Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 303 — page 27: what you’re looking at

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

ie . ed ‘ a ~ * ae Top Notch Tom, the Cowboy Ranger. We don’t give way to brag. Go back, or we bP] Hank waited till he had finished, and then cried in answer: = etigdy. if ye want to git aout of this caoun peaceable, send a man hyar to talk. We don’t want to have a fight, ef we kin help it.” His words produced a buzz among the men by Berkeley’s side, and the marshal perceived that Le had produced, as desired, a division in the ranks of the enemy. To make the division greater, he shouted: ‘Send a man to k, boys. Wehain’t no quar’! with men. We only want what’s fa’r,” The buzz increased, and Hank saw that the Englishman was arguing with the desperadoes under his command, who were growing restive, He heard Berkeley shout, passionately: ‘You infernal cowards! will you sell me out, like a horse or dog? Fire on the fellow! It is all atrick! Here, Pll stop this!” And so saying, be turned round, and leveled his rifle at nk, who sat on his horse, within we! range. he Marshal of Satanstown expected fully to be shoi, and bad taken the risk deliberately. Had he offered toshoot back, the fray must have begun at once; but be made no motion. Instead of try ty ae shoot, he shouted: ‘* Free pardon tothe man knocks that gun u PP ae in an instant, there was a wild struggle in the crowd of figures before him, in the midst of which the rifle went off, the bullet whistling bigh overhead, and Hank saw the Englishman, struggling in the midst of his own men. A less adroit man than Hank would have or- dered a charge then, and brought on the fight; but the marshal watched the struggle coolly, and when he saw it at its hight, he roared, at the full stretch of bis lungs: ‘‘Give bim up, and you-kin all leave the caounty ce ge 8 The struggle became flercer than ever at that, and the marsbal rode directly forward, to the place where the enemy were gathered, his rifle still lying across his saddle-bow. As he got closer, one of the men raised his gun to shoot; but it was instantly knocked aside by another man, and the scene of confu- sion w worse every moment, Hank watching it with his eagle eye. At last he was within ten feet of the crowd of excited desperadoes, and made his voice heard again as he shouted: “Tn the name of the State of Texas, I call on all here to help me arrest that man. He’s the one to blame: not you,” The words probably saved his life, for the company’s men Were getting nervous at his near approach, and more than one was raising his rifle, while the men, struggling with Berke- ley were relaxing their efforts, in fear of an im- mediate attack. But the words that ‘‘ they were not to blame” induced them to continue their efforts to hold the Englishman, and, by the time Hank had got close to them, they bad abandoned all idea of shooting him. ' He saw it, and, with the quick decision that had made him so famous as a marshal, threw his rifle to one side, and leaped off bis horse, In another moment he was down in the midst of them, waving his hand, commandingly. ‘Aout of the way, you greenies,” be cried, ‘*] kin do the arrestin’ naow.” And then he pounced on the Englishman, who had staggered to his feet, as his opponents left bim., Berkeley still had his pistols in his belt though he had lost his rifle in the struggle, and his face was pale as a corpse with rage, Straight up to him strode the Marshal of Satans- town, and the two faced each other. _ Hank bad his left hand down in his pocket, and the Englishman made a clutch for the pis- tel at bis own belt. The next moment, Hank was on him. His left hand came out of his pocket, and the glitter of a pair of hand-cuffs showed what he bad been feeling for. He made a clutch at the right hand of the furious Berkeley, and caught it, just as the Englishman got bis grasp on the pistol. Then came one fleeting instant of bard struggle. The marshal’s bands—both of them—went to the right wrist of Berkeley, and he tore the other’s hand from his waist by main strength, Berkeley stiil bolding the pistol. Then, with a swaying of the body and a slow motion, that looked easy, but really exerting the whole power of bis muscles, he got the En- glishman’s hand up to his own shoulder, and turned his back half to him. Berkeley, not knowing the trick be was try- ing, but sensible that he was being pulled over, resisted with all his might, and tried, with his other band, to get in a blow at Hank. Then the Marshal of Satanstown suddenly st d down, and rose again. hen he rose, Berkeley’s arm lay on his back, and he bent over, so as to bring the elbow at the point of bis own shoulder. There came a yell of pain from Berkeley, in the midst of which a dull crack was heard. Hank turned again, and laid the Englishman at his feet, powerless u» a dead man, bis arm \ broken, his