Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 840 — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

The voice had sounded forth clear, sharp and distinct, and did not appear to be far away, but it was impossible to locate it, Did it come from the air above? or from the chasin below? ° NS aa Several times the younger man called out, \p trying to get further words from the hidden Speaker, but in vain, and at last he stepped back from the tree-trunk to the shoulder of rock. There he drew a revolver and tried a Snap-shot at the weapon on the tree, causing it to leap high in the air and disappear into the gorge beneath. Taking then a dagger from his boot, he hurled it toward the spot where the revolver had been lying, and there it stuck, its point buried a couple of inches into the decaying wood! ‘: ‘* We'll mark the death-line with another J token,” he said to his companion, at the ! same time laughing lightly. ‘That will indicate that war has been declared, if the outlaw is able to read the signs aright. Come, let’s be on toward Big Nug.” CHAPTER IL. MAYOR GIBSON’S WARNING, THe camp of Big Nug was not a saintly place by any means, Por | It harbored about as rough a class, taking the majority, as could be found in any camp of the same size in the whole ‘‘ woolly” | West. ares As we have heard, this camp had its birth from the finding there of a monster nugget, and now it was kept alive by the working of one paying mine, and by the ‘‘ wash” in the numerous gulches, The mine mentioned was the ‘ Jack” Mine. et eye One Timothy Gibson was manager of it, _ § ~~ , and he was likewise mayor of the camp. - In fact, he was the king of the ‘“‘ diggings” F memsgomething of a little czar. | Timothy was a man who did not admit an " equal, so, from his point of view, we must hg mention one op Hartz in second place, though in loca poppies it is just possible that he ranked first. ' a He was a younger man than the mayor, t aa with more sportish dash about him, and was | ss manager of the one first-class hotel of the p | ian camp—the Hotel Grande. He was a favor- | ite with the sporting element of the camp’s a6 populace,and besides having the hotel, ran a ‘paying gambling-den. eS The mayor was alone in his office one after- -; moon when this sport dropped in upon him, } ~—~.-~—s ** Well, mayor, all alone, are you?” he ain greeted. is hus Cisne | 1 SBE ‘‘ As you see,” was the response. ‘‘ Fill | up a chair and help me loaf,” » ‘All right; and, here, you take a cigar and help me make smoke. We are hard workers, you and I.” | (ee ‘Aa! ha! Yes, I don’t know of two men who find it harder to putin time. We are ‘busy early and late, and never off duty.” ‘And yet there’s little prospect of our get- — ting rich.” | “Jf any man inthis camp has a better pros- | pac than you, Hartz, ’d like to know who e is,””. ey ourself, for instance.” ** Never; at any rate not till that accursed mt Cpptain Crusher is crushed. He has despoil- fit ed me several times, you know.” ; , -—-_* And meonce. I wanted to talk with you about him, one reason why I dropped in to Sh ue _ chabyou out of pont nap at this hour, Your f __ offer of reward hasn’t brought you any re- ff Not worth a cent. I’ve a notion to raise ff "Don’t believe it would do any good. If |. five hundred dollars ‘won't fetch it, a thou- ee Sac Well, inay be ou are right, for th tf —, Welk, maybe you are rig or there are Serie se |, & DU red men here who would wade through -{__. fire for five hundred dollars. But, we have- | _-»’t heard from him in some time now, and it may be he’s dusted out.” : ) : E>) it ot ef") ; 0 ae ‘ @ ; f ‘ tw) rey is fe va 4 f ~ ae ; ; ' ee, , ‘Y sd, 4 - wat ; ; f ree a his nt x Bik Nie, NCAP eee Ae Bin = hy : ; ’ ais Prk Deadwood Dick, Jr.’s, Clutch. ‘If he troubles us again, do you know what I’m going to do?” ‘“'No; what?” ‘Send for Deadwood Dick.”’ ‘* That dare-devil detective who has raised the dickens all around in spots here in the West!” ‘Exactly. If any man living can bring this Captain Crusher to time, heis the in- dividual. I'll bet it will be a case of the crusher crushed, if Dick Bristol gets after him in earnest.” ‘Do you think he would come?” ‘“Of course he'd come, if he knew just the case.” ‘*But, rumor has it that he has made his pile, and I doubt whether he’d have anything to do with the matter, now,”’ “Yes, and rumor says further that this sort of thing is bread dnd meat—yes, and wine, too—with him; he had rather hunt down an outlaw thaneat. He'll come if he is sent for, 1 feel dead sure.” ‘‘T hadn’t thought of it, but maybe it would be a good idea to try him ” ‘*Will you send? It would look better, coming from the mayor of the camp, you know, than from a fellow like me.” “Yes; but, if the raider is gone, what’s the use sending? Hadn’t we better wait and see if he puts in hisappearance again? Then if he does, we'll 3 for him in hot style.” “The fact is, my dear mayor, I don’t want to lose-again at his hands. I have got together another snug little sum of the legal tender, and I thought if it was hinted that Deadwood Dick was here alter the rascal it might have the good effect to scare him off for good and all,” ‘Yes, there’s something in that; but, acting in my official capacity as mayor of the camp, it wouldn’t look business-like, you know, to send for such a man as this Dead- wood Dick merely because we thought we might