Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 173 — page 16: what you’re looking at

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

16 @ sorry little mule this time, in the center of the semicircle, were at least a hundred feet distant from the crowd. The assistant shinned up the tree and tied the rope toa limb of the cottonwood, the very same limb from which the other rope still swung. ain the Californian surveyed the crowd, looking for the girl, although even if she was on the spot with the fleet horse ready for the des- perate attempt little good it could do him. There were a few women present, for nearly all of the female inhabitants of the town were wild and savage by nature, fitted to take an interest in just such a tragic affair; but the one for whom he looked was not to be seen, and a ae sigh oot his lips; her absence pained The rope being prepared the Doctor arranged the noose, and then approaching the prisoner, pulled from his pocke Foie black, bag-like cap of the han , and bidding the prisoner b w his bead adjusted it, thus shutting out the sight of the world from the doomed man’s eyes. ) spectators observed this proceeding — which took considerable time, as the Doctor went to work in a very bungling manner—with a great deal of satisfaction, for they realized that they wore going to get. the worth of their money ; this execution was going to be a first class af- fair and no niistake. The eap was fitted to the Doctor’s satisfaction at last, although the crowd could plainly see that the prisoner and the Doctor had had con- siderable talk about the matter, which was only natural under the circumstances, as no doubt the culprit would have preferred to be hun with hiseyesepen, Then the rope was adjusted aronnd his nec ‘l'i.e Doctor directed his assistant to take posi- tion at the head of the beast, and then mo- — for the man with the rifle to step for- war It had been arranged that when the Poctor brought his hands together up in the air the shot was to be fired. One last look the little man took so as to be sure “em all was correct, and then he gave the a k! went the rifle, the shot ringing out clear and shrill. The mule started, and the Californian, drag- ged from the back of the beast by the cruel rope, swung helplessly in mid-air. Keno Bi triumphed over his foe at last! —_—— oo CHAPTER XXVIII. MALICIOUS MISCHIEF. THE hanging of the man whom the people of Needie Bar had so remorselessly hunted down, was not the only event destined to occur that day calculated to make the crowd gape with wonder. Hardly had the report of the rifle died away, even while the blue smoke was still curling up- ward, and just as the doomed man swung clear of the back of the beast, a loud explosion echoed on the air, coming from the direction of the town, not a mile distant, and the crowd, in wonder, turning their e Ber in that direction, beheld a bright ton flame shoot up in the air, followed by a pues smoke. There bad evidently been a terrific explosion, and as near as the people could make out, Al- cibiades’s place had suffered. ‘Then came @ second explosion right on the heels of the first; flying pieces of boards rose on the air, and at ‘the same time bright jets of fla ae could be seen spurting out from amid the smoke, Of all things the inhabitants of a frontier town most dread the fire-tiend. The buildings being constructed of wood, put up in the cheap- est manner, are as ready to burn as so much tinder, when once a fire is started; if it is al- lowed to get under headway, the town is de- stroyed, for there is hardly any means of fight- ing a conflagration. Lherefore the crowd stood not upon the order of their going but went at once, each and every one racing homeward at breakneck speed. The hanging was forgotten, although the in- terest in that might be said to be over, as the man ne been fairly launched on his journey into the other world—the ‘‘sircus” had per- formed. ‘The only man who bestowed a thought ~ the condemned was Alcibiades, and he yelled *o the.Doctor as he started on a run toward the town: ' “You stay and look after him, and I will meke it all right with you!” The Doctor nodded, and, jumping upon the back of the mule, rode up to where the eee ed man bun swinging in the air. Peil-mell, helter-skelter! No better time ever "vas made by any crowd than in this race for home. No one looked backward after the flight commenced. save Bill, who took a single flying :lance just before he reached the edge of the | town, to discover that the outlines of the hang- ae wan no longer stood out bold against the sk 1 I reckon the Doc has cut him down so that he could go through him,” Bill muttered, the remembrance of the ‘‘ plunder” which the