Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 281 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

6 - er weapons, at ‘twenty es, and we are to fire util one or the other falls ? “‘ Clear the street!” Pacific Phil cried. “‘ We will get down to business at once!” The crowd partsd to either side, and the two enemies took positions in the middle of the street twenty paces apart. **Who will act as starter and referee?’ the buckskin sportasked, looking around. *T will!” Denver Doll said, stepping forward. “I’m quite handy at the business, thanks to rience!” ““An’ I'll be ther buckskin’s second!” Little @ill shouted, dancing with delight. I'm just ther pigeon fer that. If either party tries any shenannigan, I'll send a bullet-doux | right through his pericranium.” “ That’s the ticket!” Pacific Phil said, admir- | ** You've got an abundance of mouth, | | deputy. ingiv. yeungster, but I’m dashed if I don’t believe you've got the sand to back it!” “Bet your boots I have!” Billy declared, mpously. “‘I?’maskinner, I am, right from idetewn, “Th second Beau Blonde!” a burly ruffian anaoviced stepping forward. ‘‘Tbis byar has #4 * be a squar’ go.” ‘ Of course it has!” Denver Doll returned. Get ready, gents. Turn your backs to each ber. At the word three, wheel and fire!” The Ag seh rane obeyed the order, in regard to position, by turning their backs to each other. Pacific Phil held a fine revolver in bis grasp— _&@ self-odcker it was, silver-plated, with gold mountings, and diamond sights. As cool as a cucumber, figuratively speaking, was the buckskin scout, bis every expression de- aoting confidence that he would win. Beau Blonde did not look so confident, but there was a dangerous gleam in his eye. » Little Bill Bethel seemed the best pleased of any in the crowd. ov’ Yere’s yer hig old polka-dot pic-nic!” he | cried. ‘“* Yere’s yer chance ter make a fortune béttin’ on ther right hoss. Who wants to bet? | Where's the feller? Goye even up thet Blon- dey gits salivated fust lick. Whoopy! old backeskin knows bis alfylet, you bet! He stuck im@ fluke ter save my old gal, Kate, w’ot eal- Jers’ nerseif Rienzio, jest ’ca’se it sounds serumpscious, an’ PH bet Beau, hyar, gits pingzed.” o one, apparently, had any desire to bet on an uncertainty: ne ove could tell just how fhings would turn out, One was as likely to win as the other. * Ready!” cried Denver Doll. — “*Oue!” A minute's breatkeless suspes e. sa Two r’ With bated breath the audience craned their necks ferward. Dares! Fiére !” As if mouated upon pivots, the opponents wheeled simultamsously, facing each other. Then came twe flaskes—two falls. Both men bad been hit. , CHAPTER V. . THE WOMAN WHO FAINTED. THE two reports ef the duelists’ weapons had not come simuitensously. The frst rt had ceme from the direction ef the buckskin sport, while the second had come frons the pistel ef the card-sharp. Beau Blonde had fallen first. ~ Pacifie Phil fell rather mechanically, soon afterward, and beth men lay iw a half-reclining sition ia the street, with tee moonlight stream- g down Upem them from'tke arched vault of toe skies above them. The rude audience stood for a moment speech- fass and motionless, as if undecided what to do; \at when Beau Blonde fell back; a ntly tead, the deputy marshal, who had been gent to Yagget Noteh to tavestigate the train wreck, | ad first over to the gambler’s side, and then approached the bai@kekin sport, followed by the excited erewd, Paciffe was bleedtnyg from a wound in theside, | aid something of the ruddy browa of bischeeks | had given way toa deathly pallor, Deputy Marchal King gaged at the stricken | scout a moment cariously, teen said: ‘* Well, sir, 1 am sorry to see a man of your evident respectability insech adisgraceful row. It is my dnty to arrest you for the crime of ep oeibe I ked citic looked surprised. ‘* How do you make tkat out?” he demanded, with an effort. ‘* In this wise:” King replied. ‘Dueling is a reprehensible crime at best, and it is our duty es sseesoetpee aeeoessnsmneneeensanns 60 arrest all whom we find engaged in the prac- oa a —— ** Reckon | | gai as took the revolver?” eee a ar | nearly so badly hurt as ee ee tice. Besides this, you have as goed as killed your opponent, and I must bold you, at least to await the result of his injuries.” ‘** But I did not fire a shot!” Pacific Phil cried hotly. ‘* Examine my revolver and you will see that every chamber is loaded.” And he flung the weapon upon the ground in front of Denver Dol], who hastily secured it. King motioned to several of Beau Blonde’s cronies, who instantly seized hold of the buck- skin sport. * Off with him to the lock-up!” the deputy ordered. ‘* We'll have a little more law and order here while ’min the town. Where’s the All looked around, but Denver Doll had 230 4 et away. he reappeared upon the street shortly after however, and encountered the stern-visaged ‘Hello! what did you do with thatrevolver?” he demanded, confronting her. “Pat it where it is safe until wanted, my friend,” the girl retorted, coolly. “Then you go straight and get it, or ’'m dashed if 1 don’t yank you into the jug!” ‘*Oh! I guess not!” Doll retorted, pulling back the collar of her jaunty coat, and exposing a gleaming badge of gold. ‘‘ Kind o’ opine that carries me through, not?” The deputy started and stared. *‘Oho!” be ejaculated. ‘‘So you're here after them train-robbers, in anticipation of a reward being offered, eh?” ‘Perhaps. Perhaps not.” ‘* Waal, now, my maid in britches, jest let me tell you one thing: I’m here on that same lay myself, and I ain’t goin’ to hev no sekond part nosin’ around in my way. Hark to that, -wi ye! The healthiest thing yot can do is to strike out fer some more congenial climate. Mind, I make no threats, but a word to the wise is suffi- cient.” ‘*Somehow, I never was very wise: so it’s useless to try to bluff me!” Doll remarked. ‘“By the way, | am not aware that a deputy- marshal has authority to interfere in the pro- fessional duties of a regular detective. No doubt a letter to the chief marshal would cor- rect your freshness. Don’t you think so?’ ‘You'll find out!” King gritted, turning and walking away. ‘‘ Nice man to have in a public office,” Denver Doll muttered, as she sauntered along. “If I mistake not, he has got as black a heart as the rascals who infest this camp. Pacific Phil did not wound the gambler, for his revolver had not been fired. Beau Blonde must have enemies as well as friends here.” There was no more theater that night. The fight had, asa point of attraction, cast the beau- tiful Riemzio in the shade. It would have been hard to have tempted the crowd back into the Globe again had a bundred prima donnas held the board instead of one, Immediately after going behind the scenes, the beautiful songstress hastily enveloped. her- self in a waterproof cloak, and left the building by a rear door. In the dark shadows of the gulch she wit- nessed the result of the duel—saw Beau Blonde borne away to bis shanty, and Pacific Phil to the strong cabin which served the purpose of a ail. Then, with a stifled . she moved away through the darkness, without appearing to know or care whither she went. ““Oh! God, why did I come here?” Again and again these words escaped her _ and seemed to echo in the niches of the gulch wall and in the air above her. Her eyes burned with a wild, unnatural fire; her face was deathly white, and she trembled violently. She grew dizzy, and a sort of mist came be- fore her eyes, still she reeled on for some dis- tance, as if determined not to give up. But it was no use, At last she uttered a wild, ns and sunk to the ground in a dead swoon d ectly in front of the Ainsley residerice. Beau Blonde, altho th wounded, was not eputy King had inti- mated. He bad received only a slight flesh wound, which did not disable him to any particular ex- tent, and his exhibition of fainting was only a ruse, so that Pacific Phil would not fire at bim. After being borne to his shanty, he was laid upon a rude couch and his wound: dressed. Then, after a copious ht of whisky, he declared himself all hunky once more,; _ Dismissing all, except one low- vil- a RES EA AEE RT A ee warn Jainous-looking fellow, wkom he addressed as Nick, they held an inaudible conference, Soon there was a rap at the door, and Nick admitted Deputy King. The eyes of the wounded gambler lit up with a strange gleam at sight of the officer. “Well?” he interrogated, grimly, ‘‘ have you come to arrest me, too?” ‘‘ Hardly,” King replied. ‘‘If | had wanted to do that, I should have done so atonce. How are you feeling?” ‘A little better. Is my enemy caged?’ “He is; and if lam any judge, he will remain so for one while,” ‘Why did bye prefer to arrest bimf’ ‘* Because 1 believed I was nailing a noto- rious desperado, and am not convinced to the haa Then, too, it looked as if he fireé rst. ** Well, did he?” “T am not certain yet. As far as I have learned, attention was on you, a an’ few if any saw any flash of his weapon. It may be that Lcan not handle him as your would-be murderer, but I reckon 1 can bring bim to Lim- erick as Captain Crime, the ringleader of the Terrible Tribunal that wrecked the U. P., train.” **'You don’t say!” ‘‘But ldo! I have become pretty well satis- fied that the nest of this beautiful flock of vuil- tures is in this camp, and l’ve seen no one Ia sooner t of being Captain Crime than the fellow in buckskin.” ‘‘Maybe you’re right. The fellow isa thorougi- bred, that’s evident, and I don’t fancy the idea of his occupying thesametownasJ. If youcan manage to get a noose around his neck, I'll pay you well for it.” « ‘It’s a bargain. -As soon as a reward is offered, of sufficient dimensions, I fancy ig will be no hard matter to bring proof against bim.’” **Of course not. Come to me and I can fur- nish you a goodly number of men who wii! swear just as you want them.” Later, after an earnest consultation, the two conspirators sealed ‘the compact by indulging in several bumpers of ‘‘ bug-juice;’ after which King took his :deyarture. Denver Doll had not done wrong in estimating him a rogue. ‘*Gimcracks and gum-fodder, but I’m glad to see you! Hain’t I had a boss old skewrup, tbo’, in the time I’ve been separated from ye! Bet I have! Told ye l’d find the old gal here, I did? What ye think—I jest waltzed inter the theate: an’ who d@’ye s’pose I found thar? Why, twig my nose, ef I didn’t see my old gal, Kate a-paradin’ the stage, as natteral as life, witt. enuff duds and gew-gaws on, tew give a billy goat the consumpshing. Ob! but ec uldn’t she whoop-’er-up inter ther key-west notes! She'd ‘a’ made a Comanche kick bis Jump 0’ bombos- an wi’ the rear end of bis golden slipper!” hus rattled off Little Bill Bethel, as he and Denver Doll met, not long after the duel that had terminated in the arrest of Pacific Phil. The two had met each other within a stone’s throw of the office of Harrison Ainsley, and they naturally paused—more to exchange confidences: perhaps, than for any other reason. “If you could only master your tongue Billy, it would be ever so much better,” Doll said re- proving. ‘‘ You have in you some of tle ele- ments of a detective, but I see I must curb you to the practice of not talking too loud, nor tell. ing too much of what you know, when there are chances for other ears in your vicinity.” “Keerect, old gal! You've got more years nor I, and just you shove out the p’ints, and I hope I’m a big-necked swan if I don’t rope ’rm in. We'll make a bossy old team, now, wer’: we, and rogues won’t have no mere show tian a hose-fly on a Kernetticut saw-buck.” ‘‘- You are right,” the girl said, thinking test to humor him. “ But, by the way, I’ve under- taken a job, and since my partner, Yakie, bas forsaken me, I will take you in, in bis place. Tbere’s a case of systematic robbery going on, and I’ve undertaken to ferret it out, and I may have a cbance to work ycu in, to advantage ” ‘All right. Hyer’s with ye tooth and _ tee- nail, until death do us bounce, ‘less my ga! Kate should freeze her bread-hooks onter me. Then I'd have to walk a bee-line, you bet! But, jest tell us what ye want and I'll tackle it, with all my feet.” . ‘Well, come along back on this vacant lot, where that fallen tree is; and we will take a seat. and 1 will give you a few points relative to the The move ‘was made, and a moment later they were seated upon the gf npg mentioned, from where they could have a GOmMmIicdoo <SiGO