Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 627 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

. ee pat A mm otp ~ * —_~ oe - » & * 3 > ‘5 +, 2 ” He had connected Bruce and Blink with the mur- aler, but no proof was adduced that they had any- thing to do with the horse-theft. And they were not to be found, The most diligent search had not succeeded in discovering them. The hour of nine approached. That terrible watch and ward was still kept up around the stone mill. The surrounding party were det«rmined that none of the lyneners should leave the mill. But they dared not make an assault. The men who lay be- hind those stone walls could have defended their stronghold against ten times their number. And there was nothing to hinder their putting their fell purpose in execution within the mill, Mr. Gordon appeared in deep distress. He evidently felt deeply for the culprit, and would have taken any measures for his release. But what was to be done? As nine o’clock drew near he requested another interview with the lynchers, under a flag of truce. The request was refused. Unless he could put the real culprit in their hands, with positive proof, nothing further was to be said. Tom Bruce would be hung at nine o’clock. Mr. Gordon withdrew in distress. As he didsohe looked at the western sky. It presented a siagular appearance. A lurid gray, half light, half darkness, overspread the horizon, with an ominous aspect. He gazed atit a moment in wonder. Was some convulsion of the elements at hand—a tornado or cyclone? Was the dreadful deed about to be con- summated reflected in the heavens? He had little time for thoughts of this character as he hurried onward, in a balf-distracted state. An- vert person followed him—Will Carson, Tom’s fast ‘friend. What their object was they hardly knew them- selves, but on reaching jthe edge of the town they perceived a dense cloud of dust in the road, as of some cavalcade approaching, : In a minute more agust of wind swept away the dust, and revealed a group of horsemen, who were riding forward at a rapld rate. A pulse of hope throbbed in the hearts of the ‘watchers. : ‘*Who can they be?’ asked Mr. Gordon. ‘That man at the head is the Dover sheriff,’’ said Will, “They are coming back with reinforce- ments.” It was indeed a party of law-abiding citizens whom the sheriff and constable had enlisted in the neigh- boring towns. In five miputes they rode up to where the hopeful wutchers stood expectantly waiting. There were some sixty in all, every man armed, and their faces full of resolution. The sheriff drew rein on perceiving Mr. Gordon. ‘* Are we in time?” he asked. ‘Yes; but you have but five minutes to spare. ‘They threaten to hang the prisoner at nine o’clock.”’ ‘We must save him. We have a captive here whom we believe to be the thief.”’ He pointed to one of the horsemen, behind whom was mounted the spare form of Tony Blink, his hands tied, and dreadfully dejected in the face. ** We picked him up on tke road, seeking to escape ‘from the town,”’ ‘*On, then! Thereis not a moment to spare.” The horsemen swept forward through the streets of the town, followed at a run by two footmen. As they advanced, Mr. Gordon noticei that the threatening aspect of the sky was redoubled, The Aurid hue presented a frightful appearance, Below the clouds hung a dense black mass that seemed to extend nearly to the earth. He had never seen anything like it before. But there was no time now to study the heavens. ‘The cavalcade had already reached the mill, and rode up boldly to the walls, despite the threats of the sentinels, ‘* Halt! or we fire!’’ came the stern warning cry. ‘* We want the boy you have in there; and by the Great Jehovah we will have him!” cried the sheriff, springing from his horse, and darting boldly tnrough the open door of the mill. A rifle-shot cracked and a bullet sped past him, ‘ut it failed to arrest his Te : ‘* Stop!” he yelled, facing the men'within. ‘‘ The ‘boy is innocent. I bring you the real thief. Stop! or for every shot fired a man of you shall hang.”’ His sudden entrance, and these words caused a moment of irresolution in the defenders of the mill. Ere they could recover it was too late. Twenty of ‘tthe horsemen had followed their leader into the mill. Others were crowding after. The sentinels outside were prisoners. ‘Your captive!” exclaimed the sheriff. “We must have him! Where is he?” At that instant a clock in the mill began the stroke of nine. “ You are too late,’’ declared Colonel Brown bold- ly and sternly. ‘‘He is swung off at this min- ute. The gallows has got its dues.”’ “ re Heaven, boys! we must stop this!” yelled the ‘she rushing for the stairs.. ‘‘ He cannot be dead et. Hold your level!”’ screamed a voice at the top of the stairs. “If you take two steps more you are a dead man.” The sheriff looking up saw the muzzle of half a dozen rifles staring him in the face. Bold as he was, he retreated. ‘‘The boy is innocent,’’ he cried. ‘‘Cut him down instantly. I have the real thief here.” “That cat won't jump,’’.roared the mam on the stairs. ‘‘ We've gott right thief, and all Arkansas can’t save him.”’ - ’ ” a Fire! !’’ yelled the sheriff. Af of rifle-shots rung t a room. ‘Twenty men rushed for the stairs. t at their Tom Bruce of Arkansas. head the defenders stood unmoved, their fire re- served. ‘* Another step, and half of you go down!”’ roared their spokesman, fiercely. The assailants recoiled. stared them in the face. It seemed that Tom Bruce was doomed. cuers had come too late. At that instant, outside the mill, a terrific tumult was heard, as if a dozen thunder-claps had broken allat ouce. Cries of terror resounded. The men near the door ran hastily out in affright. The up- roar was deafening. Death too evidently His res- 4 While these events were transpiring below, in the upper story of the mill a frightful work was in progress, What had been said was true. As the stroke of nine approached, the youthful prisoner stood under the impromptu gallows, his hands and feet bound, the noose of a rope around his neck, whil* a dozen hands.held its other end, ready to swing him up at the signal. The face of the victim wore a grave and serious, but not a cringing aspect. There was no sign of flinching on his part. A confession of his crime was demanded, but he had but one reply: ‘““T die innocent,” he said. ‘Ihave already told my story. I have nothing to add to it.” ‘““You stole the hoss and rid it away,” said a rough fellow. ‘* You can’t deny that. And that’sa hangin’ job in Arkansaw.”’ ‘*Who helped you in it?” demanded another. ‘Give us the names of the gang, and we'll let you off. Hadn't your father, Jake Bruce, a hand in it?’ ‘*T am innocent,” repeated the prisoner. ‘* That’s all I can say, except you give me a chance to prove “You know ag about the Huntly murder. Tell us that, and we will grant you a reprieve. You saw something that night. What was it?” Tom made no answer. He let his face hang until his chin touched his breast, and stood in silent medi- tation, or silent prayer. He had nothing further to gay to his tormentors, : At this moment an uproar arose without, the sound of voices and hoofs filled the room, A man at the window shouted: ‘It’s the sheriff with a company of mounted men at his back! They are charging on the mill!” ‘*There’s no time to be lost!’ cried a second. ‘* They have forced their way in.”’ As he spoke, the clang of the clock was heard above the uproar. It was striking the fatal hour. ‘Swing him off!’ cried the guard on the stairs. ‘¢ They are about to attack.” Yet the men at the rope hesitated. They seemed irresolute. The dread of the law at that moment overcarine them. . Simultaneously there came the rattle of rifle-shots, the rush on the stair, and the retreat. ‘*Do your work!” yelled the ruffian on the stairs. “We can’t hold out long. Don’t let the thief escape.”’ A rush of the men with the rope followed. The youthful victim was swung from the floor and bung in mid-air, his body writhing, his face purple. The rescuers had come too late. The victim of lynch law was suffering the sentence imposed. The executioners fastened the rope and left him writhing in the agony of death, Force and fraud had triumphed over innocence. Jake Bruce’s devilish plot seemed successful. Death was in the face of his victim. Yet Heaven did not intend that such a wrong should be consummated. . At that fatal instant a distant roaring sound ee heard, which grew in volume with terrible ra- pidity. The men present looked at one another with frightened eyes. The most timid rushed for the stairs. That strange and dreadful noise was enough to make the stoutest blanch. Little more than a minute had passed since the culprit was swung from the floor. Less than a min- ute had passed from the first sound of the tumult of the elements, ere it fell in its full fury upon the roof of the mill. It sounded asif all the thunders of tae heavens had crashed at once on that devoted pile. The roof rose like a feather, and swept off through the air. The gallows was jerked from its fastenings and the rope torn loose, It was the outcome of the strange aspect of the sky, which had attracted Mr. Gordon’s attention. A tornado had descended upon the building, its approach unobserved by the combatants until too late to ere its fury. The frightful whirl had swept through a corner of a town, tearing two or three houses into frag- ments. Over the devoted mill moved the very center of the snake-like cloud, which, with indescribable fury, licked and swept up ail before it. A great tree near the mill was twisted off near the root, and lifted far into the air. The roof of the mill went next, while the stones of its walls were hurled to right and left with the fury of cannon-balls. A score of the combatants were burled to the earth, some of them slain outright, others maimed. The gallows, as we have said, was torn loose and whirled up into the air. The hanging boy followed it. By a miraculou stroke of fortune the first effect of the whirl was to loosen the rope from his neck. It was jerked violently over his head and hurled far m him. Like a feather Tom's body, dead or insensible, ee eee eee ee Oooo ssa s_ _— was whirled upward into the air, and carried away in