Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 659 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

14 ‘¢ All right, I won’t,” the girl assured. A step was heard then, just around the bend of the trail, and a man came into view. Amelia almost forgot her promise, though she had recognized the voice of the ex-postmaster, for the man who presented himself was not of attractive appearauce, He looked like the very ‘‘ bardest” of hard- looking Western roughs, and over his face was a mask. ‘Don’t be frightened,” he reassured; ‘‘it is I. Of course it is necessary for me to be in disguise with the suspicion that Iam Morgan the outlaw upon me. re you ready to go?” ‘‘Yes, Morgan, I am ready,” was the as- * surance. * ‘‘ And you have got the money with you?” Neither saw the form that was preparing to spring down upon them from a rock just above and to the right of where they stood, nor the : other form that was creeping stealthily upon ' them from behind the girl. ‘Yes, I have got the money,” the girl as- "> oy” sured, ‘¢ Then, little fool, give it to me this instant,” , was the startling demand, “for I am indeed | Moonlight Morgan, and this ruse was but to get hold of your father’s boodle,” The girl fell back with a half-uttered cry, and dropped to the road in a dead faint, and in the same instant another form sprung forward and & took her place, 4 It was the form of the man who had been fol- s Seri her, and a ready revolver was in his hand. The man on the rock above, just on the point of springing down, checked himself and looked on in surprise. The outlaw started back a step, and his hand flew behind him, ** Hold! Hudson Haverstraw!” cried a woman’s voice, It was Azora Warrick in male attire! ‘*- You!” the villain gasped, as for an instant he paused, ‘Yes, I,” was the response; “and your time hascome. Die, like the coward, thief, and mur- derer that you are!” As she spoke the final word she fired, but her | bullet was harmless, The man dropped . down, and as soon asthe weapon had spit out its spiteful charge of lead and fire he was up again, a revolver in his own hand. ‘‘Ha, ha, hal” he laughed, “not yet, little 3 _ tiger;” and with the words he made a leap for- a ward to seize her. | Another second and she would bave been in : his murderous CHAPTER XVI. THE EXPECTED END. ~~ Tue failure of ber shot so dismayed the wo- . man that she stood as though she no power rt to move. She might have fired again, perhaps, had she been an expert in the use of the weapon fe she held, but she was not. But help was at hand, for, as the villain leaped forward to seize her, down sprung a man from --—s the rock above, landing upon the outlaw and op bearing him to the ground, # There was a brief struggle, a slight clicking sound was heard, and one of the men rose to his f feet leaving the other upon the earth with hand- cuffs upon his wrists. The map who arose was—Cibuta John! and te Moonlight Morgan at last was in his erip. | ieee He had disarmed his prisoner, and lifting his mg ke hat to the woman who stood before him in male PS attire, he said: Miss Warrick, you have just escaped what might have proved your death, You were fool- ish to take such a risk.” Seeing that she was safe, the woman’s courage returned. ; ‘“‘T thank you for saving me, sir,” she said, me’. “7. boped to , in this way, the revenge I ‘have been seeking so long. I bad no idea that ee he could escape my weapon at such close range.” ‘Your revenge will be complete when you know that he has been hanged,” the sheriff ob- served. ‘* Please see if you can restore that girl to consciousness,” he added; and then called: ; ‘¢ Come forward, men!” . ae In a few brief moments a dozen men were ‘upon the spot. They sprung down the rocks, drop the saree and seemed to, rise out out of the very ground. Pe The daring outlaw had walked into a trap of FS his own g,and from which there could _—s dave been no escape. ¥ ~~ a -__ — -- ee esti essence meses te ete el pt : ? cut . ri 3 ‘ ane * hee Low he < A } e , Moonlight Morgan. Laying hold u to his feet, and his face. An exclamation of surprise escaped from every one present except Cibuta himself, It was not the face of the ex-postmaster and