Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 221 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

SS C—O plied. **'You know better than to fool with me. The woman did not reply, but by the pallor which overspread her face, it became evident that she did know better. When he had taken his departure, she arose and procured a shawl and pistol, and laid them upon the table. With dread a majority of the citizens saw an- other nights grim and dense shadows covering the face of the earth. What wouid another night bring forth in the line of ghostly visita- tions? Shakespeare, the poet, seemed similarly af- fected, and was nervous as such a man well could be. He however imbibed freely of the Bella Union ‘‘condoler,” and thereby gained courage to make a call upon Miss Bessie Burt as the sun was setting. Bessie was seated in the doorway of her little habitation, engaged in sewing buttons on some pilgrim’s picturesque red shirt, and looked up with a bow, as the bullwhacker came up. - “Gud eve, Miss Bessie Burt! I see upon a shirt You aire earnin’ yer pay-dirt ‘Rocks’ w’ot give ter life ther spurt,’ ” tipping bis hat. ‘‘SoIthort l’d cum over ona mission o’ business an’ pleasure—business, in ther way o’ bringin’ ye sum togs to laundry for me—pleasure, by announcin’ my extremest and most emphatic admiration of yoursell.” | ‘Thank you, sir. Iam grateful for the work to do, but cannot appreciate a stranger’s ad- miration.” ‘‘ Especially when they’re big, ongainly cusses, an’ minus a nose,” nodded the bull- whacker, comprehendingly. ‘*Ob! yes, I know [ ain’t a Beau Brummell no more; my beauty has faded an’ gone like ther hair fruma rac- coon’s snout; but then, my layout don’t include poppin’ ther momentous, an’ makin’ luv—no, sir-ee, bobtail burro. I’m on an ontirely dif- ferent trail, you bet yer boots! Instead o’ axin’ ye ter git up an’ go harnessed wi’ me, I wish ter express my admiration fer yer success in so long keepin’ yer secret guest away from the gaze of the public.” . Bessie started. Least of all persons, did she suppose the bullwhacker to be suspicious on this score. ‘ What do you mean, sir?” she asked, trying to preserve an unruffled countenance. ‘* Who— what do you refer to?” ‘*Oh! you're sly, I tnow, but Pm up ter yer dodge, an’I allow et wouldn’t be healthy fer Ye if the townspeople know what I know. owsumdever, thet’s neither heer ner thar, an’ as I am favorable ter yer cause, count my vocab-trap hermetically glued shut.” And with this assurance, he turned and strode away. Immediately afterward Bessie entered Ca- lamity’s room and communicated the substance of her interview with the bullwhacker poet. ‘“T know him, and so did Dick,” Calamity said, ‘‘and while he 1s mean enough to betray me, I do not think that is his game, if, indeed, he knows that I am really here. He probably has some other game afoot.” ‘“‘T only hope he does not betray you,” Bessie said, ‘‘ for if he should, Heaven only knows bow we should fare.” But it was evidently not the burly poet’s in- tention to betray the presence of Ca amity to the townspeople, as future developments will show. 4. Soon after leaving Bessie’s home, he mounted his mule, which was grazing along the street near the Bella Union, and rode away down the gulch, into the gloom of the approaching night, followed by the gaze of many of the citizens, whose curiosity was aroused. Following the eastward course of the gulch for a mile or so, he turned off into.a narrower defile between two mighty walls of mountain rock, where darkness reigned supreme. The burro, however, seemed equal to the somewhat difficult task of threading the pass. age, while Shakespeare tried to dispel the mo- notonous loneliness of the ride by frequent ut- terance of sundry original rhymes. In this way they proceeded for several hours, through one of the wildest, ruggedest seams in the brow of nature, until, when it was about the midnight hour, they emerged into a sort of open elen, fringed close beside the perpendicular sur- rounding walls with gaunt, spectral dead pines. Here Shakespeare drew rein and gazed rather nervously around him, ‘* Waal, hyar am I, in the place whar I war