts and hickory nuts on that deserted -farm, and they’ll be ready for picking just as soon as the frost sets -in good and hard. They’ll fetch over two dollars a bushel in this town -at wholesale. If there’s one bushel, I’ll bet there’s a hundred and -fifty to be got.” - -“Great Scott!” almost shouted Fletcher in his excitement. “Let me in on -this, will you, Dick? I’ll help you pick them at twenty-five cents a -bushel, just for the fun of the thing.” - -“I was about to propose something of that kind, as I wouldn’t care to -go out there all alone. You don’t know what a spooky place it is. I’ll -take you in as a partner, Joe, and give you one-third of the profits. -I’d make it even up, only the team costs something, and it’s only fair -I should have a percentage for its use.” - -“A third is too much,” objected Joe. “It’s your discovery and your -scheme. I’ll be perfectly satisfied with one quarter.” - -“No, Joe; it must be one third, or I’ll call the whole thing off and -sell the team,” said Dick, resolutely. - -“All right, Dick; but I call it uncommonly liberal.” - -“Pooh! We’re chums, aren’t we?” - -“Sure we are.” - -“Then stop your kicking.” - -Captain Beasley, who had been an amused listener to the foregoing -debate, now ventured a word. - -“You forget, Master Armstrong, that it’ll be some two or three weeks -yet before you can gather those nuts. What are you going to do in the -meantime, for of course, if you’ve determined on this plan, you’re not -going down to New York on this boat.” - -“Oh, I’ve got an idea to cover that time,” said the boy, with sparkling -eyes. - -“Another speculation, eh?” smiled the captain. - -“Yes, I dare say it is. Any risk that a person takes for the sake of -expected profit is a speculation, I suppose.” - -“That’s about the size of it,” nodded the skipper. - -“But, first of all, I’d like to take a run out to that farm to-morrow -and gather the rest of those harvest apples. There’s fully another load -to be got, and if I don’t take them they’ll rot on the ground.” - -“I’m in this, too, am I, Dick?” asked Joe, anxiously. - -“Why not, if you’re willing?” - -“You can bet your suspenders I’m willing to go, all right.” - -“Then that’s settled. Do you mind if I bunk aboard here to-night, -Captain Beasley?” asked Dick. - -“You’re welcome to sleep, and eat for that matter, aboard the Minnehaha -as long as she’s here, young man. I admire enterprise in a fellow of -your years, and you seem to be loaded to the hatches with it. If you -aren’t a millionaire one of these days, it’ll be because the trusts we -read about and the plutocrats have gobbled up all the wealth that’s -lying around loose.” - -Soon after that, the two boys retired to the forward compartment of the -hold and turned in, but they had so much to talk over and plan for the -future that it was nearly midnight before they fell asleep. - -They were on deck at sunrise. - -Dick found lots to interest him before breakfast, in the panorama of -the city’s water front, at least that section of it where the fleet of -canal-boats was moored close inshore. - -After breakfast the lads bade Captain Beasley and his family good-bye, -promising to look them up at the Water Street moorage when they reached -New York. - -Dick then led the way to McGee’s stables, where he and Joe hitched up -the wagon and started out. - -Having provided themselves with provisions and feed for the animals, -they took the road back to the deserted farm, at which they arrived, -without any adventure, late in the afternoon. - -They passed the whole of the next day in getting together a load. - -Thirty-five bushels about cleaned up all the good apples left. - -They passed a second night at the old rookery, as Joe called it, and on -the following morning started early for Albany. - -Dick sold the entire load to a commission house for $95, but he and Joe -had to procure the necessary number of barrels to hold the fruit in -shape for shipment to New York. - -After paying to Joe his share of the profits, Dick found, expenses -deducted, that his cash capital had increased to $175. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -A TRANSACTION IN NUTS. - - -“Gee! I never was so rich in my life!” exclaimed Joe Fletcher as he -counted over the $30 he had received from Dick and contemplated the -bills with a childish sort of delight. - -“If Nathan Boggs had paid you what he owes you for your five months’ -service on his farm, you’d have ninety dollars easy enough now,” -remarked his young partner and chum, tucking away his own “boodle” in a -safe place. - -“Yep, I ’spect so,” grinned Joe, who was not lamenting the loss of that -$60 just at present. - -“Boggs ought to be prosecuted and made to shell out.” - -“And the screws ought to be put to Silas Maslin, too,” said Joe. “He -treated you worse, on the whole, than Boggs had the chance to do to me.” - -“I don’t say he didn’t; but I’m satisfied if I never run across him -again. I can make my own way in the world, and I’m going to do it.” - -“I’ll bet you will. You’re smart enough, all right,” answered Joe, -admiringly. - -The boys had arranged with the stable keeper so they could sleep in the -building in the little room in the hayloft formerly occupied by Hiram -Bond. - -On their return from the restaurant where they had had supper they -found a man waiting to see Dick. - -“My name is Gibson,” said the stranger, introducing himself. “I’m from -Wayback, where I keep a general store. I’ve got a load of stuff I want -hauled out to my place. Hiram Bond used to do my carting, but as he -is dead and I’m told you have his outfit, I thought probably we could -strike a bargain between us. What’ll you charge me?” - -“How far is Wayback from here?” asked Dick, who was ready to accept the -job if there was anything in it. - -“Nigh on to forty-five miles.” - -The boy pondered a moment and then named a figure. - -Gibson started to dicker for a lower sum, but Dick cut him short. - -“I wouldn’t do it for a cent lower, Mr. Gibson. I don’t know what -Hiram Bond was accustomed to charge you, but the price I’ve set is a -reasonable one. I had something else in view, but I’ll haul your goods -out to Wayback on the terms I’ve mentioned. Is it a bargain or not?” - -Dick’s manner was thoroughly business-like, and he appeared to be -indifferent whether he got the job or not. - -“But you’re only a boy,” persisted the Wayback storekeeper. “You ought -to do it cheaper than a man.” - -“Think so?” retorted the lad, looking him in the eye. “Well, that isn’t -the way I do business. I expect to deliver your stuff in as good shape -as Hiram Bond would have done, so the fact that I am a boy can’t make -any difference.” - -Mr. Gibson finally agreed to the charge and told Dick to be on hand at -a certain wholesale store in the morning, where he would meet him. - -“All right. Good night, sir.” - -Mr. Gibson had a free ride along with his goods, and the team reached -Wayback about nine o’clock next evening. - -The boys carried the merchandise into the store, and as the storekeeper -had a barn large enough to accommodate the horses and wagon, Dick -arranged with him to put up his team there, they to sleep in the wagon -themselves. - -While Dick and Joe were hitching up next morning a farmer came up in -company with Gibson and inquired what it would cost him to get a load -of potatoes to Albany. - -“How much do you expect to get for them?” asked Dick. - -The farmer, with some shrewdness, named a lower price than he actually -expected to receive, thinking thereby to cheapen the cartage. - -“All right,” said Dick, promptly. “I’ll buy the lot from you for so -much”--naming a lower figure--“and I’ll pay you cash down for them.” - -The farmer saw he had made a mistake and started to hedge, but Dick -said those were the only terms on which he would take the potatoes. - -“But they’ll fetch more’n that in town,” objected the farmer. - -“I expect to make a profit, or I shouldn’t have made you the offer,” -said Dick. - -“But I made a mistake in putting the price too low. I can get more’n -that at a commission store in the city,” persisted the agriculturalist. - -“I offer you spot cash,” and Dick yanked out his roll of bills, which -he displayed before the owner of the potatoes. “Take me up, and you’re -relieved of all further bother.” - -The farmer needed the money, and the sight of the cash smothered his -scruples about selling at a reduced price, so the deal was closed on -the spot. - -Dick drove around to his farm and examined his stock of potatoes. - -He found them to be in all respects as they had been represented, so he -paid over the money and loaded them into the wagon. - -“That was a good trade,” said Joe as they drove down the road. - -“Yes; I expect to make at least twenty-five dollars out of them,” -replied his chum. - -As a matter of fact he cleared $32, for the price had gone up a little -within the two days he had been away from the city. - -Next day Dick picked up another cartage job as far as Newtown Junction -on the railroad. - -Just before reaching his destination he noticed the section men -replacing a lot of old sleepers with new ones. - -The old ones were tossed aside for the present, and he saw a group of -small boys carrying several of them off. - -This put an idea into his head. - -On his return he singled out the section boss and asked him if he could -have a few. - -“Sure; take as many as you want,” replied the man, good-naturedly. - -As Dick intended to take up the offer literally, he handed the boss a -dollar-bill. - -The man grinned in a friendly way and turned away. - -Then the two boys gradually filled up the wagon with the old ties as -they proceeded on their way. - -Dick stopped at a large woodyard in Albany and sold the wood at a very -handsome profit, a third of which went to Joe. - -“The firm of Armstrong & Fletcher seems to be doing pretty well, all -things considered,” remarked Joe as he added a few additional bills to -his small wad. - -“That’s what we’re in business for,” was Dick’s reply. - -Two weeks slipped by, and Dick managed to keep his team employed at -various odd jobs of hauling between the business section and the -suburbs of Albany. - -His cash capital, after deducting all expenses to date, had increased -to $200. - -He decided it was now time to look up his contemplated venture in nuts. - -Accordingly he purchased the necessary supplies for a possible week’s -stay at the deserted farm, and they made an early start for the scene -of operations. - -The nights were now cold and frosty, and the boys found it necessary -for comfort to keep up a good fire in the old, rusty stove, the only -article left behind by the former occupants when they moved away. - -Just why this farm had been abandoned was not clearly understood, even -by Farmer Haywood, the nearest neighbor. - -It had been vacant for more than a year, and a mildewed sign planted -near the fence gave the passerby notice that the place was for sale and -that information could be obtained from somebody whose name and address -were no longer decipherable. - -Early on the morning succeeding their arrival Dick and Joe walked out -to the grove of nut trees and found the ground literally covered with -nuts. - -It was fully a mile back of the house. - -They brought the wagon to the edge of the wood and spent the whole day -loading up. - -By keeping a careful count they found they had accumulated forty -bushels. - -“This is first-class,” said Dick when they got back to the shelter of -the house. “I was afraid we might have to hang around here several days -before we could get busy. Now I guess we’ll be able to clean up this -place in a week, including, of course, the time spent in carting the -nuts to the city.” - -Dick was not far out of the way in his calculation as to the time it -would take them to gather the plentiful supply of nuts to be found in -the grove. - -“This will be our last load,” he said as they were driving back to the -abandoned farm eight days later, after having delivered and sold 150 -bushels of nuts in Albany for $2.10 a bushel in bulk. - -“Yes; there aren’t many more left,” said Joe, regretfully, for having -pocketed so far a matter of $100 as his share of the speculation, he -could not help wishing such a good thing would keep up indefinitely. -“What are we going to do next?” he added. - -“The firm of Armstrong & Fletcher will probably dissolve, for the time -being, at any rate, as I expect to sell the team and start for New -York.” - -“I’m sorry for that,” replied Joe, with a long face. - -“I don’t know that you need be. There’s more money to be made in New -York,” said Dick, encouragingly. - -“But you’ve got to know how to make it,” retorted Joe, who had lived -many years in the great metropolis himself and had found money-getting -a serious proposition there. - -“You’ve got to know how to make it anywhere, for that matter,” said -Dick. “I’ve heard several people say that if you can’t make money in -New York you can’t make it anywhere.” - -“The papers say there are a hundred thousand men out of work there all -the time.” - -“That may be; but the same men are not out of work all the time.” - -“Albany is the biggest town you’ve ever seen in all your life. Wait -till you strike New York, and you’ll be lost.” - -“I think not, Joe, with you at my elbow to show me the ropes. I’ve cut -my eye-teeth in a pretty hard school, and even if I’m only sixteen, I -feel sure I can hold my own against the world. I’ve made nearly four -hundred dollars since I cut loose from Mr. Maslin, four weeks ago, and -I think that’s a pretty fair showing for a beginner.” - -It was now quite dark, and a turn in the road brought them in sight of -the house. - -“Hello!” exclaimed Joe, clutching Dick suddenly by the arm. “Someone is -before us this time.” - -And he pointed to a light which shone from an end window of the kitchen. