Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 186 — page 15: what you’re looking at

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

~~. word, and don’t I think more ef you than all the rest of the women in the world, combined?” ‘* Keep faith with me, for Heaven’s sake!” the girl plead, passionately, ‘‘ or else I shall be driven to deeds which will bring ruin down on both of our heads.” For a time Desmond had succeeded, but how long would peace continue? CHAPTER XIX. A PECULIAR VISION. Ir was about ten o’clock at night, and the gentleman from Taos was not in the best of hu- mors. He had been drinking pretty freely, al- though this was nothing unusual with him, if he had the money to pay for the liquor or could find any congenial soul willing and able to stand treat. Andthe more he drank and the more he reflected, the more angry he became at the cavalier way in which Desmond had treated him. He did not make his wrongs public; he had too much pride for that; but at intervals, ‘ be- tween drinks,” he had astonished his companions with sundry strange exclamations. ‘*Am I played out, an’ kin any man walk over me that wants to?” he had cried, and al- though his admiring friends had assured him that he was a “‘ chief,” and one of vast renown, warranted not ‘‘to take water,” yet it did not assuage the grief that nestled within the breast of the colonel. He was a “‘ chief”—a ‘‘ dog with a tin ear,” a ** bluebird on a lily-root,” and all sorts of other wonderful things, and yet he dared not attempt to ‘‘climb” the man who had dared to put such « deadly affront upon him. The fame of Cool Desmond, the Desperado, awed him, and he did not hanker after a contest—a trial of strength with such a man, for it was a common saying in the valley that the man who crossed Des- mond’s path struck a graveyard “lead” in- stanter. The big fellow was eager for revenge, though, for the slight that had been put upon him, and so, after he had got well primed with liquor, a bright idea came to him; he did not dare to uarrel with the gambler, but he could go to the ‘“‘pilgrims” and drop a hint or two in re- gard to Desmond that; would be apt to block his game if he had any designs upon the girl, and the colonel had no doubt that the gambler was ‘squinting ” in that direction, So, never reflecting upon the lateness of the hour, the colonel started for the cabin of the pilgrims. Nor did the giant take any heed to the con- dition he was in, although it was as much as he could do to walk straight; he was always boast- ing that he never got too much cargo on board, and his favorite exclamation, when he was so well soaked in fire water as hardly to be able to walk, was—‘‘ It’s astonishing how much liquor I can drink without showing ib.” To the shanty restaurant of the two strangers he proceeded. A light shone from within, show- ing that the inmates had not yet retired to rest. ‘* Now, then, dog my catsif I don’t put a flea into Mister Desmond’s ear,” the Taos man mut- tered, as he knocked at the door. ; The knock was not answered, but the light was instantly extinguished; the inmates appar- ently were alarmed at the summons, ‘‘Reckon I didn’t rap loud ’nuff!” the caller muttered, as be hit the door another sturdy whack with his big fist. And this time the voice of the girl demanded: ** Who is there—what do you want?’ Then it suddenly occurred to the giant that it was rather an unseasonable hour for a call and that possibly he had alarmed the pilgrims. ‘¢ Don’t be afeard—it’s only me,” he assured; ‘Sond ’m areg’lar old side-pardner of yourn; I’m the colonel from Taos, and 1 want to speak to you on very ‘ticular business.” ‘6 Come to-morrow,” answered the girl. _ ‘‘ To-morrow won’t do; I shall bu’st if 1 wait i exclaimed the Taos man, explosively. ‘ Don’t you be afeard; I’m jes’ the biggest friend that you have got in this hyer town, and I have come to put you on your guard ag’in’a mean cuss wot I reckon will be apt to worry you if he gits « chance.” ‘There was a brief consultation between the two within, : ge ‘“T recognize the voice,” the girl said. “It is that big man who was one of the committee that called upon us.” el See “Do not let him in, no matter who it is! begged the boy, nervous with fright. The walls of the shanty neeng thin, the con- versation came distinctly to the ears of the