Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 801 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

——— a ee. be ~2 i : , , ee a ee NS ee Fee a ee ee ee ee eee ~ ‘ 14 ‘were almost equally as black, a dozen or more men crept with the stealthy movements of cats. They were an armed posse under the com- mand of Cash Colton, and guided by Kent Kirby and Seal Shelton. It was the night following the day which wit- messed Shelton’s wrathful outburst against bis detective pard, Shelton had sent word to his wife of what it was hoped might be accomplished that night, giving it as a‘reason for not immediately return- ing to her, as he had promised and greatly de- sired to do, The same messenger bad carried a request to Cash Colton from the High-Kicker; and had re- turned with the information that Tom Conner and Sylvia Sterling bad ridden into Piebald that morning, and that Conner had been placed under arrest, The half-crazed Sylvia had taken the’ first train for the Kast, vowing to forever shake from her feet the dust of the Rogue River region, Sylvia bad proven herself a very foolish and a very weak-headed girl. Shelton still believed in her guilt, Whether guilty or not she had permitted an insane jealousy to drive her to the verge of suicide and madness, to say nothing of her questionable semi-compact with Tom Con- ner; and now, with the memory of these things lashing her, she was foolishly flying from her own conscience, In such a race one can never hope to be a winuer, ent Kirby uttered a warning hiss, and the men flattened themselves and remained motion- less in the swaying grass, A. footstep bad been heard in the direction of ‘the mine, The rogues bad been gathering for some time, and Kirby bad thought all were col- lected in the cavern-ijike room, far below. A moment served to show that the man was not entering the mine, but had come ontof it. He advanced in the direction of the cotton woods. Perhaps he was a guard or a spy, whose suspi- cions had been aroused by some unusual sound or rustle, | The unknown came close up to the prostrate men, peered toward the cottonwoods; tien as silently retraced his way, disappearing finally in the gloom about the shaft. There was something so singular and sugges- tive in this that Kirby whispered a few words to rte and then writhed away along the fellow’s trail. He had instructed Colton to advance his men slowly and with all cantion, and form themin a cordon around the shaft of the mine, This was to prevent the escape of any of the counterfeiters, should such an attempt be made, For himself, be slipped to the well-like mouth and stared down into the gloom where the in- quisitive guard bad disappeared, He had heard a shaking of the old ladder and knew the guard had descended. ' With a courage bordering on recklessness he let himself carefully over the rockyrim, He re- alized how perilous was the act, Theguard, spy, or whatever the man was, might be standing in waiting below; in which event there was a like- lihood that the foolbardy High-Kicker would get - the benefit of a bullet. } Fortune favors the brave, and sometimes the reckless, That night the blind goddess seemed in a kindly mood, Kindly, at least, toward Kent Kirby. Without mishap hereached the bottom of the shaft; and, finding it deserted, crept into the drift which led toward the large excavation, At tke elbow bend of the drift the dimly burn- ing light came into view. 1t proceeded from the same oily, dirty lamp; and about the table the members of the band were grouped, Ontbe table were great heaps of coin and bank bills. These were being counted and laid into smaller piles. A division of the swag was evidently in progress, Kirby hitched a lietle nearer and wedged him- self partly iuto the niche that had previously given him shelter, Another of the rognes might descend from above, and this was a more secure place than the open passage, The words which fell from the lips of the counterfeiters quickly told him that the arrest of Tom Conner had become known to them, In what manner was not revealed. But they were frightened because of it and had gathered - there for the purpose of a division of their ill- gotten gains. ‘* Jist in the nick uv time,” Kirby whispered, breathing very hard from his recent exertions. “fT was to-night er never!” ® rascals were planning to scatter on leav- ing the place, and to forever abandon the old scene of their operations. Another night and ee eee ater Shand P—— eo. Cash Colton’s men would have raided only an empty nest, Kirby retained some time and uctil he felt that the time for his prostrate attitude for action had arrived. Then he put out his foot and purposely dislodged a piece of rock from the wall of the drift. ‘* What was that?” Shorty, the drunken cowboy whose timely coming had so signally aided Kirby on his previous visif to the cave, faced about and startledly asked the question, At this the High-Kicker scrambled to bis feet, making an unnecessary amount of noise in so doing, and slipped around the protecting elbow of rock, ‘* After him!” he heard, in a whispered cho- rus, Then there was a patter of feet as the excited rogues hurried pell-mel! into the drift, The lamp was extinguished whether purpcsely or not Kirby could not say. Now that he had the rascals in full cry after him he ran with all speed for the bottom of the shaft, realizing that if his movements were not of the speediest he was likely to be stopped by a bullet, He reached the ladder and scrambled up it with precipitate baste, and succeeded in gaining the top and burling bimself out into the weeds before his pursuers reached the bottom of the ladder, From their excited exclamations he knew they held to the belief that the intruder was Seal Shelton; and it will be remembered that that was what they thought when Kirby pene- trated into the drift the first time, They were wild with rage, and determined to slay Shelton if they could lay their hands on him, notwithstanding that they expected to abandon the place immediately. They felt that he had seen and heard too much for their safoty. As the High-Kicker scrambled out of the vreeds and darted away from the mouth of the mine, he cast a quick glance around bim, The shadows were dense, but he was sure that all the dark objects on which his gaze fell were not shadows. Many of them were