Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 294 — page 19: what you’re looking at

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

oa Broadcloth Burt, the Denver Dandy. 19 “Do you know that I am going to send if to Paradise Paul’s table? That will make him re- member me, though I guess he is not likely to forget. There, don’t try to kill me with a look. A hundred hands like yours would not pay me for the torture I have endured. It is true, but terrible, that your hand goes to that Dead- wood devil’s shanty; but you shall not go with it!” The Mormon’s hand slid down the young girl’s arm, and did not stop until her long fingers cir- cled her wrist, Alice never flinched, although the ordeal was terrible, and gave her look for look while her brain seemed to swim, All at once the gleam of a knife appeared be- low the Mormon’s right hand. oF | pity you, but [ hate him!” hissed Maud. ‘Your hand shall appear to him when he wakens from a feverish dream of his own loss— not the hand of a ghost, but one of flesh and blood, but dead—one which he will recognize in a moment.” ‘Spare me this!” burst involuntarily from the girl’s lips, as the knife crept toward the wrist, guided by the cobra orbs of the wronged wife. ‘* For the love of Heaven, strike him some other way than through me!” ‘Fear it, do you?’ laughed Maud. “ Ah! it would not wound so deep to strike him through another. No, no, my Deadwood flower; 1 send your hand to him!” In an instant the pleading look left the girl’s eyes, and a flashing one of defiance took its place, ‘*Not yet!” she cried. ‘‘ Heaven will not smile upon such a diabolical revenge as yours. { will keep my hand! You shall not send it bloody and mangled to scare the man you hate! ‘* Shall not, my dove? You do not know the tiger blood that flows through the veins of Mer- ciless Maud.” The speaker’s fingers seemed to sink to the bone in Alice’s flesh, as she attempted to free herself from her captor’s grasp by a desperate wrench. It was a useless effort; the ropes and the grip of the Mormon wife would have held a tigress in thrall. “Your hand for his table!” cried Maud. *“ We'll take it now, my Deadwood lamb!” The knife was ready to swoop upon the blood- less wrist of the helpless girl. She looked at it once, then into the pitiless eves of the avenging woman, and her lips part- ed in a wild ery. ‘‘ Help! help! for the love of Heaven!” “There is not help near. You are mine!” No help near? Whose glittering eyes were those at the foot of a tree scarcely ten feet away? Suddenly, like the sudden upward bound of a panther, a human figure left the ground. ‘‘Tnhand tbat girl, viper!” cried a mad voice, and then the speaker rushed forward with an uplifted stick Merciless Maud looked at the interferer and turned white with rage. ‘Heavens! you here?’ she exclaimed. ‘‘Tam here! It’sa pity I didn’t finish you in Utah!” The Mormon wife dropped Alice’s hand, and turned madly upon the man, ‘‘]'ll take the flower that lured me to Dako- ta!” he continued. “Where you ruled for a year, she shall reign a Mormon queen!” ‘‘ Not while I can prevent!” flashed Maud. The next second she leaped like a tigress to- ward Alice, who saw her intent both in her fiery eyes and gleaming knife. ‘*7"Il kill you before that monster shall bring you down to my level!” she madly hissed. ‘You'll do nothing of the kind. I am here, and the girl is mine!” Just in the nick of time to save Alice from the descending knife,.the heavy stick in the hands of the interferer fel! upon Manud’s head ‘and she reeled under the crashing blow an sunk down, dropping a bloodless knife, ‘*Now, my Deadwood dove, haven’t I won you fairly said the victor, and the next mo- ment Alice was released from the tree, to be clutched by Timothy Tenwives’s hands! CHAPTER XXIII. AIDED BY THE DEAD. For a minute, heedless of his surroundings, and the senseless woman lying at his feet, the Mormon elder held Alice at arm’s length, like a man sometimes holds a prize, and feasted a pair of admiring eyes upon her. ‘If | had stayed where Big Jehu left me last Jnight L wouldn’t have got here in time,” he ." tale at ’ =" a hat @ said. ‘‘ Fortune seems to be smiling on Timo- thy Tenwives just now, and bell make the best of it, too. No, my Deadwood daisy, I will not let you go, for your beauty brought me into this infamous country. I'll take care of you in the future, and I'll see that that tigress yonder gets her hands on you no more.” Alice could not reply to these expressions of triumpb. They emanated from the depths of a villain’s heart, and she resolved to add nothing to them by any retort of hers. > * PS * he * * aa | a. a rr = eeeeeeOeeEeeOeOeaOoooE—_—_—___ eR??? R— e—eee—eee—eeEe=eEeEeEeeeeEeeeee ee — —— — —— — - eee The Mormon spider, as he was not inaptly called, could hardly keep from proclaiming his victory in a loud voice to the surroundings. The Deadwood flower was his at last. Though he had been driven from Deadwood at a rope’s end, and shot, not fatally, unfortun- ately for Alice, he had triumphed in the end, and now held the winning hand in the game he Pat planned in secret at his house in Mormon- om. ‘‘We'll let the tigress go,” he said, glancing at Merciless Maud, who showed no signs of life. “She was about to settle you forever when I got in the best lick Iever gave her. She'll not wake up for a spell, for I put a good deal of strength in that blow seein’ that I was strikin’ for the eleventh Mrs. Tenwives.” Alice recoiled with a shuddering cry, but she did not get beyond the reach of the Mormon’s arm. ‘*Frightened you, did 1? laughed Timothy. ‘Yes, I struck for the new Mrs. Tenwives. How do you like the prospect ahead, my Dead- wood dove? When we get to Salt Lake City I'll make love in the regular way, but here we’ve got other matters to attend ter. Well, if I haven’t passed through tribulations for you, Alice, may I be relegated toa back seat in the new temp e. Come! we’ll begin the journey at once, He started off; dragging the reluctant girl after him with one hand, while with the other he clutched the bridle of Maud’s horse, which had witnessed all. The young girl saw that it would be useless for her to demur to these bigh-handed proceed- ings, for, without a weapon of any kind at her command, she was helpless in the hands of the Utah villain, He stepped over Maud with a glance full of hatred and power, and passed from the thicket to the edge of the Denver trail, where he halted and threw anxious glances in both directions. ‘“‘This seems to be a dangerous thorougbfare just now,” he said aloud, with a look at Alice. “ve tried it myself, and I ought to know, Once the Deadwood toughs tarred and feather- ed me on it, and then they roped me in the most approved style. But curse them! they didn’t crush the Mormon me Of as hes cal! me; they only bruised his head. 1 don’t like to travel the trail in broad daylight, but I see no other alternative. I’ve got no busivess back in Deadwood just now, although there are some villains there with whom I'd like to settle.” He ground his teeth behind the last sentence, and the girl saw rage light up his evil eyes. ‘‘ We'll try the southern city now, followin’ the Denver trail for awhile. I’ve got a quiet famil down there, girl; the other Mrs. Tenwives will welcome you with outstretched arms, and all will be peace.” ‘* Peace in your house?” cried the girl. ‘ Yes, the peace Maud found there after you lured her into the snare.” **Ho! what has that tigress been ae you?” he cried. ‘‘lexpect she hasn’t painted me in the brightest colors; but she lied—infamously lied when she told you that I haven’t a peaceful family.” Alice’s only reply was a contemptuous sneer, and she turned from the Mormon with a resolu- tion never to enter the City of the Tabernacle as his intended wife. Forgetful, as it seemed, that the horse he led was capable of carrying double, Timothy Ten- wives kept on down the Denver trail holding his captive firmly by the wrist. It was slow progress, but he did not appear to note it, for he constantly feasted bis eyes on the beautiful girl who had fallen into his power after so many trials and risk of life. ‘‘ Won’t [ astonish the congregation though?” he chuckled under his breath. ‘‘ But, most of all, won’t 1 create a sensation among the Mrs. Tenwives when I enter the house with the blushin’ eleventh partner of my bosom? Ah! Timothy! she’s worth wearin’ a lariat for, A Mormon doesn’t pick up a wife like this one every day.” ues) Thoughts like these occupied the villain’s mind as he Jed horse and captive toward the south, Deadwood was bebind him forever; he had dealt Merciless Maud, his hater and hunter, a blow which had probably put an end to ber life trail, and he had but to proceed to Salt Lake City there to reap the reward of his thrilling wife-hunt. ‘* Mebbe you’d rather ride,” he said, turning suddenly upon Alice. ‘‘ I’ve got a horse here that looks like a good one, and we might as well put him to use.” The Mormon’s captive did not object, but, on the contrary, her eyes lit up with a ray of hope. Timothy stopped the horse and politely lifted Alice to a seat on the saddle, then, throwing himself on the steed behind her, and grasping the lines by Pema around her body, he start- ed the horse forward. The heart of the girl fell within her. She had hoped that the Mormon would walk beside the borse leading him by the bridle, and she had half matured a plan to effect ber eseape. ‘‘ Jehosaphat!” rung suddenly from the spi- der’s lips as he reined in the galloping steed and 7 ee hy —_ .. a eek 7A" =. = almost unseated himself and captive. ‘‘ What on earth has happened here?’ There was cause enough for this question. In the trail before him lay an overturned stage coach of the rough mountain pattern, a dead horse. and a little further on, the body of a man! ‘** Hyer’s another, providential interference,” he continued recovering a little. ‘‘ This is the stage thet was ter have picked me upif I had remained where Big Jehu left me last night. The Deadwood toughs must have follered itand fixed the driver. Wouldn’t they have fixed me, though, if they had found me in it? Alice, my dove, I shudder when | think what might have been,” As for the girl, she was gazing speechless at the scene which spoke for itself. The Mormon seemed to forget that he owed his life to the stalwart driver who lay dead across the trail, for had not Big Jehu carried him from Deadwood only the night before at the risk of his own life? ‘* We’ve got ter get around this lay-out,” said the Mormon, urging the horse forward. ‘“ We can’t take another trail for thar’s none hyer. So hyer goes, Alice. Thar’s but one way ter Salt Lake City!” He drove his heels mney against the sides of his steed and the animal plunged forward with a snort. All went well until the horse shied at the mixed heap of harness, stage and horseflesh in the middle of the trail, and went staggerin back on his haunches despite the Mormon’s efforts to control him. ‘* Merciful heavens! we shall be unhorsed!” cried the girl. ‘* Not while I hold the lines,” was the retort, but Timothy Tenwives overrated his power. All at once Merciless Maud’s borse plunged forward, as if determined to pass the obstruc- tion, but midway between the stage and Big Jehu’s corpse he reared again and reeled aside, throwing his riders to the ground! It was the work of a second, but it was well done! Alice landed some distance from her persecu- tor and in a manner that inflicted no injury. ‘**] could shoot that horse!” cried the vanadeee’ ed Mormon as be regained his feet. ‘ We'll get to Salt Lake City in spite of him, my Dead- wood blossom. What! ain’t you goin’ ter let me take you on?” ‘**T am not, sir!” was the quick reply, and the next second the astonished Mormon came to a halt before two outstretched revolvers in the girl’s bands. ‘‘ You see that the dead has given me his pistols. advance to carry out your intentions and I will send a bullet crashing through your brain!” Timothy Tenwives had no color, for the girl held Big Jehu’s revolvers! CHAPTER XXIV. BACK TO THE LIONS’ LAIR, “T HOLD you at my mercy and from the treatment I have received at your hands [ ought not to spare,” continued Alice sternly, as she eyed the man who cowered before the revolvers she had snatched from the ground the moment they caught her eye. “The man who killed Big Jebu forgot to take his weapons, or purpose- ly left them for me. If you move forward a me 1 will touch the triggers!” he suddenness of the change in his fortunes seemed to have paralyzed the Mormon spider, but he soon found his oily tongue. | “You don’t evince much gratitude, girl,” he © said. ‘Only a little while ago | saved your life at the risk of my own, and now you threaten © to shoot me.” “‘] bave already thanked services,” replied the girl, ‘‘ but lam not to Salt Lake City just now. Better Deadwood than a Mormon slave in Utah.” “*That’s the natural outgrowth of the insane Deadwood doctrine of ‘No Mormon need ap- ply,’” smiled Timothy. those Steel bull-dogs, and let me convince you— ‘I have heard enough!” interrupted Alice. ‘You will have to continue your journey alone, unless you want to follow me, and that might not be safe since I am going north,” ‘*Not back to Deadwood?” almost gasped the Mormon. ‘To the north at any rate and alone,” *On foot?’ ; * Not if the horse I see yonder will convey me. | Timoth fright had spoiled his well-laid plans bad return - ed to the spot, and from a short distance beyond the girl was quietly looking on. ‘* Retreat to the right hand side of the and let me pass,” resumed the girl. ‘* Look hyer, Alice—” oing at Now, Mormon spider, — 7 you for your | ‘“Tf you will lower Tenwives saw that the steed whose yy bb as ' *. >»? >. eg ee ‘‘Obey me, sir! An hour ago you had your — . od way; now | am going to have mine.” ~ The determination that lit up the girl’s eyes was quite enough for the sneaking repeeuensetish aeetr of Mormondom, volvers, he obeyed the command, Alice advanced up the trail with asteady step te and eyes still fixed on the Mormon, Eomicbooks 7. >. a x * and, menaced by the deadly re- — be * tn 4 data e*” 7 cee ee p i (0) | = > * me = 2 2 —— - “~ * * i i « «oe