Wizard Will, the Wonder Worker
CHAPTER XXIV.--CONCLUSION.
After a happy week spent at his little home on the Sound, Wizard Will returned to his duties in town. He had made friends with the old negro and negress in the cabin on the hill near the cottage, and had found them most willing to do all in their power to help his mother, and had secretly made an arrangement with them to look after matters in his absence, the old man to look after the horse, and his wife to milk the cow.
He had also ingeniously attached a wire from the cottage to the cabin, with a bell at the latter, so that his mother could call for aid if she needed it.
With country air, pretty scenery, pleasant quarters, fresh milk and vegetables, and no worry about their daily bread, Mrs. Raymond rapidly improved in health, and life became worth the living for her, as she strove hard to shut out the past.
Pearl started to school and made friends, and some kind-hearted neighbours called upon the new-comers, so that the mother and daughter were not wholly alone, while Wizard Will, when at home, gave them many a pleasant drive about the country, and row or sail upon the Sound.
But Will did not neglect his work in the city, and, setting to work with energy and skill, he formed his League of Boy Detectives, and it was but a very short while before the police force recognized their ability and acknowledged it, treating their young captain with as much respect as they did their own commanders.
In due time Ed Ellis the kidnapper and murderer was tried, found guilty upon the testimony of Wizard Will and executed.
Mr. Rossmore came on to the trial, and urged Wizard Will once more to become his adopted son, but Mrs. Raymond would not hear of it, and also declined positively to allow her son to bring the kind-hearted gentleman out to see her, as he wished to do.
Will felt hurt at this, especially as his mother gave no other reason for her strange conduct than that she would not see any strangers.
With deep regret at Will's refusal to go with him Mr. Rossmore returned to his home in Maryland, and the boy settled himself to hard work to win greater fame in the career which he had drifted into by accident.
Though he had several times seen Colonel Ivey in the street he had avoided him, as his mother had earnestly requested him to do, and the gallant soldier little dreamed that the name his eyes fell upon now and then in the papers as Wizard Will, was the one whose three-dollar gold-piece he had found on Thanksgiving morning, and still wore as a charm upon his watch-chain, while he deeply mourned for the woman he had learned to love, and the children who had crept into his heart as though they were his own flesh and blood.
One of the first duties that the brave young officer set for himself to accomplish with his juvenile band of Secret Service scouts was the running to earth of the "Land Sharks," and how he accomplished the giant task is written in the Police History of New York City, wherein no name stands out in bolder relief than that of Wizard Will, the Boy Ferret of New York.
Those who wish to know how he accomplished his task, must read "WIZARD WILL'S STREET SCOUTS," the next number of the Tip Top Tales.
THE END.
THE "O'ER LAND & SEA" LIBRARY.--_Continued._
=40. Rocky Mountain Rob, the Roadagent=; or, the Vigilantes of Humbug Bar
=41. Kentuck the Sport=; or, Dick Talbot at the Mines
=42. Injun Dick, the Death Shot of Shasta=
=43. Velvet Hand=; or, the Iron Grip of Injun Dick
=44. Gold Dan=; or, the White Savage of the Great Salt Lake
=45. Captain Dick Talbot=; or, the Black Hoods of Shasta
=46. The Pirate Chief=; or, the Queen of the Isle
=47. The "Spotter" Detective=; or, the Girls of New York
=48. The City Sharp=; or, the Flash of Lightning
=49. The Cretan Rover=; or, the Secret Signet Ring
=50. Always on Hand=; or, the Sportive Sports of the Foot-Hills
=51. The Human Sleuth-Hound=; or, Who Holds the Winning Hand?
=52. The Prairie Mazeppa=; or, the Madman of the Plains
=53. The Wolf Demon=; or, the Red Arrow of the Far West
=54. The Gunmaker of Moscow=; or, Vladimir, the Black Monk
=55. Death Trailer, the Chief or Scouts=; or, Life and Love in a Frontier Fort
=56. The Pilgrim Sharp=; or, the Soldier's Sweetheart
=57. The Wild Riders of the Staked Plain=; or, Jack, the Hero of Texas
=58. Seth Slocum, Railroad Surveyor=; or, the Secret of Sitting Bull
=59. Wild Bill, the Whirlwind of the West=
=60. White Beaver, the Exile of the Platte=; or, a Wronged Man's Red Trail
=61. The Wizard Brothers=; or, White Beaver's Red Trail
=62. The One-Arm Pard=; or, Red Retribution in Borderland
=63. Gold Spur, the Gentleman from Texas=; or, the Child of the Regiment
=64. Red Renard=; or, the Gold Buzzards of Colorado
=65. The Corsair Queen=; or, the Gipsies of the Sea
=66. Black Plume, the Demon of the Sea=
=67. The Sea Cadet=; or, the Rover of the Ricoletts
=68. Double Death=; or, the Spy Queen of Wyoming.
