Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 905 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

ret - ~ a a3 — ~ ~ ball * > _* ro, ye rere hw Ys _ = i games —— < Se aie : te » = oo ay \" Mi J mtd ‘si a, a ‘ 7 ot he a; as t , . pez ; 7 at 5 NAG rite ty fe 3 ead \ ‘a. es ' He was confident that the coming day would see rough times and before he drop- ge off into a doze he tried to prepare for t. That he Was suspected he well knew. That the Black Beads believed that he had come to No-Luck for the purpose of ferret- ng out the hand that took young Paul's life did not admit of a single doubt, and long be- fore the first streaks of daylight stole across the Plaza his plans had been laid. Captain Mascot sat in his little room quite alone, The sun had crept over the crest of the gold hills, and he had come forth to look over some papers which he had taken froma secret cupboard in the wall. No one came to disturb him, and he went through the documents one after the other at his leisure. He was a man past forty. Those who scemed to know him best really knew but little about him. The Nabob King had had a life of excite- ment in more than one State, and among men of all sorts. He had gathered about him a lot of men celebrated for their coolness and their lack of mercy to any one, Each man had a history written quite often in red, and ubeir names had adorned the proclamations of on which had been posted all over the great West. . If they now constituted the Black Beads, they preferred to keep the secret rather than advertise it. If they had a history which included the deeds of this renowned band, they never told them on the porch of the Black Eagle, nor boasted of them elsewhere, On this occasion Captain Mascot seemed perfectly at ease while he went through the papers. , He threw the last one aside at length and looked up. ‘*T’ve got all the threads in my hands and now must wait till Saul comes back,” he said aloud, though nooneheard him, ‘‘ Saul will not fail, for the charts will tell him where it is, and the map will be sure to guide him to it. After that we will show our hand; then we will stand forth as we are, and woe to the man or men who at- tempts to interfere,” The door opened as he finished and he started a little. | He was confronted bya woman, a creature of his own age, tall and well formed, and with a face apparently tanned by the sun, Captain Mascot stared at her a little while, and then a smile crossed his face. ‘** So you’ve dropped round again?” said he, ‘*Didn’t I say once that I was liable to turn up almost any time? I believe I saw you Jast in Silver City, and here I am as large as life, but a little tired.” She advanced, still looking at the captain, and dropped into a chair at the opposite side of tLe table. ~- ** Well, what is it?” - ‘©ome, is that the way to treat me? What if I elected to make No-Luck my future home? What if I had decided to stay here till 1 get ready to pull up and get out?” “You might not find life very congenial here,’ was the remark by which her last words were met. wee Oo ‘* 13 it worse here than at Silver City? Is this.a harder place than Sandlot was?” ‘Captain Mascot smiled again. ‘You must be judge if you stay here. We have little female society here.” ‘‘The less the better for me, perhaps,” smiled the woman, Captain Mascot’s eyes fell again to the pers which he was about to tie up when his visitor came. s ‘* Where are you stopping?” he asked. ‘‘T shell go to the Black Eagle for the present; or, | may get board with Rosy Vinon. I believe that’s hername.” f ae —eee————e—aeeeeeeeeeeeeeee——————eeeee——eeeeeeeoe - - . > - 9 The man started visibly. The idea of this woman living with Vinon was extremely distasteful to him. **That would be an excellent idea, wouldn’t it?” she went on. ‘*‘ We could get along very well together, although there is a good deal of difference inour ages. She is pretty, they tell me, with some fire and dash about her—just the sort of girl I like,” ‘* But you needn’t stay with her. What’s the matter with this house?” The woman looked about her and turned to Captain Mascot with a merry twinkle in her dark eyes ‘* Perhaps that wceuldn’t do after what has happened,” she replied, ‘‘ It’s not quite all peace between us, you know.” “Oh, we can settle that in a moment, You wanted thirty shares in the Golden Secret?” ‘“‘T did then, “Forty ?” ‘* More than that.” ‘*More!” insatiably answered the woman. “ Jupiter!” cried Captain Mascot, turning pale. ‘‘ You don’t want to bankrupt me, woman?” - ‘Would it be less than justice if I did?’ was tbe quick answer. ‘* Bankrupt the man who can’t number his mines on his fin- gers—the man who is more nabob than any one thinks? And yet you stop and turn white when I call for more than fifty shares of the Golden Secret. Come, Claude Mas- cot, as they call you now, you know that what I ask for is right, no matter to what heights my demands reach.” She looked across the table at him