Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 905 — page 2: what you’re looking at

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

2 been opened before the camp came into ex- istence, but for all this, there was another reason why it should stand where it did. On the side of the mountain that frowned ‘down upon the camp was to be found a lone grave. It had been inclosed with a little fence, sod within this inclosure some hand had planted the fairest flowers that perfumed the air, and now and then the grass was mowed by some unseen hand, asif the mower want- ed to keep his identity concealed. | It was a tough place was No-Luck. Men had been dying there with their boots on ever since the founding of the camp. It seemed to be a Mecca for the toughest of the tough, and pistols almost nightly spoke the doom of some one, Paul Paget was the richest citizen of No- Luck. ‘ He was a youth just entering his twentieth year, and bad risen to affluence by sheer luck, so all said. The mines he owned were the best, and they paid him a thousand per cent. Handsome, fearless, and rather jolly, he had the full freedom of the camp, and with the men who worked the mines for him his word was law. Some called him the Mountain Czar and there were men who hated the boy. In a camp like No-Luck some one must hate his neighbor,or things will not go well. Paul Paget had made enemies. | A few months prior to the opening of our story he had a difficulty which waB alinost sure to give him trouble. He had shot a man at the steps of the Black Eagle, the one hotel, so-called, of No- Luck, and he had been ‘‘ posted.” To post a man in No-Luck meant business; it meant also that there was danger for the posted one wherever he went, and _ he stood in the shadow of sudden death at all hours, ~ Paul’s circumstances did not shield him. He was doomed from the moment of the posting, ind when he saw the nvtice which had been nailed in the night to the door of his own house, with a six-inch bowie driven prong it, he felt that he had an implacable oe, And the man he bad shot? He was a veritable tough, a man called Cuptain Mascot, and known asa Nabob King, though his riches came, it was said, from un- Known mines and outlawry. By and by this same Captai to No-Luck to live, © | ' This seemed to be a challenge on his part, but days rolled on and no meeting came of his coming. . | Paul Paget came and went as usual. If he watched Captain Mascot no one knew t. They met on the street and nodded as if they had noil feelings in common, but after- ward Captain Mascot was seen to lower his brow and to look dark, All this, they said who saw it, meant that a meeting was coming in the near future. One night the looked-for came. Gold Golliday, a man well known through- out the region, and a strange man _ besides, stumbled over a human body in the darkness and fell back with a cry. Thé next moment he was bending over the thing and a match showed him that he had found Paul. Paul Paget had been killed by some un- seen hand and his body lay near the mouth of his best mine. Golliday picked it up and carried % down the main street of No-Luck. The mountaineer was a giant and his tall | figure showed in the lights that flashed from the free-and-easies which he passed until their boisterous inmates came to the doors bs . toughs of the camp. ees) tb red. ie ad , y + ‘I t an wr ea ‘ ; ‘ ps “9 vs hae a 4aY; Fs) eh roe ¥ hs n Mascot came andy Nugge a — eee —_—_— a :f . and stared at him. a He did not stop till he reached the long | a ie porch of the Black Eagle where lounged the Golliday carried his burden up the steps and halted on the porch. Men looked at him and at his load. ‘¢Tt’s Paul—Paul,” said the man, red- shirted and dark of face, with his large eyes and long beard. ‘‘ D’ye want to know where I found him? Down by the Red Mine, lying ‘on his back looking at the stars he could not see. Dead? Of course—just as he is now.” They crowded round the giant and he laid his burden reverently onthe boards while he drew back and surveyed the crowd. ‘‘Tt was a dastardly trick,” came from be- tween Golliday’s lips. No one spoke. ‘‘T say it was as mean a trick as was ever done in No-Luck and it ought to curse the camp forever.” Those who heard him seemed to look at one another, but still not a word was spoken. ‘¢ TPon’t want ’im here, I reckon,” and the man raised the body once more and trotted off with it, ‘‘ We'll know some time who did this,” he grated. ‘‘ We'll know if it takes every lifein No-Luck and don’t you forget it.” They watched him out of sight and then the crowd on the porch seemed to come to- vether. There were whisperings along the ‘porch and heads met while eyes flashed or twinkled, just as the death of Paul struck their owners, Golliday did not stop until he had carried the dead body home. He came out of the house and stopped, for some one had risen in his path before him. ‘‘Who did it, Golliday?” The mountain giant fell back and look- ed at the speaker, A young’ girl stood before him—a girl not on than seventeen, well formed and beauti- ul. ‘‘ What, have you found