Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 340 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

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He found the ranchman down in the bottom- land plowing his corn, and told him of the death of Sam Bunker, ) “That knife of yours 7s a weapon,” said Mat. “There is not the least grain of doubt of that.” ‘Tt bas been stained with blood again,” said Clip, ‘‘ and this time it was human blood. But I would not for the world have them know it.” He pointed toward the house, “ All right, my boy. They shall not hear a word of it from me.” CHAPTER VII. SPENCE SYMMES'S BIG STRIKE, GANGs of men were working on the railroad in the vicinity of Orodia, busy at excavating and biasting and filling in and grading: but the road lacked a good deal of being finishe:| to that point, and the nearest station was fully fifty miles away. It is true that construction trains had been run beyond the station; but there was a big gap between the end of the track and Orodia, and a wasb-out bad made it bigger. , Therefore when the end of the month arrived, and the men in the vicinity of Orodia were to be paid off, it was necessary to bring the money in a wagon over the rough road that formed the = communication with the station. his task was confided to Harry Venn, to- gether with the duty of paying off the hands. He had proved himself to be a cautious and reliable man, as well as skillful and courageous, and the paymaster preferred to trust bim in that region, rather than to trust himself. So Harry Venn went to the station, where he | exhibited his pay-roll, and the money to meet, - liabilities was delivered to him and receipted or. It was packed in a box that was placed in a stout wagon drawn by two borses. Harry was to occupy the front seat with the driver, with two men on a rear seat, and two other guards who were to accompany the vehicle on horse- ck, The paymaster bid them adieu with good wishes, but with a rather dubious look on his face. ‘‘T wish you the best of luck, Harry,” he said; ‘‘but you must be very careful and keep a sharp lookout. I hear that the robbers are ris- in up along that road, in spite of the Vigilantes, I don’t pretend to give you any advice, as I am sure that you know what to do better than I can tell you,” “T know the bad places on the road pretty well,” replied the young man, “‘and I will be careful. If you have given me good men there will bea sharp fight before anybody gets this cash away from us.” The wagon and its escort started at as early an hour as possible in the morning; but the road was shockingly bad, and dusk found them still at a considerable distance from Orodia. The driver proposed to camp for the night and finish the journey in the morning: but this roposition was far from meeting Harry enn’s views, and he put a decided negative upon if. “There is but one more bad place,” he said, “and we can easily pass it before night. Then we will have aclear and open road the rest of the way, where the darkness need not bother us, and we will be quite as safe when we are traveling asif we were in camp,” As Harry was the leader of the party, his opinion amounted to an order, and they pro- ceeded on their poss way. The bad place of which he spoke was a little distance from the foot of the valley in which Mat Warner’s ranch was located. At that point the road ran through a narrow and mp ravine, from which there was mm open- ing at the sides, except the little gap that led into Warner’s valley. The sides of this ravine were steep and rocky, loaded with tall trees whose heavy shade made the po ite gloomy even in the daytime. ‘When the wagon got down there the darkness roved to be considerably denser than Harr Venu had expected to find it, and he was na noise as possible; bus ran to their horses, ' . " ‘J : *s ¥ - 7 , : ie a ts 31 ~ “ie Me g ve 7 . he aes fo oat wal . 7 Ts. y “ Nag © 7 Clip, the Contortionist. urally anxious to get through the pass as speedi- ly as possible, - He directed the driver to whip up the horses, and an effort was made to urge them forward; but it was unavailing, the road being so uneven and the bowlders so plentiful that there was no chance for any but the slowest progress, Just after they had passed the gap that led to the Warner valley the horses stopped sudden- ty and could not be induced to cake a step fur- ther. ‘‘There is a pile of rock across the road,” said one of the horsemen, who bad gone for- ward to investigate, ‘* That looks like a trap,” remarked Harry. A trap it was, and it wassprung directly after the young man spoke. ‘‘Throw up your hands, every one of you, or you are dead men!” It was aclear and powerful voice, and start- lingly near, that gave this order in command- ing. tones. arry Venn raised his rifle to his shoulder, and fired in the direction of the voice. “We must fight for it, boys!” he said as he jumped out of the wagon. At that instant a volley of rifle-shots was fired into, the party from the right hand side of the road, The two menon the back seat scrambled out as Harry Venn had done, and the driver tried to follow them; but a bullet through the b:ain ended his efforts forever, One of the horses hitched to the wagon had been knocked down by that volley and the other was frantically struggling to get free, Harry and the guards, availing themselves of such shelter as the wagon afforded, bravely stood up to their work, and did their best to make a good fight. Their enemies were iuvisible; but they fired rapidly at the spots where the flashes of the rifles had been seen. But they soon discovered, to their great dis- may, that they had foes on both sides of the ravine, and an unexpected volley that was poured into their rear effectually ended the t. arry Venn felt a sharp twinge in his right arm and nearly dropped his rifle. Hardly had he turned to face his new adver- saries, when a bullet struck his head and stretched