Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 198 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

TTT “T war at Lodeton yesterday; but I didn’t eall. Why? Wal, Rosebud, I thought I would wait until I could go back an’ throw at the last heart I want to split.” There was a fiendish gleam in the eyes of the bowie-king as he uttered the last words. ‘* But how does our Queen look?” ‘‘ Purtier than ever, ef I’m a jedge ov woman.” ‘®T hevn’t sot eyes on ’er since I put her on the mustang on the Rio Pecos, an’ told her to hunt an’ kill until she hed enough of ven- reance,.” ‘““Thet war ten year ago.” ‘* Nearly so. ve’s found him? What a trailer she hez been!” ; ‘** An’ be, the ’tarnal fool, sleeps within a hun- dred vards ov thet mine ov dynymite. l’ve been helpin’ ’er all this time.” ‘** You, Rosebud?” The eyes of the man fron the Pink Forks flashed with pride. ‘*What hev yougbeen doin’?’ Arkansaw went Speak. on before he coul: ‘*The water flooded his mines last year; the dams broke, Jwar thar! His big boss, Strong Dick, war found dead in the mine, J war thar! One night the secret diary which he hed kept for twenty-five years turned up missin’. Rose- bud war thar, Arkansaw. Jehu! pard, you oughter hev see’d the Queen’s eyes flash when them books fell inter her lap. Thet war the hardest ov all blows.” ‘Wait till the Queen turns an’ says: ‘ Finish the play, Arkansaw.’ ‘Then you will see the blow thet kills. But her child—the little one what we used to nuss turn-about?” ‘* Still missin’! Didn’t he play his cards well thar?” Arkansaw said nothing, but while his eyes shone strange./, he led the Rosebud to a door that led into the other compartment of the cabin. The candle, overturned by one of the eee Wine had been relighted, and was in his and. On the threshold of the second room the burly figure of The Man with the Knife came to a halt, and his long arm pointed to a narrow cot oe touched the rough logs that formed the wall, His lips said nothing, his look and gesture were enough, and the Rosebud gave a gasp for joy as he glanced into his pard’s face. ‘The gal? Jehosaphat! I hev hunted fer nuthin’ fer ten year, but you hev not hunted, yet found!” ‘lam not sartain. Colonel Thunder calls it a boy: but V’m too old fer thet, Rosebud. You'll see somebody’s eyes an’ hear the voice we used to foller away down South when you see the person what sleeps on thet bed.” ‘* Whar is she?” ‘“Not hyar; thet’s sartain,” and Arkansaw shut the door, The two men left the cabin, but did not see the figure squatted in one corner of the main room. The light fell but partially on the spy, whose face was dark, like an Indian’s, and whose eyes glared at them like a hyena’s, Beyond the door of Colonel Thunder’s cabin all was still. Although the night was lovely and the hour not far from dawn, nobody svemed abroad but the twain so strangely met. — ‘The boy I saved from yer Injun?” suddenly asked Arkansaw. ‘‘ Did you know ’im?”’ ‘*Ov course.” ** Does the Queen?” ‘*T think so. He came hyar on her horse.” Arkansaw drew his bowie and balanved it on his finger in an abstracted manner. The Rose- bud watched him out of the corners of his eyes, All at once the bowie-king started off. ‘* I'm gettin’ the killin’ fever again,” the Rose- bud heard him mutter. “I want to break suthin’—to smash things!” The Rosebud sprung after him, and tried to stop him, but in vain; Arkansaw was hurrying toward Silent “im’s cabin as fast as long strides could tals him thither. ‘* Hold on!” hallooed the Rosebud. Arkansaw jerked loose from his hand and strode on. With a muttered oath the irritated man threw himself before him. ‘In the name of Queen Merta, I command you tostop!” he said sternly. Arkansaw came to a sudden halt. ** You go on like a mad wolf an’ never look behind you,” the Rosebud continued. ‘Yer eyes ar’ like an owl’s. Look over yer shoulder an’ tell me ef you see anything gata by the clump ov