Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 770 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

\ bwn that ye\ wasn’t thar last night, and ther x1udlord don’t know what ter make of et. Come right erlong. Great storm-king! ye must hev hada narrer ’scape, I should jedge. Who was €t ye tackled, anyhow?” ‘*] have reason to believe it was Red Roy,” answered Dick, The mayor had turned, and they were now making their way to the Silver Bugle, ‘*Red Roy! Great storm-king! you don’t tell meso. How did yer meet him, and what was etabout? Tell me, ‘fore I die right hyer.” Dick told what had happened, and by the time he had done they were at their destination. Here the story had to be repeated, Dick found that bis strength was rapidly re- turning, the pain in his head was abating, and he began to feel the pangs of hunger.” ‘*What ye want now, is a good, stiff horn o’ brandy,” suggested the landlord, ‘tand you will be all right in a little while, Let me fix yeupa bracer that will make ye think—” He had reached for bottle and glass as he te but Dick stopped him with a wave of the band, ‘** None of that for me, if you please,” he said. ‘* What! Do ye mean ter say ye don’t take et?” cried the mayor. ‘Great storm-king on f ther rampage!” ** Don’t take brandy!” echoed the landlord.® ** Not a drop,” Dick assured. ‘I have had experience enough with that article to know it is worse than no good, and I'll have none of it. Besides, you ought to know it’s bad for a wound, Ill give you double the price for a glass of hot milk.” ** Hot milk!” **That’s what I said. It will do the business quicker than your brandy, and no after effects, except for giod. If you have got any on tap, just trot it out.” Milk was to be had, and an order sent to the kitchen soon brought a brimming bow! of the steaming article, which Dick quaffed slowly and with keen relish, the others in the room eying him while he did so, ** There,” he said, “I feel like a new man al- ready. The good effect has gone clear down to my toes.” ; Just as he put down the bow! Harry Stacey came into the room. ** Hello!” he . cried, hap ss ‘What in creation has ned to you, Bristol?” have been having a round with grim Death, that is all,” was the response, ** Well, I should judge you bave, by the looks of you, and he must have come pretty near get- ting in bis work on you, too.” ‘““He certainly did, The width of a hair closer, and I would have taken my everlasting eep, 1 guess. But, I am worth several dead men yet, and good for another round.” The story had to be repeated yet again. ‘* Wonderful!” Handsome Harry exclaimed. **Our reasoning was right, then, and it is this outlaw who bas again made his appearance here,” ‘** So it seems, and in whose power my wife ia. Something bas got to be done, now, and no , »ore delay aboutit. As soon as I get waske u, ‘and have something to eat we'll begin.” ~~ ~ i i te : co ** Me %d my cbildrun stands ready to back ye,” _“ And Pm ready to keep my agreement,” said Handsome Harry. “If you are going to your room, Bristol, and will allow me to go with you, V’'ll examine your burt aud fix it up for you.” “Thanks for your Offer,” returned Dick. ‘Come right along, for that is just what I need,” Together they passed up,to Dick’s room, leav- ing the crowd below to speculate upon the strange affair at will, which they did not hesi- tate to do, Said the mayor: “Now, me childrun, thar is goin’ ter be a ruction hyer at ther Butte; I feel et in me adh bones. This ‘hyer Red Roy, ther p'izen scor- — eS. -»pion from Orezon way, is byer, and he has got . i. Soe ter be downed. »He has been silent fer three ee .. months, and now I s’pect be is goin’ ter make _ 9 ~*~ things howl, Ef that is his idee; wehave got Nga b hair curl.. This Deadwood Dick is in ther right, and it is ther duty of this hyer camp ter : belp him, How many of ye are willin’ ter take Ari sides with him? Don’t a man of yesay no, fer PI NNA y ef ye do I'll call ye to ’count mighty suddent; ae ap by the great sturm-king I will!” Be Every body.. pt agreed with the mayor, é a MR and pledged hithiselt to support Deadwood Dick, + no matter what c.me of it. : fy eyes ‘‘And that wife of his has got ter be diskiv- ane éred,” the mayor went’ on, ‘‘ We are a set of *“That’s what we will,” cried the mayor, ’ touge° fer him in a way that will make his, ET CS Cty cette: sar —_—_ -_— — — —_ _ —_ | | _ Deadwood Dick, J r.’s, Defeat. dummies ef we can’t find whar she is hid, and don’t ye furgit that. It’s goin’ ter be war right up to ther muzzle, now, ’tween this camp and Red Roy, and ther sooner et is declared ther better. By ther livin’ Jupiter! I'll post a notice to that effeck now while we wait. Landlord, trot out yer pen and ink, and ther biggest sheet of paper ye have got on band, We’il see how long this hyer high-handed cut-throat wil] have things his own way. By ther storm-king! [ll let him know that Archibald Grimm is around, and tha he is at ther bead of ’fairs hyer,” The landlord made haste to pass out the arti- cles called for, and the mayor set to work to write a notice, When he had done, this was the result: “ NOTICE! “ DECKLURASHUN. OF WAR! ** This is to proclame war against the outlaw Red Roy, and he is by this noticed that he had better git up and git! We, the people of Basalt Butte, mean biz, and if he is ketched he has fair warnin’ that a rope and a lim’ will be his fate. ‘** By all the power in me vested, ‘* ARCHIBALD Grimm, Mayor.” “Thar!” the mayor cried proudly, as he held his work up to view. ‘I think et is plain and right to ther p’int, don’t you, me childrun? Now, whar am I goin’ ter put et up? I think ther front of ther post-office is about ther right place, don’t you? We'll see what ther cuss will do about et now,” His *‘ childrun” agreeing that the poster was about the proper thing, and the post-office the proper place for it, the mayor went out to put it up. Meanwhile, Dick and Handsome Harry, in Dick’s room, were _at work attending to the wound Dick had received, The blood had been washed out of his hair, and the wound disclosed, It proved to be less serious than the amount of lost blood indicated. Tbe ball had struck the rim of bis hat, and had grazed the side of his head above the ear, tearing the scalp and rendering him insensible, The bone was not injured, **It was a close summons,” declared Harry, when he had examined it. ‘ There is an ugly lump here, but the damage is not great, and your bair will hide the scar when it bas healed up,” ‘*Can you patch it up, do you think?” Dick asked, ‘Ob, yes, that is easily done. Give me five minutes at it, and [’ll do a good job for you.” Dick allowed him to go ahead, and in less than the time named the work was done, Then after a final washing up, Dick went down to breakfast. His giass of hot milk had done its work by this time, and was almost himself again. The stiffness wasout of his limbs, the pain in his head has ceased, and-he was almost as good as new, After breakfast he rejoined the mayor and Stacey in the*bar-room. ‘‘ Well, Richard is himself again,” he an- nounced, ‘ Now, let us to work and do something. . You have pledgedjme your help in this matter.” oie ‘* And we mean et, too,” the ma: ain as- sured, ‘‘Jest say what ister be did, and we'll gitrighttpand doet. I have already issted a declaration of war ’gainst the cuss, and we'll begin et right off,” The excitement in the camp was great, and by this time there wasa great crowd in the hotel and on the street in front, Everybody seemed eager to do the bidding of the mayor, and he only waited for Dick to direct what should be ‘done. The mayor's ‘* Decklurashun ” bad wakened folks up, ‘* Well,” said Dick, as they stepped out to the piazza, ‘‘ the first and most important thing of all is to discover and rescue my wife. It is plain enough that she is in this camp or very close by.” ‘‘That’s so, How shall we go about et?” “Ts it asking too much to havea thorough search made, not missing a single house, cabin or shanty in the whole camp?” ‘* Not a tall, that’s what we’lldo. Doyehear, me children? Every hole and corner in this hyer camp bas got ter be searched, and I call upon you ter do et.” It was soon begun in a systematic way, Several hundred citizens went out to the extreme west of the camp and began to move eastward, They made their,search a thorough one, and missed not a single house or room any- where, F —. when they came together at the eastern limit of the camp, where the mayor, SS ae ee ee ee ee ee 0 eee — — ——_—_ —_. ———_—_ eee : Dick, Harry and others awaited them, their verdict was plainly read in each face, Their hunt had resulted in nothing, except to prove that Kodah Kate was not in the camp. But, it did not stop bere, The men spread out, and searched once more every foot of the country within a balf-mile circle, It was with- out avail, however, for the hiding-place of the wily outlaw was not found, nor any clew that was likely to lead toit. Deadwood Dick was completely baffled, and was almost in despair, And no wonder. GHAPTER X. VAIN EFFORTS—FAILURE—WORSE DILEMMA, KODAK KATE, iu her elegant prison, to return to the previous nvigbt again, experienced some relief in mind after sbe had been permitted to send to Dick the brief note she bad been allowed to pen. It would inform him that she was alive, and that, she knew, would be everything. Be- sides, it would give him a chance to get a clew to her whereabouts, for she doubted not but he would be able to detect the deliverer of the mess- age and soentrap him, or follow him when he returned to the cavern. But, that aside, it was a relief to have been able to assure Dick she was not dead, Sbe made po effort to escape, for she knew without trying how futile it would be, She had seen enough of Red Roy to understand the kind of man he was. He had said she could never get out of the cavern, and sbe believed it, Being armed, in spite of the fact that one weapon.had been taken from her, as we have seen, she had no fear, and there was nothing she could do but patiently await the time of her rescue, Selecting a book, she sat down to read, hoping thus to wear away the time the more rapidly, but she found it impossible to fix her thoughts upon it, Putting it away, after a time, she paced the floor to and fro, The thought of remaining all night in this un- known place began to have new terrors fcr ber, and schemes for escaping began to find place in her mind, Armed as she was, would it not be possible for her to force the old negress to show her the way out, under threat of killing her if she did not do so? Wasit not worth the trying? But, that would not do, as she immediately reasoned, Sbecertainly would not kill the old woman, and failing to move her by threats she could do no more, and would then have let out the fact that she was armed. That would not do, No; that would not do, decidedly. Whatever action she took, it must preclude the chance of failure, or it was a failure before undertaken. Perbaps it would be possille for ber to find her way outof the cavern. Had she not wasted too much time already? She became active imme- diately. Crossing the room to that end where she had first entered, she drew back the curtain and stepped out into the dark passage. No light was there now, as there had been at the time of her coming. That, however, did not check her in her determined course, The light from the red rocm showed her the lamp, and she lighted it. Looking all] around, and listening attentively, sbe made sure that no one was near, and set forth™p the dark, dismal passage, following the direction from which she had.been brought by the man in red earlier in'the day. -Sbejhad a watch, and knew by the bour that the evening was advanced, and of course it was now dark without. She cared nothing for that; ih fact, it ratber favored her scheme, * Once Jet Her get out of the cavern, and she would somebow make her way to the camp and find Dick, \The only, difficulty was the getting out | ow And that was’ a most serious one, as she bad yet.to learn.’ ‘Red Ray bad not spoken idly. Presently she - to the rude stairs, and fearlessly began the dangerous ascent, holding her light above her bead with one band, while with the other sbe clung to the’rope that ran along the wall. | The top was reached, and thence she pro- ceeded along the further way until at last the passage ended and she could gono further: I¢ must be here, she reasoned, as she looked around, that she had been brought in, but where was the. door? None was to beseen, nor sign of one, She searched carefully, hoping to find out the secret, but in vain. There were some cracks and seams in the rocks at the end of the passage, but try them as she would the rock was not to be moved. . . . ae Lt APs