Beadle's Dime Library No. 263 — page 2: what you’re looking at

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

s A —_——— oe that’s all. 2 Iron-Armed Abe, The Hunchback Destroyer; OR, The Black Rider’s Terror. A Tale of the City of the Desert. BY CAPTAIN MARE WILTON, AUTHOR OF *‘ LONG-HAIRED MAX,” ‘* BARRANCA BILL,” ‘‘ CACTUS JACK,” ‘‘ THE SCORPION BROTHERS,” ‘‘ BULLET HEAD,” ** CAN- YON DAVE,” ‘‘ BUCKSHOT BEN,” “LADY JAGUAR,” ETC, CHAPTER I. A STRANGE ADVENTURE. Keep your place or you are a dead [here was no mistaking the inflection of the paker’s voice, the words were suggestive and » revolver which covered the head of Doctor Reuben Leyden did not waver one particle. Yoctor Rube was no fool and he put-up his hands at once, but with a composure which told of good nerves behind all. “Here I am!” he observed, cheerfully. ‘I hope you'll give me credit for what I have done and explain what is wanted.” “You are a doctor?” * Beyond a doubt.” ‘‘ A graduate of an Eastern college of medi- cin and fit for careful work?” ties ever told you so'was well posted,” de- ne octor Rube, léss phlegmatically than ore, ‘Well, we are not road-agents, or cut-throats of any kind; we don’t want your money nor our life; but we are in need of a_good doctor. e have a little rig which needs to be per- formed at once and in a skillful way. Hence, we want you.” ** Where is the man?” “That you must not know. Before we start our eyes must be bound, and you will be kept n utter ignorance of where you go and whom you doctor. Do you agree?” Doctor Rube meditated... He did not really like the plan submitted, but in taking up his residence in this far Arizona land he had ex- pected some odd experiences. “ How long will the job take?” he asked, ‘A week, possibly!” Doctor Rube stared in undisguised amaze- ment. He had expected the answer to be two or three hours, or half the night at the further- most, but such as it was, it moved him out of even the power to express surprise. The three men before him kept their places, their revolvers steadily covering the young doctor, and the wind came down from Tun- nel Gap in miniature puffs and the ragged back of Alligator Ridge cut the last rays of the sun into bars of distinct golden bue. ** Well, are you going?” asked one of the men, after a pause. “Going?” repeated Doctor Rube, wrathfully. ‘‘ Well, I guessnot! I don’t let myself out on a blindfold racket by the week. The very fact that you want to work such a game proves you are up to some underhand business. No; won't go!” He spoke sturdily, as was his nature, but the unknown spokesman did not seem in the least “Then,” he coolly said, ‘‘ we must oblige you, : Men, keep your revolvers bearing on him, and if there is any harm done, let it be by yourselves, Now, right about, wheel!” The speaker calmly laid hold of Doctor Rube’s horse’s bridle, and when the rider began to roar like a lion ina neta revolver was pressed against his head on eech side. _ Never was man more securely bagged, and it was evident his captors meant to keep him as they found him. He had not so much asa knife in the shape of weapons, while they were well armed end three against one. He looked eagerly around, hoping to see some of the men of Snicker’s Gulch, for though he had not long been located there he knew they would chip in with the cheerful alacrity of Western men to aid him now he was in danger, He was soon deprived of the power of looking or aid, however, for when once where a balt as safe, his a were bandaged and he was ificantly told to keep his bands down, Wh he b pears 7 so tamely, with his brave, energe and positive nature, may be easily explained by stating that their revolvers were not to be de- fed, And then the party went on, with Doctor Rube in a fever heat of wrath, but resolved to make the best of the matter, He was a good doctor, but bis nomadic instincts had taken bim to this remote land, and he had settled at Snicker’s Gulch for a time in order to see West- ern life. His career was developing witb a rush, and be smiled grimly as he saw some of his old college pranks outdone by this Western drama, but he SN Ee —_— Tt Se —-_- ---- -—eer—r OOO _to order. little knew what strange events were in store for him. For their own poe his companions seemed to | prefer to say litt were satisfactorily answered, he soon became silent and the party rode on like specters in the somber night. Two