Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 962 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

- trust him with untold gold. ‘we kin bet that he won’t smuggle none ov it for | Mysterious. rs limits for the crowd, that seemed inclined to encroach upon the circle, Around the bottom of Fan’s skirt was a row of little bells that tinkled as she muved, and in her hands she held castanets, which now she struck in time tothe notes of Amariah’s violin. | lection would have aay violin gave sweet sounds; Fred stood look- DnB hand, or utter a sound until the performance came to a close, Then there was a clapping of bands, and a chorus of delighted exclamations that fairly shook the roof, The exhibition, brief though it was, had taken the audience where they lived, and no one was at all slow about expressing bis satisfaction, ; / If fthere had been anything of a stage, no doubt the coin would have begun to shower without further invitation; but throwing coin on the floor in the Hive was not altogether the best way for it to reach its intended destination, high-toned resort though it was. And then there was something about Miss Fanny that did not altogether agree with the idea of a hat being passed around by her, “ My friend,” said Harry Harper, tapping Amariah lightly on the back, ‘** there’s big money in all this; but Rats don’t want to give them any time to cool. liect your taxes early and often, Go for them now; and go for them by and by when you can catch more tbat have come in. As long as you do any work, Hard Pan will pa heavy for anything she sees, and if you don’t hit it large I am a Dutchman,” ‘Thanks, my friend, but the gentleman that slings the hat hasn’t yit arrived. He had a sore head, an’ mebbe it war ez well not tew bring him into the congregation of the onrightewous. Pre- haps he will arrive, and prehaps he won't; but, ‘“* Money’s no object when the fun is high, Gaze now—we'll tap your purses by and by.”’ Then Amariah began a series of sleight of hand tricks, such as are common enough to those who have seen jugglers at work, but done better than the average, Meantime he kept up a fire of rhymes and quaint remarks that amused the crowd and attracted attention to himself, For over half an hour this exhibition lasted, and there was no dropping off of the audience, On the contrary, at the expiration of that time, the room was packed almost to suffocation with en- thusiastic spectators, who cheered to the echo, There was nothing small about Harry Harper but his size, and he was anxious that Amariah should reap a substantial reward for the amuse- ment he had been furnishing. As Holdfast made no move toward roapicg | it, he spoke again, and this time he spoke to the crowd: “* While they are leaning back, taking a rest would be as good a time as any to pass around the hat; and as the gent won't do it for himself, maybe we ought to do it forhim, I move we have a committee, and do the thing up accord- ing toGunter. Ifthere is any snide here that wants to take in the circus all for nothing, it will be a good chance for bim to sneak out now, before the committee starts on its rounds, And when he goes he needn’t be in a hurry about coming back again, If there is any one kere that left his purse at home he can call around on me and his face will be good for a small loan to put in the box.” The suggestion of Harry Harper was just the thing to hit the crowd in their present humor, and would have no doubt been carried into exe- cution instanter had it not been for Amariah, who held up his hand and shook it vigorously, in token of dissent. “A minnit, gentlemen, jest a blessid leetle er’s a-comin’ now, an’ he'll | is, aad tow that part I icin | you could explain a story that some of the boys "tend tew that part ov the performance, Ef he don’t drop it ‘ his own use, Thar ain’t no nobler work than . Dandy, nowhere, A Ce I I d' gan to pass He’s jest honest frum ther ground up. An’ thar he is now.” At the rear door of the saloon sounded aloud | yer mind Pll do on its hind | long tew tarry. | ““ Woof!” and in stalked the bear, legs, holding in its fore-paws an immense tin wash-basin. He had no other preliminary re- marks to make, for with a comical gravity be turned to the first man he met, and presented the basin. “ We've done our best to treat you fair, Now drop your pence, nor monkey with the bear,” chanted Amariah by way of warning; and amidst a general hurrah of laughter, Dandy be- around the contribution-box, and Preceive