Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 510 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

Ze.) tOp » ~ this kind . ym coy ao et ‘ ’ * of +. im. 4, rg A i = ms abi : re, t ‘» oi ~® BS at ; & + a che 7 » at 4 in * w 5? me . . es - ~* ¢ ea : £ a 4 a aay ~~ = PA ad ' ‘ y ° “Sele d - a» — _ og > * . 4 * : _ sae 8 Woo. > ORGAN Tae ee ae Od te RE Sate See | Colorado, the Half-Breed Detective. ; af \ “ 4 f; ee oi kee “e saving good-morning to him, and if we try ] the wool over his eyes we will only lose our time.” Then, giving his rifle to Crooked Pat O’Neal “3 hold, Slender Bud advanced toward the half- reed. Not a movement of the others had escaped the keen eyes of Cool Colorado, and when he saw this action on the part of the gambler he too laid aside his rifle. If the Silver Moon man intended an7 treach- ery—if the laying aside of the rifle was designed to throw him off his guard—and Slender Bud's idea was to get near enough to close in with him, such a weapon as the rifle would be in the way. In Cool Colorado’s belt was his trusty ten- inch bowie-knife, which was. in the experienced hands of such a man as he, worth a dozen rifles ia a hand-to-hand encounter. ‘‘Good-morning,” said the ~ambler, politely, as he came up to the half-breed. ‘¢ Good-morning,” responded Cool Colorado as he rose to bis feet. | Slender Bud noticed the muscular proportions of the of the otber, and his quick eyes did not fail to see the knife placed so handily to the half- breed’s grasp, and the gambler was too old a warrior not to understand thatif he tried any ‘¢ monkey tricks ” with the other, Cool Colorado could easily knife him long before he could get a revolver out and prepare it for action. ‘¢ We have come to see you on a little matter of business, this morning, Coloradd,” Slender Bud remarked in the most pleasant manner pos- sible. 3 ‘Yes, when I caught sight of your party I reckoned you were out more for business than pleasure.’ Slender Bud guessed from this remark that - his suspicion in regard to the half-breed antici- ting danger was earnest. ‘* Rather a disagreeable bit of business.” ‘*Go ahead an get through with it then as quickly as possible.’ ‘Do you know Teddy FI ‘‘ Ts he the man who u ce Yes. ” ‘* No, [ don’t know him personally, but I have heard of him.” And as he spoke the half-breed took a good look at the speculator, as if he was anxious to size him up, as the saying is, and see what kind of a man he was. ‘‘ Well, he used to own this mine, as you say; sold it to Williams, you know.” sé Yes. 9 ‘* And it seems that when he sold the mine he made an agreement with Alex Williams that he was to have the right to buy the mine back again at any time within a year by refunding the pur- chase money and a hundred dollars in addition.” ‘The man lies!” cried Cool Colorado, prompt- ly. ‘He lies and he knows he lies! There was no such agreement.” i ‘‘ How do you know anything about it? You were not in the camp at the time of the sale,” questioned the gambler in his smoothest way, ‘Flynn gave a warrantee deed and the deed was delivered and the money paid in the pres- ence of witnesses,” ‘* He’s got it in black and white!” ‘‘Tt’s a fraud! What is the consideration? Such an agreement, if it was honest, wouldn’t amount to anything without a consideration. ‘‘ But the whole thing isalie! Didn’t Flynn boast all over town about how badly he had stuck the tenderfoot?”’ ‘¢ Well, he is a rather keerless talker.” ‘‘T own one-half of this claim and I am ready to fight for what is mine to the last p. vs But I will make Flynn a fair offer; let him step out and I will meet him in single fight! If -~he downs me he is welcome tomy half of the mine.” ; ‘‘ lynn has bonded the mine and all of us here are interested. It is not one man but five you must fight.” ‘You are all going for me then?” Cool Colo- rado asked, n yonder?” to own this mine?” CHAPTER XV. NOT SO UNEVEN AFTER ALL. _ §LEeNDFR Bup looked the young man full in the face as the half-breed put the question, and he thought to himself that he was rightly named when men called him ‘‘ Cool,” for there wasn’t a trace of excitement visible. He was taking the matter as calmly as though the five intruders had come