Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 114 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

, es ** An’ you propose to cart me to one o’ the ompty shanties? “That’s the vote of the majority.” ‘* Who’s goin’ to take care o’ me?” **T reckon that hain’t provided fur.” **But when I’m out thar alone nobody’ll come el ** Most likely the boys ’ll be afraid.” ** Who'll bring me my grub?” The judge was silent. Big lose Finley answered the question him- se f. ** Nobody !” He brushed the matted hair from his brow. His bloodshot eyes grew wilder. ‘Then they be- came piteous in their agonized appeal. There was .a strange quaver of weakness and_helpless- ness ard fear in bis voice, as he asked: ** An’ is the boys goin’ to kick me out, to die out thar in the cold, all alone by myself?” “It’s yonorus. It'll be a doggone miracle if it ain’t you and us!” said the judge, solemnly. An’ you’ve come to pac cried the wretch, looking about him wildly, as if for help or escape.” Yes!” was tho low reply, “Not much !” fairly yelled the stricken man; ang {com beneath his pillow he drew a revolver, and faced them with maniac defiance, Moxy saw. what was coming, He was a man who acted quickly in an emergency. With a bound he was upon the bed and had clutched the wrist of the other, Then ensued a terrible struggle. Big Mose Finley’s revolver was self-cocking, and exploded the instant his wrist was gripped, One of the “committee” uttered a sharp cry:— ttn plugged!” And he staggered blindly out of the room. Bang ! went the pistol again; and the men engaged in that death-grapple rolled off the narrow bunk to the floor, making the house tremble beneath the fall of their heavy bodies, Completely demoralized by the terror of the scene, the rest of the committee, including while Wiggins himself, rushed from the room, while others frora below crowded up the stairs. e maniac yells and oaths of big Mose Finley, and the cries for ng of. Moxy, who dared not let go the man he had grappled, all blended with the repeated discharge of the revolver, held the crowd dismayed, until Judge Wiggins recovered his presence of mind and shouted:— “Boys, we can’t leave Moxy to be murdered! Come on!” And. he bounded back into the room followed by others whose courage was equal to the risk. For one moment after their entry pande- —_—a monium prevailed. Then came an ominous silence, Big Mose Finley bad been knocked senseless | Loud talk and _ the tramping of heavy boots followed. Then Judge Wiggins appeared in the CORE NON ordering the men to clear the hall and rs. After him came four men, bearing a silent motionless burden, wrapped from head to foot in blankets, Moxy was one of the party, his clothes torn, his face covered with blood and smud with powder, and his eyes blazing with dogged pur- e. PeThro h the saloon and out in the snow they a deserted shanty. Presently they came forth—burdenless | As they filed back into the saloon the crowd looked questioningly at them. The men said nota word, Sullenly they sat down around the red-hot stove, The gloom, the silence, in that crowded room was horrible. On every hand were lowering brows and covert glances of suspicion. Behind his bar Sutler Bob stood, pale with fear, and glancing from one to another until he could endure it no longer, | “Look a-hyar, boys,” almost pathetically, ** this sort Q thing won’t do! Step up and 6 somethbin’!’ “Hold on, gents!” cried Judge Wi ‘You know as well as I do that whisky an’ small-pox would knock the devil himself out of his: boots! We’re goin’ to have a mighty tight 0’ this, the best we kin do. Ef you waut to have one ur two left to bury the dead, fool’s advice, an’ let the benzine alone for a few days!” emen shuddered. Notonestirred to accept their, host’s invitation. ‘Gents,” said Moxy, relating the incident afterward, ‘‘I reckon sich a thing never ia { ned before anywhar on this hvar terrestrial Ml Down in t Festa! Waal !” Buf there came a diversion from a man who Sheena to look out of the window, a ON és Waal, i blowed! Jest look at these hyar fools CHAPTER XIV. THE ANGEL OF HARD LUOK, Ir-bad been William Carleton’s first. care to re.a separa spanty for his ward’s accom- om a pets worked diligently to make it as comfortable as possible. As for Carleton, ‘in. the. excitement he overdone his porate me out—now?” (SC ————— ee eee ae ee Se ee 'set me adrift because I’ve got the small-pox! | build a fire, nor nothin’, | ot ne es ee ot ee and was