Beadle's Dime Library No. 1 — page 10: what you’re looking at

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

-— 22 — | a a SS SE - —— 10 —— ee of a life like his must be ten years of daily ex- ‘e to death by violence.” He dwelt gloomily upon the thought, and then broke forth again: ‘*No! I cannot be cheated like that. be alive, and I shall live to crush him! But he must be changed. I wonder if I shall know him? Missouri Bill! I did not recognize him at first. He is the same devil, robbed of the pow- ers of dissimulation and compelled to stand forth in his true character. If the other has changed so much—but Iam on my guard now, and cannot fail to recognize him.” | And so he mused, until after the expiration of nearly an hour he found himself before his ho- tel. Once in his room, he threw himself into a chair, rested his arms on the table, and dropped his head upon them, only to resume the tram of painful thought at another point. ‘“Who is the boy?’ he mused. something in his face that attracts me. I was never before so moved by astranger. He is a noble fellow—that appears in every look and ture. But he will go to the devil in the life e is leading now. I could only get him away from such surroundings, I might make a man of him. But, will he heed instruction from me? My God! what an example [ am setting out with!” The Stranger set his teeth hard in bitterness of spirit, and his frame shook with emotion, as he muttered: “Can anything good proceed from suchas I— I, a murderer! Am I a murderer?” he pursued ; and then with his hands clasped hard over his anguish-blanched face, he cried aloud: Two lives! Two lives! Great God! what a burden! But it was a fatality. I would not have harmed a hair of her head, though she crushed my heart with her perfidy. “No, I was never guilty of willful murder! Do you believe me?—do you believe me?’ he said, in a whisper. And as he spoke he felt about in his breast for the miniature he always wore about his neck. Not finding it, he recollected that he had placed it in his coat pocket, the ribbon which held it havine broken. He thrust his hand into his ket, but it was not there. Then he began Ey eeateh his other pockets in succession, at “There is first composedly, then with increasing trepida- tion; but the picture was nowhere to be found. Soon this one quest banished every other thought; and, springing to his feet in a fever of anxiety, he began turning his pockets inside out, while he paced the room, looking in on ree where the miniature could by no_ possibility have gotten. Then he stood still and thought. He was apostrophizing this picture when he first began to look for it—this picture which had been to him a sort of talisman all his life. He had communed with it time and time again during his disordered life, as if it were endowed with life and sympathy. In all his troubles he had gone to it for comfort; he had whispered his hopes to it; he had justified his conduct to it; he had worshiped it—this simple effigy of a beautiful woman! And, like a ardian angel, its tender eyes gazing into his with yearn- ing love, cheering hope, sympathetic, grief-sor- rowing reproof, or teful encouragement, as his mood interpreted. it, had ever drawn him to- ward the noble and guided his footsteps around many a pitfall that beset the pathway of his thecks life. But now, it was gone; and it was as if he had lost the amulet which guarded and guided him. “} must have lost it in the saloon,” he mused. “Tf any one has discovered it, where is it by ‘this time?’ In feverish haste he snatched his hat and rushed down stairs. As he passed through the bar of the hotel, Poker Tom stepped up to him and said: ‘‘Pardner, I reckon you’re the man I’m look- in’ fur. I’ve got a leetle Ri hyar—” While speaking he was fumbling in for the blood-written missive of The Red Hand. But The Stranger interrupted him with a frown of impatience, not stopping to learn the character of his business, ‘At another time,my man. Iam busy now,” he said, and brushing by Sot into the street. “+My man?!” repeated oker Tom, indi t- ly. ‘What im blazes does he take me ? I stiow. I’m no.man o’ hisn! What's he in sicha blasted hurry fur, IT wonder? Rocks! the ga- loot may be runnin’ away!” he added, with sud- “Blast him! I don’t want den apprehension, him oe skedaddle before I gin him this hyar doc ent!” And he dove into the street after The Stran- r. S Sbiie distance down the street, in the direc- | i | | He must | — ee oii ee . as : g is pocket | The New York" Library. rr rr rn a ee ae fallen. Without giving this a second glance, he turned to the corner which the doctor and major had occupied. He found the table tipped over and one leg broken—evidence of a struggle of some sort since his departure. Without a word to the