Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 339 — page 28: what you’re looking at

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

28 ‘Tt is true, big rascal,” more calmly added the She Wolf. ‘‘ The game is played, and though I lose, my son wins, so I need not fear to tell all. He is my son, the man you know as Laughin Leo. He laid the plans which I have carri rie) out. He has taken the child of that boorish i fool, Morris Kirkendall, and in a manner that will make her regard him as little less than a | demi-god. He will use or abuse her, as the q fancy takes him; but of one thing be sure; he 1 elaine avenge his mother on you, one and ! ; vf With an activity which no one expected from th her in her seemingly helpless state, she leaped to her feet, tore the knife from the belt of the nearest hide-hunter, and before a hand could be Cit - wvaised to stay her, drove the long blade to the wl. very haft in her swelling bosom! Hi ‘*Big devil—all—I curse you! He will— pipet avenge—” | She sunk to the stone floor, dead, with the sentence incomplete on her blood-washed lips! When the day dawned, Spread Eagle Sam, at 4 the head of his party, mounted on the horses | once belonging to the band of the She Wolf, was Y ready to leave the scene of death and crime. On a rude litter was Old Misery, looking moro ia than ever like a skeleton, from the loss of blood, rik but still worth a score of dead men. Two other : men were carried in the same manner. Threo " besides these were left behind, under a pile of stones, temporarily buried, In the cave lay the dead outlaws. In one of an t the chambers rested the remains of Lena Bur- Vie aa venich, once the honored wife of Morris Kirken- if dall, more recently the ‘‘ She Wolf.” At the entrance of the cave stood the man whom Spread Eagle Sam saved from the knife, * as guard over the dead. ‘Watch them, critter, ontel we come back. Ef you skip out, mind your skelp when I ketch you!” said Spread Kagle to him. CHAPTER XXII. HOW THE GREAT MATCH ENDED, Tur first breathless transports of that reunion were over, and Morris Kirkendall was lying back on Spread Eagle Sam’s bunk, his arms wound about the form of his idolized child, her face buried on his broad bosom, faint sobs feebly shaking her frame. There was a grave, yet joyous expression on those rugged features, and the gray eyes glowed with a light far more genial and friendly than than Luada. The strong voice was a little flowing with gratefulness as Morris Kirkendall ‘addressed the young man who stood before him, erect, with arms folded tightly across his swell- ing chest. Critter, you’re white as they make’em! [ve treated you like a brute, but you’ve’turned good fer evil. JI ax your pardon, humbly, sincerely, from the bottom o’ my heart, an’ with the lesson | you've taught me, I hope to live the rest o’ my We days more like a human than a dumb brute critter.” He held out his right hand as he uttered the ee last words, but Laughing Leo made no motion ss toward accepting it. Instead, he shrunk back a | trifle, a look sweeping over his pale face that ae . almost terrified the veteran as he watched it. ‘Don’t hold a grudge, lad,” the trader mutter- ed, his voice quavering. ‘‘ Don’t lay up the ya thoughtless words an’ acts of a bull-headed ejiot Ae ‘in’ him too powerful deep! Kin I say more Geen thet that I’m sorry fer what’s goneafore? That T'll try an’ do better fer the time tocome? Shake han’s, boy, an’ let the ole man feel he’s begun to y you off fer savin’ this precious Beauty-bird om them wuss then hellions!”: ‘‘Of whom I am the worst, Morris Kirken- dall!” suddenly cried Laughing Leo, his voice hard and hath. ‘“Man, can’t you see through the thin disguise, even now? Can’t you see that I carry the face of the she wolf, as you delight bi to call her? Can’t you see that no one has a bet- Hh ter right? For I am the son of Lena Burvenich, tnd once your wife!” | a Morris Kirkendall stared at the vehement BBY. 5 nw aug with eyes that seemed about nes from {ag their sockets, his under jaw falling, his face ia growing ghastly pale. He seemed like one sud- | denly stricken helpless with the finger of paraly- Not so Luada Kirkendall. She lifted her hy head and gazed into that pale face, so hard-set, A ae so handsome, yet so repulsive just now, i that reckless, bitter light in the big blue eyes. .