Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 481 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

? You'll find the keys in my trowsers, over the back of the chair.” Without a word further he was gagged, the keys were got, and vhe intruders slipped through the window as noiselessly as shadows. If such a thing were possible, Little Ah Sin’s queue would have stood on end with terror, as he saw the men who had come for him. He, too, expected that a few minutes would seal his doom, ’ ° . * ! But, fearing that he might cry out in alarm, Jim Stebbins bent and whispered in his ear: ‘* Look a-hyar, youngster! do ye onderstand moe? I’m a-goin’ fur to take. ye to Lacy [dith, Now, we don’t want narry yawp out o’ ye; or you'll knock the whole thing in the head, an’ swing sure!” Dimly Little Ah Sin comprehended that these were friends, sent by his patroness. He recog- nized Jim’s voice, and remembered that he had interfered before at Edith’s instigation. Ife clung to his hand, sobbing with gratitude. Out into the night he was taken, and away from the mining-camp into the mountains. There, when the day was just dawning, he was given food. Then a revolver and knife were thrust into his belt, and a small stock of food was supplied in a bundle. ‘* Now git!” said Jim. ‘* An’ don’t furgit that you owe allthis hyar to Lady Ecith.” ‘‘That missee,” urged Little Ah Sin. ‘‘ China boy wanchee lookee him. No walkee, be no makee talkee that missee,” Jim had learned enough of pidgin English to understand that Little Ah Sin now declared his unwillingness to go until he kad seen Edith. ‘*That’s your own lookout,” he said, care- lessly. ‘‘But hyar’s whar we leave you; an’ ef you let ’em git their hooks onto you ag’in, up a tree you go sizzlin’!” Without more ado he rode away with his men, and Little Ah Sin stood looking after them as they went. At Rodger’s Flat the predicament of the con- stable was discovered early in the morning. He was so regular in getting his *‘ eye-opener,” that his non-appearance caused his cronies to go and i him up. hat Little Ah Sin should have friends who had effected his rescue, was so unlikely that no one entertained the thought. It was generally acreed that he had been ‘‘ taken care of” by friends of the supposed murdered man, for ‘whom the ordinary process of law was too slow. So, after a flimsy show of search, the matter was dropped. Meanwhile Edith had made a discovery which pigued her curiosity. A change had occurred in Mrs. Swayne’s habits. er, who in the poe had scarcely ever gone beyond the door-yard, she detected leaving the house at nightfall, with every appearance of tring to avoid observation. tt was not until she was out of sight, that the thought flashed through Edith’s mind: ‘+ She has gone to meet uncle Abe!” She would have rushed after the woman at once, but for the fear of betraying herself. ‘* No, no!” she said to herself. ‘‘ I must wait for another opportunity, and then follow her so closely as to keep her in sight, so that if she stops to look back, I can hide.” After that she dressed in dark flannel, with- out a gleam of white anywhere visible, and never let Mrs. Swayne out of her sight after sun- down. Not only this, but her anxiety kept her wake- ful every night till long after midnight, to fall into a troubled sleep in the early morning hours, This last wasfortunate. On the second occasion she heard Mrs. Swayne stealing from the house, after having once gone to bed. In a quiver of excitement Edith slipped into her dress, thrust her feet into a pair of soft bed- room slippers, and so crept after the woman with the noiseless tread of a cat. CHAPTER XIL LITTLE AH SIN ‘‘ON DECK.” AFTER satisfying herself that she had escaped from the house unobserved, Mrs. Swayne took n» further precautions, and indeed seemed so absorbed in her dark reflections as to become oblivious to her surroundings. She strode rapidly forward, so that.Edith had almost to run to keep her in sight. It waslucky for the girl that she had rambled over all the vicinity until every spot was so familiar that she could avoid obstructions in the winding path as if by instinct. The night was a moonlit one, obscured b clouds. like startled phantoms, now he wind swept them across the heavens shrouding the Little Ah Sin. world in dense gloom, and anon flooding it with cold, silvery light. In one of these dark moments Edith lost sight of Mrs. Swayne. She was about to rush for- ward, with her heart in her mouth, in the fear that all of her labor was lost, when she was de- terred by the sound of a base voice. At the same instant she caught sight of a point of light, and her nostrils were greeted by the aroma of a cigar. ‘“‘Are you here at last?’ asked the voice, which Edith recognized with a start as that of not uncle Abe, but his son. ‘*‘ Why have you failed these two nights poe) and why have you kept me half through this night?” ‘It has been impossible to get away,” replied the woman. ‘ The girl has taken it into her head that I need constant watching—” ‘* Watching?” interrupted Jack, with evident agitation in his tremulous tones, ‘* Oh, not on your account,” was his mother’s assurance. ‘‘ But have you not driven me near- ly mad? I suppose she is afraid that I will commit some act of violence against myself.” The way in which this was said showed that her mind was beginning to be haunted by the lurking demons of meditated suicide. , Jack passed over that and sprung to self-de- ense. ‘*Have I not told you, again and again,” he rotested, passionately, ‘* that I did not mean to cil him? He threatened to arrest me with his own hand, and have me hanged for stopping the coach. And he would have done it—l saw it in his eye. It was this crazy folly of yoursand his about destroying my body and saving my soul. You know that I could not have escaped him, if he had got hold of me. Do you fancy, then, that I am ready to be sold out so stupidly? I grabbed the first thing that came handy to fight him off with. I only wanted to get away, and he had barred the door.” In these words, uttered with headlong precipi- tancy—words with which he had over and over again, ever since that fatal night, tried to justi- fy, or at least palliate, his act to himself—Jack