Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 991 — page 4: what you’re looking at

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

- eon? ee if, + Bee x . ~ » “What A we true story, we'll discipline you after the manner peculiar ter Shakedown.” “That. means the rope, gentlemen,” whispered the landlord of the Hotel Eden, whose figure towered in the door- way behind them. Just at this moment both Bob and Ben saw a figure cross the street beyond the crowd. It was small and girlish, but it came on with startling swiftness, and all at once it sprang upon the porch and plant- ed itself near them. “The girl—old Bandy Nickel’s heir!”’ cried Mountain Kidd. “Bandy Nickel’s heir! That’s right, sir,” cried the new-comer, as she strode down the porch. ‘“ Now, ‘sneak home, every one of you, or I’ll send moonlight through your carcasses. Go!” She thrust forward two revolvers straight into the faces of Mountain Kidd and his men. CHAPTER III. THE WAIF AND HER PARD. Bob and Ben looked first at the girl and then at the effect upon the crowd. The mountain men stood like rocks in front of the menacing revolvers, but their faces showed some signs of fear. Perhaps they knew the nerve of the young beauty of Shakedown. They may haye seen it tried on a pre- vious occasion, and Mountain Kidd, with all his coolness, dropped his gaze. “You are going, gentlemen, aren’t you?” demanded the girl. “ This isn’t just the right thing to do—to follow these young men as if they were the as- sassins of the man found by es Tom.” “They know the old fellow, thot gh’ " said some one in the heart of the crowd. if they do? I’m sure they don’t intend to keep the mystery long. for they won't shield the murderer. |! am Bandy Nickel’s girl, and now that I’m left alone I don’t want to make ene- mies of the men of Shakedown City. But you can’t take these young men out and choke them up after your ruthless man- ner.” “That settles Kidd's followers. why, we can’t.” | “Hold ’em level, Nelly!” cried some one across the street, and then a discord- ant voice was lifted in the last stanza of “The Miner’s Last Dream”: “And they planted him down by the ~ willows Near the close of day; And the stars shine on where he sweetly sleeps Dreamin’ his life away.” The sweet singér of Shakedown was over there, singing his favorite, and those who looked caught sight of his diminutive figure against a shanty, _ Some one laughed, and Nelly smiled as she glanced across the street, but’ the mext instant her face had been turned again to the crowd. “Let ’em be till it,” muttered one of “Tf the gal says so, to- morrer, eo said Mountain Kidd, addressing those at his ‘back. “ We'll all be here, and we kin - mete out justice as we please, -then.” “ J rae is we hh > The girl on the porch looked at the men of Shakedown as they turned away, and in a little while not one ve the num- ber was to be seen. Nelly came up to Bob and Ben, and offered them her hand. “Tt’s an exciting welcome to Shake- down City,” she remarked, smiling. “You happen to come at the most ex- | _ ¢iting time we've had in the last six ‘ er occy. aa There’s a nse mipeiory in kame. ‘4 he af gis ers : ingle vee par me i ae Tees ae me , aS and the boys are anxious to solve it. of the crime? Is that it?” she asked. this the girl turned away and walked down the street. om Ceo a igh Two Dudes from Doomed Camp. Perhaps you have caused them to think that you know something about the murder, and that’s why Mountain Kidd didn’t like it.” The young men looked into the well- chiseled face and fine hazel eyes of the speaker and the fine orbs seemed to droop a little. ‘You live here?” queried Bob. “Ves, Shakedown’s been my home ever since it became a camp. I came here with Bandy Nickel, the old man who died last summer in the mine over yon- der on the hill. It’s not the nicest place in the world, but you see I’ve managed to get along fairly well and the ‘city’ suits me about as well as any other place would. Tough? Yes, a little; but they’re all alike.”’ “ Pardon me, miss; from what Mount- ain Kidd said you don’t seem to be Ban- dy Nickel’s daughter.” Nelly turned upon Ben, evidently sur- prised at his remark. “That is true,” said she, frankly. og | guess that’s no secret in Shakedown. | am not the old man’s child. I’m a waif— a bird without a parent, if you may say that. I can’t give you anything about my history, for I have none to give. Bandy Nickel knows it all, and what he knows is the secret he’s keeping to himself.” | “You don’t seem to have the enmity of the men of Shakedown, though you had to face them with the revolver to- night,” intimated Bob. “No. They take to me pretty well be- cause I’m the only girl in camp, at pres- ent. I manage to get on with Mountain Kidd and his pards without serious fric- tion. They’re a tough set and some are a little tougher than the others. They’re all pretty bad but Billy.” “ The singer? ” “Yes. Have you heard him?” “He sang for us to-night at The Comet.” ' | “Did he? Well, there’s something about Billy Whiskers that draws one to him. In the first place, he won’t be with us long, and before many months there’ll be a funeral over on the hill, and when we come back Billy won t be with us.’ ‘‘He looks sad.” “ He’s not that way all the time. But, I don’t want to detain you. You will have to look out while you’re in Shake- down. As I’ve said, we haven’t got a set of angels here. The murder of the stranger is the thing that unsettles us all now. Did I understand you to tell Mountain Kidd: that you know the iden- tity of the dead man?” “We think we do.” “Heavens! That makes the situation all the more grave. If you know and won’t disclose it, it only makes your sojourn in Shakedown the more peril- ous. There! I won’t try to worm the secret from you,” and the girl smiled again. “That belongs to you, and I be- lieve you have some powerful reason for keeping it, just now.” “We have, Miss Nelly.”. The girl moved toward the edge of the porch, but Bob stopped her just as she was about to leave it. “ Have you any suspicions?” he asked in lowered tones. “Do I suspect any particular person “Yes; that is what I would know.” pie do, ‘but let me have a secret ag well as you for the present. ‘a “ All right, miss.” “ Good-night, gentlemen!” and with of ¥ pee DOF less pit. . A little distance from the hotel ss crossed the street, and the two Dates saw another figure join her -there. “It looks like Billy Whiskers,” said — Bob to his companion. ‘ She’s a mys- tery like the one we’ve already found. Come. We'll try and get a little sleep to-night.” The young men turned into the Hotel Eden, where they found the red-shirted landlord waiting for them. Oregon Dave was a typical tough, with his large face and bewhiskered cheeks, but he looked smilingly upon his guests as they came in. “The gal’s a hustler from way-back, si he observed. “ Did yer see how she faced the whole lot of ’em an’ poked the guns inter their ugly faces? Why, when she used ter play in the street out there with her dolls, in the sun, with old Bandy on my porch lookin’ on, I never thought she'd show grit like she showed ter- night. But, it’s in the blood. She inher- ited her pluck somewhar.”’ “ You knew her from early childhood, then?’ queried Bob. “ Yes; I remember the day Bandy came in and chucked the baby down in my lap. He got her somewhar up the range, that’s what he said... Her mother died thar and the father ran off. That’s the story he told an’ we let it go at that. Bandy never lied; at least we never caught him in one. Pretty? Yes, Nelly’s ~ a beaut,” and with this compliment Ore- gon Dave passed on. Once more in their little room on the second floor of the Hotel Eden, Bob and Ben prepared to retire for the night. Meantime down on the street in an- other part of Shakedown a scene some- what different was taking place. Nelly and Billy Whiskers were flitting through the shadows and were talking in low tones. “T’m not afraid, Nell,” averred the singer of Shakedown. “It’s not that. l’ll do anything for you, but you see the old mine always hurts my lungs.” 7 bg 5: you ‘ll watch then, Billy, I'l] inves- tigate.” “You?” and the face of Billy Whisk- ers got a look of blank astonishment. “You go down into that hole? You let your life hang to a rope in that pit of blackness? ”’ “Why not? Hasn’t the time come for _ something of the kind? Don’t you know that the mine may give up its secret and the very one he kept so long? Didn’t you see him come out of the old place the day he left me?” “T did, girl—” “Then Bandy Nickel’s secret must be there!” “T don’t say it isn’t.” ‘You'll watch, then?” “T’ll do more than that, - } Nell.” The two quickened their steps, and at © ; if the end of a few minutes, having passed beyond the confines of Shakedown City, Nelly and Billy Whiskers entered what | mt seemed a hole in the mountain side. It was as dark as Erebus beyond the mouth of this opening, and the pair felt their way along the wall. “Here we are!” at length exclaimed the little man. “I can tell by the rough- ness of the stones.” ‘“Where’s the rope?” “Here on this ledge.” “Strike a light.” Billy did so, revealing the roughened cicagiel of the place and showing him the determined face of the girl mountain — waif. | “How far down is it, Billy?” and the girl leaned over what seemed a bottom . ei f a ¥ oe -s.. iad ray, “1 *e ie &. bey | : « an = <a oO em -F ~~ ea 5 » \) 13 a a} ae siete . x ee ee aa ane