Beadle's Dime Library No. 321 — page 30: what you’re looking at

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

~~“ “— = ae wow _ their horses, glaring at each other like tigers of J that settled the mental a a ee ee a Sa ees ‘I didn’t lure him to it, anyway,” she said, | Up an’ defend yerself, Californy. I'm quicker’n several moments later seeing that her compan- | a cat!’ ion was waiting for an answer of some kind, Queen Bess saw the two huge revolvers that ‘*Mebbe not,” be said. ‘‘ Ef the prophecy ov | leaped into the air at the end of Bonita Ben’s ther stone is correct, none ov us ar’ ter get | last sentence. thar.” That mountain combat was to bave no pre- Do you know who wrote it there?” liminaries; snap-shots were to settle the aifficul- ‘4 masked man who has made himself | ties between the two men. mighty conspicious an’ officious throughout | She held ber breath and looked, bardly for a California ov late years.” second. ‘*Is that all you know about him?’ | Suddenly there rung out a loud report, which ‘* Thet’s all | want ter know at present.. One was, indeed, the sound of two revolvers. ov these days, Queen Bessie, I'll make him dis- Queen Bess saw California Claude reel back- close his identity an’ then, we'll know—”’ | ward, and at the same time Bonita Ben dropped ‘*Whoa! Jehosaphat!” | hissmoking weapon and clutched the dark mane At this sudden interruption California Claude | of his steed! turned from the girl and looked ahead. _ “Both bit!’ rushed through the girl’s mind. Tue horses bad just rounded an abruptcurve | At that instant the Curse of the Placers fell, in the trail, and the Curse of the Placers with | and as he struck the ground his antagonist fell bis beautiful captive found themselves face to | half-way from bis saddle! face with no less a personage than Bonita Ben, | Queen Bess instinctively started forward, and In an instant the eyes of the two men flashed | drew rein over the spot where the handsome sparks of rage, and their bands dartec toward | desperado lay. the deadly weapons of the gold-lands, ‘‘A dead shot sure enough,” she said, after ‘Hold, gentlemen!” cried Queen Bess, and | one glance at the whitened face upturned for while ber voice still sounded she spurred her | her inspection. ‘‘Steeltrap has been avenged horse forward and halted midway between the | by the pistol of one of her outlawed citizens,” two late pards of the gold-hills. Yes, on the trail he would ride no more lay Her quick eyes had foreseen & desperate en- | California Claude! gagement. He had spared the life of a man whom he had She heard the click of revolver-locks as she | no right to trust, and as one of the ten thousand halted between the enemies, and her interposi- | who wanted to fiad the lost bonanza, he lay tion darkened Boni'a Ben’s face, ‘* You sha’u’'t interfere, pretty as you ar’, — = ——_—— dead almost witbin its shadow. While the Queen of Steeltrap sat spellbound girl!’ be hissed, ‘‘ What L owe the galoot be- | over the dead sport a dull thud suddenly started hind you, can’t beealculated upon paper. It’sa | her, and she turned in time to see Bonita Ben debt thet kin be settled only with revolvers er | land on the ground under bis horse’s feet! bowies. Do you know thet we war pardsafew ‘‘ Wiped—out!” he gasped. ‘‘ Euchered witbin hours ago?” a mile ov the big bonanza!” “I know; but that’s not why I interfere, The young girl sprung from her borse and Bonita Ben. Have you forgotten the murder- | rushed to the Steeltrapper’s side, but ere she ous deception practiced on me?” reached it be raised his wal | half-up, gave a ‘Thet headless corpse bizness?” grinned the | loud cry, and sunk back—dead! brute from Steeltrap. ‘* What else could have happened?” said Queen ** lo was made the more villainous by the in- | Bess, ‘‘ They were both dead shots,” famous murder perpetrated to carry out the | The following moment she neticed something scheme!” flashed the fearless girl. ‘‘Its after | white protruding from Bonita Beu’s pocket, and results hold you accountable for the deeds com- | the next instant she held it in ber hand—a piece mitted by Captain Leopard’s pards, They bave | of chalk. sent him, the boy, through the wolf-haunted ‘‘It is left for me to write their epitapbs!” canyons lashed to the back of a burr-adorned | she exclaimed, advancing toward the almost steed only half-broken. If you had not played | polished rocks that formed at that point the your rascally game, Bonita Ben, he would not | walls of the mountain pass. be pluving somewhere at this hour the terrible, The sun shone upon