Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 917 — page 4: what you’re looking at

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

4 for the success of his scheme, as it proved, for at that moment the door opened, and Dug-Out reappeared on the threshold, pail in hand. CHAPTER III. YLASH’S FLASH AND EXIT, One glance sufficed for Old Dug-Out to take in the situation, With a roar like that of a buf- falo bull he dropped the pail and sprung for- ward. ‘‘ Hound! Thief! Liar!” he yelled. ‘* You are tryin’ to steal my papers! You lied to me, then , you devil! You want a miner’s lesson, do you? As he spoke, he flew across the room and aimed a blow wita his brawny fist at the thief, who had risen hastily. The blow would have felled Griscom to the floor had he not evaded it by a quick leap aside. The next instant he sprung forward andin his turn aimed a blow at his antagonist, dropping the papers to the floor as he did so. Dug-Out parried the blow and closed with his opponent, They were now locked in a fierce struggle, staggering to and fro over the floor, and each doing his utmost to fling the other, Powerful as Dug-Out was, Griscom was the better wrestler, and after a few minutes man- aged, by a sudden trip, to bring him to the floor. But it proved easier to get him there than to get away from him, The old man had one arm ree, and struck his opponent a violent blow in the face. Witha fierce oath, Griscom drew a knife and brandished it over his prostrate foe, ‘* Villain!” shouted the old man, ‘‘ You’ve got my papers; do you want to kill me, too?” ‘¢71l kill you like a rat, unless you lie still and let me tie your hands.” ‘‘Never!” screamed Dug-Out. ‘ You've got the best on me now, but ther’s help above, if ther’s none below, and I'll never guv up toa bloody sneak-thief!” - At this instant the window was dashed in with a crash, and an agile, youthful form bounded in likea ball. 1t was Flash Lightning, whose sharp eyes took in the situation at a glance, “ There’s help below, and don’t you forget it,” he cried, as, with a kick at Griscom’s hand, he sent the knife flying across the room. ‘‘ You bloody dog! you’d kill the eld man, would you?” As he gpoke, he tore Griscom from the vet- eran’s form, hurled him violently to the floor, and kneeled on his chest, ‘* Shall I smash in his face, daddy? Say the word and it’s done.” “‘S’arch him, Flash! I cotched him tryin’ ter steal my papers, S’arch the hound!” He held down the struggling villain while Flash thrust his hand into his pockets. After a minute he drew out the papers which Griscom had filched. ‘* Here’s two dokyments,” ‘‘Hreeze onto’em., Keep ’em fur me, Flash, I’ve lost my holt and ain’t fit ter keep ’em., When I first come to ther Rockies, I—” He was interrupted by a sudden commotion. In securing the papers, Flash had for a moment remitted his vigilance. Griscom took instant advantage of the gf ype With a power- ful surge he threw off his captor, sprung to his feet, and seized the knife from the floor. Flash would have sprung upon him, but he was unarmed, and the knife was brandished in a threatening manner, ‘* Beware!” hissed the villain, ‘‘l owe you one, boy. I will repay you yet. Abel Griscom never forgets.” He sprung through the window as he spoke. Flash stood irresolute for an instant, then seized a pistol that lay on an open shelf and rushed after him. ‘Don’t shoot, Flash,” cried the old man, ‘¢ He ain’t done nothin’ as calls fur killin’.” Tl] fotch him up fur a thief, then,” an- swered Flash, ‘‘and hand him over to mining justice at Payrock.” He leaped through the window, and could be heard in hasty flight outside. Dug-Out ran hastily to the door, seizing his miner’s pick in his ge. Whenhe gotthere Flash was al- y a hundred ae away, bounding like a ge deer over the rough and rocky vround. o trace of Griscom was to be He had got a good start on his pursuer, The old man hurried after his protégé, but was soon left far in the rear by the youth’s rapid rogress. Soon Flash disappeared amid the ills and hollows of the rough surface. Dug- Out halted