Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 333 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

- ; ! 7 Oe am eee ee, ee ema, RI — - - field for such la Derringer Deck, the Man with the Drop. friend o’ mine right erlong till I let him get mix, ed in with my find. I ain’t goin’ round shootin off my mouth about him but you axed me as a man ter man what I thort an’ I give it to yer, straight. Some day Brad Awl ’ll find he’s wuss ner a bad man frum Bitter Crick. When he knows them’s my ’pinions itll be acause you told him; I’m jist layin’ back quiet ter see what’s ther next dodge.” ** And how about our relations, Mr. Early? ' “You see, 1’m leaving it all to you.” ‘‘ Kim in on ther ground floor, ef you’ve got ther sand ter stay thar. Ill never shake yer. _ it all be ez though the kunnel war squar’ ez a die. ** Done—and wouldn’t it be just as well if we didn’t let on about this little private arrange- ment, and fix it all up at another meeting? I enjoy a quiet joke, and it appears to me—it sim- ply appears—that we will have a very large one = Colonel Thompson, if he is playing the game s ct.’ ‘*‘ Kerrect you be—ef he don’t ketch on to yer visit, an’ put two an’ two tergether I hev ther reputation of bein’ a bad man, quick on ther trigger. That’s bizness. Don’t interfere with me an’ you'll find I kin be somethin’ else.” The terrible interview was over and the doctor went away with a smile on his lips, while Early Joe looked after him with a puzzled expression on his face, as he muttered: ‘* Brains tell every time. He may not be up ter all ther dodges of a gang of sharps, but unless the kurnel gits ther drop on him, an’ shoots, he’ll find that innercent kid kin hold him very level, I eee I’m a fool; an’ yet it looks ez cain, Zl wo *t make a bad thing ov it givin’ ther Lily her way.” CHAPTER XII. SINGULARLY STRANGE. Ir will be remembered that the bragging giant who called himself Ananias Jawler made a sudden exit from Mike Mulloney’s, and was followed by Derringer Deck until the latter lost the trail. He realized the folly of further search, and, a thoroughly puzzled man, was re- turning when he was so fortunate as to meet Miss Gordon and her daring abductor, and in the events that followed he almost forgot the vanished Hercules. The following day, when he had been assured that Ante Pete was little the worse for his ad- venture, and all that he required was a little rest and quiet, he started out ona tour of the camp, tosee if Ananias had madea reappearance, or to obtain a solution of the mystery of his dis- appearance. Jawler was not to be heard of; and as it seemed possible to follow his trail, or at least explore in the direction he had gone without at- attracting attention, Bright drifted out of town. He had his wits about him, and did not forget that the horseman whom he had tumbled over might have an eye on him, for after the affair at Ante Pete’s was over he had cautiously re- visited the spot, and found that the man had recovered his senses and taken himself out of the way. “‘Tt’s only a chance that I can strike the trail,” he thought; “and if I do it’s got to be eyes open and thumbs on hammers if I don’t want to knock down a hornets’ nest. If I was sure he had skipped the town for good Id say go and never come back; but I don’t want him turning up to stir the 1 of Brad Awl’s sus- icions. [ll have a enough time as it is, to old my own till the circus here is over, and if Nita is really here, which seems on the one side possible, and on the other wholly improbable, I will have more trouble than I even had in the old days at Bunco. So much for friendship, and a bull-headed desire to see things throug Well, I can’t do more than one thing at a time, and for the present I'll turn my attention to the roaring Ananias.” | His thoughts shaping themselves in some such ‘way he held on his course, turning away from the trail a little beyond the point where he had last seen Jawler. j It seemed to him, the night before, almost certain that Jawler had dodged to the side of the trail, and he had then made an excursion far enough to convince him of the ma of going on in the darkness. Now he pushed on over his own tracks. Any one seeing him might have ted that he was prospecting for ore, since the country beyond furnished a not unlikely ors, and Derringer Deck was no novice at that kind of work. He was proceec by chance, since, as yet, he had found no signs of a trail or even an occa- sional footprint to guide him. Yet it was a chance that was not altogether ungoverned by reason, for more than once when he took what appeared to be the most unlikely route the seem- og difficulties vanished as he came to them. Old habits of mountain life stood him in good stead now, and with his unhesitating progress and rapid stride he had soon found his way well in among the hills by the straightest route, 1e by An that