Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 168 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

i Deadly Dash. into the village and as near to Edwin Har- court’s house as they couid without discovery, then wait for the alaria of fire, which would be kindled by Seth Hovey. It was believed that this alarm would draw the guards, as well as all others at once to the scene, when the two adventurers were to rush in and hold the Harcourts, father and son, in check, until Seth could effect the rescue of Sally. The men were stationed in the timber, and the three adventurers stole forward on foot, leaving their horses with the band, Hovey bear- ing a bundle of well-greased hemp, and a jug of turpentine, determined on making sure work. Dick Dado bore the two friends company, and soon pointed out to them the house where their enemy lived, a two-story frame building, the most pretentious in the village. Lights were burning on the first and second floors, and as they crept nearer, the forms of the two Harcourts were visible through the open windows, seated at a table well supplied with decanter and glasses. ‘““We’ve made a mistake,” muttered Old My- thology. ‘‘ At the fust alarm, them imps ’ll be out, fer the old man ain’t no coward. We could only stop ’em by force, an’ the noise would be heard. A crowd would come, an’ then how kin we git away the gal? Better let me go fust an’ open the road.” Deadly Dash could not mistake his meaning, but he could see no other way by which the oversight could be overcome, and taking his silence for consent, the old man drew his knife, hiding the blade in his sleeve, and stole forward, silent as some phantom of the night. He had made but a few steps before he saw a man seated upon the lower step of the short flight leading to the front door, and thus guid- ed, taking advantage of the deeper shadows, Old Mythology stole nearer and nearer, then uprose at the very side of the unsuspicious wretch. He flung one arm around the luckless fellow’s throat, holding him as in a vise, cutting off all outcry—there came a flash of steel in the lamp- light. and then a lifeless body was gently lower- to the ground, and shoved under the steps. _ “Tt was hard,” uttered a low voice at his shoulder, and Deadly Dash arose from the ground, ‘‘ but they began the fight, and should have counted the cost. Come, let us get inside and finish our portion of the work!” ‘* S’pose the door is locked?” asked the veteran. ‘The windows are not. Give mea back, and while I hold them in check, do you see that none of the servants escape by the door,” quietly de- cided Deadly Dash. And this was the first intimation the Har- courts had of the trouble that was brewing for them; a slender but resolute form standing be- fore them, a cocked and Jeveled revolver in each hand, while a low, stern voice uttered: ‘‘ Raise so much as a single finger, or utter a sound above a whisper, and that moment you die like dogs!” They saw that the speaker was in deadly earnest, and they saw, too, that they were wholly in his power. Though there were weapons in the room, they had none upon their persons, lacing full confidence in the four men who had n stationed around the house as its particular guards. Though they knew they were laying a desperate game, with desperate men, they be- lieved their precautions would insure their re- ceiving ample warning, and so they now found themselves helpless in the toils. But hope flashed up in their hearts as they heard the hall door open, followed by the tramp- ling of heavy feet, but Deadly Dash cast down the frail fabric almost ere it was built. ‘‘Remember my warning! Those are not your friends, but mine. Even if the contrary was the case, what would that avail you? Though an army rushed to your aid I could and would kill you both before they could reach ou. Father and son cowered there, beneath the ‘ cold yet blazing orbs that were fixed upon them above the polished tubes of the leveled weapons, for they knew that this stripling held their lives at the tips of his fingers. A few moments thus, then the door which led into the hall was opened, and a tall, not un- picturesque figure entered—the form of a man whom one at least of the twain recognized, and as he did so, his heart seemed to sink clear down into his boots, for he knew that the dead past bad come back to wreak its retribution up- on him, the criminal! ‘* Shut the windows and oa down the blinds, Sampson,” uttered Deadly Dash, never once re- moviug his eyes from the trembling figures at ee ~~ rap 2 ga 8 ee Oren ee the tables. ‘‘Itis near time for the music to begin outside, and I care not to have any curi- ous eyes upon us just at present.” Old Mythology promptly obeyed these orders, uy stood behind the two men at another sig- nal, “If they attempt any outcry, you know what to do,” coldly uttered Deadly Dash, drawing himself forward a chair and confronting Edwin Harcourt, adding with mock civility: | ‘My name is Dudley Dashwood, Edwin Har- court, and I am the only son of Beverley Dash- wood, of Virginia—the man whom you basely | murdered nearly five years ago.” At that moment, just when the old man was opening his lips to answer this observation, the | wild alarm of fire rung out clear and distinct He had seen his own house in flaming ruins— upon the air, the cry being caught up and re- | house, barns, outbuildings and all. The house peated by a score of sturdy voices, while the | where he bad dwelt from childhood, where his rapid tramp of heavy feet upon the street told | parents had lived and died. He had seen his how rapidly the alarm was spreading. enemies even desecrating the neat railing which “It is your store that is burning, Edwin Har- | had been kept in repair around the graves, court,” said Deadly Dash, with a hard laugh. | where his futher and mother laid, buried be- ‘* You began the work, and we havedetermined neath the trees in one corner of the yard—for to fight fire with fire.” when they died there was no graveyard, and “The building and contents are fully in- | only one or two houses to mark where the sured,” retorted the old man, with a steadiness | village now stood—tearing it down and burling of voice that showed he was no coward, what- | the fragments into the leaping, dancing flames. ever else he might be. ‘‘ Trade is dull, and He would have known who was the prime sales slow. If this is your work, I owe you | author of this destruction and desecration, even many thanks!” | without the glimpse he caught of Horace Har- ‘‘The insurance money may benefit your | court on that night, without the report made by heirs, if you leave any, but you will never col- | Dick Dado