Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 814 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

<* a _ ee Se ae ee ee -— ae oe » ’ » — > > 2-8, . ~t ai ae earriage, just outside,” replied the page, with a marked Irish accent. Highly flattered at the call, though wondering how the grandee happened to be attending tothe financial affairsof Madam Cardigan, Banderson hastened out to the curb and escorted his noble guest in, congratulating himself that quite a crowd of his business acquaintances were look- ing on. ‘This call is an honor [ little expected, prince,” said Banderson, when they had become seated, ) Ths grandee was not a bad-looking fellow, though his dark face bore the signs of many a debauch and present high living, He was possessed of an athletic figure, pierc- ing gray eyes, and a rather stern face, despite a certain meaningless smile that he habitually wore. ** The sense of honor at the meeting is mutual, I assure you, signor,” was the answer, witha pronounced foreign accent. *“‘And l suppose you are somewhat surprised ‘to find me undertaking to fill this appointment for la madame.” ‘* Fully as much so as I was to learn that the lady was still willing to do business with Ban- derson & Co., after receiving this note yester- day,” and Bonanza Bob placed in the prince’s hand the note in question, ‘‘T will endeavor to explain both incidents, Signor, © ** Tn the first place, there isa rumor afloat that this company is just a trifle shaky, probably in- vented by your rivals in business which caused la madame to hesitate about placing so large a sum of money in your hands, though the loss of it, I assure you, would occasion the lady but a passing inconvenience, ‘But last evening she considered herself placed under great obligations to your house from the fact of your son having saved her life in a runaway accident in the suburbs,” ‘What? If hadn’t heard! Can this be s80, Barry?” * Yes, I had the honor to lift Madam Cardi- gan from her runaway horse last evening; but I did not think the feat worth mentioning.” ** Ah, you are the hero, then!” and the grandee rose to grasp the *‘ blood” by the hand, ‘‘ But you are altogether too modest, signor, for la madame assures me that you did, indeed, save her life. And I can well believe it, for I know the horse she rode, & most vicious brute, a pres- ent, unfortunately, from myself last year.” **Then your acquaintance with the lady did not originate in San F'cancisco?’ ‘Ob, no; I had the honor to assist her party in an escape from Roman bandits some years ago, which she kindly remembers, ‘* But now to the business in hand!” and the Spaniard assumed a business-like air, as one well familiar with the case in hand, This business, the turning over to Banderson & Co, of a round million dollars’ worth of gold, jewels and securities, was soon finished, when orento bowed himself out in company with the young ‘‘ blood,” who had accepted the prince’s invitation to breakfast with him at a neighbor- ing kigh-toned restaurant, In his exultation at bis ** stupendous luck,” as he termed it, Bonanza Bob had by this time for- gotten bis late cause of uneasiness, and began lancing through his morning paper contented- y. But suddenly his eyes began to bulge with eae tt, as they becatne glued upon the following tem; “DARING CROOKS. ‘Late last night, or rather, early this morning, three well-known croo\s, Melbourne. and ex-Van Diewan’s Land convict. Heinrich, 2 German, sup- posed to be a survivor of the old criminal organiza- tion known as the Hounds, and Black Jim, a well- known desperate character from the vicinity of Chinatown, burglarized the house of Madame Anita Caraigan, (the Bonanza Widow), securing some two hundred thousand dol ars’ worth of jewe's, gzoldand bank-notes which the eccentric lady always kept in the house. Offie-r Jacob Scheutzen first disccvered the burglars trying to get off with their plunder, and raising an alarm, gave chase. But the crooks wre evidently even better acquainted with the lo- eality than the officer, for they dodged him: bat be- ing hard-pres-ed, and burdened as they were with their ‘loot,’ they made for the wharves finally get- ting on board the up Der Sea Eacle. Captain Ems. which was just weighing for Honoluiu. The Sea Eagle etther could not, or would not understand the signals from sbore, Consequently the three desper- ate criminals escaped, We hope