Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 820 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

, ) Nat [was ‘thoughtful for a few moments, | and then he said: business now. I huve not obtained all the information about Hustler Hal that I desire, for a target. As you know, major, my mission in these parts was not to detect nest- ers, although it was given out as such. In- stead of that, 1 came to arrest Colt Harvey, » amurderer. [ have found Harvey, but the condition of affairs here caused me to put off his arrest for a time that I might try to straighten out some other things. Instead of straightening them out, I have tangled them worse than ever. I mean to put an end to this folly. I shall need half-a-dozen men for several hours.’’ ‘‘You can have them, Kirk.” — Thirty minutes later Nobby Nat and six cattlemen rode from Lone Star Ranch, head- ing due south. - A ride of two hours brought them to a broken section, and there they proceeded more slowly. Nat then informed the cow- boys that he had a captive concealed in a cave just ahead. When they came in sight of the mouth of the cave they were surprised to see three figures just coming out. : They were Hustler Hal, Ivy Grant and another. ey . Immediately the cowboys surrounded the trio and made them captives, despite the Hustler’s inclination to fight. This done, they were carried back to Lone Star Ranch. That afternoon Major Blukes wrote a_let- ter to Gertie, every word being dictated by Nobby Nat. It ran as follows: * Longe Star Rancu, September 23, 18—. *“*T> Miss GERTRUDE GRANT, ** Owner of Cross Bar Ranch:;— ‘* My Dear Miss Grant:—I have the pleasure of in- ee you that your sister Ivy is safe at Lone Star. i ‘ is very important you should. I guarantee you per- fect safety and protection. Youneed nat fear being arrested or molested in any way. ‘* Respectfully yours, ‘** AGNUS BLUKES, ‘President U. 8. A. Cattle Co.” To this Ivy Grant added: ** Come, dear sister, please come! | safe, and Tam longing for you. It is needless to say Gertie lost little time in getting to Lone Star Ranch, but the Statows of night had fallen when she reached the place. Ivy greeted her when she entered, but the invalid was too weak to rise from the couch on which she was re- 1—-® - ms —— ) a er nee en ee ee bente at het —_ —_ ot Tam sroly here vy.”’ ° rT yw posing. Path ‘‘Dear, dear little sister!’ sobbed Gertie. by | ‘‘T feared I should never see you again. How you must have suffered! But Carter | Posies will never trouble you again. He is ae | ead,” Af alg She looked up to see Nobby Nat standing gt near by! A‘ cry of astonishment broke from her lips. | x Wreteh /’ she gasped. ‘‘ Did my bullet fail to end your miserable life?” ‘‘Tam happy to say it did,” replied Nat, on OR composedly. ane “Then it shall not fail now!” 9 ye Vi She would have drawn a revolver, but Iv aut : caught her wrist with desperate strength, al- ae most van prs Fp t ~ ‘Gertie, Gertie! stop! He is our best Bae friend!” : Tae ‘You do not know him, sister mine! Let _ ~~: me avenge the wrongs he has done you and “ ea me!” Sas Ivy would not release her until she prom- (ie ised not to shoot. At ‘*He it was who saved me from Carter Wayne,” asserted the sick girl. ‘“ Why, he is Carter Wayne himself!” ‘*He is not Carter Wayne, Gertie, dear; he is Nathan Kirk.” Gertie looked puzzled and troubled. ‘It is true,” affirmed Nat. ‘ Everything ~~ a i. . '_ > . « TY 5 7s. yy > Aas 4 5 ‘ » ° - * ~~ ee . oF? “ Fel ~~ « “a you be kind enough to come here to-night, as it. Nobby Nat, the Tenderfoot Detective. shall be made clear; but, in the first place, allow me to show you the man who murdered ‘There may as well be an end to this | your father.” A door swung open and two boys en- tered, escorting a manacled man between but I do not fancy being taken any longer ; them. That man was Hustler Hal! “T have proof that this wretch killed Graham Grant,” declared Nat. ‘‘I took .your father’s watch from his person. But, there is another charge against him—one for which he will have to suffer. the extreme penalty of the law. This man is by pro- fession a crook and burglar. In the Kast he was known as Colt Harvey. In the pursuit of his business he happened to kill a wealthy gentleman, and promptly took to flight. A big reward was offered for his capture, and I set out torun him down. I came to Lone Star Ranch apparently to work against the nesters, but that. was simply a blind to cover my real business. I knew Colt Harvey was somewhere about, but I was not sure Hustler Hal was my man.” There was a look of incredulity on Gertie Grant’s lovely face. She could not believe this was the truth—it all seemed to her so improbable—so incredible, ‘*He is lying,” cried Hustler Hal, reading the girl’s thoughts aright. ‘‘ This is part of a plot. Call your men, Miss Grant, and take me from this villain!” ‘‘He is telling the truth,” asserted Ivy, spiritedly. ‘‘I know it to be so!” Richards raved. ‘‘Have you forgotten it was I who found you wandering helplessly amid the hills?” he asked. ‘‘Have you forgotten J saved you from death?” ‘*No!” she replied. ‘‘ Neither have I for- gotten the infamous compact you entered in- to with Carter Wayne. But for the appear- ance of the Lone Star cattlemen, | would not be alive now, I was not to be taken back