Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 186 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

—- 2 Te S.A i SS See. ES aw — - > li = = pe et ————— —S == ° == ——- o_O Oo or =e Iam willin 8 ed. ‘‘Whar I was hatched down onto the Mexican line we used to do them sort o’ things right up to the handle. [I reckon that I have bin on more committees than a four-armed If you want any p’ints, gents, jis’ pump me and [ll gi’n em to you, slick as a whistle.” The Tearing Terror was not working this morning; he had knocked off for a holiday, for, as he honestly remarked, he had a head on him as big as a bushel-basket, and he ‘‘ reckoned” that he wasn’t going toswing no pick when he had as good as two heads and only one body. One peculiarity attached to the gentleman from Taos was that no one in the town paid the least attention to him if it could be helped. Long ago Juanapolis had sampled him for all that he was worth. But this time, for once in his life, he was ut- tering solid chunks of wisdom. The committee idea was a good one and took at once. ‘* A committee to find out their wants would be the proper thing, I should think,” young Shannon assented; *‘ and, doctor, you would be a good man to head it.” ‘Oh, no; I must beg to be excused,” the host of the hotel replied at once. ‘‘I don’t take any stock in women, at all, gentlemen, particular- ly Bn and pretty girls like this one, so I will be much obliged to you if you will count me out. But if it comes to raising a subscrip- tion, or providing funds, or anything of that sort, why, L will do my level best with any man in the camp. Desmond was the next to speak. ‘‘ Well, gents, I don’t hanker after any re- sponsibility, and ain’t apt to go into any place where [ think that my room will be considered better than my company, but, as I think that it is the duty of very citizen to move in this here, to take a place on the committee if so be as how my company will be desirable and [ ain’t interfering with any other gent’s game. Like the doctor, here, I don’t go much on women, for they have always been powerful bad medicine to me, and have cost me a heap of money and trouble, but if the town calls on me to step forward I am going to do it.” ‘ “That’s bully, and so will I!” cried the Taos man; ‘‘but ’m a heap weak on women and allers was.” The rest of the group evidently didn’t relish this intrusion, for such in truth they considered it, but they didn’t know very well how they man could shake a stick at in a week. could get rid of the fellow, particularly as they were really indebted to him for the idea. ‘“‘ We don’t want a gang,” Desmond remark- ed, rather crossly; “‘ we don’t want to frighten the gal with the idea that a fire company is go- ing to call on her. A committee of three strikes me as being about the proper thing. I say, hannon, let either you or your father make the ird. ‘You go, Roland,” said the old man; ‘ you talked with her, last night, and I s’pose she will ee more confidence in you than in any one else. ‘‘ All right; I’m agreeable if the rest are.” And so the committee was formed and they proceeded at once to call upon the pilgrims. On the way thither the Taos gentleman insist- ed strongly that he ought to be made spokes- man, but the other two wouldn’t agree, although Taos asserted that he was a a lady’s pet and could talk to any heifer in two languages. ‘‘Good United States language is ie enough!” Desmond cried, roughly, ‘‘and if you don’t shut we’ll boost you out of this hyer committee, ” The Taos man would have shown fight but it was Cool Desmond, the Desperado, who spoke, and with all his pluck Colonel Bill Blufkin, so the Taos gentleman was named, didn’t dare to lock horns with him. At the cabin they were received by the girl and invited in. ‘We have called, miss, as a sort of commit- ‘tee, representing the town,” Shannon explained, ‘“$to see if there is anything that we can do for u. “Yes, miss, and we ee maybe, that you ‘would like to tell our folks who you are and how you came to come to our town,” Desmond added. ’ ‘‘And Juanapolis stands by you, miss, to its bottom dollar!’ the colonel exclaimed, regard- less of the frowns of his lates. As he remarked afterward, he “‘ Be gol-darn- ed” if he was going to stand by and let theother fellows do all the chin-music and he as mute as -@ dashed clam. The girl’s story was a very simple one and soon told; but there were some strange reserva- Cool Desmond. NS tions about it that rather mystified the listen- ers. She had come from the North; she trusted they would excuse her from mentioning the name of the town for she had good reason for not revealing it; she and her brother were alone in the world, without a relative on earth as far asshe knew. There were reasons why she could not stay where she had lived; she hoped that the gentlemen would not ask her why, because it was better that she should not reveal that; and so, as she had heard of the rich strikes made in the San Juan district, and that prosperous camps were growing up there, she thought tbat there might be a chance for her brother and herself to gain a living there; so they had jour- neyed to the southward, and with not a very clear idea of where they were going excepting that they hoped to find some camp, somewhere where they could stay. On the trail they ha met the idiot boy and he had conducted them to Juanapolis. er name, Constantia Brown, her brother’s, Michael Brown. This was all there was to her story. The same thought came to each one of the listeners at the same time. The girl had not revealed her true name. As the Taos man afterward observed—the bottomless pit was paved with Browns. When pi a what she thought of doing she answered that she hadn’t any idea, but she would gladly do anything that she could make an honest living by. The committee retired much impressed by the decided air of mystery that hung around the girl’s recital. ‘*But she is an honest heifer, you can bet your boots on that!” the colonel averred, with enthusiasm. The committee pondered over the matter, and being unable to come to a conclusion, decided to call a public meeting that evening when the men would be ali in the town and submit the matter to them, and to have the thing debated over night in public when every man in the town could have a chance to deliver his opinion on the matter. But, anyway, the pilgrims had come to the camp; they were poor and friendless, and Juan- apolis must look out for them. Runners were sent out to notify all