Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 207 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

——— + OS eo — —_ — — — -——- - ‘*- Yes; Monte, the big-hearted pard ov Ari- zony !” ‘“T never saw him.” . ‘‘Thet’s so, Bill,” said Carlos whose hand fell on the Avenger’s arm. ‘I kin vouch fur the truth ov thet statement. Blossom warn’t with Dagobert when he met Monte.” The hand of bronze still lingered on Nick’s shoulder; the eyes that regarded him retained their bloodthirsty, tigerish glare. “Ef I thought you war shieldin’ him to save the golden secret Id give his brains to the winds,” said Mohave. ‘I kin live without the mountain ov gold. It’s a durned humbug any- how, er achinmey thet deceived the eyes ov thet Injun chief. Yes, ef I thought ye war humbuggin’ me I’d empty one saddle in this crowd.” The mountain men seemed to gasp. If Mo- have Bill should carry out his threat, then good- by to the secret soon to be revealed through the boy captive. All breathed free when the _half-breed Avenger’s hand left Navajo Nick’s shoulder, aud his burly figure straightened in the saddle once more. The crisis was passed. ‘We'll begin to see daylight at Navajo Can- yon,” said Carlos to Mohave. ‘' The boy says “Gold! gold! nothing but gold!” sneered the Avenger. ‘‘ You don’t keer fur Monte, the man what let himself down into the Black Gulch by a piece ov rope an’ snatched you from the jaws ov death! You ain’t Carlos any more because you forget!” A wild oath burst from the captain’s throat, and whirling upon the speaker he tore open his hunting shirt and exposed the scar which the night before he had shown to his men. ‘Can I forget while I carry this, Mohave?” he cried. ‘Cut it out an’ throw it to the coyotes!” enone the Avenger. ‘fA man who will hunt ur a gold mine while the person lives who made sech a scar ez thet, oughtn’t to hev a pard; but you hev twelve!” Carlos winced. ‘* Well, keep it. I don’t want you to hunt Dagobert. Iam Monte’s Avenger. Goan’ find yer gold mine—ef you kin! Tl find a heart long afore you see the shinin’ stones,” obave Bill picked up the lines which he had dropped to clutch our hero’s shoulder, and pre- pared to ride on. ** Mohave?—” ‘‘Talk to the winds! You ain’t the same Carlos what iy Dagobert with me an’ Monte among the Basaltic Buttes. Thet Carlos war a mountain lion; the one I talk to now isa different kind ov animal.” The last words cut to the bone. Carlos darted at Mohave Bill, but a barrier of arms interposed. ‘*T wouldn’t touch him,” said the Avenger. ‘‘He could spitin my face an’ I wouldn’t lift my hand, because we used to be pards. J never furgit!” The eyes of the leader of the Twelve dropped abasheda. ' Mohave Bill rode slowly off; butsuddenly his horse stopped, and whipping out his deadly re- volver, he turned half way round in the saddle, ‘‘The boy hez got the secret, an’ the moun- tain ov gold will make a fool ov Carlos!” fell from his lips. ‘‘ Besides, the young ’un was Dagobert’s pens last night!” The Twelve saw the Avenger’s movements and seemed to divine his intention. Carlos uttered a cry of rage, and the Boss Cactus hastened to snatch Navajo Nick from his saddle. Six revolvers were drawn and lifted against Mohave Bill, but too late. His formidable weapon spoke hoarsely before a mountain man could cover him, and the Boy Gold Hunter pitched backward with a cry which drew a responsive oath from the lips of the Twelve. Mohave Bill had shot the secret from their hands! CHAPTER X. IN NAVAJO CANYON. ‘NAVAJO CANYON! I’ve been hyar afore. Things look kind o’ nat’ral. I recognize them ragged rocks up thar an’ thet petrified tree. I | left this place ruther sudden like. <A yellin’ tribe ov Navajoes war behind me, an’— But why tell the story to you, gal? No use ov it; nota bit.” Dagobert and Helen had reached the famous ulch, which is one of the wonders of Northern rizona. The remnant of a once mighty river wandered through it; once it hissed and bub- bled between the stony walls that towered for seven hundred feet above it, but now it would not float the lightest of Indian canoes. The sun- light