Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 322 — page 18: what you’re looking at

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

18 . The Crimson Coyotes. a een ee eee ——————— ! | Reed now seized the candle, and held it be-| Nita was suspicious, and bent lowin the | Who could eyen begin toimagine the emo- neath the couch. Perceiving a raw hide, be | branches, a muttered curse from Reed be- | tions which tore to the very soul poor Nita oar igh Pane ete Pie ie , ch poet thie. traying to her his identity, and a low remark | Nichols, as she staggered to the match-box, ; ® > . : wo ye .‘ ~_ t . . " : i i * . las which covered.the place in. which Mrs, Nichols of Pedro telling the eager listener who he was | and ignited a match; waiting until it threw also, out a bright flame—even that short time kept her little forture. He crawled under the | , : Pedro following him. _Red Reed was filled with fury, as the | seeming an eternity to her? sight of the jacal recalled the loss of the Nor- But, as poor Nita gave one glance, » | Why did not the Fates ordain that Nita | 81 should, at this moment, arrive, and sboot the | rington wealth, which he had so long plotted | glance that was filled with the most fearful | dastards before they could regain their feet? to secure, | anticipation, around the room, the little blaz- Curses, most bitter, and ejaculations of rage Nita was not only greatly amazed, but | ing splinter dropped from her hand; and, ie ars sr as agp ils ney AA Seeded ' exceedingly concerned, upon making this with a wild shriek, she sunk upon the clay anee tha’ seini he sought was not there, . discovery. floor of the apartment. For, near the head There was, however, a goatskin bag; and| [It seemed strange that, after the whole | of the couch, stretched upon the floor, ey the jingle of coin was beard, as Reed clutched city had been searched so thoroughly for | her mother—ghastly as a corpse, and to all it. But he knew it was, comparatively, a them during the day, here the two villains | appearance dead! paltry sum; probably not more than two or | were; and near the very spot which one | Then followed a period of deathly still- se YS Bag per ches tn ba TE eA Se would suppose they would give a wide ; ness, a long period, before Nita, with a BE Se Lees SES | BEE) EES W MLON CORT AIIOF; ||-Beorth. groan, recovered consciousness; she, then, meget ane Stine ice teteates ae | Surely, their mission must be a very im- | being dazed, and for a time unable to recall the vast fortune, which the girl had taken from | portant one; and what else could it be, | what had occurred. But soon the near past the jacal, was not in the casa, Had it been, | unless the recovery of the proceeds of the | flashed upon her mind, and she staggered to it would have been in that secret excavation robbery? her feet, feeling and groping around, until beneath the bed; which had been considered | They must believe that she had given the | again she held a lighted match in her hand. safe, or the little fortune of Mrs, Nichols would | treasure to Lyons or Barnes; and they were | She dared not look toward the bed, but in- not have ype wig aD pad Stes By Se Bs in their desperation, setting out to rob | stantly picked up the candle, which she dis- Pedro.” said Red Reed: “but I pe ay the dwellings of those men, Nita could | covered upon the floor by the side of her they have given up our gold and stocks to the | think of no other reason for their presence at | mother, who had without donbt let it fall Nora has the boodle, however, we’ll such a time. But, again she thought, they | from her hand. This gave the poor young | | officers. I have it yet. | may be going to get together a gang of law- | woman hope that her mother might not be “It does me good to know I’ve got every | less Mexicans. dead, as it appeared that she must have been cent that old motber Nichols had. She and— They might return, and probably would, | carrying the light, had fainted, and dropped Nita will be obliged to work for their bread now—curse them! But, come; there is no use wasting time here, On we go, for the cattle- and attack her home. it as she fell. Since the disappearance, following the | Then, there were no signs of blood. buyers. visit of Pedro Pernales, she had expected | Instantly, upon lighting the candle, Nita “We'll have gold yet, and a pile of it, I this, until assured by Lyons that neither of | stepped to the side of her prostrate mother, swear! Those Mexican rancheroes, must never | the ruffians had been seen in the town—that | who was now her only anxiety. look again on the waters of the Rio Grande.” | they had undoubtedly fled toward Mexico. A single glance had satisfied her that her Placing the candle upon the table as he spoke, | Nita felt that she must return home at | child was in the same place in which she mit cope wt ag Leone ‘tan.” said Ped /once, She already had as much of the gold | had left it, and was evidently sleeping. BAP eee ae, Sues ecro- | as she could well burden herself with. But So bewildered was Nita, however, that she ‘*T agree with you, we must have gold. We 7 : have started the ball, and must keep it rolling. | what mattered even that, when those at her | could not reason upon some points, Come on! Vumonos !” home might be in danger? She would have She did not for a moment suspect that her Extinguishing the light, both sprung out from | left the treasure without a thought, but it | mother’s swoon had been caused by any- the window; and, closing the shutter, they | belonged to Nora Norrington, who had been | thing, except being terrified by those who pecht away through the darkness to their so terribly bereaved, and Nita’s first thought | had broken into the dwelling. Orscs. was for her. What else, indeed, could have caused it? | At once they mounted, and soon rejoined the main party of outlaws, who had been anxious- ly awaiting them. She sprung to the earth, hastily placing | It did not oceur to her that, having been the bags of gold in a sack which she had | unsuccessful in finding the lost booty for | brought for that purpose, and