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -IN WHICH DICK FINDS LUKE MASLIN IN BAD COMPANY AND OVERHEARS A SHADY -SCHEME. - - -“Tramps!” ejaculated Dick, in some dismay. Then he added, in a -perplexed tone: “What are we going to do? They’ve got possession of the -only decent room in the house.” - -“Maybe there’s only one of them,” suggested Joe, hopefully. - -“Even so; he has as much right there as we have, if it came to an -argument.” - -Joe scratched his head and admitted the fact. - -“We’ve simply been trespassers on the property ourselves from the -start,” said Dick. - -“Well, what are we going to do about it?” asked Fletcher as Dick pulled -up under the trees by the side of the road a short distance from the -gate. - -“Wait here till I come back,” and the young driver handed the reins to -his chum and descended from his perch. - -Vaulting the rail fence, he approached the old building by a flank -movement across the weed-encumbered yard. - -He picked up a large, flat stone and placed it beneath the window. - -Stepping on it, he peered through the dirt-begrimed window into the -room. - -A fire was burning in the grate, and gathered about the stove were -three figures, two of whom were boys. - -They were not tramps. - -The man, who had at that moment a bottle glued to his lips, was bearded -and wore a coarse fur cap. - -As the man dropped the flask into a pocket of his jacket he made some -remark and lifted the stove-lid with a stout twig. - -The end boy reached for some broken branches, rose and began to stuff -these into the grate. - -The glare of the blaze shone full in his face, and Dick gave a gasp of -astonishment. - -He recognized the freckled features of Luke Maslin. - -“Gee whiz! What’s he doing here?” muttered the boy outside. - -Naturally his curiosity was greatly excited. - -It was a strange place and strange company for the son of Silas Maslin -to be found mixed up with. - -What did it all mean? - -“I never knew Luke to be away from home before, and here he is thirty -miles from Cobham’s Corner,” murmured Dick. “There’s something queer -about it.” - -The cold night wind whisking about the building soon made the young -watcher’s position one of discomfort. - -“They act as if they intended to stay a while,” he said to himself. -“I’d like to discover what their intentions are.” - -Dick thought a moment; then he went round to a door which he knew -opened on an entry that communicated with the kitchen. - -He removed his shoes and cautiously entered the house. - -The door at the end of the entry leading into the kitchen was partly -open, and through this door the boy plainly heard the sound of -conversation. - -He tiptoed his way to the door, and through the crack between the upper -and lower hinges he got a good view of the intruders. - -As the trio spoke in their ordinary tones, Dick heard every word they -said. - -“I didn’t agree to go into any such thing as this when I left home,” -said Luke, in a tone of plain remonstrance. - -“It ain’t what you agreed to do; it’s what you got to do, now you’re -with us,” spoke up the whiskered man, with a fierce glance at the -storekeeper’s son, evidently bent on intimidating him. - -“What you kickin’ about, Luke,” interjected the other youth, whom Dick -thought he identified as a certain bad boy of Walkhill village named -Tim Bunker. “A feller that’ll steal five dollars off his old man ain’t -got no reason to grumble when he’s showed how he kin make twenty times -that much without any risk to mention.” - -The speaker leaned forward and squirted a stream of tobacco juice into -the fire, while the bearded man nodded his approval. - -“I didn’t steal five dollars,” said Luke, doggedly. “I borrowed it from -the till because I needed it, and I was going to put it back when I got -it again.” - -“Ho, ho! That ain’t the way you give it to me first. You told me how -slick you got away with it, ’cause you wanted it to buy a gun you saw -advertised in a Syracuse paper, and your old man wouldn’t give you the -price. Then you said the old man found out he was a fiver to the bad -and charged Dick Armstrong with stealing it. He skipped out ’cause he -couldn’t prove he didn’t take it and didn’t wanter go to jail for what -he didn’t do. And you ain’t heard nothin’ from him since, have you?” - -“No, we haven’t,” growled Luke. - -“After doin’ all that damage, now you want to preach us a sermon -ag’inst helpin’ ourselves to a nice little bunch of dough that’s just -waitin’ to be put in circulation after lyin’ in old Miser Fairclough’s -strong-box these forty years. He’s a peach, ain’t he, Mudgett?” -appealing to the man beside him, who at that moment was taking another -drink from his flask. - -“A born chump,” admitted Mudgett, wiping his lips with the cuff of his -jacket. “I’m disappointed in him, Tim.” - -“So’m I. Thought he had more backbone. And it’s such an easy snap, too. -Just like pickin’ up money, ain’t it?” grinned the Bunker boy. - -“That’s what it is,” replied Mudgett, complacently. “It was a clever -idea of mine to send that old miser a letter telling him his brother, -who lives in Walkhill, was dead and had left him the bulk of his money.” - -“That’s right,” grinned Bunker. “Fairclough has been waitin’ for his -brother to die for twenty years or more. It’s the only thing that could -have got him away from his house.” - -“And now all we’ve got to do is to walk in and help ourselves,” said -Mudgett. - -“That’s all,” winked Tim Bunker. “It’s almost a shame it’s so easy.” - -The young rascal chuckled and thumped Luke on the back. - -“Brace up,” he cried to Mr. Maslin’s graceless son. “You’re one of us -now in this scheme, and Mudgett won’t hear of you backin’ out at the -last minit.” - -“But I don’t want nothing to do with it,” protested Luke. - -“That doesn’t make no matter of difference whether you want to or not,” -said Mudgett, in a threatening voice. “You’re in this thing right up to -your neck, for you delivered that letter to Fairclough himself, and he -won’t forget that when he comes back and finds out what happened while -he was away. You can’t go back to Cobham’s without the certainty of -being arrested on sight.” - -The bearded man stated the case with such brutal frankness that Luke -turned white and began to whimper. - -“Shut up, will you!” thundered Mudgett, reaching over and grabbing Luke -by the collar. “Stop your snivelling, or I’ll break every bone in your -body.” - -The storekeeper’s son was frightened into silence. - -“When do we start, Mudgett?” asked Bunker, fishing a cigarette from his -pocket and lighting it. - -“We’ll start now, I guess. It must be close on to nine o’clock. There -isn’t much danger of anyone seeing us on the road after that hour.” - -Dick, who had been an amazed listener of the foregoing conversation, -concluded it was time to withdraw. - -When he got outside he found the light had been extinguished in the -kitchen, and he took that as a sign that the trio were on the move. - -Fearing his presence might be detected in the yard if he attempted -to recross it to the fence, he crept under a corner of the porch and -waited. - -Mudgett and the two boys appeared almost immediately and walked out to -the road. - -Dick was in a sweat lest they might discover the team where it had been -waiting a good half-hour for him to return. - -But they turned up the road without looking in the other direction, -and when Dick reached the gate he could just make out their figures -disappearing in the distance. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -DICK AND JOE ON THE TRAIL OF MUDGETT, TIM BUNKER AND THEIR DUPE. - - -“You’ve been a mighty long time investigating matters,” grumbled Joe -Fletcher, poking his head over the seat when he heard his chum’s voice, -for he had retired to the interior of the wagon to keep warm. - -“Perhaps I have,” replied Dick, as he climbed up to his perch and -started the team. “But I guess I’ll surprise you when I tell you what -I’ve seen and heard.” - -“Well, I’m ready to hear the story,” said Joe, with mingled impatience -and curiosity. - -“Of course you’ve heard of William Fairclough, who keeps a stock farm -at Walkhill,” began Dick. - -“Sure I have.” - -“And you’ve also heard he has a brother named Adam, who lives on the -outskirts of Jayville, which is six miles from here.” - -“Yes, the folks in Walkhill call him Miser Fairclough.” - -“You’ve got it right. He occupies an old mansion, built some time -before the Revolutionary War. He bought the place for a song, I heard, -about forty years ago. Well, there’s a scheme on foot to rob old -Fairclough to-night, and it’s up to us to head it off.” - -“Rob the miser!” exclaimed Joe, in astonishment. - -“Exactly. He has been decoyed away to Walkhill by a bogus letter, which -informed him that his brother William is dead.” - -“Gee! You don’t mean it!” - -“I overheard a large part of the scheme by listening just outside of -the kitchen door that opens on the entry.” - -“Then it was a gang of robbers you found at the house?” said Joe, in -open-mouthed wonder. - -“I found a man and two boys,” answered Dick. “But before I say anything -more we’ll unharness the team and make them comfortable for the night.” - -The two boys lost no time getting the horses into the barn and putting -before them a plentiful supply of oats. - -“Did you ever run across a fellow named Tim Bunker in Walkhill?” asked -Dick, taking up the thread of his story again, as he dived into their -provision hamper and fished up a couple of egg sandwiches, one of which -he handed to his chum, with the remark that time was precious and that -was all he might expect to eat for some hours. - -“I’ve heard of Tim Bunker,” said Joe, with a nod, as they walked toward -the road. “He’s a hard nut. What about him?” - -“He’s mixed up in this affair.” - -“Is that so? Can’t say I’m much surprised.” - -“And who do you imagine the other boy to be?” - -“I couldn’t guess.” - -“No, I don’t think you could. Don’t fall down, now, when I tell you. It -is Luke Maslin.” - -“Luke Maslin!” exclaimed Joe, stopping stock still in the middle of the -road. - -“Yes, Luke Maslin,” repeated Dick, enjoying his friend’s astonishment. -“He’s in pretty bad company.” - -“Why, what’s he doing ’way down here, thirty miles from the Corner?” - -“That’s what surprised me at first, but from what Tim Bunker said in -the kitchen while I was taking it all in from behind the door, I’ve got -a pretty clear idea of the way Luke has got himself into this pickle. -It seems he did take that five dollars out of his father’s money-drawer -that I was accused of stealing.” - -“I guessed he was the thief,” nodded Joe, conclusively. - -“Then he foolishly boasted of it to Tim Bunker, thinking he had done a -clever thing. Now it looks as if Tim took advantage of this knowledge -to force Luke to join him and the man Mudgett in the enterprise they -have in hand without letting him know exactly what they intended to do.” - -“What makes you think he didn’t know?” - -“Because it looked to me as if they’d just been explaining the real -situation to him before I came on the scene, for he was kicking against -it like a mule.” - -“He was, eh?” - -“Yes. Mudgett and Tim Bunker were sharp enough to put Luke in a tight -box before they took him into their confidence.” - -“How?” - -“They had him deliver the decoy note to Adam Fairclough. It was a mean -trick, for it implicates Luke in the job, as they intended it should. -That puts him completely in their power, don’t you see?” - -“I wouldn’t be in his shoes for a mint,” said Joe as they turned into -the road leading to Jayville. “But it serves him right for stealing -that money from his father, and then when it come out letting you -shoulder all the blame. He wouldn’t have opened his mouth to clear you -if you’d been arrested for the theft and put in the village lock-up,” -he added indignantly. - -“I guess you’re right,” admitted his chum. - -“Of course I’m right. Didn’t he give you away to his father the moment -he spied you hid down in the hold of the canal-boat?” - -“He certainly did, and I think I could have thrashed him for it if I’d -had the chance. I felt like doing it.” - -“And my fists just tingled to get a rap at him, too,” blurted Joe. - -“He’s in a pretty bad hole now, all right. If we can prevent this -burglary to-night, it is possible we can save him from some of the -consequences of his foolishness.” - -“I shouldn’t think you’d care to waste much consideration on a fellow -who for years treated you as mean as Luke has done,” said Joe, in some -surprise. - -“I don’t say he deserves anything of me, but still I’m willing to do -what I can to save him from going to prison,” said Dick, generously. - -“Well, I don’t know what you expect to do. You’re the captain and I’m -going it blind after you. But if you’ve a scheme for catching these -fellows, and we do catch them, I suppose Luke could turn State’s -evidence and escape the penalty.” - -“Very likely.” - -“I’m sorry you are getting mixed up in this matter,” said Joe, gloomily. - -“Why so?” said Dick, looking at his companion in surprise. “You -wouldn’t stand off and allow that old man to be robbed when you might -be able to prevent it, would you?” - -“I don’t mean that; but you forget that we are liable to be detained -as witnesses if a capture is made, and that will give Silas Maslin a -chance to get hold of you again.” - -Dick stopped short and regarded his chum for a moment in silence. - -He had not thought of that unpleasant contingency. - -“This will make a slight change in my plans,” he said, suddenly. “I -intended to get help to tackle these fellows, but I think now it will -do as well if we succeed in scaring them off. I’m satisfied if we can -put a spoke in their wheel, and it will do away with the difficulty you -mentioned.” - -To this plan Joe agreed with alacrity. - -The sky, which had been overcast up to this point, now began to show -through here and there in patches. - -And ere long the imprisoned moon sailed into these spaces, and her -light occasionally illuminated the landscape. - -One of these spells of moonshine showed the boys the distant spire of -the Jayville Methodist Church and the roofs of many of the houses. - -“The Fairclough mansion is over yonder,” said Dick, pointing in the -direction. “I remember Mr. Maslin pointing it out to me a year ago, -when we drove down here one day on business. We’ll cut across this -meadow and save at least two miles by the road.” - -On the other side of the field was a clump of trees. - -Dick pointed out a couple of branches that would make stout cudgels, -and he and Joe were presently in possession of a pair of serviceable -weapons. - -As they cautiously drew near the Revolutionary relic they made out -three indistinct figures hovering about the building. - -Suddenly the figures clustered about a rear window that was high above -their reach, and Dick and Joe saw one of them mount on the shoulders of -the other two and commence operations by splintering the glass with a -blow of some implement. - -At that interesting juncture the boys’ ears caught the sound of -approaching wheels, and before they realized what was about to happen -a miserable-looking buggy, drawn by a thin, bony mare, dashed into the -unkempt driveway and rattled up to the porch. - -The occupant of the ramshackle vehicle showed up in the moonlight to be -an old man of at least eighty years, wrapped in a faded green overcoat, -with a comforter of some indescribable color tucked about his throat, -the ends floating in the night air. - -His approach had been discovered by the would-be burglars, and the two -who had formed the base of the pyramid that had just boosted the third -through the fractured window, rushed around to the front of the house -and attacked the old man from two sides. - -“That must be Adam Fairclough,” explained Dick, he and Joe springing to -their feet. “He must have met somebody on the road who told him that -his brother wasn’t dead, and thus aroused his suspicions that something -was wrong at this end of the business, and so he came right back. Those -rascals may kill him if we don’t interfere, Joe. So, come on. Let’s -take them by surprise.” - -Thereupon both boys leaped the fence and, flourishing their cudgels, -rushed to the rescue. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -DICK AND JOE BLOCK MUDGETT AND TIM BUNKER’S SHADY ENTERPRISE. - - -Mudgett had seized the old miser by the arm and was dragging him out of -the buggy when Dick Armstrong sprang upon him like a young tiger and -bore him to the ground. At the same instant Joe Fletcher ran around the -vehicle and hit Tim Bunker such a whack over the head with his cudgel -that the Walkhill youth saw unnumbered stars and hastened to make his -escape over the back of the buggy. - -But Joe cut him off, and the two boys were soon mixing it up pretty -lively, with all the advantage in Joe’s favor. - -In the meantime Dick found Mudgett a tough proposition to get away -with, while the bearded man discovered in the strong and active boy a -hard nut to crack. - -Old Adam Fairclough, thus relieved of his assailants, stood helplessly -aloof, and watched the struggle that was going on about him. - -He seemed to be utterly bewildered by the condition of affairs that had -faced him on his return home. - -And while this lively scrimmage was going on in the front of the -house, Luke Maslin in the rear took advantage of the opportunity to -scramble out of the window through which he had been forced to effect -an entrance, and, reaching the ground, he took to his heels and made -off into the line of woods beyond the fence as fast as his heels would -carry him. - -“Let me up, you young imp!” exclaimed Mudgett, panting for breath -after several ineffectual efforts on his part to dislodge Dick from an -advantageous position on his chest. - -“Do you give in?” asked the almost equally breathless boy, refusing to -budge an inch from his perch. - -“No, hang you for a meddlesome little monkey! But if you don’t let me -up, I’ll break your head!” - -“I don’t think you will, Mr. Mudgett,” answered Dick, stoutly. - -“You know my name, eh? Who the dickens are you, anyway?” said the -rascal in a tone that showed his surprise. - -“Never mind who I am,” returned the lad. “I’ve got you dead to rights -now, so you might just as well throw up your hands at once.” - -“Not on your life!” gritted Mudgett, renewing the struggle. - -But he might just as well have saved his strength, for Joe having -mastered Tim Bunker and bound his arms behind his back with the -whip-lash belonging to the buggy, now came to his chum’s assistance, -and Mudgett, with a villainous scowl, gave up the fight and suffered -himself to be secured with one of the traces which Joe took off the -horse. - -“I’m afraid these men meant to kill me, thinking I had money,” said old -Adam Fairclough to Dick, in trembling tones, when the lad stepped up to -assure him that he no longer was in danger of molestation. “But I’m a -poor old man. Poor--very poor.” - -“They were in the act of breaking into your house to rob you when we -turned up, intending to prevent them carrying out their plan, which I -fortunately overheard.” - -“Why should they want to rob me when I’m only a poor old man?” cried -the miser, in a pathetic voice. - -“They think you have lots of money hidden in your house,” replied Dick. - -“Not a cent--not a single cent!” wailed the old man, beating the air -with his arms in a sort of abject denial. - -Dick of course believed Adam Fairclough was not telling the truth. - -He had always heard people say the man was worth thousands of dollars. - -That he owned half a dozen good farms which he rented out to thrifty -tenants. - -That he held mortgages on a dozen more. - -That he had a strong-box filled with family plate that had not been -used for fifty years, and a second one stuffed with gold and banknotes -he had taken out of circulation in order to hoard up for the mere -pleasure of accumulation. - -Probably the old man’s wealth was greatly exaggerated, but there seemed -little doubt that he was tolerably rich. - -Dick led him around to the back of the house and showed him the broken -window. - -“They sent you a letter saying your brother William in Walkhill was -dead; isn’t that so?” asked the boy. - -“Yes, yes; but it was false--my brother is not dead at all.” - -“That was a trick to get you away from here so they might search the -house during your absence.” - -Then Dick told him the whole story of what he had learned at the old -deserted farmhouse. - -“You are a good boy--a brave boy,” said the poor old miser, shaking the -lad by the hand in a pitiful way, for he appeared to have but little -strength after the shock he had sustained. “If I wasn’t so very, very -poor, I’d reward you.” - -“Don’t worry about that,” replied Dick, with a cheerfulness that put -the old man more at his ease. “If you’ll let us stay here for the rest -of the night, it’s all we want.” - -“You shall stay--yes, yes, you shall stay; but there isn’t anything I -could give you to eat. I’m so poor I can’t buy much.” - -From the appearance of both his horse as well as himself it was evident -the miser didn’t squander much of his money on food of any kind. - -They were both shrivelled and dried up like a pair of animated mummies. - -Indeed, when Dick led the animal off to its stable he almost fancied he -could hear its bones rattle with each step it took. - -“Poor old beast!” he murmured sympathetically. “How I’d like to give -you one good, square meal! But I fear the shock of it would lay you -out.” - -And the mare, as if it understood him, looked at him with her -saucer-like eyes in hopeless resignation. - -Such a thing as a square meal to her was a dream, never to be realized. - -The old man wouldn’t have the prisoners taken into the mansion. - -He was afraid of them, and so Joe tied them securely to posts in the -stable. - -Inside the house there were bolts and bars without number. - -Every room appeared to be completely furnished, but the old-fashioned -mahogany pieces, that must have been valuable in their day long ago, -were now given over to the ravages of dust and neglect. - -Adam Fairclough ate and slept in one little room at the top of the -building, of which the boys caught only a momentary glimpse as the old -man led them past to another room in which were a bed, some chairs, and -other articles in a fair state of preservation. - -There the miser left them after assuring Dick once more that he was -miserably poor and sorry he couldn’t do better by them. - -“Gee!” grinned Joe when they were alone, “what a liar the old fellow -is!” - -“Never mind, old man,” replied his chum. “It’s none of our business. -We’ve done our duty, and I can sleep like a top on the strength of it. -There’s one thing I’m glad about--Luke Maslin has skipped.” - -Next morning old Fairclough produced some weak boiled coffee and a -plate of hard bread and cheese, which he offered to them for breakfast -with every evidence of earnest hospitality, repeating his refrain of -abject poverty. - -He wrote down the boys’ names in a big, leather-bound book, making a -large cross opposite Dick’s name. - -When they went out to the stable to look after Mudgett and Tim Bunker -they were surprised to find that the rascals had managed to liberate -themselves somehow and had taken French leave. - -The boys didn’t know whether to be glad or sorry, but, on the whole, -they were pleased to find they would not have to appear against the -housebreakers. - -Then they bade the old man good-bye, advising him to be very careful -against any future attempts of a like nature. - -They reached the deserted farm about nine o’clock, looked after the -horses, made their stomachs happy with a substantial meal, and then -hied themselves to the nutting-ground, where they spent most of the -day gathering up the remainder of the crop. - -Not knowing but they might possibly be surprised by the fugitives, -Mudgett and Tim Bunker, if they passed the night in the house, they -left the place before dark and put up at Farmer Haywood’s for supper -and a bed. - -Next day they arrived back in Albany and disposed of their final load -of nuts, the whole speculation netting them the sum of $375. - -That same afternoon Dick sold the team for nearly $400. - -“I think we can afford to take the train for New York,” he said after -figuring up his cash capital, which he found amounted to $850. - -And Joe readily agreed with him, for he had $155 tucked snugly away in -an inside pocket. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -WRECK AND RESCUE. - - -“Gee! She’s a beaut, isn’t she, Dick?” - -The Buffalo Express, on board of which Dick Armstrong and his friend, -Joe Fletcher, were traveling to New York, had just stopped at -Poughkeepsie, and the exclamation was drawn from Joe by the appearance -in the car of a lovely young girl of apparently fifteen years of age, -accompanied by a fine-looking gentleman of perhaps forty, who seemed to -be her father. - -“She is pretty, for a fact,” admitted Dick, casting a look of -admiration at the young lady. - -She had light hair, blue eyes, and dimpled cheeks, and her smile was an -entrancing one as she turned to say something to the gentleman when he -seated himself by her side. - -The train soon started on again and was presently speeding down the -bank of the Hudson River at a fifty-mile clip. - -It was a dull afternoon early in November, and the landscape looked -brown and unpicturesque. - -The great river flowed sluggishly along, and as they passed a string -of canal-boats preceded by a snorting tug, the boys thought of Captain -Beasley and the Minnehaha. - -During the next hour a large portion of Dick’s attention was centred on -the pretty girl who had boarded the train at Poughkeepsie. - -“Ever hear of Spuyten Duyvil?” asked Joe. - -“Yes,” answered Dick. - -“It’s not far above Manhattan Island, and we’ll pass there soon. Guess -I’ll have another drink.” - -Joe went to the end of the car where the tank was, but whether his -numerous drinks since leaving Albany had used up all the water, or -because there was something the matter with the cock, certain it is Joe -had to go into the next car to get what he wanted. - -He had probably been gone a couple of minutes and Dick was watching -the pretty stranger for perhaps the hundredth time, when something -startling occurred which changed the whole aspect of affairs in the -twinkling of an eye. - -A tremendous shock stopped the train’s momentum and piled the cars -on top of each other, hurling a couple down the embankment into the -river, almost every car becoming a shapeless wreck, and human beings, -full of life and hope a moment before, were suddenly ushered into -eternity or maimed and mangled for life. - -It was a rear-end collision. - -A terrible scene was presented to Dick’s gaze when he recovered his -scattered senses. - -He was stunned by the shock and made giddy by the wild vaulting of the -car as it leaped the rails, swung around and buried its rear end in the -Hudson. - -He was bruised and badly shaken up, but he was not seriously injured. - -Fortunately Dick was endowed a remarkable degree of self-possession. - -Finding he was not hurt, he struggled out from beneath the wreckage -which had overwhelmed him. - -His first thought was for Joe, but the boy was not in sight, which, -under the circumstances, was hardly to be wondered at. - -Then the groans and screams of the mangled passengers pinned under the -wreck confused him and distracted his attention from his chum. - -Perhaps it is not strange that the fair young girl who had occupied the -opposite seat in the car came to his mind, for his eyes and thoughts -had been upon her at the moment of the catastrophe. - -He did not see her among the men and women who were disengaging -themselves from the shapeless debris. - -“Is she dead?” he almost groaned, as he thought of that golden head and -lithe figure smashed beyond recognition. - -Then he wondered if her father had escaped, for, like Joe, he had a -short time before the accident gone forward into the smoking-car, and -the boy saw as through a mist the locomotive, express-baggage, and -smoking cars back slowly down on the wreck, a crowd of wild and excited -passengers tumbling off the rear platform of the latter. - -It was impossible for anyone to say just what had caused the trouble, -but it might have been a broken axle or a suddenly loosened rail that -had snapped the connection between the cars. - -A portion of the top of the car Dick had just wriggled from under lay -near him, and seeing a woman’s foot exposed beneath, he exerted his -strength and raised one end a bit. - -It rested heavily upon the form of the fair passenger from Poughkeepsie. - -The sight aroused all his energies. - -With desperate eagerness he put his shoulder to the heavy fragment that -was crushing out the girl’s life, and shifted it aside. - -Then he bent down and lifted her in his arms. - -“Great Scott!” he exclaimed, anxiously, “I believe she is dead.” - -She looked the picture of death, for her eyes were closed and her -pallid cheek was stained with blood. - -Dick, hardly knowing what to do, bore her down to the river edge and -splashed the water into her face, eagerly watching for some sign of -returning animation. - -He rubbed her temples and chafed her hands, but the task seemed -hopeless. - -He was about to abandon his efforts in despair, when an almost -imperceptible sigh gladdened his heart and caused him to renew his -exertions. - -With his handkerchief he washed away the bloodstains, and found that -she was only slightly cut just above the ear. - -In a few moments she recovered consciousness and cast a bewildered -glance around her. - -She tried to raise herself, but with a little cry of pain she sank back -in Dick’s arms and lay there staring up into his face and scarcely -comprehending what he was doing for her. - -Suddenly the fearful nature of the catastrophe dawned upon her mind, -and clutching at the lad’s arm with one little hand, her other arm -lying limp and helpless at her side, she raised up again. - -“My father!” she cried with pathetic earnestness. “Where is he?” - -“I saw him leave you and go into the next car before the crash came,” -said Dick. - -“He went to the smoking-car,” she moaned. “Perhaps--oh, perhaps he -was----” - -“If he reached the smoking-car, he is safe,” said Dick, encouragingly. -“That car was not damaged. I can see it from here,” and the boy nodded -his head in the direction where it stood on the track. “And I see your -father now!” he exclaimed suddenly. “He is running this way. What is -your name?” - -“Jennie Nesbitt,” she replied faintly. - -“Hi, hi! Mr. Nesbitt!” cried Dick, motioning to the girl’s father. - -The gentleman started and paused when he heard his name pronounced. - -Looking wildly about he saw Dick signaling to him, and he easily -guessed that the recumbent figure in the boy’s arms was his daughter, -and he rushed down to the spot. - -“Don’t say she is dead!” he exclaimed frantically, the tears streaming -down his cheeks. “Jennie, darling, speak to your father!” and he knelt -down and seized her nerveless hand. - -A cry of pain broke from the girl. - -“Are you much hurt, my darling?” asked Mr. Nesbitt, anxiously, taking -her in his arms and kissing her tenderly. - -“I don’t know, father,” she answered faintly, putting her uninjured arm -around his neck. “My left arm is very numb.” - -“I should be obliged to you if you would assist me in carrying my -daughter up this bank,” said the gentleman to Dick. - -Between them they carried her across the tracks and laid her on the -faded grass under the trees, where a score or more of the injured had -already been placed to await the attention of the physicians that had -been telegraphed for. - -“Can I be of any further use?” asked Dick, wistfully, after he had -explained how he discovered the young lady under the section of the -car-roof and removed her to the waterside in the hope of bringing her -to. “I should like to hunt up my chum, who was traveling with me.” - -“I will not