Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 639 — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

1 ~~ yee ree : nen - = To tae looking at Mr. Enonbridge. There was no reply. “T can’t stint myself, tly fur ’'ma deacon in our church, an’ some d o’ style is necessary.” ‘‘' You seem to be doing well,” Emmie re- marked, e be. Got plenty o’ money in my pocket, ‘*T would not mention the fact.” “No? Why not?” ** You may lose the money.” ** How kin I?” ‘* All travelers are not honest.” ‘* Why, that’s what the New York parson said ter me! Strikes me you folks don’t put much conferdence in my jedgment, Say, dol look green?” ** Not in the least.” ‘* T thought not!” Mr. Plunket had been waxiaog indignant, but his mood completely changed, He looked over his spectacles at Emmie in a benign fashion, ** 1m a deacon in a church,” he added, Having heard this observation once before, Emmie-did not think it necessary to reply, and Plunket finally turned around and devoted his time to the newspaper, In the meanwhile, Saul was making his way through the train, During the first part of the trip he had but little leisure time. When he had tried the passengers on the dailies, he made a second journey among them with books, By the time that he had done all this, the State of New York had been left behind, and they were in the Land of Steady Habits, other- wise Connecticut. Saul came to a stop in the smoking- var, All was going at a gallop there, so to speak, The devotees of whist were having their fill, and so was the car—its fill of tobacco smoke, Tne air was blue with it, Saul soon found something to interest him. Near at hand was a big man in a flannel shirt, slouched bat and garments generally erratic. Withal, be was fairly well-dressed, but not in fashion, ‘* They call this yer’ concern a cigar!” he ob- served, flourishing the article in question. **Durn meef it ain’t a dandy! Id ruther set on the ruff of a house an’ breathe the chimbley smoke—durn me ef I hadn’t! igars! Bah! I’d ruther have a cabbage, an’ know jest w’ot stockin’ up ag’in’, I bad, b’Judas!” ‘7? keep cigars,” put in Saul, quietly. ** Do ye?” Oe,” ** All right; keep ’em!” The speaker spoke wrathfully, and then mod- erated his voice and added: ** Young feller, take a word o’ advice from an old stager who’s seen forty-seven year 0’ ex- perience—reform, while ye kin! Let upon yer evil ways afore ye git sent ter the Bastile. Want ter sell me a cigar, hey? Say, now, I bought this cigar on a car, an’ I don’t want no more train cigars, I don’t, b’ Judas!” .“T guarantee my cigars, sir,” ‘*That settles it; wouldn’t smoke one now ef ye was ter giveitto me. I’vefound that all that’s guaranteed by an Eastern chap is bad, an’ it’s got_ter be mighty bad afore he'll guar- antee it. Them’s my idees, an’ ’m Buck Jock- way, right from Lame Horse, Montana!” ‘All good cigars out your way, I suppose?” suggested a dapper dude, with a fragile yellow mustache, ‘You spose!” retorted Buck Jockway, ‘* What biz have you ter s’pose ? Did you ever s’pose the truth? Say, ef [could think up lies as fast as you kin s’pose ’em, I'd git a job as re- porter fur a newspaper!” Mr. pagina slaved at the dude, and looked so fierce and big and dangerous that the poor little dude’s heart crawled right up in his throat and near suffocated him. ‘* Cigars!” scoffed Jockway. ‘‘Say, ef you ever seen a cigar in my part o’ Montana, you prove itan’I’ll prove you aliar! We smoke ipes out thar, every man-Isaac on us; we do, ’ Judas! D’ye think I’m a liar?” _ The dude faintly disclaimed any such opin- ion, “AN right—all right. Me an’ you won't quarrel, fur I'd hate like sin ter see a human bein’ die at your stage of existence. You re- mind me ofa young duck afore he’s got any more nor a thin crop of yaller ha’r on him, Live, critter, live; an’, ef you kin raise a whis- ker, you'll be a man afore yer gran’mother, b’ Judas!” Here Mr. Jockway