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en en een
ee ete
HAPPY DAYS
Nettie Winn was swell known. in Romer
and universally popu.
The crowd was incline to Usten to her |"
and the men who held Jack pau
“He’s as bad as the rest of them,” said
one. “We'll never get* justice done to
these fellows, Miss Winn. If your father
was here I’m sure he would say go ahead.”
The crowd inside the fence which sur-
rounded the square came pressing against
it to see what the matter was, while Nettie
‘continued to plea
This delay gave the sheriff just the
chance he wanted. He rallied his men,
and, calling out for all good citizens to help
him, charged boldly on the crowd.
Many ‘joined him and the result was a
fierce fight.
Revolvers were drawn and bowie knives
flourished.
A free fight | was soon in full progress.
It was every man for himself and the
scene which followed was such’ as Romer
had never witnessed before,
Many lost their lives in that fight and
»many others were sevérely wounded, three
of the prisoners being shot dead before the
sheriff finally succeeded in marching them
back to
At the ‘very beginning of the melee Jack
Saw his chance to escape. Tearing himself
free from his captors, he ran for his life,
fighting his way to the edge of the crowd,
dodging down an alley and gaining a side
street, which was comparatively deserted.
appear:
ance was sure to betray him, whichever
way he went,
As he was ‘staring about, uncertain what
to do, he heard a sound behind him, and,
looking back, a xs ttie Winn flying to-
ward him on a bie
There were others behind her. Several
men had just turned the corner and w
running down the street as the*braye irl
Jumped off her wheel at Jack’s si
“Oh, Dan!” she exclainied. “Are you
here? This way! Right through that gate.
This is where I live. I can hide you in the
house.”
“Thank you, miss,” replied Jack, “but it
won’t work. It will only get you into
trouble, Show me which street will take
me out of town and I'll run for it, or, better
still, lend me your wheél.”
“Take it!” cried Nettie. “I haven’t for-
gotten what you did for me on the river
the other nigift. Take it and slip into the
alley. The cross street beyond will take
you out of town.”
“You are mistaken,” said Jack. “I don’t
want to deceive I’m not Dan Dean.”
“WI
Good-by, miss;
thank you a thousand vehmnes V’ll send back
the wheel.”
Jack threw himself upon the bicycle and
was off like a shot into the alley, leaving
Nettie standing against the fence, puzzle
beyond measure at what had occurred.
But the crowd was coming, and, with
one hurried look behind her, the girl went
into the house, opening the door with her
latch key.
It_was rather an elegant establishment,
for Simon Winn was reckoned a rich mi
in Rom
What, ‘his business was no one exactly
knew.
speculator in cotton. e@ was away from
home most of the time, leaving his daugh-
ter to run the house with the aid of two
or three colored servants. Thus Nettie was
free to come and go as she pleased. As she
entered the house a young man came hur-
ried out of the parlor.
“Ah, Nettie, so you are back!” “he ex:
claimed, “I’ve been waiting for you this
half hour. Upon my word, 1 think I must
have dropped asleep.”
Nettie’s eyes flashed.
“How dare you come here, Julius Full-
ham!” she exclaimed, “Haven't I told you
that I never wished to see your face again?”
“Yes, you told me so, but I don’t believe
you can be in earnest,” was the reply. “I
want you to think better of it. Something
nas happened that makes it necessary that
you should have a protector. I’ve got
strange news for you, my dear girl. Sad
news it is, too.
“My father! Has las anything happened to
him?” gasped Nettie, turning pale.
“Your father is——” ,
“Dead? Yes. I see it in your face!”
sereamed the poor girl.
“He i said 1 Fullbam, hurriedly. “Lis-
Your father was shot last night
on the river. You may as well know the
truth now as later. He was the leader of
the river gang. He was the man known as
agement and marry me an
shall never know this; refuse, and J will
tell all.”
m, holding her back.
rata el ag heard upon the shell walk
at that moment. Some one was coming in
‘eet.
en ib! arene me from this man!”
screamed Nettie, as a well-dressed young
fellow came bounding up the steps.
Biff! gt
Fullham got it between ane. eyes and
measured his length on the fl
His neighbors had him down for a |}-
“The boy went into Winn’s. I saw him!”
shouted a voice outside the gate.
There was a rush up the shell walk then,
for a dozen men came bursting through the
gate and there was a bigger mob behind.
But before they could reach the door
Julius phen came fiying out, falling ail
in a hea
It had to be a big man that Dan Dean
could not handle, and it was Dan and no
one else who had so suddenly appeared on
the scene.
He threw Fullham out of the house. the
instant the cowardly fellow regained his
fect
nm he slammed the door, turned the
kere and shot the bolt, turning upon the
frightened girl the instant it was done, say-
“EDon't be afraid, Miss Winn, Try and
calm yourse! I—
“Oh, why did you come back again?”
broke in. Nettie. “How could you have
changed your clothes in so short a time?
Don’t you hear them? Don’t you know
that I can do nothing to protect yo!
“Why, I have not been here before!” cried
Dan. “I
square.
boy—my ve you don
with him? Those fellows will never get
him while I’m alive.”
“He’s not here.”
