Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 294 — page 17: what you’re looking at

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

| Broadcloth Burt, the Denver Dandy. t where he had left the Mormon elder, but nobody | age x him. “Gone! By Jehosaphat, the old viper bas changed his mind!” ejaculated Big Jehu, aston- ished. ‘‘I didn’t more than half b’lieve his promise, an’ I’m not heart-broken over his fail- ure ter keep it. Stay whar ye ar’, an’ may the toughs ov Deadwood lengthen yer Mormon neck! I’m off fer Denver, with no more halts | fer passengers by the way. Hyer we go! | @lang! Denver er bu’st! May the devil take | thet Salt Lake serpent!” Once more the long-lashed whip cut the fresh morning air with a lively crack, and the stage moved on again. Big Jehu looked straight ahead, and therefore did not see the man who sprung from a bush- protected covert opposite the spot where he had concealed the Mormon. | Tbe stage-door was already ajar, and the man reached the step and sprung inside without alarming the giant, cracking his whip on the very x. ‘‘ A free ride, by Jove!” he chuckled to him- self. ‘‘ Mebbe I won’t reach Denver ahead ov thet Daisy of the Mountain Top, but Pll git thar in time to play a full hand.” | He settled back on the dusty seat in a place | safe from Jehu’s observation, and tried to ap- | pear at his ease, though it cost him an effort. | “Tthought I had things about as I wanted | ’em last night,” he went on as if it did him good | to give utterance to his thoughts. “I thought | I had Alice in the notion to leave Deadwood | with me. Shedidn’t take kindly to my offer | of marriage, that’s a fact, but afterward she listened attentively when I pictured the trials she’d have ter undergo as Paradise Paul’s ward in his tiger’s den of asbanty. I got her ter | wait fer me under the big tree while I got the | horses ready, but when | got thar she was gone. Curse thet she wildcat what came in from Rockerville an’ made Broadcloth Burt the | laughin’-stock of the thirty toughs on my porch! When Alice went to the tree she fell right into | thet woman’s clutches. Don’t | know it? Thet | bit o’ paper which I found under the tree said | ‘to Denver,” an’ thet’s the p’int I’m breakin’ | fer now. I knew the stage would come along | an’ I sent my hosses back an’ waited for if. | You'll beat Colonel Sandbanks to Denver, Mer- | ciless Maud, but when be gits thar, keep a tight | grip on yer prisoner or lose ber. I’m a reg’lar | *forty-niner, an’ I Jearnt more than minin’ when I tramped the Sacramento kentry.” | It was the colonel, then, and as tbe stage bore | him rapidly over the roughened trail, he seem- ed perfectly satisfied that he was being carried to ultimate success. Big Jehu on the box was totally oblivious of the passenger who had stolen into the stage, and was being whirled toward a destination which he was burning to reach. ‘‘ Hello! somebody’s tryin’ to catch the stage!” suddenly cried Simon Sandbanks as bis eyes dilated atsight of three borsemen who had sud- denly appeared on the trail. “Hang me! if they don’t look like some of Deadwood’s cut- throat citizens. They ar’! an’ they want ter overtake the stage! Why doesn’t Big Jehu look behind bim an erp them? I’m armed, thank Heaven. If they want me, an’ they may if Paradise Paul sent ’em out, [ll have to fight —fight like a Californy lion!” Nearer and nearer came the three riders, and Colonel Sandbanks swore roundly in his mind | as he observed that the horses attached to the | stage had not increased their gait, ‘I’m ter be dragged ont and pulled up like a | coyote, I s’pose,” growled the proprietor of the | Setemup. ‘‘ Already ’'m an exile from Dead- | wood, an’ I’m to suffer still more unless this | durned vehicle moves faster. What ails the | galoot on the box! Mebbe the sinner’s gone to sleep. In the colonel’s opinion, matters were assum- | ing a desperate shape, for the three toughs | would soon overtake the Denver stage, unless — Big Jehu whipped up and swore roundly at the | horses. | All at once the whip began a succession of | cracks that sounded like pistol reports, and the | driver filled the air with vociferous “ g’langs,” | and numerous oaths which the borses very well | understood, ‘“‘ Waked up at last, but mebbe just too late!” exclaimed Sandbanks. ‘ We’ll go along lively now for awhile, Put yer hosses to their utmost, my friend of the whiplash, for them Deadwood animals er’ no slouches.” By this time the horses were fully under way, and the stage, beavy as it was, was skurrying | down the trail like mad. | Colonel Sandbanks was forced to hold to the | back of the seat to keep from being thrown | across the vehicle with a force suggestive of not | only bruises, but broken bones. | The horses plunging