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‘ another -bolt:» When this yielded to his fingers
.the door opened and ‘he walked out into the arms
of a.policeman, whose form loomed mistily
through the dense fog.
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key in his pocket. Then in. the darkness he
started downstairs. '- He met no’ one on his road
‘and finally groped his: way to a’door that he be-
Jieved. opened on the street. To his right was
‘another door,-under which a light flashed, and
through which he heard the rattle of glasses and
the talk of half drunken men. . = | :
-“That’s a barroom,” he thought, as he fumbled
. for the handle of the front door. . .
The door was not only locked, but bolted as
well. -He discovered the latter fact when the
.door refused to budge after he had unlocked it.
‘Running his hand. up the door, he found a~big
‘bolt: He drew it cautiously back. Still the door
‘held, so -he ran his hand down till he came to
CHAPTER XV.—Conclusion
- The policeman. seized Fred by the arm and
looked keenly into his face. He was rather sur-
prised to see one of the boy’s gentlemanly appear-
-: ‘ance issuing from a building with whose shady |
+. character. he was sufficiently well acquainted.
: “Well,” he said, gruffly and suspiciously, “who
are you, young fellow?” . 2 -
: “Iam Fred Sparks, a Wall Street banker and
broker.” o
' “Ts\ that so?
-house?””” . ~
- “It’s a den of thieves and murderers, isn’t it?”
said Fred. : .
“Is it? It’s one of the toughest joints in Jer-
sey City. But you ought to know what it is, see-
ing that you have just come out of it.”
-“All I know is that I was waylaid and knocked
out somewhere along the water-front, not far
“;from the ferry, this afternoon by two rascals,
‘who, while I was unconscious, brought me to this
‘house and locked me in a room on the third floor.
: They cleaned me out of everything I had. about
ime. What else they meant to do to me I cannot
/ say, but they must have had other designs, or
man-
: . What are you going. in) that
nee
' $ aged to escape from the room by overcoming
-. and gagged him, and locked him in the room. *
a man who came up there to look at me. I bound
'. That’s the whole story as far I am concerned.”
poe
panvecnsestnrcnnd
+
"| ready to risk my life in his behalf.”
b.
“Tf your yarn is true, young man, you are lucky
. to get away with your life. You had better make
© yourself scarce around these diggings if you ex-
‘ pect to get off entirely.” : :
: “TY intend to after you have helped: me rescue
a sea captain who lies drugged in a back room on
the third floor.” . .
. « “A sea captain?”
’ “Yes, He’s another victim, and is incapable
of escaping by himself.. They mean to throw him
into the river before morning. We must save him
at once. I know his wife and daughter, and I’m
“It’s as much as both our lives are
be caught in that building.”
’ “But something must be done,”
-eitedly. / :
“The only thing we can do is to
worth to
said Fred, ex-
pull the house.
A GOLDEN SHOWER
_felt thirsty, and asked the captain to treat.
(ante ee NAA At SE ae A 5 Me:
ee ve a
‘Come with me. “I'll telephone for. a patrol wagon
and several officers.” ~ SS ,
He piloted Fred to a nearby drugstore, opened
“up communication with his station and stated the
- facts to the officer in charge. .The patrol wagon -
was sent with half a dozen policemen. As soon as
these turned up at the drugstore, Fred and the
officer boarded it and the wagon presently drew
up in front of the sailors’ boarding house. Three
policemen entered the barroom and overawed the
crowd, while. Fred, with the’ rest; marched up-
stairs. The young banker led them to the room
where he had locked in Captain Storms, and the
unconscious skipper was taken down to the wagon.
Fred then showed the officers the man he had
knocked out, who was recognized as the pro-
-prietor of the house, and was arrested. As Fred
couldn’t identify. the men who had assaulted and
robbed him, no further assets were made, and the
wagon started for the station. Here Fred told
- his story; the prisoner was interrogated with lit-
tle success, and was: locked up, while a doctor aft-
er a while succeeded in bringing Captain Storms
to his senses. - :
His story was simple. He had arrived in New
York that forenoon in the bark Sitka, which had
taken him off an island in the Indian Ocean,
where his ship, the Golden Hope, had been lost.
His two mates and a part of the crew had escaped
the wreck also; the entire party after surviving
their sequestration on the island, and all its at-
tendant hardships, being taken off by the Sitka
seven weeks since. The bark, after passing quar-
antine, had started in tow of a tug for her wharf
‘in Jersey City to discharge a consignment of
merchandise intended for immediate shipment to
Trenton, but being overtaken by the fog had come ~
to anchor for the time being not far from thé
Jersey shore. : : :
. The captain, anxious to reach his wife and
daughter, whom he believed were mourning him
as dead, induced the captain of the bark to. put ~—
him ashore at the nearest wharf, which was done. ~
He had covered half the distance to the ferry
when he became confused in the fog and strange
locality, and: finally applied to two rough-looking
men to be directed to his destination. They agreed
to show him the way. On the road they said they
He
consented to do so, in consideration of their ap-
parent civility, and they led him into a barroom
along the water-front. a .
’ They sat down at a table, had one round of
drinks together, and that was all the captain
remembered until he came to his senses-in the
station house. He said he would be able to
identify, the men who had drugged him, so two
detectives were sent out to see what they could
bag. Fred then explained to the captain how he
_had himself been treated in much the same way,
only he had not been drugged, and told Captain
Storms how he had found him stupefied on a bed
in.the third floor room of the house, how he had
heard the proprietor mutter that he was to be
dumped into the bay during the night, and how
he had succeeded in getting away from.the build-.
ing himself and bringing the police to his rescue.
The skipper of the lost Golden Hope was very
_ grateful to the plucky boy for saving his life,
and assured him that he would never forget the
obligation.
*