seldom kissed the tiny stream; from wall to wall cooling shadows lay all day long. Along the right hand wall when one entered from the west, ran a well-beaten bridle-path, but Dagobert and his companion bad not yet chosen it, for the Man with two Names had stopped at the mouth of the canyon to survey it as he had done before. ‘*'You have been here before you say?” said Helen, looking into his bearded face. ‘‘'Wal, yes. I war after the same trail I’m on now.” ‘*The mountain of gold!” ‘‘ Jes’so. You see we always had an idea thet it was somewhar in this part ov_ creation.” ‘We? asked Helen curiously. ‘*Me an’ Nick. We came up hyar an’ ran- sacked this whole kentry but found nothin’, Thar isn’t a cave nor a canyon hyar thet I don’t know. I know the geography ov this kentry as well as the birds thet live in it. Wal, arter we hed tramped it over an’ over fer a year er so, a bright scheme popped into my head. It war to send Nick into the Injun cantp whar he war to live until he ab old Alapatha’s secret. The oy a mere baby then, didn’t flinch; he ruther liked the plan, an’ one day he left me, We made an agreement thet he wasn’t to leave the Injuns until he hed the secret. I went to Mohave City, an’ thar I war Captain Flash fur four peer. The youngster hed grit; he’s the boss boy ov these parts. Four years! jes’ think ov it. I waited fer him to come to Mo- have, for he war bound to come some time, the sun warn’t surer to rise than thet. Wal, he did come!” and Dagobert’s eyes lit up with triumph. ‘‘ An’ he hed thesecret, too! But he war follered — follered by a cussid spy who carried a pigeon in his bosom. We set out fer this canyon the same night he got to me, but he ain’t hyar now. You hev given me hope, gal; you say thet the Injun lasso dropped over Nick’s shoulders jes’ afore his hoss started—” ‘TI thought so at any rate.” ‘Then it did! The boy ain’t dead!” ex- claimed Dagobert. ‘‘He may hev forgotten whar this canyon is an’ he may not. If he hez not under the existin’ circumstances I hev thought best to come hyar. No use to hunt ’im back yonder in the Black Forest. We started fur Navajo Canyon ; it war our first objective pint, an’ he, hevin’ lost me, would naturally seek me hyar.” Helen could not but admit the logic contained in Dagobert’s conclusions, and her gaze went down the famous canycn as if she expected to see the figure of Navajo Nick coming toward them. But the shadows did not. yield up the adven- turous boy. ‘‘In the first continued Captain Flash. one.” A few minutes later the couple entered a cavern into which which a tall man could easily ride, and Helen slid from Dagobert’s arms to the ground. ‘This war our head-quarters four years ago,” said the man, ‘‘Hyar’s whar the He. struck me, an’ hyar’s the spot whar we talked it over until we got it fixed up,” A match soon dissipated a portion of the gloom, and a fire kindled on the cavern floor revealed the interior of the place. Helen knew the gulches of Arizona abounded in such caves, and she did not, therefore, express any aston- ishment at the dimensions of the one into which her companion bad conducted her. All at once she heard a strange exclamation and saw Dagobert, torch in band, staring at some writing on one of the grayish walls, ‘“'They’ve been hyar, too!” he said, without seeing her approach. ‘‘Now I kin read the name Ov every man.” Curiously enough on the wall before Dago- bert were twelve names headed by the word “Carlos,” and the man from Mohave pro- nounced each one in tones of eternal hatred. ‘* What! you hyar, gal?’ exclaimed the gold hunter, noticing Helen at his side. ‘‘ Wal, thar they ar’, the doomed Twelveov Arizona. They- ’ve been hyar since I hev, an’ they registered on the book thet lasts forever.” The names had been cut into the wall and by the hand of no novice either, as Dagobert had discovered by running his bronzed fingers over the surface. ‘“T’m goin’ to Parn’em by heart,” he said smpiling. drop on the hull ganz, ez I hed the other night. lace we must find a ranch,” ‘* We'll try our old ‘‘One ov these days when I git the | ' | Navajo Nick, the Boy Gold