Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 1092 — page 16: what you’re looking at

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

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" = - “> ir, ¥ ates nl & rd wy om ie ps ~ ) , . ied a cud c . a. : : 3 i, a ese oe in tol “ nos om —- - ee Oe gee the money, or the 16 Old Cross-Eye,.the Maverick-Hunter. =f si of his visit, and told the two men in the onely ranch that be had a business proposition to make. ‘“'W hat is it?’ asked Old Cross-Eye, as he ex- changed glances with Field, Tomlinson began at once, : **T come from the cattle company that’s got the big grant, and they’ve hired us*men for special constables, ’eause they think we kin fight, Waal, the matter is this: What’l: you fellers take to come down and jine forces with us; to be deputy sheriffs, and guard the cattle company’s place from. those ranchers that’s so proud they won’t let no man live if he ain’t got as much stock as they have, That’s what's the matter,” | Ye ain’t up to the tricks of these Texas des- | perptoes yet, Tom, and ye won't be till ye’ve Old Cross-Eye, with a shrewdness that showed | better than anything else the part of the Union | he came from, inquired: . ** And what does the company offer, sir?’ ** Hundred dollars a month and found as long as they keep ye,” was Tomlinson’s reply. ret don’t wanter fool ye, boys; but there’s lots of pickin’s besides, The company wants all sorts of places filled, that they’re sure to fill from the men that sarves them best. The work ain’t nothen, and the.only thing is the danger of the ranchers. One of ye, I know, stood a deal of pickin’ on from them, and he won’t, mebbe, be sorry to get squar’ with ’em all, This is the best way in the world. If they wants a muss, the company’s orders is to give ’em all they want. I'he company comes to stay, and the sooner these lummixes finds it aout, the better it will be for us all. Now, boys, what d’ye say?’ Tom Field was silent; but Old Cross-Eye answered: ‘* Seems to me this offer wants a little time to think® over, stranger. Ye see; we're all alone out here, and we’d bave to leave the stock.” ‘No, ye wouldn’t,” interrupted Tomlinson. “ve got full power to say and do what I please. Ye kin bring daown all the berd you've got, and j’ine them to ourn, or we'll buy every beast ye’ve got, if they’re all as good as them I seen in the corral. Ye kin touch the boodle, right off, for all ye bave, and get good pay be- sides. Ain’t that a squay’ offer?” Old Cross-Eve wavered, ** Yo’d take all the stock we got?” * Sart'in,” said Tomlivson, stoutly. ‘* At how much?” asked the old man keenly. ‘*At market price for beef on the buff,’ re- turned th gambler readily. Old Cross-Eye brought down his hand witha loud slap on his knee. “T take the offer, — —s Bring me a letter from a , man who'll stand good fur it; and we'll come > | take a fight for our property,” said Old Cross- when you want us,” Tom Field seemed about to say something, but the old man checked him with a look, and be subsided, while Tomlinson asked: ‘ What kinder letter d’y®want?” ‘* From yer bead man, whoever he is,” was the reply. “I ain’t wantin’ to be fooled, ye know, stranger. This ranch and them cattle b’long to me, aud this young man’s only my pardner. He don’t know nothen about biz. You goand bring me the stamps for them, and it’ll be all right. They wouldn’t be out of place on any range. I found’em wild, Mavericks, and Ive got’em tamed down, so ye kin milk the cows. Vhat more d’ye want? Til sell, but I wanter an that’s goiu’ to pay it, afore we stirs out of this.” Tomlinson gone as if b with the result of the interview and said: ~*That’s no more’n reasonable. I'll see ye get the terms ye want, We'll start back at once,” 7 CHAPTER XVIII. , Tae two visitors had gone and quist reigned ov _had gone quiet reign over the ranch of the Maverick-Hunters again. Tomlinson and Long Charley had gone away with the promise of returning in three days, at the furthest, if the wounded gambler was able to ride so fast; and it was understood that, when he came back, he would be provided with funds to pay for the herd, on the sole condition that the two men would accompany him to the cattle company’s ranch. ot a _ When the two gamblers had gone, Field asked his sere, in some surprise: “What made you promise to go with them, when I am sure that your mapapby is with the ranchers of the county. These land-grabbers ought not te be supported by us, of all men.” _ Old Cross-Eye nodded his head wisely. ‘Tom, boy, I were born afore you was, and I’ve see’d a beap more of the world than you have. S’pose we’d told those fellers that we wouldn’t come; what would they bave done?” ‘Gone away, of course.” | “ Not a bit of it, They come here, sp’ilin’ fur a chance to fight, if they was refused, and they’d was much pleased _ ha’ plugged you, sure as fate, and me, too,” ~ Tom Field shook his bead