Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 801 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

i Ee r : ke _* _ ‘Ae ¢ - | - .* ae a ad Yd wie Ew Pe ee ae ee ee oe ee 8 ‘Kent Kirby. ‘the High-Kicker from wee roe ee eee So far as was known to the detectives, Conner never referred to the attempt at lynching, There could be little doubt, however, that his failure and humiliation on that occasion rankled deeply, and that he secretly nourished plans for revenge. There was another on the place who was watcb- ing Tom Conner’s actions quite as closely; and that was Sylvia Sterling, A sudden and jealous hatred of Seal Shelton and Marian Carlow bad grown up in her beart. She saw that Conner also hated Shelton, and this was why she had been so closely observing bis actions, Perhaps this accounted for the change in her attitude toward Marian—a change which Marion had spoken of to Seal, Sbe had fallen violently in love with Seal Shelton soon after his appearance at Rogue River Ranch, but had had sufficient self-control and reserve to bide the fact from bim;—and hide it, also, from Marian, Therefore it was with a pang whose poignancy was bitter as death that she beheld the growing intimacy be- tween Seal and Marian. She had brooded on this night and day, and it was now beginning to tell on ber, a eee ee CO ee Ce ee they not injured her irretrievably? Would friends do that? No; she would not die! She would live! She would revenge herself for the injury done her, She would berevenged on him, and on her! But her brain was whirling so that ske could bardly think. AJl things seemed part of a vision —part,of a hideous nightmare. Was she here on the brink of Rogue River, and was that Tom Conner sitting over there looking at her so | steadily ? cme —— ‘‘What did you say?” she faltered. ‘I be- lieve you said something,” ‘*T dis!’ said Conner; and then he began to repeat slowly and with emphasis what he had already given utterance to. ‘*You are right!” she declared, rising and coming nearer to him, ‘* You are right, There is something to live for. Canyou guess what it is? It’s revenge, Tom Conner! Reveoge!” ‘Correct you are!” and he nodded, pleasedly. ‘* Revenge!” she repeated. ‘‘ Revenge! Re- venze!” Hardened as he was, Conner drew back, shudderingly. He fancied he saw in her actions and words symptomsof insanity. He had asked her if sbe was crazy, and now he was begin The climax was reached, when, one night, ; ning to think she was, Marian’s words and manner brought the revela- | tion that Seal had asked her to be his wife, She had felt she could endure many things; but not that!” She choked down her emotions and left the room, Her brain was on fire. She clutched her throat as if it barned ber, and pressed a hand against ber heart as if to still its tumult- uous throbbing. For her, life suddenly lost its joy. She had feared this, bad felt that it must and would come in time, and yet had never = elf-confessed the fearful truth. **On! what shall I do?’ she cried, looking ap- pealingly up at the quiet and peaceful stars, ‘What shall ldo? Waat shall I do?” She took po note of the direction in which she walked, but strode on with a beedless pace that carried her swiftly in the direction of the turbu- jJent river. Se started when she drew near its banks and beard the roar of tae tumbling water, A ghastly look came into ber face, It held the thought of suici le, Here was a surcease from all trouble and dis- appointment, Here was balm for the wounded and broken heart, ‘‘ Mather, forgive me for my sin!” she cried, looking heavenward with uplifted hands, ** Father, forgive me! Forgive me!” The appeal ended ip an incoherent ery. 4* Oh, God, is this murder, too?” She glanced back toward the bouse. It was invisible from that point, Then she looked again at the wildly-rushing river, It seemed to beckon heron, The white foam upraised itself agaiust the rocks like white, wel- coming hands, The gurgle of the current seem- ed musical, even entrancing, The hollow, black depths whispered of infinite peace and rest, ‘Father forgive me for this—this murder!’ she again prayed, Then once more uplifting ber hands she ran quickly toward the stream, She was about to burl herself in when a man stepped from behind one of the bushes, caught her by the dress and dragged her violently back, It was Tom Conner, ‘Heavens! if itain’t Sylvy! This beats;my time. Have you gone clean crazy, girl?” She sunk sobbinyz on the wet rocks. ‘‘l am crazy!” she moaned, ‘*Oh, why did you gave me from that, Tom Conner? I’m not fit to live. I don’t want to live,” ‘¢ Best way in the world to please your enemies is to go drownd yourself!” was his keen and sen- tentious exclamation, Tom Conner was far from being a fool, what- ever else he might be, He bad seen‘that Sylvia Sterling wasin love with Seal Shelton, and he rightly guessed that this attempt at self-destruc- tion had its cause in that, ‘* Never please your enemies that way. I’d’a’ _Jbeen dead Jong ago, if I’d followed that plan, J live to circumvent’em; to thwart ’em; to trip 7em up in their schemes; to kill ’em, if need be! But I don’t goand kill myself. Nary! That’sa fool’s way. And you &in’t no fool; though you’ve been acting precious like one!” She stared at him dazedly, New ideas were ¢reeping into her mind, Was Tom Conner right and she wrong? Why sbould she kill herself? Why indeed? That would not injure these ene- mies of hers, sorry. Yes; they were enemies! Perbaps they would not even feel She felt that! Had | | 8 a TT | ‘Git even wifh your enemies and take care of yourself! That’s always my doctrine: and I’ve found it to work pretty well. There’s a deal of satisfaction in 1t.” ‘That's what I want to do!” she bysterically declared, ‘‘I don’t want to throw myself, in there, now. I sbould tave done it, though, but for you. You saved me from that, Tom Conner; nud—you put new idea’ into my head,” She stopped, hesitatingly, and drew some- thing from her pocket. ‘* 1 want to pay you for that, and for the work I want ‘you to do,” There was a white, fierce rigidity in her manner, a metallic click in her voice, and a maniacal poise of the head that made Conner shudder again, ‘* What bave you got there?” he asked. “Will you do what I want you to? An- swer me that, You hate Seal Shelton. You needn’t try to deny it. Ive read it in your face as plainly as if it bad been written there, Have you courage enough to—to—” Her voice broke, the words died in a hollow gurgle, and her fingers worked convulsively. Cooner looked quickly about to make sure they were quite alone, he place was deserted, forbidding, and almost dark, ‘*] expect to do him up sooner or later!” be hissed. ‘*Him and that infernal High-Kicker both! “Take that, then!” and sbe thrust into his hand the object she had taken from ber pocket. ‘*Tt will pay you forsaving me from the river, and—and—” She turned abruptly away, ran wildly up the slope as if pursued by invisible demons, and disappeared, A low moaning cry came back to Conner as she vanisbed, ‘“ Hanged if that aon’t beat me!” Conner cried, in great amazement, ‘* She’s a she-devil, or she’s a maniac! If she ain’t a maniac, she will be one in side of a month, or I miss my guess. .She’s got it in for Seal Shelton. Yes; and for that sweetheart of his, It’s the first time I ever saw a girl go plum crazy over a love affair.” He struck a match and looked at the object he held in his hand, The daylight had not entirely faded, but he wanted to give it a closer examination than was possible by the light that yot lingered in the sky. He whistled his astonishment, She bad spoken of pay. He held in his hand aroll of money. Several of the bills were of rather large denomi- nations. Two of them were—yes; two of them were counterfeits, Tom Conner knew a coun- terfeit when be sawit. He could not mistake these counterfeits, anyway. He had helped to make them, And what was that? He struck another match and looked again. One of the bills—not one of the counterfeits— had a dark, red stain onit, It was the stain of blbod! Conner’s astonishment was open-mouthed and genuine, He could scarcely believe his eyes, ‘‘Where did Sylvy Sterling get this money?” he questioned, unconsciously speaking aloud in his excitement. ‘This was Jim Carlow’s money! I reckon if anybody ought to know Ripe waper, it’s me! Them counterfeits tell the tale,” He was manifestly startled, if not dismayed. He looked again at the bills to make sure he EEE EEE rr ne . —_—_—_— ee a Killbuck. was not dreaming. Then he thrust them tt his pocket; and turned and walked in the di- rection which Sylvia had taken, CHAPTER X. THE ROSTER OF ROGUES. “THIS hyer’s what i Calis slick!” The High-Kicker from Killbuck clung pros- trate to the wet soil and squeezed himself into as small a compass as possible, All about was dark as Erebus—except at one point. That was in the direction toward which Kirby’s bead was thrust, A very faint light burned there—a mere yellowish speck in the ip- tense gloom, He was in an underground * drift” or tunnel, and the speck-like light yellowed the air of a larger area, ‘T'nis area seemed to have cave- like proportions, so far as he could judge, Doubtless, it was walied or boarded up, for the tunnel in which he lay was timber-braced, fe was in an exultant mood, He had direct- ed bis principal efforts since coming to Rogue River Ranch’ to the work uf unearthing the counterfeiters, He had paid more or less atten- tion to the mystery clinging about the death of Jim Carlow; but that was only a side issue, He had been sent there on a special mission, and that mission had been ever uppermost in his thoughts, It was in this that the High-Kicker differed from his assistant, Seal Shelton. Sbelton had fallen desperately in love, and was now devoting more of his energies to the discovery of Jim Car- low’s murderer than to the task that had brought him there, ‘* Tf this bhyer ain’t the place I’ve been lookin’ fer all these days, then ’ma measly Mexican! The very identical place! Sing’lar I never thought o’ it afore, too, I might’a’ Rnowed they’d have a den like this hyer, an’ common sense would ’a’ tol’ me to look fer it whur it wus least to be expected,” The place in which he lay was a “ drift,” lead- ing from an abandoned mining shaft, The shaft had been sunk in a rocky draw only a short dis- tance from the ranch buildings, Valuable mineral was expected to be found, That was the reason given for its sinking, at least; though Kent Kirby was now convinced it was not the real reason, No mineral bad been found, and after making some drifts and excavations, the work had been abandoned, That was four or five years before, and the mine had lain deserted and unnoticed, or ap- parently so, ever since, Weeds and bushes had grown about the mouth of the shaft, The hoist- ing frame and timbers had been taken away and all had been given over to neglect and decay. Sume boards had been thrown across the gap- ing mouth to prevent stray cattle or ponies from tumbling in. Kent Kirby had passed the old shaft many a time, and had seen it; but there had been no- thing about it to suggest evil use, or hint that it was & lie, Now, he unjustly accused himself of mole-like blindness and a lack of every requisite going to make a shrewd detective. He was sure that no hope of finding mineral bad ever been held by the men who had opened the pretended mine, They had another pur- pose in view. That purpose was to prepare a place where secret meetings could be held and secret work carried on with little danger of dis- covery. But for a word or two dropped by a druuken cowboy, the High Kicker might have forever re- mained in ignorance of this, So far, be was certain none of the cowboys, or people of the ranch, bad any inkling of bis true character. To them he was the rip-roar- ing Higb-Kicker from Killbuck, the man of capacious mouth and loud words, whom the freakish fancy of a girl had elevated to the position of foreman, He had played bis part well; much better than Seal Shelton bad played his. If he could con- tinue this success, the doors of information must eventually open wide to him. | He chuckled gleefully, as he squeezed his body closer and closer against the wet wall. Some of the bracing timber had rotted away at that point, leaving a niche-like burrow into whose narrow contines he was trying to press himself, He accomplished this to his satisfaction, after awhile, though the place was contracted and sufficiently tight to cramp him. But it gave him security; and with his head poked from the niche, like the bead of a tortoise from its shell, he watched the illuminated space beyond the : | , 5 ' “<4 7 ¥ ~ tian t i — EDOOKS.C > - AY od @] Oh etek