Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 508 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

. ee Ce eee ee . a — ee — - ee — A Cr tt i A -__—— the would not hold out Jong, even if they did strike.’ ‘¢ And you propose to remove these two men?” ‘*'Yes. I certainly do.” Graham Goff eyed his daughter, admiringly. “Very well, Beitso, Do you swear?” “ By all that is holy!” “Very well! It is settled!” CHAPTER XIIL THE FUGITIVE, WHEN morning once more dawned it witness- ed a great change in the weather. The season of the year was late, but the weather had been soeven and delightful, that no one scarcely realized that summer had passed away, But this morning all was changed. Where but a few hours before the moon had soared through a cloudless expanse of star-set azure blue, the sky was now covered by a sodden mass of cold, dull gray clouds, from which fell a drizzling, chilling rain, Winter had set in in dead earnest, even for that semi-tropic climate of Arizona. Up the mountain-side, and among the crags overlooking Whiskyville, sat a man, under a great overhanging ledge of rock, that sheltered him from wind and rain. In front of him burn- ed a little fire of pine cones, that drove off the chill, A few feet beyond the fire was a sheer abyss of space, that dropped down hundreds of feet among the foothills, The ledge could only be reached by a narrow, dangerous path, that zig-zagged along the moun- tain-side. | _ From the ledge an unobstructed view could be obtained of the mining-camp below. The man who sat by the fire, beneath the ledge, was none other than Jerry Justice, ex- superintendent of the Majestic Mine. is face had been cleansed of blood, but was liberally covered with bruises, that did much toward depriving him of his former good looks, His clothes,-too, were soiled with blood-stains, and his whole appearance betokened a discon- solate and troubled human being. There was a strange expression upon poor Jerry’s face, the principal element of which was remorse, “Yes! I ama murderer,” he muttered—‘‘ an outcast and an outlaw. So much for my infer- nal temper, I did not mean to kill Goff; I only intended ¢ to punish him for insulting Floy. Poor Floy! When she hears of what I have done, her love for me will change to aversion. Yes! yes! all hope is gone. I am shutout from the world, and, ere now, doubtless, am a hunted man. Naught remains for me, while life endures, but to skulk around hke a wolf in the night, What seems strange is that the last two blows I struck Goff should have been instrumental in causin his death, for neither of them hit in a vi Moody and dejected, Jerry sat gazing gloom- fly down toward the mining-camp, while the C , drizzling rain came ceaselessly down, — li nature seemed to have become tinged with e fit of the blues, Finally Jerry was aroused from what was evi- dently an unpleasant reverie, by the sound of a footfall, and looking quickly up, to his great as- tonishment saw Floy Fydell standing within a few feet of him, wrapped and hooded in a long waterproof, Jerry sprung quickly to his feet, ‘‘Floy!” he ejaculated, ‘*for heaven’s sake, what brings you here?” ‘ “What brings me here?’ Howcan you ask that? Do 1 not love you?” and she advanced and threw her arms about his waist. *‘ But, why are you here, dearest? -Why did you leave the camp? a Hecnuse I am a murderer, and because I love life too dearly to submit to the hangman's noose, Floy!” he replied, bitterly. ‘You are not a murderer, J erry |” ‘What! is not Giles Goff dead?” ‘Yes, he is dead, but you did not kill him” “Why tell me this? Did I not strike the last two blows? Did I not see him fall, and did not the doctor pronounce him dead before I left? Yes, Floy: Iam a murderer—an outcast on the face of the earth—and no fit associate for you. ‘You must leave me, and our paths in life must never more meet.” ‘*No! no! Jerry; I will never leave you— never! You are my betrothed, my love, m very life, and were ten times a murderer, would cling to you through thick and_thin!” *“You are a noble girl, Floy,” Jerry said, drawing him closer to him and fondly gazing down into her pure brown eyes—“‘ far too pure, innocent and good for one like me, No! no! I cannot permit the sacrifice. I