Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 802 — page 2: what you’re looking at

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

2 termined face and keen, arrestingeyes, 1: int of age he looked to be not over thirty. ‘* Ah, you are here, Bristol!” the gov greetec, He rose and offered bis hand cordially, the new-comer taking it in a hearty and frier ly grasp. ** As you see, sir,” was the immediate response. ‘‘Is there some further service I can render yout I came as soon as your messenger found me,” “First of all let me thank you for the ser- vices you bave rendered,” the governor rejoined, “This is my first opportunity to doso— Very well, I will waive that, Yes, you are wanted again.” ‘* What is it this time?” Their bands bad now parted, and the governor stepped back. ** Let me introduce you to these gentlemen,” he now said. ‘‘Gentlemen, this is Mr, Richard Bristol, or Deadwood Dick, Junior, the man you areino search of, Mr. Bristol, Mr, Mansing Ma- son, of the United States Secret Service, and four assistants,” ‘““Glad to meet you, Mr. Mason!” Dick greet- ed, offering bis hand, to me by reputation,” ‘* This is a proud moment for me, Mr. Bristol, I assure you,” was the bearty response, ‘* Your name stands second to none, at Headquarters, and I have long desired to know you.” They shook bands warmly. ‘* What the case is, Mr. Mason will now in- form you,” spoke the governor, “ That itis an important one I need not assure you, Mr. Mason came to me inquiring for you, and [ sent for you at once, well knowing. that nothing would please you better than to take part in the matter.” | Detective Mason introduced his assistants, and when all had taken seats he said: ‘* Yes, the case I have on hand is a highly im- poe one, Mr. Bristol, and as the trail has ed us to this wild land I desire you to take the leadership and thus insure our success,” “Tt hardly know about that,” Dick made answer. ‘If anything, my reputation is second to yours, Mr, Mason, and—” ‘*Not so, sir, Moreover, you are at home here in these mountain fastnessess, where we are almost wholly unacquainted, and there is no manin the country so well qualified for the undertaking as you,” ** Well, give mo an jdea what the caseis,” , “Tt issoon done. Some weeks ago the mint at New Orleans made a big shipment of gold, secretly, by a special train, It was thought that not a soul knew anything about it outside of those immediately concerned. That, how- ever, was a mistake, as the sequel proved. “The train was held up at a wild place nota reat distance from St. Louis, and plundered. t was done in the night, and before daylight the gold bad been transferred to some craft on the Mississippi, and there the trail was lost. ht was kept secret, and not a word of it bas the press ever got hold of. I was put on the case, and have been on it since, ‘¢ My first work was to get a list, as nearly as possible, of every craft that was afloat on that portion of the river at the time. Not an easy task, but [accomplished it more or less thorough- ly, and in a short time. I had every one of these boats examined and searched, but without result so far as finding the gold was concerned, it did, however, lead to something else. We found one craft that had set out from St. Louis two days after the robbery—loaded with mining machiuery. ‘*This machinery, we ascertained, was des-: tined for some place out in this country, and there was ove suspicious thing about it—perbaps two: it bad been paid for in gold, new coin of the New Orleans Mint, and the machinery had been sent by water instead of by rail, by which move there did not appear to be anything to be gained, That, however, was explained by the statement that additional machinery was to be ‘taken aboard at a point further down the river, and all was to be sent by rail as one consignment from that point. Gas ‘This was not satisfactory, to my mind, and we set out to overhaul that boat, but we were led on a false scent. The boat had gone up the river instead of down, and by the time we dis- covered where it had landed and unloaded, enough time had elapsed for the machinery to be almost if not quite to its destination here, This worked good in one way, however, for it made us sure, that our suspicion was correct, We were convinced the five millions in gcid bad been aboard that craft, and it is reasonable to helieve that it was shipped with the machinery, Deadwood Di uor | | lieve the gold is there. | until the case has grown cold, when they will } )more difficult. ‘* You are not a stranger | if not indeed packed away inside the various pieces, It was a clever scheme, but it was over- done, ‘* Well, we stuck to the trail, and the result has been that we have tracked the machinery to a new camp out here in the wilds, a place called Death’s-head Camp, and we have reason to be- Their game is to lie low probably ship the stuff away as the product of the mine, and so reap their reward, We want to nip that game in the bud, and we must; but, it will be a dangerous undertaking, and we risk our lives in engaging in it. There you have it, and now what do you say? Will you take the matter in hand and act as our captain, and so the better insure our success? I know you are j. st the man for the post, and I hope you will | nf; refuse.” ‘Jeadwood Dick had listened attentively. ‘*'You seem to have a plain case,” he com- mented, ‘* You have not suid, however, who this robber is, or is supposed to be,” ‘‘Ha! that is true, He is a man whose face ha“#4ver been seen, which renders the work the He has been called the New Jesse£ What his true name is, no one knows,” ‘* Bu, you have a description of the man who managed the shipment of the machinery you spoke about, of course?” ‘That is another point. I did not half tell the story, I see. The person who manged that was a woman, strange as if may seem, no doubt an accomplice, and she bas mysteriously dropped out of the case,” ‘* Have you been to Death’s-Head?” **No; wethoughtit better not to be seen there twice,” ** A good plan, that. Well, if you are deter- mined to have me, I will help you the little I can, ‘Good! Success is ours now, boys, sure!” “Don’t