Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 186 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

i BS Te et es oe --— _-—- - = ‘ Sd ee SL Soe | o--—=, ee 2 ES SE tw — a —— —w=- = —— ~- -_--- = a ea SS SS ES — = = -_-- -_—— a ay =e - —_— SSS SS 12 { Cool Desmond. —_— — i had bereft him of sense, and from that day to this he has been an idiot.” ‘* Oh, what a terrible story!” the girl exclaim- ed, with a shudder. ‘Yes, a terrible one indeed, and, as far as any one could judge, the crime was a fruitless one, Conejos was commonly supposed to have quite a large sum in gold-dust on the place, and it was to get possession of this treasure that the murder was committed, but if the boy is to be believed the robbers did not succeed in finding the hiding-place where Conejos had secreted it, and although the mine there is supposed to be a good one, yet since the murder it has never been worked for any length of time. Three or four parties have tried it but without success; and then, too, there is an impression abroad that the spirits of the murdered men, who were so foully slain, haunt the spot where they met their death, and few men are brave enough to care about encountering the angry and venge- ful ghosts.” ‘** And the poor boy saw the dreadful sight?” ** Yes; for, although taken completely by sur- prise, Conejos’s party made a determined fight, and the boy was the last to fall. Of course his description of the affair is a loose and disjoint- ed one, but, as far as can be told from his de- scription, there were some ten or fifteen assail- ants, and they were all disguised. It is a fortunate circumstance, perhaps, for the boy, that he did not recognize any of the attacking arty, for there isn’t much doubt in my mind hat some of the reckless villains are living right in the camp here, and if they had any idea that the boy would be able torecognize and denounce them, they would not have hesitated to put him outof the way long ago.” “ His affliction then has really tended to pre- serve his life.” ‘¢- Yes; I donot think there is any doubt in re- gard to that. His memory seems to be a total blank in regard to thesad events of that terrible night, except that when he is questioned about it, he raves of black men who had gleaming knives, and then he says red blood flows like water.” ‘* But, isn’t there a chance that, some day, he may recover his senses, or at least re- cover enough to be able to give some clear ac- count of the men who did this terrible deed?’ the girl asked. | ‘¢Oh, I don’t think there is the slightest chance of that. In fact, instead of seeming to get bet- ter he is apparently getting worse. His mem- ory does not seem to be as good as it used to be. In one respect, though, it serves him; he re- members well enough who is good to him, and since you have treated him in a hospitable man- ner you may depend upon his patronage.” ‘Poor boy! He is quite welcome to anything we have!” the girl feelingly declared. After a little more conversation Shannon de- parted. ‘¢ Sister!” cried the youth, suddenly, from the bunk the instant that the door closed behind the young man, ‘‘ the money of Conejos is still concealed where he hid it. Who has a better right to it than we?” _‘* This boy,” the other answered, unhesita- tingly. ‘* He shall help us to find it, and then we can take care of him and go far from here.” The girl shook her head sadly ; she doubted. CHAPTER XV. | , THE CATS IN COUNCIL. THE outlaws, clad in their strange disguises, were seated in their cave busy in conversation. The leader of the band had just come in, and the topic which the outlaws were discussing was the mysterious death of Dick Devine, for ae mega man was a member of the Cat and. ‘‘Whatdoesit mean? Can anyof you guess?” asked the leader, in sullen tones. ‘‘This is the second one of our boys stricken down right in the open street by this mysterious marksman without being given any chance for his life. Who is doing this? Is it accident or design that two of our band should have fallen in this strange way? Is it possible some secret and d foe is upon our track, determined to hunt us down one by one, and kill us without our having any show for ourselves?” ‘‘ Wal, if it is so, blessed if I don’t want to - git!” growled one of the outlaws. ‘‘Has anybody got anything to propose?” de- manded the chief. ‘“‘ Don’t let us go, one by one; let us allers go two by two, or in threes, so as not to gi’n this sharpshooter a chance at us,” suggested an- other of the men. ‘That idea will be difficult to carry out,” the > ee _— EEE —EEEE———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— ee ee Cat leader answered. ‘‘ Afterall, it may be ac- cident alone. Do any of you know whether Kirby and Devine had any trouble with any man with nerve enough to do this shooting lately?” The members of the band all shook their heads; they were not able to afford any in- formation upon this point. ‘‘Let us put that infernal idiot out of the way!” exclaimed one of the outlaws, abruptly. ‘*T don’t believe that we will have a bit of luck while that fellow is alive.” ‘*That’s so! He knows the secret of our cave here, and he might bring the miners down upon us at any minute,” a rough-looking villain de- clared. ‘‘ Well, as for that, I do not think there is much danger,” the chief replied. ‘*‘ The fellow is an idiot, without any doubt, and his memory ain’t worth a cent. Devine sounded him yester- day, on the very afternoon before the night on which he was killed. He went expressly to find out if Will remembered anything about our cave bere, and if he would tell it if he did know.” ‘‘ And what did the fool say? Did he keep a close mouth?’ ‘*Oh, yes; he couldn’t get a bit of satisfaction out of him. Apparently he didn’t remember anything of what happened.” ‘* Don’t you suppose he might have suspected what Dick was after and played off on him?” ‘*No; 1 don’t give the fellow credit for as much sense as that.” ‘* These idiots are mighty cunning sometimes,” asserted the other, still holding to his idea. ‘* Yes, but that is giving him credit for alto- gether too much sense.” Just at this point the report of a pistol sound- ed in the outer cave. In hot haste the ‘‘ Cats” jumped to their feet and drew their weapons; the sound was a warning of danger; but, after the pistol-shot, the stillness of death reigned within the cave. The outlaws looked at each other, a troubled expression in their eyes. Had the avenger—the pee slayer, sought them right in their council Thoy hesitated but for a moment; then their leader took it upon himself to command action. ‘‘That means mischief, boys, of some sort and we must see what it is!” he remarked, and. with