Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 499 — page 7: what you’re looking at

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

Single Sight, the One-Eyed S port. 7 tective for nothing; he had recovered the por- trait which Ah Sim the Chinese thief had snatch- ed from Finette, and the paper behind it had settled the identity of Captain Ringholt. Rico Rob’s sudden determination to go to Dolores had mystified the stage detective; but he was beginning to get at the truth. The giant was going to make a final effort to get him out of somebody’s way. ‘ These thoughts evolved themselves rapidly in Chickadee’s mind. ‘“*T have taken the chances,” he suddenly said to Rico Rob. “I am the sixth owner of Old Fatality. Let the infamous assassin who struck Babette down try his iron-handled dagger on me! ** You don’t want to court death,” ejaculated Rico Rov. ‘* You don’t want to deprive Finette of her best friend.” The boy started. All Red Flash knew that he was the girl’s best friend next to Babette, but Babette was dead, and he (Chickadee) had stenped forward and taken possession of the property which had cost the eccentric miner his life. ‘** Look at this matter in a sensible light!” sud- denly exclaimed Rico Rob, believing that his last words had produced an impression, ‘ The girl loves you, Chickadee, She looks to you for protection, though all Red Flash is ready to stand by her through thick and thin. If you will throw up your claims to the fatal mine and keep a tight grip on the stage lines, we'll thwart the league whose daggers guard Old Fatal- ity. The boy turned and looked into the speaker's ce. “Or, if you want to sell out and locate else- whar, you _kin finda buyer before sundown,” continued Rico Rob. ‘“‘I prefer things as they are,” remarked Chickadee, “I don’t want to sell out, neither do I want to give up Old Fatality.” The giant of Red Flash bit his lips under the dark mustache that drooped over them, and his eyes sent a meaning glance through their heavy brows at the boy. **'Then must take the consequences!” he cried. ‘‘l have tried to draw you out o’ the vortex but you will keepin it. I tell you that Finette’s best friend is hunted by the keenest dagger in existence!” ** How do you know?” “* Ask the tour men who went before Babette: ask Babette himself! I’ve got enough of the mountain air for a spell. Vll go down to my corner, ‘‘ And the next moment Rico Rob had left the seat and was helping himself down to the aye pl place again. © ‘* He will go to the end blinded!” he grated. ‘* 'd have given a good deal if he had kept out of Babette’s shoes. Ilike the boy. Confound it, why can’t something be done? Why didn’t Captain Ringboit keep away? And the China- man, too? He expects to hear of something ang done before the stage goes back to Red Flash. Curse the old gang that made the Cali- fornia mountains its resort years ago! Well, after all, he’s almost a man. I guess Ill have to do my part.” The stage was moving on with Dolores getting nearer and nearer, Rico Rob had settled back into his corner again, and Chickadee was keeping the horses in the mountain road. At last the stage reached an eminence from which Dolores could be seen ‘nestling in the valley. It was still some miles away. Rico Rob gazed n the scene in silence, but all at once he put his hand to his bosom as if to convince himself that some hidden object was still there. “Tf it wasn’t for one thing, I'd leave the game!” he muttered. ‘“*Thank heaven! this is to be the last play. Ifthar had to be another, by Jupiter, I'd tell him to make it himself!” An hour later Chickadee was driving the four- in-hand into Dolores. It was a warm, dusty day and the steeds were enveloped in dense clouds which almost hid them. “Where do you want to stop, captain?” shout- ed the boy whip down to Rico Rob, “In the square.” A minute afterward Chickadee’s ‘“‘whoam brought the horses to a halt, and Rico Rob sprung to the door. _ “IT want to go back to-morrow,” he said look- ing up atthe boy. ‘“ Bring the stage to the door of the Bodie “louse at six in the morning.” Chickadee nodded and let the horses walk to the stables which he patronized. Rico Rob vanished almost instantly, but in a little while he turned up at a bar where he r = cheater his throat with a draught of Dolores liquor. ‘he stage was let standin the sun while the horses were sheltered, and when their wants had been attended to, Chickadee walked away. Ten minutes later a part of the ceiling of the vehicle seemed to drop out, but it did not fall to the floor. The opening thus made was large enough to let out the body of a good sized man, and all at once an object of this sort dropped through it. ‘“Shake me for dice! if I don’t feel like ve been in a wine press for six months}” ejaculated the man as he fell exhausted upon one of the side seats of the stage. ‘“‘I always thought a fellow could squeeze into the place where they store the gold dust they haul to Dolores; but Jericho jin- x0! I don’t want another ride like that! Ididn’t 1ear much o’ importance comin’ down, but some- thin’s goin’ to be done! I kin see double some- times if I have got but one optic. I must not read Captain Ringbolt’s pedigree to Red Flash; oh, no! Rico Rob says Vd drop in my boots if I did that. Well, Captain Rico, we'll see what will illuminate the future.” The man who had made the trip from Red Flash City to Dolores in the false top of Chicka- dee’s stage was our old acquaintance Single Sight; and when his limbs had recovered their old elasticity, he watched his opportunity and dropped slyly from the vehicle, If anybody saw him Single Sight did not know it it. He haa discarded his laced garments with the double row of buttons, and now wore a greenish patch over his lost eye, something which he did not do in Red Flash. Not long afterward, the One-Eyed Sport en- tered a small house near the square and shut the door carefully behind him. ‘* Who is there?” asked a voice, for the interior of the cabin was almost dark, despite the fact that if was full