Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 480 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

8 Deadwood Dick’s Dust. sibility of the job off the real offender’s shoulders, and possibiy with a view of kicking up trouble among the citizens, so as to divide them into two parties. Others did not share in these beliefs so fully, while a few quietly hinted to each cther that there was no pesitive certainty but wh. t French Ferd had con- gt with Goff to remove the wealth, and had laid +e suspicion on Deadwood Dick, as being the most vatural way to avoid suspicion. Several days passed; searching parties scoured the neighboring mountains, and the border of the ‘ pocket was kept under the surveillance of spies; even every new-comer to the camp was forced to undergo an examination, to prove that he or she was not Deadwood Dick in disguise. And yet, unbeknown to any of the residents of the poe the redoubtable Dick was right in their midst, and had been so nearly ever since the camp began to take the shape of a settlement. Not one was there, perhaps, who could have been made to believe, witfout actual proof, that the illit- erate and irr: pressible bummer, Big Boots, and Deadwood Dick, were one and the same persons, Yet such was a fact! Always handy at adisguise, Dick found no trouble in making up and working the rough and typical character he sustained, and thus it was he was able to be right about among the scenes where he was ag a out plans fora campaign of victory. 1e cabin he oceupice he had bought, and thus was a resident in reality. It was only in the dead of night, when others slept, that Dick v.utured to visit Calamity in the camp, where she was a faithful guard over the two prisoners, De: nis and Jakie. Although the two chafed, and were growing thin under their confinement, they refused to state where Mrs, S ybert and her party could be found, and as Dick was detertoined to conquer them, day after day rolled by with the situation unchanged. While, in his disguise of Big Boots, Dick was try- ing rh iain out a mystery—the mystery of the Lone and! We have already chronicled two of the singular messages Dick had mysteriously received, and with which the petrified hand would appear to have had some connection. Since the last one he had received at the cavern, he had brought the hand to his cabin, in Grogville, which he always kept locked. Sometimes of nights he would place a paper be- neath the stone fingers, before ret ring, with a ques- tion written thereon, and would also leave his door unlocked. Only on one of these occasions did he get an an- ower, and that was one night when he was away, and had left on his table the following questions: ‘*Can you tell me, is Mrs. Seybert a prisoner in the power of Mormon Bill; and where Mormon Bill’s stronghold is located?” On Dick’s return, an answer was appended to the paper. It was: “To first question, I believe so. Pursued by the terror of vengeance, they fell into the hands of one not less thew enemy than I. To second ques- tion, I do not know—cannot find out—but trust that you will find out, for the LONE Hanp.”’ As may be supposed, Dick’s curiosity did not de- creose on receipt of this. : He wrote several messages afterward, but got no answer. Several times, of an evening, however, he had heard alight footstep outside his door, and would make a hasty attempt to find who was outside, but never succeeded in discovering any one, spry though he was, although morning examination would discover female footprints in the vicinity. On one oceasion only, had he seen a face pressed to his window-pane—one wild stormy night, when he chanced to look quickly toward the window. There he saw, close to the glass, a female face—that of a young and pretty woman, with perfect fea- tures, but wild, peering eyes—eyes belonging to a maniac, it occurred to Dick—and black hair that formed a sort of disheveled wreath around the face and head. The face disappeared in an instant, and, as in other instances, Dick failed to find any traces of any one outside, when he left the cabin. his was not the only eresy that Dick was try- ing to study out, while at the same time he was radually maturing plans for getting his rights in the possession of the placer. He regarded Mr. Benjamin Butterfly as a mystery of the first water, and one that was not destined to be easily solved. That Butterfly was not the man's name, Dick felt satisfied. That the man was more = eva a Western man than a New Yorker, also struck Dick as a point; while still another conviction was, that Butterfly w s not taking his ease so pings’? and unostenta- tious!y, in a rough town like Grogville, without some prime object in view for future development, for, aside from the fact that it cost the snug little sum of five dollars per diem, to stop at the Blazing Brand Hotel, in the style and comfo:t Butterfly en- soyed: he did rot always appear in a pleasant mood. Some days his face would wear a very downcast and gloomy expression, as if he were oppressed by some weighing sorrow or trouble; at other times he was the picture of quiet good-nature and compla- cency. As Big Boots, Dick had plenty of chance to study the