to be able to give tuller particulars to-morrow.” ** Eseaped—gone! Great Heaven! be! Melbourne, Heinrich and Black Never! . EA LE EE LT ere ee <li mma, sa: al CC LLL LL EL CC: ttt ttm ta - Ace High, the Frisco Detective. ‘** There is some mistake, Let me think! The Sea Eugle did leave at daybreak this morning, but, great Jupiter! A tug could have brought her to! ‘* This is some plot—a trick! ‘* Those men would either have gained China- town and safety, or they would have given themselves up and trusted totheir fellow Hounds to effect their release} _** But I don’t see through it! Can it be pos- eible they have porn traitors? Could they have planned it all out beforehand? ‘* Tt looks that way, else bow could they have so timed themselves as to reach the clipper in the very nick of time? Stay! could Ace High and Flash be mixed up in it— ‘Ab! my brain seems on fire! Am I dying?’ A half-hour later Bonanza Bob was found in- sensible upon the carpet, CHAPTER XII. A 8TRANGE PROCEEDING, Many long, rough miles from ’Frisco, where the great mountain stage-trail crossed a tiny rivulet which glistened and sparkled over the rocks.on its way from its snowy source, high up amid the distant peaks,a man crouched in a ory clump of bushes some rods back from the trail, His costume was made up of heavy corduroys, tucked into long top-boots, a blue-flannel shirt, and a greasy, wide-rimmed sombrero, Upon his knees rested an elegant, small-bore Renington target-rifle, the sights of which were raised for long-distance shooting, while he held a large telescope in his hands, A small, hand-sachel reposed between his feet, Suddenly the man raised his telescope, and leveled it at a horseman who was just topping the ridge upon the opposite side of the seacke The long survey of the rider seemed to satisfy the lone watcher in tho bushes, for he muttered, as he took up therifleand shoved the muzzle through the crotch of a strong youny tree: *Thatismy man. There can bo no mistake, for he wears a red hound watch-charm ! ** Now, then, for some fine shooting !—in .act— some perfect shooting, ‘‘It is arisky business to attempt sending a bullet plowing half i's depth across a man’s skull! at forty rods, but there is no other show! That soft, sandy spot balf-way down yon slope is the only place that I would dare drop him from his horse; for to fall on his head any- where else on the flint-covered trail would be certain death to him, and there’s no place of concealment nearer. ‘Yes, it isrisky! But Um not called Dead- shot Dick Hicton for nothing;—two days’ prac- tice at a gold dollar up there has proved tho sights perfect, and as the little ‘Remington’ never makes a foul, I think I can do the trick! ‘** Well, lve got to try, anyhow, for my man is almost there!” Such wasthe fact, The distant rider, walking his steed slowly down the rough slope, bad ar- rived at the edge ofthe yellow spot which marked a *‘ sand cropping.” ‘ The man in the bushes, braced tightly between a large rock and the tree, glanced through the carefully-adjusted sights, made a quick mental calculation of the distance his target would sink while his bullet traveled through the space be- tween, then pulled the trigger. A. puif of smoke, a whip-like crack, one fleet- ing space of time, and the unfortunute horseman threw up his arms and pitched headlong to the ground, his horse stopping abruptly, and turning to gaze at the fallen rider as though amazed at the curious incident. The rifleman swept the surrounding country high and low with his telescope; then, as though satisfied his bloody deed had been unobserved by human eyes, he reloaded his rifle and hurrigd up to the fallen man, to examine the effect of his long shot The examination proved everything as he wished, A slight, bloody crease across the rider's skull, was the only wound upon him, “Good!” muttered the rifleman. “ Better, even, than I dared hope! ‘* Now for a bit of transformation work,” and lifting the unconscious man to thesaddle, ‘* Dead- shot Dick,” as he had celled himself, ted the horse down the long slope, and so reached once | more his ambush, | After a thorough search of his victim, which brought to light a well-filled money-belt, some arms, &mmunition, and two closely-written bits of paper, Dead-shot Dick coolly exchanged a canna | clothes with the rider, then began examining the 1m, the | most trusted of the Hounds left the country? | apers. The first was a well-drawn plan of the stage- trail as faras Crescent Spur (‘he place, by the s) %, ps a2 .i> ‘> < - ’ an i“ : way, which witnessed the death ‘of old Cbain) trace Tom, as recorded in our first chapter which was designated by a cross im red ink, with ** At P. C., 3:30 P, M.” just beneath, The second paper however was a curiosity, though evidently well understood by the mysterious dead-shot, It ran thus: . “ FDFEFAIC PT BIEICYDLFE!