a generous answer to his tacit request y for coin, A pr ———————— - ————— — — —_—_—-- OoOrmnnwOOEOI),;.,..: EE ee eee ee | | ’ Hup-Fiap Fred at Hard Pa CHAPTER VI. ““MURDER’S THE CHARGE,” THERE was a novelty about seeing such a treasurer that produced a good deal of merri- ment, Perhaps the general amount of the col- n larger if Miss Fanny had passed the wash-basin herself, but it is not on with bis eyes full of pleasure; Fanny | so certain that there would have been such glided, whirled, swam and posed, the very pic- | unanimous donations, even ture of youth, beauty and grace; while the crowd | Harry had given. looked on with too rapt an attention to move a | after the hint that Dandy had nothing to say about the size of the gift, but a gift he wanted from everybody; and he asked for it very much after théejanner of the stranger with a horse-pistol that one meets after dark in a lonely lane, oe for a friendly loan, The man that drew tack without first chinking something in the pan was saluted with a growl and a showing of teeth that was a little ing to tLe nerves, With the laugh so generally against him, the man thus honored by Dandy’s protest could do nothing save shrink away with a growl of his own, or else reconsider his determination and drop an offering where it belonged, The three or four who had attempted to escape the treasur- er were ‘marked out pees well, though the audience did not catch on to Dandy’s meaning until the second protest gave them a chance to consider what it was about, ‘* Very good, Dandy, very good,” said Ama- riah,” ving the basin from the bear. “Doh’t think that many ov ’em got away this time. We'll put ther proceeds in ther sack, an’ then yew kin show them what yew know yewrself,’ Gravely from his pocket Amariah drew a two- bushel sack, into which he poured the collec- tion. ‘¢ Didn't spect tew git it full ther fu’st time, gents; but in ther course ov ther evenin’ we kin ther a good bit ov Spas Sit down on it, red, tell I put Dandy through his paces,” But Dandy did not wait to cted as to what was wanted of him. He went to work on his own account, after he had soberly watched the pouring of the coin into the sack, First be turned a succession of clumsy sonrer- sets around the outer edge of the ring, much after the manner that Fred had done, As he was as heavy as a good many boys, and some- what clumsy to boot, he made the floor shake, and no one wanted to be in his wi when he came down. Then he righted himself and raded around the ring on bis hind feet, after which he reversed himself, and made the prome- nade with his hind feet in the air. By this time Amariah had put his coin in the keeping of the boy, and had got his fiddle again, He drew the bow sharply across the strings a time or two, and then began a waltz movement, Dandy was right side up and was bowing to Fanny, who courtesied and stepped forward. Very protectingly did the one paw of the bear drop to her waist, and away they went slowly around thecircle, in very good time to the music. As a dancer Dandy proved himself a success. After that Amariah called him up, and pro- ceeded to put him through 4 round of tricks, none of them very wonderful, but altogether making quite a creditable performance. Then, with a flourish of his hand, he caused Dandy to sink down by the side of the boy, while he brief- ly addressed the crowd, ‘‘Thet closes the evenin’s entertainment, so fur ez we be consarned, Ef yew strike us to- morrer night thar will be a entire change ov reformance, Thankin’ yew one an’ all, an’ Mr, urper most ov all, we bid yew all g -night.” ‘¢‘ Business may be over, but there is no use to be in a rush,” answered Harper, . “If you will just let me get a little of my work in I don’t care how long you stay. Fact I’dliketo havea little talk at you. Maybe were talkin g of this morning, that seems mighty ‘‘1'm a man ov myst’ry,” answered Amariah, with a slow shake of bis head. . “iP Tkin onravel arything thet’s aggitatin’ it an’ welcome, but I ain’t got Ther night air’s bad fur ther kids, an’ Dandy likes tew keep airly hours.” The conversation bad not attracted much at- tention, and Harry saw that the stream had set in for the bar, where the force of tumbler-jug- glers was large enough to accommodate the tronage that might now be expected. He eaned confidentially toward Holdfast. ‘* Just about sunrise this morning there was a man coming in from the Flat, where be had been wasting bis time over an all-night game, He saw a wagon stop at the