him on the ground. The two remaining men who had been in the wagon fell near bim. be horsemen, who had not yet been hit, were stricken with a panic when they saw the fate of their comrades, and spurred their horses to es- cape from the slaughter pen. hots were fired after them; but one got off unharmed, while the other rode away severely wounded. The robbers came out from their concealment and gathered about the wagon and the bodies of their victims. It could then be seen that they outnumbered the defeated escort fully twoto one. All were masked, and all@were armed with weapons of the best quality. ‘‘This has been a bloody business, Spence,” said one of them, ‘‘A regular slaughter. Charley. But what could we do? If the fools had thrown up their bands and surrendered, they might be living yet. It is better that they should all die, than that one of us should go under. We made a 5 poh ,bhing of it, anyhow, Is anybody hurt, oe 9 ‘*Red-headed Mike has a got hole in bis leg,” answered another; ‘but that is all, except a few scratches,” “Bring up the horses, two of you, and put Mike ongne of them. The rest of us will pile onto thé plunder.” The horses, which bad been concealed in the gap, were brought forward, and Spence Symmes and those who were with bim broke open the box in the wagon, and hastened to load them- selves with its contents of gold and silver and notes, They had not finished this pleasing task when it was interrupted by a startling cry. ‘*Come on boys! Here they are!” was shout- ed by a shrill voice a little way down the road. ‘‘Hurry up the rear there!” yelled a heavy bass voice: “By column of twos, charge!” was ordered in louder and yet more commanding tones. A sudden panic Seized the robbers, They did not stop to inquire whether the whole United States army was upon them, or to consider that a powerful foe would have been likely to pounce upon them with as little Tr aati o a keto eae ‘YY 4 ree we , 5 - eA . y f mounted, and galloped away up the road as if their lives depended on their spaed. Hardly had the echoes of their horses’ hoofs died away in the distance when a single indi- vidual came walking slowly and cautiously up the ravine, looking about to see if any of the raiders bad failed to follow their comrades. It was Clip Saunders, His had been the three vuices, of such widel different tones and qualities, that bad struc’ terror to the souls of Spence Symmes and his scoundrels, driving them away in a senseless panic. He walked to the wagon and looked in; saw the box and felt within it. There was considerable money left. ‘‘ Seared them off, for a fact!” be exclaimed. “ And they didn’t finish the job. That is better than nothing. Wonder, now, if all these folks are dead.” The driver in the wagon was, as he soon dis- covered, and a brief inspection satisfied him that two other men were also dead. He heard a faint moan when he came where Harry Venn was lying. ‘‘ Hello! here is one who is not quite dead,” said Clip. “It is Harry Venn, by Jove! if there is any life in him I must hold it there if I can.” Harry moaned again, and moved feebly. Clip had a small flask of liquor, and he forced a little of it into the mouth of the prostrate man. This revived him, and he was able to sit up with Clip’s assistance. ‘‘T am glad to see that youare not dead,” said the lad. ‘‘ Where are you hurt?” “T hardly know,” faintly answered Harry. ‘Who is this? Clip Saunders? I don’t believe I am dead, my boy: but my right arm is broken, and my head feels as if it had been all knocked © to Bag lip quickly but carefully cut away the sleeve of bis coat, and bound up the wound witha handkerchief. ‘‘T must try to hide you until I can get help,” said he. ‘It is Sew possible that those mur- derers may come back.” He assisted Harry, partly carrying bim, in- side of the gap, and concealed him under some bushes. Then he returned to the wagon, brought away the box, and hid it behind a rock, Again he went back to the wagon, cut loose the uninjured horse, mounted him, and rode through the gap. ‘‘T am going to get ef said, and galloped away ranch, ou, Harry,” he Mat Warner’s for war CHAPTER VIII. INTO THE FIRE. WuHeEn Clip gave the alarm at Warner’s the ranchman turned out with his bands, hitched i a team, and hurried off to the gap, leaving r | s, Warner and Helen to prepare for the re-. ception of the wounded man. ‘You must take the best care of him you can,” said Clip, ‘for Nelly’s sake, if not for his own.” ‘Why, for Nelly’s sake?” queried Mat War- ner, in a tone of surprise. Clip made no answer; but, when they got Harry Venn up to the house, and the ranchman observed how Helen ‘‘ went on ” over his wounds and his weakness, he understood well enough what the lad had meant, ‘‘We now know why she was so set against that man who was here a while ago,” he said to his wife. ‘But Venn isa fine young fellow, and J have no objection.” Clip Saunders set off for Orodia at an early hour in the morning, and when he got there he found the settlement in a state of great excite- ment. The horsemen who esca from Spence Symmes’s slaughter-pen had reported the rob- bery and murder, and not only Orodia but the entire region bad been aroused. ibs Messengers had been sent as far as Virginia City, and there was such a gathering of the clans for immediate vengeance as had not been seen in a long time. The members of the Vigilance Committee were undoubtedly on hand, though nobody pretended to point them out. here were no masks among them, nor was there any attempt at disguise or uniform; but everybody knew that they were there, mingling with the other citizens, and that the business of pursuing the outlaws would be under their direction. , Mounted and armed men were coming im singly and in squads when Clip arrived, and J 2 alt ( . Wy * A 4, hy 4 id ‘ * Pd / T | # Wy m™m™m ,__ * ae - iy an i ee. : dg | @® eh ——— a oF - - - = - id * = oy P- > _ s : — fa "_ ” : . 3 . . “ =