Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 1092 — page 7: what you’re looking at

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

Old Cross-Eye, the Maveric ‘post and twisting the wires around it till they dragged out another post. To snap the toug iron was a task beyond their efforts, without something for the purpose fitter than nature’s weapons, They got down a piece of fence large enough to lead the horses through, and got across the line; but as er were talking together about ‘it, they heard the tramp of horses at a gallop, and down came a party of men, nearly twenty in number, who shouted: ““ Who in blazes is thar? What are ye doin’ to our fence?” “‘ What in blazes is your darned fence doin’ on my line?” yelled Punch Burleson, furiously, recognizing the voice of Tomlinson. ‘* You’ve Jamed our hosses, and nigh killed us all; and, by Jiminy! I'll tear yer darned fence all to smash in the mornin’!’ Tomlinson laughed in a taunting way. ‘‘Oho! so ye got a histe, did ye, Punch? I told ye ye’d have cause to remember what ye said about me afore the grand jury. I got off -in spite of ye then, and now, if ye try any of ‘yer darned tricks on me, I'll settle yer hash this ‘very night. Git on the darned galoots, boys! Climb ’em, I say!” With that, without more ado, the men who had come up in the dark opened a vigorous fusilade on the party of Punch Burleson, and the cracking of pistols, for a few moments, was as rapid as if a general engagement was going On. The odds of numbers were too great to be Overcome by r Punch, and the result was ‘tHat, in less than two minutes, his party was routed and fled to the log house of the rancb, expecting to be followed, and leaving one of | their number on the ground, by the fence of contention, stone-dead. The assailants had not escaped scot free either, for there was more than one groaning, as he sat in bis saddle, but the damage done was disproportioned to that of the opposite party, and one of the desperadoes called out to the rest: ** Let’s go in and finish ’em, boys. It'll be the cheapest in the end,” | The reckless scoundrels were actually starting off to execute their threat of extermination, when the voice of Tomlinson checked them with ‘the advice: ‘** Better hold yer hosses, boys, The law’s on our side now, as far as we’ve gone; but it won’t be if we go thar to clean ’em out. Git to work and set this fence straight, The darned galoots has torn up nigh a hull section.” And the men, with a discipline that showed how they felt in awe of the renowned Tomlin- son, obeyed his orders, and set up the panel of fence that bad been pulled down, with a skill and rapidity that was accounted for by the fact that they were provided with plenty of tools for the purpose, and were engaged to execute ‘the work. The post that had been torn up was replaced, and set stronger than before; the wires were looked to, and found not to be injured, so that they would still hold cattle; and then the body of night-riders proceeded on their route, to in t the lines of fence that had been set up, that very day, by half a dozen parties, working simultaneously. Toere was no fear of their running on the wires in the dark, for they knew their location to a foot, and carried dark lanterns besides. They rode along the line, for mile after mile, and when they got to the end of it, Tomlinson remarked: “If it hadn’t been fur that round-up to-day, ‘we'd ha’ bad the hull county fenced in at onc ; ‘but, as itis, we'll get the work through to-mor- row. Quite a new thing for us boys to be play- in’ officers of the law; ain’t it?” The remark Ny a laugh, for most of the men in the party belonged to the desperado class, which has always been numerous in ‘Texas, and the way of their previous life had ven them a taste for fighting that promised to a thing for the success of their mission of intimidation in Satanta county. The idea of engaging them for constables was a brilliant -one, as the regular officers of the law in the county, being friends of the neighbors, and sympathizing with them, would not have been reliable for the service on which these men “were now engaged. It required men who were at war with societ ‘to take the stand they did, and to pay off their old ong: against everybody who had ever offended them, under the cover of the law. All that night they patrolled the line of the fence, and, in the morning, found that Punch Burleson was not the only man who bad come to grief with his party over the invisible wires, inthedark, — pposite to Deaf Smith’s ranch they found a lace where the blood on the ground showed bat a serious accident had bappened, and the body of a pony, lying on the ground with a b across its throat where the sharp barbs d actually cut the alem! Won't the beggars swear r find.