Hunter, © 9 éeaN How you must hate them, Dagobert,” said elen,. ‘*Hate ’em? wal I should sniile,” was the an- swer. ‘‘They ain’t all hyar, though. One is missin’—Mohave Bill.” ‘* And Monte!” ‘*Monte? [I had furgotten nim already. Ef he war livin’ him an’ Mohave would save money by buyin’ one pa’r ov gloves between em,” Dagobert laughed maliciously as he spoke, and drew back from the wall. ‘* Helen!” hesaid, wheeling suddenly upon the waif of the train and speaking her name forthe first time. ‘‘Il wish ycu hed never reached this wild kentry. We live to hunt and to kill byar. It isn’t the place {ur you, but while you ar’ hyar I’m yer pertector. Man lives on man in Arizona ; red hunts white, and white trails red jes’ like so many wild animals. l’ve carried my life in my hands fur fifteen years among these canyons, but not all the time fur one ob- ject. Vve been lookin’ fur the mountain ov gold—” ‘“ Which may not exist.” ‘*Now you’ve left the track,” said Dagobert quickly. ‘It does exist. Thar’s lots ov gold in this region. I hev proof ov that.” ‘*Proof?’ echoed Helen. ‘‘ Yes: thet is ef I can find suthin’ I hid last summer. Stay hyar a while.” Dagobert selected a newfiambeau from thé fire and hurried away. Helen watched his torch until it became like a distant star, and finally disappeared. Then she sat down atthe edge of the firelight, and thought of her changed for- tunes. A week before she was the happiest person in the little wagon train moving slowly toward Tucson; now, the sole survivor of the devoted emigrants, she was the companion of a strange man whose thoughts dwelt constantly on two things—gold and vengeance. She had trusted to his guidance, for she had no one else to trust and now she was alone in one of the deserted canyons of Arizona, dreamless of what an hour might bring forth. Dagobert had promised to bring her proof that the mountain of gold actually existed, that the old Navajo chief bad not hugged a chimera to his bosom for at years. at proof could Dagobert bring? A lump of gold itself? That would not convince Helen. The minutes wore away, but the Man with two Names did not come back. ae girl grew impatient, restless, at last fear- ul. She rose and went to the corridor amid whose gon the strange man’s torch had burned last or her eyes. But not a glimmer, nota flash rewarded her. The corridor went upward like a stairway; Helen saw the rough stone steps which Dago- bert had lately trod. Did they lead to the top of the canyon seven hundred feet above? No hu- man hand had ever quarried out those count- less steps; nature’s chisel and that alone had formed them. Helen held her breath as she looked and lis- tened at the bottom of the stair. Her face grew white, and her heart throbbed audibly. 3 Suddenly she started and uttered a cry of ope. | Something was falling down the steps, bound- ing from stone to stone like a pebble loosened above. ‘*Dagobert at last,” said Helen. Nearer and nearer came the descending ob- ject still unseen. It had a metallic ring, but © the girl did not notice this. She drew back to let the stone fall into the light, and just at the right time for the next second it jumped from the bottom step like a thing of life and lay at her feet. The waif of the train drew back, an exclama- tion of horror on her lips, and ber eyes, dilated and ready to start from their sockets, glared at the object which had come down the stony steps. It was not a rock, but a huge bowie-knife and one which she recognized! ‘‘Merciful heavens! it is the bowie which I saw last sticking through the dead hand at the mountain den!” she exclaimed almost shrink- ing from the blade. ‘ Yes, it is the same! Dagobert left it there when we rode from the spot. Now it is here! What has happened above me? and who brought that Knife to this ace?” Helen was answered only by the echo of her voice, and, becoming calmer*she picked up the dirk. Her eves had not deceived her; the hilt was the hilt she had seen on Monte’s hand; but Tl call ’em by name. Then [ll proceed to kill.” | the blade, broken at the point, was now covered | O}ONO) (ECONMINCG S)