Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 217 — page 18: what you’re looking at

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

a. ~ be here to kill me. 18 wished at that moment to meet—the man whom she hated with a hatred that was fiendish in its intensity. Don Miguel Martinez was now in Texas, far from bis home, and, to all appearances, was a skulking fugitive; and, in the mind of Luny Lize, this was an astonishing fact, which, coupled with what had preceded it, brought about an interval of comp#rative sanity to the poor demented creature, whose whole supersti- tious nature was aroused on the instant. To her if seemed that, from her aimless wander- ings in the mountains, she had been brought, through what bad appeared but her own simple curiosity, afar over the plain from Sierra Blanca to this particular point; and, through her lingering to ascertain the character of the two horsemen and their burdens, she bad been drawn to this very spot, and at the very mo- ment which brought her hated enemy into her power, Not only this, but she believed that through strange influences, Don Miguel bad been provi- dentially decoyed from his far away home into a repel for the purpose of having meted out to the long deferred torture which would bring his life and her revenge to an end at the same time. It must be the band of God! The day of retribution had come at last. All that was just, and right, and virtuous upon earth, united in the demand that the Ser- pent of El Paso must die! The long deferred time had arrived when her eath would be fulfilled to the letter. Don Miguel, as he heard the approach of a horse, which, as the animal ne the thicket, eaused him to quake, and his teeth to chatter, while he wished that it ae for him to sink into the earth and die—death being much to be preferred to the tortures which he had been, and was suffering—gared up through the branches, and as he recognized Luny Lize, he heaved a great sigh of relief, for he had fre- nently seen this strange woman in El Paso and ranklin. Knowing nothing of the poor crea- ture’s identity with Elizabeth Ellsworth, he felt relieved at beholding her, as she was a con- necting link with familiar scenes, which were devoid of the horrors now surrounding bim, The madwoman would not harm him. Of this he was positive; and he immediately, as a drowning man clvtches ata straw, conceived the idea of escaping from the horrors which en- vironed him, through her means. Not a moment did these two,so strangely met, gaze at each other while the thoughts we have recorded flashed through their minds. The old Castilian crawled quickly out, and with a pleading voice, his face filled with abject terror, as he shot a glance toward the scene of his re- cent dread experiences, exclaimed: ‘© Madre de Dios has sent you, my good wo- man. Saveme! There are Indians in yonder, from whom I have escaped, and they will soon I am Don Martinez, of Ran- cho del Laguna in Mexico, and I will reward you to any extent, if you will allow me to go with you. Take me over the river, and to my home, for the love of the good God! I am not a heavy burden. Do not desert me, but save me from these ruthless savages!” This, he rattled off in a heartfelt, pleading - voice, his face mirroring the inward torture that was racking his very soul. Luny Lize slid back upon the cantle of her saddle, the fiendish joy and exultation that contorted her weather- beaten face, being taken by Don Miguel for her natural expression of insanity. | Eagerly the old Castilian clambered into the saddle, and then the bony arms of Luny Lize encircled him, and the mustang sprung to the great relief and joy of the unhappy man. But the wild experiences of the night were ~ not over Of all the hellish horrors, there was one in ' gtore that eclipsed them; for the mustang was now headed away from the ford, and up the river—a fact which proved to Don Martinez that he had been entrapped. He struggled, therefore, to free himself, but the grip of those bony arms wag firm as the clasp of death. Then, from the lips of the madwoman, burst a taunting laugh, followed by word which flew through the brain of the wretched man like ar- rows of red-hot iron. Each word was a half- shriek, half-scream. ‘‘Capitan Martinez shall curse the day he ever saw the light! He shall curse the mother who bore him, and curse his Maker. I swear it! I, the wreck, the disgraced, the polluted—I swear it by my hopes of that happiness here- after which has been denied me here. I, Eliza- beth Elisworth—Luny Lize!” Don Miguel Martinez bent back stiffly, his eyes fixed and glassy, his breath coming in Then, blood oozed from his mouth and nost: ils, and he sunk, limp, and senseless, still clutched tightly by the insane creature, whose loud cries of exultation shot through the brain of Frontier Frank where he was standing, open-mouthed in his tracks, and speechless with amazement and horror, as Luny Lize dashed on her mustang without