Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 173 — page 23: what you’re looking at

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

— ena * i- e- ~~ de . > et - * °2o*, ; : © hr hla. eae — ed / > California John, the’Pacific Thoroughbred. + a @ rf ~ ve > ~ The hearers stared at each other; they were uot prepared for any such disclosure, _ ‘‘ Ain’t you rather hasty in this opinion?” tho saptain asked. ‘it's my judgment, gentlemen, that is all, and six hours will tell you whether I know my business or not. I will give her a little sooth- ing draught, but it’s no good; that girl is dying and all the doctors and drugs in this world can’t save her.” The doctor prepared his mixture and admin- istered it to the patient, and in a very short time it throw her into a sleep. ‘‘ She is sleeping,” Rice said, when he rejoined the rest below. . And when will she be apt to awake?” Lynch asked. — ‘* Never inthis world. Youcan send for meat midnight, for about then she will pass away.” CHAPTER XLI. PLOT AND COUNTHRPLOT. For all the Doctor spoke so firmly the rest were incredulous, The girl was ill, there wasn’t any doubt about that, but to their eyes there were no signs visi- ble that death was s» near, and therefore they doubted, The matte? gave rise to a great deal of talk and, after the fashion of the region, toa deal of betting. Tothe mind of the average West- erner there is no better way for a man to back bis opinions than to he his money up. Some believed that everything would be exactly as the Doctor said, but the enon part of the erowd, headed by Keno Bill, were not slow in declaring that the Doctor was a drunken fool, and, if he had ever known anything, liquor long ago had driven the knowledge out of his ‘brain and soaked up what little sense he had originally possessed. welve o’clock then was anxiously awaited, and when the hour arrived Keno Bill, accom- panied by the store-keeper and Lynch, pro- ceeded to the girl’s apartment. | They entered with cautious steps. Lynch’s daughter, Ellen, had volunteered to sit up and watch with the sufferer. She was an intelli- gent, bright-faced girl of sixteen, and reported at Miss Romero had only stirred once since _ she had been in the room, and that was just a moment ago; she had been lying on her side and bad turned with a slight moan over on her back With cautious steps they all approached the bedside, and as they looked down upon the quiet face the same thought occurred to each and every one. : ‘ The girl was dead! With staring eyes they looked first upon the wax-like face and then up6n each other, but be- fore any one of them could speak the door opened and the Doctor entered. “‘I didn’t wait for you to send for me, gen- tilemen,” he remarhind, as he advanced to the bedside. ‘‘Didn’t I tell you she would die about midnight?” “It is death then?” Keno Bill asked, in a dogged, stubborn sort of way as if he felt dis- posed to dispute the fact to the last. ~ Examine if you doubt the evidence of your eyes, rm : ' ; —— a ee eee ——™L | | | Alcibiades was a doubter, but when he lifted | the cold hand, noticed that the pulse had stopped beating, that the color had retreated from the ps, he began to believe that the Doc- tor was right; a sterner foe than even the men of Needle med gvoved to the girl, had inter- vened and snatched their prey away. ‘‘Qb, thar ain’t the least bit of doubt about it, Bill,” Lynch remarked, in a sorrowful way, as Alcibiades replaced the cold hand upon the coverlet and stepped back a pace. ‘The ts gone, and I tell you I feel a heap sorry that I was ever mixed up in the blasted business at all.” “*So do I—so do I,” repeated Captain Ker- sands. Keno Bill did not join in the, cry, but stood with a moody face, his eyes bent on the mortal remains of the woman whom he had pursued 80 closel , while Miss Lynch commenced to sob. ‘Maybe you doubt that the girl is dead now?” the Doetor remarked, addressing Alcibiades. _ “T doubt eve thing and everybody,” that individual replied, sullenly. _ “Let me convince you then by the best test in the world, or at least it is so considered,” and Rice took from its nail the small mirror which hung on the wall, and with his arm rub- bed the surface of the glass carefully. ‘‘ Now hold this to the face so that the mouth will be close to the glass. If there is life in the body moisture from the lips will dim the shining sur- face.” Keno Bill nodded as if he understood all about such things, then took the mirror and tried the test while the rest anxiously looked on. The mirror sustained the Doctor’s declaration. Not the slightest moisture appeared upon its sur- “Oh, she’s dead, sure enough!” the captain declared, as Alcibiades held up the mirror for examination. — “Well, thar is one good thing about it—the town is spared the disgrace of hanging her, and Tbe next day the Grand Central