Diamond Dick, Jr.: The Boys' Best Weekly — page 24: what you’re looking at

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

22 DIAMOND DICK, “Allee samee that light, Hally, if he only stick to combination. What say, Blackbelly? Diainond Dick, Juny, he ‘out of sight; no tellee where to findee him. Got to puttee on spurs an’ buckee up ’gainst tlouble till findee out where at, then we gittee him out, you bettee!”’ “Ma stars an’ Saliy Jones! D’ you mean fo’ to say dat you’s will hab mein desamne puddle? Go ’way, trib’lations! I’s with you, clear up to the rivet ob dis heah razah dat’s singin’ soft an low hyer in ma pocket; an’ if Diamond Dick, Junyah, is in de hands of de Philistines, so to say, we’ll hab him out hob dah jist as shua as my name is Junius Brutus Crow!” Handsome Harry and the Mascot caught the negro youth by the hands, on his sayiug that, and ‘‘Blackberry’’ was one of the combination from that mo- nent. . And he was destined to become a valu- able acquisition, too. CHAPTER VI. THE ACE OF SPADES TAKES A LONG SWIM. The next half hour was spent in earnest conversation. Handsome Harry and the Mascot told the particulars of their reasons for being found there, and the ‘‘Aceo’ Spades’’ told his own brief history in full. Meantime, they had sauntered down to the railroad station, and the one great question with them was—how to find Diamond Dick, Jr., and then get to him. “By golly!’ exclaimed the black youth. ‘‘Dat fellah out ob sight, most of de time anyhow, but now he clean ott ob sight fo’ fair!” | ‘‘Glee-ory to snakes, yes, he is so!” agreed the Serpent. ‘‘Andef you have got any brains under that wool thatch of yours, Ace o’ Spades, jist set ’em im mo- tion an’ tell us what to do.”’ ‘Allee samee that light,’’ encouraged the Mascot. ‘‘Let’s see what got in think- box, anyhow.”? “Ma stars!’ exclaimed Blackberry. ‘““VYou take me fo’ a Henry Webster or a Dan’! Clay, as I have heard about? Come an’ hug me, Sally!’ ‘“That’s all right, Ace o’ Spades; but what’s ter be done?”’ JR. OUT OF SIGHT. ‘Well, dese heah mountings den’ reach to de sky, do dev? Ef we uns climb high enough we’s gwine to git ovah, ain’t we? Den what’s de mattah wid our doin’ de climb ?”? ‘‘Allee samee that the ticket!’ cried the Mascot. ‘“‘Only thing can do, you bettee! We go up lailload tlack till coinee to woods, then takee to woods on this side and coimee back quick as can; tnay- be getee in all light, all light, if lun up ’oailnst no more stone walls!”? ‘“‘Glee-ory to snakes! That is ther skeem, hard and fast enough. Come on, pardners, and no more parley about et. Ef my leetle pardner, son of his dad, is in thet aire place, and they aire holdin’ him thar and won’t let us in, then we have got ter take the law into our own hands and git in somehow; we have so!: Wake up, snakes, an’ crowd ther mourn- ers!” And so they set off up the track, the Serpent in the lead with long, swinging strides, and the Mascot and Junius Brutus Crow trotting after him to keep up. They were almost at loss what to do for the best, and this seemed to be the ouly thing they could do. For an hour they walked between solid walls of rock, with hardly a break. The wall on their left was continuous all the way. The mad millionaire had chosen well the location for his hermitage, if he de- sired to bar out intruders. Finally they entered a dense woods, which covered a sort of natural loam bottom high upin the mountains, and finally were able to turn from the rail- road on the left side. They entered the woods, but almost immediately found their way blocked by the dense undergrowth. The giant forged ahead, however, breaking the way for the youths. Harry had the direction all right, and it would be only a question of time when they must come out somewhere. And at last they did come out some- where, They caine out into a boggy place which seeined to defy them to proceed farther. Handsoine Harry stopped, voicing his favorite expletive, with a string of invec- COmiicloe S$oCO inn