and saw his long, dark fingers play for a second with his mustache, ‘You won’t.be satisfied with fifty shares,” he said at last, ‘* Perhaps not,” coolly replied the woman, ‘* Leech-like, you will return for more and more,” ‘“Why don’t you take the bull by the horns then and rid yourself of me? You have the men, and they have the cleverness to do just such things and to do them well.” He made no reply to this taunt, **You aren’t in full command here> yet, but you’re working in that direction. You have your hands tied a little, but you will untie them before long and No-Luck will pass into your hands,” , ‘‘That’s a bold charge,” ‘* You know it is a true one, What are you here for, Captain Mascot? What mean those papers on the tnble? You have been looking them over and they please you—l saw that by your eye when I opened the door. They are all here—Tolliver, Saul, Hawk and Redflint. What a coterie of destroying angels. What a nice lot of hu- man vultures with their beaks always whet- I want more now.” ted for blood.” She laughed at the end of her sentence, but the man who heard -her did not even smile, Cool and merciless as he was there was no humor in the sentence for him. ; ‘*You refuse to make over to me the shares I want?” she went ona moment later, ‘* You refuse to accede to this fair demand as even yourself must acknowledge,” ‘‘ What do you want?” ? ‘* One hundred shares of Golden Secret.” ‘You would better take all.” ‘Hand them over, then, if your liberality goes so far,” Captain Mascot shrunk from the out- stretched hand. ‘** You refuse, I understand?” “It’s more than half. It’s a controlling interest in the best mine under ground.” “That’s just what I want.” | eC sh | “If you refuse—absolutely refuse, re- member I shall go and live where I please.” . He seemed to know what that threat ys — whip. beer ee ; “ ye ~~ | . 4 - . " >»... _ wt! : re . > “= >. ‘ *. meant, for he twisted uneasily in his chai. and glared savagely at her. Me Half a minute later the Nabob King had taken some other papers from a concealed niche in one of the, walls and by a few strokes of the pen he made over to the strange woman one hundred shares of his best stock. : Her hands closed on the shares and as she lifted them from the table she said: ‘*In order to be near you in the crisis near at hand I won't quit No Luck at present,” . With this she strode to the door, opened it. and vanished. In an instant Captain Mascot was upon his feet. ‘“Where is Tolliver?” he exclaimed. ‘“ Why did I send Black-Handed Saul away. at this time?” | CHAPTER VI. FACE TO FACE UNDER GROUND. THE boy detective knew that he was already under the ban of the Black Beads. He passed most of the day at the Black Eagle, coming and going whenever he liked, as if he had no fear of the band and with the utmost coolness. He had not seen Vinon since their meet- ing in her bouse the night of Gold Golli- day’s departure to track Black-Handed Saul to his destination. All No-Luck by no means belonged to Paul Paget. The young mine king had amassed a for- tune in mines and he had some whose exact. location the men of No-Luck knew nothing: of. Money had filled the boy’s coffers to run- ning over; it had poured in upon him from fifty sources and he had become a young millionaire among the hills of Idaho. No wonder he had made enemies and that he had been marked by these for destruction. Might makes right in some places among the lawless; the strongest rule as in the jungles and the iron hand crushes whenever it can get a grip. | It was the day after Golliday’s departure and the long shadows of a brief mountain bk Sah were stealing over the Plaza of No- uck, The murder of Paul Paget had ceased to form a topic for the loafers ou the Eagle’s. porch and very few even referred to it be- yond wondering perhaps to whom the boy’s. wealth would descend, Detective Dandy left the hotel and stole across the street behind it. The shadows deepened and the night came on. If any one had followed the boy ferret he would have seen him enter the mouth of a mine half a mile from No-Luck, It was the chief mine belonging to Paul, but at that time not the best, The boy groped his way into the mine an@ felt along the wall on his right. : It was dark there and he lit no matches to — show him where he was, The bucket was hanging in the shaft and he felt of the rope by which it was lowered. For a moment he seemed sbout to trust: himself to the cord, but he drew back and. passed on. a8: By and by, deeper than ever in the bowels: of the earth, he reached a door which block- ed his progress, | It was the door to the secret or private office of the Boy Nabob and the one from which he was returning when overtaken by death’s hand. ers | Dandy Nugget had come to the mine—the: | ‘ Mountain’s Heart—for a purpose. It was not his first visit to the place, but | ew « now he was there for an object strangely his = own, The heavy door yielded toa key which — e . iu ag by at's | mm *