Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 241 — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

4 men ae *“ Not this time, Spitfire Saul, though I come monstrous nigh fergettin’ myself. "Tain’t death that you’re so much afraid of; Pll give ye that much credit. The idee o’ bein’ choked to death with a rope is what cuts deepest, An’ the rope you'll taste afore the sun goes down, an’ it ’Il come true what I swore when I found out who | it was that butchered my poor little brother—” | “‘T did kill nim; that | admit,” broke in King Saul, cutting him short. ‘I didn’t know who the little bull-dog was, or anything about bim, save that he spoiled all my plans by his cursed folly. For that I ‘killed him. I’m glad I did, since you claim bim as a brother. Wd say the same if the rope was around my neck and you j tugging at the other end. But that will never | come to pass. me hung—listen! ‘*T swear that I will kill you. I swear that I will hunt out you~ relatives, one after another, and send them to join youin Tophet, before this moon grows old. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, old fellow!” Uttering a short, hard laugh, Doc Strader sunk back upon his stool, thrusting the stem of his pipe between his teeth, pulling vigorously at it, until then in ignorance of the bowl pertee fallen to the floor. Not until he struck a match to relight the tobacco did he discover the truth, so great had been his excitement, so intense was it even now. King Saul had made the discovery first, and his blazing eyes drooped for fear the guard might read therein the sudden hope which found birth in that fact, so trifling on its face. He pushed his stool back until it touched the wall, and wiped the tin dish with a bit of corn bread, but all the time be was staring at the still smoking pipe-bow! as it lay on the floor, only a few feet beyond the line which the stout chain at his waist permitted him to trace. He heard Doc Strader rise and advance, but he did not raise his head nor make a motion until he saw the black, bairy hand reaching down to pick up the pipe. Then— Kiug Saul flung himself headlong, his mana- cled wrists joined, bis fingers holding the heavy chain in a lump, a hoarse snarl of deadly hatred breaking from his lips. Had he leaped forward on his feet, he must have failed to reach the guard. As it was, with body and arms extended at full length, be was barely successful, the iron and chains de- Instead of hanging me, or seeing | Spitfire Saul, King of the Rustlers. sweetness on the desert air, to be exiled here beyond all civilization, where balls and beaux and billet-doux are unknown—ha! ha!” Long and musically she laughed, this queen] brune, while her companion joined her with — gusto. Evidently they were in no danger of breaking their hearts over their unfortunate fate. Lucille Debonay and Ora Ainsley had been friends from childhood, bound together by no ordinary ties of love. A like friendship had connected their parents, until death severed the bond, leaving little Ora an orpban, when Pierre Debonay, so cold and austere to those who could not lak into the heart of gold which lay so far beneath that chilling exterior, with tearsin his eyes at the loss of his one male | friend, closed the death-filmed orbs of the fa- | ther and took the little orpban home and to his heart. From that day the two girls had never been separated, Carroll cower? sm a rich man, and his will named Pierre Debonay his sole executor and guardian of his only child. The two estates were joined, and from thence on carried and managed as one. In losing one father, Ora had found another, equally as kind, and even more indulgent, so the deep wound in | ber heart gradually closed, until, at the time when we introduce them, she bardly realized that she had ever known another parent. Side by side the two girls grew up together, with only Pierre Debonay for a tutor, and when | their daily lessons were over, running wild over the vast cattle ranch. Luckily no harm came to them, and the rough cowboys, even the most surly and wicked, fairly worshiped them. | They taught them to ride the wildest horses, to use the rifle or revolver like veteran marks- men, to cast the lasso as deftly as the best among their ranks; yet all this without a word, look, thought or action at which the most fasti- dious could take umbrage. One day the eyes of the ranchero were open- ed. He saw what had never before occurred to him: that his children were growing up to wo- manhood. He knew that he was wronging them in keeping them thus apart from more civilizing influences, and though it took more one terrible wrenching of bis tenderest heart- strings, he made ? his mind to part from them, scending with a sickening crash upon the bowed for their own good. head of Doc Strader, knocking him to the floor. There was a pretty rebellion when he made Almost any skull would have been sbattered | this decision known to the spoiled beauties, like an egg-shell by that terrible blow, and