Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 194 — page 21: what you’re looking at

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

Don presented to me by her.. You remember the arte don’t you, Mr. Roberts?” es ” —— —_—_-. ‘‘ Well, the mystery is solved at last,” ‘* Indeed?” ' The sheriff was looking keenly at the Cavalier but the latter’s face was so calm and pleasant that he could not believe any trouble lurked bebind. ‘¢ Miss Di has been found, and she has made a full confession.” ** What does she say?’ Roberts tersely asked. ‘Simply that you were the cause of the whole trouble.” ‘* T?” said the sheriff, in seeming amazement, ‘Yes, sir. She says you came to her and offered her fifty dollars to sit for her pictures and, afterward, to write upon the back of one this pretty inscription: ‘Theodore, from his loving Di.’ She says furthermore, that you af- terward gave her money if she would go away from Mount Tabor until the affair could blow over.” ‘* Tt is a base lie!” cried the sheriff. ‘‘She is willing to back her statement under oath.” “Who would believe her? Not you, mayor, surely.” “Why not?” ‘‘Ts her word to be taken against mine?” “Well, to be frank, Roberts, it looks to me as though ou have been playing a very nice game on Mr. Rivers with the intention of get- ting bim out of your path by some means or other. ‘You have been jealous because he dared look at Laura Austin, and you at once set about the work of destroying him.” ; A look of righteous horror was on Roberts’s &ce, **Good-Heavens!” he cried, ‘‘do you believe this thing of me? Mwyor James, Rivers—I am innocent; I swear it. You must think me a base wretch.” ‘‘ That’s about the size of it,” James dryly ad- mitted. ‘‘And allon the strength of alie told by a woman who knows no such word as honor!” “That isn’t all, sir,” the mayor auswered, with a gravity which troubled Robert=, ‘*What more is there?” be demanded. CHAPTER XXXII. THE SHERIFI’S DOWNFALL, Tue plotter began to feel somewhat ill at ease. e noticed that many of Rivers’s friends were at hand—Joe Pike, Cheerful Abe and others—and that they were bestowing frequent and secret glances upon him. ‘Another step in your iniquitous career,” Mayor James calmly said, ‘‘ has been told us by the man known as ‘ Jonathan.’ ” Roberts changed color, Strong-nerved as be was, he could’ not face danger from such a quarter with a stoical face, and the blow came unexpectedly. ‘* What of Jonathan?” he managed to ask. ‘He is dead.” **Dead?” “ Yes. ” ‘*Well, what is that tome?” ‘** Much, since he met his doom in trying to carry out your orders. You sent him to mur- der Theodore Rivers, but he tackled more than he could carry and got his last hurt instead of your hundred dollars. He made a clean breast of the whole business before he crossed the divide.” “Do you mean that be tried to implicate me?” the sheriff demanded. ‘*That’s the size of it. He told how you hired him to murder Rivers, and there are three witnesses to his confession.” ‘* He told a base lie,” was the hot reply. _ “I wish 1 could believe you, but the evidence is too strong on the other side.” Roberts was like a wolf at bay. He fully realized the seriousness of his position; he saw that public opinion, so far as the affair was known, was against him, and all his schemes and honors seemed tottering to their very foun- dation, but he was not one to yield tamely. He made a desperate attempt to turn the tide; for it was pet ot necessary that the mayor should not think him guilty, and after asking for particulars of Jonathan’s fate, he launched into » stream of eloquence, He set his own reput»{ion and public pdsition against Jonathan’s well known vicious ways, but James dashed cold water on bis hopes by reminding him that the dead man had always been bis jriend and associate, , ‘You can have a chance to plead your case before a bar of justice,” was the mayor's ulti- matum, ‘ but for now, it is my duty to put you under arrest.” ‘You forget that I am the sheriff of Mount Tabor,” was the haughty retort, ‘T forget nothing,” James calmly said. ‘‘ Mayor, this isa plot to ruin me, ‘You do not know this man, Rivers, as I do, 1 can whisper @ word in your ear which will astonish ou. ms What is it?” ‘He, Theodore Rivers, is the infamous road- ent, Don Sombrero!” | e Jooked Rivers full in the face, expecting om. brero, the California Road Gent. to see him blanch, but saw instead a calm, almost amused, smile. ; ‘‘That