Beadle's Dime Library, Vol. XII, No. 145 — page 24: what you’re looking at

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

a ee —s = — - —_- A tt ttl neem im Pistol Pards. eee ee —" — ——————EOEOe ; and then Soft Hand was following after his could wall him up alive. How soon, now, was retreating companions, while Alabaster Jim | the torpedo to come, to finish the work? crouched alone in the little narrow opening, | He had not long to wait. waiting for the foe that again was gathering | In that time, however, he was not inactive: steepest. They tried to throw me back into | my prisou-house, but they could not befool me twice. I slipped away, met Gomez, who told me of your intentions, and then came to warn you and té join you. Am I welcome?’ “So yer do need me, arter all?’ said Ala- baster Jim, his mind reverting to the conver- sation at Lrish Molly’s. “ In course yer wel- come: but there’s ther chance fur hard knocks an’ no glory. hyar.” ‘No; for they are close at hand. I only beaded them off by leaving my mustang and climbing where it would puzzle a goat to find much more than a foothold. back. I came to warn you. further here.” “Ye’r’ mistooken, leetle ’un. You can go no Thar’s a doz. We hev no time to fool away | You must turn | | from Alabaster Jim in the past, a white flig _ for another charge. CHAPTER XXXIT. THE PARDS STRIKE HARD-PAN. Tre forces gathered for the charge, but af- ter the lesson given them in that one disas- | trous fire there was no particular hurry about making it. On the contrary, taking a lesson was stuck around the corner of the bend to the right, though in that light it was next to im- en er more follerin’ us, an’ on this kind ov a | possible to fell white from black. road it wouldn’t be so healthy to try to cut through. Don’t you hear ’em?’ There was no mistaking the sound that came to their ears as they listened. were close behind, and in force, while further away, beyond the turn, yet evidently rapidly drawing in, was another force. They were caught between two fires. “Ah, what shall we do?’ exclaimed Cata- | wood, bolkily stepping forward from bebind If they | the shelter of the rock. lina, desperately. ‘‘In such a place numbers will tell. Every turning is a fort. only hold them we may die here of starvation. | We might indeed swing ourselves over the cliff; but what better off would we be?’ ‘*Keep cool. Ef they hevn’t blocked it up, thar's a chance yit.” He gave an uneasy glance or two toward the rear, but there seemed yet a moment or two to call their own, and he led them for- ward, until they reached a crevice in the hith- erto solid wall to the right. “One at a time, now an’ go slow. Yer can’t ride twenty foot; but jeave yer mustangs strung along. Up yer go, an’ no nonsense. When yer git clean to ther top, give ther rock a tilt and plug ther road shut—Fll go round ther t’other way an’ j’ine yer.” There was some hesitation, some demur. “Go!” said Alabaster Jim, with a sternness that was new to him, and sat strangely on his happy-go-lucky features. ‘‘Do yer want to kill me, sure?” Into the narrow rift three of the party passed, and followed the difficult pass that led straight upward until lost in darkness, It seemed impossible that it should prove a prac- ticable way of escape, confidently as Alabaster Jim had spoken of it. “So long, pard,” said the latter, carelessly, as last of all Soft Hand turned toward the rift. ‘You won’t be out er ther woods, by a long chalk; but do yer level best, an’ then, ef ther time kims to go under you won’t grumble.” “But I’m not goin’,” responded Soft Hand, quietly. ‘I'm the other kind of a duck alto- gether; an’ not so much a duek as a rooster. We'll try ’em one fly, anyhow.” “‘ You’ve got to go sooner er later; jist keep watch ov what's kimin’ frum behind, an’ I'll see what’s round ther bend. When I do say skip, though, skip, er I'll plug you. You hear me? Thar’s no foolishness about me. I want my chances, er ef you'll say yer know ther country better ner me I’ll go ‘long with ther rest.” ‘‘Have it your own way,” hastily inter- Soft Hand, for he saw that his partner meant what be said. Then, he turned bis at- tention to the bend arouud which they had come, while the other investigated the land in front. The steps of the pursuers came nearer and nearer; then suddenly stopped. Probably they were suspicious of some trick for everything became wonderfully quiet, until the crack of Soft Hand’s revolver awoke the echoes. A man was lying at full length on the ledge, peering around the edge of the bend that had curtained his approach. Scarcely had his face uppeared when it was drawn away again; but .be withdrawal was a spasmodic action. At ‘ .oe glimpse Soft Hand had fired—and he miss- ed no marks, , As though the shot was a signal, on either side appeared armed men, ready for a charge, and as coolly as though practicing at g balls the two opened a. fire, rapid and deadly. fhree or four shots apiece they fired and then ine foe vanished from sight around the bend. ‘Now, git!’ said Alabaster Jim, “I’m holdin’ ther balance ov this yere funeral alone.” There was just one warm clasp of hands, It was not bard, however, to make Alabas- ter Jim understand that a parley was wanted; and that suited bim very well, for he was The pursuers | anxious to gain time. ‘‘ All right,” he responded, to the appeal of Colonel Dashwood. ‘‘Toot yer born, ef yer don’t sell a ciam. I’m hyar, ready fur rea- | son.” ‘‘ Reason let it be,” interposed Colonel Dash- ‘‘ What sense or reason is there in making a fight now? Sooner or later we are bound to have you two.” ‘*That’s jist ther same solid chunks ov wis- dom yer slung at us down in Red Cat Gulch; can’t yer start somethin’ fresh?” “That kind of lightning luck don’t strike twice in the same place. And then we were trying to take you alive; while now no one here cares a continental whether you two go under by rope or bullet. Factis no one is caring for you atall. If you'll hold up your hands and swear never to molest us again we'll let you step out, and I'll pledge you my word that.no one here shall barm you between this and ’Frisco.” ‘You will? Well, my sweet-scented