Beadle's Half Dime Library No. 768 — page 4: what you’re looking at

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

es ‘ You should look at the corpse. You say he was killed by a knife stab in the neck.” ‘*He was,” ‘Did you look further? The men who belong- ed to the Vigilantes wno hanged the Spiders of Pin-W heel had a certain mark tattooed on their arms—a rope with a running noose, I believe it was,” ‘*Great heavens, there was such a mark on Lazarus’s arm! I’ve seen it more than once, but he would never tell me what it meant, I begin to see through the whole thing now, Some one is avenging the death of the Spiders of Pin- W heel,” For a moment silence reigned between the two men in the shanty, then Phocion said: ‘‘There’s more to be told, Steve. Eagle Ned has been missing since sundown, I can’t find the boy high or low.” ‘* That’s nothing very strange, I’ve seen him in the mountains, and sometimes he is gone twenty-four hours,” “ But right on the heels of this murder!” put in the man with thered beard, ‘‘I don’t like that partofit. What if the Spiders should hold a grudge ag’in’ him?” Stirrup Steve turned and looked out upon the Plaza, He saw a man crossing it and looking the second time, said to Phocion with a smile: ‘* We still have The Count with us, I see,” The bearded man started a little at these words, ** T guess we'll always bave him byer,” he said. ‘** He is the curse of the camp,” ‘* And its nabob,” added Steve, ** By the way, does Alta know aa of this crime?” ‘* A good deal, She discovered the dead body of Lazarus, but I persuaded her to let me have the cradit of it, Alta stood it well; she looked at the wound without a shudder, She’s a gold mine tu some one, boy.” Stirrup Steve blushed a little which heighten- ed the color of his full cheeks and he looked away for a moment, ** I'll see you later,” he said to Phocion and in a little while the two were on the street once more and had separated. Stirrup Steve went to hisown cabin which had not been inhabited for a few days and shut the door behind him. “So Lazarus is killed, eh?” he said in audible tones to himself, ‘‘So he has been stabbed and Phocion says he wore the sign of the Vigilantes of Pin-Wheel. Can it be that the order of the Camp Spiders has been revived? What is its object now—to bunt down and slay all who be- longed to the band that wiped it out of existence more than three years ago? If this is its mission whv will be safe? No one knows who all belong- ed to the Vigilantes; they kept the identity of their membership a [eb aipees secret, though, after the wiping out, there was no need of con- coalment.” The young man went out and rapped lightly at the door of a well-to-do shanty near the mid- dle of the camp. aie another second he stood face to face with ta. The girl with a pleased countenance held the door open for him and when he had entered the — little room he turned upon her to see that er face was white and her eyes full of singular eagerness, **T am glad you are back safe wished you had not come,” she said. death—murder in the camp, and—” ‘“*Fear not for me,” was the quick interrup- tion. ‘“‘I guess I am not a marked victim, Alta.” Tne girl then told about the finding of Laz- arus’s body and Steve listened with interest as if he had not heard the same story within the last few :uinutes, ** Phocion is alarmed about the boy. He does not know what I saw before we found Lazarus, I did not tell him for fear of making a scene, but I will tell you, Steve. I saw The Count and Eugls Ned going down the street together; they were walking side by side andI lost sight of them toward ‘he Count’s main mine.” ‘Toward Red Rattlesnake, Alta?” * Yos. By and by The Count came back alone and not long after that I discovered the murder.” Stirrup Steve thought a moment and then turne bis head, Alta did not see the look that filled his eyes, “You are well-acquainted with Ned, Alta?” he suddenly asked, ‘* We are friends,” “He never kept bis secrets from you?” The girl laughed. ‘You mean about his hunt for the lost mister? He bas told me all he knows a score of yet I almost ‘There is times. I bave listened to him whenever he cared to tell the story; but why this question, Steve?” ‘*Eagle Ned may have been too prying for some people. He was always on the lookout for that sister, though my opinion is that she is lost to him forever. He is playing detective with all his might, but the chances are against bim. So he went toward The Count’s bonanza with The Count bimself?”’ é Yes,” ‘* And The Count came back alone?” ** He did,” ** None of this to Phocion, Alta,” said Steve. ** We are on the edge of some tough times and Ragged Robin is going to see a reign of terror. If vou don’t vant to stay—” ‘*l want to stay,” broke in the girl, her eyes aflame, ‘“‘I don’t want to run off. I am in- terested in Eagle Ned and if he has fallen into the web of the Camp Spiders I want to help him out if I can.” Stirrup Steve looked down into the upturned eyes of the beautiful speaker and felt a thrill pervade his bosom, Alta was brave and when be noticed that her hands were clinched and that she was not trembling, he thought that she was cool enough toremain in Ragged Robin during the drama which he felt was about to open in earnest. CHAPTER IV, THE WARNING, A LONG room under ground, On one of the walls of gray stone is drawn in dark lines the picture of a spider, Everything about the hideous-looking creature is complete, the long legs, the large head and gleaming eyes, The hand that drew it was the band of an artist, the man who pictured the spider on the stone was a good hand at drawing, and his work was true to nature, but so large and hideous, In the chamber stands a table upon which sits a box covered with dark cloth, but on the top of it is another spider, the exact counterpart of the one on the wall, though not so large. Suddenly the door setin the wal] at one end of the ee swings open and a man steps for- ward, He wears a black mask upon which the spider shows again and after bim file six men, all tall in stature and possessing the physiques of giants, The leader of the masked six advances to the middle of the chamber and turns upon his fol- Jowers, ‘* We have struck and the dead lies still,” said