man, and the more he studied the more puzzled =: ; Benjamin Buttertly had an occupation, it was invisible to ordinary observers, and carried on in the seclusion of his room, which he seldom occupied, except at bedtime hours. He never gambled; he never left the immediate neighborhood of the B azing Brand Hotel, so far as Deadwood Dick could find out. A couple of days after the robbery, which Dick had had no hand in, he was lounging about the main street of the camp, listening to whatever oc- casional conversation he could hear, much of which was in uncomplimentary allusion to himself, when he glanced over toward the Blazing Brand Hotel, and saw Benjamin Butterfly sitting at the second- are ee of his room, the sash of which was raised. In order not to be observed, while observing, him- self, Big Boots stepped into the nearest store where he could look at Butterfly through a window, For some five minutes or more Big Boots watch- ed his man, but made no further discovery than that there was a look of expectancy upon Butterfly’s face, as if he was expecting some one, or something. Another five minutes, and Big Boots’s vigil was rewarded by a discovery that caused him to give vent to a whistle of surprise. A snow-white pigeon came sailing down the street, and after circumscribing several circles in — of the hotel, alighted on Butterfly’s window- sill. Butterfly quickly seized the bird and disappeared within his room, “A carrier-pigeon, by Mon, il Big Roots mutter- ed. *‘Here’sago. Whatis Mr. Benjamin Butterfly doing with carrier-pigeons, [ wonder? Tl be blamed if I wouldn’t give an honest penny to know. As I suspected, all his seeming quietude and idleness is but the mask for some other matter be is concerned in. Can it be that one of the suspicions I have really had is true? If so, I am most likely red-hot cnto a trail.” Within an hour’s time, during which Big Boots watched the front of the Blazing Brand Hotel nar- rowly, the pigeon reappeared from Butterfly’s win- dow and soared away out of sight. =e cags day these actions of the bird were re- peated. It arrived at Butterfly’s window at about the same hour, and took its departure about the same time as on the day when Rig Boots had discovered it. And so with the next, and the next, and the next. By this time, the excitement had somewhat abat- ed, as regarded the bank robbery, the people having settled down to the apparent fact that the money was gone, and there was little or no use of “‘ crying over spilt milk.”’ It was generally conceded that Deadwood Dick was the robber, and every one was on the watch, io hopes of capturing him and obtaining the reward, the offer now having been increased to one thou- sand dollars. On the afternoon of the fourth day after that on which Big Boots had first seen the carrier-pigeon he chanced to visit the strip of timber on the opposite side of the pocket, from where the main buildings of the camp were located, his object being to procure ne ammunition which he privately cached ere. There was not much of it, consisting of a few packages of cartridges, and when he had stored al away about his person he started to return to e camp. While on his way his attention was attracted by a fluttering sound in a clump of bushes, as if some bird or fowl were trying to get out. Examination proved that a pigeon was stuck in the thicket, and to a!l appearances it was the iden- tical one that visited the Blazing Brand Hotel, for it was snowy white in color, and it had become im- prisoned through a string, which was tied to one gs Mets 3 entangled in the shrubbery. of the cket. No paper was attached to the string, however, but by searching among the bushes Big ts, or Dead- wood Dick, as we may as well hereafter call him, soon discovered a folded note, which contained the following message: “Wort Freeze-Out, Friday Non. ‘‘Mormonw Brtu:—The menare getting impatient for orders to be doing something, and the soners are daily becoming more of a nuisance. Come to- night by all means, and make some future provi- sions for the boys’ bread and-butter, or else don’t blame me if they mutinize. LIEUTENANT LILy.”’ ‘Ha, ha! Sol have got at the secret at last, and my suspicions are confirmed !"’ Dick muttered, exult- antly, ‘The Honorable Benjamin Butterfly is no other than Mormon Bill. the head chief of an outlaw band, in whose powey Mrs. Seybert and her party are held captives. Sofarso good. Now, it appears that Mormon Bill has not been giving his men any jobs to do lately, and they are getting restive, and tired of the prisoners. k “Tf Mormon Bill gets this message, he will most likely hie bimself to the rendezvous, to-night. Jt strikes me I'd like to know where Fort Freeze-Out is, too.” So Dick released the carrier-pigeon from the thicket, and after re-tying the message to its wing, let it fly, and had the satisfaction of seeing it course directly toward the Blazing Brand Hotel. ‘I wonder would it return to me, when released by Mormon Bill?” Dick mused. “It’s worth trying, at any rate.” He lingered near the thicket for nearly an hour, when, to his delight, he saw the pigeon coming back and it alighted directly on his shoulder. Removing the message it carried, he perused the following: . **Send the men away, to attack the Clark stage. to-night. I will visit you, but want the others away. ‘*Mormon BI.u.”’ That was all, but it was enough. Dick was aware that Mormon Bill was to visit his stronghold, that evening, and that was precisely what he wanted to know. It was his intentiou to shadow the outlaw chief- tain, and find out where ‘‘ Fort Freez--Out”’ was located. So he re-fastened the note under the wing of the bird, and gave it its freedom, whereupon it soared away up among the mountains, and was soon lost to view. Deadwood Dick then returned to camp, feeling that his discoveries, so far, were more than likely to be followed by others, that would unravel the mys- tery of the Seyberts, and the Lone Hand. For Dick really had nointention of striking for his own rights until he had solved at least the mys- tery of the severed hand. CHAPTER IX, THE STRANGE STORY OF MORMON BILL, Wuey Deadwood Dick returned to the care he saw Benjamin Butterfly, or as we shall henceforth call him, Mormon Bill, seated on the piazza of the Blazing Brand Hotel, engaged as usual, in puffing away at a fragrant cigar, of which he must have had a good stock, as no such cigars as his were to be found at any of the shops in Grogville. The man’s face looked bos and resolute, now, instead of wearing its usual complacent expression. After idling about for awhile, Dick sought his cabin, and locked himseif within it. Seating himself at the table, provided with pencil and paper, he proceeded deliberately to make a careful drawing of the petrified hand, asit lay white and motionless before him. Nature had gifted him with the talent of an artist, as wellas with so many other remarkable powers that his adventurous career from time to time brought to light, and in half an hour's time, he had upon the table, almost an exact reproduction of the hand, with i's chain and stiletto attachments, “Zhis work finished, Dick folded the drawing, Mage icin his pocket, and left the cabin, going to he Blazing Brand Hotel. In passing where Mormon Bill was seated, Dick slipped the drawing so dexterously into the outlaw’s side pocket that no notice was taken of the action, either by Bill, or any one else. Soon after, Dick took his position on the opposite side of the street, on the Casino steps, in order that he might watch his man, while, at the same time, he was ostensibly engaged in the perusal of a paper he had picked up scmewhere about the camp. He presumed Mormon Bill would soon discover the drawing, for it had been placedin the pocket where the outlaw captain carried his handkerchief, an article frequently used by him. It was to observe the features of Mormen Bill when he found the drawing of the chained hand, that Deadwood Dick had prepared the paper; for, somehow, he believed that Mormon Bill and the hand had some connection, or at least, that Bill knew something of the mystery enveloping the de- capitated and now petrified member. What reason he had for believing this Dick could not have told, but, somehow, an idea that a sight of the hand would give Mormon Bill a start had cc- curred to him as probable, and he had prepared the test. It was not long before Bill reached in his pocket for his handkerchief, and in drawing it forth also drew out the paper, : He gazed at it a moment curiously, as if trying to a when he had put it there, then slowly un- folded it. : As his eyes rested upon the drawing he gave a quick start, and his face turned suddenly white. Quickly he crumpled the paper in his hand giasen romps re a about him, then arose and strode into the hotel, “Thought I'd fetch him!’’ Dick muttered. ‘ Mr. Butterfly, alias Mormon a does know somethin about the hand, and I’m inclined to beiieve he wi make me his confidant by and by.” —. Mormon Bill did not make his appearance again until after supper, when he spent the evening on the piazza in smoking. Shortly after dusk, and the night promised to be very dark, too, he left the ho el and sauntered to- ward the pass by which entrance was gained to the golden pocket. Reaching the mouth of this pass, he thrust his pants into his boot-tops and waded down the stream which, all the way to Big Gulch, did not exceed six inches in depth ac any point. The journey to the Big Gulch did not-consume over an hour’s time, then the outlaw chief walked rapidly up the northern course of the gulch, Not a pause did he make for upward of two hours; but, before beginning the ascent of a precipitous mountain, he took a few minutes’ breat ng spell. Then he toiled up the mountain. follo ng 8 zig- zag sort of animal trail, which at times ran sharply upward, making climbing difficult. _ Another hour was consumed in this sort of travel- ing, and at last Mormon Bill reached the mountain- top plateau, where was located the grim stone ren- dezvous. . Lieutenant Lily came forward to meet the chief+ tain almost as soon as he stepped upon the plateau. “You are most welcome, captain, after your long absence, and I am glad to see you looking so well, the lieutenant said. oe ‘Yes, Jam well!” was the terse response. “ Did you send the men away?” > Eomicboo ee ee ee af wg ae ot @ ? cS