Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 198 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

—— ll ro — _— —— eee ee ~— + Arkansaw, the Man with the Knife. a ee ee eee eee ——< - hankerchief, and as he satin the light of the | springing up, she threw herself against the door lamp still on the barrel the Queen of Fate studied him with blazing orbs, It was Conrad Gordon. Lying on a cot in the darkest corner of the room was Silent Sam the guardian of the fuse, apparently asleep; but the avenger at the win- dow saw only the man on the stool. “To-morrow and to-morrow night!” she hissed as she wMhdrew. ‘‘ Dream on, plan on, my enemy; the vengeance that has not slept for ten years strikes the blow that ruins and kills to-morrow night.” Unconscious of the presence of the Queen, Gold Conrad continued in his abstracted mood, while she with a lighter step hurried away. Suddenly she came to a halt, and stooped in the shadow of a clump of bushes—a shadow cast by the moon. She saw a figure emerge from the last cabin, and as it passed near her her watching éyes saw that it was Halleck’s. Queen Merta bounded toward the hut when the young man had disappeared; but when near the door, she stopped and surveyed her mas- culine dress. ‘‘I must see her!” she said going on again. ‘‘She cannot know me in this garb, even if Halleck has told her all. Inez, Inez, I am nearer than you dream.” She went on and halted at the door of Colonel Thunder’s cabin. For a moment she listened there, and then rapped lightly. ‘““Who’s there?’ came from the interior of the cabin. ‘* Halleck,” answered the Queen imitating the young man’s tone to perfection. “I forgot something which is very important.” The Queen of Fate held her breath as the door began to open. She knew that Esmer’s face would be in the moonlight while hers in the shadows would not betray her emotions. The next moment the bewitching face of Colonel Thunder’s protegze appeared in the doorway. ‘Come in!” Esmer said. ‘You must not stay long for— Oh! you are not Halleck. | am deceived.” The Queen of Fate thrust forth her hand to peeves the closing of the door, but vainly, for smer had psabrgs back with an exclamation of fright, and shut the doorin hervery face. And before she could recover she heard the fall of the iron bar which ‘told her that the door was secured against her entrance. Merta did not breathe for several seconds; her dilated orbs stared at the door, and her white face told that she had seen a facestrangely dear to her, . ‘* You cannot come in!” said Esmer from the inside, ‘‘And if you do not wish to meet Colonel Thunder, you had best move on at once.’ The voice roused Queen Merta, and instead of retreating she went forward. ‘‘T am not Halleck, that is true; but I am his friend,” she said with a pair of pale lips at the crevice. ‘‘We hate the same person. In re- venge we are inseparable.” ‘“ Then, if you do not want to fail in your vengeance—if you do not wish to compromise me, you will go away,” Esmer answered. ‘‘] want to see you; I must.” ** You shall not, now.” ‘You do not know me,” ‘* That is true.” Merta smiled: Then Halleck had not revealed the secret. ‘‘If you knew me you would open the door,” she continued turning to her work again. ‘* No, I would not,” was the reply. For a moment the Queen of Fate seemed to be fighting a mental battle. ‘Put your ear as near my lips as you can,” she said, as she put her hand on her bosom, as if to still her ry 5 heart. ‘‘Are you listen- Merta drew a long breath. ‘They call you Esmer,” she said; ‘‘ but you are Inez—yes, Inez! And I am your mother !” The Queen heard a half-stifled cry on the in- side, a gasp, and then a-groan, and the next mo- ae a body seemed to sink at the foot of the oor. Then all was still. ““Heavens! I may have killed her!” gasped the avenger, listening with all her might. ‘*‘ And my little Inez, too! he dropped to the ground and listened at the crevice between step and door. Her heart seemed to beat no longer; her eyes had that mine expression of fear and