directed to come,” he muttered, glancing at a scrap of paper which he beld in his hand. ‘‘I & Sugar-Coated Sam. ee allow this must be ther place, an’ now I must quiet my nerves fer w’ot’s ter foller.” It was an action which he- knew pretty well how to perform, Taking a quart flask of ** bug- juice” from his pocket, he proceeded to get away witha good half of it, in the most ap- proved manner, after which his spirits seemed somewhat braced up. And well was there need, for at this jJunc- ture, from either side of the gloomy glen, at a dozen different points of the compass, appeared the spectral, white-robed figures of the night before, with arms outstretched as they advanced in a bee-line teward the mule-mounted poet, whose countenance began to assume an ashen pallor, and teeth began to chatter, in spite of the ‘‘ bracer” he had just partaken of. Closer and closer glided the white figures, surrounded by the strange gt ar Baral halo, until they formed a ghostly circle around the bullwhacker, each with a draped arm pointed accusingly at bim, while an unearthly groan escaped them in chorus. ‘“Oh! Lordy!” I wish I war back in Grim Gulch!” Shakespeare gasped, while even his long-eared companion gave vent to a bray of terror. CHAPTER 1X. DARK PROMISE AHIAD, CoMMODORE BURt’s third wife, who had tried the “black” game on Sugar-Coated Sam, was emphatically a woman cf a business. The daughter of a bloody-handed Mormon Danite she had been reared amid scenes well calculated to harden even a woman’s heart; hence she did not hesitate at the murderous work Burt had planned for her; she would be but fulfilling bis desire, which, according to the doctrine of the Mormon Church must be her sole object in life, Therefore she deliberatly planned to murder the old tramp, whom some one had christened Snow Flake, because of bis snow-white beard. Waiting until it was quite dark, she left her room, with a shawl wrapped around ber and partly thrown over ber head, and hurried down the street toward the Bella Union. She was just about to take a look into that thriving establishment, when her victim came hobbling out, and walked rapidly away, all ap- arances of lameness gone as soon as he en- ered the dark unlighted street. She could have struck him down, as he passed her, but knew it was a dangerous locality to boldly accomplish her mission, and so waited until he had got a few yards away, and then followed swiftly and silently in pursuit. As soon as she became satisfied that he was not aware of her pursuit, she quickened her footsteps. Soon she was within arm’s reach of him, stepping when be stepped. Soon out from under her shawl came an up- raised hand, in which was grasped a gleaming knife, then bounded forward to do her deadly work just as the old tramp wheeled ey and fired upon her with a pistol which he he d in his hand. ‘“Oho! you find it a bad trail to follow me, eh?” he exclaimed, as she threw wp her hands, and fell back tothe ground, ‘‘ Yousee I chance to have eyes in the back part of my head, wo- man!” Probably Mrs. Burt did not hear or compre- hend his words. She gave but a few struggles, and then became still in death. “Ugh! Death is a fearful thing,” tbe old man mused, as he bent over her and peered into her face; *‘ but it can be no awful thing to kill one whose hand is seeking one’s own, life. And then—this is but vengeance!” . An hour later, Commodore Burt might have been seen knocking at the door of Bessie Burt’s shanty. Not thinking but what it was some of her customers, come with or for a package, she opened the door, and without waiting for an invitation the commodore pushed rudely past her, into the house. < ‘Sir!’ she exclaimed, alarmed at this sudden intrusion. “Madam!” he retorted, with a sneer, “ you perceive that I am bere, and I presume you can guess my business.” ‘‘T do not care to consider your business, sir; please to leave my house.” ‘* Ha! ha! I refuse.” “Then, Ill scream for help, you ruffian. Leave my house. I command you!” ‘*‘Command as much as you please—DPve no objections, As for me, I never pay the least attention to feminine commands, and as for your screaming for help, Pll assure you there’s no