detain you,” said Mr. Nesbitt, grasping him by the hand. -“You have been very good to my daughter. She probably owes her life to -you. I can never sufficiently thank you for the service you have this -day rendered to me,” he said with grateful earnestness. - -“I am glad I was able to do something for your daughter,” replied Dick, -simply. - -“Be sure we shall not forget you. I think you said your name was -Richard Armstrong?” - -“Yes, sir.” - -“You will not forget that, Jennie. Here is my business card, Mr. -Armstrong. You must call at my office, for we want to know you better.” - -“Thank you; I will do so at the first chance,” replied the boy, -noticing that the address was a New York City one. - -“Perhaps I shall see you again before you leave here.” - -“We shall be glad if you come back as soon as you find some trace of -your friend, who, I think, probably has escaped, since, like myself, -you say he went forward before the accident occurred.” - -The wounded and the dead were now being rapidly taken from the pile of -ruins by those who were uninjured. - -Dick, gazing upon the work of the rescuers, saw Joe helping like a good -fellow to clear away a part of the splintered car in which he and his -chum had been riding. - -With a shout of joy Dick ran up and seized him by the arm. - -“Thank goodness, you’re safe!” he said, delightedly. - -“Gee wilikens!” cried Joe, throwing his arms about him in a spasm of -pleasure. “I was almost certain you were a goner. How did you manage to -get out of this ruin without a scratch? Why, it’s a perfect miracle! -Half the car is smashed into toothpicks.” - -For an hour Dick and Joe worked hard to help the unfortunates who had -suffered from the wreck. - -By that time the force of doctors sent from New York had arrived and -were helping the half-dozen local practitioners who had previously been -brought to the scene of the disaster. - -There being nothing for Dick and his chum to do, the former thought he -would like to know how the young lady he had assisted was getting on. - -He found Mr. Nesbitt and his daughter in the same spot, and presented -Joe to them. - -They were glad to learn that Dick had found his friend uninjured. - -A surgeon had set Miss Jennie’s broken arm, which was beginning to pain -her a good deal. - -One of the train hands now came up and said they had better board -one of the cars of the relief train which was about to start for the -metropolis. - -Miss Nesbitt said she thought she could walk as far as the car if Dick -and her father supported her. - -She was made as comfortable on one of the seats as circumstances -permitted, and in a few minutes the train started with its melancholy -load of maimed, dead, and dying. - -At the Grand Central Station a carriage was obtained by Dick to take -the injured young miss and her father home. - -The girl bade the lad a grateful good-bye and exacted a promise that he -would call and see her at her home very soon. - -“And don’t forget I shall expect to see you at my office in a day or -two,” said Mr. Nesbitt as the vehicle drove off. - -“Gee!” said Joe as they watched the carriage disappear around the -corner. “You may have done a big thing for yourself for all you know, -Dick, old boy. You’ve made yourself solid in that quarter, all right. -And a good friend goes a long way in this city sometimes. Come along, -now. I’ll pilot you down to my old boarding-place.” - -Whereupon they walked to Third Avenue and took a southbound car. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -DICK BUYS AN INVENTION THAT PROVES TO BE A WINNER. - - -Although Dick Armstrong had lived in the country all his life, and -Albany was the biggest town he had heretofore seen, still the great -city of New York did not overwhelm him by its immensity. - -He was a level-headed boy and believed in taking things as they came. - -Of course he found lots to interest and astonish him, but that was only -what he had expected. - -He and Joe spent three days taking in the sights of the city, which of -course were quite familiar to the latter, and then Dick decided to call -on Mr. Nesbitt. - -That gentleman was a well-known lawyer, and his office was in a big -skyscraper on lower Broadway. - -It rather took Dick’s breath away when he was whisked up to the -sixteenth story in an express elevator, yet nobody would have judged -from his manner but that he was accustomed to the trip. - -“Second corridor to your left,” said the elevator man to Dick, and the -boy, following this direction, had no trouble in finding the offices of -“George Nesbitt, Attorney and Counsellor-at-Law,” who occupied a suite -of handsomely furnished rooms, from the windows of which a splendid -view of the bay and the two rivers was to be had. - -The lawyer extended a warm greeting to his young visitor. - -“My daughter is doing very nicely, everything considered,” he said. -“You must not delay calling on us; she will be very glad to see you -again.” - -“I shall be happy to do so,” answered Dick. - -“Then why not come to-morrow evening? You have our address.” - -This suited the boy, and the matter was so arranged. - -Then Mr. Nesbitt asked Dick about his prospects. - -The lad gave him a brief outline of his past life at Cobham’s Corner -and what he had done since he broke away from Silas Maslin. - -The lawyer was impressed with the boy’s earnestness and business -sagacity and determined to help him on the road to success. - -“How would you like employment in my office?” he said. “I do not mean -as a clerk. I think I can use you in a way that will develop your -natural business talents. I have control of several extensive estates. -A young man of your ability can be made useful to me in many ways, and -the experience will be of great value to yourself. You are young. The -world is before you. The obligations under which you have placed me by -your attention to my only child under the most trying of circumstances -make me desirous of interesting myself in your future career. Will you -give me the opportunity of doing so?” - -Dick was both surprised and pleased at the proposition, and he accepted -it at once. - -Mr. Nesbitt seemed gratified by the lad’s acquiescence, and he -explained to Dick what his immediate duties would be. - -“I should be glad if you will start in to-morrow,” he said, finally, -and the boy was told to be at the office at half-past nine on the -following morning. - -That evening he and Joe went down on Water Street and had supper with -Captain Beasley and his family on board the Minnehaha. - -“So far as obtaining employment is concerned,” remarked the skipper as -he took down, filled and lit his briar-root pipe, “you two lads seem to -have started on even terms, both of you having got a job to-day; it now -remains to be seen which will pull out ahead.” - -“Oh, there isn’t any doubt about that,” replied Joe, heartily. “I take -my hat off to my friend Dick first, last, and always.” - -“Come, Joe, you’re laying it on thick, aren’t you?” laughed his chum. - -“Not on your life. I’ll leave it to Captain Beasley. Five weeks ago -you left the Corner with a measly sixteen dollars in your pocket; -to-night you could count out eight hundred and fifty made by your -business smartness, and I have one hundred and fifty acquired through -my connection with you. We are not in the same class, old chappie. I -haven’t got your head. If I had, I’d back myself to win a million in a -year or two.” - -Dick spent his first day in Mr. Nesbitt’s office learning many of -the details connected with real estate management, and that evening -he visited the lawyer’s family, on West Seventy-second Street, where -he received a warm welcome from Jennie and Mrs. Nesbitt, who was an -invalid. - -After that he became a regular visitor, and Miss Jennie introduced him -into her own particular set in which his winning manners and good looks -soon established him a first favorite. - -One of the estates Mr. Nesbitt had charge of was situated about thirty -miles out on Long Island, and Dick went there once a week to attend to -business matters in connection with its management. - -He was returning one afternoon on a Long Island Railroad train when a -young man boarded the car at a way station and took the only vacant -seat, which was alongside Dick. - -He looked to be a bright fellow, with a frank, ingenuous countenance -that naturally inspired confidence; but he looked pale and weak as -though recovering from a long illness. - -Dick got into conversation with him, and soon found out he was an -Englishman, who had come to America more than a year before after -having been thrown on his own resources by the death of his only -relative. - -He had not been successful in securing steady employment, and -subsequent illness had brought him down to bed-rock. - -How he was going to get on, he hadn’t a very clear idea. - -“If I only had a few dollars,” he said sadly as he gazed through the -car window at the bleak, wintry prospect, “I feel sure I could get on -my feet.” - -“Then you’re broke, are you?” asked Dick, sympathetically. - -“Flat,” admitted the young Englishman, in a dejected voice. - -“That’s tough.” - -“Yes, it is. It is strange how hard luck follows a fellow. I’ll show -you something I invented just before I was taken down with the gastric -fever. It’s a good idea, and since I got out of the hospital I’ve been -trying to sell a half-interest for a hundred dollars so I can get it -patented. But nobody seems to see any money in it.” - -The young stranger put his hand in his pocket and drew out a well-worn -pocket-book. - -From this he produced a descriptive drawing of a new idea in -water-coolers. - -“This is entirely different from anything on the market,” he said, -“and if manufactured and properly pushed, I don’t see why it shouldn’t -sell well. You see, the water is kept entirely separate from the ice, -which is chopped up, mixed with rock salt on the same principle as that -used and packed around an ice-cream can. The ice preparation is put -in here, the space indicated by I, the water in here, which is simply -a galvanized receptacle which can be removed when the cooler is to be -cleaned out and recharged. The advantages of this scheme are that you -can use filtered water or any special kind of spring water--in fact -any kind of fluid--and keep it cold without direct contact with or -contamination from the ice itself.” - -“The idea isn’t bad,” said Dick thoughtfully, as he studied the diagram -carefully. “You want one hundred dollars for a half-interest?” - -“I would dispose of a half-interest for that amount in order to get the -money necessary to patent it.” - -“Suppose you let me have this drawing for a few days. Here is my -employer’s business address. That is my name printed in the corner. If -I find there is likely to be any money in this thing, I’ll give you -fifty dollars for a half-interest and stand the expense of patenting it -myself. What do you say?” - -“I agree to that,” said the Englishman, eagerly. “When shall I call on -you?” - -“Next Saturday about noon.” - -“All right.” - -Dick put the drawing into his pocket. - -“I’ll let you have five dollars on account now, as you probably need -the money,” he said, offering his new acquaintance a bill of that -denomination. “If I don’t take up the scheme I won’t require you to -return me the fiver.” - -“That’s generous of you,” said the other, earnestly. “Meeting you is -the first stroke of luck I’ve had for months.” - -“Don’t be too sure of that,” replied Dick, cautiously. “There may be -nothing in it, after all.” - -Then they talked of other matters till the train arrived at the -Flatbush Avenue Station, where they parted, Dick taking an electric car -over the bridge for New York. - -That night he showed the drawing to Joe, who roomed with him, and -together they discussed the feasibility of the scheme proving a paying -one. - -Dick had a shrewd idea that a manufacturer of water-coolers was the -best persons to consult on the project, and next day called on one who -happened to be a personal friend of Mr. Nesbitt. - -The idea struck the manufacturer favorably. - -He called his manager in, and they figured out the cost of the article -on the lines presented by Dick. - -“What will you sell the patent for?” asked the manufacturer. - -“You can have my half-interest, for twenty-five hundred dollars,” was -Dick’s reply, “and I dare say I can arrange to get you the other half -at the same figure.” - -“I’ll tell you what I’ll do,” said the manufacturer, after considering -the matter. “I’ll build these coolers and place them on the market, -allowing you a royalty of from twenty-five to fifty cents, according to -size, on every one actually sold.” - -“Will you give me a memorandum, in writing, to that effect and allow me -a few days to consider your offer?” - -“Certainly.” And the gentleman did so and handed the paper to Dick. -“You will accept that as a thirty-day option on the patent.” - -“Very well,” said the boy, rising and bidding him good day. - -Dick went at once to Munn & Co. and made application for a patent -covering the specifications set forth by the young Englishman, entering -the same in both their names. - -When the inventor called on Saturday he handed him $45, taking in -return a bill of sale for half the patent rights on the cooler. - -Then he told the Englishman of the offer he had had from the -manufacturer, and advised that they take up with it. - -“It is better than I expected to do with it,” replied the inventor, -“but I don’t feel as though I could wait for the realization of such -good luck. I want to get back to England. I am homesick here. Do you -think the whole thing is worth five hundred dollars to you? Will you -take that much risk on its success after it has been put on the market? -If you will, give me four hundred and fifty more, and I will make out -a new bill of sale giving you the sole right to the invention.” - -“Wait a moment,” said Dick, and he went inside and had a consultation -with Mr. Nesbitt. - -The result was that Dick bought the invention outright. - -On the following Monday he went to the manufacturer and made a contract -with him on the terms proposed. - -Although the boy did not then dream of the ultimate results of this -deal, we may say now that the coolers were ready and put on the market -in time for the summer trade. - -They were a novelty, took splendidly, and in the end Dick disposed of -the patent rights to the manufacturer for $5,000 cash. