Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 991 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

= - elaimed. * Look! It creeps on all fours dike a panther, hugging the ground. | aes been watching it for five minutes. It moves, back and forth before the shan- ty across the way. There! It has stopped now!” yok Bob saw a dark object on the ground } and against the hut over there, but he { waited to see it move again. . “T see it now,” he said. “How long ! | have you seen it, Ben?” “For five minutes at least. It seems to be watching our window. Ah! look! It has risen, and I see it standing against oh the logs. It is a man.” Bob Hanley instinctively drew his ‘weapon, and he stepped back from the window. “ Look out!’”’ suddenly cried Ben. “ He is going to shoot!” The instant report of a pistol was fol- lowed by the shattering of a pane of Zlass. The bullet whizzed between the two heads, and struck the wall beyond, litter- ing the floor with fine dust. _ a a ¢ “The mean assassin!” cried Bob. 4 springing to the window and looking + out. “He is there yet. Does the villain court death? Bullet for bullet! He shall get as good as he sent!” us But Ben seized his pard’s arm and- drew him back, and just in the nick of _. time, for a second bullet broke another a pane, and pierced the wall. # “Wait! I’ll meet him on even ground!” a exclaimed young Hanley, as he leaped for the door and cleared the steps in four bounds. a) He was on the porch in another in- stant, and then in the middle of the . street. j ea Over against the shanty stood the fig- ure, and the young man. from the north advanced with lifted revolver. Hf “ Hands up!” he cried. “ Hands up, or | death at the trigger!” There was no reply, nor did a pair of ; hands move upward; the person on the sidewalk was as statuesque as'a human being could be. + aa With a bound Bob Hanley landed on ae the sidewalk, but only to be confronted by—nothing! The man was gone—had vanished as a shadow! CHAPTER VIII. IN HEART-OF-GOLD MINE. Deep down in the Heart-of-Gold Mine stood Samson Peters, its hermit tenant. The strange man’s form was barely y outlined against the grim wall upon ot which fell the light of the little fire that o: burned in the middle of the subterran- gan - chamber. = BF With his singular face seamed with the melancholy of a real hermit, and his brawny arms half bare, Peters looked like an underground ogre. } - Hig head was bare; indeed, it was al- = ‘ways so, and his tall figure caused him to Jook stil] taller in the weird light. i | Samson had just come back from a P yee trip to the upper world. -). ‘The inmate of Bandy Nickell’s mine ‘ a “haa just come from Shakedown; he’ had <a walked the streets of the tough town, ‘had talked with Bob Hanley, only leav- _ ing the young man when he retired to De _ Nelly’s cabin to peruse the letter left | under the stone by Orson, the qne- “dither armed. = * | a “ The boy will find that letter interest- ing; I know that,” chuckled Samson. |... “Trouble’s brewing up there and the | wolves of the Mariposa will devour each . iS other. But there’s the man found by lkali Tom. They don’t know who he fre!’ 45, nor who killed him. But I know! yh Ge vis or a > + * sete x sue ——— LOE LT Ey Two Dudes from Doomed Camp. a eee gs ee ee ae SSE It’s my secret! reveal it!” Samson started, as if a sound had struck his ears. He passed | Mine until I want to little life I left in his carcass. | suspicious | mission. enough of this, Samson, I have another The whole camp. is in’ a tur- 'moil. Orson, the One-armed, is looking to the entrance of the chamber, looking | for the others, perhaps to-night.” along a dark drift or passage, his eyes all aglow with excitement. “Was it the thief? Is he lookin’ for more papers?” he mused. Presently there came down the rock- ribbed corridor a light footstep. Samson drew back in the gloom, ready for a spring. Some one stopped at the drift’s en- trance; then the hermit sprang upon the intruder and in a moment more had dragged his victim forward into the chamber. “Sneakin’ back, eh?’’ cried Peters, as he beheld in his iron grip a man of darkish face and well-knit figure. “ Whar is it?” “ Whar’s what?” “You know, the »apers!”’ “What papers?” “The ones you stole.” “TI stole no papers.” “Hand ’em over!” “JT have nothing to give up. I did not take any papers. I am not here to steal.” “ But, this is my ground. This place is n my possession,” tor sharply. The man drew back and eyed his cap- “You’ve been here some time, haven’t you?’”’