slapped his knee with a band ponderous enough to break more fragile 1) Pare a wee e ER OBE NEO ~ Sunrise Saul. “Takes money ter travel,” remarked Abner, | bones, and looked around as though challenging any one to dispute his assertion, ‘* You’re a long way from Lame Horse,” Saul remarked, ‘* Young feller, I be.” * Going back? ** Dead or alive!” *¢ You don’t look like one liable to die,” **T be liable,” “ Heart disease?” ** Bullets!” Jockway nodded shortly, shut one eye and looked across the car as though taking aim at somebody. ‘* Don’t keer arap fur Eastern gunners,” he added, ‘* but the varmints may git the drop on me, Say, d’ye s’pose I’ve come all the way ter this heathen land fur fun? Nary| B’ Judas! I’m hyar fur biz, an’ guns settles it. Ef I gits tunneled, my remnants goes back ter Lame Horse ter be planted under the cottonwood tree onmy claim. Got an enwelope in my pocket wi’ the necessary cash, an’ a written line: ‘ This is B. Jockway’s clay. Express him ter Lame A care 0’ Peleg Smith, all charges paid!’ see?” Sunrise Saul regarded the big Western man with curiosity. Jockway was rough and Joud- voiced, but his conversation to the contrary not- withstanding, the newsboy did not set him down as a tough, ‘** You’re on the war-path, then?” ‘* Young feller, I be.” ** And have come East for revenge?” ‘“‘Thev. Guns settles it!” Jockway’s jaws closed with a snap, and his big blue eyes sparkled in a suggestive way. “When I run up ag’in’ him,” he added, * him or me goes up the flume!” CHAPTER ITI. UNDER SUSPICION, THERE was something so ominous and start- ling in Jockway’s manner, as well as in his words, that no one ventured a reply. He was silent for a moment, then he slowly inquired: ‘*Say, what’s the sentiment hyar Kast as ter shootin’ a female woman?” : This question drew divers unfriendly glances upon the man from Lame Horse. ‘*The sentiment is that such a wretch ought to be strung up without judge or jury!” declared a laboring man in a calico ‘ st “It ain’t jest right, I admit, but sarcum- stances alters cases,” ‘** Not in Connecticut.” f cc No?” ** Not an alter!” **S’pose the woman was a she-devil?” **She’d be a woman, all the same,” ** Mebbe you like her sort?” % All women are taken care of in Connecti- ‘““Humph! Mister, ll bet my last month’s find o’ dust ag’in’ a blunt pick that the West kin give the East two p’ints, an’ then beat it out on gallantry ter women 0’ the right sort. Weadore em, an’ don’t make no bones 0’ sayin’ so. Nary! But when it comes to a she-devil—” Buck Jockway paused, hesitated, and then the blood flowed to his broad face until its hue was a deeper red than the bronze of the gold- dig ingssun. He held up his athletic hand. a wish [ had her here!” he added, in a voice which was at once low and intense, There was something very striking about the man, He weighed at least two hundred pounds, and it was nearly all bone and muscle, He was a broad-shouldered Hercules. He was an im- pressive figure as be sat there, and the sug- gestive movement of his hands, and his change of color, only served to bring out more proml- nently the calmness he preserved. It_was not a natural calmness, ‘Do you mean,” asked the laboring man, “that you'll kill the woman?” ‘‘Pard, ve come Kast fur revenge! He must oe an’ she will be durned lucky to pull through ve! ‘* Suppose they shoot, too?” Buck J ockway sbrugged his shoulders, ‘* Dye s’pose they kin get the drop on me?” ** T don’t know,” ‘‘1’m a Western man!” ‘* We have some shooters here East,” Buck laughed heartily. ‘“* B’Judas! I'd like ter see em! Trot ’em out! Shooters? Why, durn my boots! I’d stack up ag’in’a whole regiment o’ yer Eastern dudes. But that ain’t ter the p’int; you needn’t be afeerd that my enemies will git the dropon me. The uestion is, how shall Ido up the female ef I on’t use a six-shooter?” | He contracted his brows, and studied the te res: —. a, "6 err). 