Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 1102 — page 25: what you’re looking at

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

The Stranger Sharp. 25 ee a —— ‘‘PsHaw! Iam a fool!” he murmured, after waiting for a few moments, eagerly listening, but unable to hear a sound, ‘‘ My ears must have deceived me, or if they did not it was some little lizard scampering amid the rocks.” | f ; ‘‘- Your bones may be found, but that is all | are you utterin that will be left of you after the coyotes have finished their meal,” The wounded ruffian groaned aloud in mortal agony. ‘‘ Oh, for the love of Heaven do not leave me He resumed his onward way, not carelessly as _ here to be eaten by the coyotes!” he implored. betare but with great caution. ‘‘ And why should I not?” she asked with true Despite his efforts to convince himself that | savage sternness, the noise which he had heard did not amount | } ‘You are a woman—you will not be so to anything, he was both worried and alarmed. |'cruel!” Not ten steps had he gone when he fancied | he heard a slight sound to his right and a little | think of that when you tried to hound me to | in advance of him as though some one was cautiously stealing along with intent to surprise mi. Again he halted, his heart beating wildly and his face white with fear, for there was some- thing so mysterious about this matter that it | He removed the rifle from its place in the hol- | ] low of his arm and raised the hammer so as to | seemed tv appall him. be ready for action. ‘¢ Man or devil, whatever you are, come out and show yourself! Im not afraid of you!” he cried, vauntingly, but his face gave the lie to the assertion. There wasn’t any answer to the challenge and not a sound could he hear, and yet there was some subtle instinct in the assassin’s nature which told him that a foe was on his track. A dangerous one, too, to be able to approach him in such a steaJthy manner. Who was it? - Not Blake, for he believed he had left the Fresh of Frisco weltering in his blood Who else though would pursue him? It was getting lighter and lighter each mo- ment, but'the rocky fastness afforded plenty of | chance for concealment. | ‘‘Oh, yes, I am a. woman, but you did not death that night in the plaza of Santa Fé! ‘““Tf it had not been for this stranger, whom you tried to assassinate to-night, you would have sueceeded in your purpose and I would have been sacrificed without mercy. ‘¢ But now when you have been stricken down in a fair fight, you plead like a coward for your ife!” } ] falsehoods for the sake of sav- ing your miserable life?” she demanded, evident- ly distrusting the outlaw. ‘*T haven’t told you anything but the truth, as I’m a sinner!” he declared, earnestly. ‘‘ Very well; I will assume that you have spoken the truth and do what I can Wo aid you.” _ “ And J will doall in my power to pay you ‘cr ‘‘T don’t suppose you will believe me, but I tell you I am a changed man, ‘¢ T’ve got all I want of this kind of a life, and I don’t intend to have any more of it. ‘‘T had the closest call for my life this time that I ever bad, and if I only succeed in pulling through, I give you my word Ill be an altered man in the future.” ‘‘T hope so,” the girl said, simply. Then she examined and bandaged his wound. It was a severe one, but to her thinking not a _ ‘“‘T am not Witto die—give me some time to | mortal burt. prepare for the other world,” he begged. ‘‘T am not sure that my wound is mortal; if I have help I may be able to get over it. ‘(You are skillful at dressing all sorts of wounds: in heaven’s name then take pity upon me, and try to save my life. ‘‘T have been a bad man, 1 know, but I will repent; I will turn over a new léaf and lead a better life in the future, only save me now.” She looked at the pleading man with a con- temptuous expression upon her face, Education had not tamed her savage instincts. ‘¢ You tried to kill this stranger, you had no mercy upon him; you tried to kill me just now, and if your bullet had struck home and mine had missed, what mercy would you have shown me? ‘‘Bah! you would have left me here to die A good five minutes the assassin waited and | like a wounded dog. then again went on, but not twenty paces had he taken when the secret tracker stepped from behind a bowider, CHAPTER XXXVI. JUSTICE IS DONE, Rian into the trail, barring the way, stepped the new-comer, A cry of rage escaped from the lips of the as- | ‘* Do you think I don’t know you?” The girl turned upon her heel as if to depart. In anguish the wounded ruffian tried one last appeal. ‘t Winnemucca, for the love of heaven