to Cross Bar.” Richards was silenced, and Nobby Nat ordered him led away. ‘‘Now comes a part of my revelation that else,” remarked the detective. ‘ Yet I shall be able to prove its truth. Wait patiently a few moments, and I will return.” He left the room, and they waited five minutes. Then two men entered, one of whom was Old Billy Bedam, while.the other, who wore manacles, was— Carter Wayne! CHAPTER XVII. A FULL EXPLANATION. GERTIE GRANT started in amazement, while Major Blukes grinned knowingly. ‘‘T reckon this yere’s the critter w’at’s raised all the deviltry,” cheerfully observed Old Billy, his hand on the shoulder of the manacled villain. ‘‘ ve ketched him dead to rights, an’ I must say he isa bird! We don’t look like twins, do we? Waal, we hain’t nary bit o’ ‘lashun, thanks be ter good- ness! Ef we wuz, I’d go out an’ shoot my- self whar nobody’d need ter trouble bout burryin’ me—yes, I jest would!” Gertie did not speak; she was waiting, in keenest expectancy. ‘Tell ye something,” Old Billy went on, in his odd manner. ‘‘This feller looks monst’rus like Nat Kirk; but, he hain’t Nat —not much! He’s ther son of a gun as monkeyed with Miss Ivy’s ’fections, while Nat didn’t know thar wus sech a whelp in existence—clean fact. He’s bin palmin’ his- self off as Nat Kirk. ‘You see, it wus this way: Nat kem ag purpose ter rope in Colt Harvey, an’ arter Wayne turned up later. He saw Nat an’ found out how the land laid, then jlike a dirty skunk he is, he resolved ter Nat's shoes. oe inter a One day he roped Nat an’ sacked him to a cave back in the hills, whar . + ih a ve » ‘ a: ‘ a >A - C4Fin’ o* ie > i", — y 4 ou will doubt more than everything . | - P ~* / ~ > ~ | ” 6 ; ( bal Z eo» J > wh | a | a5 y : ¢ a * ty he stripped his pris’ner o’ his clothes an’ putt ’em on him own self. See his game? ‘*Oh, he’s a dandy cuss—he is! ‘It worked—yes, it did. The bogus turned up at Lone Star hyer, an’ ev’rybody tuck him for Nat, for a fact. Then he wus sent over ter ‘rest Gertie Grant thet very night. Thet wus ther fu’st day o’ his leetle game. That ‘restin’ business didn’t work wu'th® a continental—oh, no! an’ he wuz made ter merry ther gal he wronged—the mis’ble shyster! ‘* All this time, the mean rip thought Nat Kirk wuz back in a cave ’mong ther hills. He hed blocked the mouth o’ ther cave with a big stone, an’ he thought Nobby Nat ’d die thar. But Nat got his fightin’ gloves onan’ dug out. Then he went to Prairic Valley an’ bought a hossan’ got the disguise he hed sent East fer, three weeks afore. ° Rigged in thet disguise, he started in .ter bu’st up Carter Wayne’s plans, an’ [ swan’ he succeeded, some / “Wayne got Miss Ivy ter skip with him, an’ then he hired a half-breed red-skin ter finish ther gal. I happened on. hand in time, an’ I punched ther dirty skunk a few. Then I took Ivy an’ started ter kerry her to Cypss Bar, but she got skeered 0’ me an’ run away. L[hunted fer her, but didn’t find her, Colt Harvey found her long arterward, an’ he was takin’ her to Cross Bar w’en he heerd Wayne hollerin’ in ther cave whar he was tied up. | ‘Tt was I that put Wayne in thetcave. I roped ther critter off his hoss an’ kerried him ter ther place whar he hed left Nat Kirk to die, an’ thar I left him. Then I kem hyer ter Lone Star an’ told Major Blukes a big cock an’ bull story. ‘Say, hain’t you this kinder dialect? goin’ ter make a shift.” : Removing the false beard and wig, Old Billy Bedam stood before them the perfect double of Carter Wayne! . ‘* Miss Grant,” he said, soberly, ‘‘ you will now see that what I told you about having a double is true. You got me mixed with this execrable villain, and the result has pean gittin’ tired o’ swan I be, an’ I’m been anything but pleasant, to all of us, am Nathan Kirk, and tAis is the man who wronged poor Ivy. I have been able to convince her, at last, of her husband’s vil-: lainy. I don’t know as I have made my ex- planation perfectly plain, but I have tried to do so, for all I have stated is the solemn truth.” | The Girl Rancher could scarcely believe the evidence of her senses, and she did not trust her tongue to speak. The Tenderfoot Detective was triumphant, but his greatest satisfaction was in knowing he was vindicated in the eyes of the brave girl he so honorably loved. | Carter Wayne was sat at liberty on his promise to leave the country. He went south into old Mexico, where he was after- ward killed by a bandit pard, with whom he quarreled, Major Blukes’s heart softened, for he ac- tually sold to Gertrude Grant, for a nominal price, a strip of land that gave her a cattle- run to Clearwater Creek. Of course the nesters were defeated in the struggle against a superior power, for the U. §. A. Cattle Co. were supported by sev- eral other large ranchers, who also strung barbed wire fences about their property, and so run the little cattle-raisers off the field. Big money ahoays does that, you know. Poor little Ivy did not recover, and with the coming of another spring she was laid at rest. Gertrude found the ranch very lonely af- ter that. Nat Kirk, the Tenderfoot Detective, took Colt Harvey East, where he was tried murder and duly sentenced to the death he 4 . ; i“ ‘ ‘ - . ' M J - 5 ‘ a b's 8 ~ A ie - a, 3 ¥ 5,25 f WW ..* / \ . ha ud 4 - \ f ew for — i * MH arm & Th ae -_— 1 na Ae of