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -A NERVY VENTURE AND WHAT CAME OF IT. - - -One day toward the end of March, Dick was taking lunch in a Fulton -Street chop-house when two well-dressed men entered the place and sat -down at the opposite side of the table. - -They were talking about some real estate deal they had in -contemplation, and did not appear to regard the boy’s presence as a bar -to their conversation. - -“We can get a thirty-day option on the property for one thousand -dollars, pending examination of title,” said the shorter man of the -two, after the waiter had taken their order. “The old man’s bed-rock -price for the entire thirty acres is twelve thousand cash. He wanted -fifteen thousand at first. Allowing for streets, we can get out of it -twelve city lots per acre, or three hundred and sixty lots altogether. -The corner lots will fetch one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred -and fifty dollars each, and the inside ones, say one hundred, according -to location. That means we should realize about forty thousand dollars -in the gross. You have figured out the expense of cutting through -the streets, the cost of having the title guaranteed, probable cost -of printing and newspaper advertising, commissions to agents, and so -forth. The location of the property is good; the Long Island main line -has a station close by, and the main street of Sodom can be extended -through the property. Old man Durwood is clearly anxious to sell, or he -wouldn’t let it go at that figure. It is easily worth sixteen thousand -dollars to us as it stands, and I would give that for it sooner than -let it slip through my hands.” - -“It’s a good speculation,” said the tall man, nodding his head. -“Thompson and Davis are in this with us, I believe.” - -“Thompson is ready to put up a certified check for his share at any -moment. I will see and settle with Davis this afternoon. To-morrow -morning I will go out to Sodom and get the option and the deed from -Durwood.” - -The talk then branched off on the plans of the speculators for -improving the property and putting it in shape for sale at lot prices. - -Although Dick apparently paid no attention to what the real estate -men were saying, nevertheless he was an interested listener to their -conversation. - -It happened that the Long Island estate to which the lad made weekly -visits was in the neighborhood of the village of Sodom. - -He had a speaking acquaintance with Jonas Durwood, the owner of the -thirty acres referred to above, and knew something about the property -in question. - -It had been on the market for some time. - -Durwood had been offering it at $15,000, one-third cash, balance on a -five-year mortgage. - -The four real estate men evidently intended purchasing the property -at the reduced figure for spot cash, with the view of cutting it up -into lots and then disposing of them at a good profit on the whole -investment. - -“So,” thought Dick, “they would sooner give sixteen thousand than let -it slip through their fingers. A thirty-day option on it can be had for -a thousand. Well, I’ve got a thousand lying idle. What’s the matter -with my stealing a march on this syndicate of four, getting the option -myself, and then make them come to terms with me. If they should refuse -to deal with me, it might put me in a hole; but I guess Mr. Nesbitt -would see me through, for that piece of ground is well worth fifteen -thousand at any rate.” - -Dick thought he saw a fine chance to make $3,000 or $4,000 inside of a -month if he took the thing on the fly. - -“Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” he muttered as he drew near the -office. “By the great horn spoon, I’ll do it! My bank-book is upstairs. -I’ll draw the money and take it down with me to Sodom this afternoon, -for fortunately this is the day I am due there. When that chap goes -down to-morrow he’ll find that someone else has got ahead of him. Gee! -Won’t he be hopping mad? Well, I guess!” - -It was Dick’s rule not to let the grass grow under his feet when he -embarked in an enterprise. - -Therefore he hustled to get his money, and left on an early afternoon -train for Sodom. - -He hunted up Jonas Durwood right away and made him a -twelve-thousand-dollar cash offer for the thirty acres. - -“What? what? You want to buy that ground, eh? Who for? Mr. Nesbitt?” -said Durwood in some surprise. - -“I want a thirty-day option and I want you to put it in my name. Here’s -a thousand dollars to bind the bargain. See?” - -Jonas Durwood saw the bills, and the sight of them melted all further -opposition he may have thought of advancing with a view of a better -figure. - -The preliminaries were settled on the spot. - -Dick got the option and the deed to the property, and Durwood got ten -one-hundred-dollar bills. - -Both parties to the contract were satisfied. - -“Now,” said the boy, after the settlement had been effected, “there was -a man down here negotiating with you for this land. Have you his name -and address?” - -“Yes,” replied Durwood. “Do you want it?” - -“I’d like to have it.” - -Mr. Durwood produced a card and handed it to Dick. - -“Now, Mr. Durwood, if this man shows up here to-morrow, or any time -soon, and he asks you who bought the property, just give him my card, -will you?” - -“Certainly,” answered the Sodom resident. - -Dick then left him and went over to the estate to attend to such -business as awaited him there. - -Next afternoon a very much excited individual called at Mr. Nesbitt’s -offices and inquired for Richard Armstrong. - -It was the short, stout man who had done most of the talking at the -restaurant. - -Dick was out, and the man waited till he returned. - -He was vastly surprised to find that the Armstrong he wanted was a boy. - -“Did you purchase an option on Mr. Durwood’s property at Sodom -yesterday?” he inquired, in a nervous tone. - -“Yes, sir; I did.” - -“For whom, may I ask?” - -“For myself.” - -“What?” exclaimed the visitor, in amazement. “You secured an option on -those thirty acres for yourself?” - -“Yes, sir.” - -“Do you expect me to believe such a ridiculous story as that?” demanded -the stout man, sarcastically. “Come, now, tell me who you represent?” - -“I have told you. I represent myself. I bought those thirty acres -because I found out I could get them at a low price. They’re worth -sixteen thousand dollars if they’re worth a cent.” - -“Nonsense!” exclaimed the man, impatiently. - -“What do you mean by that?” asked Dick, coolly. - -“I mean it is sheer nonsense for you to say that property is worth -sixteen thousand dollars.” - -“Well, what do you think it is worth?” - -“In my opinion, twelve thousand is nearer its value.” - -“We won’t argue the matter. I hold a thirty-day option on the property. -Is that all you wished to see me about?” - -Dick was thoroughly cool and business-like, and the stout man seemed -puzzled as to what he would say next. - -“I’ll tell you what,” he said, presently. “I was looking at that piece -of ground myself and had some idea of buying it. If you’d like to turn -your option over to me, I’ll give you five hundred dollars bonus.” - -Dick shook his head. - -“No. Couldn’t think of it.” - -“What will you take for the option?” - -“Five thousand dollars cash!” - -“Five thousand furies!” yelled the man, looking at the boy as though he -would liked to have eaten him. - -“No, sir,” said Dick, with a faint grin. “Not furies, but dollars.” - -“Young man, what do you take me for?” - -Dick smiled pleasantly, but made no answer. - -“I’ll give you just two thousand dollars for that option.” - -“I can do better than that,” replied the boy, politely. - -“How can you?” asked the stout man, incredulously. - -“A syndicate has been formed to buy that property for speculative -purposes.” - -“What?” gasped the real estate man, staring hard at Dick. - -“That’s right. I don’t mind telling you how I came to buy the land. -My business takes me down to Sodom once a week. I knew the Durwood -property was in the market, and I have a very clear idea of its value. -As soon as I got the tip that speculators were after it, I made up my -mind to scoop the ground myself if I could get it low enough. I made -Mr. Durwood a cash offer, and we came to an agreement. Mr. Nesbitt will -examine the title in a few days, and if everything is all right he will -close the deal as trustee for me. That’s all there is to it.” - -“How did you learn about this syndicate and who are the men that -compose it?” asked the stout man, with ill-disguised eagerness. - -“You will have to excuse me answering those questions, Mr. Blake,” -replied Dick, looking at the man’s card, which he held in his hand. - -“Then you won’t accept an offer of twenty-five hundred for your -option?” said the visitor. - -“No, sir. Any time within the thirty-day limit after Mr. Nesbitt has -passed on the title, you or the syndicate or any other person can -purchase that option for an advance of four thousand dollars over what -I paid down.” - -“I will consider the matter, Mr. Armstrong. Good day.” - -A few days later Dick received an offer in writing from Mr. Blake, -accepting his figure, contingent on Mr. Nesbitt’s assurance that -Jonas Durwood could furnish a clear title and that the same would be -guaranteed by the Lawyer’s Title Guarantee and Trust Company. - -Dick closed with him on those terms, and a week before the option -expired the delighted boy received a certified check for $5,000, -and the Blake crowd closed the deal and came into possession of the -property. - -It was not only a red-letter day in Dick’s life, but his seventeenth -birthday. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - -A NIGHT ATTACK AND A RECOGNITION. - - -Dick also celebrated his seventeenth birthday by taking Jennie Nesbitt -to the Empire Theatre to see a famous actress in a favorite play. - -“She’s just splendid, don’t you think so?” said Jennie as they came out -of the playhouse after the show. - -“Fine,” coincided Dick, enthusiastically. “Do you know, Miss Jennie, -this is the third time in my entire life that I have attended a -theatre?” - -“Is it possible?” she answered in a surprised tone. - -“That’s right. The first week after I came to New York, Joe took me to -the New Amsterdam Theatre. That was actually the very first time I ever -was in a theatre. On the afternoon of Washington’s Birthday I went over -with Joe to Proctor’s Fifth Avenue house. I’ve lived in the backwood, -as they call it, the greater part of my seventeen years.” - -“I’m sure no one would think so by your appearance or your manners,” -said his charming companion. “You are not at all countrified.” - -“Thank you for the compliment. I have tried to adapt myself to my -surroundings. Joe helped to break me in, and I am sure I am indebted to -you for the polish.” - -“It is very nice of you to say that,” she answered, with a blush. “I am -very glad indeed if I have helped you in any way.” - -“You have generously introduced me into your own sphere of society, and -that is a privilege I might otherwise have wished for in vain. It gave -me a chance to associate with well-bred and educated young persons of -my own age, who as a rule have treated me very nicely. It was a great -advantage to me to be under your wing, as it were, and I have improved -it as much as possible. I was a pretty awkward fellow when you first -knew me.” - -“Really, I don’t think you ever were what I should call awkward,” she -said, with a smile, “though of course you were not au fait--that’s -French for instructed or expert--in city ways. But dear me! there isn’t -the slightest sign of hayseed about you now,” and she laughed merrily. - -“The credit then is all yours, Miss Jennie,” said Dick, gallantly. “I’m -afraid I’ll never be able to repay----” - -“Dick Armstrong!” cried the girl, suddenly putting her gloved hand -across his mouth in an imperative sort of way. “You forget what I owe -you--what papa and mamma owe you!” - -“But think what your father has done--is doing for me right along, Miss -Jennie. It was the assurance that he was at my back that enabled me to -carry this real estate deal through and put five thousand dollars in my -pocket.” - -“But papa did not originate nor engineer the transaction,” persisted -the girl. “Nor did he actually do more for you than any lawyer would -have done, except that he did not charge you anything for investigating -the title.” - -“Had the deal failed to go through, I should have lost my thousand -dollars unless he came to my rescue, which I felt sure he would have -done.” - -“Now, Dick--I’m going to call you Dick after this,” she said, with a -blush, “that is, between ourselves, you know, and I wish you would call -me simply Jennie--you mustn’t try to make me think you aren’t smart. -I know you are. Papa says so, and whatever papa says I’m accustomed -to believe. He says you are bound to succeed. Now, I think you have -already succeeded pretty well. You’ve never denied what your friend Mr. -Fletcher----” - -“You mean Joe?” - -“Of course I mean him. What he said about you making eight hundred and -fifty dollars in a month out of nothing just after you left that horrid -Mr. Maslin. Then there’s that water-cooler patent which hasn’t cost you -more than six hundred. Papa says the manufacturer who has taken it in -hand told him it would net you several thousands of dollars in the long -run. Then it wasn’t a month after you had arranged that matter before -you bought the patent rights to a typewriter improvement and sold it in -a week to a manufacturer at a profit of nearly a thousand dollars. Oh, -dear, no; you’re not smart at all--of course not!” - -What answer Dick might have made to the young lady’s enthusiastic -commendation of his business abilities was fated to remain unspoken, -for at that moment a thrilling episode occurred that attracted their -startled attention and in the end led up to a most remarkable climax. - -They were walking through Forty-first Street from Broadway to Sixth -Avenue to take the elevated train at the Forty-second Street station -and had nearly reached the corner when a tall, fine-appearing gentleman -turned into the street from Sixth Avenue and approached them. - -Almost at the identical moment three figures rushed out of the doorway -of the corner building, where they had evidently hidden, and sprang -upon the gentleman. - -The attack was so sudden and unexpected that the intended victim was -thrown to the sidewalk and would have been overpowered but for Dick, -who, notwithstanding the fact that he had a young lady to protect, -could not stand tamely by and witness such an outrage. - -Confident of his own strength and agility, Dick left Miss Nesbitt’s -side and started for the struggling group. - -He felled the foremost assailant with a stunning blow under the -ear--and the boy could hit out mighty hard. - -Then he sprang at the second, who he saw was a husky-looking boy with -his cap pulled well down about his eyes. - -He had just raised a sand-bag to stun the gentleman, but was forced to -relinquish his cowardly purpose and turn and endeavor to defend himself. - -But Dick’s movements were quicker than lightning. - -He had taken the attacking party just as much by surprise as they had -taken their victim. - -His hard, weather-tanned fist caught the young rascal on the point of -the chin. - -The fellow went down beside his dazed comrade, and from that moment he -ceased to take any further interest in the proceedings. - -This left only one more to be accounted for--another boy whose face was -streaked with black as a kind of disguise--and the gentleman himself -soon put him out of business. - -This brought the affair to a satisfactory conclusion. - -“I want to thank you, my brave lad, for coming to my assistance,” said -the stranger, shaking Dick warmly by the hand. “But for you I most -certainly would have been knocked out and robbed.” - -“I am glad I was on hand to help you out,” replied the stalwart boy, -wiping specks of blood from his skinned knuckles. - -“It was fortunate for me you were. You must come with me to my hotel. I -can’t let you off in this shabby manner.” - -“I am afraid you will have to excuse me,” answered the boy, with a -smile, “for I have a young lady yonder waiting for me to take her home.” - -“Indeed!” exclaimed the gentleman, in surprise. - -“Come, Miss Jennie; the danger is all over,” called Dick. And taking -courage at this, Miss Nesbitt advanced from the shadow of the buildings -a few yards away. - -She regarded the three prostrate forms with a little shudder and took -refuge close to her young escort. - -“This is Miss Nesbitt,” began Dick. “I beg your pardon, I don’t know -your name, sir.” - -“Armstrong,” replied the gentleman, raising his hat politely to the -girl. - -“Why, that’s my name!” cried the boy, in surprise. - -“Is it possible?” exclaimed the stranger, regarding the boy with a new -and, we may add, intense interest. - -“Yes, sir; Richard Armstrong. Let me hand you my card.” - -The gentleman took it mechanically without removing his gaze from the -lad’s face. - -“Richard Armstrong!” he repeated, showing for the first time intense -emotion. - -“Yes, sir; but I see these rascals are beginning to move. I think we -had better get away before they recover their senses.” - -“Yes, do come,” urged Jennie Nesbitt, nervously. - -“It’s a pity there isn’t a policeman about to take them into custody,” -said Dick. - -The boy with the blackened face at this point turned around and looked -at Dick. - -He gave a hoarse cry and almost grovelled at the lad’s feet. - -“Save me, Dick Armstrong! Save me!” he cried with a frantic eagerness -that was really pitiful. “Don’t you know me? I am Luke Maslin!” - -Dick started as though he had trod on a live coal. - -Then he seized the disguised boy by the shoulder and peered into his -face. - -He saw he was indeed the storekeeper’s son. