Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 1004 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

—— we ~~ ~<——- { Scorcher Sam’s Sweep-Stakes. 13 and let your brother guide you with his judgment.” “And meantime that villain may es- cape me.”’ “I do not think so.” <é Why? ss “ Because, this man being of the po- lice, as you have said, and you having gained his interest in your cause, he will take care of that.” “You think so? Then I am encouraged. Oh! if I thought he would escape me, and I could never strike the blow he deserves, I believe I would go mad—mad!”’’. “Dear one,’ said Bessie, “‘ you have my sympathy. I believe I understand your cause for revenge. You gave him your love, and he consumed the fresh- ness of the flower and cast it from him—” “No, no! Good heavens, no! You wrong me in such a thought as that. Listen; now I must tell you the story.” CHAPTER XV. SOMEWHAT COMPLICATED. The Scorcher, meantime, had wheeled away in the direction of the McGee shanty. Now that he had gotten on track of the man he was after, he felt it his duty to tell the Nightingale, so that she need not bother with him, or the other, should he come there again. It was, altogether, one of the most pe- culiar cases he had ever undertaken to solve. When he came in sight of the corner where the high fence was, he saw that some matter of excitement was attract- ing a crowd, and increased his speed and hastened to the scene, Reaching the crowd, he leaped off his wheel and pressed in close to the fence until he came to where he commanded a view of the whole situation. There were Cactus Bill, Molly McGee, and on the ground the fellow Dixon, as Sam took it to be, lying unconscious, while kneeling beside him was another man in bicycle costume, Just behind Molly was her lover, Mike Murtha, Molly having just, stepped in front of him, and as she pointed her ijn- dex finger at Cactus Bill, she cried: “Sure, it was you done et, ye bla’guard! Didn’t Oi see ye wid yure two hands at dhe t’roat av him?” ““T say I did not do it,’ declared Cac- tus Bill, spiritedly. “What is the trouble here?” demanded Scorcher Sam. “ What is it, Miss Molly?” “Sure, dhis gossoon has thried to kill a mon, apd dhey would put dhe blame onto Mike, so dhey would, and he as in- nocent as Oi am mesel’!” The man who was kneeling turned his face toward the Scorcher, Sam started. It was the counterpart of the face that lay turned to the sky! * He had come upon both the men to- gether, then, and he wondered which one of them had the scar on his throat? “T believe the girl is right,” this man declared, “I have reason to believe that she is right, because of something I happen to know in the matter. I want an officer.” “T am an officer,” said Sam, showing his badge. . The man gave a start of surprise. “Then [ demand the arrest of this man, and I charge him with the attempt- ed murder of my brother.” “Your brother? ’”’ “Certainly; anything strange about that? Do not our faces reveal] the fact? We are twins.” , “TI deny the charge, sir,” declared Cac- ' 1 iV L Po ‘ - a ee FO et ee ce ee ig PE OE . tus Bill. ““I am entirely innocent of any hand in the affair—” ‘““Ye loie, ye spalpeen!” cried Molly, shaking her fist at him. “Did Oi not see ye wid yure two hands at his t’roat, as Oi said? Deny thot an’ ye can!” “I was looking for the mark,” said the showman, speaking to the detective. “ And found it?” asked Sam. “ No.” ‘No! Then it must be on this other.” He laid a hand on the shoulder of the kneeling man, who rose to his feet im- mediately. “What is all this nonsense about?” he demanded. ‘I demand the arrest of that fellow, for the attempted murder of my brother!” ‘*T want to see your throat, just under your sweater, sir,” said Sam. “My throat! You want to see my throat? What for?” “IT want to see the scar you have there. If you have such a scar, you, and not he, are my prisoner.” | “Your prisoner—I? Man, are you crazy? Are you really an officer, as you claimed? I doubt it. Will some one here summon a policeman to my aid?” “T am all the policeman you need, sir,’ said Sam, speaking severely. ‘“ Bare your throat, or I will place you under arrest and take a look at it by force. I am not crazy, neither am I fooling.” ‘““Maybe not, but it strikes me you are a fool. There!” With an angry motion, he bared his throat so that all present might see it. It was as fair as a woman’s, not a mar or mark of any kind upon it any- where, and the Scorcher was for the mo- ment