Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 67 — page 7: what you’re looking at

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

al | ; _m life— precious life!—hah !—ha-a-h !” {adhere to her pledge. Patent-leather Joe. And her voice rose to a shrill shriek of ago-| Exhausted nature sought her proper medica- nized fear. ment, and without warning he sunk into slum- By this time Arthur had recovered from the ber, from which he awoke perhaps an hour deadly faintness that had prostrated him. later much refreshed. Supporting himself on his knees by clinging Patent-leather Joe lay like a baffled demon. to the bed, he leveled his revolver at his would- | be murderer, and cried: _ ‘“Halt! I hold your life in my hand; but I have no desire to kill you unless you make it unavoidable.” ‘‘ Hah!—hah!—hah!” panted the gambler, whom baffled rage had almost deprived of rea- son, so that for the time he was more a wild beast than a human being. ‘And do you dream that I will now yield to you? You give me my life—ha—a-h ! my life !—if I will tame- ly surrender!—if I will lick the dust at your feet and whine:—Take the hope of my life!— take the love of my life!—take the revenge of life!—only leave me life itself—hah !—sweet ness, sat in the middle of the floor, with the rocking back and forth, and moaning in a low voice. Arthur rose, feeling very weak and tremulous, and went out of the cave tosearch for bere- nice, All was still in the vale save for Nature’s varied life. The girl was nowhere to be seen. He called aloud:— ‘* Berenice |” There was no response. Still louder :— ‘* Berenice !” Only the whir of the startled thrush answer- ed him. | Then he made search for her, thinking that If you are to rob me of my soul’s core, | she might be lying in a swoon. that I may not know my loss! | His eye was rewarded no more than his ear. War!—war to the death! You shall have all, If he had only Nero’s true nose to guide him or nothing!” to her! But Nero lay still in death. And raising his clenched hand with its mur- Coming upon the tracks of a horse evidently derous knife on high, he sprung forward to the | going at speed from the glen, he paused to ee Wildly he dashed the blood from his eyes and cried: ** No! let my body rot attack. . speculate on their significance. At that instant Arthur Hamilton’s revolver | Had Berenice ridden the horse? and if so, whither had she gone? loded. “vith a look of anguish and horror Patent- leather Joe recoiled. The knife ee from his nerveless hand. His arm sunk shattered and helpless at his side! It was not so much the physical pain, as the overwhelming consciousness that his foe had re- to take his life, as he might have ree Doubtless for help. In that case whom would she ask? She might go to Virginia City, or— He started with a sudden idea, She might seek Flash Lightning! So forcibly did this thought strike him that, without further reflection, S set out to follow but instead had rendered him helpless, so that | the trail. he must live on and know that Arthur had/| Patent-leather Joe and Aunt Sue were noth- triumphed. a him, if only he got Berenice. It never occurred to him that Berenice might e never stopped to think whether it was wise or not to leave them in the cave together. In coming out he had brought his own weap- ons; but he had not taken the precaution to re- move those Delonge to Patent-leather Joe. The gambler heard Arthur calling Berenice’s name, and knew by the diminishing loudness with which his voice could be heard that he was going further and further from the mouth of the cave. The desperate man saw one more chance, ‘‘Aunt Sue!” he said, in a decisive, yet not unkind tone. The woman looked up very much in her ordi- nary manner. | He thought that Arthur had already won her from her allegiance, and in imagination saw her clinging to her love and shrinking from him in abhorrence. The thought goaded him toa frenzy of des- peration. ‘Not yet!—not yet!” he cried, and stooped to pick up the knife with his left hand. ut the maniac had seen the weapon fall; and darting forward, she snatched it up before he could reach it. At the same time she uttered a scream of exultation, as a vulture might in pouncing upon its prey. With an oath of such concentrated rage that it seemed as if his heart might leap from his; ‘‘Get mea drink of water,” he added in the throat, Patent-leather Joe seized her by her | same tone. long hair and hurled her violently to the floor | The woman got up of the cavern. | looking Coutdared The knife flew ont of her hand beyond recov- | sive. ery. |“ Untie this knot for me,” he said, when he Patent-leather Joe had now nothing but his ; had drank the water. empty hands, and one of them helpless, while The woman looked at him and began to trem- his foe held four lives in the chambers of his | ble. revolver; but the desperate gambler had no | From him she looked about the apartment, as thought of abandoning the unequal struggle. if vaguely contemplating flight. With an inarticulate cry which sounded like It was a supreme moment! the snarl of a wild beast, he sprung upon If her shattered intellect. picked up again, the Arthur, bearing him to the floor. | thread for which it was evidently groping, he With a magnanimity and presence of mind | was lost! which few men so circumstanced would have If the habit of long years of ive submis- displayed, instead of seeking his assailant’s life, | sion prevailed, then 1 was a free man once the young man dropped his revolver, and seiz- | More, ready to renew the struggle! ing Patent-leather Joe’s wounded arm, gave it ‘‘Come! I am in a hurry!” he said, though a violent wrench. his voice trembled, with the momentous issue. With a scream of anguish the gambler fainted ‘‘Forgive me,” she said, deprecatingly, and and went to do his bidding, and somewhat apprehen- away; and the struggle was at an end. knelt down and began to pick at his bonds. | One knot was removed. Then she paused and | passed her hand across her brow. CHAPTER X. | ce What has happened?” she asked. ‘“ I thought I saw— ‘* Why are youso slow? Call Berry. Or, no —you shall do it yourself. Now be quick, Sue! I can’t wait here all day!” Patent-leather Joe’s heart was in his mouth. His impatience was of a different sort from that simulated by his voice, With a thrill of renewed hope, he saw Aunt Sue resume her work, with a sigh of hopeless- ness, Her incautious handling of his wounded arm racked him with acutest agony; yet he made nosign, A cry of pain might furnish the mis- sing clew to her clouded mind. At last the trying ordeal was over—his hand was free! THE QUEST--PATENT-LEATHER JOE’S DELIVER- ANCE—TRACKED!