he in stern voice which hed no echo in that chamber. ‘‘ We have inflicted upon the guilty the penalty of death and there still re- main more victims,” There was no answer; the men whom he ad- dressed stood and at the speaker from behind the masks that fitted their faces to a mg **'Who shall be the next?” asked the leader, taking from his pocket a little packet which he moved toward the box on the table, ‘* Let us draw and see,” said one of the men, The captain of the Camp Spiders opened the box and threw into it the kage which he had drawn forth, Then the lid was shut down and all ranged themselves along the stand, One after another they put their hands into the box and drew out a bit of paper which they did not look at, but concealed in their bands, They had drawn out all the bits of paper there were in the box and the captain of the Spiders turned to his men with gleaming eyes, ‘* Let the man who bas received the commis- sion make no failure, The name of the next victim is in his hand, Let him see that the blow does not fall short, nor fail in any way.” Half a minute later the room is deserted and the spider on the wall has nocompany. Silence comes dOwn upon the place and the men are far away. Meantime the corpse of Lazarus incumbers a pine board in the back room of Black Burt’s place, but the time has arrived for its burial. A number of men take it up and carry it to the little cemetery beyond the mines and without ceremony the dead is left to sleep until the Last Great Day; then the burial party file back to the camp and take a drink at the bar. But what bas become of Engle Ned? We left the boy in the Devil’s Tunnel alone with the dead man discovered there, As if to see what had become of him a man went down to the mine and groped bis way through the darkness, When he reached the mouth of the tunnel he stopped and lighted a match, The tunnel had been walled up and that with- Eagle Ned, the Boy on Guard. in the last few hours, The work of the masons was still moist and while the man with the match looked at it he grew stern in the face and his hands seemed to shake, ‘‘Is he in thar?” be asked himself. ‘‘ Did Eagle Ned come to this place and is he the tenant of the tunnel? There isno getting to him if this is so, but what bave they against the young-’un?”’ Phocion turned back, but bad not gone far when he ran against some one whom he ivstant- ly clutched and held. ‘*Unhand me!” said a voice. ‘*f won't till I git ready,” cried he of the red beard. ‘“*I want toknow what you’ve done with the boy?” ‘With the boy?” echoed the same voice, ** Are you mad? You must be Phocion,” ‘“‘T am Phocion. I want to know what has become of Eagle Ned,” ‘Take your hands from my throat or you'll get no reply from me,” Phocion obeyed and with a match to show him the man before him he fell back a step and looked. Butno one was there. The person he bad clutched had vanished like a fox in the dark ani) the red-beard could not help laughing to himself, “That was The Count. I knew bis voice,” said Phocion, ‘‘ He can’t fool me, What was he doing here; but why not? This is his bo- nanza an’ I’m the man who, in his mind, had no buginess in this corridor. But I want to find out what’s become of Eagle Ned.” Nothing was left for Phocion to do but to go back, which he did, and not long afterward he stood in his own shanty and thought over the strange adventures he had just had, He was now convinced that Nixy had not lied: he was sure there were ‘‘ Spiders” in camp and spiders of the deadliest sort. Tbe walling up of the Devil’s Tunnel told him something that. made his very blood run cold, and when be thought that Eagle Ned, the sister-hunter, might be in its dark depths, he sprung up and grasped bis revolver, saying that be would go down to the haunt of the toughs of Ragged Robin and force their secret from them, But he did not, No, Phocion slept all night without waking in bis shanty and the next norning awoke to find something lying on his illow. This was a note written in a strange hand and when he opened it he saw at once that it was a warning. “* Keep a still tongue in your head.” he read. “Ip this lies your own safety and that of those dear to you. Don’t cross the oe of Ragg-d Robin; don’t trv to find out what has become of Eagle Ned. erating: clear up that mystery. Don't be a fool, ocion,”’ Phocion looked at the note a dozen times and tried to make out from whose hand it had come, but be was unable todo so, He folded it at last and concealed it in his bosom as the safest place for it, though he should have destroyed it and given it to his breakfast fire, The day without incident, though Pho- cion could hardly refrain from going to Tbe Count’s cabin and asking him why he had given him the slip in the dark. The letter so mysteri- ously left on his pillow was all that kept bim from doing so, and when the day waned and he bad not played fool in any way, he was satis- fied that, after all, be could keep his head and not give the writer away. It cost Phocion many a pang to sit still when he knew what was happeniag around him, The presence of the Camp Spiders was ever up- permost in his mind, and he seemed to think that he was a marked man for having been eee in the mine by its owner, hen another night came there slipped into Ragged Robin a boy who did not look at all like Eagle Ned. He had none of those long rich locks which made Ned so conspicuous; bis face was darker than the sister-hunter’s; he looked taller, and those who saw bim sidle up to Black Burt’s counter took him for just what he after- ward said he was—a young half-breed who had oe raised among the lodges of the Coman- ches, Phocion saw this boy the next day. He caught sigbt of him on the Plaza, showing some of the toughs of Ragged Robin how he could jump, an exercise Eagle Ned never indulged jn, and after watching him a short time, the red- beard turned away with a smile. ‘* He’s as active as a kitten an’ if Ned war hyer I’d pit him ag’in’ the young cross an’ hey some fun,” he said. The half-breed took rapidly to the ways of the camp. He said he bad left the lodges because of some trouble between him and his foster- parents, and before another night he had been } : : a ———— ] | e Vz ~ : ™ JOOKS,.comM — ~ 4 . ed