Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 168 — page 2: what you’re looking at

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

aa “a bloodthirsty impatience. door, clearing the way wit ~ Deadly Dash; FIGHTING FIRE WiTA FIRE. ; BY JOS. E. BADGER, JR., AUTHOR OF “YELLOWSTONE JACK,” ‘“‘ HURRI- CANE BILL,” ‘‘ MUSTANG SAM,” “‘ NIGHTHAWK Kit,” ‘‘ DAINTY LANCE,” ‘‘ THE BLACK GIANT,” “PANTHER PAUL,” ETC, CHAPTER I. DOOMED TO THE ROPE. ** Down with him, too!” “Ef he’s so p’izen fond o’ hoss-thieves an’ man-killérs, let him pull hemp ‘long with t’other critter!” These and a score of kindred cries, some jeer- ing, but the great majority stern and threaten- ing, came from the hot lips of an angry mob, and were directed toward the stout constable who stood with drawn knife and cocked revol- ver before the closed door of the log jail. “Hold your hosses fer a bit, boys,” cried a grizzly-haired, hooked-nose veteran, standing almost within reach of that heavy bowie-knife, ‘* The p’izen critter cain’t gitaway, and it’d bea monstrous pity torubouta old fri’nd an’ neighbor like Rose, here, all through a mistake.” “Tt isa mistake if you think you can make me prove false to my duty,” said the officer, with a faint yet defiant smile. “I like the breed of horse-thieves no better than the rest of you, but the man was placed in my charge, for safe-keeping, and I'll defend him as long as I can pull a trigger or play a knife!” » It called for more than ordinary courage to utter such words in the bared teeth of a mob of such men, thirsting for blood, their worst pas- sions all afire, but there was nodrop of coward blood in the veins of William Rose, and not one of his auditors but knew full well that this was no empty boast. Still, no single man could long hold them in check, and though they all felt that their ends could be obtained only by bloodshed, each mem- ber of the mob was ready to run the risk of be- ing singled out, rather than own to being cowed by a single man. ' Though ready to defend his charge, Rose could not yet believe that these men, triends and neighbors, would crowd him to the last ex- tremity. Least of all did he suspect treachery on the part of old Tom Mason, who was almost imperceptibiy edging closer to him until, with a swift motion and a strength that would uot be denied, the veteran pinned both arms to his side, dexterously kicking his feet from under him. Both fell to the ground together, and al- most before William Rose realized his defeat, he was bound hand and foot by the triumphant mob. “Tll drain your heart for this, Tom Mason!” he gasped, almost breathiess from his desperate, fruitless struggles. “ Webbe yes, mébbe no,” grinned the veteran, arisine. ‘‘"I'was the only way to save your bones. You wouldn’t hear to reason, you was aund to figi t fer the hoss-thief. You’d’a’ shot down your fri’nds in defense of a murderer. An’ ef you’d’a’ bin let do that, salt couldn’¢ ’a’ saved ye! So, though you mayn’t think so jest now, when your mad’s up, it was the part ofa true frind I ieyon—’ “Too tuca talk!” cried one of the men, with “Has he got the key, or nist we burst open the door?’ ‘You kin come to the fore, now, ’Race Har- eourt, | tt you was keerful enough to play rear , long as Rose was on his pins with a eed in bis fist,” retorted Mason, grinning at the speaker, a_heavily-built, flashily-dressed young fellow with a red, bloated face. A low laugh ran through the crowd, as though his home-thrust was fully appreciated and en- joyed, but then the old cries were renewed— artis that went to the hearts of those unfortu- mates then within the rude log jail, for they knew that the sounds meant death, sudden and omi:.ious. A dozen of the mob rushed toa lot of heavy timbers lying scattered around a house under bag of erection, and raising a long beam in brawny arms, charged down upon the th their wild shouts that echoed from one end of the little village to the other, causing the cheeks of the women to pee, ane the younger children to hide their da in fear and trembling. Swift and sure the heavy battering-ram was -Maurled aguinst the thick puncheon door, causing ' ~--- Deadly Dash. the log fabric to tremble in every joint, and sounding like the trump of doom to the unfortu- nate beings inside. Once more and still again was the assault re- peated, until the door was shivered before the enormous strain, and torn from its stout hinges, leaving no barrier between the bloodthirsty mob and its victim. So at least they believed, as, with hoarse cries for vengeance they dropped the battering-ram and rushed across the threshold. But, a barrier there was, such as they had little suspected, and despite their raging pas- sions, those stern men paused as though abashed —before a woman! ‘* Mercy—for the love of Heaven!” burst from her pale lips as, with one arm flung around the neck of the doomed man, she sought to shield his form with her own, making an appealing gesture with the hand that was still at liberty. ‘He is innocent—he never committed that ter- rible crime. He was at home, peacefully sleep- ing in his bed, at the very time that bad man swore he fired the fatal shot. I tell you so—and never yet did you know me to speak falsely. He is innocent—as innocent as thé babe unborn!” The words dropped swiftly, passionately from her lips, and her distended eyes roved restlessly from one face to another in the vain hope of alighting upon a friendly countenance. Less terribly interested eyes than hers could not possibly have mistaken the deadly resolve which was written upon one and all of those stern, flushed countenances. A fierce lust for blood was imprinted upon every feature. Each sinewy hand was tingling and twitching with the longing to close upon fhe person of the man who had so recently been regarded as an honest, law-abiding friend and neighbor, but upon whose brow they could now read the bloody mark of Cain. There could be no possible doubt. The proof was so clear and distinct against him. For many months they had been the helpless suffer- ers. This man and his kind had ridden over them rough-shod; and now that an opportunity was given them of tasting revenge, none but a fool or a madman would even think of robbing them of their just dues. For nearly a year, that ‘county had been scourged by a band of outlaws; horse-thieves, counterfeiters and even highway robbers or road-agents, to use the vernacular. And, as month after month passed by, the criminals in- creased in boldness and audacity, though never yet had they been