Beadle's Dime Library No. 327 — page 28: what you’re looking at

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

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Jeffard’s confession was read to the detec- ' rocks to the stunted tree that had. been used | tive, and there was no doubt in the minds of | as a gallows, The remainder of the Kanucks had got well out of the way; but their victim was Whether his guilt eould be proved to. still hanging there. the satisfaction of a jury was another ques- | ' upon the rocks, and was discovered to be Judge Meacham was able to throw some | quite dead, as it had taks.n the climbers near- light on the subject by a déscription of his | ly half an hour to reach him. Julius Muldrow was lowered and drawn in A search of his person disclosed a folded ‘The only question is,” said he, ‘‘for | paper, carefully wrapped up, which proved When they discovered that he was not a | what purpose Julius Muldrow planned that | to be the will of Mrs. Jardine. wolf, prowling about to compass the destruc- | tion of one of their kindred, and when they ! é y | upon Nick Sanders, implicating Miss Payson were made acquainted with his real senti- as his accomplice. | ' ments onthe subject of the Cranston murder, | aunt had made a will in favor of himself and | murder, and then strove to fasten the guilt | By this will she left legacies to her nephew and niece, but gave the bulk of her property Either he knew that his | to Mary Payson. ‘‘It may seem strange to some people,” they were more than willing to be friend!y | his sister, and wanted to come quickly into | said Risden, ‘‘ that he kept this paper; but with him. Mrs, Sanders, who knew how affectionate- a was regarded by his close friend, Hank | ard, took a liking to him at once, and treated him with the utmost kindness and hospitality. position is correct, from the fact that it is When night came Ike Sanders spoke to | known that Mrs. Jardine had exetuted ono him of the young man whom he had left | will in favor of Mary.” alone up in the mountain, and who might be It was settled that a portion of the party expected to miss him. should go up into the mountain the next “I give myself no uneasiness about him,” possession of the property; or he knew that the will was in favor of Mary Payson, and wanted to get hold of it and at the sametime prevent the old lady from making another. I am inclined to believe that the latter sup- care what becomes of him. A little while | been left there. ago I would have worried about him, but now he is out of my thoughts.” ‘‘Somethin’ ought to be done to the | made concerning his complicity in the mur- darned skunk in the way of justice,” sug- ; der of Mrs, Jardine. gested Ike. In the morning Risden and Hemlock Hank ‘* Yes, but I doubt whether anything will | started to climb the mountain, accompanied be done. Hank Ward is too soft-hearted to want to punish him severely, and I suppose his punishment will be left to Providence, I wonder what it will be.”’ Skirting around the base of the mountain, ‘Terrapin Dick showed no desire to leave | they entered the bed of the stream which the the pleasant quarters into which he had been | detective had discovered, and ascended it, introduced. i seeing little evidence of the devastation of Indeed, his wish to meet and greet his old_ the flood. friend Hemlock Hank would have overcome Indeed, they were so occupied with their an Bee desire. | own thoughts and conversation, that they ank and Abner came in before night, | took no notice of the trail recently made by the Kanucks, which, though faint, was vis- ible to keen eyes. As they approached the declivity at the | foot of the ravine, over which the mountain brook fell, they halted for a brief rest. ‘* That,” said Risden, ‘‘is the only hard climb that is left on the route. Then we will pass through the place where I came so near being wiped out, and after that the travel is easy enough.”’ ‘*] guess that cussed young scoundrel will be sorter surprised at seein’ me,” remarked Hemlock Hank. ‘*If the surprise should kill him,” replied Risden, ‘‘ there would be no damage done.” the party. they were accompanied by Judge Meacham and Ben Lawson, | Mutual air ermgponten were cheering and extensive, and the swapping of news was highly interesting to all parties. isden, who had already learned the par- ticulars of Hemlock Hank's escape from death, told how he had caught sight of his friend from the edge of the cliff, and had at once abandoned everything to go in search of him. He went on to tell how his expedition had been disastrously interfered with by the de- luge, and how Nick Sanders had saved him from certain death. ‘*So you left that young cuss up there alone,” observed Hank, ‘* Yes.” ‘‘ He is sufferin’, I guess.” ** Yes, but he deserves it, and a great deal more, for the murderous trick he played ou.” ne Well, I don’t mean to worry him. He is safe, except for the hold the law may have on him, and that ain’t no small matter, [’m thinkin’.” ‘‘ What do you mean, Hank?” ‘““Why, Dick Risden, we've beat your game, or played it out for you, just as you choose to take it. We found the real mur- derer of the old lady in Cranston, That is, Mr. Lawson did. I guess he can tell the story straighter and better than | can,” Lawson told of his suspicions and pursuit of Joe Jeffard, and detailed the capture and confession of that scoundrel, up