days later the same silent procession might have been seen going toward the south- west, a direction they had perseveringly kept all the while. Doctor Rube’s eyes had long been unbound, but he had seen nothing except bis grim, ordinary-looking captors and mile after mile of barren land which was at times a mere sandy desert. He bad been well used, and as they had given him the slowest horse in the lot, was allow such privileges that he scarcely seemed a pris- oner. Heno longer murmured, He bad entered into the spirit of his adventure and, convinced that his life was not in danger, was resolved to go through phlegmatically and sensibly. The hour was a little before sunset, and the strange travelers were on a stretch of land less level and barren than they had traversed before. A range of mountains arose before them and the manner of Doctor Rube’s captors became more animated, Suddenly the leader reined in his horse and e, and as none of bis questions | | | ed | sat gazing ahead. All, including the doctor, followed bis example. Two hundred yards away wasa line of mes- quite trees and busbes, an apology for a wood, but enough to arrest the gaze. From behind them horsemen were emerging, moving in lines Tron-Armed Abe, the Hunchback Destroyer. credit to New York. Around them clustered scores of smaller buildings, and between the whole ran regular and broad streets. Doctor Rube looked in wonder—iu amaze- ment. He would have been less surjrised to see a mountain of solid gold asa cily there, “What do you think?’ chuckled his guide. ‘* What in thunder is this place? Where are we, and what’s its name?” “For such as you it has no name and no ex- istence. Only those who serve under the ban- ner of him whom we serve can have part er parcel in this, the City of the Desert. Ihave gone os my autbority in Jetting you be- bold it, but you bave prated 80 much about this ‘barren land’ that saw fit to undeceive ou, ‘* Are we going there?” “You shallsee.” ** Perhaps I shall like well enough to settle.” Doctor Rube spoke seriously, for it occurred to him that if this flourishing place was with- out a pbvysician he could A better than at Snicker’s Gulch. “If you settle, itll probably be under four feet of earth or in the bed of Golden Creek,” the man observed, “« Have I been brought over a hundred miles to be slaughtered?’ ' ‘“Not if you are prudent. Obey those whe sent for you, and you need have no fear. It all lies with you.” ‘‘T have no wish to leave terra firma and ‘shall hang on yet awhile if you sre agreeable.” of six each and keeping their alignments re-— ! thin, brown smoke which did not seem made by markably well. Buch horse was coal-black in color, as was every part of its outfit, saddle and all. The peculiarity extended further. Each and every rider was clad in black from to toe, and with a uniformity which sur- prised Doctor Rube, though at that di-tance he could not analyze their dress, except to see that each wore a cutaway jacket and a helmet hat with drooping edges: Stranger yet, each rider bore a lance, the point of which projected straight upward, the other end seeming to rest on or near the saddle. The wooden part of tnis lance was black; the metal was steel, of such brightness that, as the sun struck upon the spears, a dazzling glitter was made, The strange men were still riding from be- hind the bushes, when a man bebind Doctor Rube audibly muttered: ‘* The Black Riders !” No one answered, but each of Doctor Rube’s companions removed his hat and sat bare- headed as the horsemen passed on, Fifty Doe- tor Rube counted, all wonderfully alike, and then the procession ceased and swept away to- ward the south, still by sixes. The prisoner was not blind to what he had seen. The removal of the hats showed that his captors knew and rendered outward respect to the Black Riders, and he wondered who they were who wandered there over the Arizona deserts, He asked, but received only a curt reply. Plainly the identity of the mysterious band was not to be lightly divulged from one corner of the earth to another. His inquisitiveness seemed to remind bis companions that his eyes were seeing too much and be was again blindfolded. They went on steadily. Anon, Doctor ring of the hoof-strokes that they had reached | Rube knew by the | barder ground. The road ascended too, and he | knew they were on the mountain he bad before seen. At last they paused, and