Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 792 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

e - —_—— ~ . . * ——— ~~ So a > -« = > - ~~ ” . 4 _— BR ae a wha - ~ *, Pn + 7" B.: ¢ a, rz = : >: =e & _ * My money all gone, and notbin --o— —_—— ’ -“ tell, except for the appearance of face, one was about as hard-looking as the other. ) ‘* Well,” said Mr, Balaam, ‘‘no more for the present. I’m going to follow up that detective and see what he does. But, by and by I'll be here on the Square to deliver my lecture, and I hope to have a good big audience,” With a wave of the hand he was gone, leav- ing the crowd to make such remarks about bim as they were pleased to make. He was a man with a mission, and remarks did not do him much harm. They rolled off, apparently, like water from a duck’s back. CHAPTER X, THE WOMAN IN THE CASE, Mayor HANCROFT and his detective, in whom, apparently, be had no great store of confidence, had gone off to the building where the local banking business was carried on, followed by quite a number of idlers. Barnabas Balaan now bent bis steps in the same direction, and entered the little office not a great while after the others, This office was rnn by one Timothy Weeds, He was a man past the middle age, and one th to looking upon the dark side‘of every- thing. And on this occasion the side he saw was dark indeed, for he had been robbed of his last dollar, almost, and his business was a wreck. No wonder hv was weeping in a corner, Timothy Weeds was a man who could not stand trouble philosopbically like some. He was broken utterly, now. ‘* Why, old man, not giving way like this!” cried the mavor, on entering. 3 ' ** How can [ help it?” the spare and trembling man responded, “ I am despoiled of everything, and my heart is broken.” “Tut! tut! It may not be half so bad as that, sir, Here is the great detective, Deadwood Dick; be may be able to help us out and recover your fortune for you. At any rate heis going to try it.” **T wouldn’t care so much for myself,” the man muttered, ‘“‘but Tessie—I tremble for Tessie, What will the poor child do now?” **Don,t worry about your daughter, sir; this camp will take care of her.” . ‘* What can the camp do to repair my loss?” the old man wailed. ‘‘I ventured my all here, to make a fortune, and I would have dono it only for this robbery. Oh! my curse upon Satan Sam!” ** We're bound to get him, sooner or later, and then we’ll repay him for this, Cheer up, Weeds. There is a bright lining to every ta like to see it, It’s dark enough now, but toi: tbe prospect for my daughter when I[amdead. It was the eer of my life to gather a fortune for her. And I had nearly done it, too, One year Gores we could have gone away indepen- ent. ’ ‘*Don’t take on like a baby, old map,” the mayor encouraged, ‘I tell you we are going to see you througb, Cheer up, now, and let Mr, Bristol take a look around your place,” At that moment a young woman, radiant with health and beauty, came hastily into the room, her face all aglow, but at sight of the crowd she grew pale, and laid her band upon a chair for support, ‘* What—what is it?” she gasped. ‘“ Don’t—don’t tell ber yet,” cried the old man, in a low tone, His tone, 'Owever, was not low enough to prevent the words from reaching the young wo- wnan’s ears, | ‘*Dear papa!” cried the girl, and she sprung forward and placed her arms around him, as if to protect him from—sie knew not what, The girl was young, Dot over nineteen, and as she looked around open the faces about her it e was seen how lovely she really was, As the de- tective looked upon ber, and their eyes met, warm blood mounted to his face in spite of him- self, Whether the girl noticed this at first or not, was uncertain, but 300n her eyes returned to him, and her own face recovered some of its lost color. | ‘* What is it, gentlemen?” she asked, ‘* What has papa done, that you are all here? 1 know he bas done vothivg wrong.” “Of course he basn’t, Miss Weeds,” hastened the mayor. ‘A great wrong has been done to im, though, and that is the reason we are here,” “A wrong to him? What is 1t?” ‘‘He has been robbed, There, Weeds, it’s better to let ber know the truth than to kesp her worrying about it,” , ‘* Is that all?” cried the girl, her face brighten- —— ee eeeeeeeeeEFEeeeeeeee — —_ - ~ — ey oe eo Th) _ ' ‘ > oye. er“ is ‘*T feared it must be something terrible, hat do we care for that, papa? I still have you and you have me, and I am young and strong, you know,” ‘* Ab! child, you do not know what the loss means,” the father sighed. ‘This money was to have bougbt you education, and ease, and comforts, and all that; now, what is before you?” ‘*‘Ha! ha! hal” the girl merrily laughed, ‘*-You set more store by the money than I ever did, papa. It has been a great deal of trouble to you. Now that it is gone we'll be bappy with just what we have and not trouble ourselves about anything else.” . Tbe father shook bis head, and a heavy sigh eacaped him, ‘** That’s the right kind of stuff, young woman, ef you will allow me to speak up an’ say 80,’ cried out Mr, Balaam. “ You are of the right sort, and you areas rich as you can be, With good health and a spirit like that, you are superior to everything. Would that the cause of temperance bad a few like you to back it,” The mine-owner turned upon the crank witha scowl, ° ‘*Can’t you stop harping on that string for one minute?” he cried. ‘if you can’t you bad at aa be getting out, for most of us are sick of t. ‘*T have said my say,” responded the temper- ance advocate, ‘* You can’t deny that I bad good cause for admiration here,” **No; but you had no cause to wrivg in tem- perance in connection,” * Well, ’'m done.” ‘* That being so, Mr. Bristol, suppose you now give attention to the business which brought us here, to see if you cannot discover some clew to this rascally work, something that will put us on the trail of Satan Sam,” ‘*[ have already done 80, sir,” was the detec- tive’s response, ** You have done so?” ss Yes.” ‘* Why, man, you have not moved out of your tracks since you stopped where you stand now when we first came ip.” The detective