to invite him toa picnic instead of toa hostile meeting. ‘Well, of course you Rnow bow oe of ay are generally settled in this region, ‘Stender Bud remarked. ‘*Flynn claims the mine. The paper he pro- duces seems to my pards and myself to be all right and regular, and we have put up our wealth on it.” ‘*In plain words, you are going to jump the claim and you bring this forged paper forward as an excuse for so doing?” ‘* As I said, the paper seems to be all straight, and if it isn’t, I suppose it will be a matter for the legal sharks to fight in the courts.” “You propose to capture the mine and have the lawyers and the courts settle the legality of the matter afterward?” ‘‘ Yes, I reckon that is about the size of our say-so!” Slender Bud remarked. ‘‘And if it comes to a law fight just you bear in mind the old legal saying that possession is — points of the law!” the gambler added, rimly. ‘*Ah, but you hav’n’t got possession yet,” re- sponded the half-breed, as cool as a cucumber, ‘*No, but we soon will have, for you can’t hope to make a successful fight against such odds.” ‘* Five to one, eh?” ‘“* Yes, that’s the figure!” ‘*Hav’n’t you made some mistake?” Slender Bud looked at the other after he put the question in a doubtful way, for he didn’t understand what he was driving at. ‘* Tt seems to me that is about it,” he replied. ‘*But if you have any doubts, you had better count; I make the odds five to one.” ‘** Oh, I don’t think that they are as uneven as all that, hey, Pine Creek?” And with the words, which the moment they were pronounced, the gambler understood were a signal, up from behind the rocks and bushes on the hillside popped Big-nosed Swith and a half- a-dozen of the miners from upper Pine Creek, all armed with rifles, with which they ‘‘ cover- ed” the intruders in a way that was extremely disagreeable to them. The attackers had fallen into an ambush. ‘“You see, sport, you wasn’t quite right in your statement,” Cool Colorado remarked, after the abrupt appearance of the miners. ‘The odds are not anywhere near as big as you think. When you come to count these pards . mine, you will see that it is a pretty even thing. ty he advantages is a leetle on my side, meb- be, but not very much, about eight to five, I think.” : Slender Bud saw that he and his gang were in a trap, and for a moment, despite all his cool as- surance, he was completely dumfounded, and what to do he knew not. As for the rest, the sudden and une ted appearance of the miners had taken all the fight out of both Teddy Flynn and old man Jackson. Although the ‘ Pride of Bitteropolis” was a little the worse for liquor, yet he had sense enough to know that under the present condition he and his party stood no chance in a fight, and he was not anxious to throw his life away. ‘* Well, what do you think of the thing now? How does the situation strike you?” Cool Colo- rado asked, perceiving that the gambler was in a quandary. Well, pard, there isn’t ary use to mince the matter,” Slender Bud observed, slowly. ‘‘ You have got us in a tight’ , and I reckon the odds are big that you will win the e,” Smith and the miners were so near that the words of the Silver Moon man came to their ears and Smith at once made reply. ‘* Well, now, you kin bet all the money that you kin rake and scrape together that the ‘ turn’ has been called on you, and I for one think that is about time that all such men as you ar’ in this £3 camp of Bitteropolis pee a to be present- with a hempen necktie and be given a chance to show how well they kin dance upon nothing.” The face of the gambler became fixed, for he recognized that he was in a position of great peril, but he was game—he was not the kind of man to show the white feather. ‘Well, in regard to the hempen necktie and the dance upon nothing that you speak of," he observed, slowly. ‘I reckon that no one of us Silver Moon men is hankering arter anything of the kind. ‘““We are armed and we reckon we had just as lief go to the happy huntin eng ike men as to be strung up by the neck like a lot of dogs. So, if you mean business, hop in as soon as aes please and we will doour best to keep our en up. Both Teddy Flynn and old man Jackson lis- tened in alarm to