with a vor: of ag say Oe . ‘* Dm afeard the 1 git inter trouble,” he ** That Grlecoun's anugly dog. He’s ‘muttered. one as ’d leave stick a man as a pig. I only ne the boy’ll be judicious,” lash was not judicious. In his fierce haste he quite overran the chase—for Griscom had halted at the first place of concealment, and lay in a lurking place in the rocks, with clasped knife and savage face, watching his young pur- suer go by. ** Better for him, maybe,” he hissed, ‘* When it comes to pistol and knife, pistol don’t always win the game, The boy’s as alert asa leopard, and I’m glad he’s gone.” A half-hour afterward Flash halted, some- what blown with his sharp pursuit, in a strange and peculiar situation. e stood on the brink of en abrupt precipice, on the mountain slope, the rock descending vertically for some two hundred feet, while below lay a broad and deep pool of clear water—a mountain lake in minia- ture. Behind him the hillside was covered with thick bushes, Before him, across the water, rose an- other, but not so steep, hill. From where he stood a broad view of the town and the sur- rounding country could be obtained. ‘* Hang the hound, he has given me the slip!” be cried, ‘‘I hardly thought a stranger could have distanced me anywhere ’round Payrock, It’s as well, maybe, If I’d got hold of him, one of us might have been hurt. He looked far and wide around him, with the hope of catching a glimpse of the missing man. As he did so, he was unaware of a stir in the bushes behind him, or of a spiteful and villain- ous face that glared, hyena-like, upon him from a leafy covert, ‘* A dangerous spot this,” mused Flash, ‘One misstep anda fellow would drop out of life like ashot. The man that went down this fall would hardly get up again.” He looked down into the water, measuring the distance with his eye. A flash of devilish malignity came into the face behind him. It was that of Jerry Jacobs, ‘* He rig tare me into the frog-pond. I might souse him into this, Nobody ’d be the wiser,” was the murderous thought that ran through the brain of the low-browed villain. ‘* Ha!” cried the pursuer, Bi far over the hills, ‘“‘Isthat my man?” He had caught sight of a distaut form, which his keen young eyes, trained to mountain use, brought nearer. Flash put his hand to his brow to shut out the glare, and looked again—utterly unaware of the fiend behind him, or of the stealing forward of an , ‘* What’s that?” cried Flash, as his quick ear caught a faint sound behind him. Before he could turn, before he could think even, a pair of hands were laid on his shoulders a vigorous thrust given to his relaxed orm. ‘** Pond for pond!” came the fierce words, as he yielded, toppled, and fell like a log down the sheer abyss, The next instant but one man stood there— that of the would-be murderer, whose face had grown as white as the snow on the distant mountain peaks, There came a sickening crash; then a loud splash in the water, as if the falling form had struck the rocks below, and bounded from them into the pool. Jacobs stood there for a minute or two trem- bling like a leaf, burning to look down the precipice, vet held back by dread of the horrible thing he might see. Then he turned and fled in- to the bushes, like one pursued by the Furies, Silence lay on that quiet scene—the silence of death and crime, CHAPTER IV, A STERN CHASE. ONE hour had passed after the crime at the cliff. In a secluded hollow in the foot-hills above Payrock sat the two precious villains, Abel Griscom and Jerry Jacobs. Chauce had brought them together on their retreat—Griscom from his lurking-place and Jacobs from the scene of his treacherous deed. Gs 4 were earnestly conversing, ‘*T tell you this,” Jerry was saying, “ that Flash Lightning won’t trouble you no more. gf one off like a flash, and no thunder about ‘** I hope he has, for I hate the young hound,” answered Griscom, savagely. ‘‘ Not two hours ago he robbed me of of Sapoconte ae I a eh ose papers n or the young whelp’s life ii gritted his teeth in fury as he spoke, ** His life youll not get,” said