CHAPTER II.--AN OATH TO WIN, A VOW TO AVENGE.
CHAPTER III.--TRACKED TO HIS LAIR.
CHAPTER IV.--THE MEETING.
CHAPTER V.--THE BOY PROTECTOR.
CHAPTER VI.--THE REWARD FOR A CONVICT.
CHAPTER VII.--THE LOST GOLD PIECE.
CHAPTER VIII.--THE DASHING DRAGOON.
CHAPTER IX.--PHANTOMS OF THE PAST.
CHAPTER X.--DESERTED.
CHAPTER XI.--A REBUFF.
CHAPTER XII.--THE BOY CAPTIVE.
CHAPTER XIII.--PUT TO THE TEST.
CHAPTER XIV.--WILL PLAYS HIS LITTLE GAME.
CHAPTER XV.--THE BOY GUIDE.
CHAPTER XVI.--THE RAID.
CHAPTER XVII.--ON SECRET SERVICE.
CHAPTER XVIII.--HEADED OFF.
CHAPTER XIX.--UNKNOWN KINDRED TIES.
CHAPTER XX.--THE GRAVE ON THE PRAIRIE.
CHAPTER XXI.--RETRIBUTION AT LAST.
CHAPTER XXII.--INSNARED BY A WATCH.
CHAPTER XXIII.--WIZARD WILL'S LUCK.
CHAPTER XXIV.--CONCLUSION.
THE ALDINE "TIP-TOP TALES."
WIZARD WILL
THE WONDER WORKER
No. 77.]
[Illustration: "I wish to see Jerry, the Night Hawk," Will promptly
answered.]
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=1. Buffalo Bill.= His Life and Adventures in the Wild West
=2. The Comrade Scout of Buffalo Bill=
=3. The Cabin-Boy of the "Polly Ann"=; or, the Gardens of Paradise
=4. Mexican Joe.= His wonderful Life, Exploits, and Adventures
=5. The Sailor Castaways=; or, the Buried Treasure of Phantom Island
=6. The Death's Head Cuirassiers=; or, Brave of all Braves
=7. The Boy Wonder=; or, the Star of the Circus
=8. Joe Phoenix, the Police Spy=
=9. Billy Boots, the Jockey, and Colonel Plunger=
=10. The Mystery of the Satin-wood Box=
=11. The Armourer's Apprentice.= A Story of "The Battle and the Breeze."
=12. The Red Rajah=; or, the Scourge of the Indies
=13. The Whitest Man in the Mines, and Charley Jones, the "Angel" of
Dogtown=
=14. The Mad Hussars=; or, the O's and the Macs. A Story of Four Irish
Soldiers of Fortune
=15. "One Eye," the Cannoneer=; or, Marshal Ney's Last Legacy
=16. The "Deep One;"= or, the Puzzled Detective
=17. Larry Locke=; or, A Fight for Fortune
=18. "Parson Jim," King of the Cowboys=
=19. Little Charlie and Pug Billy.= A Mystery of the Thames
=20. The Skipper of the Seagull=; or, the Fog Fiend of Newfoundland
=21. Life and Adventures of Barnum, the Emperor of Showmen=
=22. Joe Phoenix's Great Man Hunt=; or, the Captain of the Wolves
=23. The Irish Captain.= A Tale of the Fight at Fontenoy
=24. Nemo, King of the Tramps=; or, a Romany Girl's Vengeance
=25. The Saucy Jane, Privateer=
=26. Journeyman John, the Champion=
=27. The Maverick Hunters=; or, the Night Riders of Satanta County
=28. The Man in Red=; or, the Ghost of the Old Guard
=29. Top Notch Tom, the Cowboy Outlaw=
=30. The Marshal of Satanstown=; or, the League of the Cattle-lifters.
=31. Lance and Lasso=; or, Adventures on the Pampas
=32. The Three Frigates, and the Peerless Privateer=
=33. The Russian Spy=; or, the Brothers of the Starry Cross
=34. The Demon Duellist=; or, the League of Steel
=35. The Wild Ranger=; or, the Crack Shot of the West
=36. The Mutineer.= A Romance of Sunny Lands and Blue Waters
=37. Captain "Freelance," the Buccaneer=
=38. Montezuma the Merciless=; or, the Eagle and Serpent
=39. Overland Kit=; or, the Idyl of White Pine
_Continued on page 2 of cover._
WIZARD WILL
THE WONDER WORKER.
CHAPTER I.--THE BOY MESSENGER.
"Ho, my boy! do you wish to make a dollar?"
"I do, sir--indeed I do."
"What is your name?"
"Will, sir."
"Well, Will, can you keep your mouth shut?"
"Yes, sir."
"Can you be blind, if need be?"
"You mean not to see anything that is not intended for me to see, sir?"
"Yes."
"I understand, sir."
"Well, it is important that this letter reaches a friend of mine, as I
cannot go myself, so you take it to the number; can you read?"
"Yes."
