Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 763 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

TS. PY =F = AY Asch LT kk a - ee eee ee ee ee ae ee a te ae en ee Fe mgt ee eg —_—— - ————— a a4 ; Cr re eee eee Bf «deserted, fleeing like the real coward heis! She did not take her life, but she followed him, and in this town she is known as Mad Mona. She is the wreck of the girl [ once loved, and my name is Andrew Keefer, I have also searched for Frank Delmar, and in this town I found him. ‘To-night the wretch murdered a man who had / won money at his faro table. I will leave it to -youif be does not deserve death?” ‘**'Yes, yes! Lynch kim! lvnch bim!” Savage was the how! for blood that arose on ‘the night air. ‘*Tom Lewis is doomed!” muttered Vane, ** That mob is ready for any tragic work,” “Hooray!” bellowed Major Wagg. ‘‘ When the rascal we do see, we will hang him to a tree!’ ‘* He is somewhere in that building!” rung out "the voice of Andrew Keefer, ‘* Drag him out!” was the cry, ** He will fight like a cornered beast.” That will not help bim!” ‘* Are you ready tv search the place?” ** Yes, yes!” ‘* Then draw your weapons and follow me!” Keefer led the way, and, uttering savage «cheers, the mob followed at his heels, Into the place they swarmed, lights were secured, and tbe search begun. Vane mingled with the searchers, ‘*T want to be on band when he is found,” mut- “tered the sport. ‘* | must take a last look at Tom Lewis,” It was useless to think of checking that mob. “The men were wild and their fury was bound- Jess. Plainly Tom Lawis’s employees had taken the alarm and made themselves scarce, for not one of them was found. The saloon was desert- ed, and many of the mob made for the unguard- ed liquors, ‘Now, the very Old Nick will bato pay!” thought the sport. ‘* Drink will make them crazy.” He was right. The whole building was search- ed, and things generally were smashed, As the moments passed and the gambler was not found, the anger of the mob increased, if possible. ‘*By heavens! he may have escaped!” mut- “tered Violet Vane, But the mob did not seem to think of that. ** Ho’s hidden somewhere!” yelled a voice, ‘* Fire the building!” shouted another, ** It is a curse to the town!” asserted a third. Vane made bimself heard, and warned them against firing the building, for it might mean -destruction to the entire place. But he was too late, More than one _half-intoxicated man had started a blaze, One threw a burning lamp into a corner, and the oil instantly ignited, In ‘less than a minute The Trap was doomed. When the Velvet Sport saw this, he retreated ‘to the open air and saw the mob come pouring out. Nearly half of the men carried bottles of diquor they bad captured. ** Another day will witness a hiJarious town,” ‘thought Vane. It happened the wind was still, and so only one building was put in danger from the fire, “That was saved by the efforts of the owner and his friends, ‘“* This yere’s what I calla great large time!” said, Major Wagg, as he discovered the sport watching the fire, One look at Wagg revealed the fact that he had already been indulging freely in intoxicants, | -and in each hand he held a bottle. B ‘“*Erastus,” said Vane, reproachfully, ‘‘ you have broken your pledge!” ‘*Great jehocus!” cried the major, in conster- mation. ‘“‘Solhev! Too bad, toobad! Can't ; be holped now, pard, so here goes fer ‘nother \ nip.” | By this time the fire was at its height, Suddenly there was a wild scream, and a ‘figure darted toward the flames, crying: *‘ He is in there! I will perish with him!” co} "© It was Mad Mona, and before a hand could be lifted to stop her, she plunged into the furnace Of fire and was swallowed from human eyes for- ever! fee Te | CHAPTER XVII. | ae THE STORY ENDS, . ' A DARK night and a storm coming swiftly on, t All around rugged and desolate mountains rear ry “their heads toward thesky. ‘The country is wild We and unsettled—a desolate region by day and one _\ “to inspire horror by night, ‘ Sullen thunder shakes the earth and zig-zag mt Hoe ‘flashes of lightning play through the black mass ey ~of clouds, a: Afoot and alone, a man is picking his way along the mountain-side, He almost staggers as aad ce (y A = SX 5 Penh . : us Violet Vane’s Vision. >———— Ss - | - —-- — — he makes his way along, and the lightning re- veuls a ghastly, haggard face—big, wild eyes that have the look of a hunted thing in their depths, Listen! He has paused and is muttering, as he gazes wildly around, | ‘*T wonder if I shall see it again to-night,” comes hoarsely from his hps, ‘‘ That band of fire has pursued me everywhere. Jam so I dare not close my eyes in sleep, for then it is always dancing before me! I bave no shelter from the storm—I am more unprepared to meet it than the wild animal that hasa holein the earth! And this hunger—this horrible bunger gnawing at my vitals! I have lived on roots and berries for four days. Water I have been lucky in finding, but how much longer will it last? I feel that the end is near!” The wretched creature shivers and {groans, as he crouches on the mountain, and, as if in mockery of his groans, the thunder rumbles sullenly, <A little while before the wind was shrieking in the black gorges below him, but now its weird voice is hushed, The stillness between the peals of thunder is terrible to the lope man, **T can’t°endure it!” he mutters. And then his voice shouts: ‘‘ Howl, wind, bowl! I must hear a noise! Silence will drive me to suicide! A little while agu I fancied your shrieks were the cries of condemned souls, and the sounds terrified me, Now, your silence is worse than your shrieks, ‘* W bat phantoms have haunted me during my flight!” he groans, covering bis eyes with his bands, ‘* All my black sins have pursued me! I have suffered the tortures of hell! And I know I am getting no morethanI deserve! Oh, if [ could only live my life over again, bow dif- ferent [ would make it! Had I not taken the first wrong step, { would not be the hunted thing I am to-night. It began when I took my first drink of liquor, for I can trace my downward steps from that moment, **I did not kill Zane in New York. She must have recovered before the gas did its deadl work, and she has been searching for me all these years, But Andrew Keefer ig dead. My hands ended his life in the streets of Palace City.” ‘** You are mistaken,” says a steady voice, and a black figure confronts the villain. ‘‘ You did not kill me, Frank Delmar, but I have followed to kill you /” With a scream of mortal terror, the bunted man starts back. A flash of lightning shows him the face and form of Zane Darcy’s lover, Andrew Keefer, ‘Great God!” gasps the astounded wretch, ** Tt is a spirit!” ‘‘It is no spirit,” is the stern answer. ‘‘Zane died in the flames of your den, well called The Trap, and I am here to avenge all her wrongs! I sball cast you down into that black abyss, and you will be dashed to death on the rocks at the bottom!” The next instant the speaker hurls himself upon the crouching man, A savage struggle ensueil on the very brink of the precipice. The storm is over them, and the fiery lightning is appalling. A few dropsof rain come paitering down, ina momenta torrent will follow, Suddenly the hunted man shrieks: ‘The Hand of Fire—/J see it !” Down from the clouds darts a thunderbolt, like the flery executor of an angry Heaven, It strikes the crag on which the two men are struggling, and a mighty mass of earth and stone goes thundering into the gorge below, car- rying two human beings with it! The end has come! In the bed of the gorge the mass of earth buried the two deadly foes in one si there to await the Day of Judg- ment Dan Burns and Sam Hobbs disappeared from Palace City, and never again showed their heads in that town, Probably they thought it would not be wise for them to do so—and they were right. They would have been in danger of being lynched, © Mark Marden was not fatally wounded, al- though Lewis had intended to send the bullet straight through the heart of the man be be- lieved to be Violet Vane, Vane and Mark had been working together in bunting Lewis down, and they had done their best to puzzle the villain and his chosen | tools. In this they had been very successful, for