is too ridiculous,” said James, impa- tiently. **T will “How?” . ‘ ‘*‘ Thardly know how, but if you had not forced this premature charge, I would have brought him to you with his disguise on before three days. My eyes have been opened to his guilt, and I would soon have had him on the hip.” “Tt is not yet too late to put in your evi- dence,” said, the Cavalier, ory. “] am as anxious as any one to have Don Sombrero un- masked, and I give you leave to tell all you know.” ‘*His charge is a lie made out of whole cloth, of course,” said James, impatiently. “It is not to be considered for a moment. Now, then Mr. Roberts, will you yield yourself a prisoner?” The baffled plotter hesitated for a moment being tempted to use his revolvers in an attempt to effect his So but the number of his enemies convin him it would be suicidal and he resolved to make the most of a bad matter, ‘‘T shall not resist the law, if so it is to be regarded, but I propose to clear myself of these vicious charges and live to confound those who Here are my weapons, Mayor prove it if you will give mea chance,” would ruin me, James.” He laid his revolver and knife upon the table, and the mayor, who saw that those of the crowd who were not in the secret were staring curiously, arose and said: ** ‘You will be put in the inner room for now, for I have business to do here. In half an hour we will take you to the jail, where you will be safe if a lynch-law spirit should be developed.” Roberts smiled bitterly at the thought of himself occupying a cell to which he had often consigned some unlucky wretch, but he sub- mitted quietly when, after a conference with the keeper of the Casino, he was locked in an inner room to await the pleasure of his captors. The mayor had seen that there was consider- able murmuring among the frequenters of the place, among whom the sheriff had many friends, so he at once mounted a table and made a speech in which he explained why Roberts was thus humiliated. Public opinion is a fickle thing at best, and, in important cases, the majority of men like to 0 with the tide, so, as the speaker went on, the ow-spoken words began to change to mutterings against the prisoner, ‘It’s all right,” said Joe Pike, to cheerful Abe, as he noted the mood of the audience. ‘“Ther mayor is knockin’ all ther props out from under Roberts, an’, when he is through, you can’t find a sympathizer fur him in ther crowd, It is like some o’ ther scenes I see’d in *49.” ‘Oh! I reckon his day o’ glory is over. Villainy shall only flourish fur a season, any- way, you know, an’ he has had a pritty fa’r run. ‘‘How say you, gentlemen,” said the mayor. as he finished Wis oration, “do you,(or do you not think me justified in seizing the sheri ‘*'You have done right.” ** He has be’n a wolf in sheep’s clothin’.” **T always thought him a pesky rascal.” ‘Give him a quick trial an’ a stout rope.” “Don’t give him a trial. Let Judge Lynch take a holt on him!” These and other cries arose from the fickle crowd which had swelled rapidly in proportions, but the mayor felt called upon to combat the last proposition. “No, no,” he said, quicklv. ‘‘ Don’t talk of Judge Lynch in Mount Tabor. We have a tribunal of law here, and by it the man shall be tried, Let us rest content until then.” ‘Fe don’t desarve @ trial.” ‘‘ Every accused man deserves one, whether guilty or innocent, Let us bow to the majesty of the law.” “ Yes,” added Rivers, «re must pive hima chanes, and I, most of all, desire that he have a complete one, He has accused me of being Don Sombrero, the road-agent, and I do not want him to go out of the warld until be has proved his charge or failed in the attempt.” © more open oppositién was made, but the Cavalier saw the men whispering among. them- selves, and advised that the prisoner be con- veyed to jail as soon as possible, What do you think o’ Roberts’s charge?” Joe Pike asked of Cheerful Abe. It is ridic’lous,” the leadér of the Triad promptly answered, O’ course it is, Rivers isa reg’lar_nabob, an’ it ain’t likely he would go gallopin’ round ther kentry ©8 aroad-robber, I reckon it war eh 2 desp’r te dodge ter turn ther tide ag’iu’ “That's all,” said Abe, stoutly; but he re- ‘membered the face he had ay night and knew that if his testimony was added to what had been said it would place the Cavalier in a bad plight. ‘I sha’n’t speak, though, for I like Rivers, and I am sure he has some great object iu play- ing