Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 814 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

ear detected a cessation of the footsteps that bad just passed, then he again detected their mea- sured tread upon the pavement not thirty paces behind bim, All right, Byrde, my boy!” he muttered, ‘You just come along with me, and we'll have more fun than seven dollars before we seek our downy couches, ‘‘ Now for a little ‘cover,’ just to improve our appearance, you know, then for a ‘ touch of high life’ among the ‘ crooks,’” As he seid this, the detective stepped into a deep doorway close at hand, adjusted a false beard to his smootbly-shaven face, and an in- stant later was again in motion, with his evilly- smiling trailer close behind, Ace High made straight for the ** Crib.” It seemed a foolhardy thing to do, but the in- vincible Gambler Detective knew not the feeling of fear. and it was his choicest amusement to match his wit with that of some noted crook upon the latter’s own territory. To But he was not the man to auction his life away for a song. ; The bar-room of the Crib (into which I have already introduced the reader) was separated from the street door by a narrow, dark hallway, Entering this hall, the traifed detective, with a lightning-like motion, tore away his beard, hat, and coat, exchanging them for similar arti- cles of a totally different appearance, which he babitually carried concealed about his person, then entered the room beyond in a make-up that would deceive the sharpest pair of eyes there, Taking a half-burned cigar from his pocket, he quickly lighted it, then seated himself near the door, just as it opened to admit his exultant shadower, The outlaw glanced quickly about the room, paused, took another hurried survey of the motley throng before him, and his face assumed a most comically-puzzled expression. The detective, who appeared to be the roughest old bummer in the Crib, was tipped back in his chair beside the door, apparently half-asleep, and with his cigar-stub just ready to fall from his lips. ag hia eyes rested upon the form of the old bummer, the outlaw stepped to his side, ‘* Hello, old fellow, are you asleep?” he asked shaking the other eras oly ‘‘Huh-um-yab! What d’ye want? consarn e!” ‘‘ Did you see a fellow enter here just ahead of you?” ‘Naw! Hain’t see’d nvffin’ ner nobuddy. Gway ’nlemme’lone— Say ’d you arsk me tew hev a drink? “All right!» I’m yer oyster then. Lead ahead, stranger!” and as he became fully awake, though still very tipsy, the “‘ rough ” to seized the outlaw’s arm, and intimated bis readiness to be piloted to the bar. “Dry up, you fool! I hain’t asked you to drink, neither de I intemd to!” grabed the lieu- tenant, in anything but a pleasant frame of mind at missiag his man, ‘‘ What! hais’t yew goin’ ter treat, ter pay fer my tellin’ yew about the feller—” ‘You hain’t told me abowt him yet. Point him out to me, and I will fill you so full of ‘slash’ that you can’t walk!” ‘‘ By the bawlia’ Bacchus! I’m yer man! ‘6 Jest tell me his handle, or how he looks and _ Pil spot him in a jiffy, for I knows every galoot that kin git inter this hyer Crib—even tew yer- self!” * What? you know me?” “ Sart’in | does, leftenant, though I hain’t sot eyes on ye fer some three years! ‘‘ Remember me, don’t yer? Old Spotter, ther crook,” ‘**T don’t pl are all right. haps) ‘*But find my man, Spotter, and I will give you a ‘tenner!’” + By Jerusba! That’s a whole week’s drunk! ** What’s yer man look like?” ou just now, but I guess you i — ————— eel | ‘Tall, straight, dark-face, wears a heavy faise | beard and plaid coat. He entered just ahead of | for I have an appointment,’ and the captain seated me, but for my life I can’t discover him in the crowd, ‘‘T may as well tell you he is Ace High in dis- | uise!” ‘Jupiter! Ace High! If I can find him the boys’ll set ’em up fer the next month free! ‘* Here lost to the bandit’s sigkt in the crowd, Ten minutes of anxions search on the ee? and the bummer at once was part of | ‘* Rather! How came you here?” he asked in a lowtone, ‘I thought you bad gone to call upon the Widow Cardigan!” ‘*I did, Byrde; but she was out, sol camo here to see what { could run on to,” ‘Well, you are just in time, Ace High is here in disguise, and unless Iam greatly mis- taken he does not even suspect that [am on tke lookout for him!” ‘Ha! Are you sure he is here?” ‘I know it! for I followed him here, and have got a man now looking for him—” ‘Then let us get out at once!” ‘* But