Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 993 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

' To eg) Se eee ae Been ap apes.” ° ** {I will go,” finally decided Huntway, Sheriff Huntway, of Montana. The negro’s remarks suggested aniiea to the And taen be guided his horse after the swiftly- | sheriff. He resolved toappropriate one of the ‘moving man-bupter, whose footsteps were as light.as an Indian’s, At length the detective halted before a small cabin. Huntway dismounted and followed his friend inside. A dim light burned within. The only occu- spantof the room was a negro as black as Ere- us. He grinned at his visitors, and talked with Sbarp in a low tone. Presently the detective placed a sealed letter in the hand of the fugitive sberiff, and said: “Deliver this to the one to whom it is ad- dressed, lit is sixty miles to Helena, but if you have a fleet horse, you can get there. Blink bere is a true man, although his skin is black, ‘You are armed?”’ sé Yes,” **Then go, Before many days the clouds will Tol} by, and you can return,” Clifford Huntway waiked to the door and opened it. He recoiled with a great cry. In front of him were human foes, and two re- ‘volvers were thrust into his face. ‘** Surrender!” cried a voice that was quite fa- miliar to Steele Sharp. The detective took in the situation at a glance. He bent to the ear of the black, and uttered a whispered word, then seized the shoul- der of the sheriff and drew him backward, step- ping to the front himself, with a six-shooter in sown good rigbt hand, ** Impostor, you here again!” exclaimed Steele Sharp, as he confronted the foremvust man— Steele Sharp No. 2, Tbe intruder recoiled, And then the de ective covered him with his tes ‘*Call off your hounds if you don’t care die!” hissed Sharp, flercely. ‘“* Weare after Huntway,” stammered Sharp No, 2. ‘‘If you attempt to shield him, on your head be the cons: quences.” The detective cast a side glance over bis snoulder, and saw that the negro had slipped out the back way with the hunted sheriff, All Sharp cared todo now was tv detain the pur- suing men till Huntway could make good Lis es- cape. . ‘** Huntway is our sheriff,’ answered the de- tective. ‘‘If you seek to barm him, you, and not I, are law-breakers, and I warn you to be- ware,” At this momen’ a man came limping from the rear of the house, and with a groan staggered against the Humbuy Detective. ‘* No use, boss, he’s gone,” declared the man. “Gone! Do you mean that Huntway has es- caped? Why didn’t you and Bill shoot bim down sooner? that was the order!” cried the leader of the pursuing party, angrily, * Blast ye!” growled tiie mar, ** l wasn’t look- in’ for a black thunderbolt ’at took me amid- ships an’ doubled me up like a jack-knife, Bill fell over me, and the sheriff follered ther thun- d-rbolt and escaped,” A smile touched the face of Steele Sharp. He understooi bow black Blink had sent the tough to grass with his head. ‘** You may come in if you like,” said Sharp, good-humoredly. ‘‘I don’t think you'll find the man you're after to-night,” The big-bearded man pushed his way into the cabin, followed by those men who had kept him company in the pursuit cf the fugitive sheriff. It did not take the men long to ascertain that Huntway bad made good his escape, Had the negro presented himself at that moment, be might’ have been roughly handled, He rie wise enough to keep out of the way for the re. Detective No. 2 turned fiercely upon Steele Soarp, an angry light in his eyes, ** You bave connived at the escape of Hunt- way, sir,” grated the fellow. ‘‘Do you know what you have done? You have aided a crimi- nal to escape, yes \ou have, and you pretend to bea detective, Pat!” **Don't let your disgust make a fool of you, Whiskerando,” sneered Steele Sharp. “‘‘ Bah! If you attempt to touch me, I'll drop you!” The Humbug Detective recoiled at the muzzle of the detective’s pistol. He made no further advance upon the detec- tive, but left the house, muttering threats under bis breath, {[n the mean time, having esca to the thickets near, Sheriff Huntway halted and con- Bulted with Blink. ‘*Dar’s