Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 217 — page 16: what you’re looking at

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

ee — search for some signs of Don Miguel and his cap- «ceeded toward the ford from another direction _. for the purpose, as we have seen, of ascertaining the movements of the scout. . ignorant of the presence of the others. gcout saw and recognized him. Frank at once pose. Re aapute proof that Castro was a thief and an | was a critical moment, and he could not spare | _ stood erect to The next moment the scout wes upon his cap- _ doomed to death. ing discovered by Muchachbo del Noche, al- | _ though the scout knew nothing of this. | _ there could be no escape from such a man as he knew Frontier Frank to be. : 16 — ee eee ee -_—_ ee ee = ne ee —— - ° . . -- - . — +12 - te Ss ee -_- —_-—— he strove in aspasmodic way to think and rea- | as soon as he had secured him, sprung down son, fighting desperately all the time against the winding wash-out and speedily disappeared. hunger, thirst and sleep, his brain nearly burst- Relieved from dread of immediaie torture, ing with the fast-accumulating tortures which | Castro regained partially his self-control. He the Fates seemed to have held in reserve ior | could not now believe that Frank had discov- years that they might in the end come upon him | ered Dolores, for if he had he would not thus in a stampede and overwhelm him, have spared him. Dou Miguel Martinez was now suffering that It might be, however, that Dolores was now just retribution which, sooner or later, comes | in great danger, and, if so, then the scout might upon transgressors; being at last made tounder- | be expected at any moment to return and tor stand and realize the mountains of misery he | ture him to death. had hurled upon and with which he hadcrushed many a poor soul, in order that he might gratify his own passions, And although anguish, almost insupportable, | | | was in regard to Don Miguel and Muchacho del now racked his frame, he would have been | | } | | Noche. Not that he cared a fig for the safety of the Castilian, but that he wished for the sake of the unhappy son, whom he was resolved, if pos- sible, to wean from a savage life, to prevent that son from murdering and scalping his own father. Such a horrible crime must be prevented, even though he lost his own life in the attempt. Had the scout known that, had he not been in such a hurry to get Castro from the vicinity of the ford, he would have seen Muchacho, he would have been furious, and probably would have cursed the Mexican roundly for crossing his trail; although the time came, not long _afterward, when he thosght it providential in One outstretched arm, the hand of which | the extreme that he had been so fortunate as to clutched a murderous looking knife, was thrust | come upon bim. clear of the foliage, revealing, near the shoul- | Hastening down the wash-out a short distance ' chained to the spot with fresh horror had he looked out through the branches into the open- ing he had just crawled from; for, on the oppo- site side from his position, the leaves were part- ed, revealing a hideously-painted face framed in a wealth of long black hair, and from out the ghastly bars of gypsum glittered two dark-blue but eagle-like eyes, at first sweeping the open space, aud then resting upon the sleeping beauty, but showing nothing in their depths of the ex- | ae amazement and exultation that ruled the | ain, der, the blood-red figure of an alligator! | the scout was suddenly brought tos halt by a Muchacho del Noche, true to his training, | movement in the bushes beyond the bank of the ‘was still bent on business. gully in the mesquites. = | At last he had fortunately heard an indica- CHAPTER XX. | tion of either man or beast; but he knew not A NEW HORROR, | which. He did know that the sound was not WueEn Frontier Frank was yet on the Mexi- | made by his own animal. can side of the Rio Grande, Loreizo Castro had | Crawling cautiously up the bank and through arrived at a clump of bushes, from his conceal-.| the bushes, Frank soon came within view of a ment in which he could command a full view of | horse, which, to his joy, he saw was the animal the wood. His fright may be imagined as he | that had been ridden by Muchacho del Noche. discovered Muchacho del Noche witha captive. | He had reasoned correctly! Not for a moment did he suppoRe that the | Those, of whom he was in pursuit, were still brave had been on a lone scout. If he had he | near at band. The young brave had, as the would at once have shot him from his horse. ‘scout had supposed, been too cunning to leave Castro concluded, naturally, that a war-party | cover, and risk capture on his fagged mustang, of Apaches were encamped on the border of the | on the plain beyond. mk pn aud that this young brave hadcap-' Frank also perceived the saddle and bridle, tured some lone rider on the opposite side of the but he felt confident that Muchacho had taken river. his captive some distance