again ‘‘an the brahd av his back,” as O’Connor said, by the time her again, honest Judd This was the trouble of the exiles when they beheld that blanketed form borne out. of the No~ tic, where the miners, abandoning their separate shanties, had unwisely huddled together, as if to seek security in numbers. ‘*Be the powers! that’s the maning o’ the shooting up at the saloon,” said Tom O’Connor. | ‘They've out. Which, I wondher?” “Oh! let us go and see,” cried Lillie, shudder- ing. ‘Perhaps the poor fellow is not yet dead. | They did not take long to ascértain. . Oh! how cruel, how wicked they all are?” The “‘ committee” had abandoned the plague- stricken man without doing a single thing for his comfort, indeed not evén stopping fo withdraw the blanket from his face rat each man hurrying forth, as if fearful of being the last in the room neg So our friends found him; and ‘when the Gen- tleman from Pike drew the blanket from the face, disclosing the ghastly blood-stained ‘hor- ror, even he shrunk baék, - 8 “Swate St Pathrick)”’ cried Tom O’Connor. ‘*But they’ve thrated that divil to his own sauce! Well! well! sure, it’s a strange worruld, wha-ur ivery wan gits his due in the Jong run! The Gentleman from Pike soon discovered that the man was not dead, but only stunned; and a judicious application of brandy soon re- stored him to consciousness, Me tate Struggling to his elbow, he glared around with blood-shot eyes, his horrid visagé causing Lilian to shrink shuddering away. ‘Who in the devil are yon, an’ what d’ye want?” he demanded, savagely. | > | ‘* Your companions abandoned’ you, thinking ou dead, no doubt; and we have comé to care | or you,” said the Gentleman from Pi , curb- ing is sense of repulsion. er * Dead!” repeated Mose, with a laugh of hor- rible sarcasm. ‘Not they! The sweet angeli ardian was up and about Devilish big hurry, too. They didn’t, stop to’ You hain’t got the yity 1 see. Better ‘light. out an’ let'me alone. I’m goin’ to be a bad customer. I féel it in my bones.” ) ; All this was interlarded with the most shock: aban- Pike plague ing oaths. ‘Weare not so brutal as the men who doned you,” said the Gentleman from ‘* We will give you the best care we can,” ‘‘ And you're the galoot that I helped kick out 0’ the No-tic, along with the Frisco apt paid Mose, gia igathim. “TI don’t want nothin’ 0’ you! to the devil, and let me alone!” “Ye onmannerl pares Sea ’-eried — O’Connor, in hot indignation, ‘it ‘ud serv y roight to take yez at y er word! Come ‘away, toile reat to dirthy a ‘hands on “3 man on likes 0” hin?” CREDY, 9 OF Rania vont Big Mose Finley only scowled black mal nity, and dropped back on his bed with his face’ to the wall. STW Sey Sat ‘** Build a fire,” said the Gentl from Pike, quietly, to the Irishman, and withoiit moré ado set about, seconded by Lilian, to make tlie sick man as comfortable as possible under the’cir- THE pi Saari: ead ae tg dare s was the beginning; and_ere 4 Hard Luck Camp was 9 inst ouse in ‘whit 4 all distinctions Were lost. Lilian Aniberleig went and came, to thé No-tic Saloon as well ¢ to the shanties in which, in the Beginning thie panic stricken’ miners had abandoned their com- reek And to the bedside o meee a pain- racked wretch her gentle’ womat)’s ways canie frau until by universal con- t Angel of Hard Luck. eet with blessin FS) ; they called her the d Luck. hen came the dark day when faithful Judd Baker = Ah as an infant, and said ina h whispe . ‘ ou 8 itm . It was nar’ thing to o, an’ Pd doit agin nae er. Them whelps wa’n’t human to drop him thar in the snow, ef] he was a bad ’un. “God bless ye fer een of @ tough old ‘cuss like mé—an’ you iiss e.” * VOLE Se “Oh, Judd!” cried Lilian,. weeping by the bedside, “‘could we do less?—and you stood by us so nobly through the Indian attack!” The honest moun tan sthiled faintly. ‘‘T was bound to pull you pray A it took a leg,” he said, ‘ You didn’t git scratch then an’ you hain’t got touche yit by thie plague, I reckon it’s ’cause you're so good an’ so hand- some. The Lord don’t.want, to spile a thing Hee eset tae | eat tisfaction in thi Seer U e grea in this This was a true house of mourning, though around Jay horrors withont name— ‘then | a oat in the ith none td bury the rh int Fou. wretchls in ‘the dt im ‘of fever g the man.who.bad brought th many upon them.. ati aaa fhen those who had not yet been, stricken down, though none knew > tleman. from Pikes ! | | So Lillie became nurse to both