Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 814 — page 15: what you’re looking at

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

- eried the new arrival, whom Redbird at once recog- nized as Barry Banderson. ‘What's that? You are not Torrento!” gasped the bandit, starting back from his avutagonist, ‘*At your service, senor:’’ was the reply, as the duelist removed his mask, thus disclosing the well- known features of the Spanish vrandee * Butfam at a loss to know the offense I have committed, and which you are so eager to wipe out with my b'ood.”’ “Heavens! There is none. I did not dream it was you, Can you ever pardon my :errible blunder, prince?” ‘Easily, amigo/ Thereis no harm done, Come, let us forget’ the occurrence over a bottle of wine,” As the curtain rose for the last time the audience arose -n masse to catch every detail of the tableau before them, | Upon the stage, which represented most naturally a cave, and in the most natural positions imagina- ble, were a full score of vi lainous-appearing ban- diis, bound and gagged and guarded by a file of _ blue-clad police, and the grandee led the way toward the mansion. | The bandit had, as yet, taken no notice of the ser- | vants that had arrivel upon the scene with young Banderson, but as he was about to step torough the open window he glancea back. As he did so he uttered a sharp cry, and reeled in- sensible into Torrento’s arms. Three of the servants were Fr: kelheim, Melbourne and Black Jim! CHAPTER XXII. A LOVE SCENE. Two persons satin a shadowy nook of the con- servatory that was ingeniously protected from observation by a broad-leaved flowering polm. They were Banker Banderson and the beautiful young widow. ‘*My beautiful one!l’’ cried the cavalier, as he threw himself at the feet of the girl-widow, but forgetting to remove his mask. “It is to tell you the story of my mad, uncon:‘rollable love for ou— “Oh! you must not talk so—I cannot listen to such words—you have no right—”’ * Then give ms the right. You will never fiad such love as mine, andsurely I hava no rival for your affections !”’ ‘*You are mistaken, senor. My heart is already given to another—”’ “What? Ha! The Spaniard, Torrento, the», is your lover!”’ “You are mistaken again, senor. I know notin what light the prince regards me but I could never regard him in the manner you suggest. ‘N>: the one to whomI have given my heart, thourh he has never declared himself. is an Ameri- can a good, true man who has my interes’s entirely at heart, as I known by the manner in which he has safely invested the fortune which | intrusted to him but a few days ago—”’ “Can I hear aright—I am not mistaken! You have not recognized me!’ and the banker crook tore the mask fiom his features. | The woman uttered a startled cry. * Robert!’ she exclaimed,\essaying to rise and flee. “What havelI said! I did not know—you should have made yourself known! Oh! Let me go-—”’ and the beautiful girl-widow burst into tears. As for Banderson, he was-at once transported into the seventh heaven of delight. Claspfhg the fair form in his arms, he poured forth the passiona'e appeal which he had com- mitted to memory for the occasion, and his words were not uttered in vain. “Then you will be mine, Anita; say that you will be mine!”’ * Yes, Robert; I wil be yours, for Lhave loved you from the first moment of our acquaintance.” 6 And you will not keep me waiting long for my bride?” ‘*No; I will waive my prerogative, and let you set the time!” ‘Then I say at once, my beautiful one! To- night — he ‘Oh! What can you be thinking of? What would people say? “They would say [had won the most beautiful bride in the world! You are ever striving to enter tain your guests—what would be more interesting then & wedding at midnight?” “Tt isa great temptation—such an adventure; I have half a mind—”’ “Then you consent?”’ se Yes \"? -_--o CHAPTER XXII. THE END OF THE DRAMA. THE most interesting part of the magnificent en- tertainment was axeries of amateur theatricals, per- formed upon a temporary stage at one end of the great ball-room, comprising tableaux, comedies, and a brilliant drama. The ae ing was perfect, the costumes were superb, and the audience applauded accordingly. The drama of five acts came last, and was the most interesting thing on the programme. EEE TT -T The gay audience were worked up to the high¢st | itch of excitement by the intricate workings of the rst four acts, and could scarcely curb their impa- tience until the grand coup of the last act. It would require another book of this size to give | in detail all the curious workings of the interestiog ‘piece, so let it merely be said that the hero bravely | defeated the machinations of his enemics, and in | their very presence—they were in the hands of the law—wedded the beroine, whom he had saved from their clutches. The first scene of the last act portrayed the man- ner in which he trapped the gang that had eworn to