Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 487 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

12 ‘¢ Yes, miss,” aud Ned bowed politely. ‘I’m sorry he didn’t have time tosay his ‘prayers before he died, for he was very bad,” in- nocently said the girl. ‘* Prayin’ wouldn’t do him any good, miss,” answered Ned, and he gazed at the young girl before him with deep interest. She was very pretty, had a well-knit form, ‘was dressed in a style that showed considerable taste for the frontier, and her long brown hair hung in braids down her back, She was well matured for her age, and she stood before Ned fearlessly now, knowing that she was no longer alarmed for her safety with such a protector near. ‘* What is your name?” she asked in her frank way, as she saw Ned regarding her. ‘* Nevada Ned.” ‘* Are you from Nevada?” ‘*T was, and that is why they called me Nevada Ned; but Iam from Colorado now,” ‘‘ Have you no other name?” ‘¢ Yes, several.” ‘**'W hat are they?” “The Indians call me Gold Hair, and the sminers down at the canyon where I live call me ‘the Boy Gold King.” ‘*Oh! you must be a great man.” ** No, 1 am but a boy.” ‘* You are a dead shot.” ‘* Yes, I shoot well.” ‘* How old are you?” ‘*T am going on sixteen.” ‘* And lam going on twelve,” she innocently said, while Nevada Ned gallantly remarked: ‘* Just the right age to be my sweet little friend.” ‘* Indeed I will be, for you saved me from those horrid men.” ‘* Why did they wish to steal you?” ‘‘Oh, I’m an heiress, and they wanted to get gold, I suppose. ' * That dead man there came to the cabin, and I gave him food, for he said he was a poor miner out of work, and we took care of him for two days. ‘To-day he told me to come into the timber and see some birds he had snared, and then he took hold of me, and ran up here where he met that one-armed man.” ‘* And you live near here?” ‘¢ Yes, down in the valley yonder.” ‘‘Ts it a mining-camp?” ‘¢-Yes, Golden Gulch City.” ‘What is your name, miss?” asked Ned. ‘‘Marie, but the boys in camp all call me Goldbeam.” ‘Tt is a pretty name; but had you not better go home now, for your friends will be anxious about you.” ‘*-Yes, and you will go with me, for you look tired and hungry, and the boys will beso glad to see you, after yon have saved their child.” ** Whose child?” ‘‘The boys’ child, for I am the child of the miners, you know, as I ama waif, and have no father and no mother.” Ned was touchéd by the words of the little girl, and after a moment, said: ‘Yes, I will go with you, for I am tired and hungry; and as this horse was intended for you to ride, you shall have him, and Ill take the other one.” ‘* Oh! will you give me the horse?” cried Gold- beam, in a joyous voice. ‘* Yes, for I suppose they are as much mine as anybody’s else; but [I'll get my horses, too,” and catching the two animals left by Jack Hollis in his rapid flight, Ned gave them to Goldbeam to hold, while he went into the thicket after his horses, and soon returned. Then, with another awed look at the dead out- law, Goldbeam led the way down the trail, say- ing in her frank way: ** Don’t you feel bad, Nevada Ned, that you killed him—for he was no good, and the boys would have hanged him if they had caught him.” ‘“‘T will come back, with some of them, and bury him,” said Ned, ‘6 No, let the boys do it, for I will tell them where to find it. ‘¢ See, there is Golden Gulch City, and the big cabin there by the pine is where 1 live,” and she pointed out to Nevada the mining-camp, as a bend of the trail brought them in full view of it. CHAPTER XVIII. GOLDBEAM. NEVADA NED had not been an hour in Golden ee City before he found that he was in great duck. The place was a rude mining-camp, it is true, sess sss els a situated in a pleasant valley, while the miners worked the surrounding mountains, canyons and streams for gold; but it was fortunate in having as its inhabitants as square a set of men as ever were congregated together in one border settlement. The miners were leaving off work as Nevada Ned and Goldbeam descended the trail, and the first ones they met quickly heard the story of her peril from her lips, and they hastened up the hill to look after the body of Nick Sloan, whose history, as he knew it, the youth gave them. Ned was at once invited to the cabin of the ‘‘oreat man” of Golden Gulch City, and who was the oracle of the camps. This man was Doctor Tom Wood, an Eng- lishman, who had all subjects upon his tongue’s end, and a man of courtly manners and superb bearing. He was over six feet in hight, straight as an arrow, had a most intelligent, handsome face and was as brave as a lion. He had once been a surgeon, in the English Army, it was said, but a student of nature, and a seeker after knowledge, he had sought the United States and boldly penetrated to the far frontier. It was said of him that he had dwelt among the Indians for a year or more, studying their rude surgery and knowledge of curative plants and roots, and then, as his finances grew low, and no remittances came from home, he had sought the gold mines in the hope of finding a fortune. Certain it is that Doc Wood, the ‘‘ Wizard Medicine-Man,” as he was called, was kept pretty busy looking after the wounds and ail- ments of the miners, and got more gold as fees from them, than he dug out of the ground. A fine talker, full of anecdotes and stories, and certainly skilled in his profession, Doc Wood had risen to be the head and front of Golden Gulch City before he had been there a month, The boys had clubbed together and erected him the finest cabin in the town, and as the miners brought him every stone, rock, shrub or plant they found, his office indeed locked like a museum. When Goldbeam told the doctor ahout her danger and rescue, he grasped Nevacla Ned's hand with a force that made the bones bend, and said in his deep, hearty voice: ‘*My boy, you have done more for Golden Gulch City than gratitude can ever pay you for, and as long as vou will honor me with your company, you are my guest. ‘‘ Why, young sir, if those devils had gotten away with Goldbeam this camp would have