found. when searched for, A Vigilance Committee was formed, but either there was a traitor among them, who betrayed all their plans, or else the scouts of the enem were most wondrous skillful. All schemes failed, and while the settlers were expecting to entrap the outlaws in one quarter, they were plying their nefarious trade in quite a different spot, striking a blow that some one of the Vigilantes would feel to the bottom of his pocket. The man whose blood they were now thirsting for, Joshua Bedell, had been one of the first to join the Vigilantes, and had always been re- garded by his comrades as true as steel, until the night before this record of wild life opens. A descent was made upon the stock of a far- mer living a short distance out of town, and, in the brief ficht which followed discovery, two ; mén were shot. Farmer Heywood was slain outright, and one of the horse-thieves was crip- pled beyond the power of escape. His life was spared, that he might give infor- mation concerning his fellow-criminals, and while rendered partly delirious—in seeming, if not reality—by excitement and the pain conse- quent upon his injuries, he divulged two impor- tant facts: That Seth Hovey was chief of the robbers, and that Joshua Bedell had fired the shot that laid farmer Heywood low in death, This much he suffered to escape him, then swooned, For reasons which will be made clear in due | time, Edwin Harcourt, father of the young man ; whom old Tom Mason publicly reproved, caus- ed the wounded outlaw to be removed to his own house, and spared no pains to effect his restoration to consciousness. Not until then did Harcourt permit the Vigil- antes to see and question the fellow, He aepeased to deeply regret having made the disclosures already mentioned, and would say nothing to criminate any other of the out- laws. Under threats of lynching he repeated that Seth Hovey was the chief of the outlaws— that Bedell belonged to the band, and was the one who kept them informed of the movements of the Vigilance Committee, and sullenly swore that he, the prisoner, saw him fire the shot that killed farmer Hey wood. That was enough. A force volunteered to arrest the supposed traitor and assassin. They found him in bed, asleep. Both himself and daughter Sally declared that he had not been absent from home that night. Their protestations probably saved Bedell from beiug hung out of hand, but he was taken and lodged in the log Jail his daughter being refused permission to bear him company. Thanks to the kindness of the jailer, she was permitted to visit him, later in the day, and thus it came that, when the mob, thirsting for the blood of the supposed assassin, forced their way into the building, they found her con- fronting them. It is ever an easy matter to raise'a mob, by playing upon the worst passions of humanity, and it was not long after the arrival of the two young Heywoods—sons of the murdered farm- er—ere the cry for blood was raised. The nearest legal court was many leagues away; there was not even a justice of the peace in the neighborhood, and Will Rose acted the pert of constable, simply through the wishes of 1is neighbors, ‘“We know what law justice ,is,” bitterly cried Simon Heywood. “His friefids and part- ners would raise money enough to buy him off, and he would be turned loose to kill other hon- est men, while the blood of our murdered father would go unavenged.” There was more of truth than of prejudice in this bitter statement, and so it came that the mob arose in its fury. Sally Bedell saw that there was little or noth- ing to hope for from the men whom she con- fronted, and in despair she found a courage, the existence of which she had never before sus- pected. With a wild idea of clearing a passage for the escape of her dearly beloved father—the: only human being in whose veins flowed a drop» of kindred blood—she ag forward an snatched the revolver that hung against the hip of old Tom Mason, cocked and thrust the weapon almost against the face of the veteram as she pulled the trigger! This action was so sudden and unexpected— so adroitly executed, that, wary old Indian- fighter as the man was, he could not wholly avoid the bullet. As it was, his flinching was rather mechanical than from any degree of fore- thought, and when the weapon exploded be- fore his eyes, and he felt the burning powder the tearing of the lead through the muscles of his face, he believed that he had received his: death wound, nor did he fully realize from whose hand the wholly t-for blow had. come. | To return blow for blow, is the natural in- stinct of the class of men to whom Mason be- longed, and, just as unconsciously as he had jerked his head aside from the pistol muzzle, so e struck out fiercely with his unarmed band, But his fist was clenched, and its bony weight fell full upon the face of the agonized, half-dis- tracted maiden, felling her to the floor where she lay without sense or motion. With a hoarse cry of furious rage, Joshua Bedell, bound though his arms were, hurled himself bodily upon the old man, and as they both fell heavily to the floor, sought to fasten his teeth upon the throat of the one who he believed had brutally slain his daughter. For a few moments all was the wildest con« fusion, and had the accused man been able to use his hands, or other weapons than his teeth, it would have gone hard with Tom Mason, ere they were torn forcibly apart. As it was, there was a confused fight over the prostrate forms, that for a few moments threat- ened to end in bloodshed, for the two Hey- woods were burning to avenge the death of their father upon his ne fH assassin, while the majority, only less deeply interested, were resolved to save Bedell for the hangman’s noose. Numbers finally prevailed, and even the young Heywoods reluctantly assented when it was de- clared that the rope was the only fitting reward. for the traitorous murderer. But little time was cut to waste when this agreement was finally reached, and with the doomed man in their midst, half-led, half- dragged by the rope which was already fitted around his throat in a suffocating noose, the mob left the jail behind them, containing only the r girl who lay there like a corpse, the bl slowly oozing from the livid bruise which had followed the fierce blow that felled her, and marched out of the little village, sternly order- ing back the few boys who hung about their heels, _ They did not need to go far before finding a fit spot for the termination of the tragedy. S) GOmicboo SOUS |