don’t go away and leave me to the mercy of the wolves!” he cried. “T can be of service to you—I’ll reform and be a good man—I will betray the Bloodsuckers, sassin, for on the instant he recognized the se- | so you can exterminate the whole band.” cret foe and realized that he need not expect any mercy. The villain was the bully whom the Fresh of | Frisco had been compelled to handle so roughly | since it started. Thar’s only three of us who on the night when he bad made his sppeatance | are in it. a > in Santa Fé, the notorious Laff Pic tracker was the Indian girl, Lute Winne- _ mucca. he girl turned eagerly. ‘* Aha, you are one of the Bloodsuckers then?” ‘Yes, I have been a member of the band ever The rest we pick up hyer and thar to nd the | do the jobs arter we plan them, and that is the reason why no one has ever got onto us, ‘* But Dll give up the hull thing now if vou’ll Like the faithful dog she had hovered near to | try andsave me. It was the chief of the Blood- Plake in order to be able to watch over him,and | suckers who put up this job to kill Blake to- though she had not discovered the concealed ruf- | fian in time to prevent him from firing the shot designed to take the life of Blake, yet, after the attempt was made, she easily got upon his track and followed him. up, determined upon vengeance. The moment that the savage maid stepped from behind the rock, which she had managed to gain by circling around the rufiian when he had come to a halt for the purpose of listening, ie leveled his rifle, But before he could discharge the piece, she fired, and the report from his own weapon seemed like the echo from hers. Her shot struck him full in the chest, so stag- gering him, that the muzzle of his rifle was tilted upward, and his bullet went clear over the head of the girl and spent itself in the alr. The rifie dropped from his hands and he sunk all in a heap to the ground, The girl approached, dropped the butt of her gun to the earth and stood, leaning upon the muzzle, surveying the writhings of the wounded rufiian, without a single touch of pity. Oh, you murdering red-skin, you have done for me, you she-devil,” he gasped, “Tf L have, it is a mercy to you,” she replied, contemptuously. ‘« How do you make that out?’ he groaned. ‘‘Ts it not better to die by my bullet-than by the rope of the hangman, which, if I had not taken upon myself to play the executioner would surely have been your fate some day?’ « Curse you! I would be willing to risk it.” ‘You ought to die; such a wretch as you are is not fit to live!” the rl cried. ‘You have no right to kill me—you will be hanged for this when it is discovered,” the wounded man declared, writhing with pain, ‘“ When it is discovered!” she exclaimed in contempt. ‘¢ And how soon bap hog think that will be? will discover 10 ' saga wee think I will be fool enough to walk into Sante Fé and say I am the one who shot Laff Pick; what are you going to do about it? ‘Oh, no, 1 am no such idiot as that! ‘Tt ig some hours yet to morning and when the light comes, there will not be much left of you. pase $4 are in the country of the coyotes; they Bay “through this region in large numbers, and when the wolves once discover you they willhave a rare f night.” ‘** Was it?” asked the girl, and an angry frown gathered upon her dark face, . ‘* Yes, of course; I don’t know whether I kill- ed him or not, but I reckon I did, for I had a mighty fine bead drawn on him, and I am about as good a rifle shot as you kin scare up in this town; but, as I was going to say, if I have wiped him out the Bloodsucker chiet is more to blame than I am, ’cos he hired me to do it, and I am to git a cool thousand dollars for the job.” ‘ Blake is not dead,” said the girl, abruptly. You don’t say sof’ exclaimed the other, doubtfully. ‘* Well, it is mighty strange, that’s all ve got to say, for ( had a dead-sure bead drawn on him, and I thought I heard him fall arter I fired.” ‘It was the Jew who fell backward in his chair. I saw Blake spring to his feet and get out 8 sim ight 4 ‘* Well, he couldn’t do that i bullet in his brain.” pctop mee heesineyd ‘* You miserable wretch, do you think I would have permitted you to live all this time if you had slain him?’ the Indian girl exclaimed. ‘No! I would bave trampled the life out of you with as little feeling as though you were a wounded snake A quick shudder ran through the frame of the outlaw. as he listened to her Sonod words, for he knew that she meant everything she said. ‘* Well, ’m glad I missed him, and if you'll jet up on me and help me out of this scrape this time, I’ll make a