was an es- pecial object of attraction, for every one within - twenty miles of The Bar came in, when they heard the news of the death, to get a look at the remains. The Doctor advised an early burial, because when any one died of a mysterious and un- known disease, the quicker the body was put under ground the better, so as to avoid the risk of contagion. This seemed like sound sense, and the greater part of the citizens approved, but Keno Bill, and the faction which always followed in his lead, right or wrong, declared that there wasn’t any need of haste in the matter. Alcibiades had got it into his head that some- thing was wrong about the affair, and was equally certain that the Doctor was mixed up in it; therefore, all the Doctor had to do was to = his mouth and express an opinion to have eno Bill immediately take the opposite side. One thing helped Bill’s side, and that was that the girl’s appearance did not change in the least; three days after the time of her death, her face looked as natural as ever, and any one gazing upon her would be far more apt to believe she was sleeping, rather than dead, For six days Keno Bill fought the funeral off, but at last the citizens began to believe that the Doctor knew what he was talking about, and that the girl was dead, for certain. As to her remarkable preservation, the Doctor accounted for that oadliy enough. It was the climate, he said. The air was so pure and dry that the body was drying up, turning into a mummy, in fact, instead of decaying. And so, finding public sentiment beginning to run very strongly against him, Bill thought it wise to give in. On the sixth day after her death the funeral took place. The graveyard that Needle Bar boasted was not a very elaborate affair, and it was situated by the river, about half a mile below the town, close by a little grove of cottonwoods. It was the greatest turnout that the town had ever seen. e Doctor had volunteered a coffin, and had contrived to patch up quite a decent looking one; Hairpin dona the use of his mule team for a hearse, and old Captain Ker- sands said a brief prayer at the grave, which was dug by the Hunchback, under the Doctor’s direction. It was sundown before the affair was over and the assemblage returned to thé town, and it was not until after midnight that the lights were out and the talk stilled that the funeral had caused. But, at one in the morning, amid the rude tombstones that marked the humble resting- ae of Needle Bar’s dead, under the bright of the moon, two dark figures stood. The fresh earth at their feet marked the spot where the girl had been buried. Spades were in their hands, and revolvers belted to their hips. They thought that only the silver moon watched them, and recked not that in the wt mee of cottonwoods four more dark figures crouch CHAPTER XLII. A BATTLE ROYAL. ‘* Now, then, a few minutes’ work, and the job is done,” said one of the men in the grave- yard, thrusting his spade into the soft earth, and, as he spoke, the voice revealed that it was Rice, the Doctor. os But, are you sure that your plan will work? It seems to me that there is a terrible amount of risk in it,” said the other, who was the big- bearded stranger who had made such an uncere- monious call upon the Doctor. : ¢*Oh, don’t you be alanmed about that. It is not the first tima I have worked the trick,” the Doctor answered, in the most confident manner, ** Then it is not an experiment?” ‘** No, bless you! I wouldn’t have dared ot if if it had been. But I have worked the oracle in this way three different times. I tried it on myself first. I was in a hole, and I had to choose between death and this operation, and of course I risked it, and the best proof that I suc- ceeded, is the fact that Iam here to-night to tell you about it. She will be none the worse for this little proceeding in a couple of days.” ‘* Well, I hope for your sake, old man, as well as for my own, that it is as ios say, for if the operation is a failure I shall feel mightily in- clined to lay you out,” the other remarked, and he tapped the butt of one of his revolvers ina very significant manner. ‘Tam —s to take the chahces, but let us get to work. It won’t be the first time, by long odds, I tell you, that I have wielded a spade at the midnight hour in a graveyard; it recalls my old college days.” And without more words the two set to work. Within fifteen minutes they had unearthed the coffin, and, after considerable exertiou, suc- ceeded in raising it to the surface of the earth. ‘*'You see I was careful to provide a flexible rubber tube so as to conductair to her, or other- wise she would have smothered. {[t was in or- A you it would have been mighty rough on | der to have everything all right that I volun- ’ town as a town.” teered to find the coffin. ‘ “Yr - a Pa Se Prt Aww a > _ — a While the Doctor