anxiety. | se | with the ferocity of a tigress; but the heavy yortal, protected by the iron bar inside, stub- ornly refused to yield. Again and again she assaulted the door, only to be received in the same manner, and, at last, she drew off. Then she cast her eyes up at the cabin, as if she would demolish it in order to reach the young girl within. But it was too strong for er, and she could not foree her way to Esmer. All at once a footstep greeted ber ear, and she turned to start violently back, as her hand darted toward the revolver near on her person. ‘Draw an’ drop!” came from the lips of the man who stood, giant-like, behind the revolver leveled at her beart. ‘‘ You ar’ my pris’ner. Stan’ still!” - Queen Merta obeyed, and a single stride brought the man directly upon her. Then his hand encircled her arm, the pistol crept nearer, and she looked over it into the face of Golonel Thunder! “Who ar you?” he asked. ‘Hold on! I like to answer my own questions.” As he spoke, he turned Merta until the moon- light fell on her face. ' ‘‘ A false mustache; I kin see thet,” he said, after a moment’s scrutiny. ‘An’ I think— Wal! by the bones ov my ancestors! I know you now. Them eyes ’d betray you anywhar.” Merta did not reply, although she saw that her disguise had been penetrated. She stood before Gold Conrad’s tool in her true character. ‘‘T knowed you war in these parts; but I didn’t expect to find you hyar,” and he glanced anxiously at the cabin. ‘‘ Now I want to intro- duce you to asartain man.” He started off; but the hand of the Queen of Fate touched his arm. ‘One moment. We are enemies,” she said. ‘* You did not expect to find me here, you say. Where else should I be?’ Colonel Thunder’s eyes dilated. Then she knew that she bad a right to the girl he had guarded so well. ‘¢ We'll talk about thistinother time,” he said. ‘‘] want you to see somebody. I’m in his sar- vice, as ov old,” : ‘When he killed and stole!” flashed the (Queen. Thunder did not reply; but hurried Merta away. A last glance and one full of longing she threw at the watch-dog’s cabin, and unre- sistingly went with him. Not a word fell from their lips until Colonel Thunder halted before Silent Sam’s shanty. Merta glanced into his face as if to say: ‘I know I am about to meet my great enemy.” A lamp was still burning in the room and the avenger’s quick look saw a man sitting on a stool in the same posture that Gold Conrad had last appeared to her, But Colonel Thunder did not give her time to prepare, for the meeting close at hand, for throwing wide the door that was never locked he dashed inside with her. At.the same time he uttered a cry of triumph that caused two men to spring erect—Silent Sam from his cot, and Gold Conrad from his seat. ‘“Ha! ha!” laughed the colonel, hoarsely. “ve found the boss nugget! No dirt on this lump, cap’n, but all solid gold. Look at’er! isn’t she a beauty?” Conrad Gordon fixed His eyes on his watch- dog’s prisoner, , ‘‘ Whar ar’ yer eyes?” exclaimed the colonel. ‘T knowed ’er in the moonshine. Them eyes ’d betray her in the dark.” Atthat moment a cry of recognition fell from Gold Conrad’s tongue, and whipping out a revolver he sprung at the Queen of Fate. “ Settle it all, that’s right! she’s yourn!” said Thunder, releasing Merta and stepping back. “T’ll tend to the others—the young ’un an’ the two pards. Thar she stan’s, cap’n, the Queen of Fate, almost too purty to kill; but too danger- ous to live!” 7 The last word h@d just fallen from Colonel Thunder’s lips, when Merta stepped suddenly back and tore the false mustache from her li and threw her hat at his feet. Then her mid- night hair fell over her shoulders and her eyes, flashing as of yore, rendered her beauty strik- ing to a degree. “Yeas!” she said. ‘Strike as you have struck before, coward, an unarmed woman. I am yours, and if you were in my power, I assur? you that. the revolver of the Queen of Fate would not spare you one minute—not one second, I am almost at the end of my trail. 