=69. Gold Bullet Sport=; or, the Knights of the Overland
=70. The Vigilante Captain=; or, the Haunted Ranche
=71. The Black Pirate=; or, the Mystery of the Golden Fetters
=72. The Dead Shot Nine=; or, My Pards of the Plains
=73. Tiger Dick, the Faro King=; or, the Cashier's Crime
=74. Fire Feather, the Buccaneer King=
=75. Iron Wrist, the Swordmaster=
=76. Old Benzine=; or, Joe Bowers' Racket at Ricaree City
=77. Personal Reminiscences of Buffalo Bill=
=78. The League of Three=; or, Buffalo Bill's Pledge
=79. Buffalo Bill's Grip=; or, Oath-Bound to Custer
=80. Buffalo Bill's Secret Service Trail=; or, the Mysterious Foe
=81. Darkie Dan, the Coloured Detective=; or, the Mississippi Mystery.
=82. Shadowed by a Showman=; or, the Mad Magician
=83. Milo Romer, the Animal King=
=84. Fighting Tom, the Terror of the Toughs=
=85. Phil Hardy, the Boss Boy=; or, the Mystery of the Strongbow
=86. The True-Heart Pards=; or, the Gentleman Vagabond
=87. Detective Dick=; or, the Hero in Rags
=88. Konrad, the Swordmaker=; or, the Masked Emperor
=89. The Lost Captain=; or, Skipper Jabez Coffin's Cruise on the Open Polar Seas
=90. Buffalo Bill, the Buckskin King=; or, the Amazon of the West
=91. Buffalo Bill's Swoop=; or the King of the Mines
=92. Buckskin Sam=
=93. The Tiger Tamer=; or, the League of the Jungle
=94. Yellowstone Jack=; or, Trappers of the Enchanted Ground
=95. The Mad Mariner=; or, Dishonoured and Disowned
=96. The Kid-Glove Miner=; or, the Magic Doctor of Golden Gulch
=97. Red Lightning the Man of Chance=; or, Flush Times in Golden Gulch
_Continued on page 3 of cover._
=98. Queen Helen, the Amazon of the Overland=
=99. Buck Taylor, the Saddle King=; or, Buffalo Bill's Chief of Cowboys
=100. The Winning Oar=; or, the Innkeeper's Daughter
=101. Tracked from the Rockies=; or, Injun Dick, Detective
=102. The Fresh of Frisco=; or the Heiress of Buenaventura
=103. Bronze Jack, the Californian Thoroughbred=; or, the Lost City of the Basaltic Buttes
=104. Cloven Hoof, the Demon Buffalo=; or, the Border Vultures
=105. Seth, the Dumb Spy of Iowa=; or, the Demon of Des Moines
=106. The Pirate Priest=; or the Planter-Gambler's Daughter.
