Beadle's Dime Library No. 297 — page 15: what you’re looking at

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

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SOLE PIR SA: % ST sors | . es ° ie eel . bd . 7 - = ‘Colorado Rube. 15 CHAPTER XIX, COLORADO RUBE TAKES THE WAR-PATH. BILL Buzzarp's voice sounded harshly and relentlessly, but he was dealing with one of the same stock as himself, ““I decline to consider you my enemies,” Mrs. Ralston coolly answered. ‘‘ You are my brothers, and whatever you do I am going to be your friend.” ‘** Keep yer friendship fur them as wants it!” Bill retorted—‘‘ we don’t. When ye desarted us fur that sneakin’ Rabe Ralston, whom we all hated, ther bonds was cut loose. We told ye then how ’twould be, and you’re only reapin’ ez you bev sowed. You’ve had fa’r warnin’, an’ now we've come in our might. You are goin’ with us.” ‘Indeed, I shall not!” cried Mona. “Ye can jest bet your last red ye will!” the desperado asserted, ‘‘An’ without any more delay,” said Jack, glancing out of the window. ‘* Hurry up!” added Tom. Bill made a leap of surprising agility and caught his sister in his arms, clasping one hand over her mouth before she could ery for help. His hold was not cruel, but it was strong and relentless. The other brothers came forward, too, and in a brief space of time Mrs. Ralston’s hands were tied behind her back and a hand- oe passed over her mouth in place of Bill’s and, She had struggled at first, but as she saw the folly of it, she ceased and stood passive in their hands. She deeply regretted that the power to talk was no longer hers, but her brave spirit re- mained undaunted and she resolved to make the best of her trouble. She did not believe them evil enough to actu- ally injure her, and she knew her husband would not desert her. They lost no unnecessary time, but proceeded to retreat from the house. They had barely Seg the threshold, using the rear door, when they stood face to face with a man who stopped in utter bewilderment. It was Makepeace Mullin. Jack leaped forward, seized him by the arm, and pyrene a revolver against his temple. peak one word an’ you’re a dead man!” he cried, “Um deef an’ dumb!” promptly answered Mullin. “Ez Socrates used fer ter obsarve: : Pm ez mute ez an oyster.’ ” ‘See that you keep so. us?” | reckon I do, Jack.” ‘You're jest ther man we wanted ter see. We want ter leave a word fur Rube Ralston. Tell him we hev his wife, an’ that be won’t see ber ag’in while wood grows an’ water runs, I reckon ye know an’ don’t ye forgit it!” ‘* Yas, an’ tell him ef he wants his wife ter apply ter Bill Buzzard,” added that person. ‘ ‘ | ad eck ther a4 mail ’cordin’ ter orders, ut, see hyar, now—what d’ve think’ when he Scie e Bic _ Mr. Mullin stopped speaking suddenly. Bill had made a secret motion to Tom, and that man brought his clubbed revolver down on the luckless janitor’s head with a force which dashed im senseless to the ground. Mona’s eyes flashed, but she was helpless. “That'll do fur bim: he ain’t hurt bad, an’ will soon come ter life,” said Bill. Now, boyees, out o’ this on ther jump!” And the retreat was begun. ** Gone!” It was Colorado Rube who uttered the word standing before Makepeace Muy}lj i ite nage a battle light in his re cabana e had come home to find his and Mullin lying insensible near eearecert but an application of restoratives had soon brought the latter around, and he had told the | story of Mrs. Ralston’s abduction so far ag the | particulars were known to him, The Strong Arm of Hotspur turne went tothe wall and took down a pair of mag- The one he usually carried was a plain, 32 caliber, weapon, but the others d away, ‘were silver-mounted, 4l-caliber, and as fine cimens of their kind as could be found in Colorado, Rube’s set face awed Mullin, but he had a question to ask. ** ‘What be you goin’ ter do?’ he asked. *““Reseue Mona!” was the terse reply. **V’ll go with ye.” **'No, you will not,” “Why not?’ ‘* Because I go alone.” _ “Thar are four o’ ther Buzzards.” “1 don’t care if there are a hundred, I shall fight for my wife, and no human power can | defy me. The men of Hotspur City believe ag know me, since the night when [ fought Bill Buzzard, but that was cbild’s play. I am | g0ing on the war-path now.and I sball be as | ‘Merciless as were those brutes. If need be, I. _will leave a dead man at every rod of the way | between here and Buzzard’s Roost!” , rr —— — — —— — Uttered by him the words did not sound like empty reg and Mullin was more than ever awed. @ was no coward, and would gladly have accompanied his friend, but he felt that it would be useless to ask permission. He therefore stood in silence while Rube carefully loaded the weapons. Twilight was falling outside, and this so added to the picture that, as Makepeace afterward said, he felt as though he was attending a funeral. When all was ready, Ralston again turned to his companion. ‘You can tell people where I have gone,” he said, ‘‘but you need not expect me back until you see me.” And then he went out and, in the gathering darkness, turned his face toward Sugar-Loaf and strode away. Outwardly, he had never been calmer, but, really, a fire raged within him which was like a voleano’s heat. He had not expected the blow. Every night since the trouble began he had been on the alért, and vigilantly he had watched over his home, but that the Buzzards would dare to make the attempt in broad daylight, much less that they eoald’ succeed, had seemed impossible. It was not his negligence, but their rash courage, which bad accomplished the work. However, that mattered little; Mona had been taken away, and he was going to Buzzard’s Roost to rescue her, Steadily and swiftly he climbed. Sugar-Loaf. By the time he reached the top it was fully dark, but all the way be had been guided by a light which shone from the house on the peak’s ragged top. As he neared the house he paused for a mo- ment to reconnoiter. There was no sign of an ambush, and he strode forward, laid on the door and flung it wide open. ‘ F moment more and he had crossed the thres- old. There he halted, a cocked and leveled revol- ver in each band, his face calm, but his keen eyes on the alert and taking in the whole inte- rior of the room at one swift glance, Only one man was visible—Dave Buzzard. He bad been sitting at the table with his head resting on his hands, but he sat erect when Rube so unceremoniously entered. He did not look less demoralized than during the day, and, for a wonder, he did not make a hostile move- ment at sight of the Strong Arm of Hotspur. He suspected at once why he had come. “Dog!” said Ralston, in a voice which was not above his usual tone, but which had an inci- sive, hissing key which made it terribly dis- tinct, ‘‘ where is Mona?” Dave’s dull eyes lighted up. His brothers had accomplished their object, though he had not seen them, and he was elated. ‘*'You orter know better than I. I am not her keeper.” *‘Liar! You have stolen her.” “TIT ain’t left the house sence mornin’,” the young giant replied, too much pleased at thought of Rube’s suffering to resent his words, and utterly indifferent to the leveled revolvers. Ralston suddenly remembered that Mullin had said he saw nothing of Dave, and as he saw how ill and wretched the man looked he was prepared to believe the last statement. ‘It’s all the same; your brothers have stolen her, and she is now in this house.” ‘You’re at liberty ter look all ye please. Ef you find her, let me know,” said Dave, witha grin. ‘You can’t deceive me thus, conduct me over the whole house.” ‘*T said ye war at liberty ter s’arch, but ez fur showin’ ye about, I’m cussed ef Idoit. My strength ain’t over an’ above good, an’ I’m not goin’ ter turn yer sarvint.” ‘‘Remember I have you at the revolver’s muzzle.” ‘““[ don’t keer a durn ef ye hev me at ther cannon’s mouth. I hev said I won’t go, an’ Tl see ye in perdition afore I wil] go. Don’t ye think ye kin scare me one identicle bit, fur it ain’t in ye!” It was sturdy courage, rather than bravado, and Rube promptly abandoned bis position. * be it,” he answered. ‘I know the way and [ll go alone, but I warn you and ay other man who may be within sound of my voice that treachery will cost you dearly. Be warned in time.” ‘Tie up yer chin an’ give yer tongue a rest!” growled Dave. “You'll get tied u these days, if you Rube retorted, He then took the light in one hand and, still watching Dave warily, went to an inner room, he stil ene Rinne was left alone, but though is seat his ai oaghe before. is air was less phlegmatic ‘3 ‘‘ What’s in ther wind now?’ he muttered, Ther boyees hev stole Mona, but they ain’t broug t ber here, would, an’ they never lisped that they wouldn't. Kin thar hev been treachery? P’r’aps they’ve is hand Get up and for the hangman one of on’t go slow!” Colorado The fact that he would | encounter vast odds weighed nothing in his | in their confidence. I know the way of the mind—a mind which had never known fear. Buzzard brothers; they hang together through | | | Why not? I expected