Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 328 — page 15: what you’re looking at

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

The Sky Detectives. 15 The escape was now enormous, and the Sky Traveler began to rush down toward the earth with frightful speed, the velocity of the descent blanching the cheeks of the occupant of the car. ‘Doomed! doomed!” groaned this cruel, mer- ciless fiend, who could murder in cold blood, but whe had not the courage to meet death in any form. ‘I shall be dashed to pieces. Oh! whatamI todo? Ah! I can arrest the speed of the descent by reducing the weight in the car. That’sright! I must not lose my head. Presence of mind miay save me yet. If I touch the earth without a great shock, I shall not be at all injured. Ha! ha! I may escape and triumph over all my enemies yet, curse them!” He crawled about the floor of the car on his hands and knees and picked up a heavy book, 4 telescope, a small compass in a inetal box, and several other articles. These he hurled over the side, and was gratified to note that the violent and dangerous descending speed of the balloon was considerably eheoked by the loss of weight, ** Hurrah!” shouted Crowell, his spirits begin- ning to rise again. ‘‘ Keep cool, ny lad, keep cool, and we'll beat them all yet. Ah! here is a heavy box. This will help.” He seized the box and harled it over the side, Again there was an abatement of the descend- ing speed. ; A tongue of flame lapped at the rail of the the car and set it on fire. With desperate energy Crowell seized the section of rail, and tore it away. Then he hurled the burning wood from him, and actuated by a sudden idea, eagerly watched it as it fell, Over and over whirled the burning stick, and at length, as Harley Willis’s torch had done, disappeared in a very sudden manner, without making a spark. “Tm over the lake,” muttered Crowell. ‘ Oh, how high am I, I wonder? This car is getting unbearable, If I only dared to jump down.” He made a movement to leap over the side, but his cowardly soul was not equal to the un- known peril of the fall. As he drew back. irresolute, a long tongue of flame darted toward him and scorched his cheek. Still he dared not make the leap. Something brushed against the side of the ear, and startled him. He looked up and shouted with joy. “Treetops!” he screamed. ‘‘I am very near the earth, and Shoppes, slowly, too, Hal ha! ha! I am saved, saved! curse my foes! Ill outwit them all!” As a matter of fact, the battle between the outlaws and the sheriff’s command was at an end as soon as the former body lost its leader. When Dick Crowell in bis sudden fright dashed away and disappeared with the Sky Traveler, his followers seemed to lose all heart, and in less than two minutes hey had ceased fighting and were trying fheir best to run away. The sheriff ordered bis men to pursue the rascals, and the order was eagerly carried out, The majority of the fugitives, when hard pret: threw down their arms and surren- ered, while some few desperate and harcened ruffians, when brought to bay, fought like tigers on ae some instances killed before they were illed. . The battle was over, however, and victor was with the sheriff’s party. Jack Hays gal- loped over the field to where Ben Bradley and Harry Brown were standing, looking up in the air after the fast receding Sky Traveler. ‘And after all,” exclaimed Hays, “ that vil- lain has escaped!” ‘ “Yes,” returned Ben, in a troubled tone of voice, ‘‘and he’s gone off with my sister, too. Of course, he and Harley will fight, and if he gets the best of the battle, what will become of my poor sister?” ; ‘That Willis is a match for him,” confidently asserted Brown. ‘‘ How dark itis growing. [py a few minutes the balloon will be out of sight,” “This poor chap tried to save your sister, didn’t he?’ asked ays, touchin tbe prostrate form of Dennis Malone with his foot. “Yes,” amswered Ben. ‘‘ Poor Malone! he was a brave fellow, and had he not been killed by Crowell’s bullet he would have made short—” ‘Tare an’ ouns,” spoke up a familiar voice from the ground, **T have such a quare head- ache, sol have. Be heavens, an’ if I don’t get some whisky, sure me head will spblit, so it will,” : And to the surprise of all, Malone got "pon his feet, declaring that he was all right, and only wanted ‘‘a wee dhrop o’ whisky.” Before they could look into the cause vf the brave fellow's escape, a shout from Harry Brown caused all to look up. ‘‘ Great Scott! the balloon is on fire!” From that time on they did nothing but watch the eccentric movements of the Sky Traveler, as it ascended and descended and moved hither and thither. They saw it hovering in one particular spot for some time, and rode toward that point, anxiously awaiting some result that would ter- minate their really terrible suspense. Thus it ag pe that when the balloon de- scendéd to the earth, quite near to the shore of the lake, all our friends were near at band. ‘¢ Crowell!” cried Hays. . ‘¢ And alone!” exclaimed Brown, ‘‘He is the murderer of my parents, and his life belongs to me!” gritted Ben, his eyes snap- ping. ‘This for the blood of my father and mother!” And as Crowell leaped from the car when about te set from the ground, and tried to .) n pulled the trigger and sent a bul- the rascal’s heart’ that he fell, dy- round. 