Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 802 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

aE —= or P ( / : 12 Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Diamond Dice. —— eee eee ‘‘ Well, mayor, what is to be done with this | ing fire, but a signal from Dick had deterred | respite, ‘‘ 1 want you to listen to what I have to fellow?” asked the sport. ‘‘We orter hang him, cuss him!” was the angry response. ‘“*May I suggest something?” asked Fearless Fan, f , ‘*Sartain you may.” ‘* Well, let the sport say what shall be done with him.” ‘*D’ye hearthat?” cried the prisoner. ‘‘Say they ain’t workin’ together? It is Deadwood Dick an’ his wife, an’ I know et!” “*T assure you youare wrong; but, even were it so, what would this camp have against us?” the cool sport declared and demanded, ‘** [ll tell ye what,” the prisoner retorted. ‘I have told ye ’bout a letter I seen at Bristol City. Deadwood Dick has come hyer to gobble up jive million doliars that’s s’posed to be hyer, that’s what!” The cat was out! **Do you think Deadwood Dick is an outlaw? a robber?” cried Fearless Fan, ‘* Et ain’t that; this money is s’posed ter be stolen, an’ he has come hyer ter find et. Boys, ar’ ye goin’ ter let him do et? Think of ther sum!” ‘* But, this hyer must bea mistake,” cried the mayor. ‘‘/ never heerd nothin’ of ef, He musi be barkin’ up ther wrong tree, or else you be,” The crowd, the evil portion of it—and that meant fully four-fifths of the men in the room, was wild, If there was such a sum of money as that about, they all wanted a share of it, The six detectives saw that their case was lost, unless something was done at once to change the tide in their favor, Should the leaders take advantage of this mo- ment, if they saw the chance, they could com- mand the aid of nearly every man in the camp. Would they see and recognize this as their op- portunity? The detectives had already worked out their case, aud were on the point of making their arrests when their plans were upset by the attack of Wild Ward and his backers. Deadwood Dick himself was for the moment at loss, He did not know of a a man in the camp be could trust, unless possibly it was the mayor, From what he had been able to learn of him, ‘by close observation, he believe] that he was an honest man who somehow had got into the office by mistake, That he was not in the secret of the great. rob- bery was almost certain, ‘* Hang ther detective!” the crowd yelled. “Tf thar’s that much money hyer, we kin take keer of et!” ** You bet we kin!” These, and a bundred other cries, were heard on every side, and the evil crowd was pressing forward, White George, the sport, sprung upon the ‘table. “Silence!” he shouted, waving his revolvers. ** Let me have a word with you before you go too far with this business.” The crowd became still ina moment, all eager to hear what he had to say. ‘‘T want to tell you again that I am not Deadwood Dick,” he spoke. ‘*If you do away with me, thinking you have got bim, you will make a big mistake. Thatis all [ have to say; sora? if you are bound to have me, come on Armstrong and Keeler had been whispering together, and now Keeler sprung upon the other end of the same table with White, ‘*Men of Death’s-head Camp!” he shouted, *‘ the time has come for us to take you into our confidence and let you into our secrets, There 28 five millions of gold in this camp, and we re- ly on you to help us defend it. You heard this man say the limit of his game to-night was five millions, didn’t you?” | ‘* That’s so!” “Swing bim up!” ‘* Then bring out the swag and divvy!” What Deadwood Dick had dreaded, had come to pass. The ringleaders were going to take the whole wild horde of the camp for their backing. ‘* And if is proof enough that he is Deadwood Dick, in spite of all he says,” Keeler went on. ‘We must hang him, and his backers, if any can be found; and then the gold will be brought out and you shall all bavea share ofit, It will ‘make this camp more than rich, and every man of you will be a prince, detectives, and—”’ . , ** And begin right bere,” cried Armstrong, as he aimed bis revolver squarely at White George, White George had been on the point of open- Rid your camp of these him, With a single leap Lawyer Bungle was upon the sclid faro table, between White and tbe Sportive Sport, with a revolver placed at the head of the latter, ‘*Men of Death’s-Head,” he cried, ‘‘ just goa little slow. This is the only man in the camp who knows the hiding-place of that gold, and if you make another move | will blow bis brains out, Jam Deadwood Dick!” CHAPTER XIV.’ COOL-HEADED DICK! For the moment Deadwood Dick held the van- tage. Wiad there been a majority of bonest men for him to bave appeal to, he could have carried his point from that moment, Well he knew, though, that appeal was use- less, for the most of the citizens were all that has been said of them, and more. He bad but one hope, to work upon their cupidity. For the moment they were at a standstill, filled with surprise at the unexpected revelation. ‘* And,” Fearless Fan had immediately added, ‘if I have the name I may as well claim the game, too. At thesign of an attack, off goes this rascal’s roof!” She bad clapped a revolver tothe ear of Mana- ger Armstrong. The brief hesitation was more than Dick had hoped to gain, and it gave him a chance for a quick decision of acticn. At a signal from him, Detective Mason and the others of the diamond dice instantly laid hands upon the men they had intended arrest- ing, and handcuffs were upon their wrists be- fore they knew it. This was a further surprise that held the rough crowd in check still longer, and time was gained, Mason had handcuffed Keeler, Hardy had done the same for Armstrong, Cooley bad per- formed the same cffice for the Sportive Sport, while Martin, who had been the bummer, Ken- naka Kolt, had served Wild Ward in a similar fashion, And there the four were, beautifully helpless for the time being. They had not submitted silently, however, for they bad been uttering all manner of threats and curses, at the same time calling upon the crowd to defend them, There were shouts, now, on every hand, im- possible to quote, And if there was asurprised man in the camp, that man was Mayor Corrigan, who had to this time looked on with wide-open mouth. ‘* What in ther name o’ disasters does all this hyer mean, anyhow?’ he now demanded, ‘* Lawyer Bungle, you infarnel jassack, do you mean ter lay claim ter bein’ ther great detec- tive, Deadwood Dick?” ‘*T certainly do, mayor,” Dick answered. And in proof of it, he took off bis hat and with a sweep of his band removed wig, beard and spectacles at once, The redoubtable Richard stood forth! ** By ’fernal! I know ye!” cried Wild Ward, hotly. ‘*‘ Why couldn’t I’a’ knowed et was you before? You would now be a deader, I swear et. ‘* Maybe so,” spoke Fearless Fan, coolly. ‘* J have been around, you rascal, and perhaps J would have had something to say about that, And it would have been the same on the part of these gentlemen. You could not have barmed a hair of Deadwood Dick’s head.” ** ‘Woman, who are you?” asked Detective Ma- son. ‘One who is on your side in this case, is all I will say now.” There was no time to say more, for, the fran- tic urgings made by Keeler and Armstrong were arousing the crowd. _The rascals were pushing forward, growling like wild beasts, and it would require but an- other touch of the lash to make them rend their natural prey—if they could, ** Hold!” commanded Dead wood Dick, in sten- torian tone, ‘‘The man among you who ad- vances another step, dies. ‘You have the ad- vantage of numbers, but we bold the drop, and I am good for the lives of a dozen or so of you, myself.” That. chetked and cowed them, for the mo- ment, The detective at the same time gagged their prisoners, to stil] them so that Dick could make himself heard, The tube of a threatening re- volver had been thrust into the mouth of each. **Men of Death’s-Head,” Dick immediately went on, taking advantage of the moment of tell you, We are here on business, as you can see, and we will stand no trifling. You hold your lives in your own hands, for every man of us is a sure shot with the pistol,” There was a hum of mutterings, at that, ‘The story this rasca!,” indicating Wild Ward, ‘thas told you, istrue in the main, I will give you the bei of the case, briefly. There bas been a robbery, and a large sum of money stolen from the Government. It bas been tracked to this camp, and we are here to reclaim it, We bave found it, and we will take it with usif we bave to wade in blood to do it, Now, L have.a proposition to make to you. Are you willing to listen to it?” The bum abated a little, showing that they were willing tol ear. : ‘‘ Very well; but, first, I want every man in this room who is willing to aid usin our work, to step over to our side here. I] want to know just how many friends we bave among you.” Jim-jam Joe was busy among the men, whispering bere ard there, and his words were being passed frc« m lip to lip. At Dick’s cal, tte first man to respond was the mayor, He faced the crowd boldly, with weapons drawn, and called out: ‘‘ Hyer is one ye kin count on, anybow; en’ | sh’v’d think thar orter |e some more besides re, White men of this hyer camp, whar ar’ ye?” At that, some three or four otbers stepped ou6 from the crowd and cast their lot with the deter- mined few, ‘‘T am glad to find so many honest men among you,’ said Dick, then, ‘‘ Now, the rest of you, listen tome: df you will sell your help to us, we will pay you a fair price for it. If not, it is war! Now, make up your minds which you will have.” at ‘‘How much will it pay?’ asked Jim-jam ’ ‘* Hive dollars to each and every map.” an offer was not to be thought of, ‘‘ We jest won’t do et,” Jim-jam arnounced. ‘¢ Ther’ is five millions layin’’round byer som’ers, an’ we’re goin’ ter bave ther bull of et. You hev showed yer teetb, an’ we ar’ goin’ ter show ours, Besides, that pard o’ yours thar bas gta cool couple o’ hundred thousand in his clothes, and you must take us for fools ef ye think we ar’ goin’ ter let ye git away with that, when we ar’ ten to one ’gainst ye.” The borde of them roared like tigers, at hat. ‘¢ Bold!” Dick shouted again, ‘If youadvance one step, this man dies!” ‘Kill bim an’ be darn!” retorted Jim-jam. ‘¢ Ve would only bave ter do et, anybow, ter git rid of him.” Dick removed his weapon from the mouth of the chief of the rascals, and covered Jim-jam himself, “Tl kill you, then,” he declared, ‘* Stop where you are, men, till you hear all I have to ga 2 His backers now ranged themselves in line, and their weapons covered the crowd, ‘¢ And the first men of you who lifts bis arm sboulier high, drops!” So added Detective Mason. ‘‘They dare not kill one of you!” shouted Keeler. ‘‘Go for them, and the whole boodle shajl be yours.” ; Witb a sweep of his arm Dick knocked him off the table, and with a weapon in each band, faced the crowd like the tiger be was. ‘“You will bave war, will you?” he cried, ‘Very well, war let it be. have been in worse holes than this and bave come out alive, Vil risk it here. Just count your chances before ou are too basty. Here are a good dozen of us against you, and every one with a brace of re- volvers covering you. Tbat means a hundred and twenty bullets ready to be poured into you the moment you move. Do you want them?” Putting it in that light, the crowd recoiled a little. “But, what will we be doin’ all that time?” cried Jim-jam, ‘* You won't fire a dozen shots ‘fore every one of ye will be laid out stiff.” ‘‘ Every one of that dozen will count, though,” Dick retorted, And then, in bis grim tone of command, he suddenly ordered: _ “Form yourselves in double line, every man of vou. The one to refuse dies in bis tracks.” Before aware of it, fully two-thirds of the crowd bad obeyed. : It was their fatal move, and Dick immediately took advantage of it, He leaped from the table. facing those nearest him, and cried again: ‘‘ Fall in, tnere, or I'l] drop you!” ™~, There was a shout of derision, at that. Such Ebooks -* ey = —— a - mes