Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 905 — page 16: what you’re looking at

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

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The black beads could be stripped from the arm and cast to the wind, but not so the brand. ty Mascot picked it attentively. All at once he put it down and left the room, : In another part of the house, with cur- tains down and everything closed tight, he threw off his coat. | In another instant he had swripned up his sleeve and was looking at the black strand on his left arm. The beads glistened in the light like black diamonds, and he ‘seemed to smile while he contemplated them. ‘‘T’ll settle the question in a moment,” cried he. ‘‘I will see if llostany. It can’t be, though. They must have lied. It isa false find by the young ferret who gets out of traps and escapes death underground.” He stripped from his arm the beads, and toa toward the table with the armlet in his and, His lips were welded and his breath came the brand up and looked at ard. : Suddenly the sound of broken glass filled his ears, and as he started up, with the circlet nearly dropping from his hands, his eyes appeared to leap from bis head. There was a face at the shattered window, and in front of it was a six-shooter, which looked vengeance from its muzzle, ) It was in the hands of Gold Golliday. CHAPTER XVI. THE DOOM OF THE QUARTETTE, -*¢ Pur on the beads, captain!” Captain Mascot was disinclined to obey, but the glowering face at the still and the terrible menace of the revolver told him that he-was dealing with one notina merciful mood. | Over his naked arm the man slipped the circlet, and then looked at Gold Golliday, ‘‘ We will count them in court,” continued the old Orusader. ‘* We. will see that they are counted correctly, and you shall have fair play, though you don’t deserve it.”’ At this moment there came across the Plaza behind Golliday a sound which Cap- tain Mascot heard with dashed hopes, “You’ve heard that cry afore, cap’n?” suggested Golliday. | ‘“Who has not who has been where I have?” was the reply. i | ‘‘Come, out, then. You needn’t take the door for it. The window is low and you can get out nicely.” The captain of the Black Beads went for- ward, and alighting on the ground below the window he stood before Gold Golliday in’ the starlight. Just beyond shone the lights of the Black Fagle, and one could see moving figures there. | The porch was crowded with men, and when Golliday turned in that direction with his prisoner, Captain Mazes’ leeked into his face with a mute question. ‘‘Tollivar has had two cracks at mec ” ex- plained Gold Golliday.- | _ The first time he scraped me; to-night _he drew a good deal of blood, but his hand shook at the wrong moment. It won’t do for hands to shake then, captain.” There was no reply and the men walked an SO + D ' llc > ee 7 rn - —— . . . : a = - > egy ie Pw ee 4 . - = 4 . * . fia - - . . ee Ot oe —" F ‘Ss 7 of + 4 ; % “ mn 7» : 3 a y ast { * oe 3. s os . " ; Fi - P ’ a) “ . - ‘ } : . Perhaps the Black Bead wondered why he did not see anything of Tolliver, Hawk and Red flint. , His eye took in everything as he advanced, and at last he was seen to start, | There were three red shirts on the porch close together, and his gaze became riveted upon these. His followers were there. ‘© You see we have the others,” remarked Golliday, interpreting Mascot’s look, ‘‘ The boys are in good hands. They will get a fair hearing. The R. Y.’s never condemn a man without cause.” Mascot started. It was true, then!. the branding-iron of the old Brotherhood had told a straight story. : No-Luck Camp contained some of the Red. Vigilantes, and he was about to be tried for his life by them! The night was half gone and the stars were denoting the first hours of another day, though day had not come. Captain Mascot found nearly the whole complement of No-Luck Camp on the Plaza. Men whom he had drawn into hisnet, men who had promised him to mine his sunken shafts and who had engaged themselves to work for him, were there, Dark shirts and bronzed faces were every- where. Captain Mascot looked about for a face he did not see. On the porch stood Dandy Nugget, but he was not the person for whom he looked. What had become of Boulder Belle? If the men of No-Luck had assembled to try him and to see him tried, why was the woman absent? It was a question the man could not an- swer. Golliday marched to the very edge of the long porch with his prisoner, | The old Crusader showed that he had won a victory. “This is Captain Mascot!” cried he as he waved his hand toward the handsome cap- tive. ‘‘ This is the man who has sailed under a dozen names in other parts of the country, but with that we have nothing to do. ‘¢This is the Court of the Red Vigilantes, All members will hold up their right hands.” Seven and thirty hands went up! The Nabob King looked at his companions and a faint smile appeared at the corners of his mouth. Thirty-seven Reds in No-Luck Camp? What was it?