shall be a hunted, skulking criminal, and it will be impossible for you to accompany me, Even though it will be a hard blow for me to give you up, you must re- turn to camp and let me go my way.” ‘** Never! never!” Floy replied, firmly. ‘‘ Even | as we have loved each other, so shall we go down to death together. Itis useless for you to try to persuade me to leave you, for I am resolved, and Deadwood Dick’s Deliverance, 11 | Mayor Goff offers ten thousand dollars for you, dead or alive.” ‘*So Floy has been telling me.” ‘* Ab! bas she? Well, Mr. Justice, I have come to earn that reward.” Both Jerry and Fioy started in consternation at this announcement, but Dick’s merry laugh relieved their momentary anxiety. ‘' You needn’t get scared,” he said, ‘I ain’t sailin’ on my resolve cannot be broken. I have made all | that tack, just at present. I came here on an- arrangements to accompany you. As soon as I heard the particulars of the affair, and that you had fled, I immediately disposed of my store at a good price and left the camp.” kissing him, ‘* we will die loving each other, the same as now,” Just then footsteps were heard, and a man was | other matter of business, you see?” ** What is it?’ Jerry asked, excitedly. * Well, I will tell you. Both gangs of men at the Majestic Mine have quit work again until called a meeting, told them I was alive, and laid my case, as regards the ownership of the pocket, before them. ‘* How did you know where to find me?” you are reinstated, They are arding the *“'You once described this place to me as the | mouth of the mine, to prevent other help from place where you had spent a stormy night, and | being introduced, They furthermore declare intuition told me to como here.” that no more work shall be done in the mine, ‘Was there much stir in camp over Goff’s | until Graham Goff is forced to leave the gulch. death, when you came away?” The men are all well armed, and ready to fight ‘** Considerable, for the reason that the mayor | at a moment’s notice, for possession of the gulch, had just offered ten thousand dollars for your | What they want is a commander, to lead them capture, dead or alive.” on. A hard expression came over Jerry’s face. ‘* Joe Garry is at present at their head, but ** That settles it!” he said. ‘*I will be hound-| they seem rather to lack confidence in his ed down to the very death.” ability as a commander. ‘* But in our dying moments, my love,” Floy ‘*T had an interview with Joe, (in disguise, of said, throwing her arms around his neck and | course) before coming here. He said he had seen striding along toward the ledge. Both Floy and Jerry uttered a cry of joy, for the coming man wns none other than Deadwood Dick, Jr., alive and well! CHAPTER XIV. THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE. DicK soon reached the ledge, and his hands were eagerly grasped and shaken by both Floy and Jerry. ‘*Oh! we are so glad to see you!” Floy said; ‘Cain’t we, Jerry?” ** You bet we are!” Jerry responded, earnest- y- ‘* And I am equally glad to see you,” Dick re- rape ‘*but sorry to see this hero who saved my ife so badly bunged up.” ‘* Saved your life?” echoed Floy. “ Did Jerry save your life?” ‘*He did, Miss Fydell. The night I was lynched, it was he who fixed the noose about my neck, in such a way that the knot came against my jaw-bone, and I was not strangled. He whispered to me to feign death, and I did so. When the crowd had dispersed, Mr. Justice came and cut me down, and thus delivered me from death. My gratitude to him will never cease.” ‘** But, how about the ghost, and the footprints, Mr. Deadwood?” ‘*The ghost racket was simply a scare got up to create a sensation and divert suspicion from myself in the character of Mehetible Muggins, the part of the spook being played by a fellow whom [ hire for a ‘*As for the Fatal Footsteps the imprints were made by me, in my disguise of Muggins. By special agreement I had the invention manufac- tured for the very purpose for which it has been used. The sole of the shoe making the imprint is an inking-pad. Inside the shoe, but in no way interfering with the foot, is a little reservoir containing crimson fluid, at the botcom of which 1s a tiny spring valve, to the