Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 198 — page 4: what you’re looking at

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

~ 4 Arkansaw, the Man with the Knife. CHAPTER. IIT. THE BOOTLESS ROBBERY. ‘““By Jove! his quick retreat kept my hands from his throat. After insulting the memory of my mother, he has the audacify to come to my cabin and ask me to risk my life in order that he may rake in or save a few threatened thousands. Gold Conrad, I'd see you die tirst! My face is darker than a girl’s, that | know but iam not asquaw’s offspring. Your thousands nall not permit you to talk thus. Iam your oqual in every way, save wealth. I have been -rour slave with hundreds of others ever since I allowed your gold to hire me, but from this mo- ment Iam free! I cut loose from you, Conrad Gordon; you have not gold enough to hire me a moment longer. Keep what you owe me, Some of these days you shall acknowledge that my. mother was your superior.” he speaker was the young man Called Hal- leck whose cabin we saw Gold Conrad seek after the departure of the Rosebud from his house. c We have heard the burning words in which Halleck refused to carry the second message to Vulture Bar for the silver magnate, and it is to that same cabin that we bave returned. Gordon had not ventured to try the young man again. He knew that words would only serve to augment his passion, and a personal encounter, when he was looking for another messenger, was one of the last things desired. Halleck apparently waited for him to enter the cabin again, for he stood in the firelight ready to throw himself like an enraged tiger upon the man who had called him Catana’s brother, But he waited in vain. ° ‘* Ho sent one messenger to the Bar, I know, to- day. the young man continued, when his ire had been somewhat calmed by thought. ‘‘ I saw Catana riding away on Gold-dust, and I would swear that that was his destination. Now, what has happened that he must start another, and at night, too? Something’s gone wron there. The man of money is ina fix—the houn that called me Indian!” A minute later the cabin was without a ten- ant although the brush-fire still illumined the apartment. Where was Halleck? About two hundred yards from the cabin stood a house almost as pretentious as the one that: Gold Conrad inhabited. Halleck was rap- ping at the front door. ‘* Who’s there?” asked a voice on the inside. **Me—Halleck.” , ** What do you want?” ** A horse.” “Go to Gold Conrad; he’s your master.” Halleck bit his ae ** We have dissolved friendship,” he said, to the invisible speaker. ‘‘I hate, despise, curse him! I wanta horse for the purpose of getting hi with him. I thought you hated him, too. Halleck paused and started back, for the door was open and the most beautiful woman in Lodeton stood before him, her face and figure revealed by the lamp she carried in her hand. - Clad in a dark wrapper confined at the waist by a silver belt, and with a mass of black hair covering her shoulders, ‘‘The Queen of Fate,” as the woman was called, looked superbly fas- cinating. ; The flashing of her eyes was intense as Hal- leck gazed, and he found them studying him as if their bewitching owner would read the very secrets of his soul. “So you hate him?’ the Queen of Fate ‘said slowly. ‘‘ How much?” ‘** Enough to baffle him if I get a swift horse.” “ Whither would you ride?” ‘To Vulture Bar.” “ Then you know—” “That he is growing immensely rich by the mines he is working there? Yes, I know that.” “* His six devils are there to kill at his bid- ding. Colonel Thunder will slay on sight.” ** Of course;” Halleck was growing impatient; the orp ae were slipping away. ‘Shall I have the horse, madame?’ ** Yes; Pll call Pinos.” “No. I beg of you to let my expedition be a secret,” interrupted the young man. The Queen of Fate smiled. ** You'll do,” she said. ‘‘I want an ally one of these days.” , “To fight him ?” “ec Yes. ? ** Then call on me.” Her answer was a look of satisfaction, and as she shut the door Halleck bounded down the Assisted by the hands of the woman he sad- dled a fiery young racer that appeared as fleet as the mountain wind and vaulted into the saddle while she, strong for a woman, held the bridle. “Ours is a common cause,” she said, as he adjusted his feet in the stirrups, and made a motion for her to remove her hand, ‘‘Ishall not forget that, but I shall avenge myself first,” he answered, and then before she could reply he touched the animal lightly with the spurs, and was soon beyond ear-shot. Halleck’s passion cooled when he found him- self beyond the limits of the mining town, A\l- though it was summer time, the sultriness of the day just passed had been succeeded by the cool night winds of the mountains, which might almost be called ‘gr.’ The young man had not quitted his cabin without arming himself. He knew that a wild waste lay between him and bis destination, that he would have to ride over ground frequented by the plundering Utes, anda band of desperate road-agents wbose crimes could not be counted by the dead they left unburied. It was a new road to him; but he knew it almost as well as if he had been a frequent traveler, for his own hands had drawn for Gold Conrad a map of it after the magnate’s own survey. “What am I going to Vulture Bar for, any- how?” Halleck asked himself. ‘‘ To die? I hope not. No! I am going there to act as circum- stances may require, aways keeping before me the unending hatred that | have for him.” The horse loaned for the nocturnal expedition by the Queen of Fate was a racer of good blood and splendid bottom. fSurefooted like the ibex, he bore young Halleck on, and the set- ting stars saw him straining every nerve to reach tho goal. Allat once crack! went the girth, and the rider uttered an exclamation of rage as he was almost unhorsed, ‘*Something had to happen!” he said, dis- mounting. ‘* Fate never grants a fellow a jour- ney free from accidents, and 1 am getting my share.” He was riding through a wide canyon well lit up by the stars, when the accident occurred. It was near morning, and he was already beyond the worst half of the road. Drawing his knife, he was about