Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 1092 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

Old Cross-Eye, the Maverick-Hunter. Old Cross Eye shook his head, as he an- swered: ‘‘Never mind now, boy. He hada dozen of names, I found out, arter the trouble come; but I knowed him as Tomlinson. He was a drum- mer fora house in New York, anda gambler, and all sorts of bad things; but poor Mattie 13 Old Cross-Eye shook his head. ‘‘There’s a many men in the world says that about gals, boy, but it don’t do’em no good. Tbe gul’s like all the Texas gals: she thinks a Old Cross-Eye nodded silently. ‘Did you know that there was a desperado of that very name, in this county, and that he | is in the pay of the cattle company?’ asked Tom. man’s got to shoot, if he’s threa¥ened, and sbe Old Cross-Eye turned to him, with a strange | can’t make out how a man kin be peaceable - look, without bein’ a coward. I told ye before, and ‘*‘Do I know that he’s here? No, he ain’t. I’ve heern ofthe man vou mean, though I never seen him. But he can’t be the same man,” never knowed it; and it seemed that he made- love to her on one of his visits to the town— Mattie used to workin a store afore she married “— + me—and he used to drum the store, to sell some sort of goods. But that’s nuther here nor there. To make a long story short, it seems that he'd he ie to marry Mattie some day, and she, ike a fool, had believed bim, till she beard he’d ’en a-makin’ love to a bull lot of other gals. Then she married me, and I never knowed she did it out of spite, Yes, I might have knowed that a man like me could never get a woman’s reallove. But Iwasa foolat that time. The end of the matter was that, this man Tomlinson | ‘Why now?” ‘‘This Tomlinson, as faras 1 kin hear,is a young feller, not more’n twenty-five or so, The man | knowed, was thaj, when I knowed bim, and he must be fifty or, more now. Ye furgit that’s twenty-two years agonow, boy. A man changes a good deal in twenty two years.” ‘t'Well, whoever he may be, he’s pretty badly bart now,” replied Tom; and then he recounted the way in which he had met Tomlinson, wound- ed, before the door of the Collingsworth Ranch, come back to the town, about a year arter we ; aud bow he bad attended to him, was married; and I don’t know how be did it, Old Cross Eye listened, questioned him closely but be kinder fascinated poor Mattie, and she— | as to the affair,and, when he bad finished, ob- ape ran away from me, as | found out, with im. The old man covered his face with.his hands as he uttered the Jast words, and shuddered at the memory it called up in his heart. Tom sat by him in respectful silence, till the elder resumed: ‘Yes, she ran away from me, and what d’ye think the people said about it? They laughed at me, and I hadn’i a friend in the world to comfort me. Ye see a crosseyed man ain’t fit to live, in some people’s thougbts, and when he carries off the prettiest gal in the town, they hate him wuss than p‘isen. I sawthat I’d have to grin and bear it, if [-couldn’t find Mattie, and get ber to come back to me. [sold alll had, and started to find her, I knowed where he come from—that is, the bouse—and I gota friend to get his route from them. I hunted and hunted, till I ran ’em down in Missouri, and there I met him, face to face. He knowed me, well enough, though he’d never seen me. These eyes is a mark that ain’t easy furno man to hide, I bad a pistol, and [’d b’en reacy fur him, since ever I'd b’en on the track. I drawed it, and what was the consequence? I got the wust of it. He was the quickest, and pot his’n out afore I did, He holiered metodropit. I was sich a little feller that he thought hed bully me down, and so he mou’t, if it hadn’t ba’ b’en for Mattie. I sven her; for I come on ’em at a pub- lic garden, where they was a-sittin’ together at atable. I kep’ on a-drawin’, and he waited till I got the weepin a’most cocked, when he let me have it. Boy, 7 was the one got it, chat time. He knocked me stiff. There I lay, on the ground, afore him that I'd thought to kill, as weak as a baby, and him a-lookin’ down at me, with a smile on his face as he said: * Don’t you think of tryin’ to git the drop on me, my friend, I come from a place where they shoot on sight as a regular tojhg.’ Then he turns away, an the p’lice takes us both. I had to be sent to the horspital, and he was tried fur the shootin’, but the jury acquitted him at once "cause they said he’d acted in self-defense. couldn’t blame ’em, J warn’t there, to say nothen, I had got to the end of my money, and couldn’t git a lawyer. They didn’t know what the cause was, and if they bad, it wouldn’t have made no difference. They'd only have pn ey at me, like the rest did. When I got well of the hurt he give me, J was the man was it BG prison, for what they called felonious as- sault, I couldn’t deny I’d done it, and I badn’t no money for lawyers. Tom, the end of it all Pp was that, J w ; inter the eagsegy f= fur ten years, fur tryin’ to shoot the man that had destroyed my home. I come outer prison a changed man, sir. I bad money, for they worked the convicts on contract, and give ’em the over time in money, so they might have a chance. When [come out I had three hundred dollars, and I come here to Texas,” ' “And what made you come here, of all places in the world?” asked Tom curiously. “To be alone, boy,” was the gloomy reply. ‘‘1’d heer’d stories about (or prairies, and how a man could live on nothing and save money, if he come bere. hen L[come bereMt were arter the war, when everything was given up to poli- tics and the Kuklux Klan. They spotted me as a Yank at on’st, and hunted me outer Galveston. I went out inter the western part of the State, and they follered me, till they left me here, and here I’ve staid, ever since. I bought the claim, when there warn’t a white man in the county, and made my livin’ a-huntin’ Mavericks. Tt don’t take any capital, and the beasts is sold easy to the Injuns, though a man’s allers in doubt whether the darned skunks won’t end in scalpin’ bim fur fun,” : ‘* And have you never thought of going back to civilization?’ asked Tom. Old Cross-Eye shook his head. . ‘‘Why should I? If Lhad all the money in | to stay. _ served thoughtfully: aa Thatycompany means business, and’s come They had a big mustef of men, you say, with ’em?” . “Yes. There was a tal], English-looking man | to what was going at the head of them, andnearly thirty men be- bind him,” ‘Then they’re goin’ to keep the land they claim, and the ranchers will bave to fight ’em, if they want to git to water, Lucky we're out of the road.of all this quarreli..’, Tom, We hain’t got so much stock as some of ’em, but what we have's safe, It won’tstarve to death or die of thirst. Tom Field, I tell ye what it is: you an’ me, we're the men that’s got to settle this thing for the rest of ’em.” ‘* We!” echoed Tom, amazedly, ‘‘ Why, how can that be?’ eee — ee eee I tell ye again, if ye want to stay in Texas ye’ve got to l’arn to shoot.” Gahind Tom Field rose up, with an air of new. reso jJution. wif? Pu do it, Jake. Vl begin to-morrow morn- ing.” -° CHAPTER XV. TOMLINSON’S MISSION. ; THE HONORABLE GEORGE BERKELEY was standing at the door of the log palace tuat had been raised by the cattle company, JiSteuing to the reports of several men, who had ridden in from the range, and were telling bim what had happened during the night. lt was nearly a month after the shooting of Tomlinson, and the desperado was already up and able to sit in a chair, t' ough be had by no | Means recovered his strength. Tomlinson was reclining on the broad piszza of the house for the first time since his covvalescence, listening on. The cattle company bad stocked their range, and the efforts of the neighboring rancbers to procure a reversal of the land-grant that had wrougbt them so much trouble, had been in vain. The judge had been to Austin and tried to get an injunction against the erection of the ob- noxious fence, that cut them all off from the water, but had been confronted by a regular deed from the State, of all the land claimed by the company, and had been advised to treat with the company for the right of way to the water. The ranchers had held indignation meetings, ‘‘ Because we're the only men that will have | but their indignation was wasted on the com- any water for our stock, and the rest’ll want us to help them, You'll see it afore long. They've kep’ away from me, ’cause ’m a Maverick- | | offer to give the ranobers a right of way to the Hunter, and they’ve looked down on you ’cause you wouldn’t fight; but we two’s the men that’ il | have to settle this thing, and you mark my words,” | ‘But how are we to be drawn in?’ asked Tom, ‘* Don’t know now, but it’s a-comin’. You've got to Yarn to shoot, boy, The time’s a-comin’ when je won’t be content with pickin’ ov ye; but they’ll shoot at ye, and either you’ve got to shoot back, or ye’ve got to be snuffed out like a darned coyote.” esc dy was @singular light in Tom’s eye, as he said: . “IT began to think Iwas a coward, Jake, at rt time; but I bave found out different this Pp. ; : ** And how did ye find it, boy?” asked the old man, with an air of some interest, — eo“ Well, Litypy Balstrop pulled on me, and was going to shoot, while I:was unarmed.” ‘* Yes, and what did ye do?” ‘* Told him to shoot away,and he didn’t do it,” “Why not?” ¥f ‘* Hank the Nailer interfered.” . ‘‘ But what basthat to do with you bein’ a coward, boy?” . . ” rigs y this,that I didn’t feel a single tremor, though | thought be was going to shoot. I dared ** And he didn’t?” 7 | ‘*No, I think he -youl4, if Hank had not got between us at that