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“THA PP YL
DAYS™T™
(This story commenced in No, 232.
HUSTLING HARRY,
—-THE— ..
Smartest Boy in Newtown;
, OR,
’ Making Everything Pay.
By JAS. D. MONTACUE,
Author of ‘ The Star Athletic Club," ”
“Walt Whitney,” “Neck and
veck,” “Seven Diamond
Skulls,” ete, ete.
CHAPTER XXII.
JOHN LATELLE HAS VISITORS,
E Queen City had burned almost to
“the ater’ edge. The water bad rushed
into her hold, and now, she went down
witha mighty’ Jureh.
are was a terrible hissing and splut-
tering and then darkness ensued. e@
scene was ende'
The noble steamer was a charred wreck
at the bottom of the river. Tully a dozen
of the passengers and crew were there also,
It wa’ one of the darkest tragedies ever
known in that part of the country. It is
certain that the perpetrator merited con-
dign punishinen
W. Arthur rent! pushed off from the
steamer aftem his brave rescue of Harry
ae he quickly explained matters to
vite Thad been among the last to reach
OLe. There oo inquiry was made for
isting Har
rybody Yaa noted his coolness and
e had come i a8 much
e@ “cas not to be
Probably in trying to swim for
steamer,
e the current had carried him
the shor
own,
He was given up for lost, but Arthur
- Bent sprang into a boat and rowed out to
the burning steamer,
lle was determined to find his body, if no
more, Hg knew that he was incurring a
in approaching phe sinking ves-
sel, but this did not deter b
The rest we know. -
‘When they Teached shore safely, they
met with an ovation, Farmhouses were
near, and the country, People eared for the
castaways until morning caine.
News had reached Colonel Foster of the
affair, and the next morning he was on
the spot early, The passengers were trans-
ported back to Fulton,
There they took the next steamer, the
Prairie Lily, and went on their way se-
cnrely, but none in the company would
ioreet the incidents of “that night. ~
Colonel Foster was all broken up over
the loss of the Queen City, which was his
favorite steamer,
““T don't see what could have caused the
fire,” he declared, “She was ell built,
and the cargo was not inflamm
Harry took the colonel into his office and
I have a very important revelation to
‘olonel Foster looked astonished.
8 Wha tis it?’ be as
we “You ate eee aa ot the loss of the
“Queen City and unable to account for the
origin o' of, the fire,
“Tt was incendiary.”
“My soul! You know that?”
“T do.
‘* But—the motive?”
** Personal hatred and revenge.
Colonel Foster was suneroae ted. Then
8 suspician began to creep through his
brain.
“Ah I” he said slowly. pe. you have
any idea as to who this person i:
“T am positive that it is John Latelle,”
replied Harry.
‘John Latelle I”
Colonel F Seles sat silent and thoughtful
for some mo! ments. Finally he said:
- “Tell me, Harry, why you think John
Latelle is the author of the'tragedy? Did
you see him on
hie “e No, but one of the incendiaries spoke
13
‘Then “iiarry detailed the whole story of
his experiences on the burning steamer
deck with Dane and Page. Arthur Bent
wis the only.pther person in the secret,
Colonel Foster listened with ‘lee pest i in-
te When Ilarry had finished, he
ka
“Harry, this is the knell of doom for
those Lateltes.
conmunity of Newtown,
mittter to detectives, and Jobn Latelle will
pass the remainder of his days as he de-
serves, behind prison
And indeed he richly deserves that,”
Viarey,
True to his word; Colonel Poster put the
case in the hands of the detec
Bui the meanwhile other “troubles
along to contribute to the ultimate
downfall of the Latelle:
on en they heard of the fate of the Queen
and the two, father and son, shook hands
ni chuelsled with glee.
f their fine boats gone,” declared
John "Latelle. “There was quite a loss of
life, too. The suits against the company
will aggregate a qaarter of a million!"
“ Luek i is with us?” declared Pai
+ “Yes, a
finances wil mot be so very secure,
ul,
few more such losses and their
Ah,
revenge is 8
“Bill and Jim “dia well, But they failed
in, one thin
“AbT
“They did not send ] Hustling Harry, so-
called, down with th
“They robably ¢ couldn te ‘make it work,
The: we next
“
80.
At this moment they were ina private
room at the Latelle mansion, Jtw the
second night after the tragedy,
Just then the bell rang.
servant who went to the door
seemed to be having a squabble of some
nd.
‘John Latelle put his head out of the door
and shouted:
“« What i is the matter out there?”
*; There's two tramps out here want to
get in, in,” ened t the butler. “I’m keeping
t
“ See that you do so a replied John La-
tees with an oath, “Kick them off the
eps.
‘Then a terrific crash followed, and the
butler went reeling the length of the hall,
Two rough-looking men entere
John Latelle grasped a loaded” revolver
froma s a shelf and started for them, Bu
e
itors were familiar to
“Dane and Page I" he Paelaimed, “How
is this?”