ruin him, and the last scere was that of the mar- riage. - 4 - " 4 ah Le ve a 4 ‘. * es Ae = + , Directly in front. and faciug the audience, stood a robed and belted Episcopal clergyman, about to be- gin the ceremony of a real marriage. As the curtain rose a slight disturbance arose in the rear of the audience, but it was quickly sup- pressed, and none there so much as imagined that a man had been seized. ound and gaged in their very midst. And now the deep tones of the clergyman sounded through the great hall, the couple before him an- swered promptly, and the spectators were prepar- ing to give the great act the tremendous appinuse it merited. Many recognized in the bride the mistress of the mansion, but they hardly dared cream that it was a real marriage they were witnessing, And now it was over: the minister congratulated the happy pair; the groom turned to sa!ute his bride a3she drew the heavy vail from her features, then started from her with a shriek of rage and desp.xir that reverberated through the long rooms like the wail of a lost soul. The bride turned. It was not the girl widow, but a woman of forty, once handsome, but with seams of care and trouble ec >rrugatiog her dark features, now lighted up by an expression of wild, exulting triumph, The groom, whom they recognized as the elegant Bonanza Bob Banderson, had suvk almost insensible int » the arms of two of the blue-clad policemen, Silence like death reicned over the great hall. A gentleman stepped to the front of the stage. It was Carlos, Duque del Torrento, “ Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, ** an explanation of the strange cccurrences that have just taken place, and that will shortly take place, is no, more than your due; so, if you will give me your atten- tion but a few moments, TI will rel te to you a trues history of one of the most wonderful romances on record, “Thirty years ago, two cousins, one aman, the other a knave, left the ruined home of their uncle in ak to seek their fortunes in the then unknown est. “The man was possessed of good business princi- ples, the knave was possessed of no principles whatever. “Twice the, man accumulated a fo~tune, only to be ruined by the false professions of the knave. ‘*T have not time to give the full history of the lives of these two men. Suffice it to say, the man, after a time, met, loved an'i wedded the daughter of a Spaniard of noble blood, but who had been ruined by speculation, and who was living the life of a re- cluse with his beautiful child in the wilds of the Siprra Nevada Mountains, ‘*A rear of happiness passed, when the old Span- iard died. ‘‘ Tt was his wish to be buried beneath the founda- tions of his wild mountain home, .* His wishes should be carried out. ‘* A deep grave was dug in the flinty soil beneath the cellar—but the old noble was not ve lord there, “Ty dizging the man had come upon a m ne of old that contained a fortune equaling that of the famed Montezumas, “Tne years fl‘w on, and he worked the mine in cacret. A family grew up around him, and at last Le found himself a millionaire a hundred times over. ‘ He was content with this, and was just upon the point of leaving the wild spot, when there oceuarred ibat which blasted all his after life. ‘‘In the mean time the knave had become the lea ier of the most powerful criminal organization in the country. ‘They were called the Hounds. , ‘‘Ropine and murder s‘alked rampant where they we'e found. ‘* Then came the Committee of Vigilance. ‘Thea chief was foreed to fly the city with a dozen ef his mest Cesperate adherents, among whom was his illegitimate son. “They s ught the mountains, came upon the gold hermit, massacred his whole family to force him to reveal the secret of his hidden mine, and left him for dead. ‘Here is the scene cf. the massacre, painted by the only survivor,” and the Span’ard unvailed an easel that had been placed at his silo, diselosine to the horrified audience the “‘ horror )n paint,” which we have before seen. “Think not fora moment that the man chose to see bis family massacred in the siead of giving up his stupendous horde to the bandits. At the first onslanght the son of the knave stab- bed the ycuth to the heart as you see in the paint- ing, and with the next breath the three young ch dren shared hi« fate. ‘The man could not speak; his tongue refused to act; he was powerless. frozen—he went mad! I said al wer massacred; a beautiful girl of ten had gone into the mountains for game, as was her wont, for she was brought up to the use of fire- aims, and having followed her game till late, did not return until the tragedy had assumed the aspect seen in the painting, she came upon the scene she was struck senseless at the awful sight. and did not regain con- sciousness until the band had left the vicinity with but a trifle of the horde they had expected to find. Her father was now her only living relative, bu’ » 4 . hay > ~ oF) 7 Sal ie Ww 4f