Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 173 — page 15: what you’re looking at

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

. the saddle; the rope chase at once. Lend me a hoss, some of you ee ae + ee ee ee « When the horse is started, brace yourself for a | in the town—the bay mare that the fugitive be- shock and hold on for dear life, and if you suc- | strode excepted. ceed in escaping don’t forget the men 10 whom ‘Hyer, take my hoss, Bill!” he cried, dis- you owe your life. Remember the place of mounting. meeting up the river and make there as soon as any wey and couldn’t do nothin’ if I did cate you can, but only by night.” up wit him.” The mystery was now unraveled; the mob} Alcibiades swung himself at once into the had been excited to action for the express pur- | saddle and set off in pursuit. Thanks to the pose of giving him a chance to ee speed of his horse he soon caught up with the ‘“‘There you are now!” cried the Hunchback, | rest of the pursuers, in a loud ‘voice, as he finished his work, and | “‘Mighty small chance of ketching him, I again sat upright in the saddle. ‘‘ All ready | reckon,” one of the horsemen observed, after for your trip to another world; and I reckon, | they had ridden on in silence for a few min- too, that you are as well-mounted for the ride | utes. as any man can be, fora better horse than that The fugitive was in plain sight, but gaining bay mar’ never stepped on iron.” : | precpely upon the townsmen. He had got his ‘And I won’t forget it!” observed the pris- nds free and had removed the rope from oner, agar < 3 ** Well, so-long, gentlemen; I around his neck! will try and have things ready for you in the | __‘‘I am afraid that he has got the foot of us,” other world. Ill tell the chief cook to keep a | Yampasremarked. “I never knew anything articularly warm corner for any of the boys : in town to beat that mare.” om Needle Bar.” ** She has only been tried on a quarter stretch, | and no one knows whether she has got the bot- CHAPTER XXV. tom for a long run or not,” Alcibiades replied. A DOUBLE SURPRISE. ‘Ef we could ketch up to him, we’d fix him | who had twice come to his assistance might de- ‘‘ READY?” asked Yampas. mighty quick, and without troubling Judge | vise a third plan, since fortune had frowned ‘** All ready!” the Hunchback replied, _— or a rope to take a hand in the fun,” one | upon the first two in the moment when success ‘‘ Anything to say, judge?” and the half-breed | of the other horsemen said, flourishing his re- | seemed assured. raised the long mule-whip with its cruel lash | volver. As the hour drew nigh the inhabitants of the high in the air. “Yes, unarmed he would fall an easy prey; ‘lt is your last chance, prisoner, to confess!” | and we could make short work of him,” Char- the ee exclaimed, willing to fool the | ley Yampasremarked. ‘‘ And thatreminds me doomed man even when his foot was on the | that I had better see if my tools are in order for threshold of eternity. action.” ‘“‘T have nothing to confess; my soul is free He thrust his hands into the holsters of the from any stain of crime in Needle Bar, although | saddle, and then a sharp and bitter oath es- maybe, I wouldn’t be able to make so good a | caped from his lips. boast about some other places,” the Californian “*Curse the luck!” he cried; ‘‘the pistols are not here; that fool of a negro has changed the saddles! That fellow there has got my revol- vers!” and he pointed toward the sharp, riding for his life. A perfect torrent of curses at this unexpected iece of ill-luck came from the mouths of the orsemen when they learned this news. There were only six of them all told, andif the Cali- fornian was in possession of two revolvers, even if he was overteken, it was no sure thing that they would be able to subdue him. replied frankly. ‘Mebbe the man would like to say a prayer or two,” suggested an old white-headed miner in the throng, ‘‘ or, mebbe, send a few words to the folks at bome who will be apt to wonder what has become of him.” For the first time a slight shade appeared | upon the open countenance of the Fresh. ‘‘T am much obliged, my friend,” he an- swered, ‘‘but lam-no craven hound to fly to prayer at the last extremity, and as for friends, there are few in this world who will care to Alcibiades alone was silent; the suspicion know whether California John is alive or dead. | which had first entered his mind at the time of So you see, under these circumstances, I have | the prisoner’s escape was strengthened by this no use for either prayers or messages, thanking | discovery. The Californian owed his escape you all the same for your kindly thought, bane not to accident but to design, There had been were mixed up init. But, es or no plot, the escape seemed certain, for the sport was draw- ampas, and, California John, may Heaven ing gradually ahead, while the horses of the have mercy on your soul!” California