attendant, he went sawdust that lay on the floor, though in no place thick enough to conceal the miniature of whic’n he was in quest. Every nook and corner was gone over again and again, before he abandoned the search. Then he rose with a look that macie the bartender quake internally. Upon his entry, that functionary had stoppod his work and watched the search in silent cu1*i- osity. Now he cn behind the bar with a quick step, dipped his | ee [ve said to yer; | a-goin’ ter lay fur yeou, an’ what I’ve said has | been as one friend to another.” upon his hands and knees to feel about in the | in | An’ hyar comes the man what’s ment in his breeches pocket, a more Vol. I. ‘*That I don’t know.” Then, as The Stranger turned to go, he added: ** Boss, I reckon yeou won’t squeal on what ur this hyar Red Hand is ‘Lay for me?” repeated The Stranger, wheel- round. ‘What has he got to do with me?” ‘Wal, ye see, Missouri Bill was his pard. ot the docky- straight as a string, I reckon.” The Stranger placed his hand upon the butt of his revolver, and turned toward the door. | But it was Poker Tom that entered, and he | looked at him with only curiosity in his eyes. 1ands imto some water, | ‘‘Cap’n,” said the gambler, advancing, “ef and stood, all affability, while he dried them on ‘ yeou ain’t in such a hurry as yeou was, I reckon a towel. pork — rh ‘* Wal, boss, yes, I reckon they gin us a pretty loud shake, take it all round,” replied the bar- keeper, with a grin ** The gentleman. who acted as my second— | said Poker Tom, sullenly, what has become of him?” | replied What ie the meaning of thie? «Have you had | I've got a mite o’ business with yeou what won't | take up more’n a minute o’ yer time.” more trouble hyar since I left?’ asked The | ‘Keep a civil tongue in your head, my man!” e Stranger, with a look which showed that he was not to be trifled with. ‘‘ What busi- ness have you with me?” “This hyar love-letter from The Red Hand!” yet with due respect. The Stranger took the missive, and, holding it’ _ “Wal, ye see, he found it raither onhealthy | at arm’s length, read the ominous words. Then, in hyar, an’ he slid—him an’ t’other chap, an’ | with a look that cowed Poker Tom and made that’s a fact!” And the speaker grinned more broadly still. ‘* What was the trouble? Did he git into a a row with some one?” ‘* Boss peo jest a-whistlin’ tenor! Ye see, The Red Andy felicitate himself on having befriended such a ‘‘ boss sharp,” he extended the paper to the gambler and said: “Take it back to your master, and tell him that I shall not cheat the hangman by shooting and he dropped in on us jest arter | him! ou’d slid. He jest gin one Injun war-whoop, | it astride o’ Missouri Bill, an’ wanted to know who struck Billy Patterson, hot foot, now I tell ye! Wal, while Poker Tom war a-tellin’ of him about the little diffikilty yeou had with Missouri Bill, he spied the quicker’n greased lightnin’ he gin another whoop an’ reached reach!—with his toothpick. ‘* But the little cuss with the Injun blanket now yoou bet ye! He poked out his foot—a foot, by Judas! that wa’n’t bigger’n yer three fingers!—an’ The Red Hand went to grass like a thousand o’ brick! Stranger, the han’somest ee eou ever seen, ur I’ma liar! Bu’st my bugle, but the leetle cuss air a tearer, an’ no mistake! Lord bless ye! he clap his six- shooter agin The Red Hand’s temple in a way: that wa’n’t slow, fur rocks! ‘**Hold on thar, boss!’ says he, jest as chip- "ye an’ as peart as ye please; an’ dog my but- ns ef yeou wouldn’t ’a’ thought, by Cain, sir! that he stood seven feet in his socks! Fact! ur T’ll swallow my head, ’thout pinnin’ the years. back! ‘*Wal, sir,- Guinea, but a place of equally torrid tempera- ture) ‘“‘ through the six holes of a pepper-box that didn’t look healthy, no way yeou kin fix it! an’ he quit ravin’ around fur a spell, now yeou bet a hoss! But he whistled a signal, an’ a team 0 five come through that thar door, kesplit / est as the gents made the back door. The Red and follered ’em like a boss whirlwind on a. big drunk; an’ yer kin kick me clean out 0’ town, ef the gent what played second fiddle to yeou didn’t drop him on the door-sill yonder an’ snake ’im out by the heels, by thunder! ‘* Stranger, t thar’s the kind o’ music they’ve been a-givin’ of us sence yeou’ve been one, an’ it wa’n’t slow, fur sure!” Such was the “ whisky-slinger’s” account of the affray; and The Stranger, who was familiar with such scenes, as well as with the peculiari- ties of style prevalent among gentlemen of the bartender’s education and associations, formed A ee accurate notion of the le. He gathered, too, that Andy was quite enthusiastic over Dauntless Jerry’s © in the affair. ‘* Who is this Red Hand?” he asked. Andy shrugged his ‘shoulders, and then glanc- ing