Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 340 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

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The girl was seated on the ground, the picture of despair, and was evidently bound both hand and foot. The men, who appeared to have but lately ar- rived, had dismounted, and were debating as to the course they should pursue. ‘*Of course we are as safe as the stars in the sky,” Symmes was saying. ‘‘ There was nobody at that ranch who could begin to follow us, and soon we will be safe in the den, when the devil himself couldn’t get at us.” _ We had better go on then,” suggested the other. “We will, shortly. Stay here and watch the girl, Charley, while I go and hide the horses. I won’t be away more than fifteen minutes.” Symmes took the bridles of the two horses, and led them northward through the timber along the base of the bill. Clip had decided upon a plan of action, and was quick to carry it out. It was possible that he might kill Cheyenne Charley where he stood, as be had killed Sam Bunker; but he hated to shed blood, and the at- tempt might fail, to say nothing of its probable effect upon Helen Warner. He believed that he knew a trick worth two of that, and quietly circled around toward the direction that had been taken by Spence Sym- mes. It was then late in the afternoon, and the shades of night were beginning to darken the valley. As soon as Clip supposed that the outlaw was out of bearing he ed to Cheyenne Charley, imitating Symmes’s tones, and throwing his voice beyond the point from which he called, ‘* Hello, Charley?” ‘‘ Hello, yourself!” answered the man from Chevenne. ‘*Come here, quick!” “ What the —— do you want?’ ‘“‘T want you. Come here right away.” ‘*Sball I leave the girl?” ‘‘ Yes—she is all right. Come along the trail at the foot of the bill.” Naturally supposing that his comrade had somehow got into trouble, Cheyenne Charley hurried off, and was soon lost to viewin the timber. q He bad scarcely ceased to be visible when Clip ran to Helen Warner. * Oh, Clip !? she joyfully exclaimed, ‘‘is it really you?” , é By way of answer he cut her bonds with his sharp knife, and raised her to her feet. ‘**Can you run?” he asked. “Yes, and I will be so glad to run!” Clip took her by the hand, and led her away as fast as her feet would carry her, along the base of the mountain, toward the trail that led , to the road. Tbe hour of dusk bad arrived, and the songs of the birds had ceased, and night would soon be at hand. Before they reached the trail the quick eyes of the lad caught sight of something that seem- ed to be exactly what he wanted to find—a place of refuge and concealment. Where the face of the mountain was so steep as to be almost overhanging, a lone and pecu- liar rock stood out from the rest of the dark mass, at the hight of some twenty feet from the ground. It had the appearance of an old-fashioned — with a space of several feet between it : the main body of the mountain. “Here is our chance, Nelly,” said Clip, and he assisted her to climb toward the pulpit rock. Neither of them could reach it by climbing, and Chip, seizing an edge, raised himself up. Then he grasped both of the girl’s hands, and her to the ledge. There they found ample room and a :afe hid- _— vz = - = a = o~ — 2 —— Clip, the Contortionist. ing-place, as it was certain that they could not be seen from below, and quite unlikely that ot fin y would come up there to search for them. ‘“All we have todo now,” said the lad, “ is to crouch down and keep quiet.” They had hardly got themselves well settled down behind the pulpit rock, when they heard voices at the point from which Helen had made her escape. Loud and angry as the tones were, Clip and his companion could not distinguish what was said, though they could easily guess that the two outlaws had discovered the absence of the girl, and were venting their wrath and amazement, After a little while they both came running along the trail at the foot of the mountain, and halted directly under the pulpit rock. “Come on, Spence!” exclaimed Cheyenne Charley, who was clearly not the one who had caused the halt. ‘‘ We can catch ber if we run.” “* Don’t be too sure of that,” replied his com- rade. ‘‘We had better think a little before rushing so fast. What the deuce made you lose sight of her?” “You called me—or I thought you did, I would have been willing to swear that it was your voice.” “It wasn’t, though; I never said a word. I was out of hearing of it all. I would give a heap to get hold of the devil who did call, Of course she had help, as she could never have cut herself loose.” ‘*Of course she had help,” responded the man from Cheyenne, ‘““And whoever was smart enough to do that trick would be smart enough to get her out of the way. And now it is getting to be as dark as a stack of black cats, and our chance of run- ing across her is about one in a million.” ‘ Well, then,” said Cheyenne Charley, “as you think there is no use in running, suppose we make a light and look for the trail.” In a few minutes they had a fire of leaves and twigs, at which they kindled torches, and be- gan to look for signs of the fugitives. Clip Saunders drew his long knife from its sheath, to be prepared for the worst in case of discovery. Helen did not even whisper, and could not be heard to draw her breath. But the light was too uncertain, and the trail was too stony to enable the outlaws to distin- guish the tracks they sought. | Spence Symmes dashed his torch upon the ground, and burst out in a torrent of wrathful profanity. ‘*It is your own fault,” said Cheyenne Char- ley, when bis comrade had thus relieved his mind. ‘If you bad run on, as I wanted you