of the conversation overheard b lect it—of that rest assured. I have sworn a | him, and now that he was about to pay bac solemn oath above the grave of my murdered | the injuries and insults in like coin, he ex- father to kill you, as you killed him. I would | perienced a strong as peculiar satisfaction in keep my vow now, but that I have other inter- | the work. ests to serve as well. The night was dark, both moon and stars ‘*Seth Hovey will be here soon, in quest of | being shut out from human sight by a thick his betrothed, who is now a prisoner up-stairs. | vail of bazy mist that filled the upper regions, As soon as he has departed with her, then will | though scarcely making its dampness felt below. come our reckoning. Not that I mean to kill | But Seth Hovey did not need the aid of light, you at asingle blow. Instant death would be and could have wrought his work almost as too merciful a fate for such a prime sinner. | well had he been blindfolded. Every foot of But limb by limb—wherever you can feel a | the ground was familiar to him. blow—and when naught else is left, the trunk!” He soon found cause to be thankful for the ‘Task no favors,” sullenly muttered the old | darkness and gloom. He could tell that the man, still defiant, while his craven son trembled | men of the village were afoot, restless and full like a leaf in his chair. ‘‘I know the breed of | of motion, as though scenting evil in the air. ye too well for that. The father a murderer | Perhaps they began to regret the work of the for gold—the son an incendiary—” past night. Such of them as owned prope The bony hands of Old Mythology closed | similar to that destroyed, may have had time around the throat with a vicious energy that | to reflect that fire is a two-edged weapon, and would soon have ended in death, had not Dead- | to dread the moment when the red crow should ly Dash sharply commanded his release. | perch upon their own roof-tree. ‘‘ He’s too p’izen to be let live!” muttered the | Be that as it may, Seth Hovey found many veteran, sulkily, but obeying the order of his of the villagers astir, and more than once came young master. into such close contact with one or another, Though half insensible, the old man planced that only the friendly darkness preserved him toward the door eagerly, as a quick footstep from recognition, or from having the suspicious sounded there, but Deadly Dash laughed. bundles which he carried, recognized, either of “°Tis a lover hastening to the side of his mis- | which would have meant an instant fight for tress,” and adding, a few moments later, as a | life or death. sharp, loud scream came from the upper re- |, He found that, while the building which he gions, ‘“‘nor need you build any hopes on that | intended to fire was not actually under guard, score. Your guards have all gone to help put | the street was regularly patrolled, and lest his out the fire; they and all others whom you can | work should be discovered too soon, when it call your friends. Only our ears heard that | might be extinguished before he could accom- scream,” lish his other and more important mission, The old man’s courage began to quail as he th saw that he must consume much more time realized how hopelessly he was in the power of | than he had allowed himself. one whom he knew had terrible cause to hate | Itis not necessary for us to follow his steps, one him, and Deadly Dash laughed aloud as he | by one; enough that bis intimate knowledge of noted the pallor that crept over the face of his | his surroundings now stood him in good stead, victim. and after some difficulty he managed to effect ‘* Listen!” and he paused while the sound of | an entrance into the low cellar below the build- footsteps came down the stairs and souped ing proper, where be found an abundance of the hall just long enough to utter a short whistle, | fuel in old boards and boxes and waste rubbish then hasten out of doors. ‘‘ There vanishes one | that had collected there. of your hopes. First the parent and nowthe _ Over this be sprinkled his turpentine plenti- daughter escapes you! And thus shall perish | fully, and drew the well-greased hemp out into each and every foul or fair dream you may | a long, loose rope, one end of which he coiled have entertained. Not until then—not until | around among the boxes, the other leading to you are lowered down below the level of the | the narrow hole by which be entered, and sa which he was prepared to close up with a board, m without came the loud shouts of excited L as soon as he could touch off his train. men. Then several pistol-shots in quick suc- This he soon did, and cue pausing long cession. And after them, a wild, wailing shriek | enough to assure himself that the conflagration as of a woman in mortal agony or grief! was fairly started, he adjusted the board and One and all reco the voice—that of lifting the craven by neck and hips, he hurled him as from a catapult, headlong through cur- tain and window, out of the house! CHAPTER VIL THE EXPLOITS OF A LOVER. ALTHOUGH a man who had played a double rt for years, who had many sins to answer or, both of commission and omission, Seth Hovey, only a few hours earlier in his life, would have turned in scorn and utter abhor- rence from the mere idea of becoming an in- cendiary, even to injure his most bitter enemy; but now he set about his nefarious work with a grim satisfaction that was a foretaste of re- _ venge. —_—-— —— stole away toward Edwin Harcourt’s house, Sally Bedell. knowing that five minutes more would insure the utter destruction of the store and its con- tents, for of fire engines the village had none. He felt confident that his allies had been equally successful with himself, since all was quiet around the house, and there had been no alarm given. He couid see the faint light which came from the chamber designated by Dick Dado as the one where his true-love was confined, and could hardly restrain his impatient longing to hasten thither and bear away his be- Not only that, but even more startling sounds came to their ears. The tumultuous rush of many feet, and above that, the sound of a stentorian voice shouting out the words: ‘Surround the house, boys! kill all who at- tempt to come out!” . There could be only one meaning attached to this h. Their presence had been discovered, and their lives hung in the balance. Both Deadly Dash and Old Mythology had turned toward the window, and Horace Har- | trothed bride. court leaped to his feet, screaming for help. It was lucky, perhaps, that Dick Dado came In an instant Sampson was upon him, and | upon him then, and wold him that Deadly Dash JOO com S (E f« i (E(0)