Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 764 — page 7: what you’re looking at

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

~ . . - ; 72 . . . . ° — re em ~.. pie —“a-: roe —per >ae-de in ne st tee | i Oe Cin OF eee a oo coho nly =, - ~ Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Lone Hand. r é upon his feet, and demanded to be allowed to finish the job be had begun, ‘Never mind it now!” rejoined Dick, with- out effort. ‘‘I will finish him up, now that I have got hold of him, It won’t take me long.” ‘*Et won’t take ye long, won’t et!” cried the bullwhacker, ‘‘T’ll show ye about that ’ar! I'll chaw ye all up afore I am done with ye, and yer—” ‘*That will do,” interposed Richard, givin himashake, ‘Will you bebave yourself if let up on you? If not, which window do you prefer to make your exit at?” Dick Bristol], as we know, was a man of al- most sapecnaaas strength, and baving the van- tage hold helpless in his bands, aterstone looked on inamazement, For the first time it occurred to him that perhaps his friend had not tried before to overcome the big | ruffian, “Yas; Dll behave myself when I have laid you out,” the whacker howled, ‘I ain’t done with ye yet. Let up an’ give mea fair show, and see if I don’t put ye on yer back in jest about ther shortest—” ‘“Ob! you are blowing,” returned Dick. | “You had a chance to do that when I first tackled you. Why didn’t you do it then? | Come, nave you made your choice of the win- dows? If not, I'll pitch you out the nearest one., Say quick, if you have any preferences,” “Yer can’s do et, blast ye!” ‘ill try and convince you otherwise, Here you gol" With a wonderful showing of muscular power, Dick whirled bim around, swung him clear, and the next instant burled him forward, The man struck the window with a crash; the sash and glass flew into a thousand frag- ments, and oat went Bleezer Googin into the darkness on the other side, The crowd gave a wild shout, and as Dick turved to look for bis frienc aad ally, a sur- prise met him, There stood the mayor, with half a dozen or so of bis followers, with their revolvers presented at his, Dick’s, head. ** Up with yer hands!” commanded the mayor. ‘*Tf ye don’t, by the ’tarnal goshness ef we don’t make mincemeat of ye! We mean et this time, and no foolin’,” There was no doxwbting fit, and there was no chance to get out, Already 9s many more had Waterstone a pris- oner, and he was standing with his arms held by two men on each side of bim. In the same moment Dick was in the same fix, and both were belpless in the bands of that wild mob of Corduroy Crossing, the worst place in all the wild and woolly West. ‘“What do ye think of et now, Deadwood Dick?” the mayor demanded, ‘* Ye can’t fool us no more after that, Ha! ba! Et was a nice lit- tle trick, and et worked toacharm. Ha! ha!” ‘* Well, what’s on the programme now?” de- manded Dick, still as cool as ever. ( “We ruther think a leetle hangin’-bee will be about ther proper caper now,” spoke up one man, Aud the mayor agreed that that would be about the right thing, under the circumstances, and suggested that the svoner it came cff the better. , Long ere this the players and lookers-on in the gambling room had come out into the saloon, and among them was Nugget Nell, the gambler queen. Her face was slightly pale, She gave no attention to Waterstone, but her gaze seemed fixed upon Deadwood Dick, and her manner was slightly nervous, The bands of both men had now been bound, and they were prisoners indeed, ‘‘ Hello, there, stranger!” Nugget Nejl called out to Dick, Dick glanced around, and seeing who it was, responded, ‘* Hello!” he exclaimed. “ You are the lady I met in vbe woods,” ‘You bet,” was the rejoinder. ‘“ You made your boast that you weve coming here to skin the place. You don’t seem to be ina fair way for doing it just now,” ** That is the way it looks, certainly,” Dick aq- mitted, ‘‘ Fate seems to be against me just now, I am sorry, too, for I wanted to tackle your gaine, after I learned that you bad a game here,” , ‘* And I am sorry I cannot have the honor of accommodating you and relieving you of your | surplus wealth, But, the camp will pr. fit by it | when youhave been swung up. By the way, have you any last word to leave to anybody?” Are you bonest in that?” Dick asked, of Mr, Googin, that geutleman was | —_— -— ———— a em a ae ** Honest in what, sir?” ‘* Your offer to accept a message from me,” “To be sure Lam. If you have anything to say, the boys will let you step here and say it, seeing that your hands are tied and you can’t get away.” Somehow Dick felt that there was an object back of ail this, so he made the request, ‘*What do you say, mayor?’ be demanded. ‘““May Isay something to this young woman, since it seems pretty certain that you mean busi- ness with me?” ‘* Yas; yer kin say what ye pleases to her, in- side of two minutes,” the mayor gave leave, ‘‘Let bim go, boyees, and keep yer eye on bim ter see that he don’t git no chance ter break fer ther door,” ‘* No fear of my trying that,” assured the pris- oner. He was set free, except bis hands, In the mean time Bleezer Googin had come back into the room, all cut and bleeding, and was loudly demanding the privilege of shooting Dick on the spot, Some of his comrades were trying to urge him out of that, since it would be agood deal more fun to hang him, but Bleezer was hard to per- suade, so as a last resort bis weapons were taken from bim, Dick stepped forward boldly to the gambler queen, and in whisper said: ‘‘T believe you plexes this thing in order to speak to me. Am I not right in my guess?” | ‘*'You are,” was the low, tremulous response. ‘“‘T am going to save you.ift I can, but it may be impossible,” ‘“‘T shall deem it a great favor if you can do that,” answered Dick. ) “Yes; I should think you would. Life is sweet, and no doubt you want to hang on as you can. You make your lips move, now, as though you are telling me considerable of a story, while I talk to you.” Dick took the bint and acted accordingly. **T will post twoor three men whom I can trust,” the womap went on, in a rapid manner, ‘*They will clamor for a trial before you are hanged, and it is just barely possible they will lock you up to give you the trial to-morrow. If they do that I cun probably save you.” ** I understand.” ‘Well, I will do all I can, and that is all any one can do, [ am not doing ‘it without an object, as of course you must be aware.” ** Can't you save my friend, too?” asked Dick, **] can’t promise anything for him,” answer- ed the woman, ‘It will all depend on how we are able to work. I will do the best I can,” ** And no one can do better than that,” Dick declared. ‘If you can only manage it so that I can get free and have the use of my hands, I can take care of myself and perbaps get my pard out of the trouble.” *T’'ll do the best [can. There, now, no more said, or they may suspect. Go, now,” in loud tone, ‘‘ and let them fit you with a hemp collar}” ** You are as cruel as you are beautiful,” spoke Dick, also aloud. “ But, I am not going to quarrel with you about that, if you will only deliver the message I have given into your keeping.” ** Pll do the best I can, believe me,” was the response, ‘Have you any last word tosay?” Dick asked, turning to Waterstore. ‘No; not one,” was the sharp reply. “If I swing [am going to die game. My folks will find out some time or other how I died,” By this time the room was in an uproar, Some of the men bad brought ropes, and they were put around the necks of the victims, ‘* Are you going to string us up without any trial?’ demanded Dick. “Ther case is dead against ye this time,” answered the mayor. ‘* What is ther use of a trial? You don’t need no trial, ’cept a trial at stretchin’ hemp.” ‘* But, this is treating us too much like com- mon horse-thieves,” Dick complained, ‘** We have done nothing to warrantit, and I for one ohject to it. Give us a fair chance to bring proof,” ‘* Yer objections don’t amount ter nothin’,” was the coarse retort. ‘*‘ We bas got al) ther proof we wants now. We happen ter know enough about Deadwood Dick ter know that one or tother of ye is ther man, an’ we'll make sure by hangin’ both.” ** We have to admit that it is inconsiderate of us to try to spoil your fun again,” said Water- stone, with grim humor, ‘‘but we are the ones with the most at stake. i propose another treat allaround, You will get more satisfaction out of that, if you only look at it in the right light.” ‘* No more foolin’ about et,” cried the mayor. ‘‘ Bring lights, boyees, an’ we’ll soon settle ther bull business.” ‘It looks pretty dubious this time, eh?” said Waterstone to Dick. ‘* Yes; it certainly does,” agreed Dick. But, Richard Bristol had been in tight places too many times to give up in despair. bile there was life there was hope, CHAPTER VIII, CAPTAIN CRIMSON AND HER MEN, BLEEZER GOOGIN, disarmed as said, was wildly urging the crowd to the lynching they proposed. All cut and bleeding, a picture of distress generally, he had the sympathy of his admir- ers and the voice of a good many who feared him. The crowd was all of one mind, seemingly, and the mayor was not slow to take advan- tage of the general feeling. Lights having been provided, he ordered the procession to form and start. Out of the saloon poured the crowd, those with the lights leading the way and those with the prisoners, following close behind, while the mob poured after them in eager and excited haste. Jittle mercy might the prisoners expect here, Catching step, the crowd headed for the tree under which Waterstone had come so near to ending his eartily career that afternoon, some of the leaders whistling a di-~mal deatk-march air. Just then it looked as though there would be a hanging, certainly. Meantime, no sooner bad they left the saloon than Nugget Nell dashed out by a rear door. and darted off in the darkness toward the tree, Previously, sbe had spoken hurriedly to two or three men, ones whom, evidently, she could trust. Under the tree was a box, as mentioned be- fore, and when the crowd reached the spot, on that box stood Nugget Nell. ** Hillo!” cried the mayor, at sight of her, ‘* what ar’ you doin’ byer, Nugget Nell?” ‘*[’m here because [ have gut a word to say about this thing,” was the bold answer, ‘““What has yer got ter say? Levws hear et mighty quick.” ‘*T bave proof that one of these men is, not Deadwood Dick,” the girl assured, ‘Proof! How bave you got proof?” ‘You all know Nugget Nell, dou’t you?” * You bet!” ** And you know there is no fooli-hness about her, don’t you?” ‘Yas! Yas!” ** And if I chip in bere you can rely on it that I know what Iam doing,sure. As I said, I have roof,” : ‘*Whatiset? How did yer git et?” ‘*Let me wag my china httle, and then lll. give you the whole plot.” ‘* All right, gal; wag ahead! -We knows Nug- get Nell well enough ter know that she is true blue to Corduroy Crossin’; eb, boyees?” PY ise the boys, every one, shouted that they id, ‘In the first place, then,” the gambler queen began, ‘‘I hate to see two such noble fellows as these hanged witbout a fair chance for their side of the case, What if they are just our sort, and bave a mind to teke hold with us bere as good and useful citizens?’ ‘* We dou’t want ter trust strangers,” objected the maycr. ‘* Sides,” spoke up another fellow, ‘it isabout time fer us ter expect another find of ther yaller, and we don’t want strange eyes around then.” ‘* That's what’s the matter,” the mayor added, shaking bis head, and his two faces seemed to express strongly his ojection to any such pro- ceeding as the girl had proposed. * Well, then, if you don’t want to risk both of them, suppose you bold one of them prisonerand bang the otber? And yet that would hardly be a fair dea), Still, I have the proot that one is not Deadwood Dick.” | ‘““What’s yer proof? Ye have said that afore.” ‘* My proof is in the message this man,” point- ing at Dick, ‘‘ left with me, It did not strike me till you had started for the tree.” ‘* What was ther message?’ ‘*T will tell you. It was to his mother, whcse name he gave me. He said: ‘My mother’s name is Susan Douglas, and she lives at Nesbit, Ohio. Tell her that Iam dead, but do not tell her how I died, Send ber my money, if the boys will let you.’” o co — ee eb comicbook : "> 8 why S|