Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 904 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

ys owe an e+ oe 3 * Aue . . ~~ - s { eg. -Siems tho duel Atte sid a, eR ah prin, ers ’ “. ys é . | & - 7 , ’ > ’ ’ as Had your child a lover?” , €¢ ra %? “‘ Well, we may as well give it up for the resent. I willdo what I canin the matter, Ir. Douglas, and maybe we'll be able to get some light upon the subject, Tl help you, and at the same time I'll be glad to have your backing, for I am here alone and single- handed.” ‘‘ No need of your asking for that, for you have it already.” “You will continue in your disguise, of course, and you must not forget that T.am Deuce- ‘Trey, the Five-Spot Sport.” ‘“‘T'll not give you away, trust me for that.” Dick had by this time finished with his money and papers, and now arranged the _ different packages he had made in different kets “You will not allow that paper to go out of your possession, I trust,” said Douglas, “Most assuredly not, sir. It is the first time I have ever held a mortgage of that peculiar kind, and I value it Bighly. They had ‘talked in tones so low that it was impossible that they could have been overheard, and now, after some further say observations, they sought their unks Next morning they were the first awake, » The saloon was as still as a tomb, save that no tomb ever echoed such mellifluous snoring as was heard in the adjuining room. Deuce-Trey and the Chinee opened the door and tooked in upon the sleepers, as they were sitting and lying in almost every conccivable position, on the chairs, the tables, the bar and the floor, - The fire was burning low, most of the Jamps were out, and the air was by no means fresh. The Five-Spot Sport crossed the room to the door and opened it. Nothing there but snow. The storm had filled again the hole that had been made by the cave-in, and it looked as if the saloon was literally snowed under, Chin Shang brought a stick several-feet in — Jength, with which he poked upward into _ the white mass, but as far as he could reach he could not find any outlet, not even when | he stood upon a chair, .. Sust then Buck Williams awoke, | #*Hfello!” he exclaimed, ‘‘ what’s the cere ace ts i ae ‘* Allee samee no lacket,” answered the ir - Chine, Time to gittee up.” —**Pon’t know but you aire right, Chin, and you' ‘ have a hungry lot to get breakfast i for, 100,’ Allee samee eatee us clean out,” was the Rpt Nt! BOO nder, ‘‘ Better’ you tellee them go - homee gittee own glub,” ise rf _ +f Not a bad idea, but’ they can't do it. - We'll have to tunnel, and it will take the whole forenoon to get round the camp.’ as' ry The proprietor’s first exclimation had awakened others, and he now gave & yell |. that caused a general stir and the sleepers - began’ to scramble to their feet, ; . cA a aK é rn et if é } is i J Mad " _ About the only thing they could tell, with- Udi ty out, was that it was daylight. and this they -* told by the whiter appearance’ of the snow Mh i he re pie yu! fo leg " a } adie) ane tf] fi andes overhead, from the doorway. ‘And it vas - thought that the storm was over, | SF ch We. ‘must be under a drift, ” the Five- Spot Sport concluded, tue level, what must the driftr be?” “It's all drifts in these hyer hills, in a | epow like this,” averred Fire-eater Flip.| seal on srptereee it just about right, by © the w igs ae " Bomebody began. the business of! the day ‘gh kev aan Pre ooaeg ‘for a drink at the bar, an eye- ’ ie ae i ras he called it, and fora little while leese.:(" 3 was kept busy, | | Lec sau his fire for ’ prenkfast, t ene enough food in the saloon a horde, but after a time | Pn we ts » A Wi “+H it is like this on a | sane dd saad) _* - Deadwood Dick, J Jt. r. 8, -Trade-Mark. — while the cook} | yh’ ors sreone. at an, ac pene #5 Yio mi it, Minas anise ete SP ee ee least, and it was then thaf they set about | making preparations to tunnel the camp, as they called it; but first they desired to as- certain the depth of the snow. This was accomplished, finally, and it was found that the drift right in front of the Cocktail was twenty feet deep at least! It was a startling discovery, and every | man felt thankful that Grudge. & Higgins had just laid in a store of provisions. CHAPTER IX. GRUDGE & HIGGINS’S CORNER. THe work of tunneling was, commenced forthwith. It was not done with shovels, for there were not more than two of these to be had in the saloon, and one of those were broken, — The men simply pushed their way into the mass, packing it on either side and above, as they advanced, thus slowly but surely making a hole through it in the direc- tion of the store. It was thought that this was the most im- portant tunnel, and they would make this one first, for upon their reaching the store depended their dinner, As all could not work in this one tunnel, however, others were begun, and of these, onein the direction of Samuel Bergman’s ae tall in the opposite direction from the rst. It was slow work, and yet the first-named tunnel was pushed forward quite rapidly, ull things considered. The men in this hole had