the heart of the frightful wind. Yet where he was going, or what bad happened to him, he knew no more than did the sticks and stones surrounding him. He had no more consciousness left than the fragments of timber which soared above him, Onward swept the tornado, mile after mile across the country,demolishing buildings, twisting off trees, making fearful havoc in every toot of its course, Nothing in nature exceeds in fury these frightful convulsions of the wind on our western plains. Fifteen miles away, as was related in the last chapter, Jake Bruce was pursuing bis flight. All his schemes had been successful. With the papers in bis pocket from which he seemed to have such romising hopes, he pushed onward. In a mile urther he would be able to obtain a vehicle that would carry him safely beyond the reach of danger. He felt that he was yet unpursued, and his spirits rose accordingly. Blind fool! man pursued him not, but Heaven was on his track. Retribution was approaching. The same convulsion of nature which had torn his destined victim from the bangmans rope, was fol- lowing his fleeing footsteps, with vengeance in its rasp. The wretch, who was passing under the shade ofa dense growth of bushes, failed to see the pursuing cloud of the tornado until it was close upon him, and its tumult in his ears. Then he looked around in terror, saw that fright- ful thing swooping down on him like a dreadful monster, and ranin an agony of fear. He stumbled after a few steps and fell headlong. Ere he could rise the tornado was upon him. Yet he had fallen into a small hollow which partly protected him, and the whirling wind, which was tearing the bushes in fragments around him, passed over without lifting him from his shelter. The worst of the wind was past, and he was yet sefe. As the rear of the storm came on, and the violence decreased, he strove to rise, deeming him- self safe. Fragments of timber showered around him, es- caped from the uplifting force of the spiral whirl And then, like the swoop of a terrible bird of prey, a dense mass descended upon him, crushing him to the earth. He fell to the ground stone dead, the blood pour- ing from his throat, bis neck nearly severed by the terrible blow. , It was the gallows which had been erected for bis victim which had fallen upon him, and crushed him aimost out of the semblance of humanity. The vengeance of Heaven indeed had descended upon the doomed wretch, fated to perish himself by the gallows which his villainy had erected for bis son. A moment after another object fell near him, striking the earth with a light thud. It was the body of Tom Bruce, carried that far in the storm, CHAPTER XV. THE UNFOLDING OF THE MYSTERY. Tue tornado had done terrible damage. Fortu- nately its course had been through the edge of the town, yet even there twenty buildings bad been progncd, and several of their occupants seriously injured. The mill was a strong stone structure, yet it had suffered considerable damage, its roof going, and its upper walls being torn and fractured. Fortunately the floor of the upper story held its own, and the crowd of men who were collected there escaped. But of those who had handled the hangman's rope nota man got off free. Two were killed out- right, and the others seriously hurt by the falling stones. Outside the mill a number were injured and two or three killed. Several of the horses had suffered the same fate, while the others bad stampeded in affright. : Among those injured and carried into the mill was sped Blink. é had received a fatal blow from a falling stone, and in his pain and terror yelled out the secret of his misdeeds. “Oh, I am a dead man!’ he screamed. ‘‘God’s hand has struck me down for murder and theft. I deserve it all! I deserve more! To leave Seed to be hung forour crimes! Oh, it was frightf ! Me and Jake Bruce, Heaven is after us both! It was evidently an excellent. time to get the truth from him while his terror lasted. Judicious ques- tioning brought from him the story of the horse- theft, how he had himself stolen the colonel’s horse, aided by Jake Bruce, and had tied itin the grove where the boy was to find it. When questioned about the murder a spasm of terror shook his frame, and he denied all knowledge of it. **Do you wish to die with alie on your soul?” asked Mr. Gordon, sternly. “‘You may as well tell the truth, for we know it already. You and Jake Bruce were seen out together that night. A scrap of paper which was in Bruce’s possession has been found in the Huntly house. You yourself wear at this minute a diamond pin which was the property of the murdered man.”’ With a wild cry the accused villain clapped his hand to his necktie, in which shone the pin alluded to. “Denial will do you no good. The evidence is convincing. You are on the point of death. Clear your soul by confession before you die.”’ ‘Tt was Jake that stabbed him!” yelled the fright- ened wretch. ‘‘We only went there to get the pa- pers. He attacked us. Jake killed bim. I dared not peach on bim.’’ | : s. * - “* ~ « ~ ae * 7 ~ ar a’ 1 1 =COTnNnTCcyD wa > ‘4 \ 4 Gee Pe be i = <— OOKS-CO _——- - tt — eG