Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 630 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

12 pokes his head inside draws the prize! Come von!” But no one came; those unerring shots at the tourney were not forgotten. ‘Come in!” Dick again called. *“Not much! We'll do better than that,’’ was the answer; and Dick was quickl aware of what that meant, for he mele smoke, They had fired the house. That settled one point. If they were going to burn the place, it was not probable that Singing Bird was there. She was too valuable a prize to destroy. But then there was another thing to con- sider: adobe, of which the walls of the house were composed, would not burn. Was the scheme, then, to smoke Dick out? The plan was feasible, but they must also oust the Heeps. Likewise they were in danger of suffo- cating the Singing Bird, if she was in the building. ‘*How do you like the smell of smoke, my boy?” cried Thornton, from without. ‘*It agrees admirably with my constitu- tion,’’ was the cheerful rejoinder; ‘‘ but how about your partieular friends—the Heeps?” “To the deuce with them!” was the re- sponse. ‘‘They’ll have to stand smoke, sometime, and might as well get accustomed 10 it now.’ ‘* But, the Singing Bird?” suggested Dick, “Do you intend to smoke her out, too?” Thornton laughed, sarcastically. “D’ye s’pose Lam afool? The girl is not here, you can bet your sweet life!” The smoke was now beginning to get suffo- cating in the room. Just where it came from Dick could hard- ly tell; it seemed to come from all directions. Stealing to a pail of water, Dick saturated his handkerchief, and bound it over his nose. ‘*That will save me, for a time,” he mut- tered. ‘‘When the smoke gets perfectly dense, I may be able to steal from the she- bang!” Hark! What were these new sounds? ‘By heavens! rifle-shots! Can it be that Oaks and Golconda have come to my rescue?” thought Dick. The firing ceased, but the smoke continued to become denser. Diek concluded from their stillness that ‘the Heeps had ceased to breathe and had died a painless death. Only the wet bandage over his nose kept him from suffocating. “ This can’t last much longer, orI shall croak, too,” Dick concluded. As the candle had gone out the room was in dense darkness. ‘Now, there’s only one thing,” he mut- tered; ‘‘a dash for liberty or death!” He quietly stole tothe door. All was silent without, and perfectly dark—no sign of any fire, nor of anything else. That, then, was the moment for action. He passed out into the night and began to make his way to the rear of the house. Where were the men, under charge of Thornton? If in ambush he was prepared for them—a revolver in each hand, He had passed wholly around the building and was now well away from from it when there came a tremendous explosion, the re- port of which must have been heard, for miles around, It was the destruction of the old ranch CHAPTER XVIII. AFTER THE EXPLOSION. Tae explosion was something terrific. Golconda and his friends who had at- tacked the Thornton gang had retreated, or rather, had been forced back some distance, but the shock of the explosion startled and alarmed them, for they well knew what it implied. . _ ** Well, our friend Bristol is a goner now!’ said Golconda, sadly “ ' , 7 r Wg. , . " ie ' “-~ ‘Great ham-bone, no!” returned 4 voice, that of the old veteran, Avalanche. ‘‘ Ther’ ain’t powder enuff made ter blow Aim up!” The old fellow must have followed close on the trail of the three riders, for there he was, sure enough! **Nonsense! If the explosion has torn Puerto to pieces, how could he escape?” The Annihilator shrugged his bent shoul- ders. ‘*Ye don’t know the boyee!” he answered. ‘‘ffe’s been thru fire, bullets, blood, flood, and— matrimony, and never got killed yit, Thar’s no darned flies on him, no more’n was on Dick, the First! I knowed ther other Dick before him, an’ tho’ they was in no way related, they’re both game men, D’ye know whar Deadwood is?” VOR: 2 ‘Waal, thar uster ter be ther stampin’- ground fer both these fellers. Dick, junior, hev traveled more than Dick, 1, and hev got ther repertation of the King of Western Detectives!” Here Avalanche paused, and took off his hat. It was a slouch, old and ragged. There were plenty of bullet-holes in it, and the most low-down tramp that pedestri- anizes the highways and the byways of the East would have cast it aside. Not so with Old Avalanche. He had that hat in the city of Deadwood, the day before Wild Bill (J. B. Hickok) was killed. He valued it as much as he did his famous old mule and goat, who had traveled thousands of miles with him, but alas! were now no more. ‘*T’ll bet you my famuss old hat!” he said, regarding it fondly. ‘‘Ull bet ye my hat, which orter know the West inch by inch as weil as I do, thet Deadwood Dick gets out alive!” Golconda had to smile. “Allright. Dl go you two hundred dol- lars ag’in’ the hat, ig it a bargain?” ‘*'You bet!” ‘Then, come on, and we will