to, we might bave caught them.” ** ‘You talk like a fool,” replied mmes, and one angry word led to another, until they were on the edge of a fight. But they saw the folly of that sort of thing, and cooled down. ‘*] don’t know but you’ are more than half right,” said Symmes, “And now I believe that cur best plan will be to get the horses and ride down to the gap. Of course the girl will make for home, and we may overhaul her on the way.” Forewarned is forearmed, and Clip was glad to know the route in which danger lay, as he would thus be prepared to avoid it. He waited until the mounted outlaws had passed the pulpit rock, when he got Helen down from that elevation, and followed them as far as the road, but no further. _ Now, Nelly,” said he, ‘‘ we have got a tough Journey before us. We must take a short cut across the hills—the same that I took when I caught up with you. It will be the hardest kind of work, but better than being in the bands of those infernal scoundrels,” ‘* A million times better,” she answered, ‘‘ and I am ready to do and bear everything you want me to, I am crazy to get home to my poor fatber, though I am also to go to my dead mother.” — It was indeed a bard task to get over that rough route in the darkness, and the journey was tedious as well as difficult. Frequently they were obliged to halt to allow the wearied oe be rest, and day was breaking when they reaghed the valley and came in sight of Mat Werner’s house. After Clip bad scouted around to make sure that their enemies were not in reach, they crossed the valley, and Helen Warner, ex- hausted by fatigue and anxiety, was restored to ~r4 home and the arms of hie heart-broken ather. CHAPTER XI THE FATE OF A SPY. THE murder of Matthew Warner’s wife and the abduction of his daughter would have stir- red up the Vigilantes if they had needed any stirring. They had not been idle: but it was recognized as a fact that it would be useless to send out any more expeditions until the rendegvous of the outlaws could be located so that they might be successfully attacked. Several of the best scouts in that region were set at work upon the task of discovering their hiding-place, and as careful a watch as was pos- sible was kept upon all suspicious characters. In the meantime, a question of considerable importance engaged the attention of the leaders of the law and order party. They were unanimously of the opinion that immediate information of all the moyements from Orodia must have been conveyed to the desperadoes, and of course there must be a traitor in the settlement. It would have been impossible for Symmes and bis gang to have so successfully evaded the expeditions that were sent against them, or to have so exactly timed their raid upon Orodia, unless their information bad been early and ac- curate. | At a secret conference that was held in Judge Waller’s new office this question was discussed, and the conclusions above stated were unap- imously agreed to. A further comparison of views elicited the opinion that there was one person in the settle- ment bei whom suspicion migbt fairly be fastened. 3; This person was Zach Stammel, a chronic loafer, who was never known to do a stroke of work, and who had not even such “ yisible means of support” as might be afforded by gambling. Yet be was by no means destitute of money, and his time was mainly passed in loafing about the Bon Ton saloon, familiarly known as ** The Graveyard.” The first expedition from Orodia, and the subsequent simultaneous expeditions, had neces- sarily been matters of general notoriety, as so many persons bad been interested and engaged in them, and the fact was noted that previous to their starting Zach Stammel had been missed from bis usual haunts, and had not been seen in the settlement for at least several hours. As he was usually quite regular in bis loafin habits, this point came up when suspicion ha been awakened, | There were those who remembered that he had been asked what had become of bim on the occasions referred to, and that he had replied that he had been off prospecting. As be had no aan ge Te outfit, and gave no indications of having been engaged in that pursuit, this amswer was regarded as merely evasive, It was decided at the conference that Zach Stammel should thereafter be closely watched, and two discreet and careful men, known as Abe Shedder and Missouri Mose, were set to shadow him. But this was not enough, If Stammel was a traitor and a spy, it was necessary that he should have some news to carry to the yer in order that be might “2 entrapped and his offense brought home to im. Captain Tams suggested the os bemeney of ‘* putting up a job” on the spy and the outlaws together, and he elaborated quite an extensive plan for that purpose. He proposed that it should be given out that a load of gold from the Orodia smelting works would pass over the road on a certain day, and that armed men should be concealed in the wagon, while others should form an ambush for the robbers at a point where an attack might be expected. Thus, he said, they might kill two birds with one stone, trapping the spy when be carried the news, and wie any hye road-agents when they sought to capture the treasure, But this plan was regarded as too risky and uncertain, especially in view of the fact that the point of attack could not be fixed with rea- sonable confidence, and an idea of Judge Wal- ler’s was finally adopted. It would be best, the judge said, to attend to one thing at a time, and the trapping of thespy. if there was a spy, should not be mixed up with anything that was calculated to interfere with that piece of business. | So it was publicly given out that the hiding- place of Spence Symmes and his gang had