wayne gave Edith the key to the whole situa- tion, In one aspect this was a relief to her. That Mrs. Swayne should betray Little Ah Sin to death in order to save her son, was less terrible than that she should enter into a deliberate plot for revenge. ‘* Let us not speak of that,” said Mrs, Swayne. ‘¢ But how much longer are you going to expose yourself and me to this risk? I tell you, I can- not get the money. Drake has refused point- blank, finally hinting that any act of mine in my present situation might be open to legal question.” ‘¢ Then I’m as good as done for!” cried Jack, in despair. ‘‘ Remember, there is one opening always awaiting me. can join Harrigan’s Band to-morrow, if I wish.” The mother uttered a fierce cry of protest. ‘*Tt is the money, or outlawry!” persisted Jack, doggedly. ‘‘I must live! I’d rather not be a road-agent; but I won’t bea tramp, with both pockets turned inside out from year’s end to year’s end!” » “Ts that the only alternative?’ asked the mother. “*T wish I might find another!” ** Honest work!” ‘*Work? Excuse me! with my constitution.” ‘You were doomed to hell before the world began!” cried the mother, with an intensit born of her despair, which gave her the authori- tative air of a pro hetess. Edith shuddered. Jack laughed—the reckless laugh of a man who had braced his nerves with liquor. ‘Don’t give us any more of that rot!” hé cried. ‘* The question is, will you, or won’t you raise the money for me?” ‘*'You sordid ingrate!” cried his mother, now stung to fury by his ridicule of her religious be- lief. ‘‘ Is it not enough that your soul is steep- ed in the blood of your father?—is it not enough that I have jeopardized my soul to save you from the righteous wrath of men, and give you another chance to conciliate the vengeance of Heaven? Wretch! can nothing rouse you from your soulless levity to one pang of re- morse?” ‘* Mother!” cried the young man, now seeing that he had carried his recklessness too far. ‘Lay the weight of your finger on me, and I will strike you in the face!” cried the exasperat- ed mother. ‘ From this moment I cast you out of my heart, and forget you, as God has forgot- ten you!” As she delivered this curse the moon broke I don’t think it agrees from behind the clouds and flooded with light the glade in which she stood, revealing her with her right hand upraised and her eyes blazing. But the mad patee choked her, and she turned to beat a hasty retreat, ‘ Her son, startled into sobriety, rushed after er, - Their movements were so quick and unexpect- ed that Edith could not get out of their way. At sight of her the mother started back with a scream, as if she had come upon a ghost. Jack stopped aghast. Discovered, Edith’s high courage asserted itself, and she stepped boldly forth. ‘*'You have been eavesdropping!” cried Jack, fear uppermost the moment he recovered him- self, ‘*T have acquired evidence of Little Ah Sin’s innocence!” replied Edith, unflinchingly. ‘* And of my guilt?” ** Exactly!” ‘** To be used against me?” ‘*'To be used to give back to Little Ah Sin his rightful place among honest men.” ‘You dare not betray me!” ‘* I dare establish the truth!” ‘‘ At my expense?” ‘* At any cost, to myself or others.” ‘*By Jove! I like you!” cried Jack, with a sudden burst of admiration. ‘‘I have liked you from the first moment my eyes rested upon you. I determined to possess you then, by hook or by crook; and now the way to silence you and the way to make myself the happiest of mortals are one and the same!” As he ceased speaking, be sprung forward to seize her, with a look on his face that could not be mistaken. All in a flash she realized the peril that men- aced her. fhe felt that she éould hope for no succor from Mrs. Swayne. The woman already hated her; and in the character of one who was about to sacrifice her son for the vindica- tion of a heathen she would be doubly odious to her. In such an exigency, she believed that mother-love would rise above even religious fanaticism. Fear paralyzed her. Her feet felt like lead. She would have faflen an unresisting victim, but that there came a timely intervention. ‘*Hi yah! Makee that hand up! China boy catchee one teem drop, alla same likee ’Melican man!” And coming she knew not whence, Little Ah Sin suddenly appeared at her side, with a cocked revolver leveled at Jack Swayne’s heart. With a shout of dismay Jack checked his ad- vance and sprung back. He bad had one taste of Little Ah Sin’s metal. Something told him that that other shot had been a scare, but that this one would ‘‘mean business.” Mrs. Swayne threw up her hands in despair, muttering helplessly: ‘‘Tt is the work of the Evil One! He will surely triumph in the end!” Jack next spoke to Edith, in a clear, firm voice, **T know when I’m down,” he said. ‘* You’ve got me dead to rights. There’s no white-wash- ing that. But this determines me. Clear your little heathen in any way you like. Before you can put the hounds of the law on me, [ shall have set them finally at defiance. Good-night! —and, ho for Harrigan’s Band!” He turned and sprung away; and a moment later was hesrd the clang of a horse’s hoofs in rapid retreat. , : dith threw her arms about her protege. ‘*Oh! how glad I am!” she cried, sobbing for joy. . ‘We all lightee!” said Little Ah Sin, with a Saag smile. ‘‘ Now walkee, catchee that Jim teb. ‘What do you want of Jim?” asked Edith, wonderingly. But Little Ah Sin only Iaughed, pulling her toward the house. Upon reaching it, he without fear called all the hands of the ranch about him by firing off his revolver. Laughing at their curious questions, when they had learned through Edith that his inno- cence was now fully established, he only insisted on their following him. They were soon allin the saddle, and under his direction penetrated into the most inaccessi- ble depths of the mountains, There in a cave, where Little Ah Sin, having got lost, had come upon it by accident, they ound a most pitiable figure. It was Abednego Swayne, awaiting a near deliverance from his misery. He had thought to expiate his sins by becom- ing a hermit; but the long years of self-torture, t ’ . ] LE | L : - comicbooks. . on ee P Cc » - rm ” > a aihe =) S : 4 $ 7 ** “y * O 4 _—- tae