the fresh western breeze which touched the doctor’s face showed him they bad reached the top of the eminence. “Stranger,” said bis guide, ‘I run a risk in doing it, buf you have so wondered why we were taking you into the heart of Arizona that 1 am going to give you a sight of something which will surprise you. Iam indiscreet to do this, and you must- promise to say nothing of the affair to those you will see later.” “T promise,” Doctor Rube readily answered. ‘Then look with all your eyes.” His eyes were cleared and he obeyed the] “4 Truly, he saw that which surprise im. ‘They stood on the mountain’s summit, but thouvh a secone mountain was at the west another north, a valley lay between. To yer more correctly, the mountain was in the form of a horse-shoe, and in the interior lay the de- pression. Nor was this all; the latter place was nota desert, withont vegetation or water, but a wil- derness of green, in wood and meadow, and watered by a good-sized stream. Nor was this all; in the center of the valley stood a city. Not an Eastern metropolis, but a village which would be called no less than a city in the West. tf deserved its name. True, it was built of adobe, except for the a ee presence of a dozen stone buildings, but these | were substantial affairs which would do no dis- The last words were spoken meécheniesliy, for his eyes had wandered to the north. There he saw a mountain-peak which was wholly with- oat vegetation, while from the top ascended a any wood or coal fire. . octor Rube needed no explanation to ¢ 1) him that the peak was of volcanic nature, Some time lava had undoubtedly flowed over the rim of the dimly seen crater and down the mountaip-side. Probably it had been slumber- ing for scores, perbaps bundreds, of years, but the smoke showed that subterranean fires still existed and he wondered that the people of the city dared live under the foot of so deadly a thing. He was rudely aroused from his thoughts. Some heavy object struck the ground near his borse with a tremendous thud, raisiug a cloud of dust, and then a buge stone bounded awa down the slope. It had fallen from the cli above and missed the riders by only a few feet. CHAPTER II. THE HUNCHBACK HERCULES, Doctor Ruse and his companions looked up- ward simultaneously. The cliff reared its rocky head a bundred feet above, bare and unscala- ble, but at its very top a buman figure was visible, and gazing down at tli-m. The last rays of the setfit ¢ sun threw him into bold relief against the sky, and Doctor _ marveled at thé grote:queness of his orm, He was at once 4 giant and a dwarf; Nature had given him the capacity for the first only to sul: due him to the form of the second, He bad a large head, a heavy beard, im- mensely broad shoulders, long arms ond mus- cular lege but between his sboulders was a most disfiguring bump, which threw him out of manly proportions and made him secm repul- sive, Standing erect as he did, his arms, too, were so very long that his fiuger-tips extended below bis knees, On the whole, he made so uncouth and ugly a picture that Doctor Rube turned against bim— nor was bis fancy decreased by the loud and unmu-ical peal of laughter which followed, The strange man suddenly swung his arms above his head, and seemed in bigh glee. *“Tron-Armed Abe!’ muttered the dector’s paaree. companion, and his face bore an alarmed ook. The leader, however, shook bis fist at the man on the cliff in ungovernable rage. “Oh! you diabolical imp of darkness!’ he shouted. ‘So you are round again, are you? And you tried to kill us, you humpbacked monster! Ob! just wait till I get hold of you— cae ean tl oaaraall Gainey words, SoldeCainp!” ah! you are y words, Solon Cam rung per A deep, codsiéalvoice from the cliff— One which seemed strangely out of place com- ing from the deformed man: ‘ You would not dare to tempt me did you not know that | have no wish to stain my hands with your miserable, «“ Beware!” cried Camp. unslinging his rifle. “ Bah?’ again mocked the bunebback. ‘‘ Wh do you bandle that toy when you know that despise powder and ball? Hal ha! fire away if you will. Here—see! I stand ready for your shot! The strange man threw open his coat, expos- bis broad breast, and dared the shot; but Solon Camp did not fire. His hands dropped to his side. “TI ean’t do it—Ive tried it before and failed, Men, Pll give any one of youa thou- in Gomiecboo mn (Elo)