noticing bis pres- ence, the unresisting form of Don Miguel Mar- tinez still clasped fiercely to her breast! The Serpent of El Paso. SN ——— CHAPTER XXIITL. A SWIFT RETRIBUTION. It was but a few moments after the scout had regained his horse that Luny Lize dashed past him with the captive, Don Miguel, and it was not strange if Frank felt now overpowered with the complicated state of affairs on hand. His skill, powers of endurance, forbearance and mental and bodily exertion had been in a constant state of bewilderment and _ torture since the previous afternoon, and, strive as he might, he could not ‘‘ keep even with the game.” Ne sooner had he extricated one of the most unfortunate of human beings from deadly peril, and saved the life of another, than the first again called for his immediate service. Don iguel was now in the power of one whom he had most foully wronged, and whose vengeance was as inevitable as Fate itself; but the scout felt that her cup of revenge had now been filled to overflowing. The stolen son of Don Martinez had been the rime mover in the whole series of most start- ing and tragic occurrences, and the end was as a shrouded in mystery and darkness as the beginuing had been startling and terrible, rontier Frank was so bewildered that he knew not at first what move to make; but, knowing that it would be impossible for Mucha- cho to escape with Dolores upon a broken-down horse, he resolved first to save Don Martinez, if possible, his very soul now being filled with pity for the miserable man, who had been tortured almost beyond endurance for so many years. With this thought Frank sprung to his saddle and urged his steed up the river. He knew that the horse of Luny Lize could not go far, and he felt sure that she would be so taken up with her captive that she would not be so particular in keeping a look-out for pursuers as usual. Without losing time in following her trail, the scout rode rapidly toward the first point in the sweep of the bend, intending, after clearing the mesquites end reaching the ribbon of clear nome to follow the same up the bend to the north. But a very short time did Frank thus ride be- fore he broke cover and found himself on the very bank of the Rio Grande. On he went un- til, having turned a bend in the bush, he brought his horse to his haunches by a hasty jerk; for some fifty yards nati was a mounted man, clearly seen in the bright moonlight. The horse was cropping the grass along the very edge of the dizzy bight, which at this point formed the bank of the river, and the scout immediately recognized Lorenzo Castro, whose feet were bound beneath the body of the animal, his hands fast behind. It was all plain. The animal and the captive that he had released from Muchacho, by shoot- ing the lariat in twain, were before |'im. It was, as Frank knew, the noble cavalry horse of Lieutenant Morse; for he had guided scouting parties under the command of that officer. At first he had not taken, notice of the ani- mal, for he was greatly excited; but now, as he recognized the horse, he felt confident that Castro bad stolen the animal in Franklin, abducted Dolores, and brought her with him, the double load wearing the horse greatly on so long a ride—in fact, few animals could have made such a run, For this reason Frank knew that the horse would be nervous and easily frightened, and for the beast’s sake, more than that of the rider, he felt forced to wait, hoping that it would soon wander from the dangerous verge of the bank, as, by being suddenly startled, it might, by a plunge, be precipitated down the dread chasm. Frontier Frank, however, was not the man to remain inactive on such a critical occasion. He could not linger in his search after Luny Lize and her captive, and he was about to turn inta the mesquites, to make a detour around Castro, leaving the latter for a time, before returnin to hang him for his crime, when his hear Ht ohy. to his throat, at the sounds and sights at were now before him. First, there was a crashing of bushes, direct- ly at the point where the horse wads feeding, with Castro helplessly bound upon its back, and, then, with a wild snort, the mustang of Luny Lige burst in a terrific plunge from the mes- quites, and as the madwoman, with Don Mar- tinez in her arms, broke clear of the bushes, she gave out another of her wild yells of triumph! At the crashing of the brush, the horse of the outlaw threw up his head quickly, and then, as the poor insane creature burst into view and gave that piercing shriek, the terrified horse sprung about, with a loud snort, whirling upon its hind hoofs, and thus causing the treacher- ous bank to give way. The animal slid back and downward, its forefeet only being upon firm ground, and these limbs trembling with weakness and terror. Only the head, neck, and forelegs of the doomed steed were now to_ be seen; and, beyond the same, the head of Lo- renzo Castro, bis features expressing the most abject