rather proudly. “ Not new, Jake, You forget that Jcan shoot, as well as they can, nearly.” ** Ay, ay, that’s jest it, boy—nearly, but not te. 1 seen the hul ne nF and I seen, when neo shootin’, if ye them, they’d y - + -—- wre Os ad a deal more practice. I'm up toall their dodges, ’cause 1 knows ’em all, from bein’ in the penitentiary, boy. Ye may thank yer. stars I was there, now; for it’s b’en wuth many a day to your life,” Tom was surprised at the words of the old man. ‘‘Are you sure of what you are sayfng?” he asked, ‘So sure that I’d got my eve on both on ’em, and I was a-lyin’ down bebind the chaparral, with my old carbine trained on ’em both,” said Od Cross-Eye, in bis cool way. ‘‘ My eyesain’t as fine as some men’s, but | kin see to draw a bead on a man, at thirty yards or so, with a rest, and they didn’t know that. Tom, boy, ye’ve got to keep yer eyes skinned in Texas, Ye don’t know half the devilish tricks these des- peradoes is upto. J’m darned sorry they found us out, I. thought we'd be left alone out here. We don’t interfere with nobody, and there ain’t no reason why nobody should interfere with us.’ ‘‘What are you going todo, then? Do you think they will come back bere?” ‘Not alone, Tom. They know too much fur that, When next they come, it’ll be with a gang, that they think is enough to make us come, whether we will or not, They don’t in- tend to pay us fur our cattle at all; but to kinder press us into the sarvice, and let us whistle fur our pay, onless we take their terms.” “ Their terms? What will those be then?” ‘It’s my opinion that they want our cattle, because they think they’re a good lot, and they’]] make some excuse to save them from sending the money. They want to get. our cattle on their range, and then lay. claim to them.” ‘Lay claim to them!” echoed Tom, astonisb- ed. ‘‘Why, we got them fairly. What claim can they bave?” Old Cross-Eye laid his band on tbe other’s sboulder, ‘*We’ve got the herd, Tom, and they’re branded; but they know they was all Mavericks ous’t, and they'll claim that they ran away from their ranch, It’s a game to get us into their power, and we've got to get out of it, the best way we know bow.’ , ‘* And bow shall we do it?’ asked Tom, who locked considerably crestfalien at the words of the old man, which were spoken with an accent of conviction. ‘Tom, boy, we’ve got to move from here, or Eye slowly. “I seen it, the moment tbat Tomlinson came into the bouse, LI knowed his face well, Tom, he’s the son of the man ruined me, and as like bim as he kin stare, I c’u’d ha’ sworn it was the man hisself, when I seen him, by the fire. The same face; the same ey+s; the same air as if he thought himself the best man in the world; and, from what I c’u’d see of him, pe's just as bad a man as his father was, afore rim e come here for mischief, and he’s got to be jkilled, or we won’t never have no peace again. Tom Field looked thoughtfully at the pistols with which he had been fracticing, and ob- served: — ‘ ‘ ot “If I thought that, ’'d shoot him down on sight, when J] met him, the nextetime.” ‘It may come to that, boy; but there’s some- thing to be done fust. I ain’t so sorry, now, that. ye made friends with the Tojane, Tom, They may be the saving of us.” ; : _.Tom started, as if the idea had come to him the first time. ‘‘The Indians? Of course. Why did we not think of them before? We can depend on them, ime. every oi hoot about that, boy, but we kin make a show with them, at all events, 2 don’t depend on Injuns mostly; but they’re better then nothen. Kin you get—say twenty or thirty of ’em-—-to come here and be on hand, about the time the other fellers comes?” ** Certainly I can. Tl get Wild Cat and all is ban They shall come, whenever we want em. ‘‘ Then, the quicker ye go arter them and get them, the better, boy; for it’s my opinion they'll he wanted, afore the three days is up. That Long Charley Seymour, he kin ride to the ranch to-night, if he wants, and briug back the others, afore to-morrow night, Get yer friends, as quick as ye kin.” om Field rose and went to the corral to get bis horse, remarking as he went: . ‘*T cen reach the place to-night, or before the dawn has come fairly iv. But I shall not be back before sunset to-morrow, Jake.” Old Cross Eye followed him and saw to the saddling of the horse, and the taking, by the rider, of a sufficient supply of provisions to last hin till he came back, and then the old tan turned to the solitary hut where he had lived so many pov’, and sighed slightly, as be said Oe Waal, it’s all The. time ‘hb ‘Waal, it’s all over now, ihe time has come, and it’s time the old man was out of the - . ? . ‘wiries r Th 3 < av + "i t rye a - > ‘ fr, \ > ‘ hae c es *: d * Vv r Oy) «9 es a x aS , « a j= " * 7 o, we ie ee | ua : _ 7 , ~ C- » * ~ sh pe a " hw | + Le is i bt “ a oft w { Ss - : te. 4 ~ nf Ans. 2 ad pt ° . . - 7 ve pa Pt Re oe FE5 ‘ Wis f A 1a? a — rr The fact