Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 768 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

| the whole six were looking into her face witb the malignity of devils.” ‘“You know he is hiding here,” said they. “Yon came to the mine to warn him, Where is he?” ‘““If T knew I would not tell you,” said Alta. * Do youthink [ would willingly throw Eagle Ned into the jaws of the wolf?” ‘We will find him in time, anyhow.” ‘“‘ Rind him, then,” ‘‘ Then, you refuse to help us?” ‘*T refuse to belp you.” The roughs drew back and looked at the girl, They did not know what to make of -her cool- ness an determination, ** Make her tell us,” cried one, ‘‘ She will tell if you twist her wrist or—” ‘Here, twist my wrist, coward!” cried Alta, holding out her band to tbe man, who recoiled with drooping eyes, Alta stood before him with her handsome fig- ure drawn to its full height and her face aflame with earnestness, She kept her temper in the midst of it all. ** lf they offer her any indignity they will pay for it,” said a whispered voice on the ledge in the dark, and the hand of the boy lying there thrust a revolver over the fringe of the place and covered a man who faced Alta. ** He is somewhere in the mine and we will find him,” continued the leader of the six. ‘** When you have found him, what?” “Ob, we will take bim to the tribunal and give him ashort trial, He has been playing spy at Captain Jack’s heels, He is the Doodles of the palace; he went off as Eagle Ned and came back a half-blood to carry out a game of his own, ‘* W bat sort of game?” ‘*We don’t know, but it is against Captain Jack. He pretends to be looking for a sister he lost years ago, but there’s more than that be- hind his hunt.” Alta was taken deeper into the mine by the men, and when they had reached a apot where the trails forked they stopped and faced her again, ‘“* Which trail shall we take?” they asked her. Alta looked, but did not speak. ‘* Shall we go to the right or to the left?” ** Choose for yourselves,” ‘You utterly refuse to show us the way to the boy spy?” **T don’t know it.” _ The men laughed outright, They did not be- lieve this, yet 1t was true, Alta did not know where Eagle Ned was, though she had entered the mine to warn him of the danger that menaced, She knew he was there, but in what particular part of the old bonanza he was hidden Was a secret to her. ‘Throw tne girl down the precipice!” said a growler, E ** Let her remain here till she manifests a de- sire to tell what she knows,” said another. Alta looked calmly into the faces by which she was surrounded. She saw that the Spiders were fast losing Femence with what they called her deception. er life was in danger. She did not know that feet which the keen ears if the men of Ragged Robin had not beard, were near atband. She had not heard them herself, but they werenear, Eagle Ned, gliding from the place from which he first saw the six, had reached another spot and, revolver in hand, was looking on Once more, ready to rescue Alta when the time came from the hands of the tough half-dozen. The waif of Ragged Robin stood erect: she knew that something tigerish was passing through the minds of the six, that the infamous suggestion to throw her down the dark preci- pice which lay near her feet might be carried out by the hot-headed men and she was prac- tically helpless in their hands, All at once the leader of the six laid his hand on Alta’s wrist. _ ‘‘You must disclose the biding-place of the boy spy,” he said inadly. ‘‘ We don’t believe that you don’t know where he 1s, That isn’t natural. You came hither to waru him against us and you know where he hides at this moment,” The speaker drew Alta toward the edge of the recipice and bis companions made way for im. “Throw her over, Dick, or make her tell the truth.” There was a demon gleam in the eyes that looked at the girl in the toils. Dick stood near the nabob off Ragged Robin; he had served Captain Jack a long time and knew that if the Camp Spiders were successfully encountered by their enemies their reign would end and he would be among the victims of vengeance. Suddenly the whole pee rung with the loud report of a fire-arm, The man who bad seized Alta’s wrist fel] back and tottered for an instant at the edge of the precipice, but a tough threw him back and saved him from fall- ing over. ‘Catch the girl!” cried several voices, but when they sprung toward the waif of the camp she vanished, and the sound of flying footsteps told them tbat their victim had been rescued by the revolver of an unknown marksman, pro- bably Eagle Ned himeelf. CHAPTER XVI, WALKING INTO A TRAP. THE pursuit of Alta proved fruitless. The men of the camp came back in a rage, and re ported to their wounded leader that the girl had vanished beyond their ken, and that she could not be tracked any longer, ‘*‘Take me up to the light and we will bring down upon this mine the whole force of Spiders, and rout her out,” Le said, They helped him to the sunlight where he stood while they dressed the wound in his arm. In a short time the whole camp knew about the adventures in the bonanz:. Captain Jack look- ed at his sister, who smiled while she talked, and who said she was really glad the girl bad shed some bandit blood. ‘*What do you mean, Selina?” cried Jack, ‘* You talk as though vou had turned against the Spiders of the Black Mesa?” ‘* And why shouldn’t I? I know that Toby the man to whom you have betrothed me, will send me back to Chiquita if I don’t carry out or part of the bargain. He bas said as much, found him as cool and calculating as the most adroit villain that ever lived, Do you think I ought to wish wella lot of men who live for nothing but blood and gold?” There was no reply, the hands of Captain Jack, The Count, toying with a piece of paper which he had just folded, **I don’t wantto go back to Chiquita; Iam not going back!” said Selina, still watching him. The nabob brother suddenly looked up. ‘* A truce to all this!” he cried, snatching his hat from the table. ‘* You and Toby for it.” He. was crossing the room when her hand caught him and she whirled him