Beadle's Dime Library, No. 142 — page 22: what you’re looking at

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

; ' wae oe _—- _—— —— ss 22 ‘You ruined my father, and bound me to you by a false marriage, for you had a wife living, even tho she was mad; ay, and youit was that killed my poor brother; but through all I ave clung to you until hate in my heart took the place of love, when 1 knew the fate you in- tended should bo mine—” “Silence, woman! Ho, without there! I'll have you slain before my eyes, thou accursed fiend,” shouted the man, writhing in his vain ¢ffort to rise, while his livid face showed that Death was rapidly placing its seal upon him. ‘* No, your men sleep in their cabins, Harvey Vertner, the guard of the Pass lie asleep under an opiate I sent them, and even now Fancy Frank and the settlers and Captain Carleton and his troopers are coming to wipe out the Prairie Tigers from off the face of ’s green earth they too long have polluted. ‘No, [am avenged, Harvey Vertner, for all thy crimes upon me and mine, and Death rights my wrongs.’ ‘Curses! oh, curses upon you!” broke in a | | Captain Crimson. my sister’s honor, and slain Farvey Vertner, who brought a curse upon our name; but, fa- ther, here is another glad surprise for you—” “The death of the Mad Colonel; so you killed him?’ said Fancy Frank. ‘* No, he died by his own hand,” said Harold Malcolm, anxious to shield his sister from the deed. ‘*The coward! he cheated me of my re- wre > said Fancy Frank. ‘With all his sins, | did not believe him a coward, to take his own life to escape punish- ment. Yes, it is Harvey Vertner, once the King ef Diamonds, and now the outlaw chief of the Tigers; oh, that he could speak to tell me of my poor child,” groaned Major Malcolm, glancing earnestly into the pallid, upturned face of the dead man. ‘*T am here, father.” “What!” and the old man again swayed wildly, as if overcome with glad surprise or sickening doubt. ‘Yes, father, through all his crimes, poor hoarse whisper from the man’s lips, now stained | Nina was true to the man you gave her to,’’ and with froth and blood, for he drove his sharp | Harold Malcolm stepped forward and raised teeth again and again into the flesh. Then his eyes closed, and she believed him dead; but suddenly there came a volley of mus- ketry, the sound of iron hoofs, and loud cries in the retreat, and the Mad Colonel again opened his eyes and made a vain effort to rise, while he shouted: ‘*Ho! Tigers! to the rescue! oh, curses! I am wounded, for I cannot rise; but cut them down! show no mercy to man or woman! hurrah! fol- low me, Tigers, and I will lead you to the depths of hell!” A half-suppressed shout, and Harvey Vert- ner, the Mad Colonel, was dead, while, with staring eyes, Nina, the woman he had cruelly wronged, stood gazing upon him, and to her ears came the shouts without, and the noise of the conflict, for though taken by surprise the Tigers were fighting bravely. ‘*Oh God! the end has come, and I must fly from here,” she suddenly cried, and then she continued in a low tone: ** He is dead now, and toward the dead I must "05 hold ill-will—good-by, Harvey,” and she drew a step nearer, and laid her hand upon his; oe. good-by, Harvey; you are dead and | forgive as now,” and bending over she imprinted a iss upon his forehead, just as the door burst open, and in sprung Captain Crimson, the Man of the Iron Face, a revolver in each hand. ‘Ha! this is the den of—” He started back, for his eyes fell upon the woman, who said firmly and distinctly: ‘‘Of him whom men call the Mad Colonel, Harvey Vertner.” “Great God! I have tracked that man for years, to avenge a sister’s wrongs, and the wrong he did me—” He paused suddenly and ‘sprung toward the bed, shouting forth: “Hal bal halit is Harvey Vertner, and—” ** He is dead,” said the woman. ‘* Dead! no, he surely cannot be dead! no, no, Death would not cheat me of my reven on him,” and he placed his .hand upon ‘He is dead, for J righted the wrong he did me.’ “And you! who are you?” and he turned upon the woman who drawn over her face her black vail at his entrance. ‘‘T am one he has deeply wronged—” ‘“‘By Heaven, 1 s see that face,” and springing forward he tore the vail away, and e white, beautiful face was revealed. ‘Great God! Nina, my sister, I believed you dead,” he said, in almost inarticulate tones. a Aus te who and what are you?’ she asked, in a hoarse whisper. Instantly he his hands to his head and drew off the iron mask he rer upon the floor. God, I thank Thee; you are my brother Harold,” almost sbrieked the woman, throwing herself upon his broad mail-covered breast. ‘‘Ha!l who called the name of Harold Mal- colm?’ cried a loud voice, and Major Malcolm se into the room, followed by Fancy nk. But one look u the stern, handsome face and he recogn the son he had believed dead and tottering he would have fallen, had not Fancy Frank se re we ‘* Harold! my boy, arisen to life again?” Pay, father, I am Harold your son—whom that man lying there, Vertner, sought to kill, and nearly succeeded; but thanks to Powell here, who found me sorely wounded in a motte, where your old Jack had taken me, I was nursed back to life.” “T reeall you now; your servant fled, believ- ing us Indians, and I had ou carried to my camp, where it was pull Dick pull Devil for our = am glad to meet you again, Mr. m. ‘* I told you I owed you a service I[ could ne- ver repay, Powell; but of course you did not know me, as I assumed this disguise and rigged myself out in armor, determined that no one should believe me alive, until I had avenged ere —EEE Tn enema —————————— Nina from the low seat she had sunk upon to hide herself from view, and to feast her eyes upon the glad sight of her father’s and her bro- ther’s faces. **My child! my poor, poor Nina,” and the two were in each other’s arms, while stepping to the door and closing it Harold Malcolm sai in @ low tone: = Father, none need know the sad secret of r Nina’s life, other than our noble friend ere, and [ too may remain as a mystery, so we will start at once for the nearest station, and go to my home in Texas, for I have been very successful there as a stock-raiser; there you can join us, selling out your interests here, where only painful memories must haunt us all.” ** You are right, my son, and you are wise,” said the major. ‘** And I will accOmpany you, until you reach the railroad,” remarked Fancy Frank. ‘* What, are we to lose you, too?’ asked the major. ‘* Yes; that man dead, I can now return to my tribe, the Winnebagoes, of which nation you know Lam counselor and Medicine-chief,” said ar Frank, with a sad smile. “Then let us start at once, before the men gather and the secret becomes known,” and taking up his iron mask Harold Malcolm re- p it upon his face, and a few moments after a party of five persons rode away from the cabin of the Mad Colonel. five were Harold Malcolm and his sorrowing sister Nina, Fancy Frank, who was turning his back forever upon the woman he loved, and leaving her to another, a rival who had saved his life, by which act he had dis- armed his hatred of him, and 1 Dave, now most anxious to cling to his old school- mate of long ago, and Billy Buttons. “IT know the secret — follow me!” said Nina ee and she led the way across the river toward the mountains, while behind her followed the others, all buried in their own thoughts, excepting Billy Buttons whose heart was as light as a feather in weal or woe. CHAPTER XXXIX. A BACKWARD GLANCE. LEAVING Fancy Frank and his party to con- tinue on to the nearest railroad station, I will ask my reader to return with me to the cabin of the Mad Colonel, over whose body eo oe Mal- colm stood guard go the room wi quick, nervous steps his head bent down, his ds clasped behind his back, and his whole attitude of a man who lived not then in the present but far back in the = And true it was, for he was living over again a few bitter years of the long ago, and, in mem- ory’s mirror that the d body of Harvey Vertner held up before his face, and casting its reflections into his heart, he was floating down the ng Mississippi in one of the grand pal- ac e pride of the rolling torrent to which the Indians gave the name of Father of Wa- rs. ‘Lhe moon was riding in a cloudless sky, light- ing up the murky waters with a silvery and glimm the white villas of the anters, from ch floated strains of music on a balmy, perfumed air; but from these ever varying he had turned into the | brilliantly lighted ca in, where were gath- 6 © passengers, talking, sin , writing or pla cards; before thew Tastes betind paused, as if drawn thither by a fascination he could not resist. Long, without on the guard, he had struggled with himself to resist the temptation, struggled as the drunkard struggles to put from him the intoxicating cup; but he had fallen, and, as the po aie te that fall sweeps before him. on mem- ory’s less pinions, he groans aloud as he paces the cabin and shuts his teeth more firmly. Tempted, he sat down, and ere long all