was, he had noticed something that escaped the eyes of Tom, young and sbarp as they were, Perhaps it was because his own vision was: defective in some respects, that his watcbful- ness was the more intense, for he never allowed a thing to pass him, if it came within the ken of bis crooked eyes. They eould not seeas far as many other men’s eyes, but they had the brain of an experienced man behiod them. When the two gamblers went away, he had noticed that they said very little, till they bad got out of hearing of their hosts, when they en- raged in very earnest talk, and as they went rom the corral, turned frequently to look at: the cattle, which were feeding there, Old Cross-Eye,. whose nature, originally trust- ing, bad become morbidly suspicious from the injustice and cruelty be bad suffered, immedi- ately jumped to the conclusion that the two men meant treacbery of some sort, and natur- ally connected.it with the stealing of the cattle. He knew that his position, up at the edge of the Indian country, was one which exposed him to the constant reproach of consorting with In- dians, the worst charge that can he brought against a man, out in the Western Territories, where [Indians are looked on as fiends who ought. to be exterminated. He saw that the sight of the cattle had ex- cited the cupidity of the men who had visited them, and saw also, from the expression of their faces, that they thought of coming back to steal what they could get. Away there, where no one ever came, except Indians, a murder would be the easiest thing in the world, and the tracing of tbe murderers the most difficult. When he sent away Tom Field after-the Indians, be did so with the full expec- tation that the ranch would be attacked that very night. | Why then, it may be asked, did the old mam send away the young one, and remain behind himself? The answer is hard to make, but might be found in his peculiar make-up, fter all ie troubles ke bad passed through during his life. ‘Batter the old man should go than the young ’un,” he muttered to himself, as he went into the but, ‘1 bain’t got long to live any- way, and a few years, more or less, ain’t much odds to me. If he comes back to-night, I’ll have the satisfaction of havin’ it out with the son, if I couldn’t get square with the fatber. Ill wait for him, and he shan’t have a chance.” The old man went to the but where he kept a'l his belongings, and drew out from a corner, where it had been lying for many a. year, an old carbine. It was of the Heweypattern,that has since beer | replaced by the Winchester, and he bad picked it up at a sale of old material, at Gaiveston, just after the war, with the ammunition. | It was a magazine-gup, ang carried sixteen shots in the lower barrel, but was liable“to get out of order, from dust and dirt getting into the magazine. | . hen in good state it was as good a wespon ae its successor, for close work; and Old Cross- ye bad bad a good deal of practice with it, in shooting deer, as CORE-SAe down to drink, aod at game of all sorts, before Tom Field came to bim and took to shooting. As he had said, he was a good shot, as far as he could see, with a rest, and relied on his craft to secure bim from surprise, and give bim a chance at his enemies, if they came back'in the night, as be expected, - That they ee his mind, and did not go to bed af all, that night, but left the hut and went to lie in wait, in the tangled mead chal bordered the place, where he could watch for the coming of the men he expected. 3 ) True to bis expectation, at avout the hour of midnight, when everything was at its quietest, be heard the distant, tramp of borses, coming toward the motte, from the prairie without, _ Had he not been intently on the watch, he could not bave heard them; for the sound w very distant. Nevertheless it served to wake him up instantly; for he bad been nodding at his post, and immediately he sat up and was all ears. Out of his hiding-place he crept, through the path to the edge of the motte, where existed a side hiding-place, Where be had planned to lie in ambush for.any one who might come un- awares, : The spot was in the edge of the wood, where the trees were closely planted, and the under- brush was thicker than ordinary, | From it he could command a view of the rairie outside, under the faipt starlight, and, Cgore long, the outlines of horsemen came be- tween him and the dark ieee : They were not the people he bad fancied, for there were six men, For a while be chaque’ Tom had got back ~ with the Indians, but the first words he heard, as they reined up, showed him his mistake. “This is the pice” said one voice, in, Eng- lish, ‘‘Darned lucky we met you, boys. “Gib ol : - ~~ a > > , «) ‘yy off yer bosses, and creep in. 17 one| hosts well; bat i we kin rush | _ be'll git a ’ - - - . 7 : 7? f ’ ' : ° . ane <r rn dy « abs Pay 35 Cay ae Fo 3 aed FO ed ° ee j TT. i oe eee \@ .] ie it %