Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 303 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

’ ' ' ’ ; >= ~s ne . — o~ = ’ ~~ 4 . "Fe a a >. * . ens rae aaRe 7a = 4 » - ' eee -_-—— = = * « - a —— = ter = oa a - - *- ~ . ‘Ca Pe ey se * ha —. se. - ie “ d Fe beetles ort te »- , > | - : <4 oy ~* ee: good city of Satanstown was Se ee ee ee Top Notch Tom, the Cowboy Outlaw. friend, asif it had been an egg which he was afraid of breaking. That he bad successfully performed the feat was made plain from the fact that no explosion followed, and he rode on at the same pace, keeping the bottle between him and his nearest ursuer, till he had arrived at a hundred yards yond it, when he pulled up and turned his horse. The movement, as he had expected, produced a corresponding halt from his rescuers, who knew of his reputation as a shot, and wanted to collect more force before they rushed in. And as this was just what he wanted, now, he halted entirely, and got his rifle ready; his pony standing still, breathing hard after its racé; so as to give the enemy the impression that he was waiting for them. The first proof they gave of timidity was the opening of a harmless fire of pistols and rifles, e shots whistling all round bim, but not one touching him. He knew his foes could not see the sights of their rifles, and that point-blank shooting, by the eye alone, was no use at that distance, so he did not reply to a shot. He surveyed them till they bad collected a force of about twenty men, from the laggards who came up, when they made a dash at him, yelling loudly to frighten him. He waited, with a beating heart; for, if the trick failed, he would be in a bad position, with the odds against him. The desperadoes came down in a body and neared the line of the fence. They kept in a huddled mass, showing that they were not alto- gether sure of their prowess, and wanted the as of numbers and company to encourage them. It was just what he needed, to test the powers of the bottle of dynamite. In another moment there was a bright flash under the feet of the horses, and’a loud, sharp explosion. The horses and men seemed to be thrown right and left, as if by a burricane, and then the rush stopped, and a cry of borror and fear told the story that the trick had succeeded. Top Notch Tom turned his horse and rode off at a canter, secure from any more assaults from that party, that night. Every now and then, he turned his head to look, and saw that they had not left the vicinity of the spot, where they had been blown up. Before another half-hour had passed, he was out of sight and hearing of his own pursuers, and began to feel anxious as to what had happened © White Cat, who had gone off on a diverging ne. He did not know whether the pursuers had recognized his companion as an Indian and wondered whether they would be guided by that fact to the plece of his retreat, in the ranch-house where he and Old Cross-Eye had lived so peacefully, the year before, As he thought over all this, he let his horse walk leisurely along, and soon espied a motte of timber, that he recognized as one where he and Wild Cat had made their camp, the day before, when they had to stay in hiding, for fear they might be espied by any of the roam- ing cowboys, after stray cattle. Into this he rode, and tied his horse; when he was startled by the voice of Wild Cat, close be- side him under the trees. “My brother should remember,” said the In- dian, in his usual sententious way, “that a | wood, with an enemy, should never be ap- proac ed in haste,” Tom looked round, and saw that the Indian was close beside him, having evidently entered the place before him, and witnessed his com- in . . Ko excuse himself from the rebuke he knew was implied, he answered: “‘Bat then I knew that the only person who coula bs here would be you; and you are my Wild Cat laid his hand on the other’s shoulder. “ The iat ie Glass Fighter is a good war- rior, by daylight; but at night he is no better than a white man. There is an enemy in the motte, and he knows you are here.” ‘“Why, where?’ asked Tom incredulously. ‘ld Cat pointed to the ground, and imitated th his hand the sinuous motion of a snake. - **The wood is full of them, and they all know have come,” was all the explanation he gave, and then he added: _ “Sleep is well for the man who is at home; -the warrior on the war-path must learn to do without it. The enemy will follow our trail, and though they have no trackers among them, _ we must go so that the best would be deceived. I have waited for my brother, and he is come. Now we will Fy home; for there is no safety in the country of the white man, for him who is the friend of the red-man.” Top Notch Tom bowed his head. - “Twill follow you, wherever you say is best,” he answered, CHAPTER XIV, THE MARSHAL OF SATANSTOWN. iet for a : whole day; for the inhabitants were sleeping off the effects’ of the excitement of the previous night. he cattle company’s candidate had been “setting them up” in good style for the boys, and Baldy Mac had reaped a harvest, while the proprietor of the White Elephant had cash to jingle, as well as bis rival. Mr. Even MacDougal, more generally known as ‘*‘Red Mac” from the hue of bis hair, was the barkeeper of the Lone Star House, and the only person about the establishment who was fully on the alert that morning; for he had the very rare habit, in a Texas barkeeper, that he never drank anything stronger than soda-water and had, by the dint of that habit, escaped b at rest of the boys had gone to bed, stupid runk, Even Red Mac felt sleepy that morning; for the excitement had lasted till within an hour of sunrise, and he had not been fairly asleep all night. ut he could tell anybody who entered the saloon; for Evan was a faithful guardian of his employer’s interests; and when, at about noon a man came in and looked round the lace, as i seeking for some one, Red Mac waked up at onee, and recognized the Marshal of Satans- town, in the person of Mr. Henry Kimble, bet- ter known as “‘ Hank, the Nailer. It was a very rare thing for Hank, the Nailer, to be seen inside of a bar-room; and when he was there, it might be known he was after some person whom he had been directed to ar- rest. Therefore Evan at once asked him: ‘*What isit, Hank? Who d’ye want?’ Hank looked all round the place before he answered, and when he saw that there was no one in the saloon, he pulled his beard reflec- pat A and said to Red Mac, in his deep tones: ‘*T only come raound to kinder look arter the boys, ye know, Mac, if any of ’em had got inter any trouble. Got any lodgers up-stairs?” Evan nodded, with a grin on bis Scotch face. “There's the Eenglish lord, that thought he could drink McPherson under the table in his ain hoose, Hank. He went to bed, and he hasna got up yet.” Hank pulled his beard again, in the same re- flective way as he rejoined: ‘“ Reckon he got all be wanted when he ran afaoul of old Baldy, Whar’s his rume?’ The barkeeper stared at the marshal with sur- prise, as be asked: ‘““ What's he done, man; what’s he done?” Hank came up near the barkeeper and looked him in the eye, in his peculiar way, with a fixed unwinking stare, that had before carried terror to many a man better than Evan MacDougal, as he said in his low, musical tones: “T asked ye whar was his rume, friend. I said nothen abaout his hevin’ done nothen. Will ye show it to me to onc’t?” Evan, rather flutried at the way in which Hank had received the question, stammered hastily: ‘ “ Why, certainly—certainly |! This way—this way! And with that, he led the way up-stairs and showed the marshal a door, where he knocked. The answer inside was that of a man sud- denly wakened from sleep and angry at bis dis- turbers, for they heard the voice of Berkeley row}: ait Who the devil’s there? Haven’t I paid for the room? I told you I didn’t want to be dis- turbed!” Evan answered: “It’s the marshal of the town wants to see ye, captain,” Then to Hank he said, in a low tone: ‘The door’s nae lockit.” Hank, the Nailer, heard what he said, and in- stantly laid his hand on the lock and threw the door wide open, when the action was followed by a shot from the inside of the room, the bullet whizzing past Hank, between him and the bar- keeper, and burying itself in the wall at the other side of the passage. Then they saw Berkeley with a scowl on his face, that showed the morning headache and the evening’s excitement combined, sitting up in bed with a revolver in his hand, and he growled in his most menacing tones: ‘What the devil do you mean by that? The man that enters this room does so at his peril!” Evan shrunk back out of range of the smok- ing — in a moment, for he thought that the Englishman was going to fire again; but Hank, the Nailer, came out into fuller view, with his hands in the pockets of his loose coat, and said in his slow, deep tones: ‘Look hyar, mister. Put that air gun aout of the way, ef ye please. It might go off acci- dental-like, and ye might be sorry fur it. I come hyar to see ye.” ‘‘ And who the deuce are you?” asked Berke- ley in the same menacing tone, as he eyed the other with the stare of a man who does not quite know what is going on vet. But the quick eye of Hank had already noted the fact that he had not yet cocked the weapon, and that he really was only half awake. So the marshal smiled as he answered: ‘‘T’m the Marshal of Satanstown—what ye call head constable in your part of the world I reckon—and I won't tell ye again to lay that daown, Ye don’t want to run ag’in’ the