Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 188 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

. knowing I had the money until father discoy- ered it.’ “Why, this was most romantic; and you saved your priceless guitar?’ “Then I did, cousin Ramsey, for the money was two hundred dollars, which was sufficient to bring us to Leavenworth; but there I had to sell my treasure to get horses with to continue on our r pas teag to this place.” ‘*‘ And who was this young man, Arta?” asked Ramsey Preston, quietly. “The same who = me the guitar, for I recognized him, as he stood under the bright light shining from the club windows.” ‘* The one who learned to love you when you were hardly in your teens?” “I did not say that, cousin Ramsey; he seemed devoted to music, sung well himself, and as father would take no pay from him for the three days he stopped with us, he seemed to wish to repay the debt in some way.” ‘Three days! why, he tarried long.” ‘The two days after his arrival it stormed eae yf and the third was Sunday, and father begged im to remain.” ** Didn’t require much begging, I guess, sweet cousin.” ‘** No, he seemed willing to remain.” “Strange you did not make yourself known to him when he came to your defense in front of the club.” Arta’s face flushed, but she made no reply, and her father said: “Well, it does seem strange how that young man has crossed our paths, ‘‘Who he is, other than that his name is Lucien De Leon, and that he seems a gentile- man, while undoubtedly he is a man of in- domitable nerve and courage, I know not; but certainly he may ever count on me as his friend.” ~ a dark flush crossed the face of Ram- sey ton, but he said pleasantly: ‘Well, cousin mine, you shall not lose your priceless guitar, for I will send to Leavenworth and buy it back for you.” ** Thank you, oh thank you!” and the maiden’s eyes flashed with delight. ‘** Now let us talk business, for Iam now ina position, Berk, to return your kindnesses of years ago by giving you at least a house to live in. “T felt that you would not turn us away.” ‘‘No, indeed, and I will let you have the Birdwood ranch; it is located delightfully, some fifteen miles from where I live, can be made most comfortable, and the herd on it numbers half a thousand.” & y my cousin, you overwhelm me with grati de to you; but I can never repay you,” said Berkley Preston, fervently. ** All I request is, that when I ask you, Berk and you, Arta, to pay me for the Birdwood ranch and herd, you will do so. “Will Yo pledge yourselves to do this?” and Ramse eston laughed lightly. ‘* Willingly, cousin,” answered Berk Preston, ** And you, Arta?’ ‘*T will pledge myself with my father, cousin, if I have a claim in it.” ‘* Enough, I ask no more, and the peopety is yours; but we will go by my ranch to-night, andIcanrig you out in some feminine garb, left by my poor Mexican bride,” and a look of deep sadness crossed the face of the cattle king. “You married in Mexico, then, Ramsey?” asked Mr. Preston, with interest. ‘Yes; but we will not speak of poor Alita, who left me one day and I have never seen her since; but her clothing, Arta, you shall fall heir to, as she was about your size. ‘Come, we follow this trail that leads away from the river,” and Ramsey Preston spurred on ahead; but there was a look in his face that was stern and gloomy, as though called there by the remembrance of the bride he had lost. CHAPTER XIX. A DOUBLE MYSTERY. WHEN he deemed it time for the Texas ran- echero to be up, Dave Perry went up to the Platte House to see him, and upon inquiry was informed by the clerk that he had not seen Mr. De Leon that ——T Going up to his room, Dave received no an- swer to his knock, and pushed the door open, to suddenly become eonvinced that something was wrong. The cause of this conclusion was at first dis- covering that the bed had not been slept in, and then seeing upon the bare floor—for carpets were a luxury not used in North Platte hotels in those days—a pool of blood, with evidence of general disorder in the room, for a chair was overturned, and the eandlestick lay near the window. Hastily returning to the office he made known his discovery, and there learned that the night- clerk had n found stupidly drunk in the morning, as had also the hostler who slept at the sta le, but it was supposed that they had been drinking heavily. Seeking out these worthies, Dave, after a t effort