Beadle's Dime Library No. 170 — page 18: what you’re looking at

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

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Striking a match, he ignited the leaves, carefully feeding the tiny flame with dried twigs until it was sufficiently strong for his purpose. ‘* Now you want to slue around yere, so I kin git at that hole, young feller. So! lay still, now, an’ take it as easy as you kin, consid- erin’.” With his keen knife, Sweet William slit open the blood-saturated garments of the young man, and laid bare the wound. His face was very grave at first, but as the coagulated blood was tenderly washed away, his countenance grew more cheerful. The treacherous shot had struck several inches below Leo’s shoulder-blade, on the left side, the bullet emerging from his breast, a few inches below the left nipple, having apparently passed directly through the body; but only ap- arently Striking upon a rib-bone, the bullet had followed it around, inflicting a painful and severe wound, but by no means mortal, or even dangerous, provided proper precautions were ken, , ‘*Tain’t no more’n a scratch!” said the old trapper, with a long breath of relief. ‘* You'll be seunder’n ever in a week’s time. A hole like that lets out a p’izen lot o’ weakness—cl’ars the system better’n a bull quart o’ oa Leo made no reply, and thinking him asleep, worn out with fatigue, Sweet William worked on in silence. Tearing a piece frem Leo’s shirt, he scraped it into lint and thoroughly * plugged ” up both holes, then bandaged the hurt to the best of his ability. “ That’s a job well jobbed, an’ now I'll take a closer peep at them dead critters over yen- der—” “Tl go too,” said Friend, lifting his head. ‘¢l’'m curious to learn what kind of flowers—” “You'd better stay whar ety be,” gravely interrupted the old man. ‘Ti you no good in your fix. One lookin’ at ’em is ood as two, an’ I’m stronger an’ better able to ’ar such a sight then you be.” “lam quite strong enough, thanks to your good surgery. Don’t say any more, or I'll go alone.” The old trapper gave a snort of disgust at this speech, but there wasa quiet decision in the young man’s voice that told him further protest would be in vain. It was no difficult task to find materials for making a torch that would answer the purpose, it at the fire, Sweet William led the way to the spot where the dead lay sleeping - until the last trump should awaken them. Truly a gruesome sight! The two bodies lay in distorted attitudes, as though cast brutally down from the bank above. One face was upturned, the film-covered eye- balls staring blindly up toward heaven as though mutely appealing for vengeance upon Several days had evidently elapsed since the two unfortunates met their death, and the sight was one so sickening that Leo Friend leaned back against the bank, wholly overcome. Not so with the old trapper. Right or wrong, he had formed an opinion which he spared no to decide. Bending over the upturned ce, he scrutinized it closely. A heavy gray beard and mustache; long hair that was near] white; a prominent nose; broad, high forehead, across the left edge of which was a jagged scar. Sweet William rose erect, with a peculiar snort, that spake louder than words, ‘“*T knowed how it’d be,” he said, in a low, strange voice. ‘‘ WhenI fust tetched that bod it came to me like a flash. It fitsin with tie rest, an’ makes it all socl’ar. An’ look at that! he fit hard afore he went under, too!” ' “How can you tell?’ asked Leo, in alow _awe-stricken tone, as the old trapper turne toward him. ‘You kin see—he was shot an’ stabbed, both; but that ain’t all. Look at this hand—it’s cut ritty nigh in two. He grabbed the knife held y the feller that killed him, so tight that when it was jerked loose, it cleaf crippled his hand— see ’ ? ‘“Yes—but let us go. It is so horrible—it makes me sick—I camnot look upon—” Sweet William sprung forward and caught the young man in his arms, else he would have en. “I told ye so—but you would come!” he mut- _ tered, disgustedly, as he bore his almost uncon- scious away from the spot of death. ra — got to lay down an’ take a nap, the fust “Not here!” shuddered Leo, as his conductor paused beside the spring. ‘‘I could not sleep so near—that horrible face would haunt me—” ‘* Ef I didn’t know better, I'd most think you rubbed ’em out,” the old man muttered, as, yielding to the wish of his young comrade, he Mowly aided bim down the other ravine. 