Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 724 — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

. | He watched her till she bad cseepeeened, and there was a singular look upon his face. idly punching the — with a cane, His form was decidedly slender, and his clothes were a ‘snug fit.” The suit was plainly tailor-made, the figure being a ‘‘loud” check, He worea flashy red tie, and eyeglasses hung dangling from a cord. His patent-leather shoes were slender and pointed at the toes, ‘¢ That's splendid!” cried a merry voice, ‘‘ Give us some more.” He looked around to see a pretty girlof six- teen standing a short distance away, regarding him with eyes that were brimming with laugh- ter. In a moment he was on his feet, hat in hand, bowing politely. ‘a B-b-b-beg p-p-p-pardon,” he stammered, ad- justing the eyeglasses. ‘‘ What d-d-did you s-s-say ?” The girl showed her white teeth in a merry laugh, as she advanced fearlessly. j “*T asked you to sing some more, You do sing delightfully, but you talk awfully funny.” ‘*T-t-that’s so; I can s-s-sing, b-b-but I can’t talk worth a cuc-cuc-cuc-continential.” ‘* What’s the matter? Do you stutter?” ‘‘ Well, I d-d-don’t tut-tut-talk this way for fuf-fuf-fuf-fuf-fun,” he replied smiling. ““That’s too bad,” she declared, coming still closer and phe to look sober. ‘* You won’t miud because [ laughed, will you? I can’t belp sas, te everything; that’s why they call me Happy Harry.” ** Oh, I d-d-don’t care,” was his assurance, ‘I am used to b-b-being laughed at. Everybody laughs at me, Is yournun-nun-name Harry? I thought you were a gug-gug-girl.” “7 am,” ‘* But Harry is a bub-bub-bub-boy’s name,” ‘*Not in my case,” and she put her hands be- hind her and shook her curly head as she showed her teeth in a smile. ‘ That’s my name, and I’m agirl. Dick says I am an all-wool-and-a- yard-wide girl, too. ** Who is D-d-d-dick?” ‘* He is my bub-bub-bub-brother. Oh, say! don’t you mind my mocking you! It’s such jolly fun! I wish I stuttered! “Tf you d-d-did, you would wish you d-d-d- didn’t, Say, if people call you Harry, I reckon your nun-nun-name must be Harriet,” ‘Oh, how did you guess that? That is right. What is your name?” . **©-c-c-Charlie Ross; but almost everybody calls me S-s-stuttering Charlie.” “JT have never seen you before, I do not reckon you have been in White Water a great while.” ‘*T came to-day.” “* Are you going to stay long?” **T don’t know, I[t will be just as I happen to f-f-feel.” ‘*I hope you will stay,” said Harry, frankly. ‘* | like you.” ‘* Well, Iam ¢-g-glad of that,” laughed Char- lie, ‘‘I1-llike you. I suppose you 1-l-live with your fuf-fuf-folkes?’ She shook her bead, ‘‘No, Dick and I live all alone in that little cabin over there.” ‘* W-w-what!” Charlie appeared astonished. The girl laughed at his amazement. ‘*T suppose D-d-dick is a big fellow?’ he ob- served, ‘* He is two years younger than I.” ‘* W-w-what |” cried the stammerer again, “Tm giving it to you straight,” declared rae ‘“* How do you manage to g-g-get a living?” ‘** Oh, we pick it up in various ways,” was her evasive reply. ‘* The people here are good to us. Charlie regarded her closely, for it was plain she was concealing something from him, He asked her to sit down on the bowlder, but she declared she had rather stand, When he at- tempted to question her further about herself and her brother, she skillfully turned the conversation into anothercbanne]l. They talked for some time, then she declared she must return to the cabin. ‘*T would ask you to come and see us,” she said, with the upformal freedom of one who knows nothing of drawing-room etiquette, ‘*but, you see, Dick is not well and he has a bi dread of strangers, If you stay in hite Water, I may see you again.” She danced lightly away toward the cabin, turning once or twice to wave ber hand to him, It was impossible to tell what thoughts were ‘pass through his mind, for he uttered no word aloud, save the single word: “ Found , But, that was an expression of triumph, and Violet Vane’s Vengeance, there was a look of satisfaction on his face, He sat down on the bowlder and mused for a time, after which he rose and made his way to the hotel. In bis room he wrote along letter, which was directed as follows: ‘*MR. HORACE DANTON, No, 314 B—— Street, Philadelphia, Pa.” After this Charlie and Harry saw each other every day. He would wait patiently for hours to get a glimpse of her, but she always rewarded bim by seeing him for a minute, at least. He often tried to get her to talk about herself and her brother, but in this his success was dis- couraging. Whenever he approached the sub- ject, the smile would fade from her merry face aud something akin toa look of alarm would take its place. The men of White Water knew very little of the brother and sister. Every one liked the girl, but the boy was said to be a timid, pale- faced creature, with a strong inclination to con- sumption and an early grave. He was rarely seen outside the cabin. When they came to the pocket the waifs had enough money to purchase the little hut which served them asa home, The men of the camp had taken care they did not want for provisions, There was a story that once or twice on dark nights the form of a man had been seen to enter the cabin. Charlie endeavored to discover the person who had seen this, but no one seemed willing to assume the responsibility of the story. It was plaina mystery of some kind bung over the strange pair, Stuttering Charlie mind- ed not in the least the ridicule and rough jokes of the menof White Water. It seemed sure enough to every one that be had determined to solve the mystery. CHAPTER III, LIVING FOR VENGEANCE. FRANK STILLMAN made a popular mayor, even though he was absolutely fearless in his way of discharging the duties of his office. It is true he was not popular among a few of the toughest characters in White Water, but the number was small and none of them ventured to openly express their dislike of him. Had he been properly supported, Frank would have closed the saloons of the place to a certain extent, for, small though the town was, it had more than one saloon, But