from his outfit, in His fear withheld all movement until the In- | order that he might be more secure from dis- dian and his captive had disappeared in the | covery. The scout felt much relieved, for he thicket; then the outlaw became much con- | reasoned that if the youth intended killing bis eerned, for they were evidently proceeding in | captive, he would have dono so at once upon such a course as to coma upon bis horse and Do- | reaching cover, and then escaped in the chapar- lores. ral down the river, and not have left his horse The attention of Castro Was so taken up by | and equipments thus, and liable to be stolen. the movements of Muchaco del Noche that he Not that the mustang was worth very much failed to observe Frontier Frank as the latter | in its present state; but, because it would be a forded the river. The scout’s motions were very | disgrace for the young brave to return from bis rapid. After securing his steed he set about the | first scout without borse and equipments with which he had set out, and the fact that the mus- tang was so completely used up, showing des- perate service on the trail—a hard run for life— would be a lasting honor to the rider. From all this, Frank decided that Don Mar- tinez was, for the present, safe from deadly in- jury at the hands of his son, and that the latter intended to take his captive, at all risks, to the Apache Mountains. If Don Miguel was to be tortured, it ought, in justice, to be done by those whom he had most foully wronged—Lizzie Ellsworth and himself. There could be no retribution otherwise. Suddenly, as this Jast thought struck him, Frontier Frank came to a full stop in his stealthy passage through the dense thicket. Something now occurred to his mind that he had not previously thought of, Since bis recent experiences at. Rancho del | Laguna—since he had saved the lifeof Marietta Martinez, and she had been held in his arms, | yes, clasped to his breast—since she had apoRee words of thanks, and looked that gratitude and regard from her sweet eyes, far more strongly than any mere words could have expressed— since all this had occurred, how could he kill the man, in whose veins the same. blood flowed —her fath rin the sight of God, if not in that of man? Frontier Frank raised his fist inthe air and brought it down hard upon the earth; there, ia the darkness, swearing that not a hair of the head of Don Miguel Martinez should ever be barmed by him! As suddenly as the thought had come to him, that since he had become a friend on speaking terms with Marietta, and that the latter held him in high regard—just as suddenly did he make his decision; throwing to the winds bis strong desire for revenge, for he knew that he could never look that fair girl in the eye, or Dolores, oreven Muchacho del Noche, if be were the cause of their father’s death. The scout was filled with the utmost sagt kat that these conclusions had never before been reached by him, and he felt relieved, greatly | relieved, of. a most grievous burden, feeling | that he had been standing on the edge of a | volcano crater, into the seething depths of | which he would have been hurled, his life doubly wrecked by his baving stained his bands in the blood of the father of those whom he had devoted his life to protect, and whom he loved most dearly! tor. So it chanced that both Frank and the Mexican started for the ford at about the same | time, neither of them dreaming of the presence | of the other. It was at this time, also, that Muchacho pro- Thus ali three were approaching the same objective point, each Castro was in advance, and it was not long before the qe —_— decided that this was an unusual range for the Mexican, and that he was here for no good pur- For a couple of years he had been seeking assassin, and up to this time he had been foiled | by the cunning Mexican. Had not the scout wished to follow Muchacho del Noche and prevent the murder of Don Miguel by bis own son, he would have followed Castro, to see if there was not something now that would confirm his previous suspicions; but it | | the time. He therefore detached the lasso from | his belt, adjusted the noose, and made ready for | the first favorable opportunity that offered for | the use of it. As if to favor him, at this mo- | ment Castro crawled out from the thicket and et a more extensive view of the round beyond theriver. While he thus gazed he lasso cut the air apd the deadly coil encircled ‘the throat of the outlaw. tive, whose wrists he bound firmly behind him, the rufian thinking that he was known as the abductor of Dolores, and feeling that he was _ Without a word, Frank pushed him on, and into a ‘‘ wash-out,” just in time to prevent be- ‘Up the wash out, at speed, he urged Castro, the jatter trembling and speechless, feeling that At length they reached a poi t more seciuded than the rest, and here the scout bound Castro beyond the chances of escape. Quaking with terror, now that he felt positive that be was to be tortured to death, the wretch strove