face haggard with oom and exhaus- tion, while the marshal snapped t rists he irons on his Ww " The struggle, which takes so long to describe, had only cocoon four or five seconds, from the moment Han ot. hold of Berkeley’s hand. There lay the Englishman on his back, while Hank turned to the men at his side to say: ‘‘Naow git, as fast as the Lord’ll let ye! Don’t stop, and don’t make no fuss, ef ~ know what's good fur ye. I give ye this night to git aeut of the caounty, and think yerselves lucky ye git off so.” Not a man answered a word, but all took bis advice, and went to their horses at once. They had no sentiment of honor to keep them from rept their leader, simply because he was not of their own class, Had Hank attempted to arrest any of the rest, they would have fought to the death, to cover his retreat, Berkeley wasa foreigner; had treated them with hauteur, after the fashion of his military education, and none of them loved him. So they got to their horses and rode away, while the marshal said to his prostrate prisoner: “Ye see, ye would have it, and ye’ve no one to blame furit but yerself, Cap, Ye started the muss, and naow ye’ve got to pay fur it.” He waited till the desperadoes, who had been in Berkeley’s service had gotten to about three hundred yards off, when be made a signal with bis hand in the moonlight, and the cowboys came swooping down in a body, with wild yells, which struck to the soul of Berkeley, the first terror the Englishman had yet felt. He looked up to Hank and moaned: ‘* ‘Will you let them murder me, fifty to one?” ‘‘No, I won't,” said Hank, shortly. “I’m Marshal of Satanstown, and J’ll take keer of ye, though ye don’t desarve much, arter this night's work,” Then, as the men came swooping down he stopped them with a commanding gesture, and called out: “Ye see them fellers over thar? Foller ’em, at a safe distance. We don’t want no musses: but we wanter see they don’t go back to the company’s ranch. I kin attend to this man, without any of your help. I want Top Notch Tom, the Injun, and Punch Burleson :jand that’s all. The rest of ye send them fellers to thar -bes* legs.” As he had anticipated, the retreat of the des- peradces was changed to a rout the moment the wild cowboys set off after them, with a yell. They set spurs to their horses, and rode off, scattering as they went, in the fashion of so many Indians, but not firing back, inasmuch as their foes did not fire at them. Top Notch Tom, the Indian, and Punch, re- Mained behind with Berkeley, and Hank assist- ed the mortified man to bis feet, where he ut- tered a groan of irrepressible pain, and tried to raise his broken arm, as the weight, when he was on bis feet, caused him to wince. Hank took the broken member tenderly in his own hands and felt it carefully, with the remark: “Tl do what I kin fur ye naow, stranger. Mebbe ye won’t think Texas men so bad, when the other man gives in, but they keep a grudge twl it’s settled. This-a-way. Naow ye feel easier,” | _ He raised the wrists, ana fastened the arm up in a sling made out of the end of a strap, and assisted the Englishman to mount a horse, Berkeley was so weak from the pain and shock that he almost fainted, but the big Texan belp- ed him as carefully as a child, an t him into the saddle at last. Then they set off for town. CHAPTER XXXII, CONCLUSION, Srx weeks after that night, the citizens of the first assembly district of Satanta county, met together in conclave, to elect a man to represent them, in the forthcoming legislature; to present their grievances in the matter of foreign com- panies, pre-empting large tracts of land, sind excluding the natives of the State from the pas- tures that had been deemed common roperty, since the organization of the State; aud to settle the bitter dispute that had agitated the county since the coming of the obnoxious barbed-wire fences, to throw everything into confusion, The election was a quiet one, and went all on ies mg é r. Belshazzar Levy, who had disa red on the night of the fight, soon after he first rout of the ranchers, and had got home, with all the caution of his race, so as not to be recog- nized as one of the rioters, was overlooked in the flurry and confusion of the night, and es- caped the punishment he deserved. ut his chancesas a candidate had vanished and he had the sense to withdrawin favor of Top Notch Tom, who received the unanimous vote of the county and district, for the office of representative in the lower house, he agent of the cattle company, at Galves- ton, being apprised, by a dolorous note from the jail at Satanstown, written with the left hand of the unlucky keley, of whet bad happened came up to take charge of matters, mad foun that the desperadoes, who had been on the ranch so long, had left things in good shape, 27 thanks to the strict discipline maintained by the Englishman, with all his faults. e