outlaw that was revealed, but that of the stran- ger sport—Ducats Dion. ‘* Is it possible!” exclaimed the inspector, who had made one of the ambushing party. ‘“‘Tt is the fact,” responded Cibuta, ‘‘ as you can see. I suspected him from the first, but did not want to breathe my suspicion for fear he might learn of it.” ‘Yes, it is the fact,” spoke up the prisoner; ‘and now that the game is up, [ hope you are satisfied. I gave you a long hunt.” ‘‘And now a rope awaits you,” Cibuta re- minded, sternly. Azora Warrick had by this time succeeded in restoring Amelia Haydon to consciousness, and as soon as the girl was able to walk the sheriff ordered a return to the town, ¢ was about one o’clock in the morning when they filed into Ante-Bar, and the town was dark and silent, Dogs soon began to bark here and there, how- ever, and Cibuta directed his men to startle the natives by making all the noise they could, They began to shoot off their revolvers and to yell with all the power of their lungs, and it seemed as though an invading host had entered the valley. ‘* Come! hustle out here! you sleepy galoots!” they yelled; ‘‘ here is the great and only great- est show on earth, right at your doors! Git into yer boots, you lazy vipers! and come out here and help us how]! We’ve got that p’izen sin- ner, Moonlight Morgan, dead ter rights this time! Come! hustle out here, everybody!” A thousand such cries, it seemed, made night hideous, and the citizens soon came tumbling in- to the street to learn what all the noise was about, The big moon was overhead and it was almost as light as day. Judge of the surprise when the people of Ante- Bar beheld their sheriff alive and well! Their lungs could not give sufficient expression to their joy. Drums, horns, tin pans—anything and everything that could be used to make a noise was brought into requisition, and for a quarter of an hour the uproar was deafening. Any one approaching the town, then would have thought that Ante-Bar had gone suddenly, mysteriously and violently crazy: , When the serenade began to subside a little, then Cibuta was called upon to make a speech, and a big box was brought from the porch of Bob Burdock’s store for him to stand on, Cibuta mounted the box at once, and when the crowd had become quiet, said: ‘‘ Fellow-citizens, I suppose you want me to tell you, first of all how 1 came to life again, I will doso. When this rascal stabbed me I was partly stunned for the moment, but was not seriously burt. _That charm which you all know I wear caught the point of the dagger and turned it aside, so that it inflicted only a flesh- wound, The thought came to me at once that it might serve me well to let the rascal think he had killed me, so 1 made out that I was sare hurt, and later the report was sent out that was dead. Really, as soon as the doctor had dressed the wound, I went out the back way and set out to capture him. You see it is all easily explained. ‘‘ Knowing. that the fellow was to be at the fork of the South Trail at midnight, I went there with my men, and you see the result.” The speech went on to some length, as the sheriff set forth all the particulars of the affair, but it is not necessary to quote it, as all the material facts are known to the reader. In the mean time Amelia Haydon had quietly regained the house, and Azora Warrick had sought her room and changed her attire. No one had‘known of the part she intended to lay. - Getting her points at the same time and in the same manner in which Cibuta John had gained them, from the letters found upon Amelia Hay- don, she had then and there resolved that she would follow the girl and shoot the rascal at sight. tet be When Cibuta’s — ended the prisoner was taken to the jail, though there was a great cry that he ought to be hanged without delay; and a pes wae over him so that escape was next mpossible. But, the town did not again settle down to quiet, but kept up its jubilee for the rest of the night, in honor of the capture. f Next day the outlaw made a confession of his n the fellow, they jerked him ibuta snatched the mask from Q $ é . ¥ a ’ { 3 Lf, ae | \ ~* @ r ‘ 4 pe ~ i i wai Se vit ee ae ay i-" ‘ ; “ iw rhe Be - Py aren be