The "Dock Rats" of New York; Or, The Smuggler Band's Last StandOld Sleuth
General
The "Dock Rats" of New York; Or, The Smuggler Band's Last Stand
Old Sleuth
Smuggling -- Fiction
"No."
"Then you must not go on the yacht."
"What has the presence of Sol Burton to do with my going or
staying?"
"I believe that man has penetrated your disguise."
"Impossible!"
"I saw him this morning."
"Well?"
"He asked eked me some strange questions. He was very curious
concerning your identity."
A shadow fell over the detective's face.
"He spoke about me?"
"Yes."
"But he was speaking of the Government detective?"
"No; he was speaking of you as you have appeared among them in
your present guise."
"Does he suspect my real identity."
"I do not know, but he was very inquisitive concerning you."
"What did he say?"
"He lay in wait for me this morning, and when he got an
opportunity he asked: 'Renie, who is that man the boys were
going to hang last night?'"
"What answer slid you make?"
"I answered: 'You know as well as I do;' when he exclaimed:
'You can't fool me, Renie, you have met that man before.'"
The detective was thoughtful a moment, but at length said:
"I reckon that fellow would be jealous of anyone whom you
might address."
"There was a deeper significance in his declaration, and as he
went away he said: 'I would not be surprised Renie, if that
fellow were to be hanged yet, before another sunrise!'"
"His talk is all buncome, Renie, you need not attach any
importance to anything he may say."
"But you will not go off in the yacht?"
"Yes; I shall go!"
A pallor overspread the girl's face, and a look of expressive
sadness shone in her eyes as she murmured,
"It is my fate!"
"What do you mean, child?"
"I mean that you are a real friend; you are he of whom I
dreamed."
The detective glanced at the girl with an expression of
aroused curiousness as he said:
"You dreamed of me?"
"Yes."
"This is very strange. What could have suggested such a
dream?"
"I have dreamed all my life that some good friend would come
some day and unravel the mystery of my parentage. It was
accident that brought you and me together; but I had come to
believe, although I have only known you for a few hours, that
you were the good angel who would open the sealed book."
The detective advanced close to the girl, fixed his eyes upon
her, and, while a bright flush reddened his cheek, he said, in
an earnest tone:
"And so I will, Renie!"
"No, no; you have only come to raise a false hope."
"You are a strange girl, Renie."
"Yes, I am a strange girl in your eyes; but there is nothing
strange about me. Mv surroundings make me appear so. Listen:
I long for other scenes and associations; there is nothing
that holds me to my present life. I know there is someone
somewhere who longs for me as I yearn for her."
"Your mother?"
"Yes, my mother."
"If your mother be alive, it shall be my good office to bring
mother and child together."
"Never."
"Why do you say never?"
"You are determined to go off on the yacht?"
"Yes, I shall go off on the yacht."
"We will never meet again."
"You take too gloomy a view of the situation."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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