“ Yas, how is it?” roared Dane, savage-
ly. “You can tell yer butler to kick us
off ther steps, eh? Howis it?”
said Latelle, ob-
“Tt is a mistake, tose”
sequiously. “He didn’t know you. Come
right
“ Well, aS don’t like these kind of mis-
takes. ee
“ Come i in, come in
“Ts it a straight deal”
**Can’t you see it is
The two villains now entered the room,
Paul Latelle was sitting at the table. John
Tatelle hastened .to make amends for the
8 The butler is old, gentlemen,” he said
“ ‘He didn’t know you, nor did
e want is a straight deal,” said
Dane, doggedly. ‘* Wedo yer dirty work
and we want to be used squar
““Well, you will be,” replied Latelle.
“Can you find any fault so f:
"We ain’t got our money sat”
“Pat you will get it!”
“s Well that what we want,”
“Sit d
The two wh ians complied, Latelle took
pan. a decanter of wine and filled some
glas: - .
“ Gentlemen,” he said, craftily, ‘let
us drink to future successes as great as
that of the Sinking of the Queen City.”
“ Here ye gd!" cried Dane with an oath
as he drained his glass. “*1t was a ticklish
job, but we did it, And now we must get
out of the country.” ~
CHAPTER XXIII,
THE SHADOW OF LOOM.
Tne Latelle mansion was of the old-
fashioned manor type. The room had been
designed for a library.
There were two long windows reaching
from ceiling a floor, They opened out
upon a ba
At one of “these windows and crouching
on the balcony were two men.
slouch hats and peered through the slit in
the blinds. Every word uttered in the
room was audible to t!
“ You are all safe!” admonished Latelle,
setting down his wine glass.
not through yet, You can {sink another
steamer w ithout any danger.” -
n’t see it,” said Dane,
“Nor Tr declared Page.
Latelle was surprise
“ gust ta such a success of this affair
you ought to try a;
“Nov tb muc: ua Be
wots for honey r
a]
o
a
o
Lavelle was astonished,
“I don’t understand you,” he said. “You
have nothing to risk. You carried out, this
job well enough except for one thing.”
“What was that?" asked Page,
“You ought to have taken. care of that
young Martin, as you agreed to
age exchanged oplances.
They ‘bent, forward, and the latter said:
“That's what has got us into trouble,
If it hadn't been fer trying that we'd have
ob away without suspicion ae
le saw that the two pneeremonious vis- t
“Suspicion!” gasped Latelle. ‘ “What
has happened? Who is suspecte:
“Al of us,” replied Page. ** yar as well
as
“ ‘Ne r gasped Latelle, with livid face.
“ “Whal bave I todo with it?”
“Why, you Jantern-jaw ed pirate, you
have all to do with it!” cried Dane, sav-
“Didn't you crack up the scheme,
didn’t we simply carry it out for you
**But—what fool work have you been
doing?” cried Latelle, madly. “Ifow have
you betrayed ‘
With this the story of the encounter
on the st steamer" 3 deck with Harry Martin
was
“That | gives us dead away,” said Dane,
“ All the detectives inthe county are onto
us, and they're shadowing too.
ou’re a pair of fools Be ritted Jatetle.
“What did you do such a blind, mad th
for anyway? ‘Uhere’s~ no: business in you,
You are a couple of bunglers.”
*“Thet's all right, bat we want our
money, ” sald, Dane, showing his teeth,
“Out with it.”
“Ten thousand dollars !” said Page,
“Yes, ten thousand each!” declared
Dane. .
* You are wrong,” said Latelle, coldly.
“ You were to have five thousand, or ten
thousand in all, for doing the job, » But
‘ou have not done it. You have bungled,
you have ruined me, and brought me into
desperate, straits. Therefore I shall not
a
p 's face was purple with passion. Ile
clenched his hands,
“y ought so I” he gritted, “You
meant te. beatus from the first, Curse you
for qnake. The money, or we will kill
Paul Latelle all this while had been si-
lent, But now his hands came out of the
‘Two revolvers covered the ruffians,
“Two can play at that game,” he said.
“And if if there is any killing to be-done I
I
The ‘uiNans looked into the pistol bar-
rels, John Latelle smiled mockingly,
“Take your departure, gentlemen,” he
said. net out of the coun
* Ain't ye going to keep pour word?”
asked Dane huskily.
“T’ll see that you are given a chance,”
said Latelle, throwing a wad of bank notes
ere is one thousand dol-
ou can. The: n’b prove any-
thing eadost me, but they “iD hang you!”
Dane reached forward slowly and picked
up the money. Then with a malevolent
sneer he turned and said to Page:
house, Paul Latelle and his father were
ne,
Latelle, senior, paced the floor like one
bereft of his senses, He wrung and knot-
ted his hands violently.
**Confound_those fools!” he gritted,
“ pm afraid, Paul, theyll fasten upon us,”
“Tt
“What shall we do?”
Paul Latelle shrugged his shoulders,
‘There is one thing we can do,” he said,
“What?”