drawn weapons, ready for the fray, they rushed into the little outer cave. The suspicion — correct; there had indeed been mischief one. In the center of the apartment lay the sen- tinel whose duty it was to guard the door. Plainly he had admitted one too many within the cave and the last comer had slain him. The secret slayer had sought the outlaws right in their mountain retreat! It was now con- ceded that the first two members of the band had not been killed by accident; one hand had done the deed, and the same hand had laid low the senti el, who kept watch and ward at the door of the cave. The manner of the wound de- monstrated this; the sentinel had been shot in exactly the same lace as the other two, in the head, just above the ear! The secret slayer evidently had given the cor- rect signal, and the sentinel had opened the por- tal only to receive his death wound, and, after inflicting it, the secret foe evidently had escaped into the canyon, for the way was open. When these discoveries were made, up from the throats of the enraged outlaws came a cry for vengeance. They believed that they knew who the secret slayer was; they suspected the only party who had ever penetrated into the secret of the entrance into the cave; they be- lieved that the idiot boy was the doer of these deeds of blood. Although the chief doubted this, yet he thought it better to yield to the clamors of the rest. After all, it didn’t matter much whether the boy lived or died. But the Cat chief want- ed to satisfy himself in regard to whether the idiot was the right party or not. It would be an easy matter to capture him, and on his per- son, if he was the secret slayer, they would find the tool—the foray ed small-bored pistol with which the deeds had been done. ‘*It won’t be much satisfaction to kill the fel- low without knowing whether he is the man we want or not,” the outlaw chief observed, and to this all the rest assented. The plan to seize Witless Will was easily roi arranged. Four of the ‘‘Cats” were detailed to lay in ambush near the cave of the idiot, every evening, until he came, then the were to wait until he was s:fe in slumber’s chain; then enter, gag and bind and transport him to their retreat in the mountains. Se ee . or ee ‘* ae tf eee © ““ And about this gal, boys—what do you all think of her?’ the leader inquired. ‘*She is mighty thick with the idiot, and she is very much agitated whenever anything is said about the massacre of Conejos. Now, some way, l have got an idea into my head that she knows something about that little affair. In fact, | shouldn’t be surprised if she knew where the old Greaser concealed his money, for I have an idea that she is related to Conejos; for she is the very image of Conejos’s daughter.” Some of the rest nodded; they had noticed this, also. ‘* When we get the idiot into our power we may be able to get the truth out of him—that is, if he really knows anything,” the outlaw continued. ‘‘ But, the first thing for us to do is to stop this fellow who has taken upon himself the task of drilling holes in our heads.” With this, as one man, the rest coincided; then the conference broke up, and the outlaws dispersed. There wasn’t much doubt in the minds of the band that it was the idiot boy who was doing the mischief, and eager and anxious were they to get their hands upon him. That night, just after the dusky hues of dark- ness had completely covered in the earth, four well-armed, rough-looking men, from four dif- ferent points—so it had been arranged, so as not to excite suspicion—stole in toward the hole in the hillside where the poor idiot had his lair. All of the four had seen the idiot in the town just before nightfall, and they felt pretty cer- tain that he would seek the shelter of his cave somewhere near midnight. The four men had selected four excellent hid- ing-places, so that it was impossible for any one to guess that a soul was about, so carefully they chosen their several hiding-places. The side of the hill all around the cave was well wooded, so that it was a favorable spot for the execution of just such a purpose as the out- laws had in view. Lying quiet, the four men watched the moon come up, and then, about midnight, saw her re- tire out of sight behind some heavy cloud-banks. They had watched the lights go out, one by one, in the mining-town, of which, from their posi- tion, they commanded an excellent view. One by one the lights disappeared, until at last there was not a single light left. e town was at rest. And then, each man grumbled to himself, and each and every one said the same thing: “Tf he is ever coming it is pretty near time the durned cuss was here.” And they listened attentively, expecting each instant to catch the sound of footsteps ascend- ing the hill, but, no such sound did they hear. All the nameless voices of the night fell upon their ears—the birds, the insects, and the little nocturnal animals—but nothing to denote that a human was abroad. The four were arranged at about an eqnal dis- tance from the cave, two on the hillside, a lit- tle below the line of the ledge upon which the hole was situated, and two to the rear of the cave, and slightly above it. they were situated, one of the two men below the cave should be the first to catch the sound of any one’s footsteps ascending the hill, therefore the men above the cave did not trou- ble themselves to keep as good a watch as the men below. In fact, one of the fellows—a big, burly, evil- looking ruffian—was so overcome by drowsiness as to doze off tosleep. A code of signals, not calculated to arouse suspicion, bad been ar- ranged between the four, so that the first one who heard the coming of the man for whom oe waited, could warn the rest. he man who slept fought all he could to, re- sist the drowsy influence, but, for a time, he yielded, and slept snunaly and then, all of a sudden, he woke—woke with the suspicion that something was near him—something evil was at hand; a cold perspiration came out all over his burly frame, and, with haste he reached for his weapons. CHAPTER XVI. TOO LATE. THE brawny rascal was not naturally a very quick man, but on this occasion fear led him to move with considerable alacrity, but, quick as he was, the arm of the unseen foe, who was right at his side concealed behind a clump of bushes, was quicker still. The ruffian was lying on his side, thus afford- ing a fair mark, and, as he reached for his weapon—he had carelessly thrust his revolver down its holster when the drowsiness had crept over him, thinking that he would have plenty time to draw it before the time for action would 5 eg) er ge SET OU res wl) te. Com | OOO) (E cS