but Saf Salen ee for the stakes ran too one was a gambler, and well he remem- bered him as he was then; his face strangely youthful and womanly in its beauty and fas- —_—--—- cinations, a beauty which death even had not robbed him of, and the thinking man cast a fur- tive look at the dead. But the devil lurked beneath the man’s beauty, and he arose from that table after mid- night with Burt Malcolm in his power; he had played for a high stake, the hand of Nina Mal- colm, and he had won. But bitter had been that winning, for to gain her he had taken her brother’s life, had played a double part, and had fied with her, not to scenes Of joy, but to scenes of desolation and crime. And then bad followed reckless dissipation for Major Malcolm, mad gambling revels, and at last ruin. But the couraze of the man was not broken by the loss of his fortune, for, in heart there was yet left a germ that budded forth into a new life, cast the bitter past behind him, and caused him to trample under foot the tempta- tions that had lured him on, and seek in the far West a new home for those he bad yet left to im. But he had hoped, almost against hope, to one day find the man who had crusbed his life, and stolen from him his child; and at last that hope had been realized, for that man, once Kent Conrad, the King of Diamonds, now the Mad Colonel, lay dead within reach of his arm, and his own daughter Nina he had folded in his arms, a repentant, returning prodigal who had suffered more than tongue could tell. And more, the brave boy he had long be- lieved dead, was alive once more, and the cup of bitterness he had drank to the dregs was now full to the brim with joy, and the latter days of his life had looming up before them a horizon tinged with happiness. And, as this glance of ret tion swept over him, bringing joy at last, Major Malcolm halted before the dead, upturn face, still beautiful in death, and said in a low tone: ‘*Curse you! Harvey Vertner, ay, curse you, though you be dead, for the ruin you brougnt upon my child; but death has its seal upon thy heart now, and out of the gloom sunshine has come.” He paused, for he heard voices approaching, and a moment after there ente Captain Carleton and Henry Maverick, and between them they bore a slender form. It was Ross Hiliott, his face white, his lips a. and from his side welled a stream of lood. CHAPTER XL. ROSE ROSSELL. “Ts he dead?” and Major Malcolm sprung to sae eae of the youth he had learned to love so wel, ‘* She is not dead, major, but I fear her case is hopeless,” said Captain Carleton, sadly. ““She! whom do you mean, captain?” asked the major, in surprise. The eyes opened wearily, and fixed them- selves upon the face of Major Malcolm, while the words came faintly: ‘Yes, major, I am not what I have appeared to you; Iam a woman.” ‘‘A woman! Great heavens! can this be true?’ “It is true, Major Malcolm; I assumed this d to hunt down one who had wronged me bitterly, and who I am told is déad. * Thank God! and thank God that I die, ‘**To whom do you refer, my poor girl?” asked the major, kindly. af ‘**To him whom men call the Mad Colonel.” ‘Ha! you, too, one of his victims?” “Yes; itisa long story, and I feel the life- current ebbing fast. ‘*T tell you the truth, Iam not Ross Elliott, mot + ; child; but is there no hope?” poor, poor ‘ no ho # No, Major Malcolm, and I rejoice That there is not, for I wish to die, and I asked them to bring me here that I might first see his face onee more, for now that he is dead, I feel no enmity in my heart as him; raisé me up, please, and let me see him.” She was taken tenderly up in the arms of the major and Carleton, and placed so as to see the dead form of Harvey Vertner. ‘‘Put his hand in mine, please,” she said, faintly, and Captain Carleton silently obey ed. " me die thus, for I forgive him all; don’t po Spations, my good friends, for I will not ong. “Impatient! God knows, child, we would do anything in our power for you,” groaned the major, who, with Carleton and Henry Maverick, was deeply moved at the touching scene Then slowly the eyelids drooped still fixed upon the face of the dead outlaw, and with a sigh, the spirit of Rose Rossel] had taken its flight from the body. “TI will bury them side by side, for so she , the eyes would wish it,” said Major colm, brushing a tear from his eye. ‘It’s a ea Meg ute the earth that holds her, by having h ve near it,” broke in Henry Maverick, but Captain Carleton an- swered: GOmichbooks.co | , , | ) | | — — «s—-——_—— OF pee as