16 sight won’t do | LL LL ett ttt a ee | i | ’ | taken. | | ee For nearly an hour longer they moved on in utter silence, then Leo was forced to call a halt, too much exhausted to travel further. Sweet William was willing, and seeking outa snug hollow where an overhanging ledge of rocks would partially protect them from the dew, the fugitives sunk down to rest. eo almost immediately fell asleep, but not so his old companion. eg his pipe he smoked slowly and thoughtfully, his brain unusually busy. The day wasdawning when he bent over and gently awakened Leo. ‘* | couldn’t wait no longer,” he said, in answer to the inquiring look. ‘‘l’ve found out who killed Don Larkin !” CHAPTER XXII. A GLIMPSE OF THE MYSTERY. ‘No, I ain’t jokin’, nuther be I drunk, nur yit gone crazy,” quietly added Sweet William, in answer to the wondering, almost dazed look with which Leo Friend greeted the truly start- ling announcement of a discovery that would, if properly substantiated, remove the brand of shame from bis name, and from a hunted con- vict change him into a free and respected citi- zen once more. ‘‘I’ve tbunk if all over sence yvou’ve bin layin’ thar asleep,” added the old trapper. ‘‘ Not only am I ready fer to sw’ar that I kin lay my han’ onto the man as killed Don Larkin, but more’n that—I b’lieve I kin pint out the bead ones in the murder o’ them two men back yender.” “If you can, [ll never forget—lI can’t speak out what IL would like, old friend. Something chokes me whenever I try. But the time will come—” “Take it easy, young feller,” Sweet William } bluntly interrupted. ‘ I’m runnin’ this job fer my own satisfaction. Ef you’re benefited any way, that’s your good luck; but you don’t need to waste any breath in thankin’ me. Td do jest the same ef you’d never been born.” Leo made no response. He was more than usually sensitive, now that he was so weak and his nerves so unstrung, and the blunt, almost rude address of the old trapper was keenly felt. If Sweet William noticed this fact, he gave no sign. He deliberately crumbled up a piece of tobacco, and filled his pipe, nor spoke again un. til the fragrant weed was smoking freely. ‘* Now that I kin see my way pritty nigh to the end, | don’t reckon thar’ll be any harm in my tellin’ you the bull story from fust to last. You kin pick out them parts that most consarn yourself as I go along. ** You’ve hearn tell o’ the ‘Crimson Clan,’ as the set o’ hoss-thieves an’ cut-throats is called that uses around these parts. Course you hev, sense them p’izeh critters cused you o’ bein’ Cap’n Moonlight. Waal, it’s all along o’ them varmints that me ’nd my mates come to this part o’ the kentry. Not to putt too fine a pint on it, we’re detectives, an’ our business is to break up the hull gang, of which these red riders is only a small part. I never let on to you afore, ’cause | wasn’t sure you was of the right stripe. I’ve tried you, now, an’ know that I kin trust you for whatever help may be needed, ‘*So much fer that, an’ now fer the de-tails. ‘* Fer sartin reasons, me ’nd my pard sold our hosses afore we come to this settlement. We sold ’em to the fust hoss traders we met; those two same men we saw the dead bodies of, back yender. Iknow it. Wespent one night long of them, an’ that big scar couldn’t be easy mis- The old man was the boss, an’ be paid us. He only hed big bills, which we preferred to gold, bein’ easier. to kerry. In makin’ the right change, I give him a marked bill fer five dollars, an’ a ten-dojlar gold piece thet some- body hed marked with a star on one side. - ‘Waal, we come here, an’ set to playin’ our parts, mine bein’ that of a rip-roarin’, rum- suckin’ old coon. But we wasn’t idle, by no manner 0’ means. We was at work, spottin’ members 0’ the gang, one a’ter another, an’ doin’ our level best to diskiver who an’ which was the boss—Captain Moonlight. ‘* We hed our s’picions, 0’ course, an’ worked on them, but it wouldn’t do to show our hand afore we was dead sure. One thing I don’t mind tellin’ you: these hoss-thieves as make up the Crimson Clan is workin’ in cahoots with the Mormons, ef they ain’t the same comp’ny as call theirselves the ‘Sons of Dan,’ or Danites. ‘* My findin’ this out set me to watchin’ Joe Smith an’ his two chums, Rigdon and Gerald Evans, an’ thanks to that, together with what we diskivered back thar in the holler, I’ve found out who killed Don Larkin, “The night afore—now mind this p’int— the night afore Joe Smith showed us his merri- cle, I was follerin’ an’ watchin’ them three men, workin’ like p’izen snakes in the dark. By a lucky chaince they passed nigh whar I was cached in the timmer, an’ like a good scout, I follered to see what I could see." You know the night was a bright moonlight, an’ so I didn’t dar’ git cluss enough to’em to ketch any o’ thar talk as they went along. But afore long they come to a halt, an’ lightin’ a lantern, set to dig- gin’ a hole in the ground under a big tree. That give me a chaince to crowd up clusser, which I did, slick enough. | to do with it, an’ then fixed up the surprise. ‘* They was laughin’ an’ in a high good humor over somethin’, an’ *twasn’t long afore they let out enough to