the miners in the neighborhood, for the committee were on their mettle and were determined that the mat- ter should be brought before ‘‘a full board.” No doubt the gathering would be a rousing one. CHAPTER X. DESMOND’S LITTLE GAME. THAT Desmond should volunteer to be a mem- ber of the committee was something of a sur- rise to the miners when the fact became pub- ic, for that gentleman always had been noted since his arrival in the camp, for paying strict attention to his own business. he was wont to remark: ‘‘ Life was short, and time a-flying, and a man who fooled around matters that didn’t concern him would be sure to come out of the little end of the horn in the long run,” Therefore, when it was publicly reported that Cool Desmond, of his own accord, had asked to be ‘‘counted in,” the men of the town won- dered, for on several public and important oc- casions, when J eats es was stirred to its ve heart, the gambler had remained passive. couple of horse-thieves had once paid their re- spects to all the valuable live stock they could et their hands on, and when the town rose in its might and gave pursuit, Cool Desmond had declined going. He wasn’t at homeon the back of a horse, he said, and he wasn’t going to risk being shot for no other man’s property. On a second occasion, when a man had been killed in cold blood, and the slayer had barri- caded himself in his cabin and defied the miners to take him out, Desmond had asked to be ex- cused from joining in the picnic, saying that he didn’t know either of the men from a side of sole-leather, and he wasn’t going to interfere in any gentleman’s amusement. nd now that the gambler should take such an interest in the two pilgrims, it astonished the town, but when the miners reflected about the circumstance—when they remembered what a beautiful girl the strange maid was, then the truth flashed upon them: Cool Desmond had been captured by the unknown beauty. He, the man who railed constantly against women —who declared that they were mighty unsafe cattle to tie to—who said, with many an oath to back up the assertion, that all females, old or young, rich or r, pretty or ugly, had been medicine to him, was at last caught; he had fallen a victim to the charms of this beautiful girl who, as unexpected as an angel from the ———— rr an skies, had descended into the camp of Juanapo- is. Perhaps the gossips of the town were right, and perhaps they were not. It was a hard thing to say, for Cool Desmond was a man who had few friends and no confidants. ‘‘Paddle your own canoe; that’s the ticket for aman to back with either money or life!” he was wont to declare. The gambler was a man much given io reflec- tion, a silent fellow, generally, and sparing of words, and from this, with his associates at large, he passed for being extremely shrewd and long-headed. And now, in regard to the rather remarkable interest which he took in the welfare of the two young strangers, the A pa were partly right and partly wrong. The man, despite his pro- fessed aversion to women, had been impressed by the rare beauty of the girl, but, besides this admiration, the gambler had another idea in his head, and which was fully as powerful as the first in inducing bim to take an interest in the lady. The meeting of the citizens had been fixed to commence at nine o'clock, rather a late hour, but the idea was to allow time for even the most distantly located miner to getin. As we stated in the preceding chapter, runners had been dispatched to the outlying regions tributary to the town to notify the miners that their presence was required, and as the arrival of the strange pilgrims under such odd circum- stances had created a great deal of excitement, it was confidently expected that every man for twenty miles around, who owed allegiance to Juanapolis, would surely be on hand. About half-past seven the miners began to come in. The three members of the committee, Des- mond, Shannon, and the big fellow from Taos, were lounging in front of the hotel, where a Bt ery sm. built of boxes, had been placed. ‘*'W hat do you think, is it in the game for the a to be present?’ Desmond asked, ab- ruptly. Shannon said he thought it would be a good idea for the two to be present, so that every- body could have a look at them and see what sort of ‘‘ babes” they were that the town was proposing to adopt. And the colonel, with a great many unneces- sary words, also approved of the idea. ‘* S’pose 1 go up and fetch ’em down; that is, unless you hanker after the job, Shannon?’ Desmond observed. Now, the young man did not particularly ‘‘hanker ” after it, and he had an idea that the other did, so he at once said that he’d rather be excused, adding that he thought it would be better for him to stay where he was and talk the matter up with the miners as they came into town, being, from his position of store- keeper, about as well acquainted with them as any man in the camp. Now the gentleman from Taos, seeing that he was being ignored in this arrangement, his dig- nity was affronted. ‘See hyer, gents!” he exclaimed, ‘“‘I’m the antelope wot ought to go. I’ve got a kinder mild and soothin’ way about me that takes first- rate with these female heifers.” Considering that the colonel was a man about six feet high, elephantine in his build, with a tawny, wiry beard that stuck out in all direc- tions, and a shock of hair that would have taken a currycomb to untangle, added to a general exterior that suggested strongly an ignorance of soap and water andan intimate acquaintance with bad tobacco and worse whisky, it must be remarked that thecolonel’s opinion was one held only by himself. ‘You can go along with me, if you like,” Cool Desmond replied; he saw that the giant was disposed to make trouble, and had already made up his mind how to deal with him. Grumblingly the other agreed, ae how- ever, that he supposed he would have to handle the ‘* heft ” of the talk. The cabin wee by the two strangers was right on the outskirts of the town, and the two soon reached the spot. ‘‘ You wait outside while I go in,” ordered the gambler, as cool as a cucumber, to his com- panion, as the two paused at the door. ‘¢ Wot?’ cried the giant, in disgusted amaze- ment. ‘¢- You wait outside the door while I goin, I sa 2) % Not by a jugful!” the other replied, instant- ly. ‘‘I reckon that I kin handle my half of this business as well as you kin your . If 1 know myself, I’m a-gwine in.” ‘And if I know myself you ain’t, you big- A = GOMmMIlLEDOOK