Ont rte k, Ors AE Pt oe les WN Be me a a Publishers, 98 William Street, New York. ies (ise eth. = misdeeds, and it was seen that his whole career had been one of rascality and evikdoing. His true name, he stated, was plain Hiram Brown. He owned that he was the ‘* Hudson Haverstraw” who had married and deserted the sister of Azora Warrick, Kate Delmonte; Azora’s real name being Sarah Delmonte., It bad been his intention to make good his escape as soon as he had secured the wealth of Steve Haydon, which he fully believed Amelia would bring to him, That, be thought, added to what he had, would make him rich for life. As all his plunder was found upon him when he was taken, it required no further search to get hold of that. He it was who had played the role of Drift- about. When pursued, he would return to town by a secret path, change his attire in a cave he bad discovered, and come boldly into town, Then, when opportunity offered, he would assume his proper character. On the occasion of bis escape from the post- office inspector, by gamping out of the window of the saloon, he had simply dodged around the corner, run tothe front and crossed the street, and ae made his escape in a direction unex- cted. He it was, too, who had thrown the stone in at the window of the jail at the time when Cibuta and the inspector were there together, and also he had hanged the stuffed figure to the tree in the court-house yard, ; All the other little points were as easily and simply explained. The Jettcrs he had mailed to Walla Walla were simply a blind, In due time he was tried, convicted and hanged, Azora Warrick, as she was still known, bad in the mean time received her money from the Bast, and remained until after the trial and execution, when sbe set out to return to New York, In the characters of ‘‘ Moonlight Morgan” and ‘** Ducats Dion” the villain had stolen the titles he had adopted. These men were of the far Northwest, and it may be our pleasure, at some future time, to chronicle some of their — adventures, Certain it is that neither of them would have, been proud of their thieving and self-appointed namesake, Jim Jones, the old-time Cupid, drifted out of ve the place, and has not been seen there since, ) Cibuta John had pretty effectually cured the : bully of any desire to run the town, Inspector Riggles and his man returned East, where theyeere able to report that the oo ac at Ante-Bar had been thoroughly settled. justice to the inspector, it must be said that he \ put the honor where it belonged, taking little . credit to himself, To him Cibuta John was the ‘noblest Roman of them all.” THE END. e: f / Am all Beadle’s Dime Library. BY J. C. COWDRICK. 890 The Giant Cupid: or Cibuta John’s Jubilee. he 422 Blue Grass Burt, the Gold Star Detective. t 436 Kentucky Jean, the Sport from Yellow Pine, ty 452 Rainbow Rob, the p from Texas, 473 Gilbert of Gotham, the Steel-arm Detective. 499 Twilight Charlie, the Road Sport. 519 Old Riddles, the Rocky Ranger 557 The Mountain Graybeards; or, Old Riddles* Greatest Riddle. 565 Prince Paul, the Postman Detective. 580 Shadowing a Shadow. BY CAPTAIN MARK WILTON. 4 176 Lady Jaguar, the Robber Queen. 4 194 Don Sombrero. the California Road Gent. 202 Cactus Jack, the Giant Guide. 219 The Scorpion Brothers; or, Mad Tom’s Mission, 223 Canyon Dave, the Man of the Mountain, 227 Buckshot Ben, the Man-Hunter of Idaho. 237 Long-Haired Max; or, The Black League. 45 Barranca Bill, the Revolver Champion 258 Bullet Head, the Colorado Bravo. 263 Tron-Armed Abe, the Hunchback Destroyer. 266 Leopard Luke. the King of Horse-Thieves. 271 Stonefist, of Big Nugget Bend. 276 Texas Chick. the Southwest Detective, ex 285 Lightning Bolt, the Canyon Terror. 291 Horseshoe Hank, the Mawof Big Luck, 805 Silver-Plated Sol, the Montana Rover. j f 811 Heavy Hand; or, The Marked Men. 323 Hotspur Hugh; or, The Banded Brothers. A new issue every Wednesday. Beadle’s Dime Library is for sale Newsdealers, ten cents per copy, or sent by mailom receipt of twelve cents each, BEADLE & ADAMS, im 7} Q&ABAatesiock «5 te . & meweeeeee . _ Pity by all es my ey 4 7 . ’ . f ‘ . Rite , as ' r ‘a 6 a rs = — Lv : A - Let yy omicb 22. 2 a a ae 7 —* pete ‘