law, I s’pose: do ye? Ef ye do, keep that air gun p’inted this way, as I come in.” Suiting the action to the word, the marsbal strode into the room, with his eye on Berkeley and his hands still in the pockets of bis coat; and the Englishman, who construed the act in- to a defiance, and bad hardly yet recovered bis. senses from the previous night’s debauch, lifted the pistol and tugged at the trigger, forgetting that he had not recocked it, since firing. Hank kept on; crossed the room with three of his long strides; put his band out, and grasped the pistol, which he wrencbed from the bewil- dered Englishman, before the Jatter bad fully recovered: his senses, dazed as he was at being suddenly awakened. Hank, in the coolest man- ner in the world, put the weapon down ona table at the other side of the room, witha dex- pe Ne toss, when he said to the man, sitting up n . ‘*Come, stranger, don’t be cantankerous. [ ain’t come to take yein; but ef ye gotoan more of them games, I’ll hev to, fur the cred of the taown.” Berkeley had not at first been conscious what he was doing, except that he had a splitting headache felt in the worst of tempers. He had recognized the barkeeper, but not Hank, with whom his acquaintance was of the slightest. Had the marshal exhibited the least sign of fear or hesitancy, when he entered the room, it is probable Berkeley would have struggled with him for the pistol; but as it was, he was demoralized. He had not realized that the weapon was uncocked, till he tugged at the trigger in vain; and when the other, with a wrench that showed the ession of e.ormous strength, whisked it out of his hands, the En- glishman was for an instant cowed. He was a brave man at most times, but the bravest has his moments of weakness, when sur- prised and bewildered, with his senses not fully awake, and such was the condition of Berkeley, of which the marshal had taken prompt advan- tage. how that Berkeley was fully awake, he re- cognized the other completely, and sunk back on Hamel trying to appear indifferent as he said: ‘Well, now you’re here, what the deuce do you want! I didn’t know you were an officer, or I shouldn’t have fired at you.” Hank took a chair and sat down by the bed, his eves still fixed on the Englishman. ‘“Ye didn’t fire at me, stranger,” he said simply. “Ef ye had, I might b’en mad at ye, but ye didn’t fire at nothen. Thar’s yer bullet | in the wall, at the other side of the passage. Ef ye had fired at me—waal, never mind that— I come byar to hev a bit of talk with ye.” Berkeley stared at him, and lay back, where be was trying to collect his thoughts and get his head into its usual clear state. ‘* Talk away,” be said laconically. Hank drew from his pocket a paper, which he showed the Englishman. ‘‘Look a-hyar,” he said. “I got this paper from your man, that you're a-runnin’ fur the ‘sembly. Ye know what it is, don’t ye?” Berkeley looked at it, as the other handed it to him, and the senses of the Englishman re- turned to him, as he said quickly: ‘* Yes, yes, that’s all right. I know all about it now. I’m the complainant, and Levy’s the lawyer. What do you want to know! Iam sorry you didn’t let me know who you were; but it isn’t polite to disturb a man in the morn- ing, when he has been doing election duty all night. You ought to know that—Mr.—ah—” Kimble,” returned the marshal quietly. ‘““T ain’t sayin’ but what we might bev woke ye kinder easy, sir; but ye sbouldn’t fire so quick as ye did. Look a-hyar, I’ve did a good deal of shootin’ in my time, as the boys ’Il tell ye; and I never see’d the time when it paid to fire through a do’ afo’ axin’ who was thar. It throws away the charge; and charges is wu’th two cents apiece nowadays, ye know. A man ain’t got no call to waste money like that in Texas. It’s extravagant,” He spoke in a quiet, reasonable tone, as if he were seriously remonstrating with a friend; and Berkeley, who had never met him before, was struck with the sense of humor, which generall takes Englishmen, who cross favorable speci- mens of Western eccentricity, so that he laugh- ed and answered: ‘*Well, I am sorry I did it. There, sir, is that enough for you, or do you want any more?” | Hank instantly held out his hand, saying: “Stranger, putitthar. You aira man, and I ain’t more’n half sorry I come; fur I know ye won't fly off. This byar paper comes from a friend of yourn, but it wants me to go ag’in’ a friend of mine; and that’s what I don’t wanter do, nohow, ef so be I ain’t got to do it.” Berkeley could not understand what he meant. | The paper was a warrant for the arrest of ‘Thomas Field, commonly called Top Notch Tom, a fugitive from justice.” Levy had told him of it, the night before, when they were all pretty drunk, and the beys comicbooks -_ oud RS NEI ee — ———