1 have found my child and I have killed her!” Colonel Thunder uttered an exclamation of have killed her!” she cried, and then, | horror, which drew Gold Conrad’s eyes to him, 13 —— — -_ a rr ee ae = ee “What!” he cried, springing toward the Queen. ‘Did you kill Esmer before | found you at the cabin?’ ‘‘Go and see! She was mine, to kill.”’ “Then Dll end yer trail hyar, she devil!” roared Thunder. ‘'Stan’ back, cap’n!” and his right arm pushed Gold Conrad away. ‘‘ Now I'll end one act ov this play.” Merta heard the click of bis revolver and saw bis arm dart upward; but the next second something arrow-like shot over her shoulder, and with a hbalf-gurgle, half-cry, Colonel Thunder reeled away. At the same time she saw a figure at the door and heard a rough voice say: ‘*Come hyar, Cueen.” She turned, The burly figure of the Rosebud was in the doorway and he was thrusting two enormous revolvers into the room. . ‘‘Draw an’ drop!” he said, quietly, to Silent Sam and Conrad Gordon as Merta sprung to- ward him. ‘Me an’ Arkansaw left the How1- in’ Wilderness in the nick ov time didn’t we, cap’n?” told Conrad did not reply, for Merta had joined the two figures without, yes, two for one was The Man with the Knife. But he did not hold any bowie in his band now; the one last held had just found the heart he had missed be- fore! Silent Sam/’s first action was to spring to Colonel Thunder’s side. Strong as a lion he lifted the desperado, and Gordon saw the bowie in his breast. He was silent for a moment. ‘‘Sam, is the fuse fixed?” he asked, sé Yes.” ‘“Good! Now for death and victory! He is dead; her child killed by her own hands; but / live—I, Conrad Gordon, demoness! I live to kill and to triumph at last.” 7 with the last word he walked from the cabin, I have a right CHAPTER XV. _ WOLF REN-TS WOLF. ‘‘Tr she killed the girl she killed her at the cabin,” said Gold Conrad to himself when he found himself in the night air and a few feet from Silent Sam’s. ‘‘ But might she not have lied to deceive me? Ah! [I know the serpent with whom I have to deal,” and he started off toward Colonel Thunder’s head-quarters. His face wore the expression of the desperado who, when apparently driven to the wall, sees or thinks he sees new blows for the future— new death-strokes for his enemies, He carried a cocked revolver in his right hand; but was not compelled to use it, for he reached the in portant cabin unmolested. To bis surprise the door stood wide open, and he went in. A flood of moonlight permeated the place which was deserted, ‘‘Not here,” he ejaculated. ‘t must hunt her elsewhere,” and with but a moment’s in- spection of the room he turned away, He had not been gone ten minutes, certainly not fifteen, from Silent Sam’s; but that short space of time had proved sufficient to bring a new and wild scene into being there, Loud voices, fierce oatbs, and vengeful utterances, were borne to his ears from that locality. The Queen’s enemy knew what it all meant, The watch-dogs had discovered their bowied leader. He listened for a few moments to the bedlam wafted to his ears by the mountain winds. It seemed as if all the Bar was there, such was the indescribable din. “T wish I could hurl her into the midst of that mad pack!” said Gordon while he heard, ‘Ah! wouldn’t they make short work of her? By Jove! they’re coming this way; they’re on the hunt,” He was not mistaken; the mob of bowies and revolvers were rushing toward him. Headed by Colonel Thunder’s five pards, they were hunting to kill whoever should fall into their hands, Wild and uncouth though those Colo- rado wolves were, they almost worshiped their leader. Linked to him by a thousand Soa: pores deeds, woe to the man or woman who iad in any way helped him in his bloody exit from this world. .“*They must not see me now. I will wait un- til they cool down. They will not find the Queen and her friends to-night.” Therefore, Gold Conrad prepared to leave the spot where he had halted; but a loud voice sud- denly arrested him, “Hold on thar!” was the cry. we’ll drop you!” ‘Run an’ (Elo, J , FDOOKS;-Gom