8 point as though it were an ordinary, yet per- plexing question, ‘* Has she really injured you?” Jockway sat up pperes ‘** Injured me!” be echoed, in a deep base voice, ‘* Why, man alive, she an’ her partner hey—” Tius far he spoke explosively, but he checked himself suddenly, meditated, and shook his head. Then he rose abruptly: ‘‘ Mebbe [ll take your advice an’ get square with her some other way,” he added, * but, ef’ [ get eye on her partner, that man will hev a tunnel made through him, M 5 ‘six ' is a forty- one caliber, an’ I kin use it. es, b’Judas!” With this final assertion, the man from Larae Horse passed out of the car to that at the rear, The open-eyed passengers watched him curi- ously. v N bloodthirsty villain!” declared. one, ‘*T guess he’s only rough,” remonstrated a second, ‘* Rough! How about the killing of a womanf Would that be only rough?” — ‘* He hasn’t killed her. Besides, his ways are Western ways.” | ‘* T doubt if he was ever West,” interrupted a third speaker, “Why so?” ** He’s a sham,” ‘He don’t look like an Eastern man.” ‘* Looked ‘to me like a man who had taken great pains to make up as a Westerner, and was out for cheap notoriety.” ‘* Anyhow, he’s a scoundrel!” affirmed the first speaker. ‘'I never have seen a more vil- lainous face. Why, his eyes fairl epee with evil. Ud hate to meet him in a dark night, if he had a revolver and I had five dollars!” ‘‘He may be an escaped murderer!” How much’ longer this conversation continued Sunrise Saul did not know, Once more he took his case of books, and began to make a tour of the cars, The train was flashing along the rails at a high rate of speed. Rocks, trees, houses, vil- lages and cities appeared and disappeared like rushing specters. At the south, now and then, a glimpse of Long Island Sound could be seen, its waters glittering in the midsummer sun, Saul’s mind was wholly on his work, and he had forgotten all individual cases, but several old acquaintances were suddenly recalled to his mind as he reached a certain point in one of the cars. A nasal voice arose and inquired: “ Boy, hev you got Bunyani’s ‘ Pilgrim’s Progress’ with you?” This peculiar question led Saul to use his eyes more freely, and he saw Mr, Abner Plunket, of Haybottom, Conn., looking gravely at him over his old spectacles, And by Plunket’s side was Buck Jockway. ' No, sir,” Saul responded; “‘I haven’t the book,” ‘That's odd!” ‘‘1¢t would be rather heavy for railroad use,” ‘“Tt’s pesky good!” asserted Mr. Plunket. ‘‘No doubt, Can I sell you anything else?” — ‘‘ Not o’ that trash,” Abner gave a snort so contemptuous that Saul went on and left him, When Buck Jockway changed cars he went to complete a group which had a good deal of interest, if not of romance, in it. First, there was the man who claimed to be from Lame Horse, with his mission of ven- geance—with a marked man and a marked woman who had done some evous wrong, and upon whom he intended to be revenged. Next, there was Abner Plunket, openly in- forming people that the church at Haybottom had raised a sum of money for the heathen in Africa; that he was the agent carrying it to Boston: that he had the money in his pocket at that minute. ; ; And back of this assorted pair were Mr. Enonbridge and Emmie, bound for some point at the Hast to give aid to se 4p Enonbridge, who had gotten into trouble with the law. As Saul passed on, Jockway turned to his company. ‘What's that I understood ye ter say about bunions?” he innocently asked, ‘* Hey?’ questioned Plunket. , “You asked the boy fur a bunion-cure, ef I understood correck,” | ** ‘Yew didn’t so understand.” “sé No?” “It was Bunyan’s ‘ Pilgrim’s Progress,’ ® ** 'W hat’s that?” 7 ‘“*A book.” — **On bunions?” 7 “Great land! no;, it’s a‘religious book.” “B) Judas! that sod I never heerd of it bes. * ‘ 7 * ety es , Mivte | fa s => Ty , =< — ~ —— | i | [ | a " -_ Lal . * . - - * Z - > — ‘or gi; com wo?