furtively around and leaning across the bar, said, in a confidential tone: ‘‘ Boss, I reckon thar don’t nobody mostl know. Thar’s them what says—mind yo Fdon't say so—but thar is them what says it’s mighty cur’ous ef he ain’t the a of a gang what's a-callin’ powerful loud the vigilantes in these hyar parts! Thar’s been a few hosses missin’ jest about hyar an’ the boys is a-gittin’ to allow that they’ll know whar they goes to right soon, ur thar’ll be war/ Wal, when a man stan’s off an’ knocks another down—an’ all fur nothin’, as fur as anybody kin see~an’ the _ what gits ched gits up, a kind 0’ angin’ of his head, an’ don’t dast to say boo, I allow thar’s somethin’ about it what’s kind o’ tion of the bar-room in which the duel had | peculiar! That’s the way it looks to a man up taken place, he saw a shadowy form hurry across the stream of light issuing from a saloon ae boss?’ ‘* Where will I find the man who acted as my window, and recognizing The Stranger, plunged second?” after him. . The shattered door bore evidence of the vio- lent entry of the confederates of the Red Hand, aud the quick eye of The Stranger did not fail to notice it. bartender in the act of scraping up some ashes which he had thrown upon the pool of blood The Stranger interrupted Andy’s glib tongue at the first breathing place. His anzi about the missing miniature overshadowed the : he might otherwise have felt:in The Red Han , and his reply tion it dese Btranger’s last interrogation Entering the saloon, he found the | Andy felt that his aor had not elicited a ar him, un- was, for which marked the spot where Missouri Bill had ' usually concise. nt over in the corner; an’ | | across his eyes as if fur him—Lord! ye’d orter see him | wea i. The / upon his face. war livelier’n a boss eel on a red-hot gridiron, | | had left the saloon to witness Missouri | burial, The Red Hand’s particular crew rushed | into the room with drawn weapons. the hands of Dauntless Jerry , form, with a flutter of colored drapery. A neigh tne Rod Hand he. war e-lockds” |-ania-fermepad wtobcste Brewed eqcurndenieaunie straight into Guinea ” (the bartender didn’t say | | tled H ir very midst, and | herself | the side of the man whe, shsodieoen hours be- ' Red Han save her now her stand tl es . 5 oaeney ant as i ta asvetr3 ole fort eg aan shi Mechanically Poker Tom received the paper, , and The Stranger turned to leave the saloon. But the door swung open and The Red Hand at the same instant. The Stranger staggered, brushed his hand clear his vision, and his pon spoke while he was falling to the floor. Red Hand uttered a sharp cry and fell | apes into the room with a yell, discharging his Then, followed by the crowd of roughs who Bill’s And is The Stranger to be trampled under foot by such a horde? Hark! A ery that blanches every cheek in the 100m! so shrill, so full of agony, terror, rage—but who can an- oo a cry when the whole heart speaks! rough an open window, the sash of which _ was burst out in the mad attempt of the crowd to escape from the darkened saloon after The Red Hand had met with such si defeat at oots a dark as a fiery-eyed steed is drawn upon his haunches at the side of the prostrate Stranger—the ap- pearance of a gayly decked female figure, standing over the y of the fallen man, and, with a cocked —. ag sine in either hand, c , in a voice whose intense passion them like an electric shock: ‘Back! BacK! YOU DEVILS!” and the star- ctators realize that Gentleman Sam’s leaped her horse through the window, fore, took her brother’s quarrel upon himself. Not so much from her weapons, as in su _ stitious panic at the sight of the white horretof | her face, her blazing eyes, her quivering form the ‘shrink away. en there is the sound o S * feet without, and a voice cries in hoarse “Surround the house! Shoot down every one who attempts to escape, but take the chief alive!” ‘* The — The lights!” cries one of The s crew; and almost instantly the > lights are dashed out, the room is again wrapped ! in darkness, and pandemonium reigns i CHAPTER X., THE STRANGER UNDER A CLOUD. Wuen The 8 er fell before The Red and’s 1 he had just consciousness enough left to aletingraish the og its rider as they h the window and brought up at his side. With a thrill of delightful he recognized the girl who had come to his res- cue once before that day. “Thank God, she escaped!” he cried, in his heart. ; Then, with an agonized thrill, he added: ** But ‘her “Spe, surroundings! What can ’ With a dreamy sense of admiration he sa with presented «Back! Back! you devils!” So frail, and yet so grandly regal! He wor. her even then, e had a vague perceptio n that she cowed them all. Then e was enveloped a and he falt that the win Belkbover hin Then came a followed. erence y | comic ICO S com q