men, and represented the silent cordon which Cash Colton had thrown about the place, That the pursuing band might not take the alarm, or dream of the trap laid for them, he sped neyo away in the direction of the horse- corral, The rascals poured over the rim of the shaftin hot haste, filling the air with deep and low- voiced curses and starting in instant pursuit. They had no sooner left the mouth of the sbaft than they were made aware of the fowler’s net into which they were running, Colton’s men arose in a menacing circle, from which came the click! click! of rifle-locks and the stern com- mand to surrender. They stopped and huddled together in a frightened mob, The cordon closed with swift- ness and precision, and again the ominous com- mand rung out on the night-air. Several of the entrapped villains fired their weapons wildly and made a blind dash for liber- ty. Others threw up their hands and sullenly awaited their fate, The scene which ensued beffles description. There were shouts and yells, mingled with cries of pain. Clubs and guns were freely used. Several members of the posse fell back sorely hit. A few of the counterfeiters who refused to obey the command escaped by desperate dodging and running. ; But it was all over within five minutes, and the rascals of Rogue River Ranch had been rak- ed in by the nervy sheriff. CHAPTER XIX. A STARTLING EXPERIENCE, WHILE these lively events were in progress, peneae quite as exciting were occurring at Pie- ald, Mrs, Shelton had found kind and sympathetic frieuds in the littl town, They had been well acquainted with Jim Carlow, and gave her wel- come on his account, They had never dreamed that Carlow was the rea] head of the desperate band of counterfeiters who, it was said, had a haunt in the vicinity; and the information pos- sessed by Kirby on this point had not yet been made public. However, had these people known everything it would not have changed them in their attitude toward Marian, She intended to return to the ranch in a few days and resume her residence there with Seal. But she did not desire to do so while Sylvia re- Hatned. She was nct pleased with the note sent her by Kent Kirby, the High-Kicker from Killbuck. } SS = 2 ana ee Seal from the ranch, stating that he meant toMg remain there with Kirby for the purpose of cap- turing some thieves, Seal bad not in all things taken her into his confidence. For one thing, he bad never ven- tured to bint his dark suspicions against Jim Carlow, altnough the had told him Carlow was not her father, She was not naturally of a timid disposition. Still, when she retired that night, she carefully locked the door of her room. She had not wholly recovered from the ner- vous fright which the startling interruption to the wedding ceremony had given her, The old hag’s screaming words, uttered so dramatically and warningly, had had a depressing effect, which the garish light of the full day had not been sufficient to entirely dissipate. She was not superstitious and therefore put no credence in the old woman’s words. Nevertheless, when- ever they recurred to her they filled her with creepy and shaky sensations, She had scarcely fallen ae! to dream of Seal, when she was aroused by the sound of cat- like footsteps. They were within the room, and seemed to emerge from a dark corner which held a seldom- used closet! She had not thought to examine this closet before retiring; and now as she listened, pant- ingly, to the low, shuffling tread, she felt sure some one had been concealed in this closet at the time she entered the room, She strove to cry out in her fright, but the words choked her, She essayed to clamber from the bed and rush wildly for the cormdor beyond the locked door, but her paralyzed limbs refused to do her bidding, ‘* Whois there?” she at length managed to ask, in a strained, unnatural voice. There was no reply, only the steady, horrible advance of those shuffling feet. A sickening sense of fear made her faint and iddy. . ‘‘’Who are you?” she again whispered, her words thrilling through the little room with a peculiar hissing vibration, For answer the unknown creature, whether human or ogreish she could not tell, sprung furiously at the bed. Then her tongue was unloosed, and a wild scream rung sbrilly through the house, ‘‘' Take that!” came the words, in the voice of the woman who had intruded on the wedding. ‘‘T warned you to beware of the fate of Jim Cerlow! You thought I was babbling nonsense. Take that! And that!” She uplifted a knife and struck savagely at Marian, The latter, after having uttered that piercing scream, had cowered beneath the bed- clothing and drawn it about her head for rotection, It now served as a shield of de- ense. The weapon was only a dull case-knife pur- loined from the pantry below, and made no im- pression on the thick coverings, Seeing this the crazed woman strove with her skinny fingers to draw the coverings away. Marian resisted with all her might, retaining her grasp with the fierceness of desperation, and sending up one startled scream after an- other. Tbe household was being aroused. Excited voices could be even heard in the street, inquir- ing what it all meant. et, heedless vf all this, the hag continued to lunge with the knife, and fight with the fury of a demon, ‘¢— warned you to beware of the fate of Jim Carlow!” she kept repeating, interjecting the sentences between the blows. ‘‘I hate you! I hate you, You disobeyed me last night, and you shall suffer for it! Do you hear? you shall suffer for it!” She seemed preternaturally strong, and, in spite of Marian’s frantic efforts, succeeded in withdrawing the shield, and was making lunges at the young woman’s body, when the door of the room was burled open and the startled in- mates of the house appeared, One of them bore a lamp, and as soon as its rays revealed something of what was occurring, the man of the House, who had broken in the door with his broad shoulder, flung bimself on the infuriated hag, [t required a fierce combat and the exercise of all his strength to wrest from her the Enife, and force her into subjection, The sounds of the struggle, together with the cries of the scared women, drew several men from the street; and these now lent their assist- auce in binding ber. Disarmed and helpless she was borne fighting from the room, !