along under the urgings ef the man who held the lines, kept their feet better than the stage maintained its equili- brium. Sometimes a bowlder would throw the vehicle ‘almost over on its side, then a sudden lurch -wou!d toss it in the opposite direction, much to the passenger’s rage and the destruction of his poace of mind. wr ‘‘ Blamed ef this isn’t worse than hangin’!” gasped Sandbanks, who felt like he was fast be- ing shaken to pieces. ‘‘ Another mile of such infernal journeyin’ will land me in Hades in- stead of Denver! I can’t see the three toughs for the dust-clouds, but they’re keepin’ on all the same. I wish Jehu ’d ease up a minute an’ give me a chance to get a good squar’ breath.” Vain were the colonel’s wishes. ‘“‘Them three road-agents don’t git the little dust I have got without a race for it!” shot the driver from behind clinched teeth as he sent defiant glances over his shoulder toward his pursuers. ‘‘]’ve got no passenger ter be shaken — an’ I shall put the horses through. Git up! izard! Sarpint! do yer duty. i1t’s Denver ag’in’ Deadwood! Gang! Let ’em catch us if wr kin!” he stage swaying like mad from side to side did not seem to touch the ground at times. ‘* Hold on thar! for Heaven’s sake!” cried the passenger. ‘ WhenI next try ter steal a ride may I be kicked to the coast! Pm no rubber ball. Look byar! You're breakin’ a mortal manallup! I won't stand it!” Colonel Sandbanks fell rather than sprung _into one of the forward corners of the lumber- ng stage. he next moment he had thrust his head out and was sbouting wildly to Big Jehu. **Pm willin’ to face them three villains, only I don’t want to be thumped to death!” be cried, ‘* Pull up an’ let me out, or go slower till I get a solid purchase ov a first-class breath.” The speaker was a spectacle, The yellowish dust kicked up by horses and stage had mingled with the perspiration which trickled down his face, and rendered him not only unrecognizabie but made him present a ludicrous aspect. Big Jehu almost fell from his seat at sight of the face presented to his gaze from the window of the stage which he thought was entirely empty. “Who ar’ you?” he cried. thar when I left Deadwood!” ** No; an’ I wish I wasn’t in here now,” said the colonel. ‘‘ My name is Simon Sandbanks—” ‘* You the landlord ov the Setemup/—I guess not! Just hold on to the furniture inside who- ever you ar’, an’ I'll land ye in Denver or bu’st.” ‘““You warn't in ** Heavens, no! I can’t hold on. I could use & squar’ mb of court plaster now. Tm Simon Sandbanks, of the Setemup. Those villains back yonder want me—not your freight. This ride is worse than a lariat.” ‘* We’ll hit the down grade in a few moments; then the old vehicle won’t touch ground fer three miles.” “Heavens! You don’t want ter carry a corpse into Denver?’ ‘* Hardly, kernul; but—” “Let me out an’ then go down the grade without a passenger. You can’t outstrip the Deadwood tougbs.” ‘““Can’t, eh? Just compose yourself an’ see.” **Pd sooner roost on a gridiron than endure this tumble another mile.” “Git out, then!” and Big Jehu straightened on his box and once more his stentorian ‘*e’lang!” echoed among the wild scenery. Colonel Sandbanks threw at the merciless driver a look of unutterable despair. ‘* Yes, get out!” hegrated. ‘Id like to know how @ man can leave a stage as crazy as this one is. It'll go down the grade on its side as sure assin! If I thought I could stop the horses, I'd shoot that heartless galoot from his box; but I’m afraid it wouldn’t do, Come on, Déadwood toughs. Shoot the hound thet holds the lines an’ then we'll settle with each other. By George! I wish—” The colonel’s sentence was broken by the re- ports of two shots and as many bulleus whizzed past the stage. ‘* Thet’s right! make the mad galoot pull up!” he exclaimed. ‘‘I’m the deadest living man thet ever bounced over this infernal trail.” A puff of wind which at that moment lifted the cloud of dust behind the vehicle, showed the three Deadwooders not more than three hundred yards in the rear, “It’ll soon be settled,” said Sandbanks, but the dust-covered man on the box was not of that opinion, As be ground his teeth, he threw the lines over an iron hook at one side of the seat, and made them fast, leaving the horses to plunge on down the trail. Then drawing two large revolvers, he crept back over the top of the vehicle, braced bis feet at each side, knd looked toward the Deadwood riders. ‘‘This vehicle goes to Denver without bein’ overhauled!” he said, ‘‘Come a little nigher, my Deadwood pinks, an’ Pll form out o’ yer bodies ther gbastliest bouquet thet ever withered on this old trail.” The trio came on, in their bronzed hands the deadly six-shooters of the Northwest, and fury in their eyes. ‘‘Halt! thet’s nigh enough!” suddenly run oan the clarion tones of the man on the roof o the stage, ‘*He’s goin’ ter fight!