hosses down yender,” declared the megro, pointing toward the trail, ‘‘ Dem fellers what come arter you, boss, left dem dar,” acimals, and accordingly crept forward in the gloom, and reached the side of a fine animal | without being discovered, Untying the strap from a sapling, Hunt- way vaulted to the saddle, and gave the animai rein. It was not a satisfactory proceeding, this capturing an enemy’s horse, yet, under existing circumstances, the fugitive believed himself justified. Blink uttered a grunt of delight as he saw Huntway ride away into the gloom, After going a short distance, believing him- self beyond earshot, the fleeing sberiff gave the animal rein, and galloped rapidly from the vicinity. Ye followed a trail that he knew well. It led him somewhat away from the proper course toward Helena, into an unsafe region, but he thought by this means to throw off pur- suit. For once, at least, Huntway had madea mis- take, as the sequel proved, Mile after mile he passed, The moon rose, shedding a mellow glow over the hills, Presently the fleeing sheriff galloped into the mouth of &@ narrow canyon, and entered. the shadows. He had gone but a short distance when a dark object fell as from the clouds, circling about the waist of the sheriff. The next instant he was jerked violently from the saddle. CHAPTER XV, FOILED BY HIS ENEMY. A SINGLE borseman drew rein not far out of Pine Forks, and paused to read a notice posted against the trunk of a tree. **2000,00 REWARD! ‘* The above reward will be paid to any person ving information that will lead to the arrest of lifford Huntway, once sheriff of this county, but now a fugitive from justice, ‘* STEELE SHarpP, Sheriff.” ** So that scoundrel has become sheriff in place of Huntway,” uttered the reader, ‘‘ Could in- famy go further? There has been no election, and this scoundrel calling himself sheriff must have been appointed to filla vacancy. And he signs himself a prrson whom he is not. The people «f Upland county must be warned against the man they are trusting. Heavens! what a travesty on justice!” The man rode on, shaping his course toward Pine Forks,which lay but a few miles in the dis- tance. As be rode, be 8 liloquized again: ‘* Huntway did not reach Helena, that is evi- dent. What befell bim then on the road? Per- haps he deemed 1t safer tu secrete himself in the bills for the present. IJtmay beas well so, I'll ut this new sheriff to histaps before many days, Taaiee made discoveries that will bring two men very low, Abl!lrevenge is sweet, and lam soon to revel in it to repletiun,” The rider, who was really Steele Sharp, the detective, rode on his way, and was scarcely Icst to view when « second horseman halted before the placard on the tree. He was not a pleasant-looking man, and his mouth opened in a grin as he studied the ‘** reward,” ‘*AsI told Zonk, ’twa’n’t best ter put the fel- ler under. He'd be wu’th somethin’ to us, and now here ’tis. Ho! Mr. Sneruff, you’ll bring money to our locker arter all. 1 must commu- nicate ter ther new sberuff somehow, [| allow *twouldn't be safe fer me ter ride inter the Forks jest yet. ’Twill be, thougb, when Huntway swings fur murder,” A satisfied chuckle fell from the man’s lips, Two thousend dollars were small stakes com- pared to those Grudge Grave had lost, but even that amount ‘‘ wasn’t to be sneezed at,’ as he expressed it, Wheeling bis horse, the mountain tough gal- loped back on the trail he had been following. it was late in the afternoon of the same day that Steele Sharp No. 2, the new shenmff of Up- land county, sat smoking and meditating on the situation. He occupied a room in the tavern—not the one from which he he had been frightened by Detective Sharp on the nightthe jail burnt—but a larger room, more befitting bis new respon- sibilities. A tap on the door caused the sheriff to remove his cigar. He merely said, ‘Come in!” and re- sumed his weed. : Fi py e, dl : a i he ea % * a} - ' “J > ¢ 7 \ rs = , oN 4 Py a 4 ; > # 4 _* a r* q > ei 4 —— A boy in the employ of the hotel entered and © placed a se: led letter on the great man’s knee, ‘*?T was left by a man