Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 905 — page 10: what you’re looking at

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

10 — ‘“T have a recollection that she was.” ‘* And they named you, Vinon, did they?” ‘‘They gave me that name for want of a better,” smiled the girl-waif. ‘‘I think it was Janus Jack's suggestion, and the others fellin with it. It will do as good as any other, don’t you think?” There was no answer for a minute. ‘* Let this pass,” said the woman at last as her hands closed about the picture reverent- ly.» ‘I will resume now,” ‘‘Captain Mascot, as I have intimated, ‘phat reached the end of his string in the far Fanyst Southwest. | ‘Caught by a lot of réd-skins whom I had ‘i guided to his secret camp, he found himself Ra | in a veritable net of death. ah ‘‘ There was no escape. 3 ‘“He felt that his days were near their end- ing, and that he was looking at the sun for the last time. | ier) “Why did I hate this man so as to track . ; him up and down the land? Time will tell, * sa er - . - f be 7 > . ‘ a re ° — — ta ~ girl, ‘* Well, they lashed him to the back of the wildest steed in the band—lashed him there with cords that gave not, and with sinews that the sun would draw as tight as iron bands, ‘‘Tt was a living death, but the wretch de- served it all. | ‘‘ He looked into my face with a mute ap- peal for help, but I witbheld my hand. - It | was not to help that villain; I had registered ax on high an oath which kept me from pitying the guilty wretch. ‘‘Away. went the wild horse, headed for the barren cactus lands further South, and we thought we had seen the last of Captain Mascot until, perhaps, we should run across his bones bleaching in the sun. ‘‘Tt was a vengeance which was as just as it was terrible. ‘‘Hated by red and white alike, this man had met the most righteous fate that could be meted out to an outlaw, and [ went back ee | with the Indians feeling that 1 had seen the | last of the hunted scoundrel of the South- west, : ‘* Years passed, and I had almost forgot- ten Captain Mascot. ‘‘T went back to Violet City, sold my lit- tle belongings there, and turned my face in another direction. Thad settled old scores with my old foe; 1 had secn him riding toward the cactus ‘plains lashed to the back of a horse that fall exhausted in the broiling sun that scorches and kills. ‘** But it was not to be thus, ‘‘Imagine if you can, girl, my feelings when, eutering a certain gold camp miles from here, and years after Cuptain Mascot’s ride, I again came face to face with him. ‘*Changed he was, but I knew him. eo ‘He was king there, the nabob of a lot of se My desperate men, and the Czar of the moun- ae tain camp. ; He ‘‘Heaven and Captain Mascot kept the is ¢ secret of his escape. | | est ‘1 did not seck to question him, nor do I | know to this day how he avoided the death ie) to which we sent him. as ‘* Did he know. me when we came face to face? In an instant! ‘Time had not changed me very much, and he knew me the moment he set eyes upon ae had found him and that she knew that he iit had escaped from the wild Mazeppa ride j across the waterless plains.” Boulder Belle paused » moment and gazed at the daguerreotype she beld in her hands, id ee sight of that man. Last summer! gave him ha iia ample evidence of this and be discovered Sa a | then that while I live life will be made mis- pile fe ‘But he may tura on you,” said Vinon, a a . ~w ™, * Ate Dandy Nag would bear him on and on until he should: me. , ‘* Yes, Captain Mascot knew that Violet “From toat day to this I haven't lost ~~ ee & hie“ _ ‘He has about him desperate men—so des- perate perhaps as those whom he was with when rediscovered,” ‘“‘They are the same men,” exclaimed Boulder Belle. ‘*‘ There are Redflint, Hank Hawk, Black-Handed Saul and Tolliver Trumps.” ‘“You know them all,” ‘Why shouldn't 1?” asked Boulder Belle, with a flush and a smile. ‘‘ It is my business to know every one. Here, look at this,” and she drew from her bosom a pack- age of papers which she placed on Vinon’s table. The waif of No-Luck looked at them a mo- ment and then turned to the woman, ‘‘One hundred shares in the Golden Se- cret,” Boulder Belle went on. ‘‘ Signed up and allin shape. He handed them over since my coming to No-Luck.” ‘Not Captain Mascot?” cried Vinon, with a Start. ) ‘‘ Captain Mascot, the man with ten names, Here is a place for the transfer—two places, in fact, though he never expected to see one of the blanks filled. Have you pen and ink, irl?” oe We have no need of such things here,” was the reply. ‘‘I have nothing but the stub of a pencil which was found in the wagon,” ‘* Let me have it.” Vinon complied and Boulder Belle opened the packet and laid one of the shares on the table. There were three papers calling in the aggregate for one hundred shares in the Nabob King’s boss mine. The strange woman wrote a few moments, and then pushed the sheets toward the as- tonished girl, ‘‘They’re yours,” she said. Captain Mascot’s partner.” ‘1?’ cried Vinon. ‘*I cannot take these.”’ ‘But you must. I don’t want them and you shall have every one. I give them free- ly, ond, besides, you must be paid for that dread driftingin,inthe storm. Captain Mas- cot’s partner! I wonder what he will say when he hears of it?” and Boulder Belle fell back in her chair and laughed, CHAPTER X. SUDDENLY BALKED. ; Ir was like a dream to Vinon of Ne-Luck ity. Sbe reached out for the shares, but in. stantly drew back again. She felt that she could not touch them, that she really had no right to the wealth which had been thrust upon her, for she had heard of the fabulous yield of the famous mine and she did not know by what means Boulder Belle had acquired the shares, ‘‘ You don't want to take them?” said the se aes 3 You refuse, do you?” ‘‘Oh, 1 shall never need them,” and snatching up the papers Boulder Belle forced them upon the fair waif. ‘‘ They are yours, and when it comes to business zoe can outvote him. Just think of it, ou can outvote Captain Mascot!” Vinon tried to smile, but felt that it was a failure. ‘I took them from him fairly,” continued | Boulder Belle, ‘ 1 took them because I was the stronger. He gave them up not witha very good grace, of course, but they were given up allthe same. They’re not artistic- ally engraved, but they represent more real wealth than one-half the beautiful certifi- cates they haveinthe great cities. Yours? Certainly. Hold on to them, girl. Time will come when you may need them every one.” Thus forced to take what had been made over to her, Vinon of No-Luck took posses- sion of the shares and Inid them away. “Tam not going away from camp,” said } ‘‘‘You are get, the Boy Shadow. | Siete sPhee : . -—..s ~ es ~— —~ Boulder Belle, interpreting Vinon’s in uisi- tive glance. ‘‘ 1 am here for work and you 4 have just witnessed some of it in the transfer — of the mine shares. ‘‘This man is powerful here. heard of the Black Beads?" The girl’s start was answer enough. “That Order came into being after the ride over the cactus plain. It grew out of that ride, for Captain Mascot saw that he had to have about him men as desperate as him- self and as cool. ‘The Black Beads are cruel and cunning. ‘‘They strike in the dark and, as a rule, no one ever knows when the blow is to falb nor where.” Vinon thought of the shining bead which Dandy Nugget had exhibited to her and Gol- liday. ‘‘The beads on the arm is the sign of the Order,” continued Boulder Belle. ‘* Thirty- nine beads on astring which encircles the left arm above the elbow. ‘‘T have seen them on a dead arm, but om one only. There was at one time belonging to the band one Kingly Kit, desperate, but a little over cunning, | ‘‘ He died in the Southwest and I saw his eth bared in the Plaza and the beads takem off. ‘Rest assured that they are to be found on the arms of the rest of the band. The: loss of a bead means death of the loser. ‘‘ Dark as their code is, it must be carried out to the letter.”’ | ‘* But,” queried Vinon eagerly, ‘* the loss of one bead would be difficult to discover,’” ‘* Perhaps,” smiled Boulder Belle. beads would have to be counted, and with the bracelet out of sight and on the arm of the owner, I admit that that would not be an easy job.” Then Vinon told the full story of Paul's death, as it was known to her, The woman listened eagerly, now and then seeming ready to question ae but ab- staining until the story had been told. ‘So Dandy Nugget found one bead on the ground where Golliday discovered the boy?” ‘‘ He found one black bead.” ‘«The loss of it would condemn the mur- You have: but it would have to be proven.” ‘‘ Dandy Nugget will do that.” ‘¢] must see the bead,” cried Boulder Belle. ‘I will see it now.” It was past midnight, and Vinon looked at the woman with a start. | ‘‘ He is asleep now,” said she. ‘‘ He has retired to his little quarters in the Black man ‘‘T must see that bead before IE sleep.” , ip Sne rose and bade Vinon good-night. ‘Just outside the door she paused and looked back at the little house. | A singular look came into her seemed to breathe hard for a moment. Beads of No- Luck,” gliding through the shadows of the gold Boulder Belle knew where to go. If she had never been there before she chamber, She reached the little door and knocked. There was no response. | Waiting a moment, the woman again, but with the same result. No one asked her to enter and turned the knob, re te ——— i eee eee & Belle stepped into the room. ‘* The derer even by the terrible code of the Order; agle—”’ | , ‘* But I will find his door,” put in the wo- | eyes ard she “If it is true, then Ihave a right to strike down these men one by one,” she murmured, ‘If what I more than half believe be true, — I have a right to rid the earth of the Black — She started off toward the Black Eagle, — camp and ut last stopped close to the hotel. — seemed to know that by crossing the porch — she could enterthe room leading tothe stairs | and thence to the door of Dandy Nugget’s at last she | The dooryielded readily, and Boulder > =