handle of which was attached a string, communicating with one of my pockets. By pulling this string the pad was saturated sufficiently to make the imprint, but immediately absorbed the liquid, sothatno after imprint was made,” : _“ A clever invention,” observed Jerry. ‘‘ But how about the singular death of Loggerhead? Do you know anything about that?” ‘Yes. In my character of Mehetible I shot the man, myself, to save the hfe of Joe Garry, whom he was about tomurder. Ina pocket of my dress I carried a powerful air-: istol, which I could noiselessly discharge, sending a bullet with as much velocity as arevolver. By taking proper aim, I could kill anumber of people with- out any one being the wiser for it. ‘¢Of course I shall probably have to answer for Loggerhead’s life at some future time, but I could not bear to see him knife Joe Garry. And it was the same way in the case with you and Giles Goff!” } ‘+ What?” and Jerry leaped forward excitedly, You don’t.mean to say that you shot Goff!” ** Plumb through the pulsometer. If I hadn't he would have filled you full of bullet-holes, the next inscant. Icouldn’t see that, you know— not much!” : * Thank God! Then, Iam not a murderer?” “Of course not! But, it would be hard to make some people down yonder believe that. He then asked if I should reappear, and lead them to a victorious routing of Goff and his allies, if they would recognize my rights, on the conditions that were that I should give them em- ployment and fifteen per cent advance in wages, ot make their working hours eight instead of ten, for a day. ‘*They held a consultation and seemed to fa- vor the idea, but had two stipulations to make, One was, that I should hunt you up and bring them a letter of approval and recommendation from you. The second was, that I should rea int you general superintendent of the Majestic ine and all other mining interests, and that no pete cape be employed by me who were not members of the Protective Union. Then they would ize my rights to the ownership of the property, and, as their employer, would stick by me through thick and thin. ** Joe asked me if I thought I could find you, and I told him I could, and here I am.” ** And it is my indorsement that will secure for you your rights?” 7 oviding we are victorious in the strug- gle. ‘‘There’s no question about that. What is Mayor Goff doing?” | ‘Rushing about and getting together all the men he can. He is said to be offering big prices to all who will stand by him.” ‘“*Can ke get many to help him?” “Yes. I think, when it comes to the tug of war, the forces will be about evenly divided up. But of course the miners are the best and most able-bodied company of men, and are the best armed, too, en it comes to fight, they will be there every time!” **Oh! Jerry, you will give your approval, won’t you, now?” queried Floy, giving him a little hug. ** Indeed! I don’t know about that!” Jerry re- plied, with mock seriousness. ‘‘ Pray, how are you interested in the matter?” ** Because, then we can get married, and live here in the pocket, and have a nice little home and oh! it will be so nice!” “Well, if I had a heart of adamant, I ard I could hardly resist your plea,” Jerry replied, good na ** Besides, leaving you en- tirely out of the question, I would be worse than a brute to refuse anything that would favor my friend, Deadwood Dick. It’s alk right, Dick. We'll start at once for the pocket, and we'll paint the town as red as a turkey gobbler’s wattle.” ‘‘Hadn’t you better stop here—von and Floy?” Dick asked, anxiously. ‘‘ It will hardly be safe for the young lady down there,” ‘“Oh! I'll look out for her!” Jerry replied. ‘* Shall we start at once?” ““'Yes. I have three horses below here, for I presumed I should find you both here.” So they lost no delay, in starting. In five minutes they were in the saddle, and riding down the mountain-side. In half an hour, they reached the pocket bot- tom, and galloped away toward the mouth of the shaft of the Majestic Mine. | When the assembled miners saw that Jerry Justice was one of the trio, they swung their hats in the air, and sent up a rousing cheer of welcome, that fairly made the earth tremble, In a few moments the trio drew rein, an@ 5 JOO eom G (S_COl