retained a special counsel to defend Berke- ley from the charge of inciting a riot, and, to | the surprise of nobody, the Englishman was let off with a heavy fine, and the order to leave the county forthwith. | We say “to the surprise of nobody,” for Berkeley as soon as he was rendered harmless | became an object of sympatby, from the way _in which he bore his defeat, | He had the one virtue, which all Texans ad- _mire—that of courage—and when he came to | be tried it was impossible to find any one to ap- | pear and tell the truth of the fight. There was among the ranchers and cowboys alike a sentiment that it had been a “ fair fight,” and that no man ougbt to be held to ac- ' count, before the law, after he had heen whip- | ped fairly, and had suffered the loss of an arm, _ The sentiment was one that would not bear the test of cool examination, but it nevertheless. existed, and exists in Texas today. Even Hank, the Nailer, who bad arrested him, could not be brought to testify ph rica but the fact that be had been engaged in a fight with the cattle company, and that be did not know ~ | how it started, so tbat Berkeley got off out of the county a sadder and wiser man, The company had to pay his fine; and the amount of money that it took out of the share- holders was so great that it excited disgust in Glasgow, where they look at a six-pence a long | time before they can make up their minds to spend it, unless they can see a good prospect of its transformation into a shilling. . The shareholders began to sell out, and the | difficulty was to find any one who would buy sbares ina speculation which had already proved a losing one to a Jarge amount. The agent at veston was telegraphed to sell all he could on the spot; and the first pur- chaser who came forward with the ready cash was no less a person than Hank, the | Nailer, along with Top Notch Tom, and Judge Collingsworth, The three managed to make up a pool, which got control of the shares of the company, and the end of the matter was that Hank resigned his position of Marshal of Satanstown, and be- came the successor of Berkeley, as the mauager of the ranch, while the Scotch agent was sent. home, on his refusal to accept a salary, more suited to the work he performed, than the exor- bitant one he had been receiving from the Scotcbmen who were trying to manage a ranch, four thousand miles away by means of a man they thought they could trust as a countryman, Of course there was a great deal of indigna- tion expended in the papers on the other side of the sea, caused by the reports of the agent, that. ‘‘the Yankees had been playing more of their smart tricks,” and that the shareholders might whistle for any more money from their expen- ditures of the past; but, as time rolled on, Top Notch Tom was appointed agent, and his first note tothe Glasgow shareholders made them stare. ; The natural and legitimate profits of the com- pany, when it no longer claimed fo keep other people out of the enjoyment of the public lands, and allowed the odious fences to go to ruin, rew and throve, as the profits of the cattle ae lb in the mild climate of Texas always do, when the herds are honestly managed. The first dividend declared, exceeded any-. thing that could be got from investments in England or Scotland, and the shareholders who bad sold out were down in the mouth at their ewn baste, while the price of the others’ shares, that bad been worthless a few weeks before, rose immediately above par. The Texan cattle trade became as popular in Glasgow, asthe Glasgow Cattle Company be- came in Texas, under the new management, At the end of the first year, Top Notch Tom— now the father of a bouncing boy, and Diana, entirely restored to ber old heaith and spirits— were sitting on the piazza of the old log-pals of the company, which bad now me the residence of Mr. and Mrs, Henry Kimble. Diava was talking nonsense to the baby, while “Aunt Helen,” once Miss Collingswortb, but now raised to the dignity of a matron, by the title of ‘‘ Mrs. Henry Kimble,” was watching her sister with a strange look on her face. The once spirited Helen had become, since her own marriage, as full of whims and fancies; as timid and liable to fainting-fits, as her sister had been a few months before, Tom Field, his smart Mexican suit discarded: his pistols laid away; dressed in the costume of a civilized gentleman; sat near the two women, reading the peper and smiling to himself, Suddenly Helen, who had been gazing listless+ ly at the baby, roused herself, with a start and. a smile, and said jot yee ““ Hark! do you hear ?? Diana laughed. ‘No, I hear nothing. What is it sis?’ she. said. x Helen turned her head toward the prairie, where the men of the company bad once mus- tered for the final assault on the ranchers. “You must be deaf, then,” she said. “I re- member the time, when you knew the step of ECOMA ATIC OO KS com