Old Specie, the Treasury Detective; or, The Harbor Lights of New York — page 39: what you’re looking at

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

OLD SPECIE. 31 Besides, the piles were exceedingly slippery, being coated with slimy substance, and his hands suffered in consequence. Once he saw a boat move out of a dark place be- yond, but it only had a single occupant. A harbor thief,’’ he muttered, as clinging to the end of a dock he watched the boat dodging down the river with the man rowing in the skulking manner that distinguishes these gentry. He still kept on. In a short time he would have reached the ferry slip when his quest must end. It promised to be fruitless. One thing the old treasury watch-dog had learned, and this was the shrewd manner in which Ben Bolt conducted his operation. Really there was some pleasure in pursuing a man as smart as this. In common with other celebrated sleuth-hounds of the law, Old Specie had come to look upon the or- - dinary criminal as beneath his notice, and gloried in a chase that called out all his reserve powers. | He was just moving along a dark wall of heavy woodwork, feeling for projections ahead that might be utilized to drag his craft onward, when suddenly he realized that another boat had shot into the slip. Before he could even guess what the nature of this craft might be, a flood of light was seen to issue from the other boat. This stream of light moved around the slip, up and down, disclosing every foot of surface, and finally rested upon the boat with its single occupant. “Hello! caught like a rat in a trap.”’ ‘Hands up, there!’” Old Specie smiled. co Comicboo cS =|