evidently had been but seldom veled. Then, right before him, lay at last the thing for which he had been searching. When Deck Bright sized up a man he knew him all over. So, when he saw that one foot- rint on a little patch of soft earth of ground e knew that it had been made by Ananias Jaw- ler. ‘“Got him at last,” he chuckled. ‘‘Tll find out now whether he’s a lunatic, an ordinary tough, or one of Colonel Coldsteel’s Lucky Seven; and perhaps, if he is one of the latter, why the gallant road-agent is fool enough to go out of his way to hunt me. Steady, now. There’s a lair somewhere, and it won’t be apt to be overly far from Brad Awl. Now that I know there’s tracks here if I don’t find them Ill give my. hat to Pete and take the back track.” he other tracks were there, and without much trouble he found them. ‘* Kind of curious this,” he said, after a little. ** Wonder if he ran all the way? Looks as though he rode a breakneck act down here. Great Cesar, what strides! Ah, what’s this?” Flat on the ground fell Derringer Deck, for not twenty yards away he saw looming up the ore shoulders of Ananias. @ was standing as stiff and motionless as though carved out of the bowlders which lay around in such profusion. ‘What in the name of wrath is the fool u to? Does he hear something that don’t reac my ears; or is he dead and propped up? It looks like a sell of some kind, but how could it be got up for the benefit of your uncle Ezra unless there have been sharper eyes looking for me than I dreamed of. What’s to be done? It won’t do to back out, and if there’s an ambush ahead it won’t do to go on, They’ve seen me like enough before this.” Yet on taking a second glance it hardly looked like an ambuscade, from the fact that a t would have been chosen entirely too favorable to his own movements. It was possible to reach cover on either side without being seen from the suspicious point beyond, and after a little consideration Derringer cautiously rolled over, and found himself at length hidden by a swell in the ground, behind which he noiseless] squirmed his way, toward a point from whic he was certain he could obtain a clear view of the face of Ananias. He never allowed himself to unduly hasten his rate of progress, nor did he intermit his caution, though at every glance he took he could see that Jawler maintained the same position. Perhaps ten or fifteen minutes were passed in this sort of work before Bright, with a revol- ver in one hand, with the other carefully thrust his hat into partial view, and then drew it back again. If any one was watching for him the feint did not draw a shot, so he risked more. An exclamation of suprise trembled on his lips as he caught sight of Jawler’s face. The man was neither dead nor sleeping, yet his features were set and motionless, With precise care Bright tossed a cartridge at the burly form. It struck Ananias on the shoulder, but he neither winced nor started. ‘**' What the deuce is it?’ thought the watch- er. ‘‘ Looks as though the performance of last night was on the square, though it goes ahead of me. Must bea fit of some kind. Anyhow, it’s worth a risk to get to the rights of it, and I'll run it if it takes a wheel off. The coast seems clear.” He glided out from his covert and approached the statuesque figure; touched it, walked around it, tried to lift an arm, which he found rigidly folded across the broad breast that was undula- ting with a ae pee motion. ‘The man has a fit, sure enough. T'll try him with a little of the pure, unadulterated red- eye. If that don’t bring him I'll have to push him over and roll him back to Brad Awl. No use to think of toting such a mountain of flesh and bones.” He drew out a flask as he spoke, and removing the stopper, worked the neck between the whit- ened lips and uptilted the bottle. No use. The precious liquid rey ay out at the corners of the set mouth, and the flask was hastily thrust away. But when Bright looked up again he saw that there had been a change, **Hillo, old man, you’re coming ’round, are you? Beats the Jews, this does. I’ve seen sleep- walking, but this lays way over it. Wake up and tell us what we can do for you. The per- fume of the ardent must have brought you. If it will do you any real good, you can have the whole bottle full. Eh! good lory !” Nothing to wonder at was the sudden excla- mation, since Derringer Deck suddenly found himself in a reg and feeling very much as though a herd of buffalo had struck him in a stampede. Without further warning, Ananias had suddenly moved straight forward, actually walking right over him. Quickly as he looked up, Jawler was already several rods away, strid- sy eos at a great rate. etermined to see this to the end Bright sprung up and after him, and in a few bounds was running right behind. So closely did he follow that he almost stumbled over him when See abruptly halted and assumed