sage we’ve jes’ passed?” diieret ansaw obeyed and his eyes flashed as they Arkansaw, the Man with the ae eee a ‘Pll tell you in a minute, Rosebud.” As he spoke he whipped out his bowie and catching it by its sharp point whirled for a throw. ‘‘Jehosaphat ! it might be one ov my red boys,” exclaimed the Rosebud. But The Man with the Knife pushed the arm of intervention aside, and before it could return to intercede further, the bowie shot through the moonlight, A sharpcry answered the throw, and a figure sprung up only to fall back and lie perfectly still beside the clump of bushes twenty feet away. The two friends looked into each other’s eyes for an instant, and then Arkansaw bounded to- ward his target. The representative of the Pink Forks watched him in silence. When he came back he was holding the bowie in his hand; but its blade half of it, at least, glittered no longer. ‘‘It was small game but the bite of young rattlesnakes is death,” said Arkansaw answer- ing the Rosebud’s look. ‘‘ We must get outen this. Thet cry roused the diggin’s,” and strid- ing away he led bis friend a rapid heat coward the guich where Halleck had been saved by the knife that killed. As they were obliged to cross the road that led from Lodeton to the Bar, Arkansaw sud- denly halted and pointed toward the distant mining town, “Ah!” exclaimed he, ‘‘ef the Queen of Fate knew who my bowie killed back thar, she’d smile. in her sleep. to-night, an’ the man in the armory ’d mount his horse an’ come hyar.” The Rosebud was almost bursting with im- patience. ‘Who did you kill?’ he cried, as his great bronze hand tightened on the knife-thrower’s arm. ‘“‘ His right bower !—his life-guard—the young Injun!” ** Catana?”’ ‘* Wal, I should smile.” “ Thet blow will strike ez deep ez the theft ov the secret diary did,” the Rosebud said. ‘‘ When we go back—” ‘Another man from Lodeton?!’ he inter- rupted. ‘* Mebbeit ar’ the cap’n himself.” he two worthies looked down the mountain road, one clutching the silvered butt of a large revolver, the other holding carelessly a naked bowie in his hand. They were so near together that not only their shoulders, but their mus- taches touched. The road to Lodeton was hard, almost flinty. A horse was coming on at a gallop—a horse whose feet were accustomed to mountain passes, for his gallop was uniform; not a hoof slip- All at once the men separated, and, like the sentinels of an army, they watched and listened for the enemy. ‘* He must stop hyar,” came Arkansaw’s voice across the narrow way. ‘The old signal, Rosebud. It does me good to give it to you ag’in. If it is the cap'n we'll go back an’ git her blessin’ to-morrer.” On came the night rider, apparently eager to reach his destination, and all at once he and his horse loomed up between the two men like an apparition. At the same instant two figures darted at the bridle-rein, and the horse with a snort of terror reeled from the sight. ‘“‘Draw or die!” cried the comrades in one breath. A laugh full of music was the answer, and from the slender figure that leaned forward to peer into their faces the men started with ejacu- lations of astonishment. ‘‘The Queen ov Fate! by the jumpin’ jingo!” fell from Arkansaw’s lips. ‘‘Queen Merta!” cried the Rosebud. Just then the moon emerging from a curtain of cloud showered her soft light upon the scene, and the handsome face of the woman in the saddle was revealed. One of her hands held a revolver, but she qui- etly let the hammer down as she returned it to its place. ‘“So you have met again?” she said, from the Rosebud to Arkansaw, on w dark eyes rested. ‘I thought—” ‘‘Thet Arkansaw hed gone back on ye, eh?” interrupted the bowie-king. ‘No! Queen; he kills where you hate. Look at thet toothpick,” and his eyes blazed as he held the bowie up in the moonlight. ‘I hevn’t forgot my old cun- nin’. Thet blade hedn’t thet color an hour ago an’ I war jes’ sayin’ to the Rosebud thet you'd smile in yer sleep ter-night, ef you knowed whose blood thet war.” ae g om her Knife. 