Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 222 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

a | ) } = ies 7 ‘ " qv + 14 - ew ee ——— - ——_—- —- oe - + his character, he will visit the fort, where his brother is stationed, in disguise seek hifn, and take his life, that there may be no one to appear against him.” ‘‘-You deem him ¢o vile?” . ‘¢‘] know him to be worse, for have I not told you how he has wronged me, and that [ am trailing him to his death with no mercy in my heart?” “Tam content to do just as you say, miss; you are the captain, and I follow,” replied Buffalo Bill, and the following morning they broke off from the trail they had been follow- ing, and branched off for Colorado. It was a long, hard ride, but Buffalo Bill well knew the trails, and Edith’s frame had become so inured to hardships, she felt not fatigue, and in due time Fort Collins was reached. But there they learned that Lieutenant Edwin Arleigh had been ordered to Fort Lara- mie, and thither they went, with a wagon train that was going through. Arriving at Fort Laramie they met, to their joy, Edwin Arleigh, and with the deepest pain he heard all that Edith, the wife of his crime-stained brother, had to tell him. At first it was hard for him to believe so much of evil against his own kin, his twin brother; but the proofs were forced upon him and he was compelled fo admit their truth. ‘‘t remember the lady but too well, for often bas her image come before me since that night,” he said, ‘“ but I did not suspect the gentleman I met in San Francisco was her father. ' | ‘“‘How strange, how strange is it all, and more so, that I should be selected as her hus- band. “There is some mystery in all this my poor girl.” ‘And I shall solve the mystery; but will you pnuv go with me to the East, and thwart tuis devilish plot of Allan Arleigh?” asked .Edith, ‘* Indeed I will; I shall ask for three months’ leave at once; and you shall go too, Cody.” “Unfortunately I cannot, as [am engaged as scout for an expedition that starts soon into Utah. **T only wish Icould bein at the hanging— I beg your pardon, lieutenant, but your bro- ther richly deserves hanging for his crimes.” ‘‘Indeed he does, and no word or act of mine should save him, would it do so,” was the sad reply. The next day Buffalo Bill started on his way to Cheyenne, where he had been ordered to join his command as scout and guide, and Lieutenant Arleigh and Edith, still in her dis- guise, left by the overland stage for the East. CHAPTER XXV. BROUGHT TO BAY. From the day that the young officer becaine the guest of Doctor Arthur, the guardian of Helen Bernard, it was a foregone conclusion in the mind of the physician that Burt Ber- nard had forced upon his daughter a very nice pledge. “Why, they love each other devotedly al- ready, and, as for waiting nine months, I be- lieve they will be married before one shall pass, for the licutenant seems awful anxious.” Such was the worthy doctor’s comment upon the lovers, and be was so far right, that ere the lieutenant had been three weeks his guest he said to him one morning: “‘Docter, I have orders to return to my com- mand within ten days, as the Indians are get- ting troublesome, and Helen says, as she is in deep mourning and will have no wedding pre- paratiens, that sho is willing to marry me un- der the circumstances and accompany me.” “Tt will be a rough life for the child out there, lieutenant, but she knows best.” ‘* As to that, I have promised to immedi- ately send in my resignation, and we will go to Europe for a tour of several years.”’ ‘‘4 good plan; and come back with a family, to raise in the old mansior, for this is ae - e oe cg a ttl Grit, the Bravo Sport. ee me ee + oe the best climate to rear children in, lieutenant, I ever saw.” And thus it was arranged, to have a quiet marriage in Bernard Hall, the doctor to give the bride away, and no guests to be invited. And the day of the marriage rolled around, and Doctor Arthur and his guest got; into his carriage to drive over to Bornard Hall, and the vehicle rolled along at a rapid pace until suddenly the driver drew reir. ‘‘ What is it, Job?’ called out the doctor. ‘* A obstickel in the way, boss;” was the re- ply. But before the doctor could alight, each car- riage window bad a face in it, and revolvers were thrust into the faces of each occupant, while a stern voics said: ‘‘ Grit the Gambler, you are my prisoner.” For the first time in his life Allan Arleigh seemed disconcerted and turned pale in the face of danger. And no wonder, for he recognized in the man before him Roy Brandt, who bad so skill- fully captured him in Mexico, And in the other window he beheld a face the very counterpart of his own. ‘Doctor Arthur, no harm is intended to you, sir; our object is only to arrest this villain, my twin brother,” said Edwin Arleigh sternly. “Your twin brother? Egad you are alike as a pair of pistols, and I am all in a heap ‘with astonishment, my pulse having run up to a hundred; but let me out, gentlemen, and then we'll see who’s wrong and who’s right, for matters are mixed, decidedly mixed,” The door of the carriage was opened and the Doctor sprung out, and Allan Arleigh was sternly ordered to follow, He obeyed, with the same reckless smile re- turning to his face; but upon beholding an- other person present, and that person his wronged wife Edith, be