Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 303 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

B Top —EE SS ee ‘Notol'Tom, the Cowboy! Oritipw. i. a ED ¢ —_ eS | “very fine pony, spotted like a carriage dog and | ‘* No, sir.” was the hasty reply. ‘‘ Not much | ed as handsome as a woman could look who had “known as a “ paint broncho.” time to lose. Listen to whatI say. Jim Boggs , a revolver in each hand, ; It had been a present to him, from an Indian | was hit to-day; but I don’t think he was killed. | Berkeley saw her, and his heart leaped within :. ; “chief in the Territory, whom he had known | If he is alive, get him, and get him cured. My | him, forhe bad a great admiration for female a | | | beauty, and a great idea of bis own ability in the line of fascination. He stepped to the front, and waved his men aside, saying to Helen respectfully: “I beg your pardon, young lady, but we are on duty here, We havea warrant for the ar- rest of a murderer, and have reason to think he | isin this house. If you will give your word of honor that Mr. Field 1s not here, I will go away and my men shall leave the place.” “well; and was an animal of remarkable swift- life depends on his testimony, as it did on yours, ness. | He saw the fight opened. No more now. Here ' The cattle company’s men were well monnted, | they come.” | ‘but they could not catch Tom’s pony; neither | And with that, be dashed out of the door-yard, | , could Berkeley, who was a much heavier man | and away over the prairie where be was instant- than the young rancher. ly hidden from view in some chapparal timber, | But the pursuers, if they bad a disadvantage while his poor young wife, her face as pale as : “in horseflesh, had a more than compensating denth, stared after bim, as if she could not un- | ‘superiority in the numbers of shots they could derstand what had happened, and her father | fire, almost without danger to themselves as | took herin his arms, and said ina trembling | - ~ qpey thought. Had they got a little closer to om before they opened their volley, itis pretty | certain they must have overwhelmed him with ‘the hail of revolver shots they sent whizzing | ‘round him. voice: ‘* Di, Di, my poor child, don’t look like that. He will come back—he will—” And here they were interrupted by the rush _of a party of thirty or forty borsemen, sweep- As it was, before they had gone fifty yards, | ing full speed into the door vard, shouting: | | ‘* You have heard my father give his word to that effect already,” said Helen, in the same ex- cited tone. “If you area gentleman, you will ofrom here. As for Tom Field being a mur- erer, none knows better than you that he is no such thing.” : “anothér shot pealed from the rifle of the flying | ‘* Kill the murderer! Kill him! Lynch Berkeley smiled in a pitying way. He thought \ -rancher, and another of the cattle company’s | him!” he bad the best of these people, now that he had men dropped from his horse, this time shot | | succeeded in getting ber to parley, and he re- through the breast, though not killed. solved to hold the position as long as be could. = ~ = ee ew — + ee gee -. my es - <= ==> — - ” oe * ~ ‘ % _— A = Sar See ~ * _ - ~ eg ~ - “- 4 .* , ee ap - ro: ' my oe Se ee _ i= es = + <= == 5 - « a is a! * J $ ’ 4 wi¢ ; ‘ ; » * . t nf oe a w iden ky ry 4 ra ‘a ° -, * . Pee A tN ’ ers .7. - + ‘ A f seg one of the sleeves of his rich jacket. ; 4 = itt not six months Berkeley, savage at the way in which the other was fighting, and seeing the demoraliza- | -tion it was causing in his men, shouted: ‘*Aim at the borse, ye fools. trick,” “when a third shot came from the fugitive, and Berkeley’s own horse stumbled and threw its rider, while the rest of the cowboys began to pull at their horses, as they saw the terrible effect of these mysterious shots from the man in front, who bad not even turned his head, but rode on, looking down at his horse’s mane, ap- ‘parently, with his rifle over his arm, the muz- zle pointing back at the enemy. Before they stopped entirely, they fired a volley at Top Notch Tom, and bad the pleasure of seeing the blood spurt. from his pony, in more than one place, but the shot the rancher fired in return, sent another of the cowboys to his long home, and the rest gave up the pursuit in dismay; for such a foe they bad never met, in all their desperado experience. Berkeley scrambled to his feet, and emptied his revolver after the fugitive, with the only result that another shot came back from To Notch Tom, fired, as before, without the fugi- tive turning his head, the bullet whizzing close to Berkeley’s head, but only calling forth from him the defiant shout: ““Missed! You see, you fools! He’s only a man, after all. Keep on, and you'll catch him. Give me a horse, and I'll go after him alone.” The