they | lied ter me an’ killed her! By ther gods 0’ war, ef they hev 11] t’ar them limb from limb!” He clinched his hands, and bis face was jike that of an angry tiger. ‘*Cuss this bodily weakness which keeps me hyar. Why can’t I be up an’ doin’ when I'm needed so much?” It did not take Ralston long’to search the house, but he searched in vain. He returned to the kitchen, set the lamp on the table and faced Dave with a determined air. ‘*Mona is not here; you have concealed her elsewhere,” he said. ‘* Tell me where she is, or Ill put a bullet through you!” oo And he presented his revolver to Dave’s head. CHAPTER XxX, ‘*“WHERE IS MONA?” Ir was a threat which evidently meant all that it implied, but Dave Buzzard did not waver in the least. ** You kin blaze away ef you think proper,” he answered, ‘‘ but it won’t do ye any good. I don’t know where Mona is. Bill, Jack an’ Tom left hyar this arternoon ter steal her, an’ I s’posed they was goin’ ter bring her here, but I ’ain’t see’d them. Whar they have gone I don’t know.” ‘*T believe you lie!” declared Colorado Rube, “I don’t keer a durn what you believe.” ‘*You can’t make me believe you are not thick and thin.” “They hey did so, an’ they’d better con- tinue so,” said Dave, with a look Rube did not fail to read. ‘* Have you quarreled with them?” ‘‘Thar has been some diff’rence o’ opinion, but I can’t b’lieve they’d deceive—e have, it'll be death fur somebody.” ‘* What was the difference of opinion?’ Rube more moderately asked. ‘“That’s my business, not yourn.” ‘Once, and for all, will you swear you don’t know where Mona is?’ For a moment Dave hesitated. He hated the man before him and was anxious to see him suffer; that was why he did not try to use a revolver upon him; but it looked just then as though his elder brothers had played a trick, and if that, was so he did not care how soon Rube was’on their track. ‘‘T sw’ar,” he finally answered. ‘“‘ Mona ain’t been hyar, an’ I ain’t seen ther boyees sence they left hyar four or five hours ago.” Colorado Rube believed bim at last, and he resolved to leave the Roost at once. It seem- ed probable that the abductors had taken their captive to some otber hiding-place, but there was a possibilitv that, by hovering along the trail, he might find the party, or happen upon a single one of the brothers sent as a messenger to Dave. Knowing the latter had once bad a kind of affection for Mona, he endeavored to appeal to his better nature, but it was a complete failure. Dave bluntly expressed undying hatred both for his sister and the man she had married. There was no more to be said, and Ralston left the house and went outside. He paused for a moment and looked around. From Sugar- Loaf’s top the lights of the mining camps of Hotspur City. Deerfield and Pine-Apple could be seen glimmering like so many clusters of stars, but be knew not in which direction to search for his wife. Sugar-Loaf and Bull’s Head furnished many places to which she could be taken, but he believed the wor!d was not large enough to shelter the Buzzards from his vengeance, they The news of the disappearance of Mrs. Ral- ston fell like a thunderbolt upon the people of Hotspur. Others bad come and gone and occa- sioned little comment; it was a peculiarity of the West; but the little woman bad won her way straight to the hearts of her neighbors, and a warlike spirit sprung up when they knew her villainous relatives bad abducted her. Zetta Willis was in despair. Mona bad been | like a sister to her, and the blow fell heavily. It was not until some time after the news reached her that the girl thought of Mildred Fenton. Then she put on her hat and went over to see that young woman, Mildred seemed to be alone in Ralston’s house, but the visitor bad no means of knowing that she had interrupted an interview hetween thea two plotters, Mildred and Broderick, in which they were trying to decide how the new state of affairs would affect their ovn schemes, Broderick bad taken refuge in an inner room, and Miss Fenton put on a look of great sorrow, and received Zetta as a caller should be re- ceived in a time of universal sorrow. She played her part well. She had the natu- ral gifts of an actress, and her prolonged career as a scbemer under Broderick’s tuition had served to make her all that was needed. It was a melancholy interview. Zetta was sincerely affected, and Mildred met sigh with sigh, tear with tear and regret with regret: while her partner in evil secretly watched them, and rubbed bis hands witb satisfaction.