Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 905 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

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Ne ' al 7 ~ — ee ~~ * . *- po, - p> er ae a + s 2 nn — ee J « ~ rT A mh mepied * - a - 4 og me eee - * ————S erent G Fig Paras. a ~ : ‘ : " , and the woman took the chair near the table Mi The woman's head fell forward on the mia) ak table and she buried jt jn her arms. .ed and sprung erect, _ If she had not heard anything she must | + ae arly ' we. is SP 4 atk » Ky ket e a th ed a oe - vt ¥ ae ated ry if ay three panes, and it gave’ light ®nough for 7 ~ . yy.’ 4 4 i* 7 - - A : i hires & weirs | face. the picture has helped it, ee ee ee , ' A streak of late moonlight had fallen across the floor and tuuched the bed. No light was needed to tell the woman that the couch was without a tenant. . The female avenger crossed the apartment and, bent over the bed, | _ It had been disturbed, but it had no onein it then. -‘*He has been here,” said Boulder Belle. “The boy ferret has been here to-night, but he has gone away.” She had came too late, She stood in the middle of the room some time, wondering what might have bécome of the young ferret, and no one came up to disturb her, ‘‘'To-morrow, It must be so,” she said to herself. ‘‘ He will keep the bead which is the clue. He won’t surrender that. I must wait till to-morrow.” She retraced her steps and passed from the hotel. No one saw her, and she went nearly back to -Vinon’s home before she halted. Suddenly there came into view two fig- ures that crept down the street, avoiding the light spots as if their mission was none of the best, Instantly Boulder Belle shrunk into the shadow of a shanty and watched them. On they came, two giants in stature, side by side in their dark shirts and with pan- therish tread, They came from toward the mines, and they passed on toward Captain Mascot’s house, ‘‘Two of the destroying angels!” ejacu- lated Boulder Belle while she watched the pair, ‘“‘ What bas been their mission, and did the Boy Shadow quit his bed to watch them? Hank and Redflirnt! I know them all, and in my book of vengeance all have been marked,” The two forms passed out of sight, and at last the woman went on to Vinon's home. She opened the door noiselessly and slipped in, The tired girl had fallen asleep on the couch, and Boulder Belle, picking the lamp from the table, held it over the placid ‘So like her,” she muttered, ‘‘I might have noticed the resemblance in time, but Drifted in? Don’t I know how they took them away that cold night, and how the snow hid the wagon tracks till we bad to give up the hunt? Drifted in! And I haveenriched her. Just what I should have done, and with that man’s wealth, too.” Boulder Belle replaced the lamp and fell to watching Vinon in ber sleep. There was no room on the couch for two, and watched on, _ The moon went down and the shanty be- came full of darkness, Daylight was near at hand when she start- have been roused by & dream, for she looked at the couch in the corner and smiled when she saw that it was still tenanted by Vinon. “Theard a noise,” she said, + It was not adream. I heard it toodistinetjy, It might She was half-way toward Vinon when she aeppen aud turned suddenly toward the It was at the door, sure enough, | Alongside the door was & Window with Vinon in the camp home. _ Boulder Belle went over to this window and stopped there, te: tear Tae _ She was in'time to see an arm Withdrawn a dark arm, shielded in part by ® miner's sbirt, and the next moment the door opened, Boulder Belle fell back, and something ' 7? eset LL LLL LLL LLL LL L_ LL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LBBBBB LLL LLL LLL BALL LLL LLL LLL LLL Ltt tt epee from her pocket and was lifted ina jiffy. The door opened a little further and the head of a man was thrust inside. The woman who saw all this did not stir. Clutching the revolver with the grip of a cool head, she seemed to lean toward the door, while she must have held her breath, In another moment the man was inside. His burly figure visible between Boulder Belle and the morning stars showed her a long beard dnd a well-knit stature, He was there for no good, All at once, and just as the man stepped toward the couch where the girl slept, the left hand of the tigress on the watch, fell upon his arm, and he fell back with a cry. ‘‘T am here,” said the woman through sliut teeth ‘‘I am on the alert, King of Trumps. What is here you can’t take ex- cept over the dead body of Violet, of Violet City! Go tell your master that what I have secured shall be defended with life itself.” He did not speak, but suddenly jerked his arm loose while he seemed to throw his body over the step. ‘*T am domiciled in this house,” Boulder Belle went on, following him into the night air, ‘‘ We are two against you and your band, but there is death where I am to be found—death tothe men who wear the beads of secrecy and crime.” He looked over the hand of Boulder Belle intoa face which emphasized by its stern ex- pression every word she spoke. “Go and tell him that you failed to rob us,” the woman resumed, ‘If it is to be war to the knife let it be so. Captain Mas- cot is poorer