Detective Bob Bridger — page 179: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

172 DETECTIVE BOB BRIDGER. steps of the cab’s pursuers, they turned toward the cross- street just as “Jack, the Fork,” and the burly bartender rushed into the glare of the lamp, at the head of the mob. Knowing well the character of these men, they detained them, while the motley crowd surged about, and the police- man added to the uproar by rapping shar ply upon the side- walk for aid with his club. Ere it had been explained to the officers that the “thief” “wanted” had passed in the cab, that vehicle had been lost among the many of its class, and was heading safely toward the St. Nicholas Hotel. CHAPTER XLITI. THE DRIVE TO THE FERRY. On the way to the hotel, the Scotch detective briefly re- counted the story of Dr. Macy and of Alfonse Godot’s wanderings, and the evidence pointing to the murder of the latter by Videre. Annette was thus pr epared to meet her grand parent, the gentle old man who so anxiously awaited her coming. Filled with happv anticipations for the future, it could not be expected that the maiden might grieve deeply at the supposed loss of a father she had never known. She sincerely trusted, however, that the men held at Pittsburgh were her father and Videre, and that the dead man found at Alton would prove to have been a stranger of — like name. The scene that ensued at the hotel was highly: affecting. Dr. Macy’s joy at suddenly finding the rescued girl in his arms was almost childish in its exuberance. He declared that in her fair face and form Heaven had restored to him the lost Alice, and he thanked God, while the tears coursed down his wrinkled cheeks, for this evi- dence of His pardon for the great wrong his pride had caused him to commit. | When his excitement had somewhat abated, and the Scotch detective informed him of the supposed fate of Alfonse Godot, he also joined Annette in the hope that her father was yet alive, and both were eager for the proposed journey. A hasty dinner was partaken of, at which “Silly” Billy distinguished himself in a way that St. Nicholas Hotel waiters will never forget, and, when the cab containing neon