John, the Pacific Thoroughbred. — j ' **T ain’t worth shucks at shooting, . -__C CFT Cr ROhOOrn-_—>-— -—-—— Cr CS OO ne — ee ee a ‘You black-hearted sreoundrel, do you think | pursuers were Deng, to show signs that the your words will have any weight at the judg- ment-seat?”’ the Fresh cried, indignantly. ‘‘Start ’em, Yampas!” Keno Bill yelled, smarting under the taunt. pace was too severe for them. **My nag’s about gone; ten minutes more of pee ag of work will use him up,” Hiko de- clared. ‘*Get up!” and down with a heavy crack | ‘I guess we might as well give it up and call If there had been only one or two guards in came the terrible whip upon the flank of the | it half a day,” Yampas observed. ‘‘That bay | the room he might have corrupted them, for | bay mare, mare has got bottom as well as speed and nary | gladly would he have given all the money which | errified by the sting of the lash, unaccus- tomed to such treatment, the mare sprung for- ward like an arrow from the bow, and if the captive had not been previously warned he must surely have been unseated, but the Cali- chance do we stand of catching her.” But the race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong, and in this case it hap- pened that just as the pursuers slackened rein, and the Fresh, turning in the saddle in order to fornian, well prepared, clung to the born of | watch his pursuers, perceived the movement tightened; and, as with | and murmured allowed that the danger was bated breath the crowd watched the startling —_ the trusty bay mare put one of her front sight expecting to see the rider writhing at the | feet into a hole, stumbled—came down upon end of the cord. Judge of the surprise when | her knees, and the violence of the shock threw the stout pe snapped under the strain about | the rider over ber head as though he had been three feet above the head of the Californian, shot out of a bomb. and away on the back of the steed at a break- Down he came with terrible force upon the neck pace went the man, whom Needle Bar had ground, stunned—completely senseless. doomed to death! A yell came from the lips of the pursuers as ‘The rope was rotten!” was the os cry. | they beheld this unexpected event and they ‘Curse it, Hiko, whar did you get that rope?” | spurred their jaded horses to fresh efforts, and Yampas cried. he was still lying senseless when: they reached ‘From the captain’s store!” replied the | his side. Alcibiades, dismounting quickly ex- Hunchback, turning indignantly upon the old | amined him. store-keeper. ‘‘I paid five dollars for the coil ‘He is alive, all right!” he exclaimed. ‘‘ And and it ought to have been strong enough to | now, gentlemen, this man is mine! We will have hung an elephant,” have no more mob-law but we will have him “You can’t dways tell, gentlemen,” stam- regularly hung to-morrow morning just as it mered the store-keeper; ‘“‘dry rot gets in and | was originally intended, and I will take care you can’t tell without trying, but I will make it | that there won’t be any rotten rope business ood,” | this time.” The position of Judge Lynch was decidedly An hour later the Fresh woke to conscious- eee for thie crowd were cursing him up | ness back in his old quarters! hill and down, as the saying is, for ‘ spoiling | the fun with his durned old rotten rope!’ | But the wildest man of them was Al- cibiades, for a sudden suspicion had crept into | his mind that there was something wrong about | the matter, although he didn’t exactly under- No such exciting events as had occurred dur- stand how the trick had been worked. If there | ing the last few hours had ever transpired at The was a plot, either Hiko or Charley Yampas was | Bar and great was the talk occasioned. concerned in it, although for the life of him he | The execution had been set at twelve, high couldn’t comprehend why either of them should | noon, and the cottonwood tree which had done want to aid the stranger, but there might be |-duty for a gallows before was selected. some powerful motive for it, after all. env Bill having confided to the old store- ‘Don’t let us stand chattering hyer like a | keeper his suspicions in regard to the Cali- pack of fools!” he exclaimed, angrily, ‘‘ but give | fornian’s escape, the two had laid their heads together to make further escape impossible. mounted fellows!” ‘The fourth time may be the charm, you ‘*Come on, boys!” yelled Yampas, and away know,” Alcibiades had observed; ‘‘and the fel- the horsemen sta in pursuit, with the ex- | low may yet succeed in slipping through our ception of-one rather timid miner, who, as it | fingers. Three times he has tried it on, and happened, was mounted upon tho best avimal ‘ every time, just by accident alone, he has been CHAPTER XXVI. NO BLUNDER THIS TIME. retaken. Now, if he gets another chance he e captain was agreed on this point, and so ssible precautions were taken. eno Bill got together a