than he was at sundown, and another person is richer than ever she dreamed of. Go tell your beaded master so.” | Boulder Belle went back into the shanty, coolly shutting the door in theanan’s face, CHAPTER XI. THE EDGE OF THE STORM-CLOUD, ‘WELL, where are the shares?” The speaker was Captain Mascot and he looked at Tolliver Trumps as that worthy entered his house just as day was breaking over No-Luck Camp. Tolliver Trumps smiled, but it was more of a wolfish grin than an expression of mer- riment. ) It was evident that the man had failed of his mission, He held out his hands toward Captain Mascot. ‘‘T'd have ’em here if I got ’em, eh, cap'n?” he said. ‘Fact is, I could’t find them at all?” ‘*'You found her, eh?” ‘*T found the shanty,” ~ *€ And not the woman?” Tolliver shook his head, ‘She has them with her, I guess.” ‘* Perhaps.” Tolliver was not the man to confess that a woman had beaten him off. He could not look his master in the face with all his boasted bravery and say that Boulder Belle had outwitted him, i That was a little too much. Captain Mascot grew sullen and silent and Tolliver waited for his next sentence. ‘‘What about the man you shot last night?” he cette’ inquired. ‘I haven’t seen him since.” “* Golliday must feel our hand and that be- fore he gets second wind. This man says he is near the end of his crusade and we must anticipate him.” ‘*T told the boys so.” “You know where he stays while in No- Luck ?” ‘‘In Janus Jack’s shanty. him by Jack before he died and Golliday in- habits it,” a ' Be Tan t fis | ; PA doy Ata °% . ‘ “a rf Lay i? vel A a ? a aa ~—he o - x Le i P, a" »M * . Ny, 7, - a ‘ s Re | a 4 i yu ¥* : Ms , h , . 7 =F ee ts a” . ? - ig * bee ab a th : pint =F = : is irae Se . ges e e MM ¥ and Hank now, ‘score. I have the deed here,” ~ ~ oe : — ia os 4 . —— * es ~* uh % 7 . viel ite ses A ¢ ror Os? Ale $ +. i re) 5 “a thea, | "fee i 1% , bey | i ‘ . 4 : “ ¥) iro! — an Aa jai , , ; i bl ed 4 ter iin a: a ey "Dandy Nugget/‘the Boy Shadow. He may try to play his game right off,” continued Captain Mascot. ** He will look for his young pard first.” “He may do that. The boy is safe enough, and if Redflint and Hank did their duty he will never see the sun again.” ‘* Hank’s trap is a trap sure enough. Cap- tain Tebbs died there you know,” The Nabob King nodded and his brow cleared a moment, ' ‘‘T want those papers—those shares she forced from me,” he went on, ‘‘ They com- prise the controlling stock in the Golden. Secret,” ‘*Couldn’t you.have avoided giving them. . up?” : vt I might have refused point blank, but L relied on getting them back either by strat- agem or open force. You could ‘not find them, you say? This shows that she guards. them well, Is she really with the girh Vinon?” ‘* Both arein the same nest.” ‘* So I have heard.” Five minutes later the giant form of Tolli- ver might have been seen moving toward the Black Eagle. Already its porch held some of its usual) patrons, and dark shirts and bronzed faces. were to be seen above its buards., : Tolliver caught the eye of a man near the- end of the porch as he stepped upon it, and this person followed him into the hotel, proper. | It was Hank Hawk. ‘‘ He wasn’t teched last night,” said Hawk,. plucking Tolliver’ssleeve. ‘* You missed him as clean as a whistle.” Tolliver Trumps bit his lip and looked. down at the floor, | ‘Tt seems impossible, doesn’t it Hank?” said he, ‘‘ Looks that way,.’pon my life. Shot at. at forty yardsand missed clean; and a man with his figger, too. The gun was loaded, eh, Tolliver?” | : ; ‘Of course. The cap’n wouldn’t keep an empty Winchester in the house you ought. to know.” In another instant a voice that seemed to- startle both men was heard outside, and oe turned to see beyond the open door the stal- wart figure of Gold Golliday. There was the usual twinkle in the strange man’s eyes and he ran his hand through his. beard as he strode toward the porch, To tiver Trumps looked at Hawk and their eyes seemed to speak. ‘Keep cool,” said Tolliver. ‘* No open racket with this fast head here. No un- covering of our plans till we’re ready to throw off the cloth.” They went slowly to the door and stopped there. At the same moment Gold Golliday reach- ed the porch. : He swept its tenants with a glance, and then leaned against one of the posts andi quietly folded his arms, | ‘* Who wants ter buy fifty shares in Sil- ver Water?” cried he, again taking in the- crowd, | : No one spoke. ‘* Fifty shares in Silver Water ought ter be worth bidding high for,” he went on. | ‘* I’ve got.’em here, and what's more, Pll give- the buyer a straight tip to the mine.” | ‘* What do you want for the shares?” said. some one near the end of the porch, ‘“‘ More than you kin pay, Yankee Sims. A good deal more than any man_in my hear- ing ean show up in solid cash. There's only one manin No-Luck what has the cash on: hand.” +) . A laugh went up at Yankee pense, and that’ worthy frowued. ‘* Don’t want ter buy, eh?” cried Golliday. _ Sims’s ex- | ‘Maybe you think I can’t give the buyer m | It was given to | He was looking at Tolliver: — ‘* Don’t fool yerself on that: good deed, rr 5S io 4 Bui eee ‘> ‘ Ae Via . - a f _/% lav ¥, y ’ 4 “ au eet) wy « ma ts ; ir > , 7 + WY 2