even Judge Whittles, who was one of the young mayor’s fastest friends, indulged freely in the glass that inebri- ates, and was against closing the liquor places, On the further side of the stream from the town, a narrow road of nature’s making led along the face of the perpendicular bluff that dropped down to the water’sedge. This road led upward till it finally reached the open mountain country some miles away. The mayor pointed out this road to the citi- zens and: easily convinced them it would be of vast importance in entering and leaving the pocket if it could be easily reached. As it was, there was but one entrance to the pocket, and that was anything but a satisfactory one. ‘*But how are you aw ter git over thar?” asked Judge Orson Whittles. ‘This yere stream hain’t goin’ ter be swum byer, an’ that’s facts. It'd be suicide ter try it, fer the water’d kerry a pusson down onter them thar rocks and them thar rocks would nacherlly chaw him up, hide, ha’r an’ boots, Ill ‘low I dunno of ary way of puttin’ that road ter use.” ‘Tt will be difficult,” admitted Frank; ‘* but it can be done.” ‘* How?” ‘* By building a bridge.” ‘‘By buildin’ a bridge!” echoed the judge. ‘Great Hannah! how are you goin’ ter git a bridge across hyer?” ‘Throw it across,” ‘** Danged if you hain’t gone plum’ c ! You may have quite a muskil, young man, but you can’t do that! That’d knock Geo ashing- ton’s throwing feat higher’n ther g-handled oe + ‘* But if the town will give me its support, I will guarantee to do it.” ** Blamed ef you shan’t hev ther support of ther town, even if you do want ter make a tar- nal fool of yourself ! But, I can’t git it through my old noddle how you're goin’ ter work ther racket,” ‘*Do you see those rocks there that rise so high above the surface of the stream?” “ft Wall, their heads weré above water duri the spring freshet. I will admit they did a0 rise very high above it then, but with slight ad- ditions, they will serve as supports for the bridge and will keep the structure above any flood that does not overflow the entire valley.” “Um!” grunted the judge. ‘* Well, go ahead with your bridge-makin’, I'll stand ahind ye.” It did not prove to be a very difficult thing to obtain the support of the town, and ina short time the bridge ws being built under Frank’s di- rections. It turned out to be @ less difficult thing than he had expected and was a pro- nounced success, A small amount of work on the road made it a practical one for travel either afoot or mounted, and a still greater amount of work would have made it a fair stage- road. Bat, that was not necessary at that time, This piece of work gave the citizens of White Water still greater confidence in their new mayor, rank’s home life was of the most beautiful character. With his wife and child he was per- fectly bappy, and since the birth of the little son the sad look had vanished from Ione’s face, The baby had given her something over which to occupy her mind and thus had aided her to for- get the unpleasant past. The child bad been given its father’s name, and, with little Frank in ber arms, the happy mother watched for her busband’s home-coming at noon and night, He had come to always look for her at the door, where she and the baby would claim his kisses, "giv nigbt he was filled with amazement and not a little alarm when he saw she was not wait- ing for him in ber usual place. ** What can it mean?” he exclaimed, as he hurried forward. ‘‘ Can anything have hap- pened?” The door was standing open, and before he entered he heard the baby crying. ‘** Must be sick,” he thought. But he found the child lying unattended in its crib, Prone in the center of the floor, face downward, lay its mother! s “My God—Ione!” he cried, leaping toward er. She did not stir—she lay like one who had sud- denly been stricken down by the hand of death! As he bent over her, he saw a slip of paper clasped in one white hand, There was writing on it! What did it mean? In a moment he bad read the words written upon the paper. They were: ‘Philip Howard still lives—/or vengeance !" After being driven out of White Water City, Black Burk was not heard from for some time. The citizens believed they had seen the last of him, despite his threat, and he was being swiftly forgotten. ut Burk was simply making pre carry his threat into execution. e day he struck his first blow, Some miles out of White Water the regular stage was halted by a band of masked men and completely looted. When the leader of the masked robbers gave the stage- driver permission to go on, he also said: ‘You may tell the people of White Water in general and my dear friend Frank Stillman in particular that Black Burk is still alive and has not forgotten him, 1 propose to take toll on this road for some time to come, Good day.” What a sensation this created in White Water! With what breathless interest did the citizens listen to the tale as told by the stage-driver, Snappy Seth!” ‘* Hooray!” shouted one half-intoxicated fel- low, ‘ White Water’s bound ter be a howlin’? ole town now we've got a band of ginoowine road-agents!” Some one promptly knocked him down! One of the passengers pushed his way to the center of the crowd. His clothes were decidedly ragged and he had the aspect of a tramp, de- spite the battered silk batof ancient style, which he wore tipped in a reckless manner ri tae the back of his head, a mass of wool-like hair curl- ing out around its base, His face was perfectly destitute ‘of beard, and his buge mouth was stretched in a grin that made his countenance resemble a full moon. In his buttonhole he wore an immense sunflower, | “T’m no Oscar Wilde,” he asserted, as he reached & position beside the stage-driver; ‘‘ but I'm a lulu, bet yer socks! I am called Old Sun- flower, gents, at yer sarvice,” removing his high hat and bowing. ‘I’m allus roun’ whar thar’s any fun or any fodder that needs eatin’ afore it spiles. I’m a sport. Jest at present Pm a trifle down onter my luck; but wait a bit an’ you'll see me whoopin’ her round this yere camp in broadcloth fine feathers, rations to ao > - :* i e £ oo ‘Yaar I y, > J y —) | FF 4 | avove) <S/ee)