giant. em eee ee Cool Desmond. ee ae re we | oe eg “‘Durn that leetle cuss,” he grumbled, under his breath; ‘‘wot on earth is he so skeered about, anyway? Say, you needn’t be a mite afeard; 1 only want to give you a word or two of advice, and, mebbe, one of these days you will be mighty glad.” ‘** Do not open the door—how do you know for what purpose he comes?” the boy insisted, his voice trembling and showing increasing signs of alarm. ‘* You’re a durned little mule-head!” the Taos man cried, indignantly, ‘‘and you had better keep your ’tater-trap shut when nobody axes your ’pinion,” ‘*Go away!” replied the boy, shrilly; ‘‘ we do not wish anything of you; we do not wish any- thing of any one in this camp; all we ask is to be let alone,” . ‘*The durned, frightened little galoot,” mut- tered the giant. ‘‘ He ain't got as much sense asamule, Then you ain’t a-gwine to open the door?” ** Not to-night, please,” the girl replied, gent- ly endeavoring to smooth over the matter. ® Come to-morrow and we will gladly listen to what you have to say and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your kindness.” ‘** Soft words butter no parsnips,’” the big fellow thought. ‘‘But, look-a-here!” he ex- claimed aloud, just drunk enough to be obsti- nate. ‘‘I reckon you don’t get the right kind ofa yas Se thishyer thing. I’ve come for tosee you on the most important kind of business, I reckon if you only knew wot I have to say you'd fling this durned door open so wide that an elephant could walk in.” But the pilgrims were equally as resolute in their idea of keeping the big fellow as he was to gain admittance, and, as they had a most de- cided advantage on their sidé, reluctantly he was forced to abandon his mission. He couldn’t very well howl his communica- tion through the key-hole, particularly as the door was innocent of any such article, but as he was not the kind of man to be balked in his pur- ose in a parting speech he “ kinder, sorter,” as + would have expressed it, put the pilgrims on their guard. ‘* Well, since you are so durned skeered and onreasonable [ll git Bp and git, but Pll jes’ warn you a bit. Jes’ keep your eyes peeled, that’s all; don’t believe everything you see or hear, nuther. Thar’s a powerful lot of black sheeps in this hyer camp, and some of the smoothest talkers are a heap sight the worst. Vm Pon wage 4 you this, as 1 don’t care shucks for the whole b’ling of ’em!” and after this em- seam declaration the gentleman from Taos eparted, much to the relief of the inmates of the cabin who greatly distrusted his purpose. They could easily distinguish from his voice that he was under the influence of liquor and naturally were afraid of him; while, on ‘his part, the colonel was equally as disgusted as they were distrustful. ‘**That is wot a gentl’man gits by trying to do a good-natured action,” he muttered, as he took his uncertain way back toward the center of the town. ‘‘ Durned if it ain’t enough to make aman eat a mule,” and then with a series of hair-raising oaths the giant expressed his dis- gust at the pilgrims, the camp of Juanapolis, its inhabitants, himself and in fact the whole world in general. So engrossed did the big loafer become in this pleasing task that he ne- glected to take his bearings, and walked straight out of the road toward the foot-hills and only woke to a consciousness of his mistake when he stumbled over a knee-high bowlder, which brought him down on all-fours, sprawling. He lifted his head and looked around him; there was a moon, nota very bright one, yet it gave sufticient light to enable him to discern surrounding objects. ‘*Durn me!” he muttered, ‘‘if I ain’t heading straight for the hills. If I ain’t drunk then I’m a loon.” And then his eyes fell upon a dark object which was crouching under the lee of a rock some forty or fifty feet off. The object, whose flank had been turned, so to speak, by the giant’s unexpected movement, thinking that it had not been seen owing to the colonel’s condition, and anxious to escape dis- covery, glided quietly from its exposed position and took refuge amid some rocks a little fur- ther off. But the colonel’s eyesight had not deserted him; he was wonderfully gifted in this respect; he had detected the figure even before it moved, but when it did more and thus plainly revealed itself, the rough