the words of the bler. Nothing was further from their thoughts than to attempt to fight the miners and so Flynn im- mediately cried out: : ** Hold on! don’t — count me in! I’ve gone jest as far in this affair as I want to travel! [m t, and I am willing to own up like a gen’le- man toit! I acknowledge the corn! ‘‘The leetle document which I gave to my friend hyer, Mister O’Neal, isn’t the genuine article, but as I struck the camp dead broke, I wanted to make a raise somehow, and when L heered that thar had been a rich strike in this: ‘ar’ Pine Creek Mine, I thought I saw a chance to make a stake.” ‘* ‘You are a thorough cur!” cried Slender Bud, in contempt. Then old man Jackson improved the opportu- nity to speak, ‘* Fellow-citizens, I want you all to distinctly understand that I didn’t know that thar was anything wrong bout this hyer matter!” he ex- claimed. “These gentlemen told me it was a good spec- ulation and wanted me to jine in, and I will own right up that 1 wasn’t sorry to git the chance to git squar’ wi e and me hev had a couple)of tussles already an’ I didn’t come out the top dog in the fight, but if thar is anything wrong in the matter, I don’t know anything about it, an’ I reckon these hyer Silver Moon gen’lemen will bear witness that it is so. : The miners were impressed by old Jackson’s manner with the belief that he was te!ling a straight story, and, after hesitating a moment, Slender Bud remarked: ** Although I don’t think that it is quite the squar’ thing for old man Jackson to go back on us arter joining in the picnic, yet | will give him the credit of saying that he is talking to you as straight as a string. ‘* Tf there is any skull-duggery in the matter, he knew nothing about it,” ‘“‘Then, I reckon, since Flynn and old man Jackson crawfish out of this mess, that 1 shalk have to hold one of you three Silver Moon sports to an account,” the half-breed remarked sternly. ‘*[’m your mutton, Colorado!” cried Slender Bud defiantly. ‘‘T’m not the kind of a man to craw] and play the cur when I am cornered. ‘I did put up this job on you! up, and this white-livered galoot of a T Flynn was anxious enough to go into the affair, though he is so quick now to back out when the scheme has gone bu’st.” ‘You are the man who engineered the job?’ Cool Colorado questioned. ‘Yes, Iam, and now I am ready to stand up and take the consequences like a man!” Slender Bud _ replied, showing more courage than any one had ever given him credit for possessing. ‘* You made a big strike hyer, and I made up my mind to have a finger in the pie by fair means or by foul. ‘“‘T wanted an excuse to jump your claim; Flynn came along—the devil sent him at the rticular moment, I believe—and I thought that with his aid I could make the riffle. ‘*The speculation has gone bu’st, and now J am ready to stand up and take the conse ences. so Colorado, ’cos Tll own right ae ‘Light out, then, you Flynn and old man Jackson!” Big-nosed Smith exclaimed, ‘and we'll go for this hyer picnic in two wags of a sheep's tail,” Flynn and the old man retreated at once; they waited not for a second bidding, but got away toasafe distance and there halted, anx- ious to witness the fight. A look of grim determination appeared on the faces of the three Silver Moon sports. They were human vermin, but like the things of prey whom they resembled, when cornered, they would turn and fight with the utmost des- ration. ‘*Hold on a moment!” exclaimed Cool Colo- rado, when he beheld the warlike preparation. ‘‘T want no man to risk his life in my behalf, unless it be absolutely necessary, and I do not think that in this case it is. ‘‘This man here "—and with a nod he indi- cated Slender Bud—“ acknowledges that he was the planner’of this scheme. ‘Let he and I then settle this trouble.” The gambler caught eagerly at the idea. An expert in the use of all weapons he did not fear even to meet a man who bore as great a reputa~- tion as a warrior as the half-breed. “That suits me to a dot!” he exclaimed. ‘‘AsTam the man who got up the scheme, of course, I ought to be the one to face the music now, “ Ajl right!” exclaimed the half-breed, as cool_and impassible as ever. ‘* March off a hundred paces, draw your wea