Cali- ‘| fected. California w ohn, the Pacitic Thoroughbred. that very match-box sitting on the table in the gal’s room at my hotel this morning.” Keno Bill had not spoken as yet, but he had looked at the box and at the speakers in a strange manner while the Nn of suspicion was being directed at the fon: The throng all looked upon him in the light of a leader and were anxious to know oe opinion upon this hty matter, and Captain Joe, guessing the sentiment of the crowd, put the question to him, fornian must have coming into his mind, and for the moment he regretted that he had not made the sharp disgorge the wealth which he had won from him at the poker-table. As suspected, it was in Alcibiades’s building the explosions had taken lace, and by the time they reached the town all the rear part of the saloon, which had been torn to pieces by the ex- plosion, was in flames. With a will all set to work to extinguish the fire, which, if not speedily checked, would sure- ly prove the destruction of the town. uckily no wind was blowing. If there had been a breeze, human hands could not have | saved the town. | The fight fora time was a hard one, but at last the fire was subdued. The a was a mystery, particularly as Keno Bill declared that to his knowledge there was nothing in the building of an explosive na- ture—no powder or eens. With great care, then, the men proceeded to delve in the ruins, carefully removing the ee of boards one by one; what they expected to find no one exactly knew, not even Alcibiades, who had proposed the When the floor was at last laid b bare, there was plainly to be seen the marks where a@ can of powder had been nag the firing of which by a fuse had blown tie frail shanty asunder. But who had done the deed, and what was the pl | = \ Bee byer, Bill, what do you think of this? Don’t it kinder look as if the gal had had a fiuger in this mess?” - No, no; 4 should she wish to do such a thing” Bill eried, huskily. ‘* Itis impossible!” ry time)” cried a big, brown-bearded fel- low er stood near the captain, the sams who had acted as foreman of the j ‘*Some of t are reg’lar wild-cats. Who knows but what tbat cuss we hung to-day was innocent arter all and this gal might hev done the trick?” CHAPTER XXVIII. THE ACCUSATION, THe burly ruftian in his blunt speech to a cer- tain extent gave expression to the sentiments of the majority of thecrowd. While his far-reach- ing se oye that she had had something to do th the mysterious murder of the man in operation. motive? | whose eompany she had come into the town, Keno Bill had enemies enough, of course; all | was a little beyond them, yet they did think men in public life must needs have them, par- that she knew something regarding the origin ticularly those whose lives ran ia the groove | of the fire. that his did, but in reckoning them all over he ‘*See hyer!” continued the big fellow, en- could not pick out the one likely to do so bold a couraged Oy by Bill's silence, and perceiving ‘that deed as this. the crowd with him, “this thing has got True, the town had been almost deserted; | to be looked into, and right smart too. Why, every one able to go being out to see the hang- fellow-citizens, think of the heap of prope rty ing, and the risk of detection was slight; yet, | that would hev been destroyed if this hyer fire hadn’t been put out; it would hey ruiued the hull b’iling of us!” Like many another blatherskite orator the big loafer wasn’t worth a ten-doliar gold piece. That’s so! that’s so!” the bystanders mur- mured. The captain, like all other popular men, was anxious to swim with the tide; so, when he per- ceived the set of public sentiment, he joined in the cry. ‘‘Fellew-citizens, it is my opinion that we ought to have an examination, anyway!” he declared. ‘‘ These things being found hyer looks mighty suspicious, and no mistake! and it won’. do any harm to anybody to have the matter looked into. If i gal don’t know anything about it she is innucent of eourse, and that will end the matter as far as she is concerned.” ‘* That is as true as gospel!” the hotel-keeper assented, and two or three more joined in ex- pressing ‘the same sentiment. Keno Bill, if he had dared, would have de- nounced the suspicion as being ridiculous so fas- cinated had he been by the marvelous beauty of the girl, and so strong his desire to make him- self the master of the peerless beauty, but he was shrewd enough to see that the monster whom he had been active in coiling up to de- stroy the man he hated, was not satislied with the prey it had already secured but hungered for more. He had roused-the demon but he did not dare to attempt to stay its onward career. ‘Well, Bill, will you take hold and run this ‘ere machine?” the