Beadle's Dime Library No. 170 — page 21: what you’re looking at

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

aioe \- _— — least. Take that as an offset to your threat. So far we understand each other, I believe. Now tell me what work you have on hand that is too difficult or dangerous for a cunning scoundrel like you to carry out without a voman’s assistance.” ‘‘Not here,” and Evans laughed softly. “I am cunning enough tohold my vantage ground. Come outside, where one can be sure there are no listening ears at hand to overhear and store up damaging revelations for future use.” With a contemptuous curl of her full, red lips as her only answer to this insolent speech, Mattie led the way out of the house and to the edge of the spring, where eavesdropping would be impossible. ‘‘ Since we are to be allies for the time being,” said Evans, after assuring himself that no person could approach within earshot un- observed, “I will be candid, and conceal nothing from you, though the confession might well be mortifying to a less vain man than my- self. In short, last evening my suit was positively rejected by Belle Gladden, and, in adition, her father pitched me out of doors, neck and heels: ’ “Yet I'll wager he is alive and well at this moment.” ‘And you would win,” coolly. ‘“* If it were otherwise—if 1 had followed my first impulse, and sent a bullet through his brain, you and and every friend of the new religion would now be fleeing for our lives.” “Well, what is it you wish me to do? Am I to plead your suit for you, and try to soften the obdurate damsel’s heart, by reciting your mani- fold virtues? There are few persons who could do the subject justice better than I.” ‘*‘ Not exactly that, but I depend upon you to secure me a private interview with the lady—” “ That is, you expect me to abduct her?’ ‘‘ Something much the same. I want you to afford her an asylum in that red room of yours, foratime. Once there, I think I can persuade ber to change her mind and grant my earnest prayer.” ‘You must love her very dearly, to be will- ing to take so much trouble and run such great : ? ‘‘T do like her, but love—my day for that, as you doubtless understand the word, is gone by, long ago. I mean to marry her for her money ; nothing more.” | ‘Old Gladden is very well off, but there are richer men who have daughters, who might be easier to manage. You are not dealing openly with me.” ‘“ T don’t depend wholly upon Anderson Glad- den’s money, though even that is not to be de- spised. I am not even sure that he is her father —if so, then he has changed remarkably in the last eighteen years. Belle was born in Eng- land, and when she was less than a year old, her father committed a murder, for which he would have been executed, only he managed to escape just-before the time set for his trial. Belle’s mother brought her back to her people in America, and died soon after. ‘¢ Her father was highly connected in England. One of bis relatives, a rich old Indian, refused to believe in bis guilt, and erected a grand monument over the body which was supposed to be that of Belle’s father, found in the Thames, shortly after his escape. On bis death, this uncle left his immense fortune to Belle, provided she appeared to claim it before her twenty-first birthday. “Just how I became acquainted with this fact, does not matter now. Enough that it is an undoubted fact, and that 1, as the husband of the heiress, intend claiming the legacy.” ‘‘And what is to be my share, for doing your work?” rt gi, ‘“You shall name your own price, if my lans are successful,” was the prompt reply. ‘And yet, it seems to me that you will be work- ing quite as much for yourself as for me. I xnow what your feelings are toward Leo Friend, While Belle Gladden is free, he will never re- turn to you. Let her once marry Rie, and the chances are all in your favor. You need not look so offended. e are both in the same pickle—both rejected in fayor of another. ‘‘T know l am a fool—but I would give my soul, a thousand times over, if that could be, to win him back. You do not know—you Can- not imagine what my feelings are. I suffer the tortures of the damned every hour in the day! If it does not end, in one way or another, very soon, I will kill myself to keep from going mad!” The words as written, convey but a poor idea of the suffocating passion with which this speech was uttered. Even Evans, as well as he fancied he knew Leo, was amazed. The next minute Mattie was outwardly as calm and composed as ever; ouly her lips still quivered and her eyes glowed ie ‘‘You will send me word what 1 am to do, and when you need my aid. [I promise you all the assistance in my power to give. In return, you will hold Leo harmless—you will even ard him against all other enemies. mem- r, I too, will watch, and if I find you are playing me false, true as there is a heaven above! I will kill you with my own hand.” Sweet William, the With these words, she turned and hastened back to the house. Evan watched her until she disappeared, then beckoned to Hark Foster. Followed by the old fox, he led the way slowly toward the timber. ‘‘ What is the idiot fellow doing here?”