i Os ee 2 ie! SO js . r, Ie 7 oe Ee! ak Daly } ese ig SP vO Ae UUs Te. ~ oS Tks. ~~, >. S he Ace High, the Frisco Detective, nnn ee ———————— @Keoom05reeeeee 15 | every member of his body was paralyzed except his eves. Ss Ladies and gentlemen, my story is near ijs close. “There is the knave—the man whom you have known as Bonanza Bob Banderson! There is his murderous elder son; he is the Lieutenant Redbird of the Overland trails, — ‘* And here,” as a wheel-cbair containing the form of a man was moved forward, “is the man, Henry Singleton Raye, who was made a * living corpse’ by his cousin, the knave, upon the night of the massa- cre in Sierra Nevada, “One thing more; the daughter Aureola Raye, made oath to bring the murdercrs of ber fami y to the gallows, and she has all but succreded, with the help of the twin d»tectives, Richard and Asa Hicton, better known as Dead- Shot Dick, and Ace High, the Gambler Deteciive. “The lady herself is known to you under the two characters of, the Bonanza Widow, and Flash, the Girl Sport, ‘* And now, thanking you for your kind attention, I bid you good-eynning!”’ The grandee wes about to step back, when a form glided to his side, a soft, white hand was laid up- on bis arm, and two beautiful dark eyes gazed into bis own, It was Aureola Raye--the Bonanza Widow—F lash, the Girl Sport. “Ladies and gentlemen,” she said, “the senor has not finished his story! Besides telling you that the woman who has just been wedded to the banker- crook. is Christie Adante, the mother of Lieutenant Redbird, be should have told you that he, Carlos of Torrento, is none other than Ace High, the Gambler Detective, the truest, bravest, noblest man in the world. and the only man I ever did or can love!” and the two disappeared amid an encore that shook the walls, CHAPTER XXIV. ENDS THE ROMANCE. A rew words here should suffice. The bandits upon the stage that right were no deluzion, but were the remnant of the Rod Birds of the Rockies, so cleverly captured by Richard Hic- ton, the detective, though the whole affair was planned by Ace High. After his return to ’Frivco with the bandits and their gu rd, Dead-shot Dick had used the papers wrung from Heinrich Fr kelheim in the manner related, to gain admittance to the secret council of the Hounds. We may%as well confess that it was a preconcerted arrangement between the detective brothers that they should enter the cou.cil chamber upon this night, so the mystery of Ace High’s escape from the Hounds is a mystery no longer. This same visit led to the total annihilation fof the Hounds, and the running of old * Hop, the de- mon,’ out of the city, The papers which Barry Banderson found upon “Te Due’s”’ desk were, of course, forgeries; but the ends certainly justified the means, when we reflect that the wrongs of an innocent girl were righted. Y. ung Banderson went down step by step, until he was forced to flee to the mountains, were his father and Redbird had escaped after breabing jai! on the night preceding their execution. Thea banker-crook’s rival in the gigantic sp-cula- tion, which space has limited to a mere mention in these pages, wes, of course, Ace High, with all of the ‘ Bonanza Widow’s” great wealth to back him. After Barderseon’s consignment to prison, the creat detective car ied on the fame in stocks to a enceessful issue, and made the million Bonanza Bob hed calculated upon, A word for Paddy McCraken, the Irish Hoodlum: The great services he had rendered to his detec- tive employer asa Spy were not forgotten, and he was raised forever above want; besides being talen in training by Dead-shet Dick, who never left his profession of man-hunter, but “died with his boots on,” some ten years ago in a “dive” in Denver, and was found with his steel-like hand clutching the throat of his qua'ry—both dead! Ace High is to-day one of the solid business men of ’Frisco, his gambling instincts having been sati- ated by the long, monotonous “ business”’ play at the Golconda while in the ay of the beautiful woman W1O is now his wife-Flash, the Girl Sport of Frisco. THE £ND ae Sere ee eee nl cee N Ca ee ae ee — - Beadle'’s Half-Dime Library: BY ALBERT W. AIKEN, 11 The Two Detectives; or, The Fortunes ofa Bowery Girh 76 Abo Colt, the Crow-Killer. 7) Sol Ginger, the Giant Trapper ik of ‘laan iia Boy Pard. ait Ekg eta phat A Tale of Tricks and Teaps In Gotham. AbS New Enviand Nicks or, The Fortunes of a Foundling, AGA Nimble Nick, the Circus Prince, 198 Vaon Ted, toe Arizonn Sport. Ps Jo, the Hall-Breed Detective. bis Cool Colorado in New York: or, The Cowboy's Fight. BY LIEUT. H. D. PERRY, U. 8, N. ~ Roy Runaway; or, The Buceaneer of the Bay, ~ a Ya Sean Trailer t or, A Vow Wall Kept. 192 Captain Kit; or, The Mystery of Montauk Point. A New Iaaue Every Tucsday. Dime Library |e for sale by all ne BR pe veneer by mail on receipt ot six cents each, BEADLE AND ADAMBA, Publishers, 08 William Street, New Work’ dealers, fivo e icbook Tae