‘ we've been all over? But, I cs > eee » * aie ¥ 3 ~Y ia . J : | a Fed gular vein, called forth ta ‘te remark from one of the men as he surveyed J + . >. &. etr,* “ ‘ tell ye what it is, boys; it’s darned rough of the company not to give them notice.” It was the grudging admission of a man who had not quite outlived his conscience; for the destruction wrought seemed so wanton and causeless, that even the desperado who saw it felt some compunction. Tomlinson turned on him savagely,to say: “You, Piug Walcot, sbut up your head! What sort of darned fools would we have b’en, to give ’em notice? We've got all we kin do to hold the lines, as it is; and if we’d ha’ had to guard it, while we were a-buildin’ of it, too, we’d never ha’ got it done inthe world. J’m runnin’ this thing now, and I don’t want none of yer chicken-hearts here. If ye’re afeerd to go on, say so, and thar’s lots ready to take yer place. The company pays better’n any one you ever worked fur; and it ain’t nothen to what it were, when you was in hidin’ from the sheriff,.for that hoss affair in the other caounty.” Plug Walcot shut up at once, for the chief had hit bim onatender spot. Horse-stealing in Texas is a grave matter—far graver than homicide, and Tomlinson was the only one who knew that Plug bad been “ up for it” at any time, The country in which the offense was committed was many hundred miles away from Satanta, and Plug had come there hoping not to be recognized; but tbe words of Tomlin- son couvinced him that he was wrong in his hopes. “ | didn’t mean nothen,” he said. deprecating- ] ” Tealtinos favored him with a scornful sneer, ““Yenever do. Yeain’t the kind that means nothen, Ye’re a kind of a wooden man, J think. Git on, boys. The overseer’s comin’ to the ranch-house to-day.” The party rode on in the early light of the morning, toward the new ranch-house that had been built by the banks of the Blue Fork ina spot where the beaufies of nature would bave seemed enough to make man forget that his neighbor had anything to be robbed of when plenty was scattered around for all. The ranchers had seen it going up, and had hoped that some rich and pleasant neighbor was coming to improve the county and make his hospitality Known throughout Texas. They had never suspected a Jand-shark, who was to make everybody wish that he bac never been heard of. The bouse was built of logs, but not in the old way, with a single room, or two at the most, and the whole a mere abiding-place for wet davs, This log house had been constructed after the design of an eminent Eastern architect, who had seen in the idea infinite capabilities of orna- ment and picturesque quaintness. It bad two stories, with gables innumerable; oriel windows thrown out of the top; glass case. ments, brick chimneys, rustic verandas and ches on all sides, and, altogether, was as andsome a thing as need be desired in a country where logs were cheap for the cutting, till the woods were cleared away. The party of eye ards came in sight of the bouse at about half an hour after sunrise, and the curls of smoke from the chimney pro- ed that tenants bad come. . ““That’s the boss,” said Tomlinson, as he spurred bis forward. “They said he’d come to-day, a e’s ’artv. He need be, too; for I reckon thar’s going to be trouble, boys,” When they arrived in front of the house the saw on the front porch, smoking a cigar, a man with a brown beard, who nodded to them in a distant, baugpey way, very unlike the ts we bigot 8 of Texans when strangers come in t. | This man was handsome enough, as far as features and frame went, He was tall and stout- ly built, with the straight nose and clear blue eyes that show good health and birth—as far as ancestry goes, | That he was an Englishman no one conld doubt who saw bis dress, for he wore the tra- ditional tweed shooting-jacket and Scotch cap, that are the mark of the traveling Englishman all the world over. But, with all bis handsome face, there was a hard, selfish expression in the lines of the mouth, a glitter in the eyes that told of a sav- age temper, and vicious disposition, And the face did not bely bim either; for the Honorable George Berkeley was one of the kind of men that go by the name of “black sheep” in England where they are plentiful. ' The younger son of an earl, with an elder brother, who had sufficient family to make it a sure thing that the Honorable George would. never inberit the title, young Berkeley had started in life with the three avenues of distinc- tion open to the British aristocracy before bim, but with a taste for none of them. He might have gone into the eburch, and been a bishop in due time, with an casy lazy life; but, to do that, he would have had to keep his name un- He might have spotted from the various pleasures that young men are wont to indulge in, ae into the army. and he did try it for a = | enough to get into debt, toan extent fright , e » 50 \ 1 - " a a t- ¢% a tee eg Hie, Sth pins Ports “5 "os Pn a, - ° * - ~ ~ mr | - 2 a : <2 z ae a . “9 : Ne + a td —— = a * ‘ ~~ y = it: ten > » cat r Wie: “~g. — — ..