why not down the bloodhound now?” ‘*For this reason: If your man finds him, the gang will make short work of him, ‘** But it is sure to raise one the biggest rows the Crib has ever witnessed, and if we should be- come mixed upin it, it would be good-by for you, and not much better for me, ou must re- member the Crib is under police surveillance!” ** You have got a long head, old man, and are right, of course. ** Come, let’s skip!” ‘‘ Suppose we drop around to the rendezvous, and see what the Hounds are about!” ‘¢ Just the thing; but I would like to see this gang down the so-called invincible, Gambler De- tective!” ‘‘Of course: but we have too much at stake to take the risk of exposure in a police raid, Iam well satisfied that Ace High will trouble us no more |” And the two left the Crib together, Ordering a carriage, and paying the driver we!lto inform them the moment they were fol- lowed, for it was just possible the detective might have “spotted” the thinly disguised banker-crook and attempt to follow him, they were driven rapidly to within a couple of blocks of old Hop Sing’s ‘‘ dive,” Dincaleee the driver, after gaining his assur- ance that he had kept a sbarp lookout for trackers, and had discovered none, the two crooks soon entered the Chinese dive, and the banker, falling in behind, was piloted by his so- called son to the door of the council-chamber of the ‘* Hounds,” After a slight pause here for the challenge and countersign, they were admitted to the hall, which was occupied by some twenty men of almost every position in life, It is a matter of history that no criminal organization of the Old or New World was so numerously 1 ted by men of ‘apparent high and unblemished reputation as was the ** Hounds of ’Frisco” at one time! This was the picture the two new arrivals looked upon: Aft the head of a long table, sur- rounded by a full dozen of the best-known buri- ness men of the Golden City, sat an eminent, well-known judge, complacently listening to the details of an awocious murder committed the night before by the narrator, and cividing the derived ils among the gang, while at the further side of the room were stationed the lower rank of the boyy wei a most murderows- looking set, regaling themselves from a lerge bottle, and waiting their turn at giving in their reports to the leader, As his eyes fell upon Banderson, the judge arose and gai: ‘*Hello, Nugget! We thought coming, and 1 took your place, dividing the swag!” ou wasn’t ere, finish CHAPTER XVIII. AMONG THE HOUNDS. A curious expression flushed over the banker's countenance, “Oh, never mind, judge,’’ he returned, “‘ Now that you have your hard in, just finish the business, as I can stop but a moment.”’ “You must be out of your senses, captain! I | Should suppose you woud be the Jast one to propos » breaking one of our m st stringent rules. You must know that it is your place, and yours only, to attend to this matter when you are bere ” * True! I did not think: but } must hurry through himself at the tab!e and began counting over the plunder before him, apparently nt noticing the puzzled looks his men bent upon him the while. He soon hed the money arranged upon the table in sixteen piles, and said: ‘Here are four hundred and sixty-four dollars to be divided among the sixteen men present, making twenty-nine dollars for each—”’ ‘* But what ails you to-night, captain?” interrupted the judge. ‘*Do you mean that we shall share and the lieutenant had passed, when he felta slight | Sh2"e alike with the erowd there? pull upon his sleeve. Turning, the outlaw saw standing at his side a form, the sight of which brought low-cry of | t wonder from bis lips. - i? fe yi ph ee . ie) a i AL ee af ’ otk lh, > 2 " « } mr wt , .- : aT ee eee . a why =, —— ae AYE ontet FA Oe ft + SF P SR ag Pe : 'e U ‘Tf you are to manage the mstter like that, where does our extra money com» from to get the others clear of the ‘ beaks’ when they are caught?” What answer the banker crook wou d have made o the above questions must forever remain a secret “1s | for at the moment the judge ceased speaking, the | heavy curtains at the further end of the room were brushed hastily aside, and beneath them s ‘rode the tall figure of—Captain Nugget, alias Bonanza Bob Banderson! There ensued one awful moment cf deathlike sti!iness. It was broken by the man at the head of the table, or Banderson number ene, who leaped to his feet, crying, as he pointed a heavy revolver at the cther’s, ead: **On your lives, Hounds, secure that man! “It is some trick! He is a spy in disgui:e—per- haps Ace High himself!” At mention of that dreaded name the gang sprung forward as one man, and before the new arriyv.i could offer the least resistance he was in the merci- less grasp of the Hounds of ’Frisco! The prisoner was livid a8 a corpse, and seemed reacy to burst with an emotion that resembled both fear and rage, ‘And now I command you to secure ¢/.a/ man this instant, or by the Eternal Heavens! I will ha.d every mother’s son of you over to the law the mo- ment l am treed, if ] have fo stretch hemp as a con- sequence!’ the impris ned man at Jast managed to hiss between his clinched teeth, his m:.u'h frothing, and hi; burning, blood-sh ot eyes glaring like balls of fir upon the coul unmoved face of the other, The startled and puzzled band turned to look at Nugret number one, Hie had moved around ro as to place himself be- tween the captured mon and the curt«ined exit, and now stood ¢c Imly surveying number two over his cocked end leveled ) evolver. The band also discovered something else—some- thing that Nugget number one could not see from his positi n. But a few paces back of him. and covering his form with two cocked revolvers, was the form of Byrd Raynold, the mountein band 6, The lone, low hall, the fear-drawn dr scowling: faces of the outlaws, the rwo moti nless figures, each holding loaded weap°ns, in the foregr. und, and all lighted but g'oomily by the flaring lamp unon the table, made a striking and dramatic tableau. T:.. band seemed still too Cazed to cbey the com. mand of number two, notwi: hstanding vis signifi- cant tureat; but not'so with Lieut nant Redbird, With a quick leap he reachcd Banderson’s side and gave a quick jerk upon his loog iron-gray beard, To the farther amazement of the gang it came off easilv, and they instantly saw through the trick that had been played upon them! Not one there but instantly recognized in Bander- son number one the invincible man-hunter, Ace High, the Gambier Detective! But the detective was not idle, Wih one quick, merciless blow he sent the man who had so adroitly unmasked him reeling the whole width of the hall, to fall, bleeding and insensible, in, a corner, ep It was evidently the cornered man’s intention to make a bold dash thr: ugh the curtains, and thus, by the well remembered passage, to the street, but in this he was foiled by the hasty entrance of the armed fuard outside, who-had been attracted by the unususcl distarbance in the courcil-chamber, ** Shoot him! kill him!” yelled Nugget, as he tore himeclf awey from his captors, ‘Or, better sti!l, take Lim alive, that he may die a. thousand deaths! “Five hundred dollars to the man who first lays hands upon the man-hunter !”’ The devective hd turned, as he drew a second re- volver, to fac: those so cluse behind him, and this movement preved his dcom, A dark-faced, villaincus-looking thug sprung, with one powerlul leap, from the erowd that surrounded Nugect, and threw himself with full f ree uvon the unprepared spy, just as he, with a quick snap shot, sent a bullet plowing through the should r of the foremost gua’ d., Ali three ‘cll to the floor with a resounding bang— the guard howling and cursing with pain, the detec- tive almost senseless from the shock «f the other's gigantic leap, and the darkfaced Hound on top with a hend at his victim's throat, The gang now rushed forward, and in a moment Ace Fish wes a{prisoner, bound beyond any possi- bility of cscape. “You are a hero, Pedro!" cried Nugget to the man wbo had meds the all-important capture, “ond you shall be the one to hoist the man-hunt r ‘over the divide.’ ‘* Now let’s attend to Recbird,”’ The stricken bardit was soon himself, and he re- counted in detail the manner in which he had been du by the detective at the Crib. It was then dcee'ded thet their dreaded prisoner should die that night, and at once, The helpless man was convey ed to a dungeon like cellar beneath the infernal diye, where he was lash- edand relashed to a stout wood bench ard lett in the hands of his villainous executioner. As the last of the gang left the dungeon they heard the first shriek of agony from the doomed man, Butif they had been a few moments later ip leaving, they might also have heard him exclaim: “ Dick, my lad, you are a jewel!” | CHAPTER XIX. AN UNSEEN FOE, Tue banker-crook sat in his elegant office, puffing nierages f ata cigar, and wearing a look not pleas- ant to see, m ee heh , vr CcCpyOOKS.com mrs “a Se - “. 4