course the fugitive was taking was to- ward the Collingsworth ranch house, and the captain was quickly accommodated with a fresh horse, when be rode away, with his four remaining men, and gathered up all the others he could on the way. | The result of the battle, so far, had been that Tom had killed one of his men; seriously wounded another, and had stunned a third, all without turning round to takeaim, while Berke- ley had killed one of the Collingsworth cow- boys, and had wounded Tom and his pony, to- gether: though how badly he did not know, _ He had heard the thud of the bullet, when it struck the young rancher, and bad seen the blood spurt from his shoulder, when the young man had turned his horse to flee. - Now, as the captain rode along, he found his men flocking to meet him, attracted by the sound of the shots, and Top Notch Tom saw them coming to intercept him on all sides, while the men on the Collingsworth ranch were out in the range, gathering up their cattle. - But the men of the cattle company had too much respect for the powers of Tom to dare exempt from it, though it takes a different form to that which it assumes in older coun- es. _ They made for their chief, as they saw him coming, and avoided Tom who was thus en- “abled to reach the ranch-house, and ride into the door-yard, where he found the people from the _ ‘house coming out, attracted by the sound of the firing. - Among those who came was his young wife, ‘who immediately screamed out; for she saw that he had been hit, and the blood was stream- | be rode in, be held up his band, as a sig- nal for silence, and then called out: © Be quiet, all of you, and listen. I’ve got to 4 from here, and you bave got to be firm. This is a job the cattle company have put up, to drive me out of the county, on the pretext that ‘I have shot a man. I have no witnesses, and they ae swear to anything. Where is the _ Old Judge Collingsworth, who had been hard | fore, bimself, came out of _ the house, looking pale but resolute, and called out: “ Whatisit, Tom? ShallI get the boys ‘and fight?” | Where is that Field? | CHAPTER LX. THE TWO SISTERS. THE leader of the party was Berkeley, who, It’s only a | as soon as he saw the figure of the lady and the judge, threw himself from his horse, and strode | Tbe words were not fully out of bis mouth, | up to Judge Collingsworth, with the stern ques- | tion; He has murdered one of my men, and we are gcing to have him, if he is in this house.” He spoke in the tone of a brute, undisguised now, and evidently saw that he had the whip hand of everybody at the ranch, from the num- bers of bis men, The old judge drew himself up, to answer: ‘*Sir, Mr. Field is a gentleman, and my son- in-law, and is incapable of a murder. He is not in this house now. If you doubt me, you can search it. But, if you area gentleman, you er have some respect for the feelings of his wife.’ Berkeley turned his head, and cast a look at Diana which made her shudder, so full was it of malignant satisfaction and revenge, as he said. **Hem! His wife? Well, ’m sorry; for we shall have to swing bim, as soon as we catch him. I bave beard enough of your Texas lynch- ings and I’m going to try what J cando, to have one of my own, in exchenge for — pretty lit- tle fence-cuttings by night. The tables are turned now.” Then he turned to the house and called out to his men: ‘*Go through the whole place, from attic to cellar! Don’t let them fool you, boys. If he is there, I will be responsible for the warrant. If you find him, shoot at once, if be makes a show of fight. Give the scoundrel what he deserves, Quic’ , into the house! What are you waiting for? But even the desperadoes, whom he bad hired for their want of scruples, hesitated, and one of them called out: ** Thar’s ladies in the haouse, Cap. S’pose we meet ’em, what air we to do?” “Do!” shouted Berkeley, with an oath, ** Don’t have anything to do with them, if they don’t interfere with you; but, if they do, put them out of the way. I don’t want men who are frightened by the screaming of a parcel of women,” Then the men dismounted from their borses, and were just rushing into the house, when the judge said to Berkeley: * Hold, sir, before you consummate this out- rage. I tell you that Mr. Field is not in there, and that be has gone ape If you want bim, seek him on the prairie. Did not your men see ‘“‘Go into the house. Turn things upside down, if there is any trouble. J give you li. cense!” The reckless villains who had, many of them, served terms in the penitentiaries of the State for various crimes, rushed into the house like a swarm of thieves, and were about to enter when the figure of a lady appeared at the front door, and she faced the men as boldly as if she had been a man herself, with a pistol in each hand, as she cried: “You cannot enter