the large flat rock select- ride ot Mazepps. lbhave hunted you ever since | ed by the girl for the inscription, and a minute i buried in Steeitrap a mutilated body supposed , later she had written this: to be his. I swore, under the stars that sbine on that monntain camp, tnat | would track you down and pay you for that villainous trick. I | do not know that [ saould stay my band be- | cause the headless rider of the white borse was_ not Frank. Through you be rides avother steed | to-day, perhaps dead.” *§ CALIFORNIA CLAUDE! ‘‘ BonITA BEN! ** Died here by each other's hands on the trail to Don Diavwolo’s dust !” ‘That was his owa lookout,” grated Bonita | Ben. ‘* Why didn’t he keep out of, the pards’ Having finished ber work, the girl stepped clutches?” | back and surveyed it, pronouncing it perfect, ‘* No braggadocio!” admonished the Queen of | then turned toward the dead men’s horses, Steeltrap, in tones that had not abated in stern- | These she stripped of their accouterments, ness since her last words. ‘‘As you have not | which she placed beside their respective owners, actually shed his blood I will not strike you and then turned away, | down; but the man at my hack shall meet you) ‘Stay with your dead masters, or live from in any manner you desire. Bonita Ben, this | now on a life of freedom—just as you choose,” is your late partner and friend, Calornia , she said, with a glance at the two steeds as she Claude!” remounted her own. ‘‘ As for me, I have seen As the mountain beauty concluded she puiled | this place, where two life-hunts have ended, for her horse to one side, and waved her hand at | the last time.” Claude the Pitiless,as ber action brought the She gave her horse line and a touch of the two men face to face. spur, and rode from the place with but one ‘Now, gentlemen,” sbe went on, ‘‘I hope | glance back at its strange tenants. there will be no compromise between you this Within a few feet of one another lay the men time. I am armed myself, as you see, thanks | whose great ambition in life was to enrich them- selves by the discovery of wealth which tradi- tion and an old diagram said had been buried for more than one hundred years. That bunt had engendered passions and ani- mosities which could end only at the muzzles of mountain pistols, Better for California Claude and Bonita Ben if they had never heard of Don Diavolo’s tomb; better for the peace of mind of the thousands of others whose quest was the same. As for Queen Bess, she rode over the tragic trail with ye Poe ae no special object in view. She was Claude’s prisoner no longer, and as she rode on, a resolution of firmness lit up her eyes, ‘*{ will find him!” she said. . ‘‘ Where he is, dead or alive, my bunt willend, Fortune has taken me to the gold-cave, but fate,has robbed me of my best friend. May I find the young Mazeppa alive!” She did not draw rein until ber horse had re- cognized with a whinny the famous rent in the wall, the opening that eventually Jed to Don Diavolo’s dust. “Why not enter and see whether Colonel Sardine and Major Jack, the two ruffians whom I left in possession of the place, succeed- ed in effecting their escape?” said the Queen of Steeltrap, a the next moment in she went. ‘‘ Who's thet?’ suddenly rung out a voice in the wher it sent the girl’s band toward her stol, * She did not get it fairly drawn before a hand clutcbed her arm, ‘* By Jove! a woman! Is it Queen Bess?” to my friend California, whose trust at times, ially when he thinks his triumph is com- plete, is amazing, and I will shoot the man who proposes a partnership.” or several moments after the girl had fin- ished the two desperadoes sat motionless on the jungle brought suddenly face to face on some old battle-ground. They were about ten yards apart, and the sunlight that filled the canyon rendered the tableau displayed the more striking. Queen Bess looked.ou with a pleased expres- sion on her interesting features. California Claude and Bonita Ben, two of the most heroic bunters of Don Diavolo’s golden tomb, and uncompromising enemies now, were face to face, the right band of each at the butt of a revolver, and gleams of buman tigerism in the depths of their eyes. Contd a minute flit by without a desperate collision? ‘* Why don’t they fight?’ murmured the girl. ‘* Are they going to see whether | will keep my threat to shoot the first compromiser?”’ All at once California Claude spoke in tones uestion. ‘*If iv’s ter be fight, Bonita Ben, I’m at yer service,” he exclaimed. ‘‘I shall give that beauty no cause to whirl me dead from my saddle. I could hev killed you instead ov breakin’ yer skin with my fist—” ‘‘Why didn’t you do it?” flung out Bonita Cen in a biss, *‘When you bev a ciance ter ayvush a rattler, why do you let it get away? LT LL _ California Claude, the Lone B er —o ‘ Yes,” said the girl. ‘‘ Who are you?” ‘*One ov the thirty pards ov Steeltrap thet hev concluded ter take a hand in the hunt fer thet gigantic bonanza,”’ “ Have you found it?’ ‘* Not yet, Bess.” A thrill passed over the girl’s frame. CHAPTER XXXVIILI. A MYSTERY MADE CLEAR, LET us go back a stepin our romance of the gold-lands to take up the thread of narrative broken by the account of the death of the two desperadoes in the girl’s presence. he man in the mask, it will be recollected, appeared on a certain spot in time to interrupt a duel between Mountain Jules of Captain Leo pard’s band, and Fearless Frank, A moment of tardiness on the mysterious one’s part would have proved too late, and one of the enemies, perhaps both, as in the scene just witnessed, might bave fallen before the re- volver’s muzzle, The masked one had avowed himself as the person wbo bad burned into Captain Leopard’s breast the gold-map which had caused his death, for, weakened as the captain was by his late terrible experience, he could not survive this last fearful experience. Fearless Fran looked at the Unknown one with no pleasant sensations. He looked upon bim as an interferer who bad me ge between him end vengeance, e bad heard something of a man of this kind, see this was the first time they stood face to ace. Mountain Jules did not relish the interfer- ence. He even thought that he was about to get rid of the young miner by driving a bullet through bis head, After that, be could go back to the gold-trail, ulthough alone, for bad not Eldorado Epb de- clared that Frank, while fighting his own bat- tles in the present case, fought also for him? “You will lower your weapons, gentlemen,” continued the stranger, ‘' This duel is off for- ever.” ‘We'll see about that,” said Fearless Frank under bis breath. ‘‘ You may interfere success- fully this time, but when next I meet Mountain Jules, if be gets off now, | will pay bim for that torture-ride,”’ ‘*What war thet you said about bein’ nigh Don Diavolo’s gold?” suddenly asked Keno Kit. +; I said that you men are within thirty yards ‘‘ No!” fell from more pairs of lips than one. ‘I speak the truth,” ‘ Hev you got the map?” ** Yes, I’ve carried it for thirty years—here!” And the speaker jerked open his jecket and dis- layed his naked breast. ‘‘ Youcan’t see it well rom where you are,” he went on; *‘ but it is Don Diavolo’s gola-map, all the same!” ‘Who put it on your breast?” +«xclaimed Fearless Frank, leaping from his horse and rushing up to the living mystery, ‘I have its duplicate upon my skin. What do you know about it?” The eyes under the mask appeared to twinkle as they became riveted onthe eager boy who looked up into them burning for a reply. It did not come in words for some moments. The strange man leaned forward and began a study of the youth’s features, watched eagerly by the three spectators near, but closest of all by Keno Kit. “Dll probably find out soon why eight from twenty-one leave thirteen,” this worthy mutter- ed. ‘ * If lm not mistaken, I’m at the end ov a trail.” ©” Allat once the band of the Unknown came down on Fearless Frank’s shoulder, and seemed to impart an indescribable 5, aha that al- most lifted him from the ground. Frank waited foran answer to bis question concerning the placing of the tattoo on his own breast. ‘*T put it there, boy,” said the man in the mask solemnly. ‘‘ It was thirteen years ago.” He did not speak more than a degree above a whisper but Keno Kit heard him, “Did you do it, Hidden Face?” he suddenly ejaculated, and the next moment he leaped from the saddle and came toward the Unknown. ‘‘ If you speak the truth, then you can tell me who thet boy is, Captain pard set me ter thinkin’ when he said one night thet eight from twenty-one left thirteen, Now tell me what he meant. He died before I got ter ask him the second time.” Tbe eyes of the two men met in the light of the torch which Keno Kit held in bis hand. ‘You, I believe, are called Keno Kit?” said the mask, ‘“‘ Thet’s my handle.” **Of Captain Leopard’s gang of gold-wolves?” ** Yes! Yonder sits the only other one left— save two deserters—ov the original pack,” and ori outstretched hand designated Mountain ules, ‘It is recorded that every member of the band shall perish in the gold-trail.” ‘*So I understand,” said Kit witha fearless NOK KS (ECO AMIE ‘ (EC) m |