then throwing ; which they were in search, Rodney Reed it with some ¢ifficulty over her shoulder, she , and his yellow-skinned accomplice had mur- stole down the San Pedro for a little dis- | dered both her infant and her mother: al- tance, and then east toward her home. But | though, when away on the San Pedro, and more than once she was obliged to halt and | at other times since the boot had been stolen, rest, for the sack was very heavy. this fear had troubled her. Eventually she reached the house, ap- | But not now. proaching by the rear, and threw the sack | She dared not entertain such a belief, or | thought, or suspicion, lest she should drop CHAPTER XXIII. THE BITTERNESS OF DEATH. Wren Red Reed and Pedro Pernales reached their comrades, they found them seated around a small fire, smoking their cigarettes, Reed dismounted and ran rapidly up to | down near where the bundle of papers had them, displaying triumphantly the bag of | been buried. Then, without entering the | dead! old. SH) house, she took the spade, dug a hole, and Quickly scanning her mother’s face and Had that villainous party of Greasers | casting in the treasure, quickly covered it up | form, and observing neither bruise, nor known that it was the blood of an innocent | with earth, smoothing the spot, and drag- | wound, nor blood, Nita placed her hand child that stained the hands of the man un- | ging some old fencing material to place over upon her parent's side, and, to her great re- der whom they had volunteered, their re-| the newly disturbed earth, She then re- | lief and joy, felt a slight pulsation of the marks of satisfaction and commendation | turned toward the casa. | heart. , would not have been heard. But Pedro was She knew that she had made some noise, She was now fully satisfied that her mo- not one to reveal anything which would de- | and thought it strange that her mother had | ther had but fainted, although she had never tract from the admiration of the men for | not opened the shutter of the window and | known her to lose consciousness before. their leader. Indeed, he remained beside his | called to her, as she must have been anx- It was probable that the miscreants had horse. iously expecting her. terrified the poor woman greatly—so her Nita laid down the spade and raised her | daughter thought—perhaps, even choked hand to tap on the door, but her arm fell to | her, to force her to reveal the hiding-place, her side as if powerless, and she gasped for | of which she knew nothing. breath. For her life, she could not stir a But, not for more than a bref moment,did finger for a full minute; and from gasping | Nita Nichols linger at the side of her mo- for breath, it seemed that all breath left her. | ther, after ascertaining that life remained. ‘‘Call in the guards for a few minutes!” ordered Reed, ‘‘ I want every one to under- stand that I mean business!” The guards strode in at once, and their captain counted the gold, and divided it into as voy F equal portions as there were men: i leaving himself and Pedro out, inthe general | She tried to shriek aloud, but her tongue | Then she sprung erect, and to the bedside: division. clove to the roof of her mouth, pulling, gently, the bed-clothes down from In her inmost heart, Nita Nichols was con- | the face of her little one, ‘‘ Walk up, one at a time, and take a dose vinced that Rodney Reed and Pedro Pernales First, that corpse-like face—ay, really the of my medicine!” Thus he said, as he passed each Greaser | had been there. face of a corpse—and then, oh, horror! that his portion; they receiving the gold with Had they slain her mother? little white neck, with a terrible gash across muttered thanks, and ejaculations of plea- There was no sound within the casa. it, and a gore of blood! sure, So terrible was the short time to the young Fain would we draw the curtain. ‘Guards, return to your posts!” was the | woman while she stood thus, that she suffer- No more corpse-like was the face of the next order. ‘‘ Pedro, pick a man to go with | ed a thousand deaths. Indeed, she came | murdered babe, than that of the mother us. We have a bigger and more risky job | very near falling senseless; but, by a super- | Nita stood, as rigid, as immovable, as if this trip.” , human effort, she threw off the oppressive | suddenly transformed to stone. Then Red Reed sprung into his saddle, dread that had taken possession of her, jerked | Her eyes were filled with a horror, and an Waving his sombrero, he spurred away; | the shutter open, aaa cried out: anguish, that were unspeakable; fixed, in a Pedro, with a gesture, indicating a Mexican ‘* Mother! Oh, mother! Where are you?” | stony stare, upon that awful sight. Her who should follow. Scarcely had these words, to which there | lips were parted, and colorless, and her face The three rode directly toward the San | came no response, escaped her, when she | as white as the driven snow. KL = Pedro, where they left their horses, and pro- | perceived that the oaken bar had been She remained thus but for a few seconds. ceeded up the creek, keeping within the ! broken, allowing free ingress. | Then, that proud, much wronged and tor- shade of the willows. Past Pedro's jacal| Then, with a cry like that of some mor- | tured girl fell, as a post falls, without the they went, little dreaming that their ap- | tally wounded thing, the poor tortured girl | bend of a joint, or movement of a muscle, proach had been heard by Nita Nichols; | dashed wildly within the house; again call- | stiff and rigid, upon the hard clay floor—the who had jus time to steal up into the | ing, in a voice to agonize any who had heard | candle becoming once more extinguished, as branches of a large tree. As little dreamed | it, to her mother, it dropped from her hand. they, that they were within three paces of ; Yet, all was still as death in that apart- Not a sound left the lips of that agonized several bags of gold—a fortune in them-| ment—death, and Egyptian-like darkness | mother, as she fell. selves! 9 reigned there! And, there lay mother aud daughter, as EOMIGEHDOOKS (E(o) = > ——_