Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 294 — page 25: what you’re looking at

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

int , | a -__ bed iz Lge tm, { w ais 4 7 oy ee a : . ¥ >. = _~ 4 * 2. ‘ _ ar Oeertrer ee ~.- = cs ~~ =. an apparition appeared on the trail, and he seemed to turn suddenly into a state of horror. ‘Found already!” he gasped, ‘*They soon struck my trail. Simon Sandbanks, if you’ve got ter die, die like a man.” He could pot bave stirred if a serpent had crawled toward him, and he stood in the mid- dle of the trail with his gaze riveted on the figure that came forward from the depths of the star-thrown shadows of rock and tree. — lt stopped et last within arm’s-length of the Deadwood landlord. Suddenly he recoiled with eyes ready to dart from his head. oo “My God! what have you been doin’ in Deadwood?” he exclaimed, and the figure thrust out a hand and clutched his sleeve. ‘‘Peve annibilated the thirty toughs,” was the answer. ee ‘You? I'd like tosee you annihilate such a gang as that!” ‘| have done nothin’ less.’ ** With what?” ‘With this!” And there arose before the colonel’s vision a heavy revolver, the sight of which sent him back an inch, and at the same time threw a covetous look into bis eyes. ** An’ you've been isn pb thet six-shooter into the Deadwood gang, eh?’ he exclaimed. “Thet’s the weapon I used. Heavens! how they tumbled.” ‘“T heard some sharp shots before I pulled out ov Deadwood,” ‘*T was shooting A on ge ag you know that they were going to hang me ONO,” iad Colonel Sandbanks added under his breath that he would not have objected if the Deadwood tougbs bad succeeded in their ’ designs. ‘* How many did you get away with?” he added aloud. ‘All I shot at. They tumbled right and eft.” ‘‘ And you tell me that you annihilated the bull band in six shots? Come, Mr. Mormon, that won’t do.” ‘Why didn’t they follow me, then? I am here alive; I was not tracked from Deadwood,” “Thet’s no sign thet you won’t be hunted like a wolf. They had me in a bole a while ago, an’ they war goin’ ter settle with me for chokipn’ Captain Paul, but I’m out ov their clutches.” * Did the man who saved me save you?” ‘No; I saved a **Then you owe him nothing.” ‘*Yes, but Ido,” What?” ‘The oternal hatred of Simon Sandbanks!” ‘* What do you hate him for?” ‘‘There! you ar’ treadin’ on private ground now,” said the colonel, determined not to impart to the Mormon spider the intelligence that Alice was then on her way to Denver. — , “All right,” said the polygamist, biting his lip. ‘‘Weare not going to fall out about our differences of opinion. Do you like any body in Deadwood just now?” ** Not a soul!” ‘They burned your hotel?” — ‘Yes, an’ one man paid for if, too, “They were going to hang ycu when they got readv.” “Thet’s a fact, Mormon, an’ they were nearly ready when I got away.” : ‘*Then, if 1 don’t tike a soul in Deadwood —if you would like to get even with everybody up there, why don’t you go back and wipe out the old score.” - Colonel Sandbanks looked amazed into the Mormon’s eyes. “Pm no idiot!” he exclaimed, ‘Do you think I'm going back thar ter make a fool- martyr ov myself? When I reach the conclu- sion that Simon Sandbanks is tired ov life, I'll go back to Deadwood an’ present myself ter ther shootin’ pilgrims ov ther Full-Hand Casino. Not avy ov it in mine just now, my Utah angel.” Simon Sandbanks had discovered even in the dim starlight, that the Mormon bad a wild, un- natural look, that at times bis eyes would blaze up, and then sink suddenly into an almost ex- pressionless stare. the man mad? My You Seaht to go back there and settle all our debts before you go to Denver,” said Timo- thy Ten wives. ‘Thet’s ther way it may look to you, but ex- cuse me, my friend. If you hev annibilated the thirty toughs thar’s nobody in Deadwood for me to settle with,” ‘*T’l] take you back,” “You?” ‘Of course. I’m not afraid to go back to Deadwood. Ha! I went there after a wife and got—blood! They tumbled right and left from the Casino's bar whil- I blazed away, They thought a Mormon elder couldn't shoot. Didn't ‘I show them thet I was no slouch with the trigger? But, come, we're going back to Dead- ” ‘“T guess not,” said the colonel. “T haven't any business thar now.” “ But I don’t want ter go thar now. “That makes no difference. The Dead- ‘wooders want to see you. Pll stand by you, a : f ee 7 _— , st bab we sf 1 « f, <—*, es : a ems . +. . ‘ ' ¥ 7 Se aN i ; a a = i ____ weet ~ - and the ones I spared awhile ago, we'll kill to- gether.” Colonel Sandbanks tried