to speak, but could mot articulate a syllable. Speech, however, would have availed him nothing, for the scout, ' When Frank left Castro, his great anxiety. The Serpent of El Paso. ——— ee we ee + oe ee oe rere erg tte ee ltt LL AL LL LLL LLL — ee More at ease, Frontier Frank now crawled onward, more determined than ever that he would save Don Miguel, and now resolving that he would return the old Castilian to Rancho del Laguna, and in the event of the death of Luny Lize, to use every effort in his power to reunite the family, without, however, revealing the secret of Marietta’s birth. On went the scout toward a scene that would cause the warmest blood in his veins to congeal in horror, his heart to bound in a torturing spasm, and his brain to feel like molten lead! Conscious that a moonlit opening was in front of him, the scout carefully parted the branches; but his fingers closed upon the thorn- guarded mesquites in a yise-like grip, forcing the wooden needles into his flesh unheeded, his eyes protruding in a most horrifying stare that would have been terrible to witness, Lis strong frame trembling asif stricken with palsy, and his breath coming and going in short, hissing gasps. Could he believe his eyes? Yes: it was no vision conjured up in his imagination by bis recent troubled thoughts; though such a scene might well have been dreamed of after what he had gone through. There in the little opening upon the center of which the moon smiled placidiy, lay Dolores— his Dolores!—whom he had left safe in Franklin but the other day. No, he could not be mis- taken. Dressed in gaudy attire, torn and crumpled, her face pallid as that of a corpse, her eyes staring in terrible dread upward. Yes, it wes Dolores, the Darling of the Divide! And well might her face wear that look «* horror, for standing directly over her, v2. Muchacho del Noche, now in war-paint, his 6) : flashing with a thirst for blood out from t).+ bars of white gypsum that was danbed «© cheeks and brow, bis long hair flowing cow» over his naked shoulders and back to his woi: while above the quick heaving breast of t!« beautiful girl was beld his long scalping-kni!» firm clufched, and his muscles swelled to giv greater force to the murderous intended bic . which seemed to he withheld only that the fi ; might enjoy the torture, that he might g! over the borror of his lovely prize whose sci! » was soon to decorate his shield | Frontier Frank was incapable, through hor- ror, of either speech or motion, And no wonder was it, for he had saved Do» Miguel from being murdered by Muchacho «':! Noche in this same manner at Laguna de| « Patos, and now the Apache-reared boy w:: about to murder and scalp his own sister, ti: true Marietta Martinez! CHAPTER XXII. TOTEMS AND TERRORS. FRONTIER FRANK upon his knees, his hai: + clutched about the mesquites that shielded hi-) from view, but did not shut out from hm ti.» dread sight in the opening, with his eyes fixe, gazed upon the glittering steel beld in the banc «: Muchacho del Noche over the breast of Dolore., the own sister of the war. painted youth! A):) beyond the scout, on the north side of the open space, in almost the same position, and with tio same expression, was Don Martinez, Jooking ov* upon the same fearful tableau. There was no mercy in the eyes that glittere j from between those bars; but surely,mercy from on high sent a breeze at that mament, whi) tossed aside a rag of the torn velvg; sleeve an: disclosed the mark of the alligator upon the plump arm of the maiden. No sooner did Muchacho see the same tole in the same position as was that upon his own arm, than his eyes began to dilate in supersti- tious wonder. With a wild bound he spruny into the air, then grasped Dolores in his arms, and dashed into the dark shades before either of those who witnessed it could make a move (tu prevent him. | Neitber Don Miguel nor Frontier Frank would, if they had given a second thought, bave dared make a movement at the time tha‘ Dolores was in such deadly peril, for they would have known that the instant they did so the fatal knife would have descended. Never were anguished mortals more suddenly relieved than were Don Miguel and the scout when they discovered the flutter of the torn sleeve, and the change in the expression of the wild youth. But when Muchacho bounded away with Dolores, who seemed to have lost all powe” to er? out, Don Miguel relapsed as sudden), All the world seemed to be engaged in the work of torturing him, to the destruction of both body and mind. Frank, however, from his knowledge of In- dian character, knew that Dolores would be safe from harm at the hand of any of the Aveches; but, for all that, he knew that she must be suffering the most horrible fright. and he resolved to effect her release, He sprung, therefore, throngh the mesquites at a reckless pace, coming directly upon Don Miguel, who now believed that a fresh horror was being launched upon him, Frank felt himself clutched by the legs, and he fell forward, tke most com € Se ? 00