to cut a strip from the broken girth, in order to unite the two parts, when the sound of hoofs struck his ears. ‘‘Gordon’s messenger!” flashed through bis mind. ‘‘ My repulse did not deterhim. I won- der who he got to carry his message?” A -horse was certainly entering the canyon, the bed of which was as hard as flint. That he had a rider Halleck well knew. ‘“*T might have had the message before this if I had taken a second thought, but that would have made me a traitor. I could play road- agemt and get it now. By George! I will!” At that moment tho injury to the girth was repaired, and Halleck prepared to act on the re- solve he had taken. e drew a handkerchief from his pocket and transformed it into a mask ina moment. Then he led his horse into the shadows, and thr@wing the bridle over a bush, turned to the road. He was not a moment too soon, for the second messenger to Vulture Bar was upon him, Halleck’s revolver went up, and its barrel gleamed in the starlight. “* Halt!” The man drew rein with a ery of astonish- ment, and his steed was brought toa full stop so suddenly that only an expert rider could have kept the saddle, ‘Give me the message you carry to Colonel Thunder! Quick!” said Halleck. ‘“‘If you do not surrender it, I will take it from you; but then you will be dead.” The voice of the young man was stern and threatful. The messenger could not mistake its intonation. “The writing, or death! Take your choice!” An oath, the movement of an arm in the star- light, and a paper fluttering through the air, fell at Halleck’s feet. ‘*Now I can go on?” ‘No, sir! Wheel and ride for your life. A verbal message would answer the purpose of a written one. "You can’t go on to the Bar.” Another curse, but this time less bitter than its predecessor. . ‘*'You are bound to make me kill you, I see,” said Halleck. ~* ‘“No, I ain’t,” was the reply, as the man turned his horse’s head. A moment later the new messenger was gal- loping back toward Lodeton, and Halleck with his prize in his hand, was again pursuing his journey. He could hardly keep back the fierce chuckle of delight that tried to reach his lips ’spite of his efforts, and when he debouched from the canyon upon a high plain, he stopped his horse and drew a bunch of lucifers from nis pocket. ‘* Now, my amiable insulter, Pll know why you send two messengers to Vulture Bar sev- eral hours apart,” he murmured, striking the matches, He waited impatiently for the light to get large enough to enable him to decipher the writing on the paper he had already unfolded, and when the little torch blazed up sufficiently he strained bis eyes to read. But the next instant he uttered a loud cry of mingled rage and chagrin, and with an oath flung the paper away. This was what had: rewarded his pains: ** ROSEBUD OF THE PINK FORKS. Dr. ES PETE. cdecans cues Sep ne oc vel bah) ce. >ccmnd $3 00 Pl a a ee Se ree ay F 2 00 ""* 1 Pair Santa Fe DOW... 1. Et, ere 9 00 ‘** Settled in full this day, FINNSICKLE.”’ ‘*T stopped the wrong man!” muttered Hal- leck, as he drove the spurs into his steed’s rowels and cursed his first attempt to play the road- agent. ‘* The fellow wasn’t Gold Conrad’s mes- senger, but the owner of that worthless account which he carried until it saved his life. I won- der who the Rosebud of the Pink Forks is, and = he is behind me to-night?” alleck now increased his animal’s speed, and more than once, before the shanties of Vulture Bar greeted his eyes, a quiet smile played about the corners of his mouth as he recalled the Rose- bud and his motley purchases. ‘‘T’d like to meet the Rosebud of the Pink Forks. I owe him an apology,” said Halleck, dismissing the subject. ‘He was destined to meet him soon enough. CHAPTER IV. A KNIFE IN THE SHOULDER. GoLp CONRAD’S watch-dogs were more than twenty hours’ hard riding from their master, and another day was waning when Halleck came in sight of the shanties of Vulture Bar. The sight did not surprise him; indeed, the place had a familiar look for he had more than once studied the location of the cabins on Gor- don’s map. He knew that the first cabin he would reach on entering the eluster was Colonel Thunder’s, and as he had often heard of, but never seen that redoubtable man, Halleck felt himself be- coming curivus as he neared the building. If he bad been listening attentively he might have heard a slight ejaculation of surprise on his right as he roce up the hill over which Thunder had conducted Catana to read Gordon’s message, and if he had used his eyes better than he did, he would have caught a glimpse of a familiar figure among the sage bushes. The croucher was the Apache boy, and with the pupils of his fiery Indian eyes distended, he gazed at the young man whom he had left the day before in the mines at Lodeton. ‘Caramba! who sends him here—the master?” bissed Catana. ‘‘ Must he send one message by Catana and another by the young Americano whom Catana hates?” : Halleck rode leisurely on, and when he had passed the brow of the hill{the figure of the Apache had left the bushes, and was gliding panther-like over the path after him. Catana was devoted to the man ke served, and the thought that Gold Conrad had intrusted a message to the young American was fiery food for his jealous nature. That portion of Vulture Bar which the youth- ful horseman was about to enter seemed deserted. He did not know that the man with the knife was soon to exhibit his skill with the bowie at the Howling Wilderness Hotel. ‘“Colonel Thunder’s house, eh? Well it isn’t a palace if its tenant does reign supreme here,” said Halleck to himself when he reached the cabin. ‘‘Everything is so quiet; surely the colonel is not at home.” He had given utterance to bis thoughts in an unguarded tone as he soon discovered, for the ae of the cabin suddenly opened and a voice said: ‘* No, sir, the colonel is not exactly at home; but he isn’t far away, if you wish to seeehim.” The tone and the speaker startled Halleck. He took in the sylph-like figure of the colonel’s rotegee at a glance, and found himself staring in a ludicrous manner into the face before him. A nameless thrill ran through his frame; but I0O (EO) comic! S