Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 192 — page 24: what you’re looking at

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

. ) —" 24 with his hands, as if overwhelmed by an unex- pected possibility. ‘“‘Now yer on ther wrong lead ag’in. Yer jist thinkin’ p’r’aps he’s yer father. Not er bit ov it. Yer father war Cffhton Bride; an’ Clinton Bride war Roger Vernon, er his bro- ther; an’ don’t yer furgit that. Ther jedge is Harold Varley, an’ ther man what killed yer father. I kin take him inter camp fur ther murder; but I want ter make er clean sweep, so ez ter show Who you be ez well ez him, en collar ther duckats when I take ther jedge. “Your pard, the man ez purty nigh blocked my game by settin’ up fur an oppersition Pete, is on his way ter ther head of the flume. The Bullion Boss hez him, an’ he’ll take you ef I don’t back yer up. He’s made er clean sweep, fur he hes Leetle Lide already, an’ ef he hez I wouldn’t swear he hadn’t ther other gal, an’ ther young Englishman that’s yer cousin. We kia go inter this ching tergether now if yer say so, an’ I ain’t goin’ ter give yer much time ter study. Put it right down in writin’ an’ then Vl show the balance ov my hand” Tbe man drew out a note-book and a pencil from his breast and laid them on the stand with the air of one who had but little doubt as to what would be the answer. His eyes were fixed intently on Lightning Dick, who, in turn, eagerly grasped the paper. At last he was about to say his mind, and yet, so firmly were his habits of caution fixed, he still held his ready pistol, and, as he stooped over the Jittle table, his eyes turned from the paper to his hand. On the second the pistol flashed up to a level and poised over his shoulder, while the ham- mer went back with its usual sharp click. At the window the face of the Bullion Boss bad appeared, as he peered into the little room. It was like a flitting shadow that came and went, but all the same he was seen and he knew*it. He had vanished before the hammer could fall, and now, though he moved with the stealthy step of a wild beast, they could hear the sound of bis retreat. “ By’ ther holy beaver, you’ve a sharp ear, er somethin’ |” exclaimed Circus Pete, who had rushed to the window and gazed after the re- treating figure, which was for a moment visi- ble, but at which he hesitated to fire. “It war ther jedge er ther Bullion Boss— which, it don’t make much differens, He hearéd all 1 said, an’ he’ll scoop us now onless we take ’em both in. There’s no time ter frolic ’round. It’s biz’ness from ther word go. You bear me?’ The Lightning Sport nodded, but his hand flew over the paper. He was ready for work in earnest, CHAPTER XXIX. THE JUDGE COMES TO GRIEF. A LITTL® thrill of fear ran tbrough the judge’s nerves when he found that the girl was not in the house. She might indeed have lingered around the Alhambra, just as she had done the night before, after he thought she had safely arrived at home. In that case how had he missed seeing her? Again. Some one might have mistaken her for the man she so much resembled, and made a mortal trouble for her on the way home, Had that happened, bowever, he would almost certainly have heard something of it, unless the party had discovered his mistake and con- cealed the body. Then a third idea came to him, that gave a twinge almost like an entering bullet. What if the party who entered at the door just after Neliie bad bounded out of the window was the girl berself come back to try her fortune with the sports of the Bar at the game of pistols and steel?” That was a wild notion, to be sure; and yet he had begun to understand that she was a wild sort of girl—wilder, even, in her way, than Little Lide. If such an awful contin- gency could be the fact, what had he done?” No need to ask that question, Though his hund had been low down, it bad been held very straight, and up to this moment he bad not a ee or a hope that the ball had not done its work, “ Oh, Iam wild, surely!” he said to himself, as he came bounding down the narrow stair- way. ‘‘There’s a difference in their hight, and I noted the buttons well. If the first was Nellie, and I’ll swear it was, the second was a son of Clinton Bride. I would sooner believe that the girl has run away. Ah! I had not thought of that. By heavens, I half believe SS : ne eee | | j | ——— ee ee - So See The Lightning Sport. / it, Sbe suspected something; she bas ceased | the voice was growing terribly familiar, even to believe my story; she bas taken the alarm; she is off. Could she have discovered my ée- crets?” The judge had with him still the safe which he had had at Red Earth. It bad made about a wagon load of itself when he moved, and had been no little trouble to transport, and at first he had not only guarded it himself, but two or three men and women were so disposed as un- wittingly to watchit. By-and by, however, he had come to rely on the strength of the door and the complications of its combination lock. Up to this moment be had never thought of the possibility of Nellie having managed to pene- trate its depths. If she had, though! He went straight to the safe, and examined the little disk. Once before a woman had dis- covered the secret of a combination, although that time it had been to his benefit. Why might not such a chance happen again, and to his harm? He moved the light down so that he could see the little revolving disk. Sure enough. just as it had been once, and only once, before. He always left it in a certain position; he knew that he had not moved it; and yet it was out of place. He saw, and stared, open-eyed, for a mo- ment, too much agitated to try the handle of the door to see whether the safe might not be unlocked. “Tf she has taken the papers and fled my game with her is up, but—there wiil be a dead | woman.” He hesitated; and then dropped the threat out in a voice trembling with tense passion. Whatever he might have felt for the girl was forgotten in that moment of wrath. Then he tried the door—and found that it was still bolted. He set down the lamp and with quivering fingers whirled around the wheel. As yet he was not frightened so much as angered. In the excitement about his treasures | he had forgotten the troubles of a few mo- | ments before concerning the girl. | The