was speaking, the other had knelt down and opened the lid, exposing the figure of the girl, who looked as life-like as i¢ she had only dropped to sleep a moment before. ** She’s all right,” remarked the Doctor, stoop- ing over the coffin and making a careful exami- — nation; then he took from his pocket a small vial containing a dark-colored liquid, and, un- corking it, by the aid of a quill, poured a few — into the gir]’s mouth, between the firm- set teeth. “There! that is about as potent stuff as there is in this world,” he observed. . “‘ Under ordi- nary circumstances, a dose such as [ have just administered would be quite sufficient to sap the lite of the strongest man, for it is a most active poison, but in this case it restores life instead of destroying it. The suspended heart action is quickened; it will take it about an hour to wcrk, and at the end of that time you shall see what. you shall see,” : “We must away, then, at once, for time is precious!” and he stood over the coffin as if about to lift out the lovely, though senseless in- mate. “Hold hard, there! Stop where you are, and throw up your hands, or we will drill holes right through you!” cried a hoarse voice from amid the cottonwood timber, and out into the moonlight stepped Keno Bill and burly Caleb Johnson. Cocked revolvers glistened in their hands, and fierce determination shone upon their faces. ‘**Treed, by blazes!” muttered the Dector, a scared look coming over his face. But his companion stood up and boldly eon- fronted the new-comers. ; “Oho, and you're the man that has been playing ghost round this town, eh?’ Bill con- tinued. ‘I had a suspicion when | first heerd of the thing that you had contrived in some way to save your neck, and | s’posed this blamed Doctor aided you. - I'd had a bone te pick with you, Mister Doc, for some time, and now I reckon we will have a settlement.” Rice groaned aloud in agony of spirit, but bis companion on the contrary was coolly wate«- ing for some chance to get at his weapon, witi- out exposing bimself to the chance of certain ‘death. ‘*Shall I plug him, Bill?’ asked Johnson, whe covered the Doctor’s companion with a deadly aim. **Oh, no; don’t kill him for the world, there’s a good stout rope a-waiting for him in Needle Bar, and I reckon I will make it my business te see thar ain’t any tomfoolery about it, You will be hanged for good, this time, and I reckom you will stay hanged, too, or I’ll know the rea- son why. And as for you, Doctor, you needn't howl; you have no cause to be afearii; I’d like to kill you off-hand, I own, for I think you are a p’isoned little snake, but if I did that, mebbe I wouldn’t be able to fetch the gal out of this er fix you have got her into, and so I can’t alford to indulge in the Juxury just now. But you, California John, I wiil fix you, sure as you're born.” : **'You are quite right; I am California John,” and he removed the wig and false beard which had so completely disguised him. His motive in this was to throw Keno Bill off his guard, and thus be able to get a chance to draw his pistol, but Alcibiades was not to be caught. ‘Boe careful whar you put your hands,” he cautioned. ‘‘I want to see you hanged, but I am not going to take any chances on it, and if you try to pull your — I will plug you just whar you stand, and have you hung afterward, though thar ain’t half the fun in hanging a dead man that there is in stringing up a living one.” ‘You don’t dare to give me a show for my life, se big coward!” taunted John. ‘*Well, I am not goin to give it to whether I dare or not,” Bill retosted. “Th all the words you want to, now. It will be my time when pe csc age with the rope around your neck. Go , Johnson, th wind:a lariat round him.” The burly ruffian advanced, but at his first step the adventurer plucked forth his pistol and jumped quickly to one side, but Bill was on the alert, and instantly discharged his wea But he was not the only one on the watch, for just as he pulled trigger a dark figure which ad bounded forth from the trees struck him in the back with a small knife, and the revolver- bullet whistled harmlessly through the air. At the same instant another dark figure in the timber clump fired at Johnson. The burly ruf- fian gasped, clutched wildly at the air and then sunk down writhing in death. Meantime, although mortally wounded, Kene Bill had wheeled around and closed with his un- known assailant. Together they struggled with desperate energy, and then went down in a heap, Alcibiades crushing his smaller antago~ nist beneath him as he fell, CHAPTER XLIHTI. LIGHT AT LAST. “Do not fear!” said the killer of Johnson, stepping forth from the shadow of the trees; ‘we are friends.” : Both John and the Doctor recognized the speaker; it was Hiko, the Hunchback, ute ~ you row x in * ; e P : (a i + ae } 2 a i, — 93 4 * - é: " ; 4