force of twelve men upon whom he thought he could rely; four of them were put in the room with the prisoner guarding bim, and the rest kept watch an ward without. Bill himself never took a wink of sleep during the time that intervened between the recapture and the hour set for the execution. The prisoner, on the contrary, after he had recovered from the effect of the severe fall from the horse, laid himself out upon one of the buffalo-robes and slept as soyndly as a child, untroubled by a single care. One chance only of escape seemed left, and that was through the aid of the girl, and in one respect a portion of that scheme was already defeated. He calculated and weighed all the chances as coolly as if he was but an indifferent looker-on and it was not his own life which was at stake. Perhaps, too, the unknown friends — really off, and then laugh at us.” all : town turned out as one man to witness the sight, and Keno Bill swore fa that was great that the crowd should not cheated of their fun this time. With his own hands he chose the rope, and he took good care to have the article tested, to poste against a second “ accident,” He had had a long conversation with the Doc- tor about the hanging, and finally consented t have him act as hangman, assuring him that the “‘cireus ” should be conducted exacily as he — o the thing up in a ship-shape manner,” was the Doctor's idea. ‘“‘Have a man at the head of the horse, and another man with a loaded rifle ready; and when I give the signal let the man fire the rifleas a signal for tie otver to start the horse.” ‘* Allright; fix itanyway you like. The only thing is to hang the man so that he will stay hanged; that is all 1 want.” The Doctor assured the Keno King that after he had adjusted the hempen cravat nothing short of a miracle would save this dare-devil sport. The hour of twelve drew nigh. Keno Bill fly with lightning-like speed. ‘‘ Will there be a chance for me?” he had murmured to himself a halfa dozen times. “If I ro had a revolver, and the girl is true to her word, there might be. It would bea desperate risk, but I have faced as desperate ones in my time and lived to tell of it.” he had in his pocket for a weapon, and it was a pretty large sum, for to his plunder he had ad- ded the spoils wrested from tie big mule- driver, from Alcibiades, the captain and the ards, and the sum which he had won from eno Bill alone was no trifle. But four men could not be easily bought, since each would fear that the other would Le- or the bargain. ven the poor consolation of ‘“‘spoiling the Egyptians ” at poker was denied him, for Alci- biades had given strict orders that card-playing must not be permitted, The sun was.high in the heavens; all the ple of the town, as well asa great number rom the neighboring places, who had heard of the affair, were in the street, and at just a quar- ter to twelve Alcibiades sent word to bring the prisoner out. Five minutes later tiie procession started, Alcibiades and the old store keeper at the head, then the twelve guards with cocked revolvers with orders to shoot the captive if he tried to escape, or if there were any signs of an attempt to rescue him by force. In the rear came the Doctor, carrying the rope, and the citizens at large specramnte the cortége on all sides. ohn’s first look when he came from his prison-house was for the girl, but she was no- where to be seen. ‘‘ She may be up along the river waiting fora good cpportunity,” he concluded, but, despite this reasoning he really felt depressed on ac- count of ber absence. It was just twelve o’clock when the proces- sion halted under the cottonwood, and as the Fresh looked up into its leafy branches the ur- leasant conviction forced itself upon bin thet his chances of escaping from the rope this time were infinitely small. ‘* Mr. Alcibiades, I want this crowd to stand back. I cannot attend to my duties—my pro- fessional duties, with all these people crowding and gaping at me,” the little Doctor exciaimed, with true professional dignity. Keno Bill immediately directed the twelve guards to form a large semicircle extending from the river tothe river egain, so that the Doctor, his assistant, the priscner and the steed,, 15 ner,” a deep-laid plot, and the chances seemed strong | thought it never would come, so anxious was he * oad ‘‘Since you won’t confess, your doom be on | that both Charley Yampas and the Hunchback | to have the affair off his mind, but to the Cali- our own head!” Alcibiades cried. ‘*Go ahead, fornian, on the contrary, the minutes seemed to J; _ “» ~ PS abe > a vy » be - . a - - - SEE eee we i - ai Si by dost SS — eee oo °* - Ys : re — * a = —s eee ecomicbooks.con * és ry ’ | ‘ j ae. es ° ‘We il , 4 ’ ~ . ‘7 a : ° ™Y ae . : Fane ¥ Ape? ot ;% . : - + < | i be é ite y , 4 . 2 44 a “ * _ - wi ,) ‘ * ¥ a . 4 he ? 4 7 ae v %y . v Pe i . at - 7 <A ae a ee é : be ; ~ i * OP & oul . ‘ “é . ‘ nat ral - ‘ | | * ong a aie