Beadle's Dime Library No. 1 — page 19: what you’re looking at

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

el ee 2 cry, as might have been e No. 1. eee ee A Hard ee ee ee ae oe ee ne ee _— — — Dr. Chilli orth w never had one so far as I know! But, what of it? Do you know me? For Heaven’s sake! who am JI? Oh! if you can tell me that! if you can tell me that! Speak! with the past. Presently he spoke again. = ae girl—you call her—” od ‘ps ‘* Tola, oam ‘‘ And the surname?” ‘““My daughter! My daughter!” again cried ‘She seems troubled with nothing so non-es- | the doctor, clasping her to his heart; and with fcadily her brother shifted iis name from Gen- | God, I thank theel After ell thess years! after ; - c r se years! after tleman Sam to Dauntless Jerry. An exploit, | all these years! Oh! Maud! Maud! look down ora mere whim, is sufficient to give a man a_ upon her and bless her! she is all even thy heart new designation, whore the inheritance of prop- | could ask! My child! my child! Oh! Oh! ory calls for little tracing of genealogical | oe 8 ‘2 ioe onal au eeher ds ‘ ose e pressed her, rainin rs pean was the doctor silent, and a more pain- | and kisses upon lips, cheek, brow and hair, his ful stoop came into his shoulders. But as they | voice broken into cadences of melting tender- advanced he penne oh pis A o> toe | sae awe See ivar tome sa hee subtle in- eagerness quickened his ; and unconsciously | ct quicken er heart with love?—clung to he abandoned the sup ‘of his oomdvenion's | him, and, with a strange feeling of terror ming- arm, walking erect with new vigor. ling with a sense of joy and longing, “The strangest feeling has come over me!” | breathed the word: said he, musingly. ‘‘It seems as if some crisis “FATHER!” were impending. Oh! if after all these years The amazement of The Stranger and Major of waiting I should triumph at last! Gravesend, | Gravesend can better be imagined than de- Ihave never made a confidant of you. It is | scribed. The latter had caught the candle out not that I lack evidences of your friendship; | of Iola’s hands, just as she was clasped in the but I have practiced reserve so long, that I have | arms of him who called her his daughter; and learned to shrink from a recital of the events | he now stood gazing at them in mute wonder. that have clouded my whole life. But whether He was in a measure prepared for the announce- al knew all Ota | Rana ROe Ree fee tin? okeioed ear Gr wirkoae ; ec on the strange “Consult your own feelings, doctor,” replied | manner in which his friend had been affected So inpart, you know tiet'T will receive 18 os:{ tied ancien temebink’ Mies creak sorters oF his ’ SOTTOW O S yogr best friend. Meanwhile, here is the ha ter that or girl gS deny her twin ouse. rothér—for such he belie e be—was ra | AY ah padi ten Rap ay cod a eow 7, | to Dig inesprcalne. “ve af : ments will decide everything. ve been di or The nger, he sat as exed and appointed so often!” | as mute as was the 1 major. But rs wonder at nS he nas knocked. r rapes flitted arrpes _ the ean. of ae aaa was merged in window curtain, e next instant Iola | another and deeper feeling. stood framed in the ‘wapaady f with the oo | He saw his betrothed * ife, who ten minutes falling full upon her, She s inclining slight- | before was a poor and friendless girl, now the ly f ised with h | ’ y forward, her figure poised with her own | acknowledged daughter of a man whose social pecnllor grace, her cheeks tinged with a faint | rank, as manifested in look and bearing, was ush, at recollection of the position from which | unmistakable. Would she cast him aside, as gc : , keener than any the et had occa- lips parted by a welcoming smile, _ | sloned, and, the color faded from his compressed ho major started, and said to his heart that , lips, when he saw Dr. Chillingworth straighten he had never seen her looking half as lovely. | up, and, with his arm still about the weeping But there was another more deeply affected | Io ‘ than he. Dr. Chillingworth brushed by him, | ee ———— say: yy Friénds, I claim your sympathy and con- vxclaiming: ates | tulation; for I have this night found my “Great God! it 7s she! Thank Heaven! my | daughter, who has been lost to me for nearly cagepter, after all these years!” twenty years—” Q pene across the threshold, and would | ‘“ To ail of which I bear testimony !” have clasped her in his arms. But, with the All turned, and in the speaker discovered, agility of a startled fawn she leaped barkward, | with a thrill, a masked man, standing just