Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 964 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

“Get back into that saloon, quick!’ Ben Lucas obeyed with an alacrity that Was amazing, and when he had dropped into the first seat he came to, he looked over toward Doe Stone and several others, and*strange glances passed between them. There were three in that saloon who saw those significant looks, had seen the man hold a few whispered words with several others, and then slip out. They were Buffalo Bill, the boy sport and Bunco. ‘ | But the three knew that Ben Lucas would find Brad Burns just outside, and the way in which he returned whitefaced into the cabin assured them. In an hour’s time the jury returned. They had left the saloonkeeper at his cabin with the body of his friend, and others were to be sent over to keep vigil during the night. The spokesman of the six made his re- port, when Brad Burns came into the sa- loon from the little room back of the bar. “Well, pard Wooten, what is your re- port?” asked Brad Burns, quietly. “ We found all as was reported by Jerry, sir, and there had not been a thing taken from the cabin, and Pete Dunn’s belt of gold was about his waist, also his weapons. “Upon his breast lay a knife and this slip of paper. Here they are.” He handed over the things named, which Brad Burns held up to the view of all, and then placed on the table by him. “The wound was in Dunn’s breast, and that the Silent Slayers had done the work was our unanimous opinion, for it is just os they have done twenty-one times be- ore. “Whoever dealt the blow must have been an unsuspected friend of Dunn, for his weapons had not been drawn, no charge was missing from his revolver, and it looked to us as though he had been taken wholly unawares, and that, to our minds, proved that he held no dread of Harm against the man who murdered him. “There was no trail near the cabin, sir, and the whole affair was as mysterious as the twenty-one other murders of the Silent Slayers of Devil’s Canyon.” CHAPTER XX. A PLOT OVERHEARD. _ All had listened with the deepest atten- tion to the report of the jury of six, and when the spokesman had finished, Brad Burns said: | | ay" * Pards, you have heard what your com- Trades say, and the death of Pete Dunn makes the twenty-second man who has been killed by the Silent Slayers.. “Tt now is for us to keep our eyes open to discover just who these men are, for I tell you frankly that there are members of that band of murderers now listening to me, now in our midst. \ eke “If they were not those Wwe deem our friends they could’ not do the work they do. ; | “They have a purpose, too, in their red ‘deeds which we do not know, cannot fath- om, but it is for us to get at the bottom of ‘their deviltry, and when we find one of them, hang him, and so on to the end. “fT have no more to say to-night, except that I desire a few words with the jury- “men in my office. “Tf I have demanded that you remain here until the jury reported, it was for the good of all. ** Now you are a at will.” Tae words t liberty to go and come of Brad Burns were generally received with applause, for the deeds of the Silent Slayers were beginning to come home to all of those who were not really Buffalo Bill’s Decoy. _ —— his office, “is that you pass out of that door, and, as you can arrange it, follow those who go to the cabin of Pete Dunn, and report to me who they are, ‘Do not let them suspect you are watch- ing them.” ; The six men passed quickly out of the office, and soon after Brad Burns entered the saloon once more. . He walked over to where Buffalo Bill sat, and the two entered into ordinary con- versation, | Buneo had left the cabin, and the boy sport was just ending up his game with the hard citizen with whom he had been playing, and from whom he had won quite a little sum of money... Tossing it on the table before Burns, he said: , ‘Put that with the other, landlord, for the benefit of those in need. for Lam going home.” He passed out of the door, while Buffalo Bill arose and accompanied Brad Burns into his office. The moment he entered, however, he said: “T'll join you later in the hotel,” and with this he slipped out of the office and disappeared. . Once outside the boy sport walked quick- ly away up the canyon, and was lost in the darkness. Mounting his pony, for he always rode in at night to the camp, the young sport rode to a position beyond the settlement and came to a halt. He drew into the shadow of some timber, and had waited for perhaps half an hour, when he saw a man coming rapidly toward him. And the man was carrying a bundle. * Ho, pard, are you there?” “Yes, sir.’’: : “T only caught your word to wait for you. “What is up?’ , we “T heard one of those fellows in the sa- loon mention your name and say: . “We'll wait at his cabin.’ ” “Ah! that means that I am booked for the happy hunting grounds, Mr. Cody.” “About that way, I took it.” “Buneo will be here in a minute, and see, I have brought a bundle here which we can dress up to appear to be yourself, and we ean tie it to your saddle and then follow your pony to your cabin and watch results,” * Good! | ‘We will give them a surprise’ party. “But who aresthey ?”’ “They are men Whom I spotted, among others, as belonging to the band of Secret Slayers.” : “T got down six, Mr. Cody.” “And I seven.” By “And Bunco was watching, too.”’ “Yes, and Landlord Burns, also, and we'll see how our reports tally, for I took the men whose faces revealed their guilt, ’ as well as their actions.” “That is the way I picked them out— | here comes Bunco.”’ _ Just then Buneo appeared, and he had with him several lariats, a sombrero, coat and pair of boots. 7 Buffalo Bill had brought a roll of blan- kets, and they soon had a very respectable- looking man dressed up and mounted on the boy sport’s horse. “IT just caught your words, pard Bill, to. get a rig to make up a dummy man, and ‘Bunco. ‘“Yés, I felt sure three of those fellows determined to entrap the boy sport here to- night at his cabin, and thought it best to use a decoy. . ‘‘Now, they left some time before sport with, boy pard, was in league with them, for, though losing his money, he kept urg- ing you to remain until a certain time, when he knew that his pals could get to your cabin ahead of you. ‘‘T watched the whole plot, and do not think I have made.any mistake.” “T'll bet you haven't, pard Bill!” said Bunco. “Now, sport, your horse is trained, you « told me, so let him go on ahead, when Buneo and I have been gone long enough to get to your cabin. “ You follow behind your pony, and keep out of sight when you get near your cabin, “If they are there they'll show their hand when your pony arrives, especially as they will suppose+you are asleep when you do not dismount, “When they show their game, Bunco and I will show that we hold trumps,” CHAPTER XNXI. THE DECOY. When the Yroan pony belonging to the boy sport started up the trail at a walk, any one passing him in the darkness would. have supposed that it was the youth that was mounted upon him, so well had the dummy been made, It sat upright in the saddle, boots in the stirrups and all. At first the sport allowed the pony to keep just the length of a lariat ahead of” him, until he taught him just what was. wanted of him. Then he took off the lariat, and the well-- trained animal faithfully kept the same: distance ahead, Buffalo Bill and Bunco had walked rap- idly on toward the cabin of the boy sport, keeping as much off the direct trail as was possible, for the latter knew the country well and acted as guide. Arriving in the little valley that led up to. the cabin, they advanced with the great- est caution, flanked the little home, and, gaining the rear, crept up to the shed of the pony in the rear. There they concealed themselves and waited in grim silence, for they now knew that the sport’s foes were on hand. Buffalo Bill had not been wrong. There: were men in the front of the cabin, wait- ing for the return home of the youth. Their voices were heard by Buffalo Bill as they talked in low tones, evidently in. . hiding against the dark cabin. Distinctly, after waiting for a quarter / : : ‘ Ss, a - Ny of an hour, the two pards on the watch heard: “Thar he comes! Lie low, now, and | jump onter him ther moment he gits off’ his horse. “Tl do ther knife act, and they'll see 1a that threats don't skeer off ther Silent Slayers,”’ ¢ Buffalo Bill and Bunco were not twenty feet from the assassins in hiding. The hoof-falls of the pony had been — heard, for it was too dark to have: seem the horse and his rider. arta Up the little valley came the pony at watchers, for there were that number, | Nearer and nearer came the decoy rider, | the: ” rom the bowed head and silence that the rider was asleep, and the pony walked straight up to cabin door and came to a halt. ' But the rider did not dismount. The assassins decided from the " q a 4 7 a i, | oan . ~ so with one accord they leaped out from — the dark shadow of the cabin and seized, _ a ‘not the boy sport, but the decoy! se you'd find the material for the body,” said*|_ There was a dull thud as a sharp Ay, was driven with force into what was sup- posed to be the body of the boy sport! = . Then two bright flashes revealed the . ee scene for an instant, and before the ports had died awag, two Se Chal as , ds, said | | trate upon the ground, — BIR DES | ve to say to you, pards, Sue | | : | | | > POD TRE ero | 7 the landlor: Theatuiy, os the jury filed into | did, and the fellow you were playing cards! With a yell of terror the third had 7 ’ »' Wy St sie \ Hs j : Me Vr. gt e{ a is es FA * . 4 yah. Ay 74 rl) eae td 7% “_ 4 . : en : > + ie ‘ . Pt pbs is v a «soot Al ws ; ‘ ia - ) fit gle Oy iy ' 4 Pa Pi. ist ; ."s tf Ag : 4 LP is : ye. ae T, 2 a} . ss rT - " 5 ah od P va v; ios + rl e. ; Ww Tes men lay pros: walk, and soon drew in sight of the three _