Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 570 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

te ee * bray f - - 5 a e at r~ ae ny. pee oe Coad Camille, the Card Queen. il Cards, as she called herself, was in the little sitting-room and parlor vacated two weeks be- fore by the man upon whose trail she was a tireless Nemesis. CHAPTER XVIII. THE FAIR NEMESIS, WHEN her trunk and valise had been placed in her rooms, Camille at once set to work to make herself comfortable iu her new home, The reader, of course, recognizes in her the one who had vowed at the grave of Horace Manners to be avenged upon Keut Kingdon, his slayer, and who had then so mysteriously disappeared from her home, and was considered to have committed suicide. Camille Cameron was a strange girl, She had never been considered just like other girls, for, in her early life her father had lived at a frontier post with his family, There she had, when a little girl, learned to ride wild mustangs, shoot a pistol and rifle, kill birds with a bow and arrow, and in fact become an expert in manly sports, When her parents bad died and she had gone East to dwell with the guardian in whose care she had been left, she never gave up the sports of her frontier life, and it was seldom that she met her equal with a rifle or revolver, while she would ride any horse no matter how wild or vicious. Thus it was perhaps her early training, and life among plainsmen and Indians, that had made her more revengeful than otherwise she would have been, and determined her to go on the search of Kent Kingdon, to avenge the death of her lover. She had decided to let all believe her dead and, when she had gotten the money she had unexpectedly inherited, she had laid her plans to start upon the track of Kent Kingdon. All the perils she would have to pass through, all the obstacles in her way she understood, and so she went West and entered upon a regular system of training. She had always been an expert card-player and she practiced with the ‘‘ pasteboards ” until her manipulation of them became really sleight- of-hand, She put on the garb of a man, cut off her hair, and buying her a fine horse and weapons, = her time in riding, and practicing with rearms, 1 _ At length she started upon her search, shap- ing her course according to what she had dis- covered of the whereabouts of Kent Kingdon. She wished rather to torture him at first by causing him to feel that his steps were dogged by some one, To play with him, in fact, as a cat might with a mouse before destroying him, At last she happened upon: his track, as has been seen, and her wandering: had made her so thoroughly manly in actions thatno one sus- pected her of being a woman. In her wild thirst for revenge she rather en- joyed the life she led; but when she found out rom Curley Kit that Kent Kingdon had mar- ried and was livin wife, she determi action. She had prepared herself with both dresses and male attire, and also with disguises. Her wig of red-gold hair was a perfect one, and she felt that Kent Kingdon would not re- cognize her, and she meant to fascinate him if she could. _ . For His wife she held no pity, for in the life She led she was losing ber sympathetic nature and becoming cold and heartless. To ber deep regret sbe arrived at Sports’ Paradise to find her enemy gone, That he had gone suddenly, and mysteriously left no trace of his whereabouts, did’ not Worry her in the least. , She would anchor at Sports’ Paradise ynti] she ey him, and then once again follow on 8 trail, That he bad won the name of the Cara King, decided her in taking the namé of the Card ueen, and by a strange coincidence she had had made the pin which looped up the brim of her slouch hat. She would remain at Sports’ Paradise, perfect. ing herself more and more in her pistol practice and eard-playing, getting down to the finest, detail all the incidents in Kent Kingdon’s life there, and then be ready to still pursue him. “ SE ony be 7 preat joy to ber bear if = co in from him hi ‘ause his wife to bate bie is gold, and cause She would be happy in this revenge, and yet she would only be content when Kent Kingdon at Sports’ Paradise. with his ned upon another plan of was dead and she felt that she had driven him to his doom. ‘* If I could drive him to despair, cause him to take his life with the very hand that drove the sword throngh the heart of Horace Manners, then I would be content,” she said to herself over and over again. And so it was that Camille, the Queen of Cards, became domiciled at the Flush Hotel in Sports’ Paradise, The day after her arrival at Sports’ Paradise, Camille ordered Judge Dal to purchase her the best horse he could find in the camps, and also to send for a saddleand bridle for her at once. She asked for a space in the bar for a card- table, and fitted it up in the bést manner, at the same time erecting a ‘‘ Wheel of Fortune” and a dais for herself to sit on as the Queen of Fortune. Those who compared her with Isabel, the wife of the Card King, decided that she was even more beautiful than was the Angel of Sports’ Paradise, She had a free-and-easy manner about her, and yet kept all men at bay. She called the judge ‘‘ Dal,” Kit Curley was simply * Kit,” and she soon knew the names and nicknames of every manin the camp who frequented the Flush Hotel. Judge Dal was in clover, for shedrew the business from his rivals, and made his place more popular than ever, : To the delight of the miner she was wont to practice with rifle and revolver out in front of the hotel, and her target was a card. She would make a “‘ five-spot ” out of an ace, also a tray outof an ace, and for her to vary ever so little from a line-shot and dead center was & very rare exception. ** She could pick out a man’s eyes