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - -WHAT FINALLY COMES TO THE BOY WHO SUCCEEDED. - - -“Great Scott! Luke Maslin! What does this mean? You an associate of -Tenderloin thugs! Is it possible you have got so low as this?” cried -Dick, in indignant amazement. - -“Save me!” almost shrieked Silas Maslin’s son, in abject terror. “They -made me what I am,” and he pointed to the reviving rascals, who were no -other than the man Mudgett and the Walkhill terror, Tim Bunker. “They -won’t let me go home! They make me do as they want! Oh, take me away -from them!” - -“You know this boy?” asked the gentleman who said his name was -Armstrong, grabbing Dick by the arm in a state of almost uncontrollable -agitation. - -“Yes, sir.” - -“Did he not say his name was Maslin?” - -“Yes, sir; that is his name. He is the son of the man with whom I lived -almost all my life--Silas Maslin, of Cobham’s Corner.” - -“Silas Maslin!” exclaimed the gentleman, in great excitement. “Did he -not once live at Franconia, New Hampshire?” - -“That’s right. He did,” replied Dick. - -“And you are the boy who at the age of five was left in his care and -never was called for?” - -“Why--why, how did you know that?” asked Dick, in astonishment. - -“Because I am the man who left you with Mr. Maslin. I am your father, -George Armstrong, and you are the son I have searched for for years, -but could gain no trace of. My boy--my dear, dear boy, this is a -strange, though none the less a providential meeting.” - -He held out his arms to Dick, and the lad, though of course it could -not be expected that he had retained any recollection of his parent, -instinctively felt that this man was indeed the father he had long -yearned to know, but hardly expected to see in this world. - -Needless to say the two embraced right there in the street, to the -silent wonder of Jennie Nesbitt and young Maslin, neither of whom quite -comprehended the meaning of it all. - -At this interesting juncture Mudgett sat up and stared around him like -one recovering from an ugly dream, while almost at the same moment, -a big policeman came sauntering around the corner, swinging his club -negligently to and fro as if such a thing as trouble on his beat was -very far from his thoughts. - -Luke saw him at once and started to run, but Mr. Armstrong blocked his -way. - -“Don’t let him arrest me!” he begged, appealing to Dick. - -“Take this card and call upon me to-morrow, and I will see that you get -home to your people,” he replied. “Let him go--father.” - -It was the first time he had addressed Mr. Armstrong by that title, and -it sounded strange on his lips. - -The gentleman stepped aside, and Luke flew up the street like a -frightened deer. - -This strange proceeding attracted the officer’s attention, and he got -active and alert at once. - -He approached the group at a quick gait. - -“Officer,” said Mr. Armstrong, in a commanding tone, “arrest these two -rascals. They assaulted me with intent to rob. I am stopping at the -Normandie and will appear against them in the morning. Here is my card.” - -“How about that fellow running up the street?” asked the policeman, -sharply. - -“Never mind him. You couldn’t overtake him now.” - -“I’ll have to ask you to step around with us to the station,” said the -officer as he jerked the reviving Tim Bunker to his feet with one hand -and with the other secured a strong grasp on Mudgett’s coat collar. - -“Very well,” acquiesced Mr. Armstrong, with no little reluctance. “Come -to the Hotel Normandie, my son, after you have taken the young lady -home.” - -“I will, father.” - -“Why, Dick!” exclaimed Jennie, when they were once more alone and -headed for the elevated station again. “Please tell me what this means. -Is this gentleman really your father? I thought you told us your father -was dead.” - -“So I did, and so I supposed he was,” replied the boy, whose feelings -were a mixture of joy and bewilderment over this strange and unexpected -discovery. - -And on the way to her home, in Seventy-second Street, he told her -what he had learned about his parentage from the old diary once kept -by Silas Maslin, which he had found in the attic of the storekeeper’s -house at Cobham’s Corner. - -“It was but a bare outline of one short week in my young life’s -history,” he said in conclusion, “but it gave me the key to the -mystery which had till that moment surrounded my parentage--the secret -the Maslins never divulged for reasons of their own. But I shall soon -know all. Yes,” cried the boy, tears of wistful eagerness stealing into -his fine eyes, “to-night before I sleep I shall know who my mother -was--for something tells me she is not alive--that she died long, long -ago, probably about the time my father carried me to Franconia.” - -Jennie was much affected and treated him with a sympathetic gentleness -that warmed his heart toward her more than ever. - -“You must bring your father to see us, Dick, very soon. Remember, we -are all interested in you and whatever concerns you. You will do this, -won’t you?” she said, laying her hand on his arm as they stood at the -outside entrance of her home. - -“Yes,” said the boy, with glistening eyes, “I will. He will be glad to -know those who have been so kind to me. Do you know,” he cried with -impetuous suddenness, “I wish you were my sister?” - -“Do you?” said Jennie, blushing like a rose and suddenly looking down. - -“Yes, I do.” - -Perhaps he did, but that was because he didn’t know any better just -then. - -He thought differently later on--but that is another story. - -However, in the excitement of the moment, and, considering what he had -just passed through he might be well excused, he did a very audacious -thing. - -He actually kissed Jennie Nesbitt then and there. - -Then, realizing the enormity of his offence, he blurted out a hasty -“Good night!” and flew down the stoop, leaving the lovely little blonde -in a state of happy confusion we will not attempt to describe. - -An hour later Dick was seated with his father in an elegant room on the -third floor of the Hotel Normandie, listening to the story that father -had to tell. - -As Dick had guessed, his mother was dead. - -She had passed away on the eve of a financial panic in Boston which had -wrecked his father’s business and temporarily clouded his name with a -suspicion of unfair commercial methods. - -Nearly crazed by the loss of his wife, not to mention his business -reverses, Mr. Armstrong in the first days of his misery fled to the -recesses of New Hampshire, taking his only boy with him. - -“I was shortly summoned back from Franconia by a committee of my -creditors, with whom I succeeded in making a partial arrangement -contingent on the success of certain mining interests I had in the -West,” said Mr. Armstrong. “I sent Mr. Maslin one hundred dollars to -defray your board for a certain length of time, for I could not return -to you immediately as it was urgently necessary I should go at once -to Colorado. Afterward I sent him other sums from the West for a like -purpose. It was five years before I found myself able to return East. -While not rich, I had done very well and my prospects were bright, -my business troubles of the past having been entirely wiped out. -When I went to Franconia I found the Maslins had moved away a short -time before, leaving no clue to their new address, and from that hour -to this day I never obtained a clue, even by the assistance of paid -detectives, to their new home.” - -“And yet, father, all the time they were living at Cobham’s Corner, on -the Erie Canal, and I was living with them, not as a boy whose board -had ever been paid, but as a friendless slave of never-ending toil,” -said Dick, more indignant than ever at the unfair treatment he had -experienced at the hands of Silas Maslin and his wife. - -“The unfeeling rascal!” exclaimed Mr. Armstrong. “But he and I will -have a reckoning that will not tend to his advantage.” - -Notwithstanding this new phase of Mr. Maslin’s duplicity, Dick did not -fail to give Luke, his wayward son, the necessary money to take him -home, when that repentant young man called to see him next morning at -Mr. Nesbitt’s offices. - -Probably the most excited as well as delighted young fellow in New -York next day was Joe Fletcher when his stanch friend and chum told -him the news that he had actually found his father--now a millionaire -mine-owner. - -“I never was so glad at anything in my whole life, Dick, old boy,” he -cried, with a beaming face. And then he stopped, and his countenance -suddenly clouded. “Perhaps a seven-dollar-a-week produce clerk is -hardly a fit companion for the son of the wealthy Mr. Armstrong. It -will break my heart to lose you, Dick, but at least it will be a -satisfaction to know you’ve reached your proper station.” - -“Don’t you talk nonsense, Joe,” said Dick, grasping his hand with a -feeling that could not be mistaken. “Chums we’ve been in adversity, and -so shall we remain in the days when prosperity has overtaken one of us -at least. Glad as I am to recover my father, I am proud to say that, -without any help from him and but little in a business sense from even -Mr. Nesbitt, I have succeeded in making my way to the front, even if I -am only seventeen years old.” - -“That’s right,” agreed Joe, fervently. - -And there were others who also coincided with this opinion, the -Nesbitts, for instance, and Jennie more than her parents, for a few -years later she gave her hand where she had long since given her -heart--to Dick Armstrong, the BOY WHO SUCCEEDED. - - -THE END. - - * * * * * - -Read “A CORNER IN CORN; OR, HOW A CHICAGO BOY DID THE TRICK,” which -will be the next number (3) of “Fame and Fortune Weekly.” - - * * * * * - -SPECIAL NOTICE: All back numbers of this weekly are always in print. If -you cannot obtain them from any newsdealer, send the price in money or -postage stamps by mail to FRANK TOUSEY, PUBLISHER, 24 UNION SQUARE, NEW -YORK, and you will receive the copies you order by return mail. - - - - - WILD WEST WEEKLY - A Magazine Containing Stories, Sketches, etc., of Western Life. - - - =BY AN OLD SCOUT.= - - =32 PAGES.= =PRICE 5 CENTS.= =32 PAGES.= - - =EACH NUMBER IN A HANDSOME COLORED COVER.= - -All of these exciting stories are founded on facts. Young Wild West -is a hero with whom the author was acquainted. His daring deeds and -thrilling adventures have never been surpassed. They form the base of -the most dashing stories ever published. - -Read the following numbers of this most interesting magazine and be -convinced: - - -LATEST ISSUES: - - 100 Young Wild West and the Double Deuce; or, The Domino Gang of - Denver. - 101 Young Wild West on the Prairie; or, The Trail that had no End. - 102 Young Wild West and “Missouri Mike”; or, The Worst Man in Wyoming. - 103 Young Wild West at the Golden Gate; or, A Business Trip to - ’Frisco. - 104 Young Wild West and the Redskin Raiders; or, Arietta’s Leap for - Life. - 105 Young Wild West’s Cowboy Circus; or, Fun at the Mining Camps. - 106 Young Wild West at Pike’s Peak; or, Arietta’s Strange - Disappearance. - 107 Young Wild West’s Six Shots, and the Change They Made at Dead - Man’s Mark. - 108 Young Wild West at the Little Big Horn; or, The Last Stand of - the Cavalry. - 109 Young Wild West’s Big Bluff; or, Playing a Lone Hand. - 110 Young Wild West at Bowie Bend; or, The Ban of the Bandit Band. - 111 Young Wild West’s Ton of Gold; or, The Accident to Arietta. - 112 Young Wild West’s Green Corn Dance; or, A Lively Time with the - Pawnees. - 113 Young Wild West and the Cowboy King; or, Taming a Texas Terror. - 114 Young Wild West’s Pocket of Gold; or, Arietta’s Great Discovery. - 115 Young Wild West and “Shawnee Sam”; or, The Half-Breed’s Treachery. - 116 Young Wild West’s Covered Trail; or, Arietta and the Avalanche. - 117 Young Wild West and the Diamond Dagger; or, The Mexican Girl’s - Revenge. - 118 Young Wild West at Silver Shine; or, A Town Run by “Tenderfeet.” - 119 Young Wild West Surrounded by Sioux; or, Arietta and the Aeronaut. - 120 Young Wild West and the “Puzzle of the Camp”; or, The Girl Who - Owned the Gulch. - 121 Young Wild West and the Mustangers; or, The Boss of the Broncho - Busters. - 122 Young Wild West after the Apaches; or, Arietta’s Arizona - Adventure. - 123 Young Wild West Routing the Robbers; or, Saving Two Million - Dollars. - 124 Young Wild West at Rattlesnake Run; or, Arietta’s Deal with Death. - 125 Young Wild West’s Winning Streak; or, A Straight Trail to - Tombstone. - 126 Young Wild West’s Lightning Lariat; or, Arietta and the Road - Agents. - 127 Young Wild West’s Red-Hot Ride; or, Pursued by Comanches. - 128 Young Wild West and the Blazed Trail; or, Arietta as a Scout. - 129 Young Wild West’s Four of a Kind; or, A Curious Combination. - 130 Young Wild West Caught by the Crooks; or, Arietta on Hand. - 131 Young Wild West and the Ten Terrors; or, The Doom of Dashing Dan. - 132 Young Wild West’s Barrel of “Dust”; or, Arietta’s Chance Shot. - 133 Young Wild West’s Triple Claim; or, Simple Sam, the “Sundowner.” - 134 Young Wild West’s Curious Compact; or, Arietta as an Avenger. - 135 Young Wild West’s Wampum Belt; or, Under the Ban of the Utes. - 136 Young Wild West and the Rio Grande Rustlers; or, The Branding at - Buckhorn Ranch. - 137 Young Wild West and the Line League; or, Arietta Among the - Smugglers. - 138 Young Wild West’s Silver Spurs; or, Fun at Fairplay Fair. - 139 Young Wild West Among the Blackfeet; or, Arietta as a Sorceress. - 140 Young Wild West on the Yellowstone; or, The Secret of the Hidden - Cave. - 141 Young Wild West’s Deadly Aim; or, Arietta’s Greatest Danger. - 142 Young Wild West at the “Jumping Off” Place; or, The Worst Camp in - the West. - 143 Young Wild West and the “Mixed-Up” Mine; or, Arietta a Winner. - 144 Young Wild West’s Hundred Mile Race; or, Beating a Big Bunch. - 145 Young Wild West Daring the Danites; or, The Search for a Missing - Girl. - 146 Young Wild West’s Lively Time; or, The Dandy Duck of the Diggings. - 147 Young Wild West at Hold-Up Canyon; or, Arietta’s Great Victory. - 148 Young Wild West’s Square Deal; or, Making the “Bad” Men Good. - 149 Young Wild West Cowing the Cowboys; or, Arietta and the Prairie - Fire. - 150 Young Wild West and Navajo Ned; or, The Hunt for the Half-Breed - Hermit. - 151 Young Wild West’s Virgin Vein; or, Arietta and the Cave-in. - 152 Young Wild West’s Cowboy Champions; or, The Trip to Kansas City. - 153 Young Wild West’s Even Chance; or, Arietta’s Presence of Mind. - 154 Young Wild West and the Flattened Bullet; or, The Man Who Would - not Drop. - 155 Young Wild West’s Gold Game; or, Arietta’s Full Hand. - 156 Young Wild West’s Cowboy Scrimmage; or, Cooking a Crowd of Crooks. - - -For sale by all newsdealers, or will be sent to any address on receipt -of price, 5 cents per copy, in money or postage stamps, by - - =FRANK TOUSEY, Publisher=, =24 Union Square, New York=. - - -IF YOU WANT ANY BACK NUMBERS - -of our Libraries and cannot procure them from newsdealers, they can be -obtained from this office direct. Cut out and fill in the following -Order Blank and send it to us with the price of the books you want and -we will send them to you by return mail. - - =POSTAGE STAMPS TAKEN THE SAME AS MONEY.