—fate or vengeance? ‘‘There stands before us the murderer of Paul Paget,” continued Golliday. ‘*The boy miner was killed a few nights since and I found his body near his mine. ‘**] carried it to the Black Eagle and after- ward saw it carried, to the mountain for burial; The boy stood in some’ one’s way. He had an enemy, but who that enemy was let the proof show.” The dread court organized then and there without any show of osteutation, The lights which had been carried from the hotel shone over the crowd and the rough men, cool and determined, took their allotted places, _No particular man was accused. The four a giant-like and dark of features, stood side by side, watched by men whose hands remained upon the butts of their revolvers. “Dandy Nugget?” called the selected ‘‘prosecutor,” andthe boy detective came forward. ; He told of his coming to No-Luck Camp at Gold Goltiday’s instigation; how he had undertaken to ferret out the mystery of Paul Paget’s death, and how he had found a clue which might lead to the detection of the guilty. . Of his adventure in the boy’s mine—his meeting with Captain Mascot there, and his capture and imprisonment in the old mine- trap, he said nothing. | | o= T= 7=22 dy Nugget, the Boy Shadow. a - Gee + Dn Mh a 4 if , + + > ’ > —— eA. “One = oy Spe . Pas “y . ¥ \ a4 ; aie j This might be a second chapter in his: startling narrative. Dandy Nugget took from his bosom a bit. of paper which he unwrapped. . ™ In his open palm glittered the fateful black bead found where Golliday discovered the body of the boy nabob. . ‘Tt is the black bead of the brotherhood of the West,’’ exclaimed the boy. | ‘‘ It be- longs to a strand which must now lack one bead.. The thirty-nine beads of the brother- hood are too well known for me to speak of them.” ‘‘ Let the arms of the prisoners be bared,’” cried the bronzed judge of the mountain court, Captain Mascot looked at his companions. and saw them taking off their coats. He himself hesitated. In a minute all four arms were bared and men were counting the circlets as they were taken off. Thirty-nine on Tolliver’s strand. Thirty-nine on Hawk's, Thirty-nine on Redflint’s, All eyes turned to Captain Mascot. Three men were counting his beads a second time. “Thirty-eight!” cried one of the tellers. There was a bitter murmur of rage and then silence. One of the tellers was holding the strand up in the light. All saw it. “There are thirty-eight beads on this. strand. It belongs to Captain Mascot. The bead Dandy, the detective, found where Paul Paget lay, will complete the circlet!” Just then a sound that struck all ears crossed the Plaza. ‘‘ Vengeance is mine in spite of the court of No-Luck!” and there came forward a wo- man whose face was white and whose mien was ae ee Boulder Belle had come upon the scene! But, strong arms seized her and she was pinioned before she could reach the man al- ready condemned, ‘‘No,” said Golliday. ‘‘ This is the wind- up of my crusade, Itis the night of my revenge!” eB S i It is three months later, No-Luck Camp wears the same appear- ance, and the occupants of the Black Eagle’s porch have the same looks, and sport the same untidy garb. No one mentions the fate of the Black Beads; no one talks about the confession made by Captain Mascot in the Plaza, three months previously. . Already they seem to have forgotten the doom of the four men who came to No-Luck to wrench the ten mines from Paul Paget, whose death was justly laid at Captain Mas- cot’s door by Dandy Nugget, the Boy Shadow of No-Luck Camp; it seems asif the tragic ending of the drama has already slipped from human memory, Paul’s mines have been handed over to — Vinon, the waif who has turned out to be Boulder Belle’s niece, and the girl has in- stalled'as manager over them, Dandy Nugget, while Golliday, having reached the end of his ‘‘crugade,” passes his time on the scene of his vengeance, saying now and then that he will stay there till ‘“‘the young folks hitch, as he sure they will do.” | The Red Vigilantes have fallen back into seclusion, and not few of them wonder if they didn’t break & part of the code when they promised to Obey Captain Mascot, the Nabob King, whom they sent to the rope with his four desperate comrades of the Black Beads. 3 THE END. 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