Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 198 — page 7: what you’re looking at

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

*What’s up?” ‘* Indians!” ‘“* Ar’ thet all?” Halleck didn’t know how toreply. While he knew that the men of Vulture Bar were on half friendly terms with the Utes, he was also aware of this fact: the mines were dangerous ground after night—a real district of death, made so by these very Indians. Therefore, he felt himself justified in drawing his weapon; but the Rosebua’s nonchalance hac disconcerted him. ‘* Well,” said Halleck, biting his lip, ‘‘if you can stand it, I can, But there are Indians about, i see them.” ‘‘T want you to see ’em,” was the answer, anda familiar bird-call rose from the man’s lips. The next instant six stalwart savages left the shadows of the rocks and came forward. ‘These pards ov mine ought to hev a say when it comes to takin’ new members into the firm ov Rosebud and company,” continued the man, waving his hand at the new - comers, ‘Seen ’em afore to-night? Waal I should smile,” and the Rosebud displayed his yellow teeth inagrin. ‘* My pardsar’ reg’ular tigers: they ’re the red hollyhocks ov the Ute nation— none ov the thievin’ Apaches what used to hold you on their ponies when you war a baby.” “That cowardly insult again!” flashed Hal- ieck, instinctively laying his hand on his re- volver. ‘It has been flung in my teeth three times within the last twenty-four hours.” ‘‘T see it kinder riles you,” was the reply. ‘‘But you’re not goin’ to say thet I never see’d the Apaches do thet, ar’ you? Why, yer mother war the purtiest—” “There!” cried Halleck springing forward, and seizing the Rosebud’s arm. ‘That will do! I know what you are going to say; butitisa liel!—an infamous lie! Keep the rest of your sentence back, for if you go on Il’! kill you where you stand, even if your Indians riddle me with bullets the next minute.” “That's just what they’d do. But yer e reg’lar young mountain lion. I like yer stile. By hokey! you’d be anornament at the Pink Forks. We’ll take you in ez a ful! pard.” “Never!” cried Halleck. ‘‘A moment ago I wanted your friendship—your aid; but now I wouldn’t accept it for the world. I will go to my vengeance alone. I will work my own way, in spite of Colonel Thunder and his pards, and you and yours!” With the last word which was accompanied by a look of lofty disdain, Halleck stepped hack. ‘Hold on, my cooler! jes’ one minute—” ‘‘Not one second! Attempt to detain me here and [ll deprive the Pink Forks of their ornament.” “Hothead must stop!” said a new voice, “Him must listen to Rosebud!” and one of the Indians sprung between Halleck and the man | ink Forks. ‘* Back! You are near enough now!” threat- ened the youth, retreating. ‘‘1 don’t want to kill; so, don’t step on my toes.” The Indian’s eyes seemed to blaze as they glanced quickly at his companions. ‘‘ When the Black Coyote speaks young fools must hear.” | Halleck raised his weapon, but at the same moment something whistled through the air, and the Indian staggered back with a cry that made the gulch ring. Gold Conrad’s young enemy could not repress an exclamation of horror, for a large bowie- knife was quivering in the breast of the stal- wart Ute! He turned and looked in the direction from which the strange and killing missile had come; but though he saw nothing, he knew that The Man with the Knife was not far away. The next minute Halleck was flying toward Vulture Bar. from the CHAPTER VII. COLONEL THUNDER GETS MORE ORDERS. ‘*WHo is there?’ The girl, Esmer, asked this question with her hand on the latch of the cabin-door, and her ear at the crevice. A rough mountain rap had startled her, and she had eleared the space between Colonel Thun- der’s couch and the coor with a single bound. The summons had awakened him, but Esmer did not see him draw a revolver from beneath the pillow as he raised himself on his elbow. The colonel’s eyes had a mad, maniacal glare; he seemed to think that The Man with the Knife had come back. There was no reply to Esmer’s question: al a i ooeneeeeeeenntn —_—-+ eS | | the person outside seemed confounded by the musical voice. ‘‘Who’s thar?’ suddenly cried the voice of Gold Conrad’s man. ‘* Answer, or git a bullet!” ‘‘ ve jes’ arrived from the cap’n. Ive got a message for ye,” was the reply. ‘* Another?” murmured Thunder, in as Esmer opens the door.” * All right.” ‘* An’ wait whar you ar’ till | know what it says.” “Hand it the message, it was withdrawn and the door was shut again. _ Colonel Thunder awaited the delivery of the messuge with anxious eyes, although in calm tones he told Esmer to bar the door first of all things. Esmer held the candle while her guardian leaned over the couch and unfolded the paper. For a moment he glanced at its contents, and then crushed it quickly in his hand. “They are all gettin’ byar about the same time,” Esmer heard bim say, half-aloud, while his eyes flashed with the old tiger light. ‘So the last one seems to be bhuntin’ the first, eh? Well, Vil do my duty, cap’n. Ill go an’ put my pards at work right off.” He sprung from the couch Esmer. “Vm going out?’ he said. ‘ Don’t stir till I come back,” and as he finished, a twinge of pain in his shoulder made him grate his teeth. Kismer did not attempt to interfere; she knew i ae 3 of the mountain lion too well for that, He seized his hat which lay on the foot of the couch and strode toward the door: the next minute he was gone. Just beyond the threshold of the cabin the messenger confronted him, a man whose gar- ments were muddy and wet. “You are tired?” said Thuuder addressing him, ‘* Kinder,” admitted the man. ‘Do you kw where Silent Sam’s is?” ‘*No; but 1 must see Sam.” “Then come along.” The two went off together. This was all thet Esmer saw and heard. As she turned something white caught her eye; it was a piece of crumpled paper, and it lay midway between the door and the couch. tecognizing if with a singular cry the girl sprung forward and picked it up. <A second later with bated breath, and a wildiy beatin