door of the safe flew open and the judge gave ahasty glance within. If the contents had been touched it had been so skillfully done tbat even his sharp eyes were unable to note any disarrangement, There was some money there—gold in little buckskin pouches, and notes in a drawer that | he hastily opened—but his eyes rested longest on a bundle done up with red tape. Though it might never bring him a dollar it contained a secret that he guarded as his life. | “Fool that Iwas to doubt. There they are, | as they have been, for a dozen years, safe, “How could her taper little fingers have found the secret that wise heads have puzzled at? No. Nothing but the crowbar and sledge can ever work away in against my will; and I fear them but little. But Nellie! Good heavens! While I am mooning here what may not be happening to her? I must find her; and I will.” He swung to the door once more, shot the bolts into place and in another moment would have locked them there with a single whirl of the disk. As his fingers touched the wheel a pair of hands grasped his wrists from behind, a knee was thrust sharply into the small of his back, and powerful man though he was, he felt him- self torn from his feet and then dropped heavily to the floor. “T’ve got yer this time, jedge. When I war on ther watch er while ago I seen yer usin’ ther peekhole, an’ I dropped to ther game. Not er whimper, sonny, er they’ll be an ink- west in ther mornin’, an Circus Pete ’ll pervide | ther corpus, This byar safe’s what I’ve hed | an eye on, an’ when I see'd it open I thort I’d | jist drop in an’ belp yer sort ther papers, Thet’s right, no use ter kick. Ihev yer foul, an’ | ther’s only one chance ter save yer bacon, I'll | hey ter tie yer up er leetle; but you put yer | head in er bag an’ Til sw’ar yer sha’n’t be hurt.” y | With deft speed a cord was wrapped around the wrists and ankles of Judge Schueider, a gag was thrust in bis mouth, a sash was tied | over his eyes, and before he had recovered from his surprise he was bound, helpless and voiceless, What use there was to blindfold him he could not understand, since he had no doubt as to who wa was his assailant. The sound of sles lense It had been tampered with; | if a couple words that seemed to have careless- ly slipped out had “given away” the now open secret. He could hear the bolts shoot back once more, and the safe door carefully opened, rs After that he was deaf from rage, and for a few moments heard nothing, while the ec tents of his treasury were being overhaule./: It required the sharp application of a boot to his ribs to bring him to his senses, Then he heard the voice once more, mocking and cruel: ‘““T say, jedge, this pans out bully—no end ov plunder; but it’s on’y a trifle fur a man thet’s made a strike like ther Hair Pin. Ther’s some papers hyar thet looks vallyble like, an’ I'll take’em along. Ef yet think they’re worth five thousand, call ’round et ther Pilgrim’s Pride afore I’ve read ’em an’ yell find me thar; an’ ready fur er dicker. ’Pears ter me I hev ther edvantage in this game now, an’ ef I don’t hold on ter it, count me up fer three Dutchmen. Day, day! I’m goin’, an’ er mighty neat job I’ve made ov it, all round,” And actually the judge had a sufficient hold on his senses to hear the speaker softly leave the room and the house; while he remained bound, gagged, helpless and alone, CHAPTER XXX. BILLY BENDER SAVES TROUBLE, THe judge had meandered along a pretty thorny path in life; had taken a good risks, and been in many dangerous straits, yet he bad never met with one exactly like this before, and certainly never one in which be had come eut to such certain and imme- diate disadvantage. There was po doubt in his mind but that the unseen robber was the man from whom he had parted but a short time before; and he felt. that Circus Pete must hold a very much stronger hand than that which the possession of the stolen papers gave him. ‘‘He thinks be will drain me of all that he can before he springs his trap, and then rake me in without mercy. Good! He gives me time! Only a week ago I hung his namesake; I would be the poor, pitiful, starveling fool he takes me for, if 1 didn’t dispose of him. Jl kill him before another twenty-four hours. Yes, I'll kill bim to-night, and it won’t be my hand that sends the bullet, either. I’ve only been waiting to see his game, Only let me get out and at him!” Then an awful cloud of unspoken and scarce- ly-shapen threats floated through the judge’s. brain, as he realized how difficult it might be to get out. Unless Nellie came back—and here for a few seconds the white froth of un- spoken curses oozed between lips and gag—it was more than likely he would remain there for the balance of the night, with only a slender chance of being at his work by broad. daylight. In that time Circus Pete might have altered bis mind and made his escape. Certainly the sport, tough, outlaw, detective, or whatever he was, knew that he, Judge Schneider, still as were his ways and great his self-control, was a bad man to handle, and after such proyo- cation as this, would have his revenge, if he had to wade through flames lower and hotter than those of purgatory to get it. It seemed like an hour, like a number of hours, to Schneider, while his thoughts were thus running on; yet, in reality, it was only a few moments, and at the instant he was thrill- ing with voiceless curses, the chance for hope was nearing. Suddenly, and at no great distance, there rung out upon the night air the report of pis- tols, and a little later the sound of hurrying feet, that scurried past the house. The voices were, of course, somewhat hushed and muffled to the judge, yet they reached his ears, causing him to raise his head and listen | with an almost agonized intensity. The noise passed on, dying away in the dis- tance, yet they gave him hope. The man who had robbed him bad met some of the boys of Slaughter Bar, perhaps Bill Cole and his Hair Pin gang, and there had been an affray. If they took the robbers into camp, and he could only get loose, there would be an end of his troubles, Then he heard a single, returning, uncertain step, that came to the outer door and halted there. What that might mean he could not guess. Was it some one wounded, or had the robber ICO S com (E (Elo) A a