aroused them, and at once decided that they had been drugged, and to bear out A A ll The Phantom Mazeppa. this theory, they both told the same sto a stranger, they thought a cowboy, ba them a drink from his flask. To the clerk he had said that he wanted a room for the night, and was assi one, and that was all he could tell about him, while the stableman had said a stranger had come and asked to have his horse put up, and had been so friendly as to offer him a drink. But the stranger had not occupied the room assigned him, and his horse was gone from the stable, and the animal left there by Lucien De Leon was also missing. ‘*Pards, there has been foul play here, and I’m going to make it hot for the one that has otten away with that Texan,” said Dave erry, firmly, after he had made these discoy- eries, and going to the jail he told Ben Fan- shaw, who was keeper as well as constable, to look op Gane Gabe and send him to the Over- land Rest. , that given ‘‘Has yer lost anybody, brother Dave ?” asked Gospel Luke, who was passing the jail as Dave turned away. ‘* Yes, and if I didn’t think you were such a darned rascal, Luke, I’d let you into a little game at which you would make something.” ‘* Brother Perry, ’tis ever ther innocent that gets slandered, and I has my share; but at heart Lis as gentle as the sucking dove,” and a Luke rolled his eyes piously heaven- ward. ‘“You are a gentle liar, Luke; but, if you want your bitters for the rest of this week, just cross the Platte and overtake those Texans driving their herd to the Dismal river, and ask half a dozen of them to come back here.” ‘*Don’t do it, Dave, fer they is like a all-de- vouring lion Jet loose; I wants my bitters, fora leetle for the stomach’s sake is good, an’ ac- cordin’ ter Scriptur’, but I don’t want them wild mustangers in this peaceful village.” ‘*Very well, I will send some one else.” ‘‘Nary, for he would get the bitters, an’ I stan’sin need of ’em; I go, brother Perry, ter do thy biddin’, for yonder is my gothic steed lariated on the pararer,” and 1 Luke pointed to a rawboned mustang that looked as evil as did his master. Upon returning to the Overland Rest Dave found there a visitor mn ny | him, It was Tiny Tim, looking fresh and smiling, and dressed in his usual dandylike manner. “Mr, Perry, I’ve called on you, sir, to ask you to aid me in a little matter,” he said, plea- oD ‘* Well, sir, what can I do for you?’ and Dave fixed his sharp eyes upon the handsome face of the young man. ‘You are aware, from what occurred last night, that I was coming west with my pard, Mert Mabrey by name, and that he mysteri- ously left camp and was killed?” ‘Yes, and you falsely accused two innocent persons of his murder,” bluntly said Dave. ‘True, but acknowledged my mistake; now sir, I will give one thousand do if you wi solve a mystery for me.” ‘You are flush for a youngabep. ‘‘T am able to pay what I offer, and I will ive one thousand dollars to be brought face to Tae with a man the image of my dead pard, Mert Mabrey.” ‘* Does such a man exist?” pap wpe or—” ‘2, ' O you pause, pard? ‘* Or it is his ghost,” ** You believe in ghosts, then?’ “‘It is not my nature, or was not before last night; but then this Phantom Magzeppa went flying through town, and it so impressed me that, to shake off the feeling I mounted my horse and took the trail of the weird steed and seemingly spectral, or mad rider.” j 4 You were plucky, for none other cared to oO it, ‘*T did it to quiet the supernatural awe that was getting the mastery of me,” ‘ Well?” ‘“‘ Tt is not well,” ‘You saw the Phantom Mazeppa, then?’ ‘‘T saw it ahead of me, and rode rapidly in pursuit, but though my horse has few equals the white steed went away from me as though I was standing still.” ‘This is remarkable; but what has this to do with your friend, who lies buried in the cotton- woods?” : ‘*1t has this to do with it—there are a pawr of ghosts abroad on the prairie.” ‘‘The devil you say! don’t say that, pard, or T’ll emigrate East, for I like more solid com- panions than ghosts.” ‘¢- You need not joke.” ‘‘I’m as solemn as a toper before his morn- ing nip; but what is this second phantom like?” ‘My friend who lies in the cottonwoods,” and Tiny Tim spoke in.a low whisper. “Do you mean it?’ asked Dave Perry, im- pressed with the words and manner of the young man. **T do; he came toward me at a slow pace and believing him merely some prairieman only placed myself on guard agaiust a sudden attack; but as he drew nearer I noticed that there was something familiar in the form and ‘benzine ter collect our narves, ns dress of the horseman, and as the moonlight shone full upon him to my horror I recognized my dead pard.”’ ‘Well, what then?” ‘*I drew rein, called him by name, and then, as he came directly toward me, looking me squarely in the face with his large eyes, it was more than I could stand, and I gave a yell that sent my horse flying from him over the prai- “ Did he pursue?” se No ”? ** He did not stop?” ** No, but continued direetly on in the trail of the Mad Mazeppa.” ‘*This was indeed strange; what kind of a horse was he on?” ‘*Snow white.” ‘* How near were you to him?” ** Two lengths.” ‘* He made no motion?’ ‘Yes, he raised his hand and the prairie, and I took the hint and left,” ‘* And it is thisman you wish to meet again?” ‘Yes, to satisf re roe if he be a real being or the ghost of Mert Mabrey. “‘Find such a personage for me anywhere around the Platte and I'll pay one thousand dollars to the one who finds him.” “* Pll describe him to the boys, and if there is a person answering his description within a week’s ride of here the reward will fetch him, if the boys have to kill him to get bim here.” ‘Write a description of your dead friend, or the one you saw on horseback, and give it to me.” | ‘‘ A description of one is a fac-simile of the other,” and Tiny Tim quickly wrote the de- opeeen asked for by Dave Perry, and then asked: ‘*Is there any way you can solve this Phan- tom Mazeppa mystery?” ‘* None; the voice is that of a woman, and I know no horse in these parts that has the speed of the one that went flying through the town last night,” ‘‘And last night was the first time it ap- peared here?” ‘Yes, to my knowledge; but I have heard several of the boys have seen the Mazeppa be- fore on the prairie.” ‘‘ Well, it is strange.” ** So strange that Pll give a thousand dollars to the man who solves the mystery for me; but now tell me, did you know that the Texas ran- chero, the one they call fron Arm is missing this morning?” and Dave Perry looked squarely into the face of Tiny Tim, and the of surprise proved that he had not heard the news, ‘**No; no foul play I hope,” he said, ae: **] fear so; come, let us see what the noise outside means,” Rising, they went to the door, and just then Grizzly Gabe and several of his comrades rode up, and their faces were haggard and horses hard ridden. ‘*Pard Perry, we wants a trio o’ benzine all round, fer we on a run fer bufflers, shortly afore day, and we seen a ghost.” ‘* A ghost, Grizzly Gabe?’ ‘Yas, Dave, a factotem ghost; it were ther same as run through ther town last night.” “The Phantom Mazeppa.” ‘‘That are ther flyin’ honey, an’ we needs fer they is cursedly shattered,” and Grizzly Gabe and his comrades passed on into the Overland Rest, while Tiny Tim departed for his hotel, leaving Dave Perry considerably oy ago with the weird stories he had heard of the supernatural, and a solution of which was beyond his ken, CHAPTER XX. CHASED BY A PHANTOM. LuctEN Dre LEON was not the man to suc- cumb to an ordinary blow; but the one he had received, upon entering his room, was so wholly unexpected, and delivered with such right good will by Grizzly Gabe, and with the heavy barrel of his revolver, t it stunned the ranchero, and cut a gash in his scalp from which the blood flowed freely. Wholly unconscious at first, he was a help- less victim in the hands of his captors, and was securely bound and carried to the stable, where he was tied upon his own horse, the drugged hostler offering no opposition, Placing two of his companions on either side of the prisoner’s horse, and one behind, while he rode in front, so as to wholly conceal him from any curious eyes, Grizzly Gabe led the way out of the town, and headed across the prairie toward the South Platte. Secretly the leader of a band of road-agents who, under the cover of disguises, were wont to pounce down upon unprotected wagon- trains and small settlements, while they were horse and cattle thieves, in general, Grizzly Gabe knew every part of the country thor- oughly between the Bad Lands of Dakota and the Arkansas river, and had established three rendezvous, or strongholds, for retreat in case of danger or discovery, and as supplies for his stolen stock and aianeey. ) JOO S) (E pointed across <€om com . A "4