here! Do you understand me? If you wish to murder a woman, try it, if you dare!” Her attitude was so resolute, and the air with which she raised the two pistols so full of cour- age, that the desperadoes actually hesitated be- fore the woman, when they would heve' shot down a man at once. Berkeley saw ber at the door, and recognized the oldest daughter of the judge, Helen Collings- worth, who had always had the reputation of being the quiet, domestic one of the family. Now, she seemed to have changed places with her sister, Di, who had once been a good deal of an Amazon. Helen’s eyes blazed with anger, and she look- So he said: “‘Tam sorry to diffcr with you, but you donot know what bas happened. I was an eye-witness of the way in which Field shot down one of my men, and wounded another, without any provo- cation whatever. As I said, if you will give me your word he is not here, I will take it; but I[ cannot take the judge’s word, for he is an inter- ested party.” Helen’s eyes blazed as she looked down at the Englishmen. * If it will give you any satisfaction to have my word added to my father’s,” she said, ‘‘I give it. Mr. Field is beyond nee pursuit, and has ridden away. If your men had bad any eyes they would have seen him. J saw—” ere she checked herself, and went on again: ‘Never mind what Isaw. Iam noconstable to help you in your quest. Goand find bim if youcan. I will answer for it that Tem Field is able to take care of himself against you and all our band of cut-throats. Hunt for his horse- rack if you want to find bim.” Berkeley bowed, and his voice was as polite,as ever, as he said: “T take your word; and, as for the gentle- man who bes done what I said, I promise you that if we catch him he shall have a fair trial, for the sake of your bright eyes, Miss Collings- worth,” She deigned him no answer, but turned and went back into the house, and the English over- seer led his men away from the house at once, following the track of Tom Field’s horse, which was plain from the drops of blood that it had scattered in the grass as it went. Berkeley had not really believed that the fugitive had taken refuge in the house, but bad pretended it to get an excuse to search the place and vent his spite on the inmates of the villa, while he had the superiority of force, and they could not help themselves. The resolute attitude of the judge and his daughter had set the man to thinking whether he might not rouse public opinion against bim more than was safe, if be persisted in bis at- tempt, and he had been glad of the excuse for a graceful withdrawal from an untenable posi- tion. As the cattle company’s party rod@é away from the house, Helen Collingsworth came out again and ran to her sister, who was nearly fainting. The high-spirited girl gathered the young brid» in her arms, and ‘whispered in her ear: “He is safe, Di. I saw him, through the glass, from the upper window. He hasc anged his borse, and has one of the men with him, come too close to him, if Berkeley was not | bim ride awa Diana heard what her sister said, and her there to encourage them to the chase. “In which direction?’ asked Berkeley, | face brightened perceptibly. = AB They had heard of his marvelous way of | quickly. ‘Oh, Helen!” was all she said in response, but Migs te and most of them were inclined to at- The judge shook his head. she clung close to her sister and went to the tribute bis powers to the instigation of the Evil “Nay, sir, that is a question too much for | house, where she had to be helped to a sofa. and % - One; for, even in free America, there is such a | you to ask, or me to answer.” se down in the darkened room, while Helen ____ -thing as superstition, and the cowboys are not Berkeley turned to his men. whispered to her father: ‘Leave her to me, sir. She will be better alone with me.” The old judge nodded wee tab | and left the room; and as soon as he had gone, Helen went on, as if she knew what her sister needed more than anything: ‘“T tell you heis safe. I was watching from the top window, and I saw, What a mercy we have such a good glass! Tom bas got off. But not a word to any one of all this; not even to father. I have my reasons, Di.” . Di lay on the sofa, pale and trembling, for her nerves seemed to have been completely shaken. “Ob, Helen!” she murmured; “‘what has come over me, I wonder? I used to be the wild one, and I remember when I thought him a coward because he would not fight; and now it seems as if I wished him a coward, if only he would not get into these terrible difficulties. What did you see? Are you sure he got off? Who was with him?” ‘‘One of Punch Burleson’s men—the one they call Sandy Bill. Isaw the man join bim on the prairie, and they rode away together to the northwest. I can guess where he bas gone.” ‘* Where?” asked Di. Eom JOO (S