been at work about an hour, when they broke through into an open, vis It proved to be another tunnel, and just ahead of them was a man, ‘* Ha! dhe top av dhe marnin’ to ez!” So the lone worker exclaimed, and he was recognized instantly by the brogue on his tongue, It would have been next to impossible to recognize him in any other manner, for he, like the others, was one mass of snow. “It's Shamus McCall,” said the foremost of the workers in the main tunnel, as they all stopped for s moment, “ ‘Where are you going, Shamus?” “Oi am. going to the store, begorra, an Oi can foind it, d'ye moind,” was the answer given, ‘It is dhe divil’s own snowstorm dhis is, to be sure. Oi have company at me shanty, and divil a whit to ate at all at all.” ‘Company, Shamus?” ‘*Dhat same was phwat I said.” “And what are you doin’ with company?” ‘It is feeding av thim Oi want to be doing, begob,” | ‘* Who are they?” “Two female critters dhat came to me dhure last noight almost perished wid dhe could—a mother and her daughter, I be- Jave.”’ ‘“And ye took them in, hey? Well, that was the right thing to do, Ia low, But, no time to chin, boys. On to the-store is ‘the word, and on we go, like so many durn prairie dogs!” And on they went, working with a will, Finally they broke through into an open- ing of considerable extent, and before them nee the door of the store. nce some twenty feet square had been ed out, about ten feet in height, the been removed somewhere— - snow having | probably it had been carried into the store and thrown into the rear cellar, But, this was not all, | On ‘the door of the store was & notice in big Jetters, like this: : | A DOLLAR A. POUND ALL AROUND \ GASH, \ «under an’ turf!” siacutaled the e Tish. 4 . “ q * pt Poh" & . - : ~ = «> " ‘ Eee a Oe ee ee eng on a er a ee ge Se ee ee mS! ee aie Coombe ona . - | eiciact riya p< hy ‘ ‘ v we ‘ “* What’s the matter, Shamus?” asked the others. They looked, and a howl of indignation — went up immediately. ! ‘Ther blamed thieves!” roared one man. PAY ‘They have gota corner on everything, an’ i they mean to make,” Pye They had guessed the situation at once, a's Grudge & Higgins were a puir of hard-fist- Tee ed fellows, and they had recognized this as their chance to scoop a fortune Up long before any one else in the camp, they had Cleaned a space before the door of their establishment, put up the notice, and were now within awaiting customers at the named rate. Not on!y so, but they were prepared for trouble as well. They had cut some loop-holes on each side of the door through which they could use their guns if it became necessary, ‘“Hillo! Grudge! Higgins!” So one fellow sung out, “Hello!” came the answer from Grudge. ‘‘Come, open up, there; we want to get §s _& gome rations, af Peder ‘* We are open fer business, boys; come up ; one at a time and say what you want,and = we'll hand it out.” 4 Tea ‘You'll hand it out! Dol game yer ug- ly pictur's, what’s ther matter with open- in’ up ther same as usual? We ain’t no dogs, ter have rations handed out to us, by thunder!” 3 ‘* Well, that’s our rule this mornin’. ‘* An’ do ye mean ter say that everything is a dollar a pound?” j ‘That is the price, to make it fair to everybody, an’ you kin buy’ or leave et alone.” The men who had worked so hard to reach the store looked at one another like a — lot of whipped coyotes at bay, and knew Dot ryan what to say. me “e ‘‘Be hivvins, it is robbers ye are!” cried Ry Shamus McCall. toa ‘‘Wuss’n hoss thieves!” added another — on’ man. a ‘We can’t help it,” declared Gredgs. | ‘‘We have put on our price, and itis going — to stand.” ‘* But, you will starve us out in less than a week, ” argued one honest miner, “We an ’t got ther dust to stand np sech racket as iy that,” ‘* That is your misfortune, then. We have. only got just so much stock, and it has | 8 to be made to go just as far as it will. we sell at theold prices you'll eat it up ini no wg time.” $5 “Dhen it is out ov charity ye are uttin? P up dhe price, is it?” demanded MeCnl ‘lg “i ‘** Look at it any way you pleaser’ Mad the i ae bd = . ‘ 7 of - . 4 bp ® i » epl if We ell, bakit robbery or no rob baeat ot have company at home and must RAYS, soime- thin’ to ate, so here goes,” Py With that Shamus produced his money, ‘ pouch and advanced tothe door, where he made his purchases and came away again, — ieee the crowd stood and debated the id 3 7 tion, " “How much did you spend, “Shamus?” fe ‘eld one man asked, Maes ioe “Six dollars, allana,” the answer, Re tg ea ‘And what did ye git?” a ‘A pound ay coffee, a pound Av sugar, 8 pound av pork and three av flour—too muck e fur dhe money, begorra!” | There was 1 howl when this information was given, and the door of the store was é. ; closed in haste. ' Phe, i Shamus made _ his way toward hom me through the tunnel, and the others Agnes tly peat his example, returning to her 8a x Of these, one was. | Ben Banty, wit ay ’s handy man. — Vl ee Where’s the grub?” the oe Cocktail Si-nc i lori 8 - i r +. . 7 we ad oo +. &: + : j * . . rit, Wy ra F- "ay . , M4 . . | ‘ Kr : * 2) yy »- ’ ; ye on a ra te OF ay