—AT THE MERCY OF HIS FOE! For some time after the termination of his desperate struggle with Patent-leather Joe, Arthur Hamilton lay exhausted, partly under the body of his now unconscious foe. Aunt Sue lay at a little distance, stunned by ber fall. When he had gathered sufficient strength, Arthur rid himself of the burden of the gam- bler’s body, and rising with some difficulty, tot- | tered across the apartment, to where he could oe his flagging energies by @ draught from a sk of spirits. His next precaution was to bind Patent-| Then he was master of the situation, and with leather Joe securely, no misgivings ordered her to make a sling for He then lay down on the bed, expecting that | his shattered arm. Berenice would soon venture into the cave, her | When she saw his arm bandaged she shrunk fears allayed by the cessation of the sounds of , away from him with slow-coming conscious- strife. ness. | | | Aunt Sue, who had also recovered conscious- | 9 skirt of her dress thrown over her bowed head, | He must fire with his left hand, and co a i LE RR re é a He cared nothing for her now, bu without a word or glance. Fifteen minutes after Arthur Hamiltcn left the glade, the avenger was on his trac!:! , Patent-leather Joe caught glimpses of h's rival now and then among the crags, and ic..owed. on, intending to take him at a disadvr: ao .a no afford to run any risks, He must crc, upon him, and shoot him in the back at sit range! All uneonscious of the peril, in. bis rear, Arthur hastened on, giving his whole o‘tention to trailing the animal he supposed to Laye been ridden by Berenice. In health he had scrambled among t. o, rocks with the untiring activity of a moynts - goat ; Now his pulses throbbed and bis head swam, and his knees tottered under him, 1 Every onee in a while. he would stop to lean against a rock and regain his breath, and to dissipate the black spots that began to float be- fore his vision. Then he would tol on, until he was nearly blind, and strange fancies, began to mingle with realities. i He had proceeded perhaps half the distance to Flash Lightning’s home, when he lost the trail. For a time he was dimly conscious of search- ing to regain it. Then he lost the knowledge of where he was going, and why, and so wan- dered on and on aimlessly. Patent-leather Joe saw this, and interpreted it. aright. With a horrible grimace of malig- nant hate and triumph, he began to creep up on his intended victim. He had diminished the distance to less than a hundred paces, and was watching his opportu- nity to close in upon him and end all, when Arthur caught sight of a figure with fluttering robes moving on before hi le** her him. To his eye, which had lovingly studied every detail of her dress and personal appearance, Berenice was immediately revealed, and his mind took cognizance of her even amid the vapors of fevered delirium. e quickened his pace, and called: ** Berenice!” Without looking back, the terrified girl sunk upon her knees and buried her face in her hands. Arthur gained her side, bent over her, and laid his hand on her shoulder. | As if at his touch, she collapsed and sunk vn- conscious. As the reader knows, she was over’ powered by fear of Old Rattlesnake. Patent-leather Joe witnessed this reunion of his betrothed and his rival, and in his blind rage he ran against a projecting rock with his wounded arm. The pain was so intcuse that he sunk to the ground in utter helplcsness, and had to fight hard not to lose conse.ousness in the awful nausea and vertigo that seized him. A new thought tortured him. 3 There were two of them now. How could ha creep upon them without being detected? He did not know that Berenice lay unconscious, ané | that Arthur was so absorbed in seeking to re- store her, that he might have walked up to him with no precaution whatever, and knocked him on the head with a stick. Presently he grew desperate and staggered te his feet, resolved to risk all on a singe cifort. But he had wasted precious moments in deg pondent thought. Arthur had dropped brandy between the lipe of his beloved, and hung over her, chafing her hands and appealing to her with every endear ing epithet his tongue could frame, until at las* she opened her eyes and recognized him. Then he took her in his arms; and she clung to him, forgetful of all else. So Patent-leather Joe found them; and a sup ressed howl of rage from his lips, and a stone oosened by his incautious foot, warned them oi his approach. With a scream the girl tore herself from hep lover’s arms. ‘Oh! here is Walt again!” she cried. ‘Ar thur! Arthur! let us fly!” She seized him by the arm and sought to dra him away with, her; but he stood still and fo at Patent-leather Joe, without 2 trace of recog: nition in, his eye. | “ Ah! a friend of yours?’ he asked, smiling. and with a half-bow to Joe. The girl’s heart:sunk :n despair. She saw that he was wandering. He was utterly help. less, not rational enough to fear his deadly foe. As for Patent-leather Joe, when he realized the situation he stopped and uttered a shriek of delight. Then he came up close to them, and stood regarding them with a sort of shivering laugh which was almost.the gibe of a maniac, so intense was his gloating hatred and exult , | Mmiecavoe (Eo) “S