with- and to his amazement and dismay brought a in the threshold, with a pistol in either hand, pistol to bear full in his face. She uttered no | aimed, one at The Stranger, the other at Iola. ted from one of | At his back two other men, also masked, cov- her sex; but her cheek had grown suddenly | ered the major and Dr. Chillingworth respec- . The tender light of her eye, too, had | tively. given place to the flash of command. All the | With poady presence of mind, Major Grave- plisncy had gone out of her carriage; and she | send dashed the candle to the floor and put his stood like an amazon, every muscle tense, every | foot on it. But at the same instant the window sense on the alert. was forced in; the light of a bull’s-eye flooded Starting forward, and extending his hand | the room more brilliantly than the candle had toward a table on which lay a pistol, The | done; and the muzzles of three revolvers flank- ing the: lens of the lantern, showed that two more ruffians were ready to support their chief. _ ‘Steady there, you little spitfire!” cried he who was evidently the principal of the ruffians to lola. ‘‘You can never draw that pistol alive! The moment your hand disap among the folds of your dress, that instant you e ' Stranger demanded, st y: e What is the mea of this?” But the next moment he caught sight of the major; and his frown relaxed into a smile of we vay fe =e eS ee F che arm dro to her side, and the pi isappeared in the folds of her dress. ‘‘T beg your pardon, sir,” she said to the doc- ; tor. ‘‘ But in this country we have to be pre- Pale to the ‘ps, Tola gazed at the man, her pared for all sorts of visitors; and your sudden | hand arrested its errand after her trusty entrance startled me. Major Gravesend, you | weapon. She could see his: dark eyes glitter are welcome. Pray be seated, gentlemen.” through the holes in his mask, and she had heard The major presented his friend to lola—a | his hard tones, which showed that he would not courtesy she acknowledgod with rare grace. hesitate to carry out his threat. As for the doctor, so absorbed was he thathe | She heard The Stranger cry: scarcely knew that he was being introduced to} “ Offer no resistance, friends! They’ve got us the girl; but, taking her hand mechanically, he | for this time!” She knew that this was the wisest advice that could be given, taught by her own e Then she heard again the voice of the chief: ‘* Men, shoot any one who raises a finger!” Hard upon the heels of his last word the room rung with the blended reports of two pistols; the glare of the_bull’s-eye was turned full upon her face, completely dazzling her; and before she had time for thought, she felt herself snatched from her father’s side, and her arms drawn behind her and held firmly in the grasp of the powerful chief. With trained dexterity his hand next sought and found the’pistol she carried. Taking- advantage of the moment while one hand was thus ed in dispossess- ing her of her weapon, she wrenched herself free, striking him in the fave and tearing awa the candle from the table, she held it close be- | his mask. v4 fore her face, her eyes flashing with an excite-| At this he only laughed; and the next instant ment that brough the color back into her | his arms closed about her again like steel bands, cheeks. and she felt herself lifted from the floor. Strug- ‘Look! Look!” she cried. ‘‘Am I like any | gle as she might, she was powerless, one you ever knew?—years ago—say eighteen | The chief now turned his dark and bearded or twenty of them!” visage toward Dr. orth, who stood “ And you say he is your brother—your own | like one struck dumb. ?’ cried the doctor, regener st rs every ag a Ve « ha!” he uae: ‘You oo me? nerve with eagerness, so that co hardly 6 pe, now, lor my revenge sband |” Amd he kissed the helpless girl on the cheek. “T beg your don, my child, for my pre- olbtiancy. you will accord it freely when you know the — Or ah lo not think it an idle uestion--who are you?’ | ee miter Merit, aie into her eyes. Without a pda A reason Iola flushed to the as she re ; ’ + pest Dauntices Jerry’s or, as most people say, Gentleman Sam’s a r. Chillingworth’s eyes grew oggaeie Vaya his face took on a look of despondency, as he gazed yet more earnestly in her face, aah hea oe a sit So like! so like!” mur- mured his tremulous lips. . A sudden trepidation seized Iola, Snatching rience. ween - hillingw on in silence. Aj; ‘No! no!” cried the girl, with thrilling energy. | gloomy frown contracted his brows. He was | ‘‘I have no brother! F ~ ET Eee ae cae ee - —— - =a ———— ewe; 0? ‘Gentleman Sam's Sister. a0 = nS ‘*Ha! ha! ha!” he laughed again, and bound- ed through the door, bearing her shrieking out | into the night. One of the ruffians had stooped and picked u the pistols his chief had into the air an then thrown upon the floor, in order to take Iola unawares, and leaped through the doorway just before his principal. At the same instant the other istols disappeared from the window, though he bull’s-eye remained. One breathless instant of inactivity, and then _ Dr. Chillingworth leaped through the doorway in ursuit, crying. ‘‘ After them! My God! the destroyer of my | life has robbed me of my child again!” But as he the doorway he was knocked | senseless by the butt of a revolyer; and before the major could issue from the house, there was a sound of horses’ hoofs in rapid retreat, blend- ed with the muffled cries of the captive woman. ‘‘Great God!” cried the major. ‘She is in the power of THE Rep Hanp!—my friend’s life- foe, and the greatest fiend on the border! After ews ears, he has found her only to lose her again What power can save her now!” CHAPTER XVIIL THE RED HAND AND MAD KATE. IoLA’S screams were but the momentary tri- umph of womanly weakness. With her favorite weapon for a r, she feared no man; but onee ,; and«in the grasp of a burly ruf- fian with whom. her greatest strength was. but infantile weakness, her terror, for the moment, was proportionately great. But, after that first terrible consciousness of utter helplessness, her self-possession returned again, and with it her native cunning. She ceased her ecreams and affected the deepest despondency, the while her wits were on the alert, ready to improve any advantage chance threw in her way. But her re, poe was equally wary; and when they had ridden far enough to be ‘beyond the danger of immediate pursuit, he stopped and tied her hands securely behind her back. lola was rised to see her captors turn into the path | g to her hut. A light shone through the white curtain which fell before the window, partially illuminating the space before the door. The Red Hand stopped a little way back in the shadow with Iola, while one of: his men dismounted and knocked on the docr. Eliciting no response, he lifted the latch and pushed open the door. ‘Hallo, good folks!” he shouted. Still no reply. +) Nobody at home, I reckon,” he said to his chief. “Go in and look round,” was the laconic coramand. The man entered, d into the inner room, and discovered Mad Kate sitting up in bed, the picture of wild terror. ‘* With a startled oath he leaped back through the door; and then, seeing that it was only a woman, he laughed at his tright. ‘* Hyar’s a woman in hyar, what’s left hand cousin to the devil or the witch of Endor, [ réckon; an’ that’s the hull community,’ he ‘Blow out the light,” commanded The Red Hand; and to the others—‘‘ Men, surround the house, and lay out any one that you catch ing about.” The cabin was shrouded in darkness, in pur- | suance of his command; and dismounting, the robber chieftain bore his helpless captive into the house with him, and kicked the door ta when he had entered. ** A light!” he commanded. A light was instantly struck. Placing Iola in a chair, he kicked open the door to the inner a ent. Mad sat clutchi the bed-clothes, with the fires of insanity burning in her wild eyes. *“‘ Woman, come out of there!” commanded The Red Hand, frowning darkly. Iola was thrilled at sight of the effect on the poor lunatic. Her eyes became wilder, hor teeth chattered with terror, and she seemed to shrink within herself. ing her hands, with the fingers wide apart, as if to ward ci: some terrible danger, she aspirated hoarsely: ‘‘ Horace! Horace! Horace!” ‘Come out of there, I say!” repeated t: robber chief, with a fierce oath, and stampin his foot authoritatively. . - The lunatic began to cringe and grovel, whi: iteously : ee Don’t, Horace! don’t! J never told! I nev-. told! Nota word!—not a word, Horace!” The Red Hand took a step across the thre: - old, as if to drag her from the bed. With o shriek, the maniac cowered against the wa i, huddling the bed-clothes about her. “Oh! don’t! don’t! I will ghey you. But I never told, Horace!—not a word! not a wo-..! I remembered the oath! Do you think I would dare to break it? No, no! I never told!” He pulled th do , to a ep e door to anc to the room; and Iola could hear the woman, etehad stood to her in a mother’s place since she could remember, hurrying on her clothes. While they were waiting, lola’s mind was L« © 4 comicbooks:co