eS — ee Or OO OE=>SPGES OO OSS: =“ On oo -*- - > --—_-— OOOO OOS OOO ee <_< 9 sugar-coated pilgrims around to come to your rescue, The jong and short of the matter is, Vm bere for a purpose, in which it is not my intention to be balked. Hither you shall take a solemn oath that you will marry me, or when I leave this ranch, your life blood will be making fancy figures upon your earthen carpet here, Swear that you will marry me, or l will murder ou.” me Menster! ruffian! brute!” was the undaunted answer, ‘‘Ou! yes, know. Those are Sunday names for me—pet names. I am all they signify, and more, too, as you will find, before you have done with me. Promise to become the fourth Mrs. Commodore Burt, and we will go back to Salt Lake and enjoy the snug Jittle property your father left behind.” ‘‘Never! I will die first!” “You can have your choice about that, of course. I shall not try to urge you, or dictate to you! If you prefer to climb the golden stairs rater than double in a life of unalloyed bliss with me, I can assist you off, with but short notice. I can get plenty of wives, for that matter, Brother Jones having offered to bequeath me his double-kit. So you see, 1 am really doing a great thing in offering you the chance for life,” ‘“You loathsome reptile! I would endure the bitterest torture human wit can invent before l’d consent to become your victim. Kill me you dare not, for you are not in Utab now where a so-called Church shields villainy an crime; therefore, once and for all, / defy you!” ‘Then, curse you, you shall have the reward that your defiance merits!” he cried, savagely, and drawing a dirk from a side ket, he leaped toward her, tbe gleam of a fiend incar- nate in his eyes. Upraised was the weapon, ready for the blow, when there was a pistol shot; the ar that clutched the dirk fell to his side, and a howl of pain and rage burst from his lips. he bullet had completely shattered bis right wrist! 1 Calamity Jane it was who had fired the shot, she having struggled to her feet from her sick bed, and reached the door of her bedroom in time to send the bullet that saved Bessie’s life. Ere Burt could transfer the dagger to his other hand, he was seized by a man who at that instant bounded into the room, and borne bodily out into the dark night, and rapidly away from the cabin. ‘‘ Father! father!” Bessie screamed rushing to the door. Tben she sunk to the floor, and covered her face with her hands, while she shook with vio- lent sobs. *** What is it, dearest?” Calamity said, steady- ing herself by chairs, and managing to reach the poor wait’s side, ‘Oh! father! Did you see him—the white- haired old man who bore my enemysaway? Did rou see him, Isay? Was he alive, or was it a errible apparition?” ‘‘Well Ll should opine he was pretty live, by the way he bounced the commodore,” Calamity replied, smiling. ‘‘There, now, don’t cry after the play’s over. I allow the commodore won’t trouble you any more,” ‘But my father—that was, alive, but old and white haired. Oh! tell me, what can all this mean?” ‘* Wall, it savors like the old man ain’t dead at all, but bas turned up just in time to hev a little picnic with his brother. So cheer up and ive me a lift back to bed, if you can, because I nd I’m weaker than I supposed.” ‘‘Oh! to be sure. I am so inconsiderate. Why se you ever leave your bed, when you are not able? ‘* Well, Iopine if I hadn’t ae be ready for a pine box about this time, heard that thar was business in the commodore, and I managed to get to the fore just in time to wing him. I reckon J’ll be all right, as soon as I get off from my unsteady pedals.” But she reckoned without her host that time, By her exertion she had quite exhausted her limited strength, and swooned ere she could reach her bed, so that Bessie was obliged to car- ry her. eee it was only after an hour of incessant application of restoratives that the brave girl once more opened her*eyes. From the moment the commodore was borne from the cabin by the Unknown, his senses for- sock him. Great was the pain which the pistol-wound caused him, but it is not probable that h would have fainted had he not found bhi Migs) ne ( C(O) 0 0), + { | ‘