with a re- volver at will,” said an enthusiastic admirer, and seeing what she could do certainly increased’ the respect of the rough crowd for the myste- rious woman. At cards she always won; but then she gave all a chance to win with her wheel of fortune, as she took chanees equally with the players. The attendant at the Flush bar had orders to give the frequenters a ‘‘night-cap” each night at her expense, and this was a strong point in her favor. As a horsewoman she was perfection, and she always went alone, going into the other camps and the recesses of the mountains without the elie piest fear of any danger she might have to ace, Thus weeks passed away, and the Queen of Cards became the idol of the dwellers in Sports’ Paradise. And all this time she had men in her pay searching for the whereabouts of the King of Cards, W hat she had discovered since her stay at the Flush Hotel convinced ber that Kent Kingdon had not left Sports’ Paradise because he was considered a cheat, so much as on account of an outside pressure that had hastened his depar- ture, Whither he had gone, Camille, the Card Queen, also had an inkling, and in her own good time she intended to again dog his steps, CHAPTER XIX, A SECRET NOT HIDDEN IN THE GRAVE, Poor Isabel had soon found out that perfect happiness, which she had hoped for, was not to be her lot, ; Her husband had become cold, reserved in manner toward her, and his whole heart and soul seemed to be in making gold and hoarding it Ss is only means of seldom lost. . Of course this caused the miners to look upon him with suspicion, and threats were made against him behind his back. ut these threats troubled Kent Kingdon but little. He carried his life in his hand, and had been called upon to protect it so often, that those who sought to kill him were well aware that he was a dangerous foe, Half a dozen graves were up in the burying- ground, and his hand had dug them for his vie- tims, —~ ’ As though proud of the little cemetery, he had the weeds kept off the graves, and had placed substantial timber monuments over each, par- ticularizing in a cruel mannerin the inscriptions Ow the lives of those beneath had heen cut short, A strange fascination seemed to impel Kent Kingdon to visit this spot often, and one after- noonyhe went there as was his wont, and was upport were cards, and he viewing the graves with perfect complacency,, when he was suddenly confronted by a man whom he did not remember to have seen before, The cemetery was upon the crest of a hill, a. spur that looked down the valley and jutted out from a range that ran back into the lofty, tow- ering mountains, The spot was wooded heavily, though the trees stood far apart, and so the ~pherey os must have been in hiding there when Kent Kingdon went to the graves of his victims, He was surprised at the sudden appearance of the stranger, but did not show it, and said quietly: ‘* Well, pard, are you searching for Sports” Paradise, or did yon come here to pick you out @& lot?” The man was tall, erect and muscular. His face was heavily bearded, and his expres- sion was of mingled determination and reckless- ness, He was armed, dressed in the garb of a miner, and certainly was a stranger in Sports’ Para- dise, for Kent Kingdon was sure that he had never seen him before. ““If £ pick out a lot here, Stal it will be for ou to occupy, and as for rts’ Paradise, I now where it is,” he answered, with a coolness that showed he either did not know his man, or, knowing who the gambler was, did not: fear him. . ‘*Is that a threat?’ sternly asked the Cand. King. oF never threaten until I need to; but ’m bere to see you, Mister Card King.” ** To sea me?” ** So I said.” ‘* You appear to know me,” “ ] do.” ‘* Where have me met?” ‘** But once before,” ** When?” ‘* Some time ago,” ** Where?” ** On the Overland trail.” ‘“*T do not recall the meeting.” ‘*T suppose: not, for you had but a glance of me then, while I had come to remember you and, as you bave grown famous, I have ept you in mind.” ‘** Your words are Greek to me.” “Tl translate for you, then.” “* Pray do.” ‘“'We met the day that Doc Dunning was: killed.” « “*Hal On the trail?” ** So I said.” ** Who are yon?” “‘ A road-agent I was then.” ** And now?” ‘*T have reformed,” i ** Bah!” ‘* 1 is true, and I have you to thank for it,” ‘‘ Indeed! and why?” ‘““ You gave me a shot that well-nigh cost me my life. ‘I followed you on horseback, believing L had my death-wound, and meaning to kill you. if [ could. . ‘I eut ahead hy a trail in the mountains, and I fell from my horse, just as I headed the: coach off. “My horse’ ran off and left me; but I saw you draw up, steal the bag of gold we had failed to get, and go off in the woods and hide it. “I could not follow you, and, but that my oe Came there and found me, I would have- ied, “But he took me on his horse to our camp, and nursed me for days. ‘I told him of what I had seen, and he came. bere to find you. ‘** He found you, and that is his grave!” And the man pointed to the yrave of the man whom Kent Kingdon had killed in the duel om horseback, the day of his marriage with unfor- tunate Isabel Drew. ‘* You bad better take warning from his fate, then.” ‘It does stand out asa warning; but when I got well I decided to reform, so as our band of trail toll-takers was broken up by our cap- tain’s death, I went to mining. ‘Somehow luck has been against me, and L decided to hunt you up.” ‘For what reason?” “To get a good start in life.” ** You have come to the wrong person.” ‘*T bardly think so.” ‘*T will convince you if you doubt,” and there was 2 wicked gleam in the gambler’s eyes, ‘*'You wounded me. pard, and IT still feel it,, so I wish to return East and settle down, >. ak egy —_ < - . 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