to jerk away from the Mormon, but the fiagers seemed to fasten in his flesh; he was a prisoner! ‘*T guess we'll go back!” was hissed in his face, and he suddenly found himself looking into the muzzle of the Mormon’s pistol. ‘* Not will- ing to go, eh? You'll get used to the new state ov affairs after ye're thar awhile. They can’t annihilate me!” * Ain't you afraid ov meetin’ Maud there?” asked Sandbanks, as a last resort. ‘‘ She was thar sivce sundown, I am told, for she finished Captain Paul,” “Maud doesn’t frighten me now. should a man who has been noosed twice be afraid of a woman?” ___ Broadcloth Burt, the Denver Dandy. Why | down the gage of battle? | ‘“*T would fear her if I had faced death a | thousand times,” said Simon. ‘She isin Dead- wood now—at this very minute.” “] want to seeher. Back we go! Forward march, colonel: We'll create a sensation in De: dwood,” Tbe Mormon’s prisoner—for Simon Sand- banks was nothing less—found himself in most dangerous predicament, He was sure that he had fallen into the clutches of a man whose reason had been de- throned by recent events, and the madman was going to conduct him back to the place where death surely awaited them both. He cursed the fortune that had overtaken him, but saw no way out of the difficulty. “ Til have to put up with it!” he grated under his breath, glancing madly at bis mad captor. ** But just wait till 1 get a chance at you, my Mormon pilgrim. Give me only half a chance between hyer and Deadwood, an’ if I don’t leave the buzzards a breakfast on ther Denver trail, ’ll know why not!” A minute after the command “ forward march” had been given, Simon Sandbanks found himself walking quite rapidly toward Deadwood. Tbe Mormon elder at bis side never removed his eyes from the prisouer and carried cocked in his right hand the revolver which a short time before he had snatched from Broadcloth Burt’s grip. ‘* We'll find a revolver for you, when we strike Deadwood, colonel,” he said a)l at once. ‘*Do,” was the answer. “I'll thank you for the use ov one for just one minute,” and Simon Sandbanks threw a terrible look toward the man with him on the trail. ** We'll make Deadwood howl before morn- ing!” continued the Mormon. ‘ The few I may have spared we'll shoot down in their tracks, It will be a picnic; it will be bloodier than the meadows were!” Colonel Sandbanks started. thar?’ heasked. | There was ho reply, but the glittering eyes of the mad Mormon were answer enough, “You needn’t talk,” said Sandbanks under his breath. ‘* Your infernal eyes ar’ talkin’ now. Yes, my Utah viper, put a revolver into my hands, an’ if I don’t kill a Mormon mur- derer the next second, I’ll agree to die myself! I'll cheat Maud the Merciless out of her revenge. I’d go to Deadwood for a chance at you!” CHAPTER XXXII. IN THE AVENGER’S CLUTCHES. THE resder has no doubt put but little reli- ance on Timothy Tenwives’s statement that, single-banded and alone, be bad annihilated the organization known as the Thirty sho cap therefore we hardly need say bere that he had by no means accomplished this extraordinary feat. While his mad shots from the front of the Full-Hand had tumbled four or five of the ruf- fians, for, despite bis outward regard for piety, the Mormon was adead shot, there were encugb left to make things lively for him and the rest of their enemies, , It was during the confusion that followed the shooting that the Mormon spider effected his escape apparently unpursued, but the tougbs bad not by any means intended to let the slayer off so easy. ~The maddest of the party made a break for the stables, but Colorado Clate called a halt, and drew them back. ‘*Thet Mormon galoot can no more get away than he kin fiy,” said the boss ruffian, address- ing the crowd. “Thar lie four of the best ards thet ever touched a trigger er faced a full and. Let the wife-hunter go. We've govt apother person ter look after just now. I kin think ov only one person now—the woman what stole inter Deadwood from ther moun- tains an’ took ther cap’n’s last band!” A howl of vengeance rose from the throats of the crowd, and fn a flash the Mormon and his work seemed to have vanished from the minds of the Deadwood toughs, “Ye’r’ right, Colorado, We'll trim thet wo- man down first. More than Cap'n Paul’s hand fetched her ter Deadwood to-night. She wants Alice also, an’ ez she doesn’t know thet the gal's ye off with Broadcloth Burt, she’s somewhar own. Tnis was enough, and the Deadwood pards “ Were you that in slaying bim she had only carried outa i -——st—(_i_i_ai_‘(_aewert swore