to the fact that he was the murderer. ‘“So you see,” remarked Hank, “‘ that pert Nick Sanders is as innocent as you or them. The others glanced quickly in the direc- tion the lad pointed out, and saw a sight that amazed and shocked them. On a hight at the left, in plain sight, but some distance above the head of the ravine, were four men, who held a fifth man, about whose neck was a rope, leading toa branch of a stunted tree that leaned over the edge of the hight. with their own proceedings, that they saw nothing of those who were approaching be- low. ‘‘The Kanucks!” the detective. made fust to the trunk of the tree. his voice: . ‘*Whippa me, hey! Whippa me, hey!” ‘‘That is what I thought all along,” re- A sudden stop was put to his exultation. plied the detective. ‘‘But that ain't all, by a darned sight. There’s somethin’ else that you didn’t think of.”’ “Perhaps I did.” ‘Perhaps you did? What was it, then?” ‘That the author of the crime—the man who prompted it and paid for it—was Julius Muldrow.”’ ‘‘ You've hit it, by thunder! Yes, that mean and spiteful cuss was at the bottom of the hull wickedness, and thats the hold the law has got on him,” denly into the air, fell headlong to the foot of the hight. It was Abner who fired the shot. remarked, a ee ee ee interest demanded their attention. lowed by his companions, ‘Look there!’ excitedly shouted Abner | to the Jardine house, and ask Miss Muldrow Sanders, pointing upward and in front of | if her brother has come home. Risden hastily climbed the declivity, fol- | | morning, to bring down Julius Muldrow and | the camp articles and provisions that had | in the woods near by, and the party went up it is not at all strange. They all do it. If they don’t do this very thing, they do some- thing like it. Perhaps he could not bring himself to the point of destroying such a re- minder of his crime. Perhaps he thought that if he should get into trouble he might use this paper to buy himself clear.” ‘‘He has been punished for one and all, and that’s an end of it,” remarked Hemlock Hank. The body of Julius Muldrow was buried to the plateau and collected the property It was also settled that no hint should be | there, which they carried to the Sanders _given Julius of the discoveries they had | habitation. Then they prepared to go down the river, and as svon as possible a fleet of three skiffs left Staley’s, bound for the lower Penobscot, Nick Sanders making the voyage in Risden’s by Ben Lawson, Neptune, and Abner San- | boat, and Ben Lawson and Judge Meacham ders, the lad having insisted upon joining | in their own skiffs. CHAPTER XL. LAWYER ALLYN IS SHOCKED. NATHAN ALLYN was seated in his office in _ the village of Cranston. He was attending, or endeavoring to at- _ tend, to his legal labors there, but was mak- | er would have detected in his manner more The four men were so intently occupied | uneasiness than exaltation. shouted Hemlock Hank. | 1 ‘They've got Julius Maldrow!” exclaimed | tleman to suspect that something was wrong. ing very poor headway. Te was restless and disturbed, and_ his sharp features wore an unusually pinched and gloomy look. He called the office-boy, as Le styled the snub-nosed and freckled youth who did his ‘‘chores,”’ and muddled his weak intellect with contradictory orders. ‘*Go to the constable’s house, Amos, and ask Mr. Humphreys to stop in here as he passes, ‘* No—you may go to the tavern and see if Mr. Richard Risden is stopping there. ‘ That won't do, either. I don’t want him to think that I am running after him. Go He must have returned with the rest, 774 it is strange that he has not called on me.’ When Amos had left the ofice the lawyer turned his attention to his papers, with as little success as previously, until a visitor ar- ‘rived, and the visitor was Terrapin Di-k. Mr. Allyn declared that he was glad to see him, and surely did his best to put on the appearance of being glad; but a close observ- The fact was, as Mr. Allyn knew, that | the detective had arrived in Cranston the night before, and his failure to make an ear- lier call on the lawyer had caused that gen- Nothing but a sense of what was due to The Kanucks had already swung off their his professional dignity had prevented him victim, and in another instant the rope was | from going out and looking up Risden. No sort of intelligence could be gleaned One of them immediately began to dance from the detective’s face as he seated himself about upon the rocks, yelling at the top of and he was slow to tell his news. ‘‘T have succeeded in the mission that took me up into the woods, Mr. Allyn,” said he. ‘‘Glad to hear it. That is eminently sat- A rifle-shot woke the echoes of the moun- isfactory, and your money is ready for you tain, and the dancing Kanuck, leaping sud- whenever your accounts are made up.” ‘*The man who murdered Miss Jardine was found up there, Mr. Allyn.”’ ‘‘Exactly so. I knew that you had got ‘‘Another of ’em for Boney,” he coolly him. But he does not seem to be under ar- ‘rest. Nobody took any further notice of the de- | spised Kanuck, as matters of closer personal | be How is that?” ‘‘He is as much under arrest as he can “T saw him a while ago from my office window, at liberty, walking up the street.” ‘‘Impossible,” replied Risden. ‘‘The man From the ravine they scrambled up the is dead.” GOmichboo (E KS co : | | . . ee devel — = a SE cc iperbeidneenenel