—the fool!” exclaimed | the colonel, ‘I hope the three pards won’t 17 Thar isn’t a halt. I’m as sick as a kitten. whole bone in my anatomy.” The response to Big Jehu’s demand was a de- fiant yell, and three shots, from as many re- volvers. “That gives me achance!” said the driver. and thep he opened on his pursuers. At the first shot one saddle was emptied, and at the second another tough threw up bis hands. ‘*Jehosaphat!” gasped Simon Sancdbaniks,. ** He’s already killed two men an’ the hosses a; running away!” CHAPTER XXII. COLONEL SANDBANKS AS A LION, THE third horseman, the last of the Dead- wood trio, was nothing daunted by the fate of his companions. “Tl have that whip-cracker’s life for bis work!” he hissed, as he threw himself along the neck of his charger, and struck him re- vengefully with the spurs, It was now nip and tuck between Colo- rado Clate and the stage, The strong steeds were dashing down the rade at the top of their speed, and the ve- Ricle at times seemed not to touch the ground. Big Jehu, still on the roof, and seemingly unmindful of the speed attained by the horses, was watching for an opportunity to tumble his pursuer over, while in the interior of the stage, gasping for breath and clinging to the bench-seat, was the proprietor of the Setem- up, too far gone with fright to articulate a single word. Such was the spectacle presented on the Den- ver trail. Colorado Clate rode straight for the stage, dndieg all Big Jebu’s efforts to get in an extra shot. . His steed came rushing on with the i tu-. osity of a tornado, and a wild yell parted his lips as all at once he dasbed past the stage, and. reached the head of the foremost horse despite. the driver’s attempts to fetch him down, “7 sop the shebang!” he said, and thrust-. ing arevolver against the head of the nearest borse be sent a bullet crashing through its skull. It was cruel, but it put a stop to the flight, for the next moment the stage and the horses: made up a promiscuous heap on the trail, and, the dashing runaways stopped in a second! Colonel Sandbanks was almost throwm through the rear door by the sudden stop, and Big Jebu, despite bis attempts to keep his: rch, was jerked loose and sailed over the: nate of the team to land roughly on the hard: ground twenty feet away. He had lost bis pistols and stood at the mercy of the desperado whose comrades he had killed. ‘‘Hands up! Thar!” said Colorado as the driver instantly obeyed. ‘‘ This is the last drop anybody will ever hold on you, Jehu! Two ov ther best pards thet ever cut a poker-deck lie back thar, wiped out. I could take ye back ter Deadwood an give ther pards a little divarsion, but I prefer to revenge Monte Mark an’ Idaho. Hal myself.” ’ There came no command to prepare for death; the stage driver knew thst he was to die where be stood, nor was be mistaken. Hard upon the last sentence of the Deadwood tough came the sharp crack of his revolver, and Big Jebu cipepet is brawn dead in his tracks—shot through the head! ‘‘Thet Deadwooder means business,” ejacu- lated Colonel Sandbanks. ‘‘If he’s goin’ ter keep thet up I'll be the next victim. By I’m goin’ ter prepare for the worst, I'll do it honorin’ the days of °49.” strapped about his waist previous to leaving Deadwood, but alas! it was empty and he ut- tered a cry of despair. ‘*' The six-shooter was shaken from its et by the Jehu’s fast driving!” he said. “It’s a wonder my stomach wasn’t turned inside out. I'm completely at that villain’s mercy. I’m in for it, fer all thet the term implies.” At that moment the slayer of Big Jehu turned to the stage. ‘*Come down from thet stage!” he said, catch- ing sight of the man inside. ‘Thet’s just what I war about to do,” an- swered the colonel, and he scrambled out with more huste than ceremony. ‘Here I am, Colorado, Colonel Simon Sandbanks, on his way ter Denver on business.” | A faint smile appeared at the corners of the Deadwood desperado’s mouth, ‘“‘Ez innocent ez a turtle,” he said sarcastic- ally. ‘Look byar, old hash-mixer; whar’s the Deadwood daisy?” ‘“To whom do you refer?” “No assumed ignorance, or I'll make you i thet man’s eternal pard,” and Colorado glanced at the body lying motionless down the trail. “You know who I mean, You ran Alice off last night.” “ By my life! I didn’t,” asseverated the colonel with a sole viction witb it. ‘‘No lies!” said the tough sternly, and his revolver covered the landlord of the Setemup. arms and fell Es If I die, His hand moved toward the belt he had mnity that should bave carried con- _ * ¥ xk 9 Co er ee af el ee CoMmicbooks.com an c ‘* A SP ae , , 3 : s *.¢ ve » es Soja lt / . (e 7 ' | . ' | ‘ vie — = it» ™ rd jac wt A 4 Ys ee