clean breast of it and put you in the way of fixing it.so that Blake willbe able to get the best of the Bloodsuckers, . e girl seemed undecided; evidently she was wavering, and the rufflan gained courage, ‘¢1t stands to reason that he will not be al- ways able to parry these blows struck at him in the dark. and if it goes on, some time Inck will go against him, and then he’ll go under.” The girl nodded. The statement seemed true enough, ‘‘ Now kelp me, and I can fix it so that hecan get the best of his enemies. ‘This Bloodsucker chief is the fellow who has been making all the trouble. ‘‘He has determined to either drive Blake from the town or kill him, and if he keeps on the smaoes are that he will succeed in doing the r The girl fixed a searching gaze upon him, *‘ Are you speaking thetruth? Can you y give me information that will be of value, or nh ie en \ 1 PR ale J * | ' ‘ secrete iii ti iam LLL LL ALLL ALLL LLL ESE ~~ i oe linia ‘ee |) Static atte ton nanan: A oe aA oa moms - one ee 09 Her cave in the hillside was nearat hand, and to it she assisted the wounded man. When he was comfortably bestowed therein, to her he confided the secret of the outlaw band known as the Bloodsuckers. The tale was soon told, and when it was ended the girl exclaimed: ‘¢One and all shall die, if not by my rifle then by the hand of Judge Lynch!” ‘There will be no peace in Santa Fé until they destroyed,” the wounded man declared, CHAPTER XXXVII. A SURPRISE. In three days from the time that the arrange- ment was made Old Bullion’s daughter was ready to set out on her trip to the Kast. She tock the stage-coach—there wasn’t any railroads anywhere near Santa Fé at the time of which we write—and the alcalde went with her to keep her company for the first fifty miles of the journey. As it happened Old Bullion and his daughter were the only passengers in the coach that morning, and the alcalde remarked he was giad he-had made up his mind to come, for she would have been apt to be lonesome all alone in the coach, The journey was destined to be an eventful one, for, before they had gone twenty mies from the town the stage came to a sudden ha!t, The alcalde looked out of the window for tho purpose of ascertaining what was the matter and was amazed to find that they were surround- ed by road-agents. There was one ahead, one behind and one om each side, all armed with rifles, mounted on good horses, and each and every man wearing the quaint disguises peculiar to the outlaws who called themselves the Bloodsuckers, Old Bullion produced his revolvers immedi- ately, for to give battle to the death to these marauders was his first impulse. The driver had happened to bend over from his box on the same side of the coach through —~ pepe of which the alcalde had poked his ead. ‘‘ Tommy, we must fight the scoundrels!” Old Bullion cried. ““Oh, thunder, alcalde, thar ain’t the least m3 ~ use for to try that game!” the driver re- plied. ‘* Don’t you see that they have got repeating- rifles and they will jest riddle the coach until it is as full of holes as a sieve.” ‘‘That is so, but I hate to give in to the scoundrels!” ‘* Yes, that’s true; but the boys must live some way,and when a man gets down on his back what else can he do but go out and ‘hold up’ a stage. ‘* Tt’s no use to talk, alcalde, they have got the deadwood on us, and you might as well teke things easy.” ‘* Well, I s*pose so,” Old Bullion remarked, doubtfully, for his blood was up and he did not a. like giving up his valuables without a strug. e. As it happened though he was not so weil heeled, financially, as was genenally the case. It was his habit to lock his big roll of bills and his diamonds up in the safe, which stood in his bedroom, every night upon retiring to rest. And as he kad risen in somewhat of a hurry this morning he had not taken the trouble to un- lock the safe. It was a lucky oversight as it happened. “Tf the road-agents have made a special trip this morning to get away with my plunder they will be terribly disappointed,” he re- marked. As it happened all the money he had about bim was a bandful of small bills which he had chanced on the previous day to stuff into one of his pockets. ““Oh, we can’t fight,” continued the driver, ‘not with your darter aboard, nohow.” “That's true. Well, Belle,” he said, address- ing her, ‘‘ here’s an adventure for you, right im the beginning of your journey.” ‘‘ Well. I can’t say that I admire it, father, but I suppose there’s no help for it.” ‘* None at all; we must pay toll before these persuasive gentlemen will allow us to proceed.” 7N |e cpoo - ml ais “ala Am ok