Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 44 — page 10: what you’re looking at

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10 Beadle’s HalfDime Library. —- the mii, bin had escaped them; Dare-Devil Dick had vanis ed! ‘‘Rorward!” commanded the indomitable Rube, and away they went. } CHAPTER XVI. BACKWOODS JUSTICE. WHEN Major Spencer looked down, and saw the hated form of the handsome horse-thief burst into the place, he knew that all was lost. Had he possessed either a rifle or a revolver, he | would not have hesitated a minute, but would have sent its contents at his enemy. Havin nothing of the kind, he could only watch an wait. Dare-Devil Dick seemed to question the girls, from whom he could get no satisfactory replies, judging from his fury. Then his eyes fell upon the dangling rope, which he followed upward, but Duke was hidden from view by the dense shadows. What followed, occupied but a minute. The | bles. Proo major realized that his friends the Regulators, led by Rattlin that a fight had occurred, from which the chie alone came out alive. He heard Dare-Devil Dick relate how he had blocked the passage which obstruction would take half an hour o his enemies’ time to clear away. Long before this he expected to have left the cavern far be- hind him. The two girls were to put on what wraps they had at once. His face was flushed with rage at being chased by the men whom he had professed to despise, and Madge knew it would not do to anger him further. She cast one appealing glance up at the spot where she knew her lover was, and then did as the horse-thief command- ed. Major Spencer saw them leave the place by means of the door, He waited several minutes to make sure that it was not a design to lure him down, and then, assisted materially by the rope, he lowered himself into the cavern. As soon as he touched the rocky floor, he seiz- ed the light and darted into the passage. Turn- ing to the left, he hurried on. There was no possibility of his getting lost, for his route lay straight ahead of him. In a few minutes he came upon a natural cav- ern of tremendous Ay seakerwrs which had been used as a stable by the thieves. Two horses were even then in it, a beautiful gray, and an equally fine coal-black stallion. That there had been three others, Duke easily discovered, and he knew that Dare-Devil Dick had ridden away with the girls. Should he immediately pursue, or get Rube’s assistance? Reflection soon told him that this was all he could do, for the night was dark, and he had no means of telling in what direction they had one. Before leaving the great cavern, Duke unted up the rear entrance, and going outside, found that it was reached by a narrow gully, which would prove a hard road for a stranger to travel on horseback, in the dark. Ten minutes later he was in the passage, ex- amining the obstruction the wily chief had thrown in the way of the furious Regulators. This consisted of a mass of rocks which had been so nicely balanced upon a huge shelf, that a single man’s strength when applied to the lever, “Aten to hea the fearful weight, and thus firmly block the passage. Voices i ld be heard on the other side of this impediment, together with the blows from some i ments wielded by sturdy arms. Ina short time an iron bar broke through, and then a large opening was made. ekly the men crawled into view, foremost of whom Duke recognized his friend, the hunter. Rattling Rube was amazed when he rose to his full hight, to find himself face to face with the major. How came he in the horse-thieves’ den, unbound? It was a puzzle, but Duke soon explained it, and as they hurried toward the stable, Rube related what had befallen them since Spencer was ey No sooner had Wildcat Turner set eyes upon the gray steed than he gave vent_to a shout of royal satisfaction. It was his Sachem, whom the thieves had so lately stolen. Coleburn was also in ecstasies over the recovery of his Black Roger. Rube soon announced it as his opinion that it was utterly impossible to make any move before morning, and that therefore they might as well t some sleep. Wildcat Turner declared that was some business on hand which would be all the better for receiving prompt attention. He gave some orders, and the two pris- oners were tte § t before him, their hands se- curely bound. couple of running loops were made at the end of as many ropes, which, in their turn, were over stones which pro- jected from the wall of the t cavern about wenty feet from the ground, in a charmingly convenient manner. ‘Now, you scoundrels, what have you to say?” thundered the colonel, shaking his fist under their noses. Big Mouth began whining like Seas cur. As for Blue Bob he was defiant to the last, and with a recklessness thaf savored strongly of madness, he spat in the fiery face of the little | man. EE Ga | Rube, had entered the cavern; | I de ‘“Up with them,” roared he, in a rage. **One minute,” said Blue Bob; “ we ain’t go- ing to die like dogs, and have one just as bad as us laughing in his sleeve. Turner, that’s the man what's done more to harm you than all of the rest of us put together. J ewe him a grudge, but I’m telling ’s honest truth now. Hic kept the captain vice eg i about your sta- is it? k back; has Joel Whit- ever lost a horse? Now, do your worst; ye. ‘*Seize that man,” roared Turner; ‘I have long had my suspicions about him. Now there’ll be one farm in Kentucky without an owner, if there is any virtue in ropes. Joel Whittlesey tried to declare his innocence, but his tongue seemed to cling to the roof of bis mouth. There was not a man among those stern farmers, but fully believed the scoundrel guilty, and not a voice was raised in opposition to these orders. Willing hands placed the farmer-spy beside the two rascals, and at a signal from er, the three were lifted from their feet. The ma- jor turned his head away, unwilling to witness the hanging, although it would not have been the first he, as a soldier, had seen. They spent what was left of the night in the cavern where Madge and Kitty had lived for so long a time. Rattling Rube heard all that his companion had to say about the girls, with great interest but did not t how his companion started every time Ki ys name was mentioned. During the fight with the hunter, one man had limped away badly wounded, as the reader will perhaps remember. Major Spencer came npoe him early