“But he came this way? I saw him run-
ning. I could not follow him, so I followed
you as soon as I could get free from the
wd.”
ele has gone!” gasped Nettie, “and, oh, I
wish you were gone, too. They'll take you
for him and nothing can save. you if you
fall into their hands.
“We'll see about that,” replied Dan, grim:
, as a furious pounding on the outside of
the door began.
“Open up here! Open up, Miss Winn!”
shouted the mob. “We want that boy: We
now you have got him inside.”
[ro BE CONTINUED.]
+.
Ben Bright, the latest young hero, ap-
pears every week in ‘* Three Chums.”” 32
pages. Price 5 cents.
[This story commenced in No. 278.)
Nat, the Boy Wonder
DOWNING THE WHITE
ROBED BAND.
By CAPT, HOWARD,
Author of * phe Masked Hand,” aly the
Broker's Boy,” “In New
‘Dangerous Places,” Mt”
CHAPTER XVI.
THE COUNTERFEITERS’ DEN.
Nat was puzzled.
e did not know what to think.
It was the strangest thing in his experi-
ence, and he had seen many extraordinary
happenings,
Nat could have sworn the six nien had
not come back out of the cabin by the door-
way they went in through, nor by the front
window,
And there was no other door nor any
more windows,
Nat did not know what to think.
Setting his lantern upon an old table in
the middle of the room, Nat began an ex-
amination,
He was determined to solve the mystery
of the disappearance of the men if it was
possible to do so. /
e floor was made of logs which had
beer ‘split and the split side hewn smooth,
This side was UP, the rounding side being
laid on the ground.—
Nat looked e closely at the. floor.
There were tracks in the dust, showing
the men had been in there, but he could
tell nothing further from these, as the
tracks were everywhere the sam
Nat looked up at the ceflin,
ere was no loft at all, but merely the
roof, which was made of clapbo oards.
They could net, then, be hidden any-
where in the ce:
They must have “gotten out of it in some
other. Yway—but ow ?
Naf went and looked up the chimney of
the big fireplace.
It was grimy and sooty and the men
could not have climbed out through it.
Nat was stumped.
He sat down in a rickety chair and gazed
about the room with knitted brow.
Ile was sorely perplexed.
To come all the way from Chicago and
to almost the end of the trail and then be
given the shake was vexing to say the least.
Nat’s gaze roved about the room and
suddenly he started.
An exclamation almost escaped him.
He had been struck by a peculiar fact.
The room he was in seemed smaller than,
judging | {rom the looks on the outside, it
oug!
Nat surveyed its dimensions with crit-
ical ey:
Yes. “taless he was badly deceived, the
room was several feet shorter than it ought
to be,
Nat was all alertness in an instant.
Possibly the men had not given him the
shake after all.
Je got quietly up and went out of doors.
Starting at the corner of the cabin, Nat
stepped off the distance to the other corner.
went inside the cabin, and,
starting at the wall at one end, stepped off
the distance to the wall at the opposite
end.
The distance was nearly two full steps
shorter upon the inside than upon the out-
side.
Allowing for the thickness of the walls,
this woud make a difference of some four
or
WwW hat could this mean? —
Nat thought he knew.
There was a double wall in one end of
the cabin and a space of three or four feet
between.
Nat would have wagered this was the
Ss
‘And in that space were the six m
Nat looked the wall over with searching
gaze,
Were the men really in there?
And if so, were they watching Bs move.
ments through chinks in the wall
we was a question he could not dnswer—
U
But Nat made up his ining that it should
be answered and soo:
He was on his mettle Soe
Taking his lantern, ae began a thorough
examination of the w
He ooked eel ‘and in one corner he
made a disc
The log: Sat the ‘side were worn so smooth
they glistened, which proved that here was
where the door was located, the ends of the
door as it swung inward rubbing against
the wall.
air of deer’s horns were on the wall,
evidently intended for a.gun rack, and, seiz-
ing hold of the one next the side wall, Nat
A section of the wall swung slowly out-
ward, revealing an open space like a hall
y'
eyond.
Nat cautiously peered in, first taking the
precaution oo plese the slide, thus darken-
ing his lan
a lig!
Nat opened the aides a Tittle ways and
looked agai
The ‘1 space ‘between the two walls had no
iloor at
Instead a pair of stairs, or, rather, rude
Steps, led dow
Nat stepped | within the space and took
another observation,
The steps led down to, not a room, but a
passageway of about three feet in width,
Closing the slide of his lantern, Nat went
slowly and carefully down the steps and
along the passageway, feeling his way as he
went.
Presently Nat paused and listened.
He had thought that he heard voices,
A women’s listening convinced him that
he was right.
He was close upon his quarry.
Nat redoubled his precautions now and
went forward very slowly*
le did not wish to have his presence dis-
overed,
lie wished to see and discover the work-
shop of the counterfeiters, so that when he
wished to secure them and their para-
Phernalia he could do so.
Forward he went, until he came to a
heavy sliding door, which could be pushed
across and made to completely close the
passageway. but which was not now across
by two or three inches.
This was just what he wished.
He could not have had things to suit him
better if he had had the arranging of them
himself.