. “Them as picks him up fer a fool, ‘Il drop him with burnt fingers, suve /” grinned the old man. ‘‘Has he been playing a part?’ sharply de- manded Evans. “ Whoand whatis he? How did you get acquainted with him, and how came it he seems so intimate with the men, over yonder?” ‘* He’s one o’ the fambly, an’ came up from below,” was the slow reply, for Hark just re-. membered the caution given him by Simple Simon. ‘‘You are sure he is what he pretends? I remember, now, that he came here with that fellow they call Sweet William, and_he, I am almost sure, is a spy of some sort. You must watch him close. Don’t let him into our secrets any more than you can help. I don’t like his looks.” ‘‘He is goin’ on the tramp ‘long 0’ us, to- night. You kin see fer yourself how he does his work.” . ‘‘ Unfortunately I cannot go. You must get along without me for this once. But mind, Don’t let bim out of your sight for a moment, if you can help it. Try and manage so that at least one trustworthy man keeps an eye upon him all the time, until he is proven to be faith- ful. There is trouble ahead, and it is growing darker every day. We rushed the business here entirely too fast, and now we must pay the penalty.” ‘* It’s them cussed Danites, more ’n us—” ‘Sh! not a word against them, if you value your life! Your infernal blunder the other night has raised suspicion against you, and a little more would bring you under the ban. Keep your own counsel, and watch that fellow close. I doubt him—very seriously.” CHAPTER XXXVI. PLOT AND COUNTERPLOT. Sweet Wr1tiAM had given Leo Friend ample food for thought, and, had he been less completely worn out, he could have passed hours in silent pondering over the strange and startling revelations. As it was, the deep, sonorous voice of the old trapper grew fainter by degrees, until it faded into the drowsy hum of a far-away bumblebee seeking its distant home—then died away entirely, and the young man slept. It was high noon when he awoke, and the same indistinct, buzzing sound was ringing in his ears. But the sun was shining brightly now, while then it had been night. Then there was only one Sweet William; now, the old trapper was mysteriously duplicated, pipe, smoke- wreath and all. ‘“‘T’yve bin lookin’ fer you sense long afore day,” one of the smoke-encircled figures was saying. ‘‘Reckon I’d’a’ passed ye clean by, it’s sech a snug cache, ef it hedn’t bin I ketehed a whiff o’ *bacca smoke, an’ ’cluded to ’vestigate matters a little.” “Tain’t everybody’s got a nose like you, mate,” said the deep, booming voice of the original Sweet William. ‘ We ain’t in Injun country now, an’ a man needn’t deny his pipe, long’s he’s reasonable keerful. But what’s the word! You ain’t been huntin’ me fer no rea- son. ‘¢ The boss sent me—’portant businéss,” began the man who: trailed by his nose, but stopped short as a shock-headed, white-faced apparition abruptly made its appearance above a neigh- boring shrub. “Talk lower, unless you want me to over- hear you,” cried Leo, owner of that demoralized looking frontispiece. ‘¢ Come out yere, boy,”.cried Sweet William cheerily. ‘‘Sense you’ve ‘listed in the g cause, ’tain’t no more’n right you should take a sheer in all that’s goin’ on. So} you don’t look . ang as piert as mought be; but I reckon you’ll o. Boy, know Ham Belcher—mate, this yere’s my fri’nd, Leo Friend, You kin talk afore him an’ never stop to count your words. I’m his s’curity.” . ‘*Hope I see ye, boss,” and Belcher bobbed his head toward the young man. “Saw ye down thar, t?other day, when things looked powerful squally—” ‘You don’t need to bring that up now, Ham,” interrupted Sweet William, rather sharply. ‘* You said you come on business. Talk that, fust.” ‘“°Tain’6 so mighty rushin’. They’s time enough an’ to spar’. ’Twas last night, jest a’ter dark, that that McKee feller played sharp on . Slipped his hobbles, lent Tim a belt ‘alongside the nut that'll keep him in fust- class h hes fer a month to come, then made a break fer timmer an’ skun out fer keeps.” “You didn’t let him git clean off!” and the old trapper’s typ owed with an angry light that foreboded an outburst of on that would sweep all before it. ‘‘T didn’t, but the rest did,” coolly added Tim Croghan Trapper Detective. oa” Belcher, evidently enjoying the situation. ‘I was on my way back from town, when I met one 0’ the boys, who told me what wasup. He said they all did thar best, but the slippery coon giv’ ’em all the shake. ‘Nobody *peared to know whar you was, an’ I was the only one that knowed whar to find Fool Simon. ’Course I set out at once—” “You found him? If you wasn’t so pesky fond o’ hearin’ the clack o’ your own tongue!” ‘“‘A man’s tongue ’s made fer talkin’, or *twouldn’t be hung so loose. I'd git through a heap sooner ef you didn’t cross my trail so of’en. Whar was I, anyhow?’ With a snort of disgusted resignation, Sweet William sunk back spon one elbow, yielding to the inevitable. Belcher smiled and nodded ap- provingly, then resumed. ‘‘T struck a bee-line for the shanty whar Hark Foster an’ that she gal o’ his’n hangs out, an’ give the signal for the boss that he was wantin’. Afore long he come out, an’ never givin’ me a chaince fer to tell what was up, told me to hang around thar cluss, ready fer to take keer 0’? McKee, which he was pretty sure somebody would try to run off afore mornin’.” “1¢°d take a Philadelphy lawyer to make head or tail o’ one o’ your reports, Ham Bel- cher! Whar was McKee—how’d he come thar —why didn’t Simon make sure of him—” | ‘‘ McKee was in the house; he come thar on his own legs; an’ Simon did make sure o’ him— tuck him pris’ner afore’em all. He felt sure the gal meant torun the critter off, jist fer spite, an’ as that was the easiest way fer to git him out o’ the house, he left the rest to me an’ went back ag’in, ‘“*Twas nigh day afore Isee anythin’. Then two critters come’round the house, an’I cut along to git in ahead of ’em. As Simon counted on, it was the gal an’ McKee. She give him «@ knife an’ pistol, an’ vised him to cut hot-foot fer head-quarters an’ tell the boss what he hearn Simon say.” ‘* You tuck him, then?’ impatiently. “Sartin. I follered him ontel I knowed the gal couldn’t hear nothin’, then I bounced the eoon. Afore he knowed what was up, I hed his han’s tied ahind him an’a chunk atwixt his jaws, makin’ him walk Spanish fer the den, whar I got afore sun-up,” “Then whar’s your ’portant business—” ‘« Jest comin’ to it,” grinned Belcher. * That about McKee was only to explain bow I come to know ’bout the rest. The told me, afore he went back to the shanty. The Crimson Clan’s goin’ to clean out old Denbree, to-night. We’re to git thar ahead of ‘em, an’ rake in the hull kit, ef so be Cap’n Moonlight is along.” ‘“‘How are we to know that?’ demanded Sweet William. ‘‘This way. The boss is goin’ to be one o’ the gang. You allare to go over to Denbree’s an’ cache. I’m to lay low long the road, an’ when the boss passes, he’}l give me the word. Ef Moonlight is thar, we’re to rake’em in, as L said afore. Ef not, then the boss ’ll use his powers to skeer ’em off afore any burt’s done, an’ we all must help him. They ain’t to be no- body hurt, mind ye, onless we kin bag the head devil, fer fear he’ll skin out—” “Butif you are sure you know who he is—” began Leo, only to be interrupted by Sweet William. . ‘“‘Though I’m ‘morally sartin, we ain’t got no proof. That’ll do, Belcher, You go an’ let the boys know what’s wanted o’ them. Ill be soon a’ter you, tell them,” The man arose and glided away with a noise- less celerity that Leo could butadmire. ‘‘Here’s some grub,” said Sweet William, proms a chunk of cold meat and some corn- read from one of his pockets, ‘ Jest exercise your jaws on that, while I take a look at your hurt. Pity you got it jest now, when thar’s a rospect o’ fun on hand—” ‘“That need not hinder me,” said Leo, eagerly. “‘T feel quite strong enough—” | ‘‘t know it; but you'd git a fever in it, sure, an’ then good-by John! No, you’ve got to lay by fer a few days. Pll look out fer your inter- ests, as well as my own, an’ ef all goes well, everybody ‘ll know who the real Cap’n Moon- light is afore another day’s over. Let that comfort ye, an’ while we’re gone, do you turn in. ag’in an’ sleep all you kin. ‘Tain’t noways likely thar’Il anybody come by yere to distarb ye, but ef they do, don’t make no fight. Jest give in quietly, an’ I’ll see that you git through all right.” Leo was not so headstrong as to reject good advice, and so abandoned all idea of accom- nying his new-found friends. His wound Sressed, his hunger and thirst appeased, he vs! into his leafy refuge and soon rSweet Will- iam bade him -by, fell into a sound and dreamless slumber that lasted for hours. Sweet William made all haste to the deep and lonely hollow in which his comrades had sought shelter and seclusion after the stormy fourth | of July. ‘Not knowing if the Vigilantes were — still afoot, the old trapper made his way — the thickest of the timber where escape wou be comparatively easy in case{of discovery. No such annoyance took place, however, and when | he reached the rendezvous, he found his men all com GOmicooo cS