Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 801 — page 7: what you’re looking at

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

The young man could not believe Kirby ~ a for the smile that rested on the High- Kicker’s face indicated anything but fear, But when he saw Kirby slip a revolver into his coat- pocket where it could be got at bandily the act went far toward convincing him that Kirby was not jesting. Straight for the little building in whose shadow the two were standing did Conner advance at the head of the angry cowboys, There came an interruption, however, from an unexpected source, Marian Carlow ran from the house, and, falling on ber knees before Cop- ner, implored him to spare the threatened man for her sake. ** Hanged if we do!” Conner exclaimed, pusb- ing her roughly aside, ‘*T appeal to you, men, to prevent this crime!” and she turned to Conner’s followers, There wasa hesitating halt, which she took advantage of to continue her pleadings, ‘If you respect me—if you respect the menory of Jim Carlow, my father, do not do this thing!” The tears were in hereyes, and her tones qua- vered irresistibly, The words and attitude—above all the tears— touched these rough men. They drew back and refused to proceed further, Conner became angry at this, and tried tourge them to follow him, branding them asa set of cowards for hanging back at this time. His words were without avail, and only served to incense the cowboys against him, They could but remember that he had incited them to the contemplation of the lynehing by touching on their sympatby for Carlow’s daughter; and now they saw he was utterly regardless of this daugh- ter’s wishes and feelings, They sulked, refused to g0; and, when his words grew wrathier and more galling, they retreated ina body to the bunk-room, Marian’s face had lost its pallor and was now aflame with anger. She turned on Conner with infinite scorn, ** 48 the daughter of Jim Carlow, and now the sole owner of this ranch, [ dismiss you from my service! You are no longer foreman bere, Tom Conner! Your pay stops this minute; and so does the pay of any one who offers to obey your orders!” She knew the men heard her, for she purposely raised her voice, Conner turned a ghastly hue, and for an in- stant seamed about to hurl a retort. But he thought better of it, and turned away abashed and humiliated, as well as indignant, An hour later Marian Carlow summoned the cowboys into her presence and, proclaimed to them that she had appointed Kent Kirby to the position which Conner had held—anid this she did BS consulting either the High-Kicker or al, ‘What do you make of it?” Seal queried, in supreme astonishment. Kent Kirby did not express the thought that was in his mind, He was wondering if this were not a trick to gain his favor aod blind him to her guilt. Had she shrewdly penetrated bis dis- guise and recognized him as a masquerading de- tective? There were, however, many things to com- bat this idea, Strongest of all was this: If she believed him a detective and feared bim, why “ta not let Conner proceed with the lynch- DE CHAPTER VITI. A WILD INFATUATION, Jim CARLOW rested quietly in hia narrow bed under the shade of the cotton woods—the cotton- woods his own hands had assisted in planting, and whose growth he had lovingly watched, A week had slipped by since the morning of the murder; a week full of excitement and heart- ache for Marian Carlow. How she had got through the long hours, she could scarcely have toll. As the’ reader will understaud, Sylvia’s attempts to comfort and console ber could have only the opposite effect, It had been a difficult thing to remain silent mi she had been commanded to do by Seal Shel- on. The funeral had been largely attended by neighboring ranchmen and cowboys, for the dead man had been widely known. But that was all over, now, It seemed to her that a year had elapsed since she had heard the clods fall dully and sullenly on the coffin-lid. Seal Shelton had sought every opportunity to be near her without appearing to intrude bis presence, The events of that week bad more and more endeared her to'him, Kent Kirby’s wild suspicion had impressed him horribly. He knew Kirby was wrong, and yet he had not late- Kent Kirby, the Higsh-Kicker from Killbuck. ly tried to change Kirby’s opinion on the sub- ject. He felt it would be a waste of words and a trial too exasperating to endure, Kirby was a& man whose miod was not easily changed, once an opinion had obtained firm lodgment in it, Seal talked to Marian of indifferent things during that week. He never alluded to the murder, when it could be avoided; and be never Linted on the subject always uppermost in his thoughts—his deep love for her. She was truly a beautiful woman—be thought the handsomest woman he had ever seen, This was not the opinion of a man who had long been a stranger to female loveliness, And the more he studied her and watched her, the more beau- tiful he deemed her, Almost every evening they took a long walk in the direction of the river, Sylvia seldom ac- companied them; possibly for the reason that she felt ber company was not desired. Seal bad all these days been closely watching Sylvia for some manifestation of guilty know!l- edge. He bad seen none. But there was one thing he bad noticed, Sylvia was withdrawing more and more within berself, She was losing her frank open-beartedness, and appeared to be becoming secretive and morose, Of course, Seal put his own construction on this, He could not call it a manifestation af guilt, but he fel sure there was a reason for it, and ,that that reason concerned Jim Carlow’s murder, He spoke to Marian on the subject, and found that she had observed the same thing, ‘* It is not to be wondered at, though!” she had replied, ‘'I should think she would go crazy under that weight of guilt. How she bears up as well as she does has been a puzzle to me, Her moodiness and watchful furtiveness have ample explanation, I think,” **No doubt you find it hard to mask your real feelings and endure her presence, Marian!” he said, with marked gentleness. ‘*Hard! It bas been an eternity of torture. i’m afraid | can’t endure it much longer. I feel so like a vile hypocrite—so like an impostor! So like a murderess, myself! Shall I have to stand it much longer? Have you discovered nothing et? ‘i He dared not speak of what he bad heard from the