moment.” | ‘* And if be had, whero would Boy, it’s time ye was l’arnin’ The next time ou have b’en? ow to shoot, ye meet that man he'll shoot, arch Jou have to shoot back, or die in yer Tom sighed slightly, as he said: ‘* Perhaps that might be the best end for me. This life is not worth living, so that a man need cling to it. A poor man has no chance in the world, nowadays. It is al] very well out here, but we cannot live here forever.” . Old Cross-Eye put out his hand to touch the other, as he said: | ‘* Look here, boy; you and me’s knowed each other long enough to tell what we thinks, You- ’ra sweet on one of the jedge’s gals, Which is it? The quiet one or the other?” » | Tom colored so deeply that there was no deny- ing the surmise of the old man, ‘*Never mind which,” he said, in a low tone. ““Pve no more chance of getting her now than T have of going to the moon.” — ‘“Mebbe ye have and mebbe ye baven’t,” re- yagi Old Cross-Eye, quietly, ‘I’ve noticed that ye warn’t bappy out bere, and I’ve put it to that all the time. Why d’yesay ye bain’t no chance? Has anything bappened that was dif- ferent to before?” ‘* Yes,” snid Tom, ina low tone, ‘She saw me when those brutes insulted me, and I know she must have scorned me, She went out of the world, it would only call folks to stare at ; the room when I first came in to help her fatker me, wuss’n they do. Out here. no one knows | —that is, she wculd have gone, if her sister had 4, nor what blasted my life. And out bere, if © not told her I was there as the assistant of ever I meet ; ay pow A mie Bey . « ° Az ae o = it man, I shall be able to square ish 1 had ne | ei Horsford. She showed, mn every way she Ww ver could, that she scorned me, ’ =o ad - * * 2 el -F a 2 a * * — ' ~. _ SS : ee » ———— ee euss,and the way be come into the | pany’ which had its men onthe ground, and ad them all armed, The wire fence remained up, and the company would do no more than river, by erecting gates in the fence, and charg- ing a heavy price tor the privilege, The necessities of the smaller proprietors compelled them to accede to the terms for the time; but the feeling that the snatch of the company bad engendered, remained, and grew more bitter every day. It was in these circumstances that Berkeley was receiving the reports ef the patrols of the. night. | he herds that the company had imported were all right, but the patrols reported that they had surprised a number of. men the night before near the line of the fence, and that the bad ridden away when they were approached, giving no clew to what were their designs. | Ber Jenn questioned them closely, hut could get no further information, The men had no idea what the strange night-riders could want, The Englishman, after a little consideration, told them to be ready to have a ride again that night,and thet be would be with them, Then he dismissed them, and said to Tomlin- son: | | | ‘I wonder what the beggars can mean?” The convalesc+ nt desperado smiled. ‘‘ Reckon they’re a goin’ to cut the tenet, Cap. It’s allers b’en a mystery to me they didn’t do it afore.’ N | | , “Cut the fence!” echoed Berkeley. ‘' Wh if I caught the duffers at that, [’'d give them all they wanted in the way of shooting. If it eomes to that sort of thing, you know two can play at that game.” . | Tomlinson nodded, and sighed as he re- marked: | “Tysa darned pity Ican’t be into the fuuss, Cap. I'd like it fust rate; but I ain’t stron enough to straddle a boss, and n'y be fur | a month, yet. It’s darned strange bow a little thing like a pistol bullet Jays a man out, when ye put it in the right place, the cusses tries to tack the ranch, I b’lieve I c’u’d shoot as wellasever, yet.” = ji . Berkeley looked at him thoughtfully as he said: ‘*Perbaps it may come to that in the end. How many men do Pea suppose they have in this county that could be counted on to support these ranchers?” ‘aiggtt obec Tomlinson considered for awhile, ere he an- swered: re eo “T dunno. Reckon abaout sixty, if bey brought every cowboy in the caounty together, But that would take a great deal of trouble. There was a man they called Fiela—the one that doctored me the fust time. He was allers bein’ picked on by the rest of em ’cause he was poor. I wonder what’s come of him? He might 3 be on our side if we was to get at bim right.” - ‘‘ What makes you think so?” asked Berkeley, who was beginning to see that his position was by no means a bed ef roses, VF ”“ Because I beerd from.one of the boys that best Set, ey tb es fas of or muss, Cap, and there was sutbin’ in that our - % @ 4 - i. Cw oa gn"s :\ able ‘ - » a es 4 oy Ta.) - ° — = _ | ‘ bs ¢ = “ - - 4 - % ae * é 2 * a’ A - - * a. é > 4 2 7 ; a . \ , S&S : SI | — Z a ys | | — _ ~ 3 — ewe ee * ~ by, . - i > *. ¥ | — 7 .* . oF "J a ne A .« ‘> Po ; e ae ber ae fs ke! eh * * G! = oan . *, Ay