=107. Cutlass and Cross=; or, the Ghouls of the Sea
=108. The Sea Owl=; or, the Lady Captain of the Gulf
=109. The Lasso King's League=; or, the Tigers of Texas
=110. Captain Ebony=; or, Bound by the Golden Fetters
=111. The Cowboy Clan=; or, the Tigress of Texas
=112. The Swordsman of Warsaw=; or, Ralpho the Mysterious
=113. Don Diablo, the Planter-Corsair=; or, the Rivals of the Sea
=114. The Scarlet Schooner=; or, the Nemesis of the Sea
=115. The Texas Tramp=; or, Solid Sam, the Yankee Hercules
=116. Alligator Ike=; or, the Secret of the Everglade
=117. Buffalo Bill on the War-path=; or, Silk Lasso Sam
=118. Old Pop Hicks, Showman=; or, Lion Charley's Luck
=119. The Chevalier Corsair=; or, the Heritage of Hatred
=120. El Rubio Bravo, King of Swordsmen=; or, the Terrible Brothers of Tabasco
=121. Buffalo Bill's Blind Trail.= A Story of the Wild West
=122. Fire-eye, the Sea Hyena=; or, the Bride of a Buccaneer
=123. The Czar's Spy=; or, the Nihilist League
=124. Buffalo Bill's Buckskin Brotherhood=; or, Opening Up a Lost Trail
=125. Buffalo Bill's Body Guard=; or, the Still Hunt of the Hills
=126. Dark Dashwood, the Desperate=; or, the Child of the Sun
=127. Mourad, the Mameluke=; or, the Three Swordmasters
=128. The Swordsmen Hunters=; or, the Land of the Elephant Riders
=129. Buffalo Bill's Scout Shadowers=; or, a Romance of the Forts and Mountain Trails
=130. Dashing Dandy, the Hotspur of the Hills=; or, Pony Prince's Strange Pard
=131. Buffalo Bill Baffled=; or, the Deserter Desperado's Defiance
=132. Keen Billy, the Sport=; or, the Circus at White Gopher
=133. Buffalo Bill's First Trail=; or, Will Cody, the Pony Express Rider
=134. Red Rapier=; or, the Sea Rover's Bride
=135. Revello=; or, the Rival Rovers
=136. Buffalo Bill's Bonanza=; or, the Knights of the Silver Circle
=137. Corporal Cannon, the Man of Forty Duels=
=138. Joe Phoenix's Shadow=; or, the Great Detective's Mysterious Monitor
=139. Montebello, the Magnificent=; or, the Gold King
=140. Death-Notch, the Young Scalp Hunter=
OTHERS IN ACTIVE PREPARATION.
ALDINE PUBLISHING CO., 9, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, LONDON.
Transcriber's Notes:
This book was originally published as _Beadle's Half-Dime Library_ #450: _Wizard Will, the Wonder-Worker; or, The Boy Ferret of New York. A Romance of Mysteries in Metropolitan Life._ This electronic edition is derived from the later reprint in Aldine's _Tip-Top Tales_ series, which omits credit to the author, Prentiss Ingraham.
Underscores are used to represent _italics_; equals signs are used for =bold=.
Changed oe ligature to oe for text edition; ligatures retained in HTML version.
Added table of contents.
Normalized some inconsistent punctuation in chapter headings.
Some inconsistent punctuation retained (e.g. gripsack vs. grip-sack, Ed. Ellis vs. Ed Ellis).
Page 2, changed "as the reply" to "was the reply."
Page 3, changed ? to , after "I wish to see Jerry, the Night Hawk."
Page 4, changed "sportman's" to "sportsman's" for consistency.
Page 5, changed "miller Raymond's" to "Miller Raymond's" for consistency.
Page 6, changed "Mr Cluett" to "Mr. Cluett."
Page 7, changed "Mrs," to "Mrs." and added missing comma after "lay in a swoon."
Page 8, changed "and and" to "and."
Page 9, changed "villany" to "villainy" for consistency.
Page 13, changed "Reportres" to "Reporters" and "of of" to "of."
Page 14, changed "and kept she it" to "and she kept it."
Page 17, changed "a agile" to "an agile."
Page 19, changed punctuation to question mark in "Your brother at work, and at night?"
Page 21, changed "address of my young friend here will give you" to "address that my young friend here will give you."
Page 22, changed "on old friend" to "an old friend." Added missing "they" to "joy that they had not known."
Page 24, changed "hostilites" to "hostilities."
Page 25, changed "yatchsman" to "yachtsman."
Page 26, changed question mark to period in "To accomplish just what you have done."
Page 28, changed "than had arrived" to "that had arrived."
Page 30, changed "surrounding" to "surrounded" in "surrounding by spacious."
Page 31, changed "Mr Cluett" to "Mr. Cluett."
Page 32, added missing close quote after "make short work of him."
Page 43, changed "voyrge" to "voyage."
Page 44, changed "had had" to "had."
Page 47, changed comma to period after "he got away."
Page 48, changed "Hurcules" to "Hercules."
Page 51, changed "Chistmas" to "Christmas" and removed stray quote after "returned Hercules."
Page 52, changed commas to periods at ends of two paragraphs.
Page 55, changed "attack Indians" to "attack by Indians" and "Rosmore" to "Rossmore." Added missing comma after "went to the shelter."
Page 59, changed colon to semi-colon after "suffering."
Page 61, changed "anthing" to "anything" and added missing "gave" to "Jerry gave him that blow."
Page 63, removed unnecessary comma after "tears."
Page 64, changed "living her" to "living for her."
Back cover, fixed "Magnificent" typo in #139.