"Well, take it to the number on the envelope, and ring the bell sharply
_three_ times; then ask for Jerry, the Night Hawk; will you remember the
name?"
"Yes, sir--Jerry, the Night Hawk."
"Yes, that's it; and you must give him the letter in person."
"Suppose he is not there, sir?"
"Then find out when he will be, and keep the letter for him; and see, I
write on the back here for him to give you a couple of dollars, after
which go your way, and forget all about what you have done."
"Yes, sir;" and the boy took the note and turned to depart to the
address on the envelope, when he was called back, while the man stood in
silent thought.
He was a gentlemanly looking person, with a face, however stamped with
dissipation.
In the neighbourhood where he had met the boy, he appeared to be out of
place.
For half a moment he stood, gazing at the face of the youngster, and
then he said:
"My boy, do you remember to have seen me before?"
"No, sir; and yet it seems as if I had."
"It so seems to me, and your face comes to me like a dream of the past
which I cannot recall; but--never mind; go and do as I have told you,
and you will get your pay," and the man walked on down the street; but
before he had gone far he sprang into a hack, which had evidently been
waiting for him, and was driven away.
The boy thus intrusted with what was evidently an important note, was an
urchin of twelve; but he looked older, and there was that in his bright,
handsome face which denoted both courage of a high order and
intelligence beyond his years.
He was poorly, very poorly clad, but his clothing was clean, and he
evidently took pride in appearing at his best.
The locality he was in was a hard one, one of the worst localities in
the city of New York, and rude, rough characters--men, women and
children--were in the streets.
But the lad went on his way without noticing any one, and, as though
acquainted with his surroundings, turned into a wretched street that was
little more than an alleyway.
He stopped at a certain number and seized the bell knob, which appeared
to belong to a bygone age, and in fact the house was a quaint old
structure that had long been the abode of poverty.
His three sharp rings, as he had been directed to give, were answered by
the door opening, seemingly without human agency, while a gruff voice
demanded:
"Well, step inside and tell me what you want?"
The messenger stepped into a small hallway, and saw before him, a few
feet distant, another door, while, through an open panel in it peered a
man's face.
"I wish to see Jerry, the Night Hawk," explained the youngster.
"What do you want with him?"
"I have a letter for him."
"Give it to me."
"No, sir, for I have orders from my boss to give it only to Jerry."
"All right, you can go up and see him, top floor, right hand side front
room," was the reply, and as the man spoke the other door closed behind
the boy, the one in his front opened, and he found he was in a hallway,
into which no doors opened, except the one through which he had passed,
and in the rear was only a pair of stairs occupying the entire width of
the narrow passageway.
A dim light came from above somewhere, and the messenger ascended the
stairs to the second floor, where he saw doors upon either side.
Ascending to the third floor, he sought the door to which he had been
directed, and knocked.
No answer came, and he waited a while and again knocked.
Still no answer, and then his eyes fell upon a small knob, which he
pulled and found to be a bell.
Still no response, and the thought came to him to ring it three times,
as he had the bell below stairs.
This he did, and instantly he heard a voice behind him.
"Well, youngster, what is it you are after?"
He was startled, and turning saw a man's face at a panel in the door.
"I wish to see Jerry, the Night Hawk," answered Will, promptly.
"Who sent you?"
"That I will tell him," was the cool reply.
"Well, I'm Jerry, the Night Hawk."
The boy looked incredulous, and the man opened the door, and called to
him to enter.
This he did, and found himself in a hallway that was perfectly square,
and the light came into it from above through a skylight.
There was no door in this hall, except the one by which he had entered,
but the man said:
"Is there an answer?"
"Yes, sir," said the boy, when he had meant to say 'no,' but he did not
correct himself, and instantly the man tapped three times upon the
wooden wall of the hallway.
To the new surprise of the boy one side of it was at once run upward,
revealing a small room, and into this the two stepped, the man telling
the youngster to follow.
In the room was a cot-bed, a table, and a rough-looking individual stood
in one corner, holding a rope in his hand, and which he now let go, the
wooden partition, under which they had passed, immediately sliding back
into place again.
"Now, lad, the letter," said the man who had entered the room with him.
"Are you Jerry, the Night Hawk?" and the boy looked the man straight in
the eyes.
"Yes."
The boy took out the letter and handed it to him, and glancing at the
address he broke open the envelope.
What was written within was to the point, and very short, for the man at
once said:
"Yes, you are just the boy we want, as the captain says," and he gazed
into the handsome, fearless young face before him.
"What do you want me for?" asked the lad.
"That you shall soon know, and if you serve us well, you will be well
treated; but if not, then you will have to die, that is all," was the
ominous reply of the man, as he seized the boy by the shoulder and
dragged him through a door into a large room where were a dozen men,
whose scowling faces were turned upon the lad with a look that was
wicked and threatening. As he recalled the words of Jerry, the Night
Hawk, and beheld the wild, evil looking men about him, the heart of the
brave boy shrank with fear, for it needed no words to tell him that he
had been led into some trap from which there seemed little chance of
escape.