Lewis bad never been able to tell whether Finch or the Parson was the sport, Vane had been disguised as the little fire- eater, Burns’ and Hobbs had been puzzled in the ’ 3 : A , . y/ : : sah laia bes fire: Mi pebiibi’ 2M iets gale LPS Ma Phe ae. ear as ravine by means of an underground passage that led from the old but to the thicket, Neither of the ruffians bad been sharp enough to discover the entrance to the passage. That in the hut had been concealed by a mass of dead brush, and the one in the tnicket was beneath a flat stone, on which Burns had stood, Suspecting they were shadowed, the disguised men had en- tered at opposite points and passed each other in the passage. The passage had been accidentally discovered by Marden some days before Vane’s appearance in Placer City. The **Hand of Fire” had been the combined work of phosphorus and a tiny magic lantern, With the lantern, Vane had cast a ray through the window of Lewis’s sleeping-room and made it fall on the wall in the shape of a gleaming band gripping a dagger. What the haunted man seemed to see afterward was all the imagining of a dream, ‘*Wa-al, pard,” observed Major E. Wagg, Esq., as be.inspected Vane, wbo was attired ina dress-suit, ‘‘ you’re jest a holy stunner! Why, you look soft as milk! Never’d anyboddy think you wuz a bowlin’ horror on stilts an’ a b-a-a-d man ter straddle, But, by jehocus! J know ye! You an’ I hev fit an’ bled an’ died tergether, an’ I doasseverate you’re ther dernedst t leetle man thet ever wore pants!” ‘‘Your estimate is altogether too higb,” smiled Vane, ‘If the plain truth was known, I should witber in your estimation amazingly.” | ‘‘Nary wither, pard! An’ now you're goin’ ter be merried! Ob, wow! An’ thet gal! Holy poker! bain’t she a plum! It makes my mouth watter ev’ry time I look at ber! Ef I bedn’t got so all-danged stout, I’d cut ye out with her an’ left ye in ther lurch, Mebbe I c’u’d’a’ done it any old how,” ‘‘T am glad you did not try, then.” ‘*Oh, 1 ’member our friendsbip, ye know, S-a-a-y,” in a hoorse whisper, ‘‘ is thar goin’ ter be wine arter ther agony is over?” ‘“*T guess not, Erastus, You know | am strict- ly temperate,” . Wage was disappointed, but he looked re- ieved, ' “* Pm glad o’ thet,” he forced himself to say. ‘*T w’u’dn’t want ter ’pear rude, ye know, an’ so I sb’u’d hated awfully ter declined, Ef I’d drunk, I’d bruck my pledge, ye see.” A little later, the wedding came off. Mark Marden, looking pale but bappy, was best man, However, the major succeeded in capturing the first kiss from the bride, which caused him to strut about like a peacock. And, indeed, his showy new clothes and glittering diamonds made bim seem like one, Lona bad never been more beautiful in all ber life. Her cheeks were flushed and her blue eyes were filled with a happy ligbt of love, All the world looked rosy-hued before her, Never did Vane experience a more delicious thrill than when, alone with his bride, she clasp- ed an arm around his neck aud softly whispered in bisear: — ** My husband !” THE END, Beatles Dime Libvary. BY WM. G. PATTEN. 663 The Giant Sport; or, Sold to Satan. 056 Old Piug Ugly, the Rough and Ready. 648 Gold Glove Gid, the Man of Grit. 641 Aztec Jack, the Desert Nomad, 631 Colonel Cool, the Santa Fe Sharp. 602 Captain Nameless. the Mountain Mystery, 571 Old Dismal, the Range Detective, 545 Hustler Harry, the Cowboy Sport, BY LIEUT, A. K. SIMS, 688 The River Rustlers; or, The Detective from Way Back. 673 Stuttering Sam, the Whitest Spore of Santa Fe, 666 Old Adamant, the Man of Rock. 618 Kansas Karl, the Detective King. 2 Prince Primrose, the Flower of the Flock, 528 Huckleberry, the Foot-Hills Detective. BY LEON LEWIS. 624 The Submarine Detective: or, The Water Ghouls. 484 Captain Ready, the Red Ransomer. 431 The Silent pee or, The Bogus Nephew, ° 456 The Demon Steer. 428 The Flying Glim; or, The Island Lure. A new issue every Wednesday, Beadle’s wine Mer ospen ue td sale by all lers, ten cents per copy sen mail on rons ce twelve cents each. EADLE & ADAM Publishers, 98 William street, New York, EOMmMic 1g \ 4 is , mn ¥ \ t > ’ s \ « | # . | \ ; t