a | There was weeping and wailing, coaxing and | snarling cry of saree triumph grated through the einrhad teeth of the outlaw as he felt that his guard was forever disposed of, He fell bimsel’ with stunning force, but that | day they turned their faces toward the rising | was no time to think of common hurts, and he clutched at the arm of Doc Strader, even as he fe]l upon tbe stone floor, The force with which the chain jerked him back, caused King Saul to miss his grip, and a how] of fury broke from him as he saw Stra- der roll over, still living, still dangerous, though stunned and bewildered by that terrible shock. His fingers closed upon one leg, and with powers renewed by the critical emergency, he dragged the guard closer, snatching with his free hand at the revolver which he saw in the belt, tearing it from the holster just as Strader jerked himself free and rolled away, uttering a hoarse cry to alarm the sentry without, at the same time trying to draw a pistol. It was the death of one or the other now, and King Saul quickly realized that fact. elick ! sounded the hammer as the revolver was cocked, and then came the report. Doe Strader, hardly realizing occurred, his eyes filled with the blood that streamed from a great gash on his skull, was | just rising to his knees, just pulling forth another pistol, when the bullet crashed through ‘his brain, and he fell forward upon his face, a corpse! The next moment came a heavy thumping on the door. CHAPTER It. TWO FAIR AMAZONS. Two horses, tearing over the broad plain, racing side by side, eying each other in gener- ous rivalry, their flanks heaving, their coats glistening with sweat, flecked here and there with little patches of foam, as though they bad been ridden hard and far, Yet they bore bard upon the bits as the curb was pressed by their fair riders, and though yielding, still moving restlessly as though longing to renew the race. “This is glorious—this is life worth living!” exclaimed one flushed beauty, her eyes spark- ling vividly as she drew off one gauntlet and fanned her face. : ‘* Is it not?” echoed her companion, her com- plexion clear, her breath even, apparently as cool and comfortable as though at home in her heat-guarded room, instead of beneath the blaz- ing afternoon sun of New Mexico. “And to thiok of those compassionate doll-babies, who - never di'ew a breath of air that was not con- Pek sd <P ‘taminated by the filth of cities—think how they pitied us poor girls, condemned to waste our * “4 - oe : i L : ~ “ny + a ea ome) ah | | Click— | Taller, more | what had | away from the ranch. | | | | sen f but Pierre Debonay knew how to be | rm, even while bis own heart was repeating | their prayers with redoubled fervor, and one sun, A month later Pierre Debonay returned to the ranch alone, a feverish energy that amazed bis little army of retainers, though they soon learned that he was | trying to forget the absence of his children. | And in course of time be appeared to succeed. At least he returned to his former mode of life, leaving all to his foreman, only quitting his ; books when bis presence became a necessity. | And so the years rolled by, until three of them had joined the past. Not once during all that time, had the ranchero visited bis daughters, though many and ardent were their prayers for | him to do so. He had his reasons, which the course of this story may make clear. Then the girls graduated, and came bome, pertochiy developed, more, lady- like, perhaps, but still their old selves,Sas the cowboys soon learned, when they wandered Tall and queenly, Lucille was a brune of the purest type, ber pe en es dazzlingly clear, yet proof against heat and sun. Her eighteen years had fully developed her form, graceful, yet voluptuously molded; a woman for love of Pee many a man would count death as noth- ng. Ora Ainsley was smaller, but. equally as per- fect after her style. With golden bair, waxen skin, whose only drawback was its susceptibil- ity to tan and freckles; a rose-bud mouth, eyes like the summer sky in hue, now languid and melting, anon running over with sparkling mis- chief; a voice that was rousic itself, and a tem- per that was all but angelic. Wondrously enticing they looked now, garbed in their short, close-fitting riding-habits, Around each trim waist was buckled a patent- leather belt, containing a gold-bilted dagger and brace of small, but serviceable revolvers. Each wore spurs, and af the saddle-bows hung a looped lasso and a whip with short handle and long lash, fac-similes of the regulation cowboy badge, in all save size. “The first and last, maybe, but the other?” and Ora cast a roguish look into the face of her | companion, ‘*There are worse-looking cav- aliers to be met with than in this desert.’ ' ‘* Among the Rangers, for instance, eh, pet?” laughed Lucille. ‘Is it not time for the gallant lieutenant to be straying this way?’ “You needn’t talk!’ with a little pout. “ There's a certain person whom they call Gen- teel Guy—” | than one diy of gloomy reflection, more than He plunged into business with | tl sls tS SSS 3 ‘* Whom father declares a marvel as fore- map— “And her father’s daughter estimates still more bigbly! Come, Lu. all about Mark, just as soon as it pees the moment | begin to speak about Guy Abbr y you turn the subject or snub me outright, Is that fair?’ ‘*You should take the hint, then, and avoid an unwelcome subject,” was the calm retort. ‘*Now, Lu!” pouted the blonde. “‘“Amtlia fool? Haven't leyes? Can’t 1 see that the poor fellow is over head and earsin love with you, though y.u keep bim in misery all the time with | your prvud, haughty ways? Time and again Y’ve vowed that 1’d tell bim—”, “Ora, if you dare!” flashed Lucille, her eyes gleaming, her hand clinching; but sudden] changing her tone: ‘Tell bim what? What there you can tell him, I wonder?” ‘That you dream about bim—you do, you do !” laughing, as sbe touched her mustan with the spur and caused it to bound out o reach. ‘‘More than once I have heard you breathe bis name when asleep. He would give his right hand to know all that I know—” ‘‘Then let him ask and make the discovery for himself,” said Lucille, her cheeks flushed, but with a softer ligbtin hereyes. ‘* You must not betray me, Ora—” ‘Then there is something to betray!” eagerly cried the younger girl, ccming closer, ** Tell me, Lu. You knowl can keep a secret, VU never breathe a word, unless you give me leave. You do love hiu—I could almost hate youif you didn’t! I never saw a handsomer man—save one, ‘*Mark Boyd, of course! Well, little one, yonder motte looks cool and comfortable. Let’s ride there, and perbaps, maybe—l’ll let you do some more guessing.’ Mae oe abruptly to the left, where grew a good-sized clump of timber, fringed with dense undergrowth of bushes, Lucille touched her horse with the spur, but almost instantly drew rein as several dun-colored cattle broke forth from the cover, tossing their beads and sniffing loudly as they stared at the gayly-dressed riders. *On guard, Ora!” cried Lucille, sbarply. ‘‘They mean mischief, Those are none of our stock. They're Mavericks.” Not very dangerous-looking animals to the uninitiated, Small, light-limbed, shaped more like a deer than ordinary specimens of the bovine race, were it not for the long horns, shining as though polished, white at the base and to near the tips, there black as ebony, mak- ing a beautiful double curve, which left the points full four feet pas Graceful, almost elegant-looking creatures, even to the bull which stood at the bead of the herd. He wasa little more heavily built than the merle s of bis little harem, but still very different from the clumsy-looking, ponderors bulls which ove is accustomed to see in the older States, To all seeming, he was the most peaceable one of the lot, lazily eaaching away the flies as he drooped bis head, while the cows snorted, pawed up the sand, shaking their long horns threateningly as they made sbort rushes toward the riders, only lacking a leader to make their onset a stern reality. A spirit of mischief appeared to take posses- sion of Ora, who dashed ahead of her com- panion, turning a glance over her shoulder as she freed the lasso from her saddle-bow. ‘Come, Lu! there’s none to see and laugh at us. Come—for a taste of the good old days be- fore we were finished young ladies—” “Ora, stop!” cried Lucille, sbarply, as the other dashed abeat, swinging ber lasso around her heard, ‘' Those are Mavericks! They are not such tame cattle—” | If heard, her warning words were unbeeded, The little blonde seemed possessed by some mis- chievous spirit. Straight at the cattle she urged her, horse, ber clear, musical voice raised in a shout that was mesnt to cow the cattle, and turn them to flight, that she might the bet- ter display her skill with the weapon which whistled around ber sunvy bead. But in this she was foiled. Instead of fleeing, the Mave- ricks stood their ground, tossing their long horns, pawing up the earth, snorting moro loudly than ever, while the bull made a short rush that carried him in advance of his barem. The cast was made and proved successful. The loop settled over the long horns of the bull, drawing close as the well-trained horse wheeled abruptly in obedience to the spur, There came a shock as the rope tightened, and a cry of vic- tory broke from the maiden’s lips as the bull lunged forward on its knees, but the note of eiumok changed to one of chagrin as the Mave- rick nimbly regained its feet, and charged swiftly, with an angry bellow. ‘Cut and run, child!” cried Lucille, dashing forward, her beautiful countenance all aglow. Both horse and rider were thoroughly sur- prised, The touch of a lasso ordinarily strikes terror to the heart of the boldest bovine, turn- ing it in headlong flight which only the more surely completes its discomfiture, Dut not so with this bull Maverick. Tail on end and bel- lowing savagely, it shook its polished horns and ou know I told yo. - i ‘ ~ ~ ~~ comicbooks " " > ‘ t<