then and there to hunt Maud the Merci- less down first, and to punish her terribiy for the awful revenge she had taken on their cap- tain. Standing in the dark shadow of a cabin not far from this scene, Was the person against whom the hatred of the toughs was directed. Merciless Maud had not quitted Deadwood— not even after her visit to Paradise Paul’s sbanty. She had paid him for the past, but that was not enough. Did she know that fortune and the night were to throw the Mormon spider across her path, or was she waiting for the toughs to throw She knew this: that for her to remain in eadwood meant death upon discovery; sbe had robbed the Deadwooders of their leader, and not a ruffian in the whole town would say just revenge. She bad undoubtedly heard the shots fired by Timothy Tenwives in front of the Casino, but she did not know, perbaps, that they came from the revolver of the very man she wanted. lf she had hunted the Mormon, believing bim to be in Deadwood, he bad eluded her. Yes, reader, only a short distance from the Full-Hand stood Maud, the Merciless, still in Deadwood and the tigers’ lair. ‘You'd better go and prepare your in for the grave,” she said as she watched the crowd in front of the den. ‘* Don’t bother me, please. I’ve had blood enough from the veins of the Deadwood league, but you must not push Maud to the wall.” She watched the crowd move away; she saw it break into fragments as‘its members, carry- ing cocked revolvers in their bands, began to search Deadwood, she knew for whom. " Almost touching the rough logs of the cabin, she looked like a part of the structure itself, and as she stood silent and statue-like, the eyes of the Dead wooders did not discover her. Merciless Maud was in an uncomfortable situation, yet she did not seem to realize it, “ Hunt me all you —_— but don’t find me,” she murmured, a smile playing on her lips, “I am not going to be driven from Deadwood, I came back bere to stay till 1 got ready to quit the place, All the toughs in Dakota cannot keep me from my purpose!” Once or twice she thought discovery inevita-_ ble, but the danger passed era although, as if 2 wait, like a prying tigress, she kept her sta- tion. The shanty stood on the street that joined the Denver tail in the suburbs of the town. Was she looking for somebody from the south ? | Maud, the Merciless seemed to take delight in the thought that the hunt of the Deadwood eB was proving abortive. They had passed und repassed her, yet not an eye had singled her out, and the outside of the | cabin was as secure as the darkness witbin. All at once there came two gliding figures from the south, | | Merciless Maud at once seemed to take an un- — usual interest in them, for bending forward she watched them with much curiosity. : fy Nearer and nearer they came until within — the star-thrown shadow of the cabin against which she stood they halted as if for consulta~ = tion. ~. ia ‘*My God!” suddenly the Mormon wife. ‘‘The Utab snake has crawled into my power!” Her eyes seemed to flash fire while she fast- ened them upon the two men, but more particu- larly upon the one nearest them, ~ ome She had seen that figure too oftentobemis- taken now; she had suffered at the bamds of that man indignities and insults sufficient tohave killed a thousand women, hl eee Jt was the wife-hunter, the infamous Utah spider—the man who bad not bis equal in in- — famy in the Mormon kingdcm. ata And his companion? . Merciless Maud did not know him so well, but | she had seen him Lefore. Tet ‘Have they linked fortunes?’ she asked her- — self as she eyed the twomen. “Canitbe that Colonel Sandbanks bas become the spider’s — partner in villainy ?”’ °*) With the last question she glided toward the two men, who seemed to be listening toa sound — that came up the Denver trail. Ps oe A panther never approached a victim with more stealth than Merciless Maud crept upon ‘ them, but with her eyes fastened on but one. ‘* That’s a horse,” said the Mormon at theear of the man he bad brought back to Deadwood at the revolver’s muzzle and against bis wilh ‘* An’ it’s comin full tilt too. We'd better get sy closer to the pam He’s comin’ on like a thunderbolt now. Jehu! Mormon; itcan’tbe Broadcloth comin’ back.” . 4 ‘* No, That man has gone to Denver.” ot Se Colonel Sandbanks drew back and bu thé) se cabin, but all the while he watched othy | Tenwives closely, for he was still waiting for that opportunity for which he had waited and a zeus since his capture by the Mormon | — cen A ) -— it ro ae = wie 4 &> - - SS (E ~“comicboo