show me the game they was playin’. They was plantin’ a treasure, which they was goin’ to get Anderson Gladden to help ’em dig up ag’in. They lowed that would fetch him over to thar side, body an’ britches. With his good will, an’ that o’ the fri’nds he would kerry with him, they cale’lated they would be strong enough to hold thar own ag’in’ the storm that hes bin a-brewin’ fer so long. ‘* Now I ain’t a Mormon lover, myself, an fer public good, as well as fer private reasons, I made up my mind to spile thar little. game. So, when they’d left, I marks the spot, an’ then struck off to find my mate. I did find him, an’ atween us, we fixed up a little s’prise fer the Mormons. ‘ust, we tuck an’ dug up the treasure, an’ a nice little sum it was, too; gold kine an’ bank notes, over two thousan’ dollars in all, We was countin’ it up, when what should we find but that five-dollar note an’ the eagle with a star— the same money I paid to the trader as bought our bosses the week afore! ae i we was kinder astonished. E? thar hed bin only one piece, it wouldn’t ’a’ looked so queer; but tosee them both together, an’ knowin’ as we did that the traders hedn’t bin seen in these parts, leastways by any o’ our men, while those as buried the money hedn’t bin out o’ the neighborhood since we come here, it ain’t noways strange that we should suspect foul ey, ‘Waal, we tuck the money an’ putt it away in a safe place ontil we could decide what else A little s’archin’ ’round soon diskivered a fine old rattlesnake, which we putt in the box an’ kiv- ered all up, so that nobody wouldn’t s’pect nothin’ ontil they dug up the box an’ raised the kiver—” ‘* But they would be bitten!” exclaimed Leo, his first interruption since silenced by Sweet William. “Surely you did not intend that—” ‘* Small loss ef we hed,” grunted the old man: ‘** but that wasn’t our game. When we found the snake, I flipped a silk handkercher at it, an’ the fool critter struck, in course. That tangled its fangs, an’ 1 jest jerked ’em out—a easy job o’ dentistry, ef a feller only knows how. ‘*Waal, the next thing was to find out when the tea-party was to come off, so we could be thar to see the fun. That part fell to my mate, an’ he did his work well, too. - “They’s one thing I hain’t told you about him; an’ that is his powers—I mean he kin tbrow his voice all around, an’ even make dead things speak fer all the world as if they was alive—” ‘ Ventriloquism,” suggested Leo. ‘‘T reckon; I call it his powers. ‘Twas through them he helped make a fool of Joe Smith the night o’ the merricle, when Hark Foster finished the job by tumblin’ out o’ the tree, a’ter lettin’ down the white pigeon. He hed a little fun ‘long o’ the Mormons an’ Glad- den, too, afore they sot out to bunt fer the treasure, an’ while they was lookin’ fer the voice, he hed time to give me the office, an’ both ov us cached ourselves in the bushes nigh whar we found the money. —? come in good time, Joe Smitb suckin’ at a whisky-jug, an’ fast gittin’ drunk as a b’iled ‘owl, an’ Gladden totin’ the tools fer to dig 7 the treasure. ‘* The other three played him fer a fu’st-class fool, an’ they did thar work well. They drew a magic circle, an’ said prayers and charms by the dozen, to keep off the spcoks, a-crackin’ sly jokes atween themselves whenever Gladden wasn’t payin’ attention. It was high old fun fer them! But it wasn’t long afore the joke was on t’other side, when we j’ined in the chorus. “They killed the black ram—good eatin’ he was, too, though not quite as tender as lamb!— an’ Gladden sot to work, jest makin’ the dirt y: ‘‘Then mate set his powers to work, conti) you'd ’a’ thought a hull dog-goned menagerie hed bin turned loose in thet bit o’ timmer. Twas wuth a fortin’ jest to see them three p’izen Mormons! The joke sot mighty oneasy onto thar stomicks, that was plain to be see’d., They was mighty bad skeered, an’ a-growin’ no better monstrous fast. Mate didn’t give em no rest, but worked his powers fer all that was out. Wecould hear thar teeth rattle—all but Gladden. He wastrue grit. He jest worked on an’ paid no ’tention to nothin’. ‘* Finally mate sounded a rattler, so nat’ral that it skeered even me. You'd orter see’d them three p’izen critters git up an’ git! Run? an’ yell? Now you're talkin’ Why a double-an’- twisted harrycane couldn’t ’a’ cut a straighter — through them bushes an’ briers fen they _“‘Gladden never fazed a ha’r, but clubbed his pick an’ stood ready fer whatever mought come. Chen mate, thinkin’ to save him the skeer of the snake in the box, made bis powers speak, an’ warned him to run fer it while he could. But *twasno go. The old man hed come for money, an’ wouldn’t be bluffed off. ‘*He dug down ontel he struck the box, then jumped into the hole an’ tore it open with his (E| 9/09) a EE AAP ee a a *> com S =< » é — ee Pee s