Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 296 — page 5: what you’re looking at

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

ter. ‘‘If you get many such customers, you will soon be an American Rothschild.” ' Monk looked at the check carefully and then counted out the eight hundred, and laid it in Lord Clifford’s hand. “I vas effer so much opliged to you, mine frient,” he said, smilingly , ‘‘und shall alvas pe gladt to do you de same kind of a favor here- after. Goot-day, sir; come aroundt ven you vas proke,.” ‘Perhaps I shall,” Lord Clifford said, as he ‘set out on his way to the hotel. That afternoon, several posters. were found stuck up,’ here and there, about the town. By what agency they came there was just what no one could explain, nor did the posters them- selves afford any information. This is how they read: “ $5,000 REWARD **Some years ago an English gentleman, Lord Clit- ford by name, came to Western America accom- panied by his five-year-old daughter, for the sole pleasure of having a puttalo-hunt with the noted scout, Buffalo Bill, Finding that Cody’s services were not to be had, for love or money, just then, his lordship rig con for several months. with a herdsman and farmer, William Blake by name. Blake's child and the nobleman’s child l6tdked as near alike as two peas, and the latter's child bein sickly, and the two Httle ones becoming ve seach attached to each other, his lordship made a in with Blake, by which the latter was to keep Clifford's daughter at the prairie ranch for two years, in order that she might regain her héalth from the sure air and free life of the prairie. Yor this service his lordship freed Blake's ranch from all indebted- ness, and then departed for England. “A little over,two years, afterward, he returned to America, and to the. Blake hom l. re he learned from the neehPare, that there had recent been a fire which had consumed the house and out- buildings—that the bones of Mother Blake had been found in the ashes—that the scalp of a child had been pieked up—that the hired girl and other child were missing—and last but not least, that Blake himself had arrived on the scene after the fire was over; had picked up:the scalp—then uttering a ter- rible oath, had mounted his horse and ridden madly away, never to be seen again, in that section. Any one who can throw any further light on the matter, will be suitably rewarded. To any one who can reveal the whereabouts of Bill Blake and the other child, a reward of $5,000 will be paid, commiuni- cations should be sent to > iy Ae “Post Office, MeGuffin's.” The next consideration to be considered was— who was X. Y. Z.? To the best know] of the citizens, no such a man lived in M s, | It was evidently a fictitious signature, to dis- guise the identity of the author. A good. many curious ones paused to read the notice, Lord Clifford among the rest. . ‘‘ Humph!” hesaid, musingly, ‘this is strange. I wonder what it means. Evidently some one — to. find etn ce child worse than I do. hovit. cam be, in ‘this wild country, is more than FIican guess.” | It wasa matter that ed him exceedingly, and gave him nota little, uneasiness. The idea that some one was working in ahead of him, on his own naturally gave rise to the suppo- sition that it was for no purpose. _ Dick Drew cate up.as bis lordship was read- ing the notice for the second time. Ha! ha!. see have been trying to gain your point by another way than by pasron alte me,” he said, with a f-sneer. ‘All right; just as you please about it.” - ‘You are mistaken,” Clifford said. ‘lL know no more who posted this notice than.you do— perhaps not as well. Evidently some one has a scheme on foot to:make money out of me.” ‘(So it looks, and it now stands you in to en- ge me to thwart this plotter, by first intro- ducing you to Bill Blake.’ : ‘*T am not so sure about that, still, you may be right. You swear you can put me face to face with this man Blake, to whom I intrusted the rs, of my child?” sé o. ? ff ‘‘ And your price is five thousand dollars?” ‘Oh, no—not at present. The way things stand now you can well afford to pay ten thou- sand.” . : Lord Clifford put up his hands in astonish- ment. ‘* Are you crazy, man? Do you take me for a person you can twist around to suit your fancy? You are greatly mistaken, then.” ‘All right. I shall not urge yo , but I dare say you will find after awhile that won't come in bad. Good-day.” And with a mocking bow he turned on his heel and strode away. | “That man is an infernal rascal, and thinks _ Apollo Bill — —— . ee = ‘pleasure, madame. my services . he has got a hold upon me; but that remains to be seen. Perhaps | mav turn a trump myself.” Every mining town of any size has its dance- house. McGuflin’s was no exception to the rule. Madame Moree’s ‘‘ Fashionable Dancing Acad- emy” held opén nightly, and was usually well patronized, for, with the exception of an occa- sional drunken fight, it was invariably runon a respectable plan, and patronized by the miners, their wives and daughters. The madame herself was a remarkably hand- some Frenchwoman, of business tact and a re- spectable reputation, and she allowed no one to run her place but herself, It was a long, one-story shanty, one-third of which was used for a bar-room and the remain- der as a ball-room, with a side entrance to the latter for the ladies’ use. The music was generally furnished by a su- perannuated old mmer known as Fiddler Jim, assisted by the madame on the piano. The evenitg of the day when Lord Clifford had seen the posters offering the five thousand dollars reward, he was sitting in the ‘office of the hotel when a letter was handed him. In some surprise he noted the fact that it was directed in a woman’s graceful ‘chirography, and without knowing what to expect, he tore it open. What he read gave him no greater surprise than what he had expected. The letter read as follows: ‘‘ McGurrin's, May —, 18—. “Lad Cifiord and Lady: * Learning of your arrival in town, and in honor of your coming, the miners of McGuffin's; their wives and en wish to show their due respect to your lordship by giving a grand ball at my fash- jonable dancing academy, and’ Ihave been chosen to the honor of the presence of yourself and. her ladyship this evening. Very sincerely, ** MADAME, MorREz.”™ Of course Lord Olifford: smiled to himself at the absurdity of the thing. ‘tT hardly fancy Lady Theresa would care to | make hérself the reigning belle of so fashionable an affair, but in order to make myself familiar with these rude ple, I will attend to-night, and see what kind ofa skirmish is to be given to our honor.” ' Accordingly, when it was about nine o’clock, he repaired to the dancing academy, in evening dress and looking every inch the nobleman he was. As he entered the bar-room his gaze rested, upon as note an assortment of rugged, wea- ther-beaten ms as could well be assembled, and most of them were ee down liberal installments of ‘‘ bug-juice,” dealt out by a —_———_ hump-backed man. hich greeted his lordshig’s hearing, »" Will ye which gree s hea , a” e have a smile, yer honor?” | : ** No, t eds gentlemen; [. am not thirsty,” and with these words he passed on into the ball-room, where the music was already catering to thé dancers, A more p t scene was. here presented. The few males theré assembled were’ better dressed and of a more respectablo appearance, |: while the ladies; young and middle- , Were mony and modestly, if, not. expensively, at- t ; The music and dancing immediately ceased as. Lord Clifford entered, and Madame Moree glided forward to meet him. ‘*T am so delighted that yon have come; my lord. Iam proud to meet soeminenta stranger -here in my humble surroundings.” “T am glad that my coming can give you It is very seldom I go out social gatherings, bus I thought Vd have to make a break for once, and humor yourself and the townspeople.” | ‘* It was so considerate in you. But, where is her ladysbip?’ ‘* Too indisposed to come out this evening.” ‘Too bad!” madame said, with one of her charming French smiles. ‘' Buti that need not deter you from enjoying yourself, my lord. With tree permission, Il will introduce you.” And taking his arm, she took him about the ball-room and introduced him to the ladies and entlemen present, and the first his lordshi ew, he was whirling away with a robust an by no means homely mountain lassie, whom be found .to be quite as good a waltzer as himself. From her he was caught up by another, and another, until things began to look as if he were hopelessly in for a night of it, without rest. About midnight there was an intermission for refreshments, and the Englishman was thanking his stars that he would perhaps now , the Trail Tornado. , 8 —— — — ee oe mm re en ee” get a chance to slip away to his hotel, when “hi occurred that put an end to any such ope. A young woman, apparently of seventeen or eighteen years of age, clad throughout in male attire of. rich and stylish gray, and with a slouch hat bent up on the left side, sauntered into the room, twirling a jaunty cane between her fingers. ‘Hello! Is this the shebang?’ she cried, so all present could: hear ber. ‘ Waal, now, this is gptgcous. aim’t-it? Where’s his nibs, the lord¥ I’m Rowdy Kate, rigbt down from Right Bower Camp, an’ hearin’ thar was a genuine lord here, I im over fer ther honor of havin’ a dance with his lordship, you bet! So, ef ‘you know what’s the cute caper, jest trot out yer Jord” And with this order, the extraordinary girl folded her arms and gazed coolly around the room. -_—-eeoOoo-— CHAPTER V. ROWDY KATE AND HER STRANGE PARD. AND there was no mistaking that this self- same Rowdy Kate meant pretty tiearly what she said, for she was an independent and reso- lute-appearing personage, and moreover, a brace of revolvers in the belt about her’ waist seemed to indicate that she was not one to argue long over a disputed question. f fine figure, of medium stature, she was a remarkably pretty girl, despite her unnatural habiliments. Her face was one of almost mar- velous beauty, lit up by a brilliant _ of eyes. Yet there was an expression about her fair face which suggested the vege of bitter experi- e ce, which possibly had contributed to deaden the natural modesty of her sex. Following her unceremonious entrance into the ball-room, there was a dead silenve, for several moments, after she had ceased oe ‘*Come! L say trot out yer ‘lord, duke, or whatever he may be!” she a cried, grow- ing impatient. ‘1 didn’t sail down hyar ter kick up no muss, I allow, but dance wi’ the Johnny Bull-dog aire I, ef it costs my biggest bag o’ dust, you bet!” : . At this juncture, the madame, who had the standing reputation of being able to run her own ‘shanty, came forward. “Bee here, young woman, ‘your nce is objectionable and you must leave!” she’ cried, authoritatively, taking Kate by the shoulder. Bat, that dashin personage shook her off. **Who are you, that you presume to lay your claws'on me?” she demanded, her eyes flashing. ‘‘T am Madame Moree, the proprietress of this place!” was the austere response, ** and you not being dressed in accordance with the cus® toms of my place, ‘and being, quité evidently, a eharacter with whom my patrons do not care to associate, I must polite y request you to take your leave, at once. ** Waal, now you don’t say co?” “Most certainly I do!” ** And ye ain’t a-goin’ to let me dance witk his lordship?’ “No! the idea is absurd,” ““Mebbe ye think he’s better nor Rowdy Kate, old. powder-face?” ‘That matters not,” the madame replied, fiercely, at the insult.’ “‘ Hither you leave toy establishment at once, or I will have you thrown out.” =) ip ‘Phew! that’s consoling. Now, just you lookee here, my frisky: maiden—DP di n’t come here to bev no fuss with you, nor did I come here to get throwed out by any 0’ yer whisky- bouncers. I simply want the pleasure of cing with his lordship, an’ then I'll skip. My name is Rowdy Kate, because’ I’m a leetle wild, but ef ther ain’t more orthodox honor an’ ‘lddy in my little — than there is in yer bul e figgur, I'll buy ther clams fer the crowd. Vm no slouch, ef I am rough, as yell find ef ye don’t bumor me, thar’ll be music!” * Pipo!” madame called, shrilly. ‘* Pipo!”” Rowdy Kate called, mockingly. The next instant, the repulsive - era hump-back came bounding into the room, an st awaiting the madame’s orders, He was a hideous-looking human, with. big eyes, and teeth from either jaw protruding through between his lips—in appearance more like a wild beast than like a man. ‘* Ha! ha! ha!” Rowdy Kate cried, merrily, as ber gaze rested upon the nondescript. “ that’s your bounger, is it, Madame Fresh-skin? I say, Jobnnie, Fist you look me over—l’m Rowdy Kate, 1 am, an’ you’re only about half of a bite for me; so you’d better go back and spill bug-juice.”’ GonnGoooks co