= - - FRANK TOUSEY, Publisher, 24 Union Square, New York. ......190 - Dear Sir--Enclosed find......cents for which please send me: - ....copies of WORK AND WIN, Nos........................................ - ....copies of WILD WEST WEEKLY, Nos.................................... - ....copies of THE LIBERTY BOYS OF ’76, Nos............................. - ....copies of PLUCK AND LUCK, Nos...................................... - ....copies of SECRET SERVICE, Nos...................................... - ....copies of THE YOUNG ATHLETE’S WEEKLY, Nos.......................... - ....copies of Ten-Cent Hand Books, Nos................................. - Name.................Street and No................Town..........State.. - - -These Books Tell You Everything! - -A COMPLETE SET IS A REGULAR ENCYCLOPEDIA! - -Each book consists of sixty-four pages, printed on good paper, in -clear type and neatly bound in an attractive, illustrated cover. Most -of the books are also profusely illustrated, and all of the subjects -treated upon are explained in such a simple manner that any child can -thoroughly understand them. Look over the list as classified and see if -you want to know anything about the subjects mentioned. - -THESE BOOKS ARE FOR SALE BY ALL NEWSDEALERS OR WILL BE SENT BY MAIL TO -ANY ADDRESS FROM THIS OFFICE ON RECEIPT OF PRICE, TEN CENTS EACH, OR -ANY THREE BOOKS FOR TWENTY-FIVE CENTS. POSTAGE STAMPS TAKEN THE SAME AS -MONEY. Address FRANK TOUSEY, Publisher, 24 Union Square, N. Y. - - -MESMERISM. - -No. 81. HOW TO MESMERIZE.--Containing the most approved methods of -mesmerism; also how to cure all kinds of diseases by animal magnetism, -or, magnetic healing. By Prof. Leo Hugo Koch, A. C. S., author of “How -to Hypnotize,” etc. - - -PALMISTRY. - -No. 82. HOW TO DO PALMISTRY.--Containing the most approved methods of -reading the lines on the hand, together with a full explanation of -their meaning. Also explaining phrenology, and the key for telling -character by the bumps on the head. By Leo Hugo Koch, A. C. S. Fully -illustrated. - - -HYPNOTISM. - -No. 83. HOW TO HYPNOTIZE.--Containing valuable and instructive -information regarding the science of hypnotism. Also explaining the -most approved methods which are employed by the leading hypnotists of -the world. By Leo Hugo Koch, A. C. S. - - -SPORTING. - -No. 21. HOW TO HUNT AND FISH.--The most complete hunting and fishing -guide ever published. It contains full instructions about guns, hunting -dogs, traps, trapping and fishing, together with descriptions of game -and fish. - -No. 26. HOW TO ROW, SAIL AND BUILD A BOAT.--Fully illustrated. Every -boy should know how to row and sail a boat. Full instructions are given -in this little book, together with instructions on swimming and riding, -companion sports to boating. - -No. 47. HOW TO BREAK, RIDE AND DRIVE A HORSE.--A complete treatise on -the horse. Describing the most useful horses for business, the best -horses for the road; also valuable recipes for diseases peculiar to the -horse. - -No. 48. HOW TO BUILD AND SAIL CANOES.--A handy book for boys, -containing full directions for constructing canoes and the most popular -manner of sailing them. Fully illustrated. By C. Stansfield Hicks. - - -FORTUNE TELLING. - -No. 1. NAPOLEON’S ORACULUM AND DREAM BOOK.--Containing the great -oracle of human destiny; also the true meaning of almost any kind of -dreams, together with charms, ceremonies, and curious games of cards. A -complete book. - -No. 23. HOW TO EXPLAIN DREAMS.--Everybody dreams, from the little child -to the aged man and woman. This little book gives the explanation -to all kinds of dreams, together with lucky and unlucky days, and -“Napoleon’s Oraculum,” the book of fate. - -No. 28. HOW TO TELL FORTUNES.--Everyone is desirous of knowing what his -future life will bring forth, whether happiness or misery, wealth or -poverty. You can tell by a glance at this little book. Buy one and be -convinced. Tell your own fortune. Tell the fortune of your friends. - -No. 76. HOW TO TELL FORTUNES BY THE HAND.--Containing rules for telling -fortunes by the aid of lines of the hand, or the secret of palmistry. -Also the secret of telling future events by aid of moles, marks, scars, -etc. Illustrated. By A. Anderson. - - -ATHLETIC. - -No. 6. HOW TO BECOME AN ATHLETE.--Giving full instruction for the -use of dumb bells, Indian clubs, parallel bars, horizontal bars and -various other methods of developing a good, healthy muscle; containing -over sixty illustrations. Every boy can become strong and healthy by -following the instructions contained in this little book. - -No. 10. HOW TO BOX.--The art of self-defense made easy. Containing over -thirty illustrations of guards, blows, and the different positions of a -good boxer. Every boy should obtain one of these useful and instructive -books, as it will teach you how to box without an instructor. - -No. 25. HOW TO BECOME A GYMNAST.--Containing full instructions for all -kinds of gymnastic sports and athletic exercises. Embracing thirty-five -illustrations. By Professor W. Macdonald. A handy and useful book. - -No. 34. HOW TO FENCE.--Containing full instruction for fencing and -the use of the broadsword; also instruction in archery. Described -with twenty-one practical illustrations, giving the best positions in -fencing. A complete book. - - -TRICKS WITH CARDS. - -No. 51. HOW TO DO TRICKS WITH CARDS.--Containing explanations of the -general principles of sleight-of-hand applicable to card tricks; of -card tricks with ordinary cards, and not requiring sleight-of-hand; -of tricks involving sleight-of-hand, or the use of specially prepared -cards. By Professor Haffner. Illustrated. - -No. 72. HOW TO DO SIXTY TRICKS WITH CARDS.--Embracing all of the latest -and most deceptive card tricks, with illustrations. By A. Anderson. - -No. 77. HOW TO DO FORTY TRICKS WITH CARDS.--Containing deceptive Card -Tricks as performed by leading conjurors and magicians. Arranged for -home amusement. Fully illustrated. - - -MAGIC. - -No. 2. HOW TO DO TRICKS.--The great book of magic and card tricks, -containing full instruction on all the leading card tricks of the day, -also the most popular magical illusions as performed by our leading -magicians; every boy should obtain a copy of this book, as it will both -amuse and instruct. - -No. 22. HOW TO DO SECOND SIGHT.--Heller’s second sight explained by his -former assistant, Fred Hunt, Jr. Explaining how the secret dialogues -were carried on between the magician and the boy on the stage; also -giving all the codes and signals. The only authentic explanation of -second sight. - -No. 43. HOW TO BECOME A MAGICIAN.--Containing the grandest assortment -of magical illusions ever placed before the public. Also tricks with -cards, incantations, etc. - -No. 68. HOW TO DO CHEMICAL TRICKS.--Containing over one hundred -highly amusing and instructive tricks with chemicals. By A. Anderson. -Handsomely illustrated. - -No. 69. HOW TO DO SLEIGHT OF HAND.--Containing over fifty of the latest -and best tricks used by magicians. Also containing the secret of second -sight. Fully illustrated. By A. Anderson. - -No. 70. HOW TO MAKE MAGIC TOYS.--Containing full directions for making -Magic Toys and devices of many kinds. By A. Anderson. Fully illustrated. - -No. 73. HOW TO DO TRICKS WITH NUMBERS.--Showing many curious tricks -with figures and the magic of numbers. By A. Anderson. Fully -illustrated. - -No. 75. HOW TO BECOME A CONJUROR.--Containing tricks with Dominos, -Dice, Cups and Balls, Hats, etc. Embracing thirty-six illustrations. By -A. Anderson. - -No. 78. HOW TO DO THE BLACK ART.--Containing a complete description -of the mysteries of Magic and Sleight of Hand, together with many -wonderful experiments. By A. Anderson. Illustrated. - - -MECHANICAL. - -No. 29. HOW TO BECOME AN INVENTOR.--Every boy should know how -inventions originated. This book explains them all, giving examples in -electricity, hydraulics, magnetism, optics, pneumatics, mechanics, etc. -The most instructive book published. - -No. 56. HOW TO BECOME AN ENGINEER.--Containing full instructions how -to proceed in order to become a locomotive engineer; also directions -for building a model locomotive; together with a full description of -everything an engineer should know. - -No. 57. HOW TO MAKE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.--Full directions how to make -a Banjo, Violin, Zither, Æolian Harp, Xylophone and other musical -instruments; together with a brief description of nearly every musical -instrument used in ancient or modern times. Profusely illustrated. By -Algernon S. Fitzgerald, for twenty years bandmaster of the Royal Bengal -Marines. - -No. 59. HOW TO MAKE A MAGIC LANTERN.--Containing a description of the -lantern, together with its history and invention. Also full directions -for its use and for painting slides. Handsomely illustrated. By John -Allen. - -No. 71. HOW TO DO MECHANICAL TRICKS.--Containing complete instructions -for performing over sixty Mechanical Tricks. By A. Anderson. Fully -illustrated. - - -LETTER WRITING. - -No. 11. HOW TO WRITE LOVE-LETTERS.--A most complete little book, -containing full directions for writing love-letters, and when to use -them, giving specimen letters for young and old. - -No. 12. HOW TO WRITE LETTERS TO LADIES.--Giving complete instructions -for writing letters to ladies on all subjects; also letters of -introduction, notes and requests. - -No. 24. HOW TO WRITE LETTERS TO GENTLEMEN.--Containing full directions -for writing to gentlemen on all subjects; also giving sample letters -for instruction. - -No. 53. HOW TO WRITE LETTERS.--A wonderful little book, telling you -how to write to your sweetheart, your father, mother, sister, brother, -employer; and, in fact, everybody and anybody you wish to write to. -Every young man and every young lady in the land should have this book. - -No. 74. HOW TO WRITE LETTERS CORRECTLY.--Containing full instructions -for writing letters on almost any subject; also rules for punctuation -and composition, with specimen letters. - - -THE STAGE. - -No. 41. THE BOYS OF NEW YORK END MEN’S JOKE BOOK.--Containing a great -variety of the latest jokes used by the most famous end men. No amateur -minstrel is complete without this wonderful little book. - -No. 42. THE BOYS OF NEW YORK STUMP SPEAKER.--Containing a varied -assortment of stump speeches, Negro, Dutch and Irish. Also end men’s -jokes. Just the thing for home amusement and amateur shows. - -No. 45. THE BOYS OF NEW YORK MINSTREL GUIDE AND JOKE BOOK.--Something -new and very instructive. Every boy should obtain this book, as it -contains full instructions for organizing an amateur minstrel troupe. - -No. 65. MULDOON’S JOKES.--This is one of the most original joke books -ever published, and it is brimful of wit and humor. It contains a large -collection of songs, jokes, conundrums, etc., of Terrence Muldoon, the -great wit, humorist, and practical joker of the day. Every boy who can -enjoy a good substantial joke should obtain a copy immediately. - -No. 79. HOW TO BECOME AN ACTOR.--Containing complete instructions how -to make up for various characters on the stage; together with the -duties of the Stage Manager, Prompter, Scenic Artist and Property Man. -By a prominent Stage Manager. - -No. 80. GUS WILLIAMS’ JOKE BOOK.--Containing the latest jokes, -anecdotes and funny stories of this world-renowned and ever popular -German comedian. Sixty-four pages; handsome colored cover containing a -half-tone photo of the author. - - -HOUSEKEEPING. - -No. 16. HOW TO KEEP A WINDOW GARDEN.--Containing full instructions -for constructing a window garden either in town or country, and the -most approved methods for raising beautiful flowers at home. The most -complete book of the kind ever published. - -No. 30. HOW TO COOK.--One of the most instructive books on cooking -ever published. It contains recipes for cooking meats, fish, game, and -oysters; also pies, puddings, cakes and all kinds of pastry, and a -grand collection of recipes by one of our most popular cooks. - -No. 37. HOW TO KEEP HOUSE.--It contains information for everybody, -boys, girls, men and women; it will teach you how to make almost -anything around the house, such as parlor ornaments, brackets, cements, -Aeolian harps, and bird lime for catching birds. - - -ELECTRICAL. - -No. 46. HOW TO MAKE AND USE ELECTRICITY.--A description of the -wonderful uses of electricity and electro magnetism; together with -full instructions for making Electric Toys, Batteries, etc. By George -Trebel, A. M., M. D. Containing over fifty illustrations. - -No. 64. HOW TO MAKE ELECTRICAL MACHINES.--Containing full directions -for making electrical machines, induction coils, dynamos, and many -novel toys to be worked by electricity. By R. A. R. Bennett. Fully -illustrated. - -No. 67. HOW TO DO ELECTRICAL TRICKS.--Containing a large collection -of instructive and highly amusing electrical tricks, together with -illustrations. By A. Anderson. - - -ENTERTAINMENT. - -No. 9. HOW TO BECOME A VENTRILOQUIST.--By Harry Kennedy. The secret -given away. Every intelligent boy reading this book of instructions, -by a practical professor (delighting multitudes every night with his -wonderful imitations), can master the art, and create any amount of fun -for himself and friends. It is the greatest book ever published, and -there’s millions (of fun) in it. - -No. 20. HOW TO ENTERTAIN AN EVENING PARTY.--A very valuable little -book just published. A complete compendium of games, sports, -card diversions, comic recitations, etc., suitable for parlor or -drawing-room entertainment. It contains more for the money than any -book published. - -No. 35. HOW TO PLAY GAMES.