9 ‘* Well, whose is it?” asked the woman, ea- gerly, but with some emotion. “he young Injun’s—his right bower.” The Queen of Fate seemed to frown, ‘*T wish you had spared him a little longer,” she said. ‘* We’ll all be together before long.” ‘* Will he come hyar?”’ se Yes.” Arkansaw’s eyes fairly sparkled. ‘‘’m gittin’ back to my normal condition!” he said. CHAPTER X. HALLECK AND HIS FOES. GOLD CONRAD'S enemy, the Queen of Fate, had ridden from Lodeton to Vulture Bar for a purpose, She had encountered, unexpectedly, as we have seen, the two men who had served her be- fore. The meeting, if not foreseen, was not an unwelcome one, although the announcement of Catana’s death had brought a frown to the wo- man’s face. Then,” she said, after a long pause, lookin at the Rosebud and Arkansaw, “then, if suc things bave happened at the Bar, perhaps I should not keep on just now.” ‘IT think you should not, Queen,” the Rosebud said, in which opinion The Man with the Knife concuired witha look. ‘** Things ar’ terribly torn up thar jes’ now. I weuld wait awhile—until he comes, mebbe. We ar’ gittin’ things in ap- ple-pie order. Arkansaw hez diskivered the tuse—”’ ‘*Ah!” interrupted Merta, opening ber eyes. ‘An’ Ive ‘fixed’ it, too,” said Arkansaw. “They can’t work it; but, let me tap the ca once, yes, jes’ let me tap it, an’—whew! I’ make these old mountains shake.” The woman smiled, but it was the smile of anticipated vengeance, It added a new and more intense sparkle to her wonderful eyes. “Tf I must not go on, now, whither must I go?” she asked. ‘ll show yer,” said the Rosebud, grasping the bridle and leading the steed toward the gulch, whither, an hour before, he had sent bis red al- lies. Arkansaw had wiped his bowie on his left sleeve, and was following the couple with his enetrating and thoughtful eyes fixed on the gure in the saddle. “Ef the Queen only knowed what I think I am sure ov, wouldn’t she be fur goin’ on to the Bar? Why, the Rosebud an’ Arkansaw, stron ez they ar’, couldn’t begin to hold ’er back, and the bowie-king grinned as he spoke, A few minutes Sate Merta’s horse, still uided by the man from the Pink Forks, entered the rocky gulch, ‘ pards?’ the Rosebud ‘* You've never seen my me, i te up into her face as he halted, ‘* No A signal, a mere bird-call as it seemed, fell from his lips, and the waiting Utes sprung from their biding-places, Merta only slightly started, ‘This is yer Queen ez she is ourn,” said the Rosebud by way of introduction as he waved his hand toward the woman on the horse, . ‘You ar’ in her sarvice like Arkansaw an’ me ar’, an’ ef necessary—an’ if may be—you must shed yer last drop ov blood fer ber.” The Indians gathered around the woman and swore to devote their lives to her. “T am not going to lack for allies,” she said under her breath. ‘‘I have more than I want. But I sent a certain person ahead, Have you seen him?” The question was addressed aloud to the two partners; they excbanged rapid glances. ‘‘“Yes, we’ve both seen him,” Arkansaw an- swered, ‘* Where is he now?” asked the Queen. ‘‘ Back yonder among the wolves. But never mind him; he’ll take care ov himself.” The answer was vague. It is true that Hal- leck was ‘‘ back yonder,” as Arkansaw termed it; but the exact situation of the young man was unknown to him. Had it been known, he might not have replied to Merta’s question in such reassuring words. “Shoot your way to Halleck through te body that covers him. Fire!” These were the last commands we heard from Colonel Thunder’s lips. The reader will recollect the event that called them forth. Esmer had thrown herself between Halleck and the leveled weapons of the colonel’s men and, startled for a moment, her guardian, mad itis hon had uttered the fatal word: But not a pistol-shot filled the mine with its JOO Goim G cS (E(@)