tulip, that’s very square fur you—only, Lain’t comin’, Ef you think you kin hustle us outer hyar try it. Each on us kin drop his half dozen afore you kin git a fair sight on us, an’ we’ll hey six shots an’ a bowie-knife apiece left. When we git through with them whar will you be? Whar, oh, whar?” “Oh, but we’re not such fools as that. All we have to do is to sit down quietly; and this time we'll do it. We have every chance, and we'll starve you out, or starve you to death. And if you think you can make your escape through the Devil's Door you’re very much mistaken, because you've lost your chance. By this time there are half a dozen men on the look out up there, and if they baven’t shut the door they are watching, and will kill you one at a time, if you try to escape that way, and we do not overhaul you.” “Starve away, and be hanged,” shouted back Alabaster Jim, defiantly. ‘‘ Pull down ver flag an’ git, ther batteries is about openin’ fire.” At this abrupt close of the conference the colonel skipped nimbly out of sight, but a voice from the other side took up thé strain: ‘*Be ready, thar, kunnel, when you hear a noise ez though the world hed come to an eend, an’ everything broke loose. We’re fixin’ upa cracker to toss. at him, an’ when it blows up, sailin. They'll either be dead gone dead, er they’ll hev to dodge in,” Alabaster Jim looked around him. Evidently the time for trying whatever desperate scheme he might have in view was just about at hand. The idea of a torpedo was something he had not thought of for he had believed that with the advantages of position, he had, he could hold the spot for an hour or more against an army. Moreover he was more uneasy than he would have cared to own over the reception his friends might meet at the other end of the passage which had been styled the Devil’s Doorway. It might be that the colonel was only telling a lie; then again it was as likely as not the truth. : While he listened there came from the nar- now passage at bis back a hollow rumbie, fol- lowed by a deep, sudden jar. , _ The passageway was closed now, no matter whose hands had done the work; and in that direction at least there was no longer any way of Once let the colonel and his men reach the lower mouth of the passage and they nor had he deliberately stationed himself there | without some plan of actiou. The hand-grenade came hissing through the _air, its short fusee on fire, That moment was bis chance, since he knew that none would care to expose himself to dan- ger from the petard for the sake of watching. how it worked. At the horn of the saddle on which he had ridden away from Dashwood’s hacienda, Ala- baster Jim had found a stout, long lariat, and this he now held in his band. !mmediately in front of him a single tree, springing from the rocky ledge, shot out over the precipice, sug- gesting a way of escape. Utterly reckless of what might lie beneath him he sprung upon the tree, hastily knotted the lariat to the trunk, and casting the free end into the gulf he slid rapidly down, just passing from sight as the torpedo ex- ploded. Hardly had he disappeared when the charge: came. Had any one thought, at this moment, to look over the verge he might have been picked off as he clung to the rope. But so intent were they all upon the Devil’s Doorway that no one had eyes for anything else. Several random shots were fired and there was prodigious yelling. Then, they dashed into the rift with savage recklessness; and there found unmistakable evidence that Alabaster Jim, at least, had not followed that, line of retreat, ‘Hush, all of you,” said the colonel, holding: up his hand. “Perhaps we may hear some- thing of them,’ ‘Not a whisper. It’s blowed him away. I wouldn’t wonder ef he’s landed down in the. Bowl.” “ An idea,” thought Dashwood, and stepping out and across the ledge he saw at once the lariat hanging loosely, and surmised that this was the way the disappearance had been ef- fected. Other eyes saw it too. ‘‘Tt don’t look ez though they both hed time to git away,” said one of the party, incau- tiously approaching, to look over the brink. Fortunate for him was it that he leaned no further, for, from below, straight upward, there came a shot, that sent his hat spinning, with a bullet hole in the brim, and the ball had gone so near to his nose that for the moment he believed himself hit. ‘‘Tt makes little difference, and that way you'll never find out either that or anything else, unless you learn it in Kingdom Come. One of you take a rifle, or something, and fish the rope out.” The men were careful enough about it and succeeded in effecting their purpose without. drawing any more shots from the skillful marksman that lurked below, ‘“‘ Now, starve! Youre in the Devil’s Bow] and no way to get out! We've seen and heard the last of you anyway!” : The colonel shook his fist in the direction of the gash in the mountains where Alabaster Jim was lurking. He evidently thought the world was well rid of such a man, While this was going on a strong force had entered the rift in the wall and cautiously pur- sued their way along the strangely-formed pathway. Before long the darkness grew intense. No moonbeams, bright though they might be, could struggle in here; andit was by no means pleasant to go stumbling along with the possi- bility that any moment a fugitive might open fire with deadly effect, The way went on and up, at times growing broader, but for the most part only wide enough for a single foot passenger. Leon Cerrado, who glided along in the advance, knew the pathway reasonably well, and pur- sued his way with such confidence that when his foot struck suddenly against some unex- pected obstacle he pitched heavily forward, j giving vent to a wild yell as he went. It was fortunate that no one began to shoot; for in that case Leon, springing to his feet, would have been the one to er. He had stumbled over the body of a man, lying mo- tionless in the marrow passage. He guessed as much by the feel, for it was too dark to see anything, and having risen again, he stooped and spread out his band in of the y. He found it, amd apn iron gripe had the OOO) Goim gS) (é a ee (ECO)