day without, Single sight answered the inquiry by a quick stride forward, and in a moment he stood beside a man in an arm-chair. “It is 1, colonel,” ejaculated the Red Flash sport. ‘“Ah! Single Sight!” cried the man, putting up his hand and grasping the sport’s arm, ‘* How are things at Red Flash?” ‘“They’re baa enough. Babette is dead, ‘ Red field’ has come, and they are deep in the game!” The man in the chair let slip an ejaculation of surprise, and his fingers tightened on Single Sight’s arm, ‘*Tl’d give a million for my eyes, now!” he cried. *“Never mind ’em, colonel. DPve got one, and that’s enough,” was the answer. CHAPTER IX. THE ONE EYE AT WORK. THE men in the arm-chair was handsome but blind, and as Single Sight leaned over him and looked into his face, a light of fierceness lit u his single orb, and his hands elosed x inte 4 sivly. “Retribution is a long time gettin’ byer, but I reckon she’s about arrived,” muttered the Red Flash pore ‘So Babette is dead!” said the blind man with : eo et wage to pepe acs - th pce of atali ine, eh, Single Si “The fifth one.” 4 ght ** Who has taken his place?” ‘‘ The boy, Chickadee,” ce: lips of the blind man were parted by a smile. ‘Then the sixth man is a boy!” he langhed. ‘*Only in years, colonel.” ‘* Maybe so, Single Sight. What brought you to Dolores?” ‘*A little business, colonel. The boy was comin’ down. The boy an’ Rico Rob,” he added. The blind man leaned back in his chair and said nothing for a few moments. ‘* Single Sight, ain’t there some kind of a trap to be sprung?” he suddenly asked. “ec Yes ” ** When?” “To-night, I think.” **'W here?” ** In Dolores.” “ ** And you are on the ground! A thousand thanks! Let me take your hand, old fellow,” and the One-Eyed Sport put his hand where the a man could press it fervently, which he id. ‘*T would like to have ‘ Redfield’ planted be- fore me,” he went on. ‘For this Ihave kept up my spirits in dark- ness all these years,” “The time will come, colonel,” exclaimed Single Sight. ‘“‘P’m an imp o’ Tartarus, if it isn’t here now!” ‘“* Don’t deceive me, You know how I have waited.” ** T know it all, colonel.” ““Are you sure this is the origina) ‘ Red- field??? *T om? ** Then let the mills of vengeance grind,” sent the blind man through clinched teeth, ** Good-by, colonel,” ejaculated the Red Flash sport. ‘‘I will be here again before mornin’.” ‘* You'll find me on hand. Make no false play. I need you more than ever now.” Single Sight looked fixedly at the man for sev- eral minutes before he withdrew, and when the closing of the door announced his departure, the occupant of the chair leaned toward a stand at his right and opened a drawer, ‘*]t may come sooner than one thinks—who knows?” he exclaimed, as he took out somethin and concealed it in his bosom. ‘*WhenI] had my faithful eyes 1 was Nanton Noxx, the best known man in the gold oo of the great Northwest. Now I am blind, and, to Dolores, I am Colonel Spring, who lost. his eyesight by a secret disease. Whatalie! What an example of double-dealing! But the end will justify the means, Iwill one day, and before long, Single Sight — stand face to face with the author of | it all, will never more see the child whose face I barely saw before she left me, but I ma feel her in my arms; I may hear her voice. Single Sight says 1 shall. But, best of all, he saysI shall make all things even! Thank fortune for that, for then I can be Nanton Noxx once more. The presence of this man was not widely known in Dolores. He had come quietly to the place between two days, several years prior to the opening of our story. Single Sight had brought him from Denve and had placed him in the little house which he seldom left, ; Beyond a young girl who attended to his wants, Nanton Noxx had few friends in Dolores certainly no confidants. “ Rico Rob knew he was there, but Chickadee and the One-Eyed Sport were freq visitcrs, Night came down upon the Colorado town shortly after Single Sight left the blind man. The One-Eyed Sport was almost as well know: in Dolores as in Red Flash, but the change of dress, with the green patch over the lost eye, had rendered him unrecognizable to his acquaint- ances, | ; When he left Nanton Noxx he walked é to the public house called Bedie’s Hotel. re Bodie’s not only provided its guests with the comforts of the inner man, but it looked to their passions, for a large room on the upper floor was provided with gaming- tables and devices o every description. Ww Sede | 28 Single Sight sauntered into the man who had a good deal of leisure and passed up to one of the : Beyond this apartment was a provided with a eounter and the of a har. 5, ‘Tye. The Red Flash sport leaned agai wali, and found himself direct! door that opened into the liquor reor He bad hardly taken this position w ure came into the faro-room from the “Jehu! how did that son of Cc here?” ejaculated Single Sight, fixing upon the person before hi “He was | Flash last mght. He came on with : Ringbolt, but be isherenow,” = ; The person was Ah Sin, the Celestial, the ras cal who had despoiled Finette of the picture of * Redfield,’ as we have witnessed. Dolores did not — to Chinamen so long as they behaved themselves and spent their meney freely. Some of Captain Bodie’s best customers were ‘‘ pigtails,” and this class were always wel- come at the tables of his gaming-room. Ab Sin had made a quick trip from Red Flash if he had walked, but he did not bear any eve dences of having done so, He was fri d sparkling, showing no signs of his arrest by Chickadee, who had forced him to that he was Captain Ringboit’s tool. iY ¥ From the moment that he saw the Chinaman Single Sight kept his one eye upon him. “The fellow isn’t hyer to play,” ejaculat & the sport. ‘* He is looking for somehody whom he expected to find in this room. Aha. he ©€ him now!” | fn At that moment somebody entered at thedoor withir a fev’ inches ot the *s elbow, and Ad that person passed down room toward th Celestial, he saw Rico Rob of 7 Red F ve wr - —_ * ey * ; Pa . * 258) _ ts pe a4 “ q