smiled. ‘“* That is not saying that I have not made use of my eyes, sir,” he rejoined, ‘* There is no clew to be picked up here,” The mayor looked at the detective in undis- guised astonishment, ‘* Well, if this is the way you do your work,” be said, *‘ you are something of a curiosity, to say the least, What do you expect to find in the way of clew, anyhow? Do you look for a lock of hair? a button? a lost finger?” At that the detective only quietly smiled. * Such things are found in romance, sir, and occasionally something of the sort turns up in actual practice; but it happens too rarely to be depended upon, I have been looking for nothing of the kind, When this case is done you will be able to understand, anything that niay seem mysterious now,” The mayor bent his gaze upon him searchingly, at that, but if be hoped to read anything in that face he hoped in vain, ‘* Just what I said at first,” spoke out Mr, Balaain, “Give the young man a chance to show what he can do before ye condemn him, Seems ter me et looks as if he knows what he is about,” ‘* And if you don’t mind your own business and stop meddling,” cried the mayor, ‘ Pil attend to seeing that you are escorted out of town.” : “That settles et, boss; you won’t have to speak to me again,” So sa ying, the temperance advocate drew back and held his peace, merely observing what was done and said by the others, Miss Weeds was trying to comfort her father, while the others around were gaping idly about the room as if in bopes of discovering sometbing which the detective might bave overlooked. ‘* Well, if you are done here, then, Bristol, we may as well go to the mine-office and see what is to be discovered there,” “Yes, let’s go there, though I don’t expect much will come of it, Such a man as this Satan Sam is said to be is not going to leave tell-tale clews lying around if be knows it,” ‘I believe you are right in saying that, But, come on,” They passed out and set off in the direction of the mine-office, the idlers following them, Mr. Balaam among the rest. ‘‘Mr, Weeds seems to take it quite to heart,” the detective remarked a8 they went along. ‘Yes, 80 he does, aud he’s not to be blamed for that. He’s a soft-bearted man, and his whole life is for his daughter. As you heard on Ee a ss him say, he was working only to store up a for- tune for her,” ‘‘For which she seems to care little—for money, I mean,” ‘*Exactly. A queer girl is Tessie Weeds, and no mistake. She does not seem to be built on the usual plan,” ‘* How’s that?” ‘* Doesn’t seem to have any heart,” ** No heart! Why, man, I'd cajl her all heart, the way she soothed her poor father,” ‘* That isn’t just what I mean, I mean feel- ing, Any number of good fellows here bave tried to make love to ber, but she spurns them ‘That's all right; there may be a lover in the background somewhere, you know,” ‘*T don’t know—rather, I mean to say, I do know; ber father bas told me that she is as free as a bird, Tbat she bas always been as careless about lovers, Does not seem to-bave any of the womauly passicn in ber make-up,” ‘* You can’t make me believe that, sir, My guess is the right one, or—” “Or, what?” “Tbe right fellow has not come along yet,” “That may be so, Anyhow, this camp must not let her suffer, no matter what comes to the old man,” ‘*If your camp would see to that, that she does not suffer, you must give all your care to the old man, then,” the detective expressed opinion, sg Why so?” ee > a t you see that her whole concern is for im ‘* Well, [don’t know but that you are right, I'll take that into consideration,” ‘You are a single man, I take it, Mr, Han- croft.” ‘* Yes, fortunately,” ‘‘ Ha! that word confirms my suspicion, sir,” * What suspicion?” ‘‘That you are oue of the suitors for her hand, There, there, it is no affair of mine of course; no offense meant.” ‘*No, I should rather say it is no affair of ours, sir, and the least said about it the better, I was’ glad for one thing, anyhow, if report be true, ** And what is that, if I may ask?” “That you are a married man yourself, You brougbt more color to her face when her eyes met yours, Deadwood Dick, than any other man has ever been able to bring there. I say it eek it’s lucky you area married man—lucky or me, ' CHAPTER XI. MAKING A PROPOSITION, Tax detective laughed lightly over the mat- ter in which Mr. Hancroft was apparently so keenly interested, and they went on and entered the mine «ffice, Their conversation had been in low tones, so that no one of the idlers who followed them could overhear, and as they entered the office it was dropped eltogether, In fact, its purpose had been carried. And that purpose? The detective was not slow to read it. He had noticed the flush upon the gir!’s face when his eyes met hers, though he had not given it the same interpretation Mr, Hancroft had given it. Now, however, be saw there might be ground for the suspicion, Ard that being so— Well, Hancroft had heen quick to make him aware that be knew Deadwood Dick to be a married man, and the hidden insinuation was that he would take care tob vethe young lady informed of the fact as soon as possible, | At the mine-office there was nothing to be dis- Sabet more than had beem found at theother places, The detective looked around a little more closely, as it seemed to the mine manager, and certainly more to bis liking, but there was no clew to be picked up, as had been foreseen, The idlers watched the detective’s movements with interest, — | Since his coniing there, many of his most dar- ing exploits bad been related one and an- other, and he was looked upon as something of a demigod, And it was plain that there was disappoint- ment found with his admirers, for be was not the Deadwood Dick of their imaginings, There was lacking all that snap, that ‘ get-up-and- git” quality, with which they bad dressed their hero in their minds, They were not pleased, Nor did they hesitate about expr x them- selves upon that point, when the detective had taken himself back to the hotel, is ie : Pt, ow * : a ge — 4 * - ery b Ls war 48k ma 4 « i Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Double Device, | 9 Sta af »