Wrestling Joe: The Dandy of the Mines — page 23: what you’re looking at

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

: , « ¥ “Forward !” and terror he hurled his comrade off the cliff. _ the great weight which fell. ~ ey de id oma ee. ar ot “ a “ : - a, ‘ Pe oe. ol “ y - ; J ‘Ad ht“ Oe emai 5 Ss en he 2 Vays r 63 & ’ sg ne — eo ie = 7 Pe @ >» » tas Dp 4 nd % j s Fo ee, rg ie oe ~*~ 5S yore _— or 3 a . s * > aS ree YS aye’ a ee ee = : Lest 4 Crag] a ae < wok 2 7 — Je pt Sees gf Pi BF ais at ee ORES Ne gue tS, i & Ne A Pa a oe Se ES? Satan a” 2 — : . Pa ' . 05 Cw J c ” ete Me io “ee _— 3 han « Tey ‘ es 4 oe ee 5 Ot 8 Ry pe a ha ee ad > a y ns ar F745 ~ 's a ag: - " ” . i-% _ * - ~~. o_o. 7 _ * -) ee fe ee St ly ‘e That was all Carroll said, but even as he spoke Champe felt the knife points in his flesh, and with a cry of despair A yell, a heavy thud, and the strong limb quivered with Champe dared not look down. he knew what swung below, and pallid, he shook from head to foot in terror. “That is pretty well. You like to play a hangman’s part, don’t you? I think you tried it once before,” said Carroll, bitterly. “Now go to your pals in the camp and tell them what you’ve done. Tell them you led a man into | crime and then swung him off for not succeeding. ‘Tell any tale you like. Go, hangman, go, why do you tarry?” ‘“You’ll shoot me when my back is turned,” said Champe, | now more than ever frightened. “Fool! It is not yet the fourteenth day of March. Go!” Champe did not wait for another word. He fled back to his cabin as swiftly as he could go to tell such tale as best he could, to account for the absence of Swoops. For he dared not tell the truth. Bad as were his companions, | he knew they would scorn him with a bitter hate if they knew he had aided in the hanging of his own friend. With souls blackened as they are with crime, there is one good point among gamblers. other in the hour of trouble. CHAPTER XX. PAYING HIS DEBTS. The dawn of another day came, but not with soft sun- and it soaked down the rocks and pattered on the leaves, while the wind sung a dreary note through the gulches and among the pines. ) arity 7 Pepito had lighted a fire before the dawn, and Maggie had cooked breakfast early. For Wrestling Joe had decided that he would drop down the river, and either go to San Francisco or to some of the other diggings, where life would not be in so much peril as it would be while he remained in that vicinity. “It is a dreary day to travel in, but all the more safe,” said Joe as he stood on the river-bank and glanced up and down the stream. A wild, shrill whistle attracted his attention, and look- ing through the mist he saw the figure of a man, armed - eee ee ee ~ — rs - Ty “y > ‘ 4, _. a * - V4 aa © * ‘ t; a gt «1 ® PA > As f*>,°) . Ps “ * er ee oe , ; A. ‘i aa —- » a ~s — rss lon KR acter wo come Pg ¥ - aa ten of my Abe * 24 b a —_ —F * ey foe. You looked to see my men. - you like tolook at them? They are so near that your horse, and now—they fire!” cried Pepito. body would be riddled with their balls if I made a sign to Santa Maria! how they go down all in a heap before the .~ 7 ve SACS i Jo gee ‘ cm se with a gun, standingsdirectly opposite. He knew the man did not mean immediate harm, else he would have used the gun, He was indeed within long pistol range. * “Who are you, and what do want?” he asked, for he saw that he was recognized. “Joaquin! Come to me and come alone, or only with Pepito,” answered the man whom Joe now recognized, more by his voice than otherwise. For he was dressed in a different garb than that which he wore when he had seen him last, and he seemed liter- ally loaded down with arms. “What can I do for you?” asked Joe. | “ Nothing—but I have a sight to show you. I want you to see how Joaquin can pay his debt of vengeance!” , replied the other. 7 “We will go over. The poor man may have lost his reason,” said Joe. Telling Maggie not to fear, but remain-there in quiet, he and Pepito now launched the skiff and rowed across. “T had two reasons for wishing you to cross,” said Joaquin, when they were over, and had taken his extended hand. “I wish my men to see you, that they may never harm you, if they should meet you elsewhere, and I wanted you to see me give my first lesson to my hated enemies!” . “Vour men?” said Joe, and he looked around. “Is your head turned, my good Joaquin?” _ | “No—nor will it be while I have strength to strike a forms and features.” 