from the hills,” Mra the lad departed,closing the door behind im, The name of ‘* Steele Sharp, Sheriff,” was illy scrawled on the envelope. Quickly toe mighty man tore off the covering and bad the letter under his eye. It was short and to the point, ‘¢ MIsTER SHERUFF— ‘* We've got ther man you want, Send a per- son with ther money ter Silent Canyon and we'll turn him over.” ‘* NurF SED.” Steele Sharp No. 2 examined the letter criti- cally. He was not fully persuaded that it was a genuine offer, ‘‘ It may be a trap,” muttered he, as he puffed spasmodically at his cigar, ‘* That detective who is ranning amuck against me on his own hook, for I know Granger and the rest repudiate bim, is just keen enough to get up something of this kind, I’ve no doubt he wouldn’t hesitate to re a bullet through my heart for a song. here’s something about the fellow that seemed familiar the firet time I met him, I don’t know. I don’t feel easy, ani won’t till that man and Huntway bite the dust.” For a long time the new sberiff communed with himself, the result being that be resolved to visit Silent Canyon with force enough to make it utterly safe, Space will not permit our going into details here. With a dozen men at his back the sheriff vis- ited the spot in question, and after alittle parley Huntway, with bis hands bound securely, was turned over to the officers by Grudge Grave and Tub Zonk, who bad captured him as he was rid- ing through Silent Canyon on his way to Helena two nights before, No harm came to the prisoner for whom the reward wags duly paid, although dark looks were cast upon him by Sheriff Sharp and his companions, Since the burning of the jail another building bad been dedicated to that use, one of tke most substantial structures in Pine Forks, Into this building the prisoner was hurried and a strong guard placed about the place, | ‘*He must never be permitted to come to trial,” declared Sheriff Sharp to bimself, after he had returned to the hotel. ‘* Of course it would be easy enough to convict bim—the ring and knife would do that, but something might turn up, with such a man as the sneak- ing detective nosing around. He is as keen a fellow as the Steele Sharp he personates, [ am well assured that be is not that detective, however,” The plotting villain whb had so snugly en- sconced bimself in Huntway's shoes spared no pains to work up a feeling against the prisoner, that had died down somewhat since the day the Seen sheriff fled so precipitately from Pine orks, On the morning after his confinement in jail Clifford Huntway had a visitor in the person of Erastus Granger, who, in spite of rheumatic twioges, had forced himself to visit the deposed sheriff, ‘*] am truly shocked,” declared the old cattle- king, as he confronted Huntway, “to see you here, Clifford, If I had not been your friend, [ should not visit you this morning,” ‘‘ T seem to be the victim of untoward cireum- stances,” returned Huntway, whose pale face showed the mental suffering he was enduring, “Tam guilty of no crime, yet here I ani impris- oned like a common felon; it is infamous!” ‘* Ah! but you bave brought it on ycurself, Clifford, I am astonished at your perfidy. I would not have thought it possible until con- fronted with the proof. What have you done with the money? ** What money?” “* The forty thousar d dollars that you murdered poor Jasper Flake to obtain.” White ani stern wes the face of the old cattle- king wben he put this questicn, FE yr heaven's sake! Mr, Grarger, do you be- lieve J did that deed of villainy ?” Huntway seemed aghast, ‘*Fulsa agony won't help your cege in the least,” declared the old man grmiy, ‘I am convinced that this is your first offense, my boy, and to show you that I am still your friend I willagree to set youfreeand give you a chance to wipe out this stain in a new land, on ome cov- dition,” ‘* Name it.” ‘*That you return me the money you took from Flake.” ’ ' ** - 4 * ve a + : ‘ : . t, i ff - ‘a Se a eh > Pn Hi ‘- *® ’ ' 4 a y zt! ; + ‘= hat : ; ; das J | F* | ee <° ad | ; ae . % ' » hee PP ee + s j ¥ com ate age ail Ee ee ” - % ~ AS" . : oa ad a ss. : - en lls