heart she was trying to decipher it in the weir candle-light. . Her face, flushed with expectation when she began, was as white as ashes when she finished for she had read as follows: ‘* COLONEL THUNDER: ** Another devil has just started for Vulture Bar. He calls himself the Rosebud of the Pink orks and wants to kill, first, The Man with the Knife, and then me. Now you have twoto interest you. Also—I have just learned it—Halleck (you know him!) has taken one of the ger horses and left Lodeton, We have quarreled, If he gets to the Bar treat him as you would my worst enemy: but d» it quietly. Let nothing balk you; forget who his mother was, I have forgotten, GORDON.” Esmer read the foregoing with feelings which no pen can describe. She cared nothing for the individual mention- ed in the firs. part of the message; bis name told that he was but another desperado whose pastime was to hunt and kill. ‘*But Halleck was the youth who had lately bade her adieu on the scene of Arkansaw’s fatal exhibition. He hated Gold Gordon, he had told her himself that they had quarreled, and that he had come to the Bar for the express purpose of having revenge in some manner, Now his life was in danger; he had been handed over to the tender mercies of the six men who were known far and’wide as the Srx tevolvers of Vulture Bar. Esmer’s eyes suddenly flashed indignantly whileshe thought. Halleck had fallen among wolves; he was helpless in the toils which yet that night would be thrown finally around him, And he knew it not. All at once the girl sprung to the door and threw it open. Since the thrilling events at the Howling Wilderness, a full round moon had planted her shield of silver in the heavens, and the girl flitted away with a revolver within easy reach of her hand. She went up to the ‘‘ hotel” and peeped in, Whisky Jose was closing for the night, and the flickering light of his lamps fell only on his burly figure. and looked at Arkansaw, tho Man with the Knife. Esmer opened the door several inches, and a | great, bronzed hand that clutched a bit of paper | a coarse laugh to her ears, was thrust inside. As the girl relieved it of | did her heart, ' ; 7 ne ee eee i eee eC A few rods me 4? Ksmer paused before Silent Sam’s cabin, and looked in at the window. The man who seldom spoke was looking at his new guest, a person whose nether garments were muddy. it was Gold Conrad’s second messen- ger. ‘*Not there!’ muttered Esmer in tones full of anxiety. ‘‘ Merciful heavens! I wonder if they have run him down already?” She went back again, but ail at once when half-way between Silent Sam’s and her own home, a wind from the mountain mines broug!t Ksmer stopped; so ‘Pll find them now,” she cried, and turning to the left she darted away. She seemed from the first to know the exact location of the man who had laughed, for with- out turning either to the right or to the left she pressed on until she reached a dark opening in the side of a hill. ‘*“They’re doing their infamous work under ground!” she said as she went in. Her manner of procedure told that her entire life had not been passed in Colonel Thunder’s cabin, for she hurried on, avoiding the rough bowlders in the walls of the dark corridor, as well as if it had been daylight. Far ahead several lights, like distant stars, greeted her eyes, but she knew that they were torches held aloft by the man-tigers among whom fate had made her spend her life. Esmer halted at last: but it was to hug a gloomy wall for a moment and gaze on the scene before her. The watch-dogs of the Bar had found one of the new arrivals. If he was not stalwart and desperate-looking like Arkansaw and the Rose- bud, he had at least a dangerous eye in bis head, and carried a steady hand, Ksmer counted five men in the large cave- like room before her—five demons. They stood before Halleck, and the right hand of each held a revolver at the youth’s breast, They were not masked. Masks are not needed when a man is to be killed without fail. The fortitude of the young man gained a look of admiration from Esmer. He was looking into the faces of the Revolvers with a calmness that should have subdued the light that flashed in their eyes, Ksmer looked everywhere for the colonel; she penetrated the shadows of the cavern in vain. ‘He sent his minions! he dared not come himself,” said the girl. ‘‘ Well, [am glad he is not here,” The thought bad hardly been expressed when a voice so near Esmer that she wheeled sudden- ly broke the silence; ‘* What brought you to the Bar, Halleck?” ‘‘Need I tell you twice? Vengeance! I panes to strike bim where his greatest interest ies. ‘* How would you have done it?” ‘‘{ do not know. I had not completed my plans.” ‘To have stabbed him deepest you would had to hev wiped out the Six Revolvers.” “Tt would not have shiunk from the task,” was the fearless answer. ‘“Who came with with you?” ‘*T came alone.” ‘‘ Beware! don’t pass in yer checks a-lyin’. You hed company to the Bar.” ‘ ‘*Thad not; the Rosebud was behind me.” Ksmer heard Halleck’s questioner utter an oath which did not reach bis ears. How did the youth know thatthe ‘‘ company” referred to was the representative of the Pink Forks? “You were not to leave the Bar without Colonel Thunder’s authority. He’s goin’ to give it now, an’ you’re goin’ away.” Halleck’s reply was a contemptuous sneer for the coarse wit intended by the last sentence, “‘T know you, Colonel Thunder,” he said. ‘‘ By killing me you help yceur master, Conrad Gordon. You dare not let me live.” \ ** We will not!” and a brutal laugh followed, ‘““Itis a pity that Arkarsaw’s bowie missed its mark to-night. It will not miss the next time.” - 46 Ha 1”? ‘*} know it. He told meso.” ‘* Since the throw?’ Halleck smiled and shut his lips defiantly. The interrogator stepped from the shadows into the light of the torches, It was really Colonel Thunder, tall, stalwart and angry! ‘* ‘You have seen him since the throw? Good! Where is he?” Halleck’s eyes said: ‘‘ Find out if you can!” ‘* Oh, silence is your game,” grated Thunder, Gomile | JOO Sj