2 fen. Le eh hick 9 od ae re | 7 alanis va a — ME eee re at Me ye ng ps mre ee. Ode ety r= : _ St, ly 5 tet el = ~ Say > — ; OT ate PRTG ss ot) Nn oe Fo, hart vinta o d en ~ +one + £4 z . < —— > om. — Caan OES Tt OP ier , > “T's 5 < Pe -* J a = c.* r - THE LOG CABIN LIBRARY. He saw the shaking limb A ' light as it had on the previous day. A drizzling rain fell, They are near—would ; 23 ‘‘They’ll not forget mine—I am so. beautiful,” said Pepito, with a bitterness of tone and spirit peculiar to most men who are deformed. “Where are they?” asked Joe, still thinking Joaquin had become to some degree demented. A sharp, peculiar whistle left the lips of Joaquin. The next second, rising like magic from behind rocks and bushes, fully thirty men, armed with guns, pistols, and knives, like their leader, appeared within half-pistol shot of where they stood. They were dark, desperate looking men—some full Mexicans, others of Indian blood, and some more light in complexion than Joaquin himself. Silent and motionless they stood, while Joaquin spoke in the Spanish tongue. “ These two are my friends,” he said to his band. “ Mark them well, for instead of ever offering harm you must hereafter aid them, if it be in your power so to do. Now to your posts upon the roadside, and wait tor me and my signal.” An instant more and the men were gone. “They are not many yet. But they are brave and will obey,” said Joaquin. ‘ How well, you soon will see—for before another hour goes by a party will attempt to pass above. But one will ever go on—and none will live to They are faithful to each return.” * What party ?” asked Joe, in wonder. “The gamblers from the camp, with Champe at their head, and with a train of mules laden with gold, and their traps. They have been forced to leave. Their journey will be short. Come with me, not to join in the work, but to see it done.” Joe did not hesitate. He hated Champe and his gang too bitterly not to be willing to see evil come upon them. Pepito gloried even more in the thought that a fearful day of punishment was at hand, that those who had so often abused him were now to receive such mercy as they had been wont to render. They therefore followed Joaquin through the woods to the trail near half a mile from the river, and at his desire took post upon a bush-covered hill which overlooked a short turn made to the south, though they could see up the trail for fully a half-mile before the turn was made Half of Joaquin’s men with guns in hand stood behind the bushes at this turn. A hundred yards or more to the east, in the bushes close beside the trail, crouched the rest. Midway between, sitting on a rock where, when he rose, ,both parties could hear and see him, Joaquin took his post, to wait for those who, by his spies, he knew would come. “Good place. He’ll kill all who come!” said Pepito, and he crouched down by the side of Wrestling Joe. ‘‘T hope only those will come who merit death !” said Joe. “Champe and his gang I would not spare, but I do not like to see murder done, or even robbery. Yet we will stay—ah! I see the heads of mules far up the pass— they come—they come !” “Yes, they come to die!” said Pepito. “My heart leaps high to think how soon brave Joaquin begins h's work of vengeance. I will join in the work if he will but have me !” “Be still, and let us watch. The gamblers come in moody line. They do not sing or chat as when in camp,” said Joe. “Champe is at the head, grim and black, as if he had lost a bank. He’ll lose all now.” And Pepito chuckled at the thought. The line came on, so close that the mules touched as they crowded on. ‘ . Champe rode past the first ambush—past the rock where Joaquin reclined, almost to the bend, and not a sound reached his ears to warn him or his men of the peril now so very near. “They'll let him pass. What does it mean?” said Joe, as he saw Champe reach and turn the bend in the road. “No, no! he is down. They’ve dragged him from his ‘*Look—oh, have it done—so near that when I tell them you are my riddling balls. Those who are not down now turn to fly. _ friend and harm must never reach you each one will mark The other men are up—their volley comes. Dios! it ig murder—it is murder now.” | A rs = @ "{ " Lan oF —/ @