. he asked, “Perhaps; that’s my business, not yours.” *You’re hidin’ here in the Heart-of- Gold Mine that used to belong to Bandy Nickell.” “Yes, it used to be Bandy’s; it belongs to his young heir, now—to Nelly.” “To Nelly? Then why isn’t known?” “They won't let her take possession because thar’s no will; at least, the one Bandy left. hasn’t been seen since I put it away.” | “ Where did you put it?” Samson pointed toward the place where he had stored the papers found in that the mine. “Tt’s not thar now,” he went on, “Some one stole the package, an’ if I thought your hand took it off, I'd choke you to death!” “JT did not take it, like to look at the document. know me.” “No; that I don’t!” “T am Jerusalem Jake.”’ The name did not seem to produce any excitement in Samson Peters’ manners. “T came hither on a mission that may interest you,” continued the man. “In the first place, we ought to be friends, for Nelly’s sake.” Samson held out one of his hands. “We are friends,” said he. “I bid rou welcome to the Gold Hermitage, erusalem Jake, if you are her friend.” “T came hither on a singular mission. Already part of it has been carried out. I shot Pinos Jack up there.” “Well? ” “T met the man upon whose head a price has been set for years. I told him in the presence of Shakedown who I was and then exposed him. He confessed the crimes of the past by saying that he was Pinos Jack instead of Mountain Kidd, but, at the same time, be was defiant. I am the high sheriff of San Baboo. I am also the avenger of more than crime.’ “You killed him, did you?" FS Samson eagerly. sé No. though I would You don’t asked Ne . Sif by =f Vay 42 i vt 7 wat |» Lad ree Rae SP fe a Pee * one ~ He is Pada there aa for the je aE a « “ He left the letter under the rock, but one of the young dudes found it.’ “One of the boys who came to Shake- down the other night?” ees “ They will be swept away in the storm,” assumed Jerusalem Jake. ‘“‘ They can’t face the toughs of Shakedown and live. And yet they say they are here to avenge the death of the Unknown.” “TI know that.” “If Kidd lives or dies it will be all the same. Shakedown is doomed. The girl is in the very heart of the whirl- wind of death. There is but one avenue of safety for her and her champions, for the youths are such.” ‘“ What is that one way?” “ Years ago I came to this mine, with its owner, Bandy Nickell. I was shown the secret places in the dark passages and the hidden trails from room to room. You must know them all since this is your home.” In the light of his fire a smile came to Samson's face. “I know a good deal about the Heart- of-Gold Mine, but you may know more.” “You know where the little passage is—the one with the ceiling covered with Sharp stones.” “TIT do not.” “Then you don’t know all there is to find out about the place you inhabit,” declared Jerusalem. ‘“ We'll look into the secret passage by and by. I want to know, now, about the papers. Who would want them?” “Orson, the One-armed, for one.” “Yes, Orson and his pards. The will was among the papers, was it?” “It was there, and other papers that would create a sensation up in Shake- down.” “Was it a confession? ” “Yes, the story of two lives.” “TI thought so,” said the other. “ You read them carefully, the will and the other documents? ”’ “T read them,” answered Samson. “It is a strange, a marvelous, story. It would interest more than you and me.” “Wouldn’t the papers throw some light on the identity of the murdered man?” “ Aye, that they would!” exclaimed the hermit. ‘“ They would bring to light the secret of his life; they are the very pa- pers the boy detectives would pea to have.”’ “We ought to find them.” “They can be found. If you go up there, seek the Span at the end of the street.” “The street has iro ends, Samson.” “Yes, but the shanty I refer to is not the one where the body laid.” “T understand. You mean Orson’'s nest? ” “ Search that: ” cried Samson. “I did not, when I was up there awhile ago. I came down to my nest after meeting one of the boy ferrets and finding Or- son’s message for him, Search Orson’s cabin and you may find the stolen doc- uments. No man has a foot like Orson, the Owl. here. He is the thief. himself and and for others. a pauper.” “* And avenged.” “That’s it—unavenged! will arm the boy dudes from the — But, - I saw its marks in the dust He steals for. Without the will and the papers the girl becomes iz the dead man will 80! un- The papers sd : ise . oa 4 ;%,