Diamond Dick, Jr.'s Call Down; or, The King of the Silver Box — page 15: what you’re looking at

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

No. 275. — ee _ en blazing room. It seemed like a form from the infernal regions, so dis- torted was the face with anger and a demoniacal desire for vengeance. ‘‘Diamond Dick, Jr.,’’ shouted the form, ‘‘you sent Black Bruce to San Quentin, an’ right yere’s whar I play even with ye! I fired this house, but fearin’ the flames might miss ye, I’m goin’ ter make sure of ye! Ah, ha! oe are ye? Then the job is so much easier fer me Bertie heard all, and he saw the knife in the desperado’s hand, but he lay quietly and waited. Throwing open the iron door, the man leaped inside. It was Larkin. He was mad for revenge. With a wild bound, he leaped to the spot where Bertie was lying, but quick as a flash the youth dealt his wrist a blow that sent the knife flying. Almost overcome by the heated air, Bertie jumped through the iron door and ran from the burning building. He gave no attention to Larkin, and the outlaw, crazy with anger because of being baffled, dashed after him, but in some way lost his bearings and groped round and round through the dense smoke, unable to find the door. At last frantic with rage and cursing with his last breath, the outlaw sank senseless upon the floor. Bertie had but one thought as he rushed out of the cabin, and that was for the capture of the Don. There was_no doubt but that the gambler was a counter- feiter, and, while the case against him was weak, Sum- mers was certaixly anxious to put him under arrest. As Bertie hurried away by a rocky path through the hills he kept his eyes constantly scanning the country about him. Thinking that the Don had fired the cabin, Bertie argued in his mind that he would be anxious to escape from the scene of his brutality and that the vicinity of the Spitzer claim would be a poor place to look for him. For once our hero reasoned erroneously, although he had no means of knowing that rebels in the Don’s camp had brought about the present state of affairs. For an hour or more Diamond Dick, Jr., wandered about the rocky hills and passes searching for the gambler or endeavoring to find some traces of him. He finally saw a man whom he recognized as Hankins, one of the men whom he met in the assay office and, later, one of those who had borne him into Spitzer’s cabin. Hankins was talking earnestly with a disreputable- looking individual whom Bertie had never before seen. This man carried a rope. After a brief conversation, both men turned and disap- peared over the brow of a hill. Bertie followed, screening himself from view and watching their operations. Once down in the little ravine to which they had re- paired, Hankins and his companion wound the rope about a bowlder and began pulling it toward a hole which Bertie recognized at once as & mine in process of development. | Finally Hankins and the other man stopped in their lebor, and the latter leaned over and shouted something to some one in the pit. Diamond Dick, Jr., heard enough of the fellow’s words to realize that the two men were up to some deviltry that should be stopped, and he instantly prepared to stop it. His revolvers had been taken from him, and he had not managed to secure them again, but Hankins had set down a Winchester not far from where he was working, 1n order that he might work at the rope unimpeded. The rifle was some distance from Bertie, but he resolved by a guick, noiseless movement to obtain possession of it. DIAMOND DICK LIBRARY. While he was lying thus, he saw a form leap into the 13 The second man dropped upon the rocks, wounded and unable to move. Leaning over the shaft, Bertie was surprised to discover Handsome Harry below, and he lost no time in removing the rope from the bowlder and lowering one end of it to his friend’s assistance, ‘‘Well,’’ exclaimed Bertie, as Handsome Harry climbed out of the pit, ‘‘how did you happen to get into that fix?’’ Handsome Harry explained briefly. The explanation was barely finished when faint revolver shots were borne to their ears from the other side of the low hill. ; ‘‘What’s up?’’ queried Handsome Harry. Bertie grasped the Winchester with a firm hand and started up the hill. ‘‘T don’t know,’’ he answered, ‘‘but follow me, and we’ll find out.’’ As they reached the brow of the hill they looked off down the road and saw a horseman dashing toward them, pursued by three men who were making vain use of their revolvers, : Such a dust was kicked up by the on-coming horses that it was difficult to see either pursued or pursuers. But Bertie’s eyes were sharp, and he finally exclaimed: ‘‘The man ahead is the Don!”’ ‘“‘And one of the fellers behind,”’ Harry, ‘‘is Summers.’’ ‘‘Good! then we know where we are. stopped.”’ _, ‘‘How you going to do it? Pepper him?”’ ‘“‘No; I don’t want to kill him, and a shot while he is tearing along at that pace might prove fatal. I shall crease his horse. If I make a miss and kill the animal, it’s no great odds.”’ ‘““Ver a wizard with a gun, me boy, but I doubt if ye kin crease the critter at that gait. That’s a better shot than you made in the Lost Pocket.”’ “Tf I make it,’’ replied Bertie, grimly, ‘'I’ll be calling the Don down in just the way that I want to.’’ Throwing himself on his stomach, Bertie laid the barrel of the rifle across a rock and followed the movements of the Don’s horse until the animal -bore its rider directly in front of him. Then—Sping! . The rifle-shot rang out sharply, and the horse leaped high intc the air and dropped down on the rocks, turning over and over. The Don was caught under the struggling animal and was rendered unconscious by the mishap. Bertie and Handsome Harry°rushed down the hill and hastily examined the gambler. ‘‘No bones broken,”’ said Bertie, unbuttoning the Don’s coat and removing two revolvers (Bertie’s own, by the way) from his hip pockets. ‘‘Give him a swallow of whisky, Harry, if you have a flask with you.”’ By the time Summers and his companions came up,-the Don was just raising himself to a sitting posture. ‘‘Diamond Dick, Jr.!’’ exclaimed Summers; ‘I’m sur- prised to find you here.”’ ‘‘Djamond Dick, Jr.!’ growled the King of the Silver Box. ‘‘You’ve got more lives thanacat. I could have taken my. oath that you were burned to death in Spitzer’s cabin.”’ “That would have been my fate,’’ was Bertie’s stern reply, ‘‘had you had your way, Ortego.”’ ‘“‘You’re mistaken. I don’t kill defenseless men in that way.’’ Who, then, made such a dastardly attempt?”’ “That I will not tell you; but it was not my hand that fired the cabin and neither was it fired by my orders. Be- added Handsome The Don must be psy this or not, as you will; it is the truth.”’ ‘(An elegant shot, Bertie!’’ broke in Handsome Harry, While the two outlaws were busily tugging at the rope! pointing to the gambler’s horse, which had risen to its he started up and made for the Winchester. ; . He had cecured the gun and had brought it to his shoulder before his movement was discovered. Hankins was scared at this. sudden appearance of one whom he supposed to have been burned to death in Spit- zer’s shanty, and, being unarmed, he lost no time in taking to his heels, as was stated at the close of the pre- ceding chapter. feet and was looking around in a bewildered way. ‘‘You creased him at that gait and with the dust to blind you!’ exclaimed the gambler. “Tt was a good shot,’’ said Summers, ‘but I’ve got my duty to perform. We'll do that first and talk about the fine marksmanship after ward.”’ The officer motioned to one of the men who accom- panied him. CORNICE LIOO© (C <SrGOlni