sick men, and | aker was down. ' ad a fight, an’ wan o’ the b’ys is laid | yer fur a@ gintle-'| m | ow 1 ee ee —— come next, would have wreaked dire vengeance on the. Frisco Sharp, but that the man whose hatred was equaled only by his magnanimitiy stood between him and his enemies as unmoved as a rock, And he who had brought the dread scourge rose from his bed, pale and emaciated, but with- out a scar on that face which now took on a sort of feminine beauty. He would have helped care for the sick; but the Gentleman from Pike not gee at him, but with his eyes on the floor; his face pale and his voice constrained bn emotions that he struggled to suppress, 6a ‘* As long as they do not see you I can control them; but at the sight of you recovered when so many Of their comrades lie dead and un- buried, they would burst all bounds. Remain where you are.” Without a word Jules St, Auburn complied. At last there came a season when the hea- vens poured down warm rains, the snows were dissipated, and the mountain gorges resounded with the rush of mighty floods. Then the glad sun burst forth, and nature was ati peace, One night the Gentleman from Pike stood be- fore the man whom he had saved from the vio- lence of his fellow-men and the ravages of piece and, as before, not looking at him, “The time has come for you to make your escape.. The miners have sworn that you shall never leave this place alive; and they may fall upon you at any moment, if you prolong your pe Follow me.” till néver looking at the man, he turned and left the cabin. Without a word the Frisco Sharp rose and followed him. Her woman’s instinct told Lilian that she could not take leave of aman whom her guar- dian treated in this way. She did not approach him, but sat with her eyes on the floor, wonder- ing what terrible wrong be had done to the man she loved. The Frisco Sharp perceived and respected her feelings. Out into the darkness he followed his guide, until they came to a horse, saddled and bridled, and with his hoofs muffled in blankets, ‘William Carleton said nothing, but stepped aside out of the path. Jules St. Auburn passed him, unhitched the horse, and mounted in silence. A moment he hesitated. He looked at his A ath and seemed about to speak at last. beech ys 4 words of gratitude that trembled on ps The eyes of the Gentleman from Pike were on e pro He stood like a rock—waiting. thout a word, the Frisco Sharp rode away —— . | in the gloom! Then Carleton’s eyes rose, and looked where the night had swallowed up this man between whoin and’ hiitselt fell so black a shadow of . And go he —silent, motionless, A light footfall drew near. A graceful form crept close to bis side. Warm hands clasped his and raised it to loving lips, and a tear of voice nas ty fell upon its back. Then. a his arm about her neck, drew her head upon bis breast and slowly, gently stroked her And the jron sternness of his face softened, and one by one stranger tears slipped down his cheeks. So-they two'stood alone in the darkness! CHAPTER XV. A STRANGE LADY. “Hine? Ain't she? Um! A choice article, ur ma liar!“ An’ thar’s Moxy—lucky dog!—a- buzzin’ of her all alone by himself! An’ smiles¢ Gee-whillikins!—I should: say so! An’ a hull band o’ music—bass drum throwed in!—ain’t shucks beside. her yoice! An’ then them eyes! Oh! rub me down with a brickbat! When she looks at me an’ says: “*Mr, Robert—’ “Haw! haw! haw! Mr. Robert! Waal, | sw’ar! Me!—Hunky Bob! Zhat does me proud} ote says to me: ' “*Mr; Robert, air we nearly to Angel’s Find? What a strange name,’ saysshe; ‘ but this is a strange country, and s ® A Aptian inhabit it. Air we nearly to Angel’s Find? says she. * An’, Lord! I dreamed 0’ peaches an’ cream, an’ canary birds, an’ sich! _ €Yes'm,’ says I, as chipper as a tomtit. ‘ Tt’s jist’ across the divide, ma’am,’ “+Thank’ee, sir,’ Bays she; an’ them eyes fotched streaked feelin’s ’way up from my toe- ‘nails to the roots 0’ re ha’r! An’ now thar’s Moxy—Ob, thunder! Ge-up !” And Hunky Bob, in great disgust at the un- ual awards of tate, flirted his long whiplash eer eee with a crack like the report of tol, hen, as the spirited mare and her mate took to pranging and tossing their heads, he soothed i into @ quiet trot again, saying ina purling ne: ey Dolly! Steady, old gal! Gently, ati So! Sol” | inWhile, the subject of his meditations was in ‘the coach=a dainty little creature, consideribly less than the medium size of wo a MIGDOO (E(0) Cc cS Cc (0)