make a search. But, mind; your hat or my money |” . The light within the crumbling walls was growing brighter and brighter, for the build- ing, or rather its ruins, was on fire. Not a sign of human life was visible about the premises. ‘If Singing Bird was in that building, she was blown up,” Golconda remarked., ‘Don't believe it. She wasn’t there!” from Oaks, A search was made. Three of Thornton’s arty were found, killed outright, apparent- y, by the shock, but nothing of Thernton or of the adventurous Dick. ‘* Nothing of Dick!” said Oaks dejectedly, after a scout around the place. ‘‘Oh! he’s a goner,” replied Golconda, ‘We might as well go back to Beaver.” ‘‘Go on!” said Avalanche grimly. ‘I shall remain here. ’ ‘* What for?” To find Dick.” ‘But, man, there’s not one chance in ten thousand that your friend is alive!” “Wal! that’s yer think, not mine. Go back ter Beaver. I remain hyer.” *‘ Well, one thing is certain,” said Jim Oaks. ‘‘ The old man sha’n’t be left alone. Ef he stays, I stay, you bet!” ‘‘TIn that casé, I shall remain too, I see no possible use of it, however. So far as our real business here is concerned, Puerto is ended, and the trail has ended with it.” ‘*Don't you believe it! Thornton never had the girl here, or he would not have blown the place up!’ ‘‘Maybe ye’r’ level-headed there, me boyee!” from Old Avalanche, ‘‘ but, it was easy fer the scamp to have run her off from | some outside hidin’-place, an’ I shouldn’t wonder if he was now makin’ tracks fer Beaver with her a a a a a a a a a a a Deadwood Dick Jr. in No-Mans Land. The suggestion seemed to strike Golconda favorably, and at last he decided to take the back trail tu discover, if possible, if Thorn- ton really had returned to town, and what had been his purpose in following them out to Puerto. That it was to destroy Dick was very likely, but that it was also to secure Singing Bird from the possibility of dis- covery and capture by the three pards, was the more probable reason, This having been decided in Golconda’s mind, he soon leaped on his horse and was gone—leaving the others to continue their search for the detective. When he had gone, the two friends again took the circuit of the premises, resolved to follow on after Golconda if, in another half- hour, Dick did not ‘‘ materialize.” If noth- ing of his whereabouts was discovered, they could but wonder that the great detective had run his last case, and had, indeed, per- ished in that building, now but a smoking mass. | CHAPTER XIX DICK MATERIALIZES. Tue two friends, Oaks and the Annihi- lator, had gone well out into the brush in their search round, and were on the point of returning to the front when there came. dis- tinctly to their hearing the call: ‘* Boys!” ‘‘Great ham-bone! What wus that? Dicky’s voice or I’m a liar!” averred Alva in a whisper, ‘‘It’s somebody, that is sure!” assented Oaks. ‘‘ Most likely one of Thornton’s gang, so look sharp, old chap, or we may get a dose of lead!” sé Boys!” Again that voice, feeble but distinct and certainly not far away. ‘‘Dick—Dick, whar are ye?” called out the old man. ‘‘Here by the big rock!’ came in reply. Both men hurried to the spot indicated, and there, sure enough, lay the detective be- side the rock, so covered from sight by the thick undergrowth around it that he would not have been discovered by any one passing near. Alva was down beside:him in a moment, | ‘What is it, Dicky, boy? Are you shof, or stabbed, or what? How came eon here? How’d ye git cuten the buildin’? How—’ ‘Too many hows, old pard, for one dose!” answerered the detective, smiling, ‘‘ Here I am—all right, I guess, only seem to have all the wind knocked out of me. I got out of the house and made a run for the woods, when an awful explosion came, lifting me off my feet and dashing me against this rock,. and that is all [remember. Here I’ve been ever since in a semi-conscious state, and had just voice enough to call out to you. Lift me up and let us see how much I am hurt.” The two comrades carefully comptied, and, one on each side held him on his feet between them. “Tdo not think I am injured at all,” de- cided Dick, moving his limbs, ‘‘ only was just stunned by the shock.” : This proved to be the fact, and in a little while he seemed quite himself again, Oaks then explained all that had happened, as far as he could explain the extraordinary events of the night, and when Dick had weighed all in his mind he concluded that the Gladiator had done the right thing 1n re- turning to Beaver. Certain it now*seemed to Dick that the cirl had not been in the home of the old distiller, at all, but, if in his keeping, had been under guard in some outside place, from which, now that Thornten had, as he thought, disposed of the detective, she had been returned to Beaver and there she would be found. This left nothing to do but to follow on after Golconda, which they did—reaching the town to find all silent and in utter darkness. co awe —— me - — DOOKS: com