- * Leo Laughlin, as you hope for mercy in the / f _ time to come, speak manent but the truth now! Are you the son of that terrible creature? Then who is Jesse Purchass ?” ‘‘Fortune’s favorite, as I am her football,” ‘Laughing Leo replied, with a trace of his old ) Se cool mockery. ‘‘One who has robbed me of a 17a wife, but who shall no longer claim my mother. In brief, Miss Kirkendall, Jesse Purchass is your over, your beloved, an honest man if a trifle hot- ” ie “Thank God!” murmured Luada, castin her- 1 self once more upon her father’s breast, sobbing pure and undefiled. ordinary when they contemplated any other | broken, but it was rich with feeling and over- | Spread Eagle Sam. ‘* Her boy—you?” huskily muttered Morris Kirkendall, in a measure recovering from the stunning revelation. ‘It cain’t be! Why, you pe: #64 Beauty-bird back to me!” ‘* The one just and honorable action of my whole life!” the strange being uttered, with a low, mellow laugh, that sounded like the olden Laughing . ‘*Give me due credit for it, old gentleman, for Heaven knows it was a long and bitter struggle, even up to the moment before this log palace met our eyes! One minute be- | fore, 1 could not say which way the scale would turn: whether Miss Kirkendall would come to you, or go further with me, to become a daugh- ter to the She Wolf!” ‘** You don’t mean it! yit |” ‘* You must believe it, man!” cried Laughing Leo, his whole manner changing, his voice growing hard and almost threatening. ‘‘ Hold your tongue and listen while I tell you the whole black scheme. Listen, and don’t tempt me any longer! The devil is urging his cause re a sufficient persistence, without any of your aid. ‘*T tell you lam the son of Lena Burvenich, by her first marriage. so little of in those days, when you wooed and won my mother; the Leopold Burvenich whom | you swore was the finest lad that ever met your eyes. Bah! I was used to lying and false flat- tery even then! ** You know all that happened after that ill- I eain’t b’lieve it, even starred marriage. lam neither defending nor excusing my mother. Whatever her failings, she loved me and I loved her. ‘* She told me how you abused her and drove her to wrong. She brought me up to hate the very name you bore, and when, long years af- terward, she called me to her and told me how her bitter, black wron might be wiped out, of the years gone by fell in with her plans readily enough. ‘* My own life had not been that of a saint. I was not easily abashed or frightened. I saw something new and out of the ordinary run of a life like mine in what she proposed, and jumped at the offer. ** ‘You know how I came to you and secured a position in your business house. You know I faithfully performed the work that was given to me to do; but you don’t know how merrily I laughed to myself after you had snapped and growled at me more than usual. It was jolly fun, and, only for one thing, I couldn’t have asked any better sport, knowing as I did that your ce of reckoning was steadily drawing near. That was your daughter. ** Our plot embraced her, of course; you know in See the matter in my mind, and so, acting on the impulse, I hastened to let my mother know of this new move. She at once caught at the idea, and the plot which we have since carried out, almost to complete success, was the result. ‘*One of your men, Dike Widgeon, was in her employ, and he promised to keep her informed of your movements and of any unexpected change of mind and destination. He did his art to perfection; I leave you to reward him as 6 deserves, should he ever come back to you for his pay! ‘* Well, even yet I was not content. I found that while I could ae your daughter when- ever I chose, I longed for even more; I wished she would come to me of her own sweet will. I wanted to win her as an honest man, rather than wear her as a rascal; but somehow I did not go to work right. ‘*Remember, I knew nothing of her former love affair with Jesse Purchass, I believed her | | that now. But somehow the fun gradually be- gan to grow flatter and less amusing, as time | passed by and I—even I!—began to love Miss | Kirkendall!” Laughing Leo paused, stepping across to the water-pail and wetting his lips. Then he re- sumed, speaking rapidly: ‘* Never mind my hopes and fears, now. They belong to the past, and are forever buried. ‘* You decided to come out here, and bade me be rer to bear you company. You gave me such brief warning, that Il had no time to weigh heart-free and at liberty to love whom she would. Isaw how she loved you. I believed that if I could gain your good opinion, if I could take your good wishes with me, she would not frown upon my suit. And if so—well, the She Wolf must wait for her revenge! | ‘‘T played my cards the best I knew how, even after Jesse Purchass demolished the air castles I built first. I felt I was his it even though a graceless rascal. I believed I could make your daughter happier than he could, and so it went on until the elopement. ‘I could have stopped that move, either by interfering myself, or giving the alarm to you, Mr. Kirkendall; but I held my peace and let them go undisturbed. I had been bitterly stun | by her undisguised hatred for me, and I felt that were I to interfere, she would believe me actuated by jealousy. ‘‘As Heaven is my judge, I did not know | what danger they were running headlong into! I did not know that my mother, growing impa- hysterically; but the tears were born of joy, ' tient at my long delay, had resolved to press | kin go back to give ‘em Christian burial. matters after her own fashion. I had not the I am the boy you saw | | slightest suspicion that they had fallen into her power, until she avowed as much when she con- fronted you, Morris Kirkendall! ‘* As | listened to her, as I saw how evilly her eyes glowed, how savagely she spoke of the young lady, I for the first time began to realize how _ deeply love for Luada Kirkendall had permeated my whole nature! Andin those terrible minutes I determined to rescue her from peril, let the costs be what they might! ‘* I knew that were my mother to even suspect my real intentions, she would never permit me to carry them out, while she drew the breath of life. Fiercely as she loved me, I knew she would kill me before letting her grip go, once it closed upon an enemy. ‘* For this reason, then, I continued to play a part. I followed her, and together we talked it over. I made her believe—bah!” with a hard, | bitter laugh. ‘‘ Never mind the details. I can give you the results so much more quickly. ‘*T pretended to rescue Miss Kirkendall, at the risk of my life. I bore her out of the cave and then rode in this direction. To carry ou the double deception, I made the She Wolf tell | her that Jesse As Be was really her son, in- stead of me. It wasa fine farce, finely carried out! ‘‘ Then—the devil and I fought hard all the _ way to this place! It would be so easy to turn from the right trail—to wander through the hills until—until—” He stopped, with a dry, hacking cough, and only resumed after a visit to the water-pail. ‘* Never mind. 1am not Pees before you as a martyr, hero or repentant villain. I am sim- | ply trying to show why I have proved a double | traitor; first to you and yours, next to the mo- ther who bore me, and the hot love that is still flaming up in the organ that serves me for a heart! ‘‘if I had learned to love you better, Miss Kirkendall, I would have left your company the moment I began to note the wonderful truth. If I had loved you less, you would be m _ bride, willing or unwilling, this day! As it is —I simply say—may you be happy with the man of your love! ay younever know sorrow or grief—and above all, may you never realize how terribly hard and bitter it is to bid adieu to all that the world holds precious and lovely and dear to you—to turn from the light and _ happiness of heaven to the rayless gloom of hell —as I am doing now !” He turned and strode rapidly from the room, paying no attention to the calls, uttering a shrill whistle that brought his gallant black horse to his side; but before he could leap into the saddle, the sharp challenge of Spread Eagle Sam rung out menacingly on the air: ‘“Hold up, critter! We'll riddle ye like a sifter ef ye make so much as a move!” A bright red spot glowed in each cheek as * Laughing Leo saw the hide-hunters with their rifles covering him. The red spots died out and | left his face colorless as snow, when he saw te Jesse Purchass, free and unbound, sitting a horse in the midst of his friends. A vivid flame shot into his eyes as he stepped from behind his horse and strode toward them, unheeding the repeated warning which Spread Eagle Sam growled: ‘Back, ye bull-headed critter! D’y’ want us to plug yer” ‘* You are here, Jesse Purchass! How did you escape? How did you leave her—my mother?” ‘‘ Where is she—where is Miss Kirkendall, dog?” grated the young hide-hunter scaping to the ground, oy to be caught and held impotent by on Eagle Sam. | There was no necessity for Laughing Leo to reply. Luada heard and recognized the voice of the man she loved, and rushing from the dug- out, she flung herself into his arms. With a dry, choking laugh, Spread Eagle Sam stepped aside. He knew that Jesse Purchass would not soon bethink himself of his rival or his weapons. And then, tottering, scarcely able to stand without support, Morris Kirkendall came to the door, crying, huskily: ‘*Tetch him, an’ Ill shoot even you. Sam! | He brung Beauty-bird back—he’s white as they | make ’em, ef he is that cussed she wolt’s cub!” Laughing Leo touched the herculean hide- hunter on the arm, his voice hard and metallic: ‘* Where is she? You did not get him away “as her without a fight. What did you do to er Spread Eagle Sam hesitated a moment, but it was not through personal fear, He had learned to both love aaa respect this strange young man, rivals though they had been, and it was hard to utter the words that must be uttered. ‘You're right, lad. Thar was a fight. An’ she was killed,” he uttered, pasted ‘““Who killed her? Not you? Tell me his name, or P’ll_have to count the innocent among the guilty: Who killed her?” ‘‘She killed herself, lad,” gravely. ‘I don’t ax you to take our word fer it, was one man o’ the gang that I saved the life of, He’s back thar at the cave, keepin’ guard over the dead, so the coyotes won't git at ‘em afore Be oO. mn ee ax him. He saw it all.” GOmiGcdooks co