The Brand Burners of Cimarron — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

a frightful chill to her heart. Bravely, | rotted through, and the chinking had fal- ‘‘ At’s more like et,” grumbled the vet- she quelled the feeling of terror that rose | len out. The air was heavy with a pecu-/| eran, the darkness hiding the crafty within her, and continued: liar odor. On the floor lay, not one ser- | gleam in his single eye. ‘“‘ Now, I’ve got “Han’ yer musket?” pent, not a score, but a hundred! a rig hitched over hyar, all ready, an’ “My musket?” Zebulon Peggs retreated, and hastily | will git in an’ go at once.” *““Han’ Polly?” closed and fastened the door. Ruby Ranger bowed her head in ac- Peges jumped, and drew his hand “TI w’u'dn’t wenture into thet room| quiescence. A moment later both were across his brow, like one dazed. ag’in’ fer no deesideration !’’ he mutter- oa ted in the two-wheeled vehicle we have “Polly? Is she gone?” ed, shuddering. een in the woods by the old ranch house, “She went for matches: She’s not Then with lips pursed and eye keenly wad the lights of Tiptop began to fade Turning, the veteran clumsily dashed | ascended to the upper floor. There was no moon, and the trail was through the door and disappeared in the | Wherever he went, over all lay the dust | rough; yet, Péggs drove at a rapid pace, darkness. of desolation. His face paled with the |! with a certitude betraying an intimate Mommy carefully closed the door. Re-} thoughts stirring within him, and his | knowledge of the route, and in a little less turning to her chair, she again faced the than two hours drew up in front of the wall, and slowly wrung her hands. The last place to receive his attention | old house. “Dear ’art!” she moaned, her com-| was an attic, or loft, extending the full Clambering out of the vehicle, he threw posure giving way. “ Dear ’art! That | length of the building, and reached by a | the reins over a shrub, took out a bucket manner became hesitant. re ee ee come back.” alert, he explored the west room, and, from view. | blessed man a-snoopin’! Blood hon ’is| ladder fastened against the inside of the | and cup, and assisted Ruby to alight. ‘ands—deceit hon ’s tongue! east wall of the house. Inside the house, he closed the door, “Hoh, ’eavens! Is Peggs he villain?” It was with no little difficulty that | and lit a candle. Then he pointed to Let the reader judge. Peggs ascended to this attic, for in addi- | the door of the east room, and said: tion to his handicap of a wooden leg, he “On no account open thet door. Leave CHAPTER XI. was burdened with flesh; but he finally | et shut an’ fastened as ye see et. Thar’s succeeded, and seemed well repaid for his | danger in thar. Mebbe death.” exertions, for he uttered a delighted Next he led the way into the west room, chuckle as he gazed around. where he lifted a trap, revealing a neat- What he saw was simply a long, low | ly walled spring at the bottom of a flight loft, dimly lighted by a single sash in | of stone steps. Here he filled the bucket, the western gable. Here, as everywhere | and they proceeded to the second floor. bo here nial in that ill-fated place, the dust lay deep “ Ye'll stay up thar,” he announced, This structure was about sixteen by ran the rough floor, while cobwebs hung indicating the loft with an upward jerk fitt feet, two stories in height, and in innumerable graceful festoons from | of his thumb. “ Ye’ll find blankets, grub, veal ie built of-hewn logs. At regular the stout oaken rafters. books an can'les thar. When ye use a thier at loop-holes pierced the thick “ Ther very cage fer ther bird,” he mut- | light, hang sv’thin’ over ther window. Ef walls. Heavy shutters covered the win- tered. ‘Now, I'll git up ther sack an’ | water runs out afore I gits back, ye know daerd. Phe ponderous doors were of sea- things. Vum!—yas. KEt’s time.” whar ter git more. But don’t come down The descent was less laborious than the | oftener’n ye hev to, an’ keep away f’m ba 2 pian ao emma peel or pend ascent had been, but more painful, inas- | that east room. THE OLD RANCH HOUSE. ; A few miles out of Tiptop, in the valley of one of those small streams with which that portion of Oklahoma lying between the Cimarron and Deep Fork Rivers abounds, stood an old ranch house, said much as Peggs lost his footing and fell “Kin ye use a gun?” f rate oy eae marks of more than one) Jin 3 crash; but he nimbly gathered| “ Yes, sir.” | 8 y- himself and limped away. “Then I'll leave ther musket. Thar’s a The ranch house stood on the crest of a small rise, just within an Indian allot- ment, and about a mile off the old ‘trail running east from Fort Reno and Guthrie. For two hundred yards around, every In due course, the sack was brought up, | no danger, I reckon, but ye’ll feel safer raised above his head and gently rolled | with et.” into the loft. It was followed by a num- Then Ruby ascended the ladder, and ber of bulky packages taken from the | Peggs handed up the water and the can- ¢ body of the waiting vehicle. die, and departed to secure the gun e— oe . a yeroigcrn lacy is, 8 an cer a bes Then the veteran carefully