edge of town, anda man and a boy begin to unload what looked like a pile of stiffs. Nn. ey were straight as pokers, ' Ne > and when they were corded up by the side of the road you couldn’t tell them from a beap of rail- road ties. Then the man and the boy got into the wagon and drove on into town, Do you know anything about what it all meant?” ‘* Reckon they warn’t so very dead? Eh?” ‘That was the queer part of it all. When he went to investigate he found they were all sitting up, growling like so many bears with sore heads, As he got nearer, they all got up and marched off together in the direction the wagon came rom. Softly did Amariah laugh. ‘*They were bad men--in their minds—and senipes onto my camp last night, I didn’t keer tew ‘em loose, an’ so brung ’em along till I didn’t need tew watch ’em ary longer. Then I kerried ’em out, and piled ’em up alongside ov ther road, ez you say, like so much cord- wood,” ‘¢Good for you. But you want to keep your eyes wide open while you stay around this burg, ext time they won't be so spry about movin into your camp; but they will take a good fr surer plan—a sitting shot as you go by. You know who you were dealing with?” ‘‘Ez wal ez ther next—mebbe. Ef I don’t keep a weather eyé open, it won’t be fur too much confidence round ther gang. But aller same, it may be I can’t allers hev sich luck, Ef so be, I’ll hev ter passin ther checks an’ let them go on with the’r game,” Amariah winked shrewdly as he gravee: and left the impression that if he did not look after the parties it would not be because he would not have both eyes open, and watching for them, ‘*Glad you know the sort that were onto you —and if you got away from them, and hada chance to take their uggage when you went, I guess you are no man’s fool as long as you know something of the sort of ground you have to travel over. I thought I would give you a wink, anybow. Be g to see you any dinae come in when you feel like it; andif you want to start the show go don’t wait for an invita- tion. You are free of the house, and can’t well go wrong as long as you meander arcund the erty liopg! Hope we will see you ail ater. ’ The conversation had taken bud iittle time, and waz well meant on the part of : but it was not the best in the world to have delayed Amariah, even tit little length of time, won he was all ready to depart, and would have been a dozen rods away. That is, it was not best for the peace and quietness of the Hive. To Avariah it did not make so much dilferencs, as nO Coubt the party that was seeking him could have found him on the street as well as in the saloon; and either lace was about the same to Azariah Holdfast. His little troupe was bunched near the rear of the saloon, where & door in the end of the build- ing opened back into what would have been a ard if there had been a fence around it. He intended to make his exit in that way, since it would save pushing through the crowd that filled the front part of the room; and it was at a wink from bim that Fanny had led the way in that direction, When Harper and Amariab turned to separate, her hand was on the latch, and in another instant she would have led the way out into the night, er eyes were keen, however; and something that she saw at that moment caused her to more than besitate. To the surprise of Fred, she not only pushed the dcor, which she had slightly opened, back to its place, but as quickly turned the key in the lock, and then shot a great bolt that was above the lock. She was not only not going out herself, but she did not intend that for $ 6 present any one élse should either go out or in, There was no doubt a reason for the move- ment, and Fred loosed around in search of it, He had a quick eye, too, and thought that he could detect if there bad been any change in the look of affairs, that might betoken danger, Without a doubt there were some new faces in the front of the room, and their owne's were drifting along as though they might be in a hurry to pass through the crowd, but at the same time were anxious not to attract attention to themselves. ‘ Then he looked toward Amariah, to note if ho was aware of the intrusion—and saw that he was, since one of the intruders had already reached him. In front of bim wasstanding a great, burly-looking fellow, looking him over in a critical sort of way that a reminder of a professional air about if. He was not a very pleasant-looking sort of a fellow, either. He was broad of face, and broad of shoulders, comicbooks G