turned livid. ‘Doctor Arthur, you see before you, sir, twin brothers, strangely alike in face and form, but thank God, not alikein character. I regret that it is my duty to expose this mav, my only brother, for playing a devilish part to deceive you, and the lady he intended this day to wrong by a pretended marriage, for there stands his wife,” and Edwin pointed to Edith, who stood by, calm, white-faced, but with a triumphant light in her beautiful eyes. Then, ina calm tone, that often trembled with emotion, Edwin Bernard laid bare the whole life of his guilty brother, from his first crime and flight from home. In vain did the wicked wretch deny it, and strive to say that he was Edwin,and his brother was Allan Arleigh: the proofs were against him; and Doctor Arthur turned away in horror from him, while Roy Brandt said: *“ Allan Arleigh, you owe all this to your wife, and she will be avenged when she sees you hanged. ‘‘She has tracked you day and night, and now has you in her power. : ‘She telegraphed me that she was on your trail, and begged.me to come on with papers to arrest you, and I have a requisition here for you, and was constituted a-special officer to capture you and carry you back to Texas dead or alive, ‘* Your escapes have been numerous and won- derful, but you shall never be free again. ‘* Here, sir!” Quick as a flash the irons were clasped upon him, wrists and ankles, and Grit the Gambler was @ prisoner in the power of those from whom he need expect no mercy. “Lieutenant Arleigh,” and Doctor Arthur turned to Edwin Arleigh. ** Well, doctor?’ “T beg of you to come on to Bernard Hall with me and see Heien, and from your lips she can hear all, and how she has been deceived; I think you owe it to her.” “Then I shall go with you, sir,” and turning to Edith he said: ' ‘*My sister, farewell, and remember, if Il ever visit Texas, I shall look you up, for you Nee eel ee Qe as = Satine ee ee have promised me to return to your home there.” “Yes, I shall return to Prairie Rest Ranch and there you will be welcome, for Mr. Brandt wishes me to make it my home,” she said, sadly. ‘‘ And Brandt, I owe you more than I can repay in this affair, and I trust we may meet again, for [ believe you start at once for Texas?’ ‘Yes, [ shall only leave the sido of Allau Arleigh, when be is a dead man,” was the firtw reply. , ‘Allan, my poor, unfortunate brother, good- by forever, and may God have mercy upon your guilty soul, is my parting prayer.” With a groan that showed how deeply he felt, he sprung into the doctor’s carriage and was driven rapidly away, while Roy Brandt, with his calm but livid-faced prisoner, accom- panied by Edith, entered a vehicle in waiting in the edge of the forest, and drove back to R——, from whence they had come. CHAPTER XXVI. CONCLUSION. WoRDs cannot portray the surprise, pain and emotion felt by Helen Bernard when ghe list ened to the awful truth told by one brother about another. , She had gone forward to greet Edwin Arleigh, believing him to be the one whom she was to marry, and Dector Arthur only had undecieved her in introducing him as the twin brother in- stead, and left to the young officer the story to tell. Ina calm unflinching way he had told all, and bitter was the blow; but far bitterer would it have been, had she not beheld before her the man she had first Joyed, and, in lookine jnto his earnest, honest eyes, tat there what she had never been able to find in his brother’s. - Back with the doctor went the young lieuten- ant, and for days he lingered, and the days went into weeks. Then, one day, he received a telegram from Texas, and opening it, he read with white sad face its contents. It was as follows: “* LIBUTENAN?T Epwin Aauzicn, U. 8. ARMY. “Care ef Docror ABRAM ARTHUR, R—, Va. “Tried for killing Floyd Balfour and Lone Star erry. and found guilty of both. “Was sentenced to be hanged, but made desper- ate effort to escape and was shot dead by the keeper. I had him buried to-day. Will write you. o Roxy Branpr,”’ ‘Poor, poor Allan; thus ends your evil life, but better'so than on the gallows, though your crimes deserved the worst punishment the law could inflict.” Going to Dr. Arthur, Edwin Arleigh showed the telegram, and riding over to Bernard Hall he placed it in Helen’s hands. . She read it, the tears came into her eyes, but Edwin Arleigh whispered: “Tt is better so, Helen.” And one month after there was a quiet wed- ding in Bernard Hall, and Helen became the wife of the man she had pledged her word to her dying father to marry. But neither of the two ever knew the fate- ful secret of the bitter past. e The cares of his estate demanding his whole attention, Lieutenant Arleigh resigned from the army, and the following winter went on a Southern tour, accompanied by his beautiful wife, and Doctor Arthur, who had prescribed a change of climate for all three of them. And their destination was Prairie Rest Ranch, which they had been most cordially in- vited to visit by Mr. and Mrs. Roy Brandt, who gave them the warmest of welcomes to their Texas home, from which the shadows of the past were slowly passing away, for in the grave with Grit the Gambler she had buried her sorrows and awakened to a new life in the love of ber devoted husband, Brandt, the Mil- lionaire Cattle King, as he was called in the Lone Star State. THE END. "colm 7 “s JOO G “S (E@) ’ ~~ ar