Light streamed through and onto the wall
feebly, which Showed that the men were in
a room just bi
Nat approached the aperture and looked
through.
The. men wére there.
And what Nat wished to see more than
all—a printing press—was there, too.
He had found tbe workshop of the coun-
terfeiters.
lat was impressed by the shrewdness of
Mont: itjoy.
Who would have expected to find a coun-
terfeiters’ den away up here in the woods
on the edge of the lake?
Yo one, and Nat had discovered it simply
by following the men whom he had reason
to believe were members of the band.
ie had seen all he wished to see, and,
not ‘caring to risk detection by remaining
longer, and, indeed, there being nothing to
gain by staying, Nat retraced his foot-
ste)
Keturni ng to the cabin, he closed the
abin,
sh to here,”
Nat muttered in satisfaction. “Now for
ome.”
Nat was not to reach home Without
experiencing another thrilling adventure,
CHAPTER XVII.
AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE,
To get pone tna was the next thing.
How was he to
Nat hardly knew,
@ had cone by ‘water, but could not re
turn [hee wa) «
schooner might not run down to the
city "tor three or four da,
Ve ait for its return,
the question
ue aiust Bet home in some other way.
ut how?
x t reasoned that he must be at least
twenty-iive miles from the ¢
e could walk back if necessary, but pre
ferred to not do so.
Surely, he reasoned, there must be a rail-
road not far away, and by reaching this he
could walk to the neurest station and ride
in on the first train that came along.
Evidently this was his best plan, and,
laying his course as nearly due west as he .
could, Nat struck out through the forest.
it was no pleasant task making his way
through the darkness,
he underbrush bothered at times and it
was so dark that occasionally he bumped
against trees.
Ss may be supposed, then, when he saw a
light glimmering through the trees, after
he had been walking fifteen or twenty min-
utes, Nat was delighte
“Thank heaven!” he muttered. “I may
be able to strike a path and receive instruc:
tions that will enable me to reach a rail-
way station withcut much more trouble.”
Hurrying forward, he came out into a
little glade or clearing, in the middie of
wed stood a log ¢:
t was through the. window of this cabin
that the light came that he had seen.
Approaching unhesitatingly, Nat knocked
upon the door.
Immediately he heard the sound of shuf:
“then, was out of
at the rear of the c:
ront door, and it was opened a few inches,
showing the frowsy head of about the
vee looking old hag Nat had ever seen.
“Wh r ye an’ w'at d’ye want heer?"
the old crone asked in a screechy voice,
am a stranger who has lost his way,”
Nat pple, keeping a wary eye about him,
for he did not know
© a railroad station, if there is one near.”
Thar hain't none near’n four mile,” was
the ply; “an’ it’s most uv’ the way
through the timber. “Thar's a sorter uv a
, but I dunno’s ye c’u’d foller et, not
ba used to et. Ef ye’ll cum in, Stranger,
I'll call my son, Et mont be ‘at he'd gi
‘ith ye an’ show ye the way, ef so be's yeu
ay “im fur ee Jest cum in, "and the hag
opened the doo:
Nat stepped ‘hato the room and took in
its contents at a glance.
There was not much to see—only a table,
a few rickety chairs, a couple of bunks at
one side, a fireplace, a few shelves in one
corner, with some dishes—that was all.
“Where is your son?” Nat asked, looking
at the fiendish faced old hag with almost
a shudder,
“Right heer, stranger!” came from be-
hind Nat, and, whirling quickly, he saw a
man of about forty-five years standing with
his back against the door, which he had
pushed to after his noiseless entrance.
A viaimous: ‘looking fellow he was,
Nat loo m over with interest and
acknow: Tedged to himself that he had rarely
met a more brutal-looking scoundrel.
He was a powerfully built fellow, too, al-
most a giant in size, and would evidently be
a bad man to contend with in a contest
Yinere brute strength was an important fac-
Nat felt that he had seen the man some
where before, but could not think where.
ie did not exactly like the looks of af-
fairs, but he did not let on.
e bad confidence in himself and felt
able to take care of Binself if the man’s in-
tentions were hos!
ored ‘the man’s suspicious ac-
tion in slipping in and closing the door and
said quietly:
“Ah! Glad to sce you. I wish to find the
way to the railway station. Your mother
said perhaps you would show me the way
What will you take to
The fellow laughed harshly.
He bent a searching yet ferocious glance
upon Nat.
“Nothing,” he snarled. “I wouldn’t show
you the way to the station for ten thousand
dollars, You won’t go to no railway sta. .
tion to-night, Nat Parker, You will never
ieave this room alive. I've been waiting
for this chance for a year, and now that it
has come, you shall not escape.’
The fellow’s face was a picture of rage
and hate as he glared at the detective, but
| Nat returned the look with one of unflinch.
ing determina
‘at ‘was surprised, but he would not let
“Tis profession had taught him to expect
| almost arythivg, and so he simply asked in
“You know me, eh?”
{Continued on page 10.]
Then lighter piieit el approached the _.
fi
x
fling footsteps upon the inside of ihe tiow:
followed by the closing of a door, probabiy pe