the road-agent,” he soliloquized, ‘I used to tell the tattooed man that if people knew his 21 ee indelible marks were washed off Ag night they would raise a row, but the N, k, & C. coined money off of him, and the end justified the means.” Meanwhile the mayor was mustering the mem whom he could trust as a guard, and with them formed in a solid body he prepared to take Rob- erts to the jail. He unlocked the door and wy tes into the inner room, but there he paused In amazement. The sheriff was gone! CHAPTER XXXIV, THE PURSUIT. THE men at the mayor’s back were not lon in discovering that something was wrong, an as they pressed forward to loo a shout arose which was full of anger. Their prisoner had escaped from under their very noses, as it were, and they were not in a. tem a to meet the discovery philosophically. . : here has he gone?’ the mayor blankly asked. ‘Through the window, of course,” Rivers an- swered, and he strode forward and pushed it open. The distance to the ground was not over twenty feet, a leap any man would dare take for liberty; but there Was more than that to be seen. “‘He had outside help,” he quickly added. “There is a ladder placed against the wall, which shows that some one helped him away ‘* Who could it have been?” ‘Let us rather inquire where he has gone, Get your men into the saddle, your honor, an let him be bunted down before it is too late.” . The lesser lights of the party were shouting sy aia over the escape, and Rivers and the mayor hr them acting like lunatics, while one of their number bad mounted a table and was deliver- ing a lynch law speech which was cheered to the echo. Before order could be enforced, however, the door was dashed open and a man bounded in- side in such a passion of excitement that the words he tried to speak were for a while indis- tinguishable, ivers, however, recognized him as Duke Dorval, the man-of-all-work of the Austins, and with a sudden fear tugging at his heart he strode forward and took him by the arm. ‘* Be calm,” he said, ‘‘ and speak coherently.. Is anything wrong? His voice acted like magic on the man, anc! for themselves. wried back to the main roo™ to find . with a powerful effort he succeeded in speaking 1 lainly. pe There has been murder done!” he huskilv said. ‘‘ Judge Austin has been shot by Saerilf Roberts and Miss Laura abducted!” His words fell like a thunderbolt upon the crowd, and, amid the roar of angry voices from the men, Rivers turned to the mayor with a set face. ‘Tt came from our revelation to the judge,” he said. ‘Yes, for it turned him inst Roberts. What can we do?” the official blankly asked. “Ride him down! Iam going now.” With these words the Cavalier ae) mi through the crowd and made his way outside. His bay horse was tied not far away, and in a minute more he was in the saddle and galloping to- ward Arcadia. Once, he looked back and saw a score of the men following, but they were soon distanced, His mind was very busy as he rode. An hour before they had chanced upon Austin, and the mayor, contrary to Rivers’s expéctations, bad told all that bad been discovered concerving the sheriff, whereupon, the master of Arcadio wheeled into line, denounced the schemer and gave the Cavalier his band. “Tt was base ingratitude on Roberts’s part to shoot a man who has been so stanch a friend to him, but he knows no such thing as honor. And so Austin is shot; fatally wounded, Dor- val said. If he dies, my own schemes of ven- geance fall to the ground, and Iam not sure but that I shall abandon them anyway, ‘ now bow mean a thing is revenge, and I have only to withhold my hand to gain happiness — instead He rode on until be reached Arcadia, and sdywta had seen @ servant, Octavia soon came to ° Her eyes were red and ber lips. trembled as she gave him her hand, ‘“This is a house of mourning, Mr. Rivers,” she huskily said. ‘“‘T have heard a little from Dorval, but I hey, like full particulars before I take to the trail. ‘You are going to Laura’s rescue?” “*T am he with God’s help, I will restore her safely to her home.” Then Octavia briefly told how the tragedy had occurred. Judge Austin, on his return from the village, bad told the family of the net being woven about Roberts end bad declared that he should never cross their threshold again, but, half an hour later, the escaped prisoner and a man whom they recognized as Ben Braxton, dashed into the inclosure, and Roberts asked for JOO GoM Sj Cc e(o)