in the morning, lying in a lit- e recess of the main passage, It was Tom Crawley. When the Regulators saw the man whom ae & had buried in the great forest several days back, and who had been counted on as dead, ie expressed a unanimous desire for his im- mediate execution. The poe wretch could of- fer no resistance, and probably he would have swungin the same manner as did his comrades, but for Duke. He had stepped into the place where the horse- thieves had left him in durance vile, just for curiosity, and had found a piece of paper that Crawley had pushed under the door, just after | e had e his escape from the prison cell. t was a queer piece of writing, being inscribed with a lead-pencil on the back of an old en- velope. This is the way it read: ‘To Mager Spencer: You saved my life the other day, and Tom Crawley, ruff man az he is, ain’t the won to furget it nether. About the middle ov the nite, you will hear a scratch- ing noise at the dor. It willbe me. Tom will get you out of this, and don’t you furget it tlese nether. Tom CRAWLEY.” It was lucky for the man that he had let his ane t the better of his rough nature, for it was ce inly the means of saving his life. Major Spencer declared that as he had discover- ed the horse-thief, he claimed him, and none could dispute it. “Tom Crawley, go free, and lead a better life,” he said. we man was visibly affected at Duke’s noble . on. ** Major,” said he earnestly, ‘‘ from this day, I shall lead an honest life. You may laugh, but I have too much honor to betray the captain I swore allegiance to. Although I can’t you where he is, I wish you all success, and I know with that bloodhound” (pointing to Rattling Rube who smiled at the compliment) ‘to follow the trail, Dare-Devil Dick will never get away. Good-by, boys; you won’t be troubled with me h the world for Tom Craw 8a whic the horse-thief vanished trous slow, or was he ever seen again by them. Rube was almost as impatient to be off as his youn companion, as soon as if was t enough to see their way, the two rode down the gully. The Regula tors were to follow on foot, for, stirred up by the recent fight, Wildcat Tur- ner was resolved to be in at the death. : CHAPTER XVII. ON THE TRAIL. Born Rattling Rube and Duke Spencer were anxious to overtake those whom they pursued. The former bore the prince of horse-thieves a deadly hatred, and besides this, what Dare- Devil Dick had said when the rifle of the hunter was bearing full upon him, had stirred up the stream of memory, as one ‘would take a stick and agitate the waters of some quiet pond. On the other side, Major Spencer’s sole idea was to save his darling from the hands of his enemy. ‘There was comfort to him in the iowiad e that no harm would befall her save that of being wholly separated from her friends by this strange whim of the outlaw’s. Where they were going neither of them had the slight- est idea, but they would pursue to the end. The gully continued for perhaps two hundred ards. Then it debouched into a wide canon. own this the two hunters thundered as the sun began to peep above the ragged outline that in- dicated the Eastern horizon. This seemed to make a gradual descent, and in an hour’s time they struck the low lands. Dare-Devil Dick had kept along the foot of the mountains, as if he had a purpose in view. Perhaps he desired to avoid attracting the at- tention of any roving backwoodsman who might happen to be traveling across the low country, and to whose generosity and manliness Madge could appeal for aid. She would not have been compelled to cry for assistance twice to a Kentuckian. Again there was another view of the case, which they were inclined to believe was the truth, as the day advanced. Withouta doubt, the horse-thief was aiming for some place where he had friends, and from the aspect of the coun- try it seemed very probable that he would find these among the mountains. The trail was very easy to find and keep, as the soil was moist, and gave deep impressions of the horses’ hoofs, They rode at a full gallop rage a little in advance, with his head ben ow. Thus the morning passed away. At noon they came to where, as they had sus- a it would, the trail led up into the moun- ins again. ‘* Probably we'll have to clean out another nest of vipers before we can rescue your little Madge,” said Rute, as they toiled up the canon. His words came true, but he did not suspect when he spoke them, what a strange nest of vipers they were drawing near. ‘I wonder what that means?’ said Rube, at length, halting and pointing just at his horse’s feet. ‘‘ I’ve noticed it several times down on the level land. What do you make it out to be?’ ‘*The imprint of a man’s foot, although it’s so flat I couldn’t swear to it. I don’t see any heel- mark; looks more to me like an Indian moc- casin, but that’s absurd in Kentucky,” answered the major, actually getting off his horse and ex- amining the mark. ‘You've hit it exactly, major. A moccasin made it. Now the next point under discussion is, who wore the moccasin? Could one of the oP g escaped and accompanied them on 00 ‘** Impossible; all were killed or captured that I knew of. Besides, not one of them would be likely to wear moccasins. Depend upon it, this was made by some roving hunter,” said Spencer, nie tel ** He’s been following the trail then. Do you know that’s a queer-shaped footprint? I only remember one other like it in my life, and as I’ve trailed hundreds in my time, I’ve looked on many a footprint. The one I speak of was Joe Burns’s. He’s dead now; you remember I told ou about him, One of my reasons-for coming was to visit his old home somewhere in Kentucky, but I lost the address, and had given up all thought of it when Imet you. Poor Joey |! ose wolves have paid dearly for that scrape.” They rode along in silence. The mountains were mip og wild and rug- . Not a human soul who had respect for he law, lived within a radius of perhaps fifty miles. Such another place for the home of an outlaw could not be found anywhere. Rube and the major had no doubt but what they were going to such a place, and they had even gone as far as to discuss the question as to whether they had better wait for their friends to come up or assault the stronghold at once. The future would prove how useless it was for them to take s for granted, but at the time they were content to lay their plans. ‘ EGhboo eom cS (E(0)