closed the On his return the veteran handed the ; | the west end of the building. Along the | OUter door ,and departed. girl the weapon, with caps, powder flask : Leaving the ranch house thus, let us| and shot pouch. Uttering a few words return to the Peggs domicile, and follow | of cheer, he reverently pressed his lips Ruby Ranger. to her hand, said good-night, and with- At the moment the girl ventured forth, | drew from the house. accompanied by her armed escort, the|. Homeward bound, he uttered a sound. cobbler, night had fallen, and it was some | between a sigh and a chuckle. little time before she could distinguish “Drat et all! I hates ter do et, but I objects in the faint starlight; but Peggs, | can’t feel safe with her around when although equally short sighted for the ace derective’s ee pice ase He a ak time being, was thoroughly familiar with | diskiver too much. Pore lettle gal!” a large white mule cam phe Sp ae the course he wished to take, and hurried Such “were the low-spoken words that the eastern side of the glade. The driver | the maiden along until beyond earshot | escaped his lips—words hinting vaguely raised himself in the seat and narrowly of the house. at a crime in the past. : scanned his surroundings, then with an There, he stopped. A half mile from town a man, darting approving chuckle descended and teth- Now, Miss Ruby, we’ll git shut o’ this | out of a clump of bushes beside the road, ered the animal. hyar hocus-pocus,” he announced, in a| uttered a terrible yell, and wildly bran- This man was Zebulon Peggs. hoerse whisper. ‘ Ther fact is, ye’re in| dished his arms, then darted away. Sweat stood in beads upon his florid danger back thar, an’ after a deal 0’ With a snort of terror, the mule reared brow. He moved like a hunted man, and sagitatin’ I detarmined ter git ye away upright between the shafts, then turn- » @ gleam of stealthy cunning shone from | f’'m tHar ’thout alarmin’ ther wimmin | ing sharply, upset the vehicle, aa : his single eye. folks. Then, when Spanish John tarns The fall was a hard one, and when. e |. After a moment, he-took a well-filled | @P: ye’ll be missin’, an’, nacherly, he | Peggs arose he was dazed and bleeding. western extremity of the glade ran the creek, bordered with clumps of over- hanging bushes, stretches of sand and huge tufts of grass. Here lurked hideous \ reptiles, the creeping centipede, the frightful tarantula. | About two o’clock in the afternoon of the eventful day of which we have been writing, a two-wheeled vehicle drawn by Satin ae 4 't be able ter lay han’s on ye.” grain sack from the vehicle, placed it up ae i ? e 0 to the ou apprehend trouble, then? | | ; cee op ne ene sen “Shore! But don’t bother yer head. CHAPTER XII. | aim ns ~The scarred and battered door was ajar. | ve gone an’ fixed a hidin’ place, with DR. ANTITOX. é fr He silently entered, and put down his | rub ter last a week, blankets, an’ sich—" In the roster of Tiptop’s citizens the — j . “é . Mae sack, to look around. But the detective and Major Dun-| name of Obediah Antitox, M. D., oceu- of. : If the exterior of the old ranch house | ©@0— | pied a high place, $f ; |. was gloomy and forbidding, the interior| _ “Ill ‘tend ter them,” doggedly. “Thet| ‘The doctor himself was a short, stubby “oe ) a or was dark the chilling. The sashes, de- | 18, ef thar’s any sich creer es ther major) o]@ man, with white “mutton-chop” | nuded of glass by vandal hands, were cov- | —Which same I doubts ! _ | whiskers and bristling mustache. He . | ered with rough boards, and the dust of | { Surely— | bore his age well, and his black eyes L | disuse lay thick on the floor. A serpent Thar’s nothin shore on earth, gal, | were as keen as those of the hawk. ae _ near the wall regarded the intruder cur- | but death an’ taxes. Et’s ’most cinched,| A skilled practitioner, of careful and =~ iously, then clumsily coiled, and sent/| tho’, ther detective’s playin’ in with | methodical habits and courteous manner, ee : : > forth its warning rattle. Spanish John fer ter git a erip on ye.| he had amassed considerable property, — Pegg drew his sleeve across his brow, | Min’ yer Uncle Zeb now, ef ye re in airn- | and lived in a handsome cottage a short far and shivered. Suddenly seeing a bit of | est ter git away; ef ye don t—wal, I | distance from the centre of the town. His - board standing near, he started toward | shore cain’t help et, nohow ! office was in a small building facing ‘the a: 2 5 oi the reptile; but crotalus, not to be “ Ye Gee, ye come a pore, ’fenseless crit- street, removed only a row rods. ‘fre oy oe eA aughtered, hastily uncoiled and wrig-| ter, am’ I’ve felt juty-boun’ ter stan’ up his residence. . ~*~ Dr. Antitox had just seated hin ag turn from a po a fterno - gled away , disappearin through the door- | fer ye. O’ course, tho’, ef ye jest will— 5) as way of an a sere — fs “Oh, I'll go, Mr. Peggs,” Ruby quickly Eady ith the 1 upraised, the veteran assured, her scruples completely routed | ward 1 pu suit, only to stop} by that whoediiune er wa teat n Lene azement io aa had fk G ine ipein Bi a htee, | be . ES a fy de, + re oo, MERIT EDGOKS com