by main strength and looked bim in the eye. ‘Toby and I for it, you say. I am willing it shall be thus, Iam going to play a hand of my own from this time on, Ibave told you that my heart is given to Stirrup Steve who now stands in the shadow of the court, I know that he loves Alta and that be would not look at me with a friendly feeling because he knows why I was banished from Chiquita, But you are not going to triumph over the men who are in the toils. Look here, Captain Jack, You are no more Count thanIam, I know that they want ba in another part of this country, that Uncle m’s soldiers would cross a desert to find you and take you back in chains, You want the boy spy; you have your men out after him now. And why?” There was no answer after this pause, but brother and sister were looking at each other with very little space between them. “You shall not kill Eagle Ned, You shall not touch him through the court of Ragged Robin,” ‘* And why not?” demanded Captain Jack. Selina loosened her grip and fell back nearly across the room. At that moment the door opened and a man appeared there. ‘We found the girl in the mine, Dick was shot by some person there and the girl herself got »way,”. ‘** Good! good!” eried Selina. The nabob stood for a moment longer without speech, but all at once he demanded to be told the whole story. This was told and he, with tgs listened to it with a great deal of inter- es ‘* The boy’s revolver did it,” said Jack through bis clinched teeth, ‘‘ The boy isin the old mine, You must go back to it. I will lead you myself, The court can wait for we will have three pris- oners to gd instead of two.” When the Spider had gone back to his com- nions Captain Jack turned upon Selina and or a moment looked her in the eye. *‘Keep your hand out of this game,” he said sterniy. ‘It is one for the balance of power in camp. If you interfere, back to Chiquita you go and that without ceremony !” He shut the door in her face and did not hear Eagle Ned, the Boy on Guard. | 13 the words she sent after him with a look that seemed powerful enough to kill, ‘* He defies me,” said Selina, ‘‘ He dares me to interfere in this game of his. He will rule or ruin; he will send me back over the desert to Chiquita where they want me, but I will never go back, Asto becoming the wifeof the man to whom he has given me, I will see tothat. He thinks he can dispose of me because I am his sis- ter. Ha, ha, he bas never learned to know Selina,” The tall figure of Captain Jack appeared on the Plaza to be seen at once by the whole camp. Dick, who had been wounded in the mine, came forward with bis bandaged arm, and growled out bis eagerness to go back for ven- eance, ‘* Where are the prisoners?” said Captain Jack. ‘*They are at Phocion’s shanty or were awhile ago.” ei See that they are safe first—” ‘* But, captain, there is another thing I want to talk about, We made a new discovery.” ‘* What is that?” ‘‘ There is a league against us.” The face of the nabob of Ragged Robin grew white, but only fora moment, A league against the Spiders of the camp? He could not believe that any one would be bold enough to face the order in its very web, and when Dick told him that a mutiny was one of the facts of the day he looked incredulous though he could not hole his color. ‘* Where are they and who are at the head of the mutiny?” cried Tbe Count, Dick was leaning toward his master and with lowered voice was talking earnestly when a shout was beard and both turned toward the saloon. Black Burt in shirt sleeves stood on the porch of his establishment, and there was something startling in his look. ‘* There’s the Old Harry to pay,” cried Black Burt. ‘*There is mutiny in camp, Carejo Phil is at the head of tbe conspiracy, and the bomb is Jiable to burst at any time,” In an instant the name of Carejo Phil was on many a lip, and bands moved swiftly to the belts of the border. ** Where is he? W-.here is the traitor?” Captain Jack, bandsomer than ever, was walk- ing toward the man on the porch. ** Convene the court and the prisoners at once!” he went on. “The faithful of Ragged Robin are not to be choked off by a lot of vi- Send a band of men to the Merry Mixer and let them search every foot of it, The young spy is there as well as the girl who would not betray him to Dick and his men. I am still] al- calde here, Iam still the ruler of the destinies of the capital of the Black Mesa.” A loud cheer greeted these words, and the men of the camp began to gather round the man who bad spoken, A number surged toward the figure on the porch of the saloon, and Biack Burt told them bow a man, the weakest of the mutineers, had been made drunk by his vile stuff and how he bad drawn from bim the history of the uprising. The men clamored to be to the cabins of Carejo Pbil, but the advice of Captain Jack held them back, and while the whole camp was in an uproar they were kept down by the cool- ness of the nabob, ‘* We can suppress this rebellion and throw the mutineers into court, There will be swift ven- geance when it sits, I want them all. I want. to see Eagle Ned among the victims, and until we have secured the boy lurking in the depths of the Merry Mixer, there will be no man killed.” Standing at one of the windows of the palace, a witness to all this, was Selina, a smile on her darkly beautiful face. ‘‘ Will I go back to Chiquita? I guess not,” said she, “The storm is breaking over some- body else’s bead. There will be tough times one the sun sets or | am no judge of, trou- le.” She saw a band of men go toward the mine, she noticed another band walk toward Phocion’s shanty, and eagerly she watched both. All at once a door opened on the Plaza and the figure of Carejo Phil, the head of the mutineers, appeared. Captain Jack the chief of the Camp Spiders saw it, but he did not speak. ge another instant Carejo Phil vanished and the nabob smiled. “They are all there,” he said to himself. ‘‘The conspirators are up in Carejo’s shanty and are waiting for the signal,” Let us follow the men who went back to the heart ef the Merry Mixer. They were led by the same person who had boo Cor