lips of Kent Kirby, ‘* Nothing!” he replied, ‘*'Nothing of any consequence. Mr, Kirby fancies be has found some clews, but I know he isin error. As soon as I know anvthing I will hasten to inform you of it. Believe me, I am doing all I can to learn the truth, and establish the guilt of the right party, regardless ot who that may be.” He felt he was not speaking truly in this, for he had purposely blinded himself to every indi- cation that might point to Marian. His heart went out to ber in a great wave f feeling. Kirby’s charges against this queenly woman seemed more cruel than ever, The conwersation had brought back to her the full borror of Carlow’s murder. Her voice fal- tered, and the tears swam in her eyes. They were now on the brink of Rogue River. The afternoon sun was bebind the towering cliff, which cast long and pinnacled shadows across the river valley. He pointed to a convenient stone which form- ed a seat backed by a rocky recess, and she sunk down shiveringly, looking about in a frightened and startled way, He took a seat by her side, intending to turn the conversation into more cheerful channels, But the pain in her face and the touch of her hand made bis pent-up lovestruggle for utter- ance, ‘You are so lonely, Marian; so in need of advice and companionship, and—” Sbe looked at bim in that abstracted way in which she seemed neither to see nor bear. ‘*T am very lonely,” she said, finally, shiver- ing again. ‘' Very lonely and wretched! Do you know, Mr. Shelton, 1 begin to think ! am myself suspected of father’s murder. People look at me so queerly, sometimes,” Mr, Her words shocked him, ‘* Bother Mr. Kirby! He's an old—” His voice shook and he did not complete the sentence, ‘* Kirby is a very good man, andI am glad vou appointed him foreman in Conner’s place. ue is a friend of mine. But he is queer and or —_— He was about to say no attention should be paid to anything Kirby did or said, ** Your mind was overstrained, and what you imagined was possibly all fancy,” She looked very disconsolate, and the evident pain in her face deeply touched bim, J aot oth i 9%, "a8 af i t ® ‘ é yee eae Se RA Bee) ORT | bedters é * ? 4 amt 2 ‘ ro *y VI ttle: Lae set 1,4 e ; " \ +< at is wor ‘ : ¢ > ‘ »! > et Rg. Py aes x Ws Mon . t * é ; ‘You are so alone and so wretcbed,” and he ventured to slip a hand across her shoulder. ‘*Marian, are you blind? Will you persist in not seeing what is so obvious to every one else? I love you! I love you better than my own life! Will you not give me the privilege of being more to you than even a father could be? Your husband!” Sue shrunk from him a little; and then, to his great surprise, gave way to a flood of tears, Taking advantage of her momentary weakness, he drew her to him in a close embrace and pressed his lips to bers, ‘* Will you not tell me my love is returned?” he panted, ‘‘ You must tell me that! I sball die if you do not! I feel that I cannot live without you!” For a moment she struggled vainly, and then permitted her head to rest passively and silently against his breast, ‘Tell me that, Marian!” he pleaded, ‘* Do not force me to go away from this place with all my hopes blighted!” ne looked into his face, and be saw that her eyes were shining like stars through the mist of her tears, ‘*You bave made me very happy,” she said, simply. ‘* Your foolish fellow! You ought to know without my saying se, that your love is returned. Would I have risked death on the cliff to save you from the fire, if it were not 80? ‘* But before I can make any promise’ to you, I must first make a confession, A startling confession |? He gasped, Could it be that Kirby was right in bis surmises? ‘* Let me bear it!” and be drew her again to bim, She flushed and hesitated, ‘*Mv name is not Marian Carlow! It is Mary Ann Talbott! Mr, Carlow was not my father! I bave lived with bim for many years, thoudgb and have passed as bis child, y parents died when I was quite small, Mr. Carlow Rad been in love with my mother before she married my father; and so, for her sake, he took me and made me as his own child, ‘*] don’t, like the name of Mary Ann, and I changed it to Marian. I’m atraid I was not a very good daughter to Mr, Carlow, though I thought a great dealofhim, I suppose 1 oughtn’t to say it, now that he’s dead, Lut he was very obstinate and very cruel s( metimes, and we frequently had quarrels—\bitter quarrels! The memory of that bas hung like a millstone about my neck,” This confession was in part a confirmation of what Kent Kirby bad tole him, but it did not make him think Kirby any nearer right in his general surmises, Rather, it more firmly con- vinced him that Kirby was wrong, He wanted to ask about the shoes and the dag- ver, feeling certain she could fully and reason- ably explain these seemingly black circum- stances; but be recoiled from apy mention of the subject, ‘* it is nothing to me whether you are Carlow’s daughter or not!” he asserted in his enraptured tones, ‘‘It is enough for me to know that you love me, and will be my wife. You will give me that promise?” “Yes!” she whispered, ‘‘If I have lost a father, I have gained you, Seal, and that is everything!” CHAPTER IX, A WOMAN'S HATE. Tom CONNER, the discharged fcreman, did no tleave the ravch Ic uee of his dismissal. The days passed; ond t's actions showed be had no notion of doing anything of the kind; and, as hospitality is cne of the cardinel] virtues in the range region, there was no one to point him in the direction of Piebald and bint to bim that his room was better than bis company, Asa foreman, he bad been somewhat d¢mi- neering: aud while a few of bis intimate cronies were angered at his deposition, the majority of the Rogue River cowboys were secretly pleased with the change, He continued to sleep in the bunk-room, take his meals at the mess-table, and to conduct hitm- self as if be belonged to the ranch, He especial- ly fraternized with the few cowboys who were his firm friends; and on many occasions was to be seen conversing witb them in low tones when not near to hear, Both Seal Shelton and Kent Kirby watched him as closely as possible, but he did nothing to call for censure. He cast on the High-Kicker many glances of hatred and contempt, but these Kirby felt he could afford to pass by in silence, 7 (exe) i a ey yas } a4 i Ail: ’ ‘ ” ee ad j ty ’ ’ \ “comic ov ‘; ier 9S, “ale } C) ) Pe he ‘ i* Ss -<com