be too sure of it,” Dick enjoined. ‘* We may get the worst of it” - ‘You have never yet knéWn defeat, Dead- wood Dick.” _ a “Oh, yes, I-have!” ‘*Not final defeat,” corrected the governor, ** And, you will not meet it here; either, He is just the man you want, Mr. Ma‘on. Hang on to him, now that you have got his’ promise,” ** As I intend to do, sir.” ‘* Well, I take it you have told me all you can about the matter,” Dick now observed, _ “Yes, that is about all,” Mason responded. **The Government is out a cool five millions, but we think we know where to look for it now. There is danger ahead, however, fc * this New Jesse is a desperate character, and! need not tell you that we must look for a despe ate strug- gle, with such a sum at stake,” ‘*That is to be expected,” Dick coolly an- swered. ‘‘I would not give a fig for otir profes- pr were it not for the spice of danger there is n it, ' * Nor I, But, you have bad more than your share of the spice, as you call it, seems to'’me,” ‘*My food has been well seasoned, ’ iat is true,” ‘* Well, when can you take hold?” ** At once,” was Dick’s answer to that, ‘I bave ceen a considerable time away from home, and my wife must be getting anxious about,me, but she knows well my character and that it is next to impossible for me to resist temptation in a matter of this sort; so she will understand, I will write to her before we set out,” ’ _ “T would say go and see her first,” supple- mented Mason, *‘ but the governor tells me your place is a considerable distance away, and ws are in a fever to be doing something, She will prize you all the more when you finally do re- turn to her,” The squad of thoroughbred detectives soon took leave to arrange the programme of their campaign, with Deadwood Dick their acknowl- edged captain, CHAPTER IL, | THE DIAMOND DICE DISPLAYED, H1GH, rugged and precipitous rose the time- seared cliffs and peaks, deep dismal and seem- ingly fathomless sunk the gulfs and gorges, he picture needs no further delineation; it portrays perfectly that wild portion of Arizona of which we write, Along one of the deep, narrow defiles, where even at noontide it was semi-darkness, rode s lone horseman, He was a manof middle age, judging by his appearance in that uncertain light, and the al he bestrode was a gaunt, ungainly creature made up chiefly of hide and bones. ck, Jx.’s, Diamond Dice. em + The man rodein a lazy, listless fashion, his arms hanging and the : ein slack in his hand, He was clad in black—seedy, shiny black, and an old high bat adorned his head. His coat was of the frock variety, extra long in the tails; his trowsers were short, exposing several inches of the legs of a pair of ‘*stogy” boots; and his shirt was the common red such as miners wear, His hair, straight and sandy, bung some inches below his hat all around, a brush of whiskers graced his chin, and his nose supported spectacles of the old-fashioned bowed variety. With a single notable exception, he wore no jewelry or ornament. On the front of his red shirt, the more conspicuous for being so strange- ly out of place, was a diamond pin which sparkled even in that dim light, It consisted of six stones set toform a figure like the six spots on a dice, thus: x * x Ox k This strange personage seemed to be paying no attention to his surroundings. and but little to bis course until, preseutly, coming to ja place where the defile branched in two directions, he promptly drew rein, ‘* Whoa, January!” he cried to his bony steed, *‘ Here is where we stop to consider which way is right before we go ahead. That is prudence, and the pru lent man taketh care unto bis ways, But, here is a sign; this may guide us aright and save us all worry and trouble in the mat- ter. A sign there was, true enough. At the sharp point of rock where the defile divided had been planted a post, and on that post were two guide-boards, pointing different ways, like this: *“* deH shteD ot yaw sihT” ‘* This rode to ——— |” It was an art study. The sign on the right was plain enough, but the one pointing to the left required some thought. Whoever the authdér of the idea, he had evidently been determined that no one should be led astray, and hence the arranginp of the letters inthe direction it was intende the traveler should go. The defile on the right was narrow and dark, i a sharp descent, and was anything but in- viting. Tue other, the main thoroughfare, as it were, here seemed to broaden, and it took a slightly up- ward tendency from this point. For some moments’ the lone traveler on the bony steed studied the situation; then he re- marked, adressing the horse, as appeared to be his babit: ‘*As we don’t want to ‘rode’ to Dash, old horse, I guess we bad better keep to the left, It is better to be going up than to be going down, I make it out that this is the way to Death’s- head Camp, and that is our destination. Glong!” Tie poor apology for a horse set itself in mo- tion once more, and the lone traveler went on his way as listless as ever. Gradually the defile led upward, until at last it came ont into a broad canyon where the light was stronger. Here was a well-worn trail, showing that teams and wagons were not unknown in that quarter, The lone traveler rode on, keeping the one gait, until he came toa point where a man was seated on a bowlder by the wayside, There he drew rein, with the same word of command to his bony steed: ‘* Whoa, January!” The man on the bowlder was a typical Dutch- man in typical Dutch attire, and at his feet la a pack that bespoke bis calling. He wasa nae peddler, ‘‘How d’e do!” the man on the rack-bones greated, ‘Ver’ goot, mine fr’ent,” was the response. ‘*Could I soldt you somedings mit mine pack out to-day?” **No, [ guess not, unless you have a gilt-edge biled shirt, I might be able to dicker with you for that, perhaps.” The Dutchman held up beth hands in borror, ‘* Mine Gott!” he cried, ‘ You t’i:k I vant to be der subleoe of a neck-die barty? If Idry to beddle b’ilt shirts mit a mining-gamp in, diy vould hang me oop so gwick id vould make mine headt swim, you pet!” : ‘* What do you peddle?” | | **Ob, yust common dings; red an’ blue shirts, ’ Sj comicboo