Jacobs, “What! will you hinder me from taking it? Beware how you trifle with me.” **-You can’t take what he ain’t got,” answered Jerry, mysteriously. * Ain’t got? What do you mean?” ‘* Only that he’s hada settler. His lightning won’t flash in our eyes any more. He’s as dead. as a smoked herring.” ‘¢ What do you mean, fool? It isn’t two hours since he was chasing me over the rocks very much alive.” ‘‘ He hadn’t come across Jerry Jacobs then.. Just now he’s very much dead.” Griscom twisted himself around and looked the speaker sternly but curiously in the face. = What do you mean?” heasked, curtly. ‘* Ex- ain,’ ‘*Tt’s just about this size,” answered Jerry, boastfully ; ‘‘ ever since the fellow flung me into the frog-pond I’ve been on the lookout to get even. Well, I met him upon the mountains there, a bit ago, and went for him like a hawk for a sparrow. We clinched and fit; fit like two wildcats for ’most half an hour, He fit hard, I'll say that, but he hadn’t the stay in him that Thad. I don’t want to Drags but we was on the edge of a precipice, and he went over and smashed in his brain-pan, I stayed on top. That’s the whole eryee Griscom looked at him with savage scorn. ** You infernal hound!” he hissed, * P’ll wring: your neck if you lie to me, You—cur! you wouldn’t dare facea rabbit. How much truth is in this precious yarn?” ‘* Tf he didn’t go over the cliff you may choke me, AndI heard him batter ag’in’ the rocks. If he ain’t smashed into jelly I don’t know beans,” " 7 Boge eae then you pushed him off. You wouldn’t dare touch him, face to face,” Griscom sprung to his feet. ‘‘Come with me, Show me this place. I must satisfy myself if you are tell- ing the truth,” ‘*No, no,” protested Jerry, hanging back, while his face or pale, “I daren’t go near it. It’s too horrible.” ** Coward! you can murder a man, but you're afraid to face a corpse. Come, I say, or there’ll be another murder.” * He fingered his knife oe agin A ‘*What do you want with him?’ demanded J , trembling like a leaf. ‘*] want those papers. He has them, and I’m bound to recover them if he is surrounded by a legion of ghosts,” e started over the rocks as he spoke, fixing his eyes on Jerry so significantly that the latter got, up and followed like a whipped cur at his. 8. / ‘‘Go ahead!” commanded Griscom, ‘* Show me the way. Go on, I say!” These last words were spoken with suck vicious vim that Jacobs crept ahead, and led the way to the scene of the murder, trembling at every rustle of the leaves, and with a face as white as buttermilk, Not another word was spoken till the Mbpcwny f of the rock-bound mountain-pond was reached, When near it Jacobs paused, trembling in such mortal fear that his teeth chattered. ‘*] daren’t go nearer,” he stammered. ‘If I saw that—that thing, I’d never sleep again. It was atop that hill we had the tussle. Down there he tumbled. You can guess what come to him ’fore he touched bottom. ‘*Liar and coward! did you push him over that hill?” ‘* T—I flung him over it.” ** Braggart! you wouldn’t have the heart to fling a dead limb over it,” At this instant the pair of villains were startled by a loud, clear voice that seemed to come from behind a great fragment of rock which lay in their path. ‘* He pushed me over, the craven-hearted dog! Now’s my turn, If I don’t get even with him, there’s no rocks in Colorado,” and there arose before them the vision of a tall, broad-shoulder- ed youth, whose face burned with the fire of in- dignation. It was Flash Lightning, and very much alive, A scream of terror burst from Jacobs’s lips on seeing him, while Griscom shrunk back with an impulse of fear. ‘““A ghost! A ghost!” cried Jerry, turnin and breaking into wild flight. ‘* He’s dead! killed him! His ghost is after me!” ‘““A ghost! you chicken-hearted reptile! You'll see if 1 ain’t a ghost in flesh and bone,” Pm. erry was oe ing Mego ep fall- thet dreettal t. * In a moment more Flash was after him, run- like a young deer, bounding from rock to rock, his face set with stern energy. He quickly overtook the flying rascal, and i ’ com com