“* We can go to Paris,
“Impossible! My interests here are in
such shape that I cannot possibly realize
upon them, oe y are hemmed in. I t
you_wearer
* But it would be better to leave all than
o hang.”
e Hang? *
John Latelle trembled like a man with
the palsy. His face was a ghastly hue,
The terrible shadow of doom pad be-
come to him plainly a tangible thing. He
already saw the dread finger which pointed
the way to ruin and
e
**Oh, my soul!” he gro: oaned. ‘We haye
madea terrible mistake, | Paul. We ought
not to have trusted t Weare
face to face with our Peete
“Pshaw I" said Pau), with remarkable
hardihood.
ey can prove ni ze”
** All depends on getting Dane and Page
out of the country. You must see them
to-morrow and them on an Atlantic
steamer, The detectives will surely round
them up, and then—all is lost.
“That might be well enough,” said Paul,
“Tr will see to it to-morrow,
“Noth must be left undone. We
Only think of it,
Pati We shall han,
can’t see that. said Paul,
“ We e didn’t set fire to the steamer,
“No, but we were accessary to it. It
will implicate us. I tell you there is no
chance for us,"
Latelle was very much wrought up over
he matter? Ile did not close his eyes in
sleep that nigh
It was safe to assume that he had not
foreseen these results, or he would never
hea undertaken the fiendish plot in the
rst
.To Pebink that adozen human Hives | had
eer taken, and that ha wae rrp
abe battle is not lost yet,
in,
cannot take chances, |
cool y.
for it, was enough to unman him. He
aged many years in that one awful night.
The next day astrange and ominous re-
port swept over the little town, It caused
people a shiver of hor
This was that detectives surrounded the
Latelle mansion,
noon, and wen
did not suspect it, but he was under sur-
veillance all the wa;
It was an astounding fact to Newtown
people that the Latelles were under t
an of suspicion.
But the truth (ras that the two men-on
the ipalcon night were detectives.
‘hey hi overheat all tbe conversation
of the Latalles with Dane and Page. To
them it was a virtuzl confession. - ;
in itself it would seem sufficient evi-
dence to convict the Latelles, But ail the
threads were not yet taken up, and th
tectives were not t quite rea ready for the firest,
When Dane and Page left the’ mansion
they were followed. But they were shrewd
villains,'and in some manner they man- ‘
aged to elude their trailers.
This was the real reason why the arrest
of the Latelles had bee een deferred. But
the climax was at han
? CHAPTER XXIV.
WHICH ENDS THE TALE,
“tue detectives had ‘temporarily lost .
track of Dane and Page. The two villains
had slipped th
Paul Latelle’s. mission downtown that
day was to find the villains,
But he did not succee
When he returned from his fruitless
mission his father met him at the door
with ashen face,
nia you set them adrift?” he asked,
tensa: ” replied Paul, carelessly, “ they
are not to be fo . I reckon they’ ve
reached a place of safety before this,”
“But J tell you they will get caught.!
They've got money and their first impulse
will be to goonadrunk, That will wind'-
em up.”
“Well, let "em!" growled Paul, “Ii!
ain’t going to chase them any more. Our |
word is as Sood as theirs, Nothing can be |
Proved against us,” \
John Latelle walled moodily to the
window and looked ou t
It was a gray day.
Jawn was a row of cedar
He gave a sudden s tart.
From his position he could see two men
lurking there, His face grew white and he
trembled like an aspen.
aul!” he gasped. “4 Come here !"
“s Well, what is_it, | governor?” said the
young reprobate, festi
* Look dow n there in| the cedars. ‘Do you
see 2 vo men
“Well, they've been there all day. On
the other side are others, I tell you they
are detectives. | We are hemmed in,
Paul grew pale,
He saw that t this was not altogether im-
probable, Ilis voice was husky as h
sald:
“* By Jove, [ believe you have hit it! The
pace is getting hot!”
“We lost!” *
“Down across the i
“ Not yet
With compressed lips Paul turned.
ed rouch money is there in the
ot t Nine thousand dollars |”
**Enough! That will takaus out of the
country, Itis our only chance, We will
slip out of here to-night. We can explain
it afterwards if the matter blows over,
But just now 3 all Gigpends on quick work,” f
an’
“The moment we step out of this house}
they will pounce upon us,”
“Don’t you believe it, Under. cover of?
darkness we can shake then: }
Paul made the plans with, consummate.
shrewdness and care, When darkness |
came all was in readiness,
There was a’ narrow
the servants on an errand.’
When the detectives should close in, then
they | would themselves make a dash for.
iberty.
It was all finely arranged, But for al
startling inciden® it might have suc-}
ceede
Eleven was the hour appointed for the
break, Just before that both stood at the
tower window looking out into the black-
\
Sudden ly the booming of bells was |
heard, and then a great blaze showed in |:
the distance against the sky. \
fire i" ejaculated
“That will distract the attention of our }
foes and help us,” said Latelle, seni *
Bat Paul's rejoinder was startling.
**My soul, governor, itis the mil ;*
“The mi inte
to be a fact,4 The- Liatetie
Mills were all “ina blaze. What yas the
cause of this? The question came ta bath
in, a breath and was answere
end Vaca have done that for re-
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