Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 207 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

™ - mas — What goaded Black Mahomet forward? She had no spurs. On, on he went, despite the girl’s efforts to check him. At last, covered with foam and panting heavily, he halted in a little valley and nyened his large eyes triumphantly upon his rider. ‘‘'You have carried me from some danger, but what kind I do not know,” said Helen look- ing down into Mahomet’s face as she patted his hot neck. At that moment the long howls of a pack of wolves faintly touched Helen’s ears as if the night winds had wafted them a great distance. he horse heard them for he raised his head and listened. ‘*We shall be wolf chased. On! Ma- homet!” cried Helen. "6 the animal could not be urged into a ot. _He knew that he had already carried his fair rider beyond the mountain hordes. on! CHAPTER XII. THE BOSS CACTUS SURPRISED. HELEN was not defenseless, for the revolver which she had kept in her hard since her exit from the canyon cave contained five charges. To her, of course the valley to which Black Mahomet had borne her was a strange place. Hemmed in by towering hills, densely wooded and ghostly looking, it might well appear to her the valley of the shadow of Death. The horse seemed loth to leave the place; he had distanced the wolves, and now ho wanted to rest where he knew they would not find him. As for Helen, she desired to go on, but whither she knew not. Night was still about her; myriads of stars lit the sky, and a strange light seen through a pass told her that the moon rising over the horizon would soon afford the light that betrays fugitive people to their foes. ‘* We must go on!” she said speaking to the horse. ‘On, on, till dawn at any rate, my good friend.” But Mahomet chose his own gait, and sud- denly to Helen’s despair he halted and began to back into the shadows that fringed one side of a mountain pass. Almost at the same moment the girl heard a voice that made her start, ‘*The mountain men!” fell from her lips. ‘‘I came hither to fall back into their hands! I cannot wrestle with fate; the tide is against me. The impulse which bad caused the waif of the train to lift the revolver passed away as she concluded, and her hand fell again at her side. She kept the position to which the horse had forced her, and held her breath. A company of rough men were approaching; that she knew, and, socretly guessing at their identity, she leaned forward to get a glimpse of the cavalcade. Mahomet, with that wonderful instinct so often found in the horse, stood like a statue among the shades of the cliff. The pass was not wide, but Helen fervently prayed that the heavy boots of the mountain men would miss her as they rode by. Although prepared for the sight our heroine started when her eyes fell upon the spectral cavalcade. She bent down, and tried to hide her figure behind the neck of her steed. She silently counted the figures, but all at once she uttered a faint cry. There was one figure in the band which did not belong to it. ‘‘The young gold hunter as [live!” ejaculated Helen. ‘‘ And a prisoner too! Ah! the lasso did not finish him. Dagobert was right when he said that he was alive somewhere; but Dagobert is dead now. They will never continue the hunt for the mountainof gold! A captive! and in the hands of a band that will have his secret or his blood.” Helen did not know that the Twelve had al- ready drawn the latter, nor that Navajo Nick, at that moment, was apparently guiding the league to the precious mountain. er joy at beholding the Boy Gold Hunter alive equaled her dismay at finding him a pris- oner in the midst of the deadliest revolvers in Arizona. She saw that a handkerchief bad been bound about his head as if to bandage a wound. Beneath it the face of the boy was pale, almost white; but his eyes burned wilh the brillianey of stars. Neither the girl or the horse moved while the rough men of the Black Forest were filing by. Their numbers had been slightly augmented; the boy made the thirteenth rider. — : ‘* My fortunes are linked to his,” Helen said, ee Navajo Nick, the | j SS ‘‘ He is the only friend I have left. He saved me once, and | must pay him in like coinif I can. I will not desert him!” Black Mahomet seemed to know what was wanted of him, for when Helen turned his head toward the mountain men he did not resist, al- though he was going back toward Navajo Can- ron. . But before a mile had been traversed he stopped, and began to back from the trail. ‘This horse is worth his weight in gold,” thought Helen. ‘‘Some person is coming back. What if the Twelve have discovered that I am following?’ A horse was approaching, and a few moments later the girl saw the figure of his rider. To her horror be drew rein so near that Helen might have touched him by leaning forward. ** It’s kind o’ queer,” he said. ‘‘ I heard a hoss behind us, but now, bless me ef I hear a cricket, l’ve got to fix up some story before I go back, fur I told Carlos thet ’'d bet my liver thar war a hoss behind us, Fooled, by jingo! What’s the matter with yer ears, Cactus?” Helen started at the name. It was the cog- nomen of the man who had followed Nick from the Navajo country—the spy with the carrier pigeon. ‘So you are the Boss Cactus? Well, I am here!” she said abruptly. The mountain spy almost reeled from his sad- dl e. ‘*You? Jehosaphat!” he cried. ‘‘A gal, by hokey !” ‘‘A girl and an Avenger!’ said Helen sternly through tightening lips. ‘* You are looking into the revolver which has just killed one of your kind. Move, shout for help, or lift a hand, and Vl) scatter your brains over moonshine and shadow |!” The Boss Cactus was at the mercy of the waif of the train. Her outstretched arm held a pistol against his face; his brain was at the mercy of the finger that rested lightly on the trigger. ‘“You’ve got me!” he said. “I never deny the truth. You hold a cold deck that would swamp the best ov the boys. What do you want with me?’ The spy of the Twelve was eager to treat with the girl; above all things, he wanted the revolver removed from his face. As he was wont to say: ‘ The pesky thing might go off!” “What do I want?’ echoed Helen. ‘‘ The truth first; obedience next.” ‘*Wal, sail in,” said the uneasy man. ‘‘ Whither are you bound now—the Twelve I mean?” ‘To Navajo Canyon.” ‘¢ And from there?” ‘*'To the bonanza!” Helen started. *You’ve got the young gold hunter?’ ‘*Of course, Isee you know it, an’ I might ez well tell the truth. We war ‘Sound to git ‘im, gal. You can’t keepa secret from Cap’n Carlos.” ‘* But you have not obtained Nick’s.” **Wal, we hev, er what is jes’ ez good; he’s leadin’ ’em to the bonanza to-night.” Helen’s eyes said: ‘* Impossible.” ‘* We nearly lost it awhile back,” continued the Cactus who seemed to be communicative. ‘Mohave Bill shot him.” ** Shot the boy?” “Wal, yas. But the bullet only plowed along his temple. By George! it war a close shave!” The girl seemed to shudder, but at the same time her eyes grew bright with a strange triumph. Perhaps her thoughts had gone back to her deed in the canyon cave. Mohave Bill had attempted Navajo Nick’s life, and ske, with- out knowing it had avenged the dastardly shot. ‘* Where is Mohave bill?’ she asked the Cac- tusin a curious tone. ‘*He got away.” **T found him,” *¢ Whar?” ‘*In Navajo Canyon as youcallit. I left him there—dead!” An oath dropped from the spy’s lips. ‘* Don’t you ever let Carlos find thet out,” he said. ‘Why not?” ‘They war pards; the one would die fur the other ef they did part in bad humor when Mo- have shot the gold boy. You’re a gal, pretty an’ all thet, but don’t let Carlos know thet you wiped Mohave out. He’d tear you like a tiger tears an antelope!” ‘*Do you think I fear your captain?’ flashed the girl quickly. ‘“‘In this country, as I am fast learning, one must fear nothing. Now for Boy Gold Hunter. ee ru — the second part; obedience. I am going to let you go back to your partners.” The Cactus appeared to breathe freer. ‘* But not unconditionally,” continued Helen. ‘You must first swear that you will obey me. You mountain men respect an oath. I have seen enough of your class to know that.” ‘When the Boss Cactus swears he plays fair,’ the spy said, gravely. — “Swear, then, that you will carry a message to Navajo Nick from me, and that you will withold trom Captain Carlos the truth concern- ing your meeting with the person who slew Mohave!” The long hand of the Cactus was lifted, and from beneath his mustache came the mono- syllables: ‘I sw’ar!” ‘*Now, go back and tell the boy secretly that I am near, that I will be nearer still when he needs me,” Helen paused abruptly as if she hesitated at the threshold of imparting some important news. No! she would not tell Nick that Dagobert was dead, to discourage hin, and make the eyes of the man before her glisten with joy. ‘Ts that all?” asked the Cactus. ‘That is all. Remember your oath, Go!” ‘Vd like to say one word,” said the man hesitating. ‘‘Il want to say fur yer own good thet you’ve been puttin’ yerself to a good deal ov trouble fur nothin’, fur nothin’ at all. You can’t buck ag’in’ Cap’n Carlos an’ his tigers. They’ve got the boy in their clutches, an’ all earth can’t take ‘im out. Ef you know the way, go back, fur sooner er later he ’ll know thet you killed Mohave, an’ then—why, then, yer life wouldn’t be worth asage bush! I don’t charge anything fur this advice. I don’t want Carlos an’ his men to hunt a gal, but you can’t keep ’em from the mountain ov gold; you can’t help the boy. You might ez well try to rescue a rabbit from a cage ov wildcats.” Helen saw that the Cactus was in earnest; he seemed to have forgotten that she had lately thrust a cocked revolver into his face. ‘* However, Ill keep my oath to the letter,” he went on; ‘‘ but you can’t keep the youngster from conductin’ us to the bonanza,” ‘* And after that?’ ‘* It all depends on Cap’n Carlos.” “That settles it! Now I will go back. Go and keep your oath,” She dismissed the Cactus with 2 wave of the hand, and saw him ride away. ‘**Thet gal’s a fool!” he grated, as his horse struck into a gallop. ‘‘Somehow or other she’s enlisted my sympathy, an’ bless me ef I don’t feel like givin’ her a lift!” ‘You do, eh? There! take that, traitor!” A revolver had flashed in the Boss Cactus’s face, and betrayed by bis own words, he reeled from the saddle to fall like a dead man on the ground. ‘* Mebbe I war a little hasty,” said the slayer. ‘* But | believe in nippin’ such treasons in the bud. So he saw a girl back thar; thar is but one in these parts! She heard the shot an’ wil keep away. Let her keep off. We ar’ near 8 bonanza now; too near to be bothered by a gir), The man was Captain Carlos, and the next moment, leading the spy’s horse by the bridle, he galloped toward his men, scarcely bad he passed peyone sight when the Boss Cactus stirred. All starlight shots are not deadly ones. He got upon his feet and grated his teeth till they seemed to crack while he listened to the receding hoof- beats of the two horses. ‘We've dissolved partnership, Cap’n Carlos!” he hissed, ‘‘ Ef you ever work thet gold mine, may the Boss Cactus marry the man in the moon! From this hour Iam fur Dagobert, the young gold hunter, and the gal!” CHAPTER XIII. THE TWO LEAGUES OF GOLD. CAPTAIN CARLOS found ten men waiting with great eagerness for hisreturn. They were not mounted, but stood on the ground, each one behind his horse, and in their bronzed hands were repeating rifles. What had happened? ‘‘ Injuns!” said several, in low and significant tones, as their leader joined their ranks. “The red gold hunters, er we’re not livin’!” Carlos did not speak, but looked over the saddles as if he sought the position of the foe. The mountain men glanced at the Cactus’s steed, which had come back to them riderless. A few seemed about to ask the captain what had become of the spy. He saw their glances and said: ComiGchoo cS