- Pros a so ——. = ait ery a tea a eS > Sti a eet: rs AP a St ”~ he a Re ch BR ae SIR Ee inl A. im 0 0 . “a i cS. a. ZY = </* « ie tsi») — a 2 nf OS Sig SC a Pe ¥: - fg ~S > é —-_---—_——_- -———- or—————— t tened his respected papa, the earl, to the | - : = : : -—_—2 ; = A « ~" - _ es, o r eS. ad of} ~ 2) ’ 8 S <7 6 ee el? "a —, ¢ a ,- rm ~~ / k-Hunter. y 4 verge of apoplexy. But the earl would not pay his debts, and gave his son the sensible advice to ‘‘ go to America,” The advice was not taken at the time, for Berkeley had discovered that there was some use in being the son of an earl, even if the title was several lives off. He had gone on the turf had luck in his first ventures, and had runa wild race with the Jews and money-lenders till Eng- land grew too hot to hold him; when he came to America, on his own account, and found the world of snobbery, in New York city, as open to him as itis toevery English scion of the nobility that comes there. There he had fallen in with the promoter of the Glasgow Cattle Company, who had induced a number of English tradesmen to invest money in the idea of tremendous tracts of land in the Western States, at a dojlar and a quarter an acre, ~ The profits of cattle-raising, undoubtedly large, had been magnified to the utmost by this promoter; and Berkeley bad recognized in bim an old crony on the turf, called Starpe, who well deserved hisname. Sharpe bad suggested to him that, if he wanted somethiig to do, he could not find a better chanes than the position of overseer to the new cattle range, in Texas; and the young man, who had run the. whole course of excitersent, till he had become weary of civilized life, had jumped at the offer. The salary was large, for cumpanies eh pay big salaries, when the promoters have the care of the cash, and the stockbolders are on the other side of the sea. The profits would un- doubtedly be enormous, if the capital to inclose the land and get the cattle was forthcoming, and that was the care of the promoter, The duty of Berkeley was to be the general enforeer of the ruthless policy demanded by the situa- tion. For this he was eminently fitted, for he had not lived a fast life in England without learn- ing to do a good many things that would stand him in good stead in Texas, He was a fighter with his fists, sword, sticks, and even knife, having learned that ‘‘ fora fly,” as he said, when he was in New York, from a fencing-master. Hecould shoot as well as most Texans with a pistol, and with a shot-gun could take birds on the wing ina style that astonisbed the cowboys. ~ He had a frank manner when he wished, and could be very dignified, thanks to a tall figure and early education. He had a knowledge of the world that kept him from offending the prejudices of the rougher portion of the in- habitants, and be had the unflinching determin- ation that was necessary in the position he was placed in. Now, as he stood in the porch of the log palace that went by the nameof Berkeley Castle, he was the picture of the power of a name, tomake a bad man resp . - Even Tomlinson bowed to him, with the air of aman who knows he has met bis master, and the careless nod which Berkeley gave, ex- somnnel the thought in the mind of the English- m an: ee peaaenei cad, but I’ve got to be civil to “ ‘Well, Tomlinson,” he asked, as the other eee up, “what did you do last night? Any- No, f Bom arage Tomlinson. ‘‘ That is, there were two part on the fence in the dark, but they didn’t do it on » ,and they got the worst of it, you kin bet. Berkeley. _ a short laugh. * Hem! nfound ’em! aces say so. It’s a beastly thing torunintoin the dark. Any horses burt?” ‘‘ Reckon so, sir. There wasa lot of blood in one place, and at another they tried to bluff us off. “ Bluff you off? Ob, I understand what mean—bounce—eh? Well, what did you do Tomlinson put bis hand down on bis bip with a wink, and Berkeley asked quickly: ‘‘Anybody burt? You know it ~yon’t do to ride over these fellows rough-shod, till we’ve got the men to back us.” “Can't help that, sir. We bad a difficulty with them, and there was a man shot, in Panc Burleson’s gan —_——— ! > CHAPTER VIIL THE SISTERS, — But Deaf Smith and Punch Burleson warp not the only persons who had come to grief, that night, from the bar wire fence, so treacherously placed there. ‘ The ranchers and rangers of Satanta coun extended along the river front of Bius Fork; and the homeward way of al! the parties that r went from the Lame Hog round-up, crossed the ; line of this diabolical fence, that bad been part- ly raised during the previous day, th no one had known it, and was comp ‘day during the round-up by taking in the river ines - The last party to leave the ranch o OS eit te Di a Judge Collingsworth; and the = ae a es . © ~~ Or ri * . z , mil pa s- iA a a * Bee ok - oe C = “ * eM tS cu a ng.” : | ‘‘Ah, poor beggar!” was all Berkeley said, er res —__ = 7 - a ~ * ee : _ ae ss a J : . = [+ _ ss wae >. + | a * 1’ & c < | » wa ae } P . - - — » — —_ . 3 »