gone in mourning and struck work, while if money was what tho villains wanted, every miner would have given half his dust to get her back again. ‘‘Come, sir, come to my home, and should you desire to study medicine, surgery, and be- come a great doctor, I will instruct you, si>.” Ned then found himself ushered into the doc- tor’s house, and a spare room, used for laying out dead miners in until their burisl, was placed at his disposal, though no hint was given him of its former ghastly uses. His horses were taken iu charge by Hop Flea, asthe doctor ca!led his Chinee servant, and after a most substantial supper Ned was presented individually to the miners as they dropped in to see the brave youth who had saved, Goldbeam the Waif of Goelden Gulch. ‘‘ Whdt did you do with the -rascal’s body, Buck?” asked Doe Wood of a young miner. ‘‘ We put him in Dick Ratlin’s cabin, doctor, for you to see him, for we didn’t wish to bury him until you had.” ‘‘ Right you are, Buck, for I desire to dissect the fellow and note the peculiarities of a brain so wicked as to prompt the carrying off of our pretty Goldbeam,” and turning to Ned he con- tinued: ‘* And you, my fine fellow, shall see me do the work, for it will be interesting to you to trace ae coaryy your bullet took through the man’s skull.” Ned bowed his thanks for the honor saown him, Lut could not see the particular interest he could feel in following his bullet’s path through a man’s head. In honor of the event Doe Wood invited the crowd to the Set-’em-Up Bar in the Gulch, and all drank the health of Nevada Ned with a gusto. On the way back the doctor gave the history of the pretty waif in these words: ‘¢ You see, my young friend, Goldbeam is the only girl in our camp, and she is a pet with one and all of us, : Nevada Ned, the Revolver Ranger. (> ttt, CE CC LLL LLL LL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL CC tt Neen n nnn errr nnn neem n nn enn nner nnnnnnnn nena eae nner ers _“Sr1n1»1|1|9-11- sss é<¢ Ct and he had with bim this little girl, whom he called Marie, and said she was his child; but we doubted it, for there was no resemblance be- tween them, and the girl seemed to fear him. ‘‘He built him the cabin there, near mine, and where Goldbeam now lives all alone, for she FF nothing to fear, and the boys call her home “den, ‘* Well, he prospected around, struck a light lead and was doing pretty well, when one night he got full of rum at the Set-em-Up Bar, and was threatening to carmine the Gulch, when I droppec in. ‘*T saw there were not the men there that had the sand to tackle him, nor the skill to kill him if they shot at him, so I told him to go home and stop making a fool of himself. ‘* Why, Nevada Ned, it acted on him like a galvanic battery, for he sprung at me like a tiger, a knife in his hand. ‘‘Of course it was a suicidal act on his part, for I killed him, and buried him at my expense the following day, yes, and read the service over him, too, for 1 do the work of the chaplain, as there is none in camp. ‘*To my delight Goldbeam then told me that she was not his child, but had been afraid to say so while he lived, and that her pretended father had stolen her from her home in the East, to avenge himself upon her parents for some rea- son. ‘‘ Well, Golden Guleh at once adopted the little waif, and christened her Goldbeam, while, as she could not tell us her parents’ fullname and address, we determined to set apart for her a certain sum each year as her fortune, and it is growing in value, I can tell you. ‘* Now, Nevada Ned, you know just what you have done for Golden Gulch City in saving the Goldbeam, and I tell you, in the name of its in- habitants, you are welcome to make this your home as long as you desire to stay, while I shall be most happy to have you as a student of med- icine under me.” Ned expressed his thanks to the doctor, and, as he was a kind of Boy Wanderer, said he would remain in Golden Gulch for awhile, and study under the Wizard Medicine-Man, fcr the youth had a strong leaning toward medicine. The result of Ned’s rescue of the little maiden was therefore to make him a citizen of Golden Gulch City. He was given the right hand of fellowship by one and all the next morning, when his in- tentions became known; but he declined with thanks the kind invitation of Doc Woods to at- tend and see him dissect Nick Sloan and then bury him with funeral honors, for such was the custom of Golden Gulch, and, after a man was dead, no matter what had been his life, no grudge was held against him. CHAPTER XIX. THE OVERLAND STAGE. NEVADA NepD had no reason to repent cf his decision, to remain in Golden Gulch City, as the time went by. He liked the doctor immensely, became at- tached to the miners, thought the scenery grand the surroundings pleasant, and, most of all did he admire and like Goldbeam. Supplied with money for his present uses, Ned did not go to prospecting at once to try and find a mine, but passed his time in listen- ing to the doctor’s teachings, and hunting the woods and canyons for plants, herbs and any botanical specimen they could find for the great Wizard Medicine-Man to experiment with.* When not studying in the cdoctor’s office, Nevada Ned was riding through the mountains with Goldbeam, visiting the various camps, or practicing with rifle and revolvers, with both of which weapons he found that the young girl was considerable of an expert, The first Sunday after his ‘arrival in Golden Gulch City Nevada Ned nearly paralyzed all the inhabitants, by dressing up in his Gold King suit. He had held on to it religiously, through his winter in the lone cabin, and getting it out of his pack, had brushed up his rig for this occa- sion, for the doctor had told him that all the miners ‘‘ brushed up” for the Sabbath, and put on their best. Their brushing up was to perhaps put on a new woolen shirt, a pair ef boots, or a hat, to break them in, and so when Ned appeared with * Doctor Thomas T. Wood is now a prominent ractitioner of medicine, having made the United tates his home.—THr AUTHOR. Some years ago a man came into the camp,‘ ’ — ee re