3 oment, to Ben’s great joy, the eronaut and Annie rushed within the zhi shed around by the burning bal- x a of ae 7 loon, ‘* Saved!” cried Ben and Harry Brown, while Harley Willis was seized upon by Denny Ma- lone and treated to a bear-like hug from the affectionate fellow, who shed tears of joy. The balloonist was delighted to find that his faithful companion had only been slightly wounded. he bullet which was meant fo split his skull, had, fortunately, only grazed his hard head, and stunned him for a few minutes. Harry Brown and Ben Bradley approached the spot where Dick Crowell lay weltering in his blood. The dying outlaw looked up, and glanced keenly at Bavry Brown. ‘*T know you now,” he said. little chum.” ‘* Right,” said Brown, ‘‘and I ‘would have either bung you easel to law or put a bullet in your heart bad not this brave boy avenged himself and me.” ‘‘ Avenged you?” cried Ben. shot avenge you?” ‘* Because, Ben, Jam your brother!” There was no doubting the affectionate and solemn words, and Ben eagerly seized his hand, while Annie, witha cry of joy, rushed into the outstretched arms of the New York detective. ‘Yes, it’s all right,” apoke up Crowell. “I am dying, and [ll tell the truth. He is your elder brother, and I am your uncle. ‘*Give me one good drink of whisky, and I'll tell you the whole story.” The dying villain, who seemed to have the pride common to doomed criminals in relating their misdeeds, was given a big drink of whisky, his head was propped up on a saddle, and he began his story, while all, with a morbid inter- est, stood grouped about the expiring outlaw in silence, ‘“My name is Walter Storm. I belong in the city of New York. My sister was courted by Mark Bradley, a widower, who had one son, a boy, my own age, There he stands now—the detective. ‘‘T was not more than fourteen, but I had the spirit and brains of a man. I had a row with Mark Bradley, and he whipped me with a lash. He said that I insulted him and my sister, and he made my back red with stripes, ‘With my flesh bleeding and my heart on fire with rage, I swore to have his heart’s blood for the insult, and as my sister sided with Mark, { swore to kill her, too. ‘‘T was a long-headed boy, and biding my time I appeared to forget all about the matter. Harry, there, who was my playmate, heard me take that oath and it frightened him. He spoke to me about it, and was going to tell his father but I Jaughed at the matter, and told him tf had forgotten all about it. So Harry left home, thinking all was right, and his folks never heard from him afterwara. eT mc pte well, boy that I was, and a few ears after Mark Bradley married my sister he looked upon me as bis best friend, and did not hesitate to take me into business with him, “Then my chance came. He was a very Wealthy man doing a large trade, and I man- rged matters so well that in less than two years Thad ruined him. With all his money in my ssession [ made off, leaving him Sy pa nvolved, and without a single dollar to meet the demands of his creditors. le leading a gay life in the West I kept paid spies in the North to keep me posted in re- ‘You were my “ How did my are to Mark Bradley’s actions. For some time e struggled on in the city, but at last made up his mind to try his luck in the mining DB. ‘He emigrated with his family, and I knew every bit of their route. With my money I hired a band of Indians, met the train they traveled with, and killed them both. ‘“‘That man struck me when I was a boy; I swore to be revenged, and I kept my word. No — in this world ever striped my back, and— and— The blood welled up from the wound in his breast and gushed in a bright red stream from his mouth, With an ineffectual attempt to speak he gasped for breath, shivered from head to foot, and died, ‘*So may all villains die,” sternly said Harry Brown, ‘Ben, it was my father as well as yours that he killed, although your mother was no kin of mine, and I look upon you as a bero, It was just that he should fall by the hand of one of the three children of the man he mur- dered,” ‘*] would have killed him for your sake,” said Harley Willis, carried away by his admiration, and then both he and Annie blushed crimson. There was a growing feeling of love creeping up between these two young people, and they could not disguise it from one another. The battle-field was cleared, three of the sheriff's men being buried on the spot and a half-dozen wounded carried away. All of the outlaw band were either dead or prisoners, and the organization that bad proved such a scourge to honest miners and travelers, was broken up forever. Two years later we bring some of the charac- ters of this life-drama before the reader, ‘ Ben Bradley, Harley Willis and his wife— who was once known as Annie Bradley—Jack Slasher and Dennis Malove, live in style in the finest bouses in Golden Gulch, and to pass their time agreeably, operate some first class mines in the vicinity. Harry Brown, whose real name, as_ the reader now knows, was Harry Bradley, and whose restless spirit would not permit him to settle down, became the sheriff of the county, and from his past record the readers of this true tale will willingly be- lieve that he was a terror to all law-breakers. Of course, as the reader very naturally suspect they were all made wealthy by the fabulous resources of the gold-bedded stream, which yielded enough particles to make every one of our old friends a millionaire, even to honest Dennis Malone, who, true to his ideas, dyed his hair black, curled his whiskers, and put ona heap of style, which resulted in winning for him a pretty American wife. And so, with virtue and good deeds rewarded by the power of an all-seeing Providence, and vice and crime punished as the most ancient laws aver they shall be, we bid a friendly adieu to the patient reader and to the story of the Black Cross, THE END, DIME DIALOGUES AND SPEAKERS FOR SCHOOL BHXHIBITI ONS AND HOME ENTERTAINMENTS, Dialogues, Nos. 1 to 30 inclusive, 15 to % popu- lar dialogues and dramas in each book. Each vol- ume 100 pages 12mo., Speakers, Nos, 1 to MUinclusive. Each speaker 100 pages 12mo, containing from 50 to 75 pieces, YOUNG PEOPLE’S SERIES Dime Book of Winter Sports. 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