brown. bearded miner in- quired. i hae by a jugful!” the other replied, decid- amy ‘“‘T think the ideais all nonsense, and I on, as I have suffered more than any one a what I say ought to amount to some- in for all that, it took some nerve for any one in broad daylight to force in the door of a man’s shanty and explode a can of powder right in the middle of the floor, for the doer of.such a deed not only exposed himself to the vengeance of Keno Bill if he was discovered, but also to the rage of all the dwellers within the town, whose property was endangered by the outrage. The man who did the deed -would be certainly hung with short shrift if he was identified. Among the most attentive of the bystanders was the half-breed, Charley Yampas, and if Al- cibiades had been called upon to name the man whom he thought likely to earl a the deed, he would have named half-breed. J udge, then, of Keno Bill’s surprise, when ow s sharp eyes were the first to over a clew ** See!’ he exclaimed, oe to where a bit of red stuff just shows from under a piece of plank, “what i is that? It’s a piece of red stuff, from a man’s shirt, maybe.” Alcibiades at once picked up the article. No bit of flannel, but a little bow of ribbon with ornamented ends such as ladies wear at the throat! Aloud bum of surprise came from the by- standers, a number of whom recognized the bunch of ribbon, for they had seen it before— among ‘eheent Keno Bill, and he was greatly af- The moving of the plank disclosed another object, which Yampas’s keen eyes also de- tected. ‘* What is that little white thing down in the corner there?’ he exclaimed ; ‘‘ looks like a small box.’ Alcibiades picked it up, and many in the crowd recognized this article, too. It was a box of wax matches, each one of which would burn about a minute. No common article this in such a town as Needle Bar; therefore it wus no wonder that those who had once seen it in- stantly recognized it again. Yampas was the first to proclaim the owner- ship of the match-box, although every man in the group, who knew the facts in the case, had it on his tongue. ‘*Why, that box belonged to the man who was found dead in the street, and whose sup- murderer we hun to-day ’ the half- breed exclaimed. ‘He lit his cigar with a match from that box in my saloon just before he went out to meet his death. Iam quite sure of it, for I remarked that it was a handy thing to have around, and he tendered me a match to light my cigar with, and said at the time that the box was a relic from Frisco and that he reckoned there wasn’t another like it in Ari- h, you' re kinder sweet on the gal, Pill, I reckon,” the big fellow retoried, coarsely. “But I’m jest going to spit out what I think, and that is, we ee : oe too many she-devils in this town now for the good on it, and if this bandsome critter is anotber one on ’em, and thar is good proof that she did this durned mischief, we hev either got to clear her out or else she will make this camp too hot for some on us! Many in the crowd assented to this; the ruf- fian had about expressed the general sentiment. Alcibiades, thoug the caution which he flamed out in anger: “That gal is innocent!” he cried; ‘‘I know that she is innocent, and I will stand up for her to the last, What reason had she to go and blow up my house? What had she to gain by Lege p his self-control and had resolved to practice, zona.” such an operation? Besides, she ain’t like some ‘* But, who got the box arter the strange cuss | of the tiger-cats in this town; she’s a lady, she passed in his checks?” cried Hairpin. is!” ‘IT move for an examination, lady or no A dead silence fell upon the crowd, and each lady!” retorted the big fellow, arrogantly. and ever man gazed with a strange look into his neighbor’s face. The same suspicion was in “So do I!” the captain added, and then the the breast of all, and yet, rude and rough FF ran: took up the shout with hardly a single ex- they were, they hesitatec to put it into words. ception, and Keno Bill in sullen rage saw that The old store- keeper was the first to speak. @ opposed the proceeding further he would ‘The gal got all the things I reckon, didn’t | be as one man standing against about all the she?” he queried. | town ‘* Yes, [ reckon so,” the landlord of the Grand | “You see, Bill, the boys are all ag’in’ you,” Central Hotel remarked, prompt to follow suit | the bully remarked, ‘All we want is to git at now that suspicion was givenspeech. ‘‘Infact, | the truth of the thing, you know, and you had [hate to say it—but it’s the truth and ought to | better come along so as to be satisfied that the be said: 1 am willing to take my oath that I saw gal gits a fair show for her money. I nominate eomicbooks ca -—