it out already?” asked Golliday, bending forward. ‘¢ It’s all over No-Luck already, and I want to know what you think.” — . ‘Wait till I get my second wind. I found him myself and I never stopped to look about, but just picked him up and carried him down to the Eagle. Will you go back vith me, Vinon?” | “To where you found him? Yes.” They walked back together, the tall figure of Goid Golliday presenting a striking con- trast to that of the girl as well known in No- Luck as he was, They did not speak until the bronzed hand of Gold Gollidry fell upon Vinon’s arm and she looked up into his face. , ‘‘ Here's where it was,” said he, pointing to the ground, ‘This is the spot. You will ha¥e to light a match, girl? No, Pll do that,” and the little flame sprung at once into being and the giant held it near the ground, — Vinon got down and looked with all eyes. She was very fair and had a fine face which had gained for her the name of Rosy Vinon, No one knew her history, She had drifted. jato No-Luck—drifted thither in the niglf—blown in, as it were, for a storm had raged for three days, and at the end of that time some one had found a wagon near the camp and near it two horses, dead from exposure. In that wagon were two persons, a dead ~ woman and a little child, the latter Vinon and the other, presumably, her mother. Without a name she became Rosy Vinon— Vinon for short, and she had grown up among the roughs and toughs of No-Luck, the purest flower in the mountains, There was on the girl’s face while she examined the ground an expression of reso- lution. tents | The keen eyes of Golliday saw it, but he said nothing. Pelco The two found nothing by their search. Vinon rose at last and touched the man’s arm, Lh . ; | EE SS eee ——— | t, the Boy Shadow. ‘‘ How was he killed? Did you look into that part of it, Golliday?” | ‘‘7t must have been done with this,” was. the reply and the right hand of the giant opened and shut close to the girl’s face. ‘* Strangled?”’ ‘‘ Just so—‘thugged’ they would call it in some parts of the world.” . ‘*Do you think—”’ Vinon paused and did not resume. ‘It's all dark now, but we’ll bring light, light, girl, out of it. My pard isn’t here, but he’ll come, You don’t know him, but © you ought to.” ‘* Who is he?” “Dandy Nugget, the Boy Shadow of No-Luck Camp. He can smell out the mysterious and he will come. I've seen him tried, but not right in this region. I'll pit him against the best of them—I know the boy detective!” ‘But they will prove too much for him here,” ‘D’ye think so girl? I don’t, you don’t know Dandy Nugget.” ‘*When will he come?” ‘‘When I summon him and [ll do that 1 a now.” | a ‘* Where is he?” | aun ‘‘T know,” answered Golliday mysterious- ly and then he turned away. / “They killed him to settle some score,” ae said Vinon. ‘‘ He had enemies.” ; 2 ‘* Of course,” ‘You know he shot Captain Mascot?” ‘Yes, and it’s a pity he didn’t more than — wing him,” replied the big man. ‘But it’s not that I’m thinking of just now, Ate a Vinon. Let me think.” Wes. | She drew off and watched him in the faint light that prevailed. ‘‘Now, say nothing. Cain over this murder. It will shake No- Luck from center to circumference. It will | breed bad blood. It will make bad work | here andelsewhere, You liked the boy—” Vinon had flushed. ‘“T knew it,” continued Golliday. ‘ It was all'right. He was a fine fellow, worth his weight in gold, and at times a little hasty. It was his temper got him into this his last tiff with the toughs. But, it calls for vengeance all the same, and now’s my time to make the crusade,” Vinon looked at the man, wondering what his last words meant. ef ye His crusade? | SN ‘“Qood-by!” continued Golliday, ‘‘ When we come back there will be the greatest man-hunt these hills hev ever seen!” — | Von ty, By Jove! 4 ae ‘ —=% é- >, 2s Oe < wr te es ~ ap o* t a a —— i ‘: yz >» * They will raise po oS = do. ax: ee og a = o— ~—_——_—_- CHAPTER IL. he THE COMING OF DETECTIVE DANDY, As we have said, Golliday was acharacter,. # § A man whose ancestry wasunknowntoall save himself, he seemed to have drifted out . among the lawless, and as Jawless as any he i roamed at will among the gold camps inthe Bitter Root Mountains, known everywhere ~ as a cool head and a man with a mission. | But just what this mission was no one seemed to know, Wars It was said that it was a vengeance hunt, but no one knew for certain. ' Golliday kept his secrets; he had no con- Lg fidants, gave away nothing of importance, $$ — but, mounted on his horse, he would sweep hii Py through No-Luck at odd times, startling the @ camp With a yell as he entered and sending $f up a. farewell whoop as he departed, eR Such was the man who found Paul near — és es his mine underneath the stars. ra alae a The day after the discovery No-Luck was in a turmoil. Meas Te Ae Golliday had prophesied correctly; the | ie murder had excited the whole camp. 3 Captain Mascot and his followers took Bist | ie he things very cool. | | s Hy i Jf they knew anything about the deed = bi they said nothing, and the dark looks directe 5 Ah Ss co nal (e Oe )(@) ESS com, —