nonplused. ‘“ That settles it,” he said, with a wave of the hand. “I was mistaken, that’s all I beg your pardon, sir, and now I am ready to hear your complaint in full.” “Whom did you take me to be?” “No matter, since you are not the man.” * “But it does matter, and greatly, sir. It matters so much that it has probably cost my brother his life.” “What do you mean?” , “IT mean this: My brother told me of an adventure he had this afternoon—or was it this morning? No matter; he said he entered the tent of a showman at Fort George, and came near to being shot in mistake for another man against Whom the showman evidently had a grudge.” “ Do you think he is badly hurt?” “ You can see for yourself that he is unconscious,”’ ‘You had no hand Bill?” ‘I swear that I had no hand in it.” “And Oi say thot ye loie!’’ cried the Irish lass. “Oi saw ye wid yer fingers at dhe neck av him.” “ Yes, opening the neck of his. shirt to see if he was the man I want,” an- swered the sport. “I did not harm him, but I have -reason to believe that that young man did,” and he indicated Mike Murtha, ‘‘No, sor; Oi did not thot same,” spoke up Mike. “Av coorse ye did not,” chimed in Molly. “‘ The mon that says ye did tells a bould-faced loje, so dhere!”’ “ Let us get at this thing,’ said Scorch- er Sam, ‘“ You, sir, try to bring your brother to, meantime. What reason, Cac- neo have you for thinking he did “ Because, some one here—where is he now ?—-said he heard a quarrel inside the fence just before it. happened, and when Nannerl sss eens in this, Cactus iva p ie} Tae — a a en Ac A he came around here this was what he Saw, this man lying on the ground-—” “ And you at his throat, the same as the girl says,’ spoke up a voice. “Let us hear the rest of it,’’ demand- ed Scorcher Sam. ‘“ How long were you in getting around to this side of the cor- ner, after you heard the quarrel?” “I did not come until I heard the voices around here and knew that some- thin’ was up, sir; it couldn’t been more than half a minute before you got here yourself, sir; I saw you when you came,” “And Molly, what have you got to say?” “Sure, Oi have said it,” cried the girl. “Oi say it was not me Mike done it at all at all.” “And what do you say, Mike?” “Oi say dhe same, begob.” “The fellow had come again to see you, Molly?” “Yis, and sure Oi was ownly doing phwat ye tould me te do, talk wid him, and while we wur a-talkin’ in came Mike and wint fur him loike a tarrier goes fur a rat—but not sayin’ me Mike is a tar- rier, moind ye.’’ “And they had a fight?” “Not at all at all. The man made his excuse and wint out in a hurry, and dhe next we knowed was all dhis great hulla- baloo out here, and we came out to see phwat it meant.” “You came out at once?” “To be sure.” “You did not even stop to explain to Mike?” “Well, Oi did thot, but sure it took nor more nor a minute to do dhat.” “ Here is a complication, sure enough,’” said Sam, speaking to the brother of the unconscious man. ‘“ You and this man, Cactus Bill, carry your brother into the yard, and I will disperse the crowd— Ha! here is a mounted officer; this is for- tunate.”’ The injured man was taken in behind the fence, and Scorcher Sam, making an explanation to the mounted policeman. the latter dispersed the crowd, and that having been done, all concerned gath- ered inside the fence, where every ef- fort was made to restore the injured man to consciousness. His bicycle, it was noticed, had been injured as if by 4 fall. CHAPTER XVI. TANGLED THREADS. Scorcher Sam and Cactus Bill stood apart from the others. The injured man’s brother was doing all he could to restore him to conscious- ness. It had been ascertained that he had no wound, so far as could be discovered, Save a bruise on one side of his head, and there the bone did not appear to be broken. A doctor had been sent for. “What is your opinion of it all?’ asked Cactus: Bill. ) “It is more complicated than ever, now,” answered the detective. “I am half bewildered.” ‘And I am almost completely so. If neither of these has the mark on his throat what am I to think? That Dona | Teresa is mistaken? ”’ “She was not mistaken,” declared Sam. “Not mistaken? How do you know that?” ‘“ Becausé I saw the man and the mark both this very afternoon.” “And it was one of these? But no, that is impossible, unless— I give it up; I’m all-at sea,” “ Perhaps you meant to say, unless the sear is removable! That idea is in my own mind, and yet I do not see how’ books.< 4 O Let