terror. ale as death itself was the Mexican, his lips trembling and of ashen hue—a sight that was fearful indeed to look upon! It was but for a moment, however, that this Sight remained’, to torture the young Texan. Even Luny Lize gazed with a fixed stare ot strange and mingled emotions. Then, the strength of the poor horse gave out, and a min- gied shriek from man and beast cut the air—s shriek that would ring in the ears of the hearer while life was given bim. A sounding splash afar down, a hundred ceé below; a spattering of many waters, a fal) of broken earth, and then all was still. Lorenzo Castro had gone to meet his Maker! Frontier Frank was sick with borror. Cold chills ran to bis very marrow, and he had only sense enough remaining to rein back his horse, out of the sight of Luny Lize; then he slipped to the earth, and tearing the cool grass from the sod, pressed it to his heated brow. Strong man that be was, his lungs fed by prairie and moun- tain air since a youth, inured to hardships, and familiar with scenes of blood in savage warfare still he was only buman. He was not made of iron, to be racked, heart, soul and brain, each half bour, by some dread and horrible scene, He dared not now attempt the rescue of Dom Miguel. He dared not show himself; for he knew that, being now on her last trail, and car- rying out the last of her oath of vengeance, she would, upon the sight of any one whom she thought likely to attempt the release of her captive, urge her mustang over the dizzy res and ed her vengeance with her own life, as w as that of Don Miguel Martinez! ts felt positive of this, and hence his inac- on. | : Often had he heard Luny Lize assert thas when she had fully carried out ber plans of re venge, ending all by torturing the Serpent of El Paso, she would then die, for there would nothing left for which she cared lenger te ve. Frank knew not the length of time he la upon the sward. At last he slowly got upon his bands and knees, and crept to the verge of the bend of bushes which concealed bim from the river, and looked down on the scene of the re- cent tragedy. Luny Lize had disappeared. Not a living ob- ject met his view. An irresistible impulse, or fascination, caused him to craw] across the clear space, and lie flat upon the sward, gazing down upon the waters that bad ingulfed the cowardly abductor of poor Dolores. As the scout reached the bank, there © 5 pp the form of an Apache brave, in a crouching posture, the long sca!ping- knife in his band, and his black eyes glittering with a thirst for blood. At the very point at which the scout had, but the moment previous, been in an almost help- less position, bis arms in bis belt, the Apache now appeared; and as Frank lay, peering down upon the dark, slow-moving waters of the Rio Grande, the Indian stepped stealthily from the mesquites toward his hated Texan foe, But the noble steed that bad escaped the eye of the sayage, in the intense satisfaction of the latter at his prospects of gaining a scalp and weapons, tossed up his head, and gave a snort of alarm. In an instant the scout was upon his feet, his knife in his hand, and the arot had cleared but two-thirds the distance, both standing out fair in the moonlight on level ground, and Frank not more than five feet from the terrible chasm. Both straightened up and gazed into each other’s eyes. Both were strong, supple, wiry, and symmetrically formed. ch was filled with hatred most intense for the other. One or the other, perhaps both, must fly through the air and down into the dark waters of the Rio Grande, to keep company with Lorenzo Castro. At first Frank had thought the Indian te be Muchacho del Noche; but a second glance proved that his unexpected enemy was an athlete of twice the age of the unfortunate son of Don Martinez—in fact, a brave who had evi- dently been inured to many years of savage war. Face to face, without a flinch in either, each sprung forward to deadly conflict, the scout’s arm nerved by the thought that suffering oneg needed his immediate service and protection, and be had grown desperate from the harrowing experiences of the past night, through all o which his knife had remained unstained, except with the blood of an alligator. Tuere was no resisting the terrible onslaught of Frontier Frank, and although the brave probably now regretted having been drawn into a hand-to-hand conflict with such a man, still he could not retreat. He therefore entered into the fight, nerved by the consciousness that were he successful in gaining the scalp of the burly Texan, he could henceforth wear an eagle- feather in his head-dress, For a moment only was there a lightning: like play of steel, that glittered and glinted in the moonlight, then the knife of the savage flew from his hand, bis fingers being severed, the blood spurted from his neck, and following quick as a flash of light, the bright steel was buried to the hilt in the Indian’s paint-daubed ooye) Comic ES -com