-- ** Hbfefajbf.: ieecfe fbfahdfd gdhd iegcfe fhfefai- cfeic Gefahaha Gchebefdhbjahcid fefaicfe, fahdfd fchehcfe gcfeicfe frie hehdfcfe, Tegefe fdfejbgdhb rdid iehe iafaje. Fafcfe Gegdgbge fahdfd iegefe dfaiefahifeidid Fajaicfehehbfa, heic Gahbjaid: c aid idgefe gdid fefahbhbfefd, f. iefe gcheie fagaie- elie jafa. Fefahdicicfehbhb jeheja gcheje fbfafd ndheje, fbjaic fchehcfe faie hehdfefe. t' GAFAIEGCFRIC,”’ An amused smile overspread the dead-shot’s sun-burned face as his first glance fell upon the curious scrawl. ‘*Pshaw! The fool might as well have writ- ten it right out in plain United States, though I suppose he didn’t want his man here to read it. ‘‘ Tf ’m not awfully mistaken, it is simply the old checker-board cypher remodeled,” and the rifleman, with a pencil, drew the following dia- gram upon a sheet of paper; with tbe help of which he readily deciphered the message: y: aot: : SE Gara 8 aap ve 1) 1 2 3 4 5 G gre | 8 9 10 Ec) AL Kes Ae be "16 ed 1 eo J 21 2 2B 24 28 As will readily be seen, each figure stands for a corresponding letter of the alphabet—Z being left out, It will also be observed that every word of the above cipber consist of even numbers of letters, which leads one to surmise that every consecu- tive two letters must stand for one of the trans- lation, Thus, to translate the last word of the cipher we find that the intersecting lines of g anda in the key are at 6, which is f, that being the eighth letter of the alphabet; fa isi, or a; te—20, or t, etc., and we find the word * Mather,” And now the rifleman wrote out bis transla- tion of the strange message as follows: ‘*DraR BYRDE:-- ‘* Leave the band in the bearer, Hank Hoodlum’s care, and come here at once. Th» devilis to pay, Ace Hirh and the Sataness, Aureola, or Flash as she is called, are hot afterus. Can’t tell you how bad now, but come at once, I'arHer,”’ Then he carefully dressed the unconscious rider’s wound, bound him tothe tree with the paper pinned to his breast, after which he took from his sachel several articles calculated for disguise, * Some of these he assumed by the aid of a small mirror, and an observer would have been sur- prised at tre startling likeness he bore to the un- conscious man at his feet, **T don’t count much on the disguise,” he mut- tered as he began making preparations to leave the spot, ‘for [ have no idea this Hank Hood- lum is known to the lieutenant, ‘* ('d liked to have pumped the fellow a little, but I must leave that part for old Grizzly Jack when he comes, for the paper says ‘at P. C. at 5:30 P, M.’ which, I tuke it, meensthat the bearer of this paper isto take the stage at Pilgrim’s Camp at 5:30 P. M, and I’ve no time to spare, * “One mere article, Mr, Hoodlum, and I’m ready fo go tuke command of Lieutenant Red- bird’s band of road-agents!” and the rifleman re- moved the * bound charm” from the fallen man’s neck, and placed it about bis own, Then mounting the horse, which, curiously enough, had not offered to move from the spot, the rifleman essayed to start toward Pilgrim’s Camp. But the horse took barely two limping steps. then utterly refused to proceed, Dead-Shot Dick seemed to be up to all the tricks of his trade, for hastily dismounting, he carefully examined the beast’s hoofs. Immediately he made a discovery, Tightly drawn just beneath the borse’s off fet- lock was a small, though strong silken cord, ‘Very thoughtful of you Mr, Hoodlum,” he mused, as he removed the cord, rubbed the in- jured spot briskly for a moment, then remount- ‘‘ Made your horse lame as an excuse for tak- ing the stage-coach at Pilgriny’s Camp. ‘‘ Good idea! and warns me that the men I have to deal with are no chickens,” The horse soon recovered from the lameness, , and in due time Pilgrim’s Camp was reached, the stage arrived, the rifleman was listed as a pas- a . xj : y ye ; @) Mm ¥ Ih a “#3 4 \ ‘ “ “a ute lh - i ies a4 » & t »* agg ae - Aa: > ; "ei < 4 ¥ etek he * u ET er ! ; - ft mM