--A complete and useful little book, -containing the rules and regulations of billiards, bagatelle, -backgammon, croquet, dominoes, etc. - -No. 36. HOW TO SOLVE CONUNDRUMS.--Containing all the leading conundrums -of the day, amusing riddles, curious catches and witty sayings. - -No. 52. HOW TO PLAY CARDS.--A complete and handy little book, giving -the rules and full directions for playing Euchre, Cribbage, Casino, -Forty-Five, Rounce, Pedro Sancho, Draw Poker, Auction Pitch, All Fours, -and many other popular games of cards. - -No. 66. HOW TO DO PUZZLES.--Containing over three hundred interesting -puzzles and conundrums, with key to same. A complete book. Fully -illustrated. By A. Anderson. - - -ETIQUETTE. - -No. 13. HOW TO DO IT; OR, BOOK OF ETIQUETTE.--It is a great life -secret, and one that every young man desires to know all about. There’s -happiness in it. - -No. 33. HOW TO BEHAVE.--Containing the rules and etiquette of good -society and the easiest and most approved methods of appearing to -good advantage at parties, balls, the theatre, church, and in the -drawing-room. - - -DECLAMATION. - -No. 27. HOW TO RECITE AND BOOK OF RECITATIONS.--Containing the most -popular selections in use, comprising Dutch dialect, French dialect, -Yankee and Irish dialect pieces, together with many standard readings. - -No. 31. HOW TO BECOME A SPEAKER.--Containing fourteen illustrations, -giving the different positions requisite to become a good speaker, -reader and elocutionist. Also containing gems from all the popular -authors of prose and poetry, arranged in the most simple and concise -manner possible. - -No. 49. HOW TO DEBATE.--Giving rules for conducting debates, outlines -for debates, questions for discussion, and the best sources for -procuring information on the questions given. - - -SOCIETY. - -No. 3. HOW TO FLIRT.--The arts and wiles of flirtation are fully -explained by this little book. Besides the various methods of -handkerchief, fan, glove, parasol, window and hat flirtation, it -contains a full list of the language and sentiment of flowers, which -is interesting to everybody, both old and young. You cannot be happy -without one. - -No. 4. HOW TO DANCE is the title of a new and handsome little book just -issued by Frank Tousey. It contains full instructions in the art of -dancing, etiquette in the ball-room and at parties, how to dress, and -full directions for calling off in all popular square dances. - -No. 5. HOW TO MAKE LOVE.--A complete guide to love, courtship and -marriage, giving sensible advice, rules and etiquette to be observed, -with many curious and interesting things not generally known. - -No. 17. HOW TO DRESS.--Containing full instruction in the art of -dressing and appearing well at home and abroad, giving the selections -of colors, material, and how to have them made up. - -No. 18. HOW TO BECOME BEAUTIFUL.--One of the brightest and most -valuable little books ever given to the world. Everybody wishes to know -how to become beautiful, both male and female. The secret is simple, -and almost costless. Read this book and be convinced how to become -beautiful. - - -BIRDS AND ANIMALS. - -No. 7. HOW TO KEEP BIRDS.--Handsomely illustrated and containing -full instructions for the management and training of the canary, -mockingbird, bobolink, blackbird, paroquet, parrot, etc. - -No. 39. HOW TO RAISE DOGS, POULTRY, PIGEONS AND RABBITS.--A useful and -instructive book. Handsomely illustrated. By Ira Drofraw. - -No. 40. HOW TO MAKE AND SET TRAPS.--Including hints on how to catch -moles, weasels, otters, rats, squirrels and birds. Also how to cure -skins. Copiously illustrated. By J. Harrington Keene. - -No. 50. HOW TO STUFF BIRDS AND ANIMALS.--A valuable book, giving -instructions in collecting, preparing, mounting and preserving birds, -animals and insects. - -No. 54. HOW TO KEEP AND MANAGE PETS.--Giving complete information as -to the manner and method of raising, keeping, taming, breeding, and -managing all kinds of pets; also giving full instructions for making -cages, etc. Fully explained by twenty-eight illustrations, making it -the most complete book of the kind ever published. - - -MISCELLANEOUS. - -No. 8. HOW TO BECOME A SCIENTIST.--A useful and instructive book, -giving a complete treatise on chemistry; also experiments in acoustics, -mechanics, mathematics, chemistry, and directions for making fireworks, -colored fires, and gas balloons. This book cannot be equaled. - -No. 14. HOW TO MAKE CANDY.--A complete hand-book for making all kinds -of candy, ice-cream, syrups, essences, etc., etc. - -No. 34. HOW TO BECOME AN AUTHOR.--Containing full information regarding -choice of subjects, the use of words and the manner of preparing and -submitting manuscript. Also containing valuable information as to the -neatness, legibility and general composition of manuscript, essential -to a successful author. By Prince Hiland. - -No. 38. HOW TO BECOME YOUR OWN DOCTOR.--A wonderful book, containing -useful and practical information in the treatment of ordinary diseases -and ailments common to every family. Abounding in useful and effective -recipes for general complaints. - -No. 55. HOW TO COLLECT STAMPS AND COINS.--Containing valuable -information regarding the collecting and arranging of stamps and coins. -Handsomely illustrated. - -No. 58. HOW TO BE A DETECTIVE.--By Old King Brady, the world-known -detective. In which he lays down some valuable and sensible rules -for beginners, and also relates some adventures and experiences of -well-known detectives. - -No. 60. HOW TO BECOME A PHOTOGRAPHER.--Containing useful information -regarding the Camera and how to work it; also how to make Photographic -Magic Lantern Slides and other Transparencies. Handsomely illustrated. -By Captain W. De W. Abney. - -No. 62. HOW TO BECOME A WEST POINT MILITARY CADET.--Containing full -explanations how to gain admittance, course of Study, Examinations, -Duties, Staff of Officers, Post Guard, Police Regulations, Fire -Department, and all a boy should know to be a Cadet. Compiled and -written by Lu Senarens, author of “How to Become a Naval Cadet.” - -No. 63. HOW TO BECOME A NAVAL CADET.--Complete instructions of how to -gain admission to the Annapolis Naval Academy. Also containing the -course of instruction, description of grounds and buildings, historical -sketch, and everything a boy should know to become an officer in the -United States Navy. Compiled and written by Lu Senarens, author of “How -to Become a West Point Military Cadet.” - - - =PRICE 10 CENTS EACH, OR 3 FOR 25 CENTS.= - =Address FRANK TOUSEY, Publisher, 24 Union Square, New York.= - - - - - FRANK MANLEY’S WEEKLY - Good Stories of Young Athletes - - =(Formerly “THE YOUNG ATHLETE’S WEEKLY”)= - - BY “PHYSICAL DIRECTOR” - - A 32-PAGE BOOK FOR 5 CENTS - - =Issued Every Friday= =Handsome Colored Covers= - -These intensely interesting stories describe the adventures of Frank -Manley, a plucky young athlete, who tries to excel in all kinds of -games and pastimes. Each number contains a story of manly sports, -replete with lively incidents, dramatic situations and a sparkle of -humor. Every popular game will be featured in the succeeding stories, -such as baseball, skating, wrestling, etc. Not only are these stories -the very best, but they teach you how to become strong and healthy. -You can learn to become a trained athlete by reading the valuable -information on physical culture they contain. From time to time the -wonderful Japanese methods of self-protection, called Jiu-Jitsu, will -be explained. A page is devoted to advice on healthy exercises, and -questions on athletic subjects are cheerfully answered by the author -“PHYSICAL DIRECTOR.” - - No. 1 Frank Manley’s Real Fight; or, - What the Push-ball Game Brought About. - No. 2 Frank Manley’s Lightning Track; or, - Speed’s Part in a Great Crisis. - No. 3 Frank Manley’s Amazing Vault; or, - Pole and Brains in Deadly Earnest. - No. 4 Frank Manley’s Gridiron Grill; or, - The Try-Out for Football Grit. - No. 5 Frank Manley’s Great Line-Up; or, - The Woodstock Eleven on the Jump. - No. 6 Frank Manley’s Prize Tackle; or, - The Football Tactics that Won. - No. 7 Frank Manley’s Mad Scrimmage; or, - The Trick that Dazed Bradford. - No. 8 Frank Manley’s Lion-Hearted Rush; or, - Staking Life on the Outcome. - - -For sale by all newsdealers, or will be sent to any address on receipt -of price, 5 cents per copy, in money or postage stamps, by - - =FRANK TOUSEY, Publisher=, =24 Union Square, New York=. - - -The Young Athlete’s Weekly - -By “PHYSICAL DIRECTOR” - - =BE STRONG!= =BE HEALTHY!= - -LATEST ISSUES: - - 8 Frank Manley’s Human Ladder; or, The Quickest Climb on Record. - 9 Frank Manley’s Protege; or, Jack Winston, Great Little Athlete. - 10 Frank Manley’s Off Day; or, The Greatest Strain in His Career. - 11 Frank Manley on Deck; or, At Work at Indoor Baseball. - 12 Frank Manley At the Bat; or, “The Up-and-at-’em Boys” on the - Diamond. - 13 Frank Manley’s Hard Home Hit; or, The Play That Surprised the - Bradfords. - 14 Frank Manley in the Box; or, The Curve That Rattled Bradford. - 15 Frank Manley’s Scratch Hit; or, The Luck of “The Up-and-at-’em - Boys.” - 16 Frank Manley’s Double Play; or, The Game That Brought Fortune. - 17 Frank Manley’s All-around Game; or, Playing All the Nine Positions. - 18 Frank Manley’s Eight-Oared Crew; or, Tod Owen’s Decoration Day - Regatta. - 19 Frank Manley’s Earned Run; or, The Sprint That Won a Cup. - 20 Frank Manley’s Triple Play; or, The Only Hope of the Nine. - 21 Frank Manley’s Training Table; or, Whipping the Nine into Shape. - 22 Frank Manley’s Coaching; or, The Great Game that “Jackets” Pitched. - 23 Frank Manley’s First League Game; or, The Fourth of July Battle - With Bradford. - 24 Frank Manley’s Match with Giants; or, The Great Game With the Alton - “Grown-Ups.” - 25 Frank Manley’s Training Camp; or, Getting in Trim for the Greatest - Ball Game. - 26 Frank Manley’s Substitute Nine; or, A Game of Pure Grit. - 27 Frank Manley’s Longest Swim; or, Battling with Bradford in the - Water. - 28 Frank Manley’s Bunch of Hits; or, Breaking the Season’s Batting - Record. - 29 Frank Manley’s Double Game; or, The Wonderful Four-Team Match. - 30 Frank Manley’s Summer Meet; or, “Trying Out” the Bradfords. - 31 Frank Manley at His Wits’ End; or, Playing Against a Bribed Umpire. - 32 Frank Manley’s Last Ball Game; or, The Season’s Exciting Good-Bye - to the Diamond. - - -For sale by all newsdealers, or will be sent to any address on receipt -of price, 5 cents per copy, in money or postage stamps, by - - =FRANK TOUSEY, Publisher=, =24 Union Square, New York=. - - -IF YOU WANT ANY BACK NUMBERS - -of our Libraries and cannot procure them from newsdealers, they can be -obtained from this office direct. Cut out and fill in the following -Order Blank and send it to us with the price of the books you want and -we will send them to you by return mail. - - =POSTAGE STAMPS TAKEN THE SAME AS MONEY.= - - * * * * * - - FRANK TOUSEY, Publisher, 24 Union Square, New York. ......190 - Dear Sir--Enclosed find......cents for which please send me: - ....copies of WORK AND WIN, Nos........................................ - ....copies of FRANK MANLEY’S WEEKLY, Nos............................... - ....copies of WILD WEST WEEKLY, Nos.................................... - ....copies of THE LIBERTY BOYS OF ’76, Nos............................. - ....copies of PLUCK AND LUCK, Nos...................................... - ....copies of SECRET SERVICE, Nos...................................... - ....copies of THE YOUNG ATHLETE’S WEEKLY, Nos.......................... - ....copies of Ten-Cent Hand Books, Nos................................. - Name.................Street and No................Town..........State.. - - - - - Fame and Fortune Weekly - _STORIES OF BOYS WHO MAKE MONEY_ - - =By A SELF-MADE MAN= - - _=32 Pages of Reading Matter=_ _=Handsome Colored Covers=_ - - =☛ PRICE 5 CENTS A COPY ☚= - - =☛ A New One Issued Every Friday ☚= - - -This Weekly contains interesting stories of smart boys, who win -fame and fortune by their ability to take advantage of passing -opportunities. Some of these stories are founded on true incidents -in the lives of our most successful self-made men, and show how a -boy of pluck, perseverance and brains can become famous and wealthy. -Every one of this series contains a good moral tone, which makes “Fame -and Fortune Weekly” a magazine for the home, although each number -is replete with exciting adventures. The stories are the very best -obtainable, the illustrations are by expert artists, and every effort -is constantly being made to make it the best weekly on the news stands. -Tell your friends about it. - - -THE FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF THE FIRST EIGHT TITLES AND DATES OF ISSUE - - No. 1.--A Lucky Deal; or, The Cutest Boy in Wall Street - Issued Oct. 6th - No. 2.--Born to Good Luck; or, The Boy Who Succeeded - Issued Oct. 13th - No. 3.--A Corner in Corn; or, How a Chicago Boy Did the Trick - Issued Oct. 20th - No. 4.--A Game of Chance; or, The Boy Who Won Out - Issued Oct. 27th - No. 5.--Hard to Beat; or, The Cleverest Boy in Wall Street - Issued Nov. 3rd - No. 6.--Building a Railroad; or, The Young Contractors of Lakeview - Issued Nov. 10th - No. 7.--Winning His Way; or, The Youngest Editor in Green River - Issued Nov. 17th - No. 8.--The Wheel of Fortune; or, The Record of a Self-Made Boy - Issued Nov. 24th - -For sale by all newsdealers, or will be sent to any address on receipt -of price, 5 cents per copy in money or postage stamps, by - - =FRANK TOUSEY, Publisher= * * * =24 Union Square, New York= - - -IF YOU WANT ANY BACK NUMBERS - -of our Libraries and cannot procure them from newsdealers, they can be -obtained from this office direct. Cut out and fill in the following -Order Blank and send it to us with the price of the books you want and -we will send them to you by return mail. - - =POSTAGE STAMPS TAKEN THE SAME AS MONEY.= - - * * * * * - - FRANK TOUSEY, Publisher, 24 Union Square, New York. ......190 - Dear Sir--Enclosed find......cents for which please send me: - ....copies of WORK AND WIN, Nos........................................ - ....copies of FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY, Nos............................. - ....copies of FRANK MANLEY’S WEEKLY, Nos............................... - ....copies of WILD WEST WEEKLY, Nos.................................... - ....copies of THE LIBERTY BOYS OF ’76, Nos............................. - ....copies of PLUCK AND LUCK, Nos...................................... - ....copies of SECRET SERVICE, Nos...................................... - ....copies of YOUNG ATHLETE’S WEEKLY, Nos.............................. - ....copies of TEN-CENT HANDBOOKS, Nos.................................. - Name.................Street and No................Town..........State.. - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes - - -A number of typographical errors were corrected silently. - -Cover image is in the public domain. - -Dittoes were replaced with the repeated words. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAME AND FORTUNE WEEKLY, NO. 2, -OCTOBER 13, 1905 *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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