and tangled hair of the gen- tleman from Taos fairly stood on end. “Wot a cat!’ he muttered, and, sure en- i ew me me oe ee ee mem =8 ws tee ee eee ough, the figure wore the likeness of a cat, but a cat of gigantic size—a cat as large as a hu- man, and Plath as the sable robes of night. That he saw as it disappeared, and then he rose slowly to his feet rubbing his eyes. ‘‘ Is it a me-ow cat or have J got’em—got ’em bad?” he asked, in a hoarse whisper, communin with himself. ‘* The whisky is bad here, awf stuff, but 1 thought my insides were seasoned ag’in’ anything from turpentine downward. | The colonel really was alarmed; he fancied that the-man-with-the-poker was after him. ‘‘Cats!” he muttered, in sore perplexity, “I never heerd of a man seeing cats afore; it is allers rats or snakes. Tl! jes’ git out of this hyer as quick as I kin.” And he *‘made tracks” for the hotel at once. He did not attempt to investigate whether it was a cat or not; the one glimpse of it he had caught was quite enough for him. At the hotel he related to the crowd in the bar-room what he had seen. He expected that the tale would be received with hoots of in- credulity, but, on the contrary, the faces of the listeners grew sober. The colonel, a new-comer in the camp, was not as well posted as he might be, but the rest were. ‘The Wild-cats are abroad then,” remarked the Doctor, reflectively. ‘‘ By Jove! that means there will bé bloody work somewhere around this camp to-night.” CHAPTER XX. THE STORY OF THE CATS. ‘YES, sir-ee, when you see the Cats abroad by night, it means that there’s bloody work ahead,” the landlord repeated, and the rest in the room nodded assent with solemn faces. The man from Taos was astonished, ‘What on earth do A aig roean by all this hyer, anyway?” he cried. ‘Did I really see a Cat for sure? and, gentl’men, you kin tell me that I lie all you please, but that air beast was as big asa mule! I don’t expect any one of you to believe me! I wouldn’t if an “4 pilgrim tried to wool me with any sich yarn.’ ‘‘Oh, we know about the cats; you see you are a new-comer in the camp, and of course you ain’t as well posted as you might be,” the Doc- tor explained. ‘You don’t mean to say that you have got cats in this hyer valley as big as mules?” “You saw it with your own eyes, didn’t you?” the host demanded, and the miners nudged each other as much as to say that this was a knock-down argument. The Taos man shook his head as though the words had been fists and had played a tattoo upon his skull. ‘“Wal, I sw’ar, I thought that it was all a kind of a-man with-the-poker game, and that thar wasn’t any sich thing, he confessed. ‘* No, sir; you are all mght as far as that is concerned ; but to explain: what you saw was a man disguised as a cat.” ‘“The blazes you say!” the giant howled, in disgust; ‘‘wal, if I had know’d that I would have jumped for him and clawed him in a min- u ** Yes, there’s a regular band of them,” the Doctor continued, ‘‘and they have been fooling round here off and on ever since the first settle- ment of this valley—in fact, before the camp had a local habitation and a name; a gang of desperadoes, ready to turn their hands to any- thing that promises plunder, from robbing a ranch to playing road-agent and going for the express treasures.” : ** And they rig up like cats so that folks won’t know who they are?” . nib Exactly; my noble Roman, you have hit it! | “Oh, if I had only a-knowed it!” the giant vociferated; then he spit on his hands and dou- bled them up. ‘‘If 1 had only aknowed it wouldn't I have whaled that Cat!” ‘*Or got ‘ wiped out’ in trying,” suggested the octor. ‘* Will them Cats bite?” the colonel demanded. ** They have left many a bloody mark of their teeth since this hyer camp was new,” the other replied. ‘*That chap under the table there could tell you more about them than any man in the camp if he only had his senses,” and the speaker pointed to the idiot boy who lay curl- ed up like a dog fast asleep, apparently, under one of the tables. ‘*And wot does he know about them?” asked the colonel, his curiosity now doubly excited. ‘They murdered his father, mother, sisters and brothers, and gave him a crack on the head at the same time that made an idiot of him.” | ‘The Cats did?” Mae ‘* Well, it was supposed they did; that was. b, ~~ ‘comicbooks (E(0) . y