be robbed, When you send for a de- tective, it seems to me, you want to have a case for him. When you put your dog in the field, he wants a scent.” ‘‘Words of wisdom, Gibson, no doubt; but, what applies to the mayor does not ap- | ply with equal force to me. J have no ‘official capacity’ to consider. I have a notion to drop a line to this man Bristol, anyhow, and see what he'll say, though [ had much rather you would take the thing in hand. By the way, the Jack Mine must be getting quite a treasure on hand again, which ought to be looked after in your offi- cial capacity as manager of that concern,” ‘‘T admit that [have hesitated about mak- ing a shipment, Hartz, for dread of the out- laws, but the gold is being guarded every night by a couple of trusty fellows, so there is little danger that it can be disturbed here incamp.” —} ‘“That’s not a bad idea. Then you de- cline to correspond with the detective, I un- derstand?” ‘‘For the reason I have given you; no other.” ‘‘Knough said, then, By the way, what do you think of this new beauty who has just come to town?” ‘“The woman at the Hotel Grande?” ‘* Just so.” ‘She has the appearance of a charmer, but is deucedly reserved.” Petes “So I thought, at first, but she warms up wonderfully when you come to know her. Had quite a chat with her this morning.” ‘« Where was her attendant?” “Oh, he was there, of course, standing be- hind her chair like a statue.” | ‘‘She must have means, I take it, to be traveling with a lackey at her beck and call. What did you find out about her?’ Why, she is a bluestocking, or some- thing in that line, doing the Western camps in the interest of some magazine; that is, takes pictures and and hears.” os ‘ $i) } ; ‘s ry ‘ ¥i ¢ ,. } : dy] ia hae te writes up what she sees | / »* uses ae al by ~< a : re’. AY \ i “7 se aN ' : r ' te uo p! Ae A \ Be ee Re ee PR Bee dF f cn : ihe ry 3 “T always associated a bluestocking, as you call’ her, with front curls and green goggles. ' ‘They're delightfully missing here, any- how,” laughing. ‘Pm aware of it. She is deucedly good- looking, Hartz, and if I didn’t have to buck against you I believe l’d spruce up to her. W hat’s her name again?” ‘Elma St. James. No, you are not in it, mayor; you are getting on the shady side, you know. Ha! ha! Or, if you come in, you will have to buck against me, as you say.” ) “That’s all right; but, how about Wat Cooper?” The sport’s face clouded instantly. ‘‘Horse of another color,” he growled. ‘* But, if Watson Cooper gets in my way somebody will get hurt, that is all.” io = * “al > ion ~~ =_ = ~~ -. oD es. 2eht. + Oo > * < rm a — ‘* And maybe it will be you, eh?” ve ‘* Possibly; Pll take the chances of that. 7) He has got to get up early to get ahead of rs me, that’s all. Ihave got it in for him, any- a how, and the thing must come to a head ay sooner or later,” 12 And so they talked on, from one thing to ‘3 another, till at length their notice was drawn to the fact that something unusual was tak- ing place in the street. . ‘‘ Hello! what's wrong out there?” the mayor exclaimed. ‘‘Something to draw a curious crowd, anyhow.” . ‘* Let’s step out and see.” | “Tm with you,” and grabbing their hats they hurried out, to the place where the crowd was collected, ‘‘What’s going on, boys?” the mayor de- manded, the inoment he came up. ‘‘ Has eS the twin nugget been found at last.” ae ‘‘ No, notwin nugget about et,” he was . told. ‘Captain Crusher has been’ heard from ergain, and he seems ter mean business Bae p+ | straight through.” As he spoke, the man stepped back, motioning others to do the same, and a space was opened through which the mayor might advance into the center of the group. This the mayor took advantage of imme- | diately, the sport following him, and there Beek) in the ground almost buried to the hilt, was a dagger, with a flying paper attached to it by means of a stout string. - | The paper was, more accurately described, a stiff, white cardboard, folded in square and again, cornerwise, to something the out- ‘line is octahedron, and to the apex the string, a couple of feet in length, was at- tached, It was, practically, the simple dart of the schoolboy. : The cardboard had-served as a guide to insure the dagger’s striking the ground point downward, ‘ef Somebody had unfolded the cardboard, ris but the string was still attached to it and the dagger had not; been drawn out of the te ground, and seeing writing onthe paperthe = mayor read: | ; “To MAYOR AND CITTIzENS:!— ‘‘Here we are again, Oaptain Crusher sends you greeting. Have dropped around ween) on business, and hope we wont have any- thing lil.e an unpleasantness when | get aia down to it. If you value life @nd good health, don’t raise your hand to oppose me | when you see me getting in my fine work, » Oy The man that gets in my way gets crushed, that’s all. | anes im - + os pe Ok = ome =, _ — 7 fim, J ‘ ’ rime — “ ORUSHER, THE OUTLAW.” ‘‘Ourse his impudence!”’ the mayor storm- a ; ‘where did the dagger come from, any- ae ow ” ) / Ys H) ‘‘Et kem out of ther sky,” was the ready = response. ‘‘There was a flash, and it kem aye right down, with the stuck where ye see et.” > fo tho The be looked up and around, a8 though he expected to discover the secret plainly written somewhere, but it Nae ites (a paper flutterin’, and : t Fed 4 ; r P > A FF Mi, . « ‘Ex 4 ay rr, =) Pi Sec iel cd dah ale CEO 1 | ¢ »