a sitting posture, 11 ‘** Great snakes!” muttered the giant, rubbing his eyes, ‘‘ whar be I, an’ what be l an’ how come yer so? Ef Sammy hev passed in his checks why be I hyer, an’ which so. Blast my cats, he’s hed me off on another r’ar; I feel itin me bones. No jokin’ this time; they’re clean bruk in two.” He lifted his legs slowly, and with evident pain, and then began to rub them, to restore the circulation, as he supposed. Now that he had come out of his trance he felt in every nerve and bone its effects. **So you’ve come to, have you? That’s good enough. Brace up, take a snifter of this, and then tell me all about it. I’m dying to know what set you to cutting up those didoes. I don’t suppose you ran away from a little man like me; but if you haven’t a clean story to tell the boys in Brad Awl will believe it. Come, drink hearty, it won’t hurt.” This time the giant’s appetite did not fail him. He rolled his eyes up, first in surprise and then in thankfulness, but before uttering a word shoved the neck of the tilted bottle between his lips. MN Here, here, let L- on it!” laughed Bright at length. ‘‘ You can’t get full on it, for you’d hold a barrel and that’s only a pint, so you may as well leave a mouthful for your uncle Ezra, who is the real proprietor.” ‘*'You’re der? whoever you be, an’ Ananias Jawler ses so— Why, hello! Ef it ain’t—yes, it are—Derringer Deck. Shake, lcetle pard, yer done me proud, an’ I *pologize—perivately an’ *thout witnesses fur ther durn fool work in Brad Awl, I kin explain it all, straight ez a ramrod ef you'll take it; an’ I know yer won’t hev hard feelin’s when yer git ter ther bed-rock ov ther story.” . Well get there, then, before we shake. For strength and awkwardness you lay over the deck; but if I had wanted your scalp all I had to do at any time was to plug and then pull. Now, I want to know what it was all about.” “That's good, hog sense, an’ I don’t mind tellin’; fur you look ez though you'd bTeve ther truth when yer hear it. Fact are, ’'m a poor, misfort’nit’? twin, ez you've a’ready heerd me howl. I hev ther muskle an’ Sammy, he hez ther brains. Yer pinch him, an’, lawsee, don’t I shout! Don’t make no diff’rens ef it’s ten mile off, ef he sez, come, I got ter git—ef he sez stan’ still I got ter stan’, ef I freeze. Fur all that Sammy’s a good boy, an’ when I heered he were taken in outen ther wet it made me mad- der ner a wet hen what hed lost her las’ chick. An’ they tole it were a man named Derringer Deck, ez took ther trick, an’ I'd find him at Brad wl.” ‘Who told you?” interrupted Bright, only half inclined to believe this singular story. ~ Reig bi gotme. It war a feller I met per- misc’us-like over at ther camp ov Roarin’ Fork. He heered me re Lyi ef they’d sech a man go by, an’ he sez, ‘ Why that’s ther picter ov ther men ez they planted et Roger’s Ranch las’ week. Hed a frolic with a rooster called Derringer Deck, thet shot °em outen his sleeve while they were a-chinnin’, He went on ter Brad Awl, an’ I reckon he’s thar now.’ When he sed that I went on ter Brad Awl too, intendin’ ter mash him. An’so I'd er done, ef I hedn’t found I'd missed ther lead.” ‘In your mind, perhaps,” interrupted Bright. ‘*T never saw your brother; but what convinced you that some one had been playing roots on ous ‘*T heerd Sammy callin’. He wasn’t no more dead than you be; an’ I started hot-footed.” ‘** But what did yer stop for?” “*Cause Sammy told me ter stop. That’s ther wu’st ov it. He does it sometimes; an’ then furgits all about it. \He’s somewhere’s round, ‘live an’ kickin’.” ** Then why don’t you look for him? It’s my opinion that he’s in a heap bad scrape, and that the friendly cuss at Roaring Fork knows more about it than he let on.” ** Look? Ain’t Ilookin’? When I git ther blud a-riotin’ through my legs ag’in ’'ll go. Hev yer any idear how long I s thar? Week, year, five minnits? I don’t jes’ remember how I kim, er when I got thar. An’ Sammy may be lost, er he may be ten mile off, but—hush! I hear him callin’. I’m comin’, Sammy!” He jumped up again, rushed forward a dozen ces, then fell forward at full length, seeming push his right arm up to the shoulder into the solid ground as he exclaimed: **Gi’n us yer paw, Sammy; I’m hyer.” . \ And, as if in answer, the astonished Deck Bright heard a single, low moan. , - : CHAPTER XITI. A DARING VENTURE. AFTER the one groan there was ect si- lence, and it looked as though, if Derringer Deck had not been there, the mystery, such as it was, would have remained forever unsolved. Ananias had again lapsed into one of his trances, and lay where he had fallen, like one bereft of life, ** What's the matter now, old man?” asked Bright, stooping over ;the giant. ‘I reckon we've hit the home base at last; uow let’s call for the score of the game.” cS : Gomicboo ‘ = a a Ee Ee LOLI EGE AI: EE OIC OE Cl IE EE aE ee SES ee SS SE es ee ae, of