Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 340 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

+ = — : - . SS Se Sr ere -_——= — —— _ - roe ~~ ~ ~ — =e » 9 ai | a i=4 eae eee 12 Cool Conrad, the Dakota Detective. shoulder, and I shall pay the whole gang for their deed of deeds in their lair. I have no ene- my in this wide world who is not in the camp under the mountain back yonder. They—some of them at least—have wondered who warned them of the Dakota Tiger’s hunt. My letters have puzzled more than one man. Ha! ha! I first told Cool Conrad thet Oregon Noll, his bit- ter foe, was in’Frisco, and then I turned right around and warned Oregon Noll. Wasn’t that a strange proceeding, Jeff Banning?” ‘It war, for a fact,” said the vaquero, ‘*T did it because the man wanted by Cool Conrad struck me as hard as they struck him,” the woman went on. ‘‘ [have bided my time; I have waited for vengeance as the tigress waits for the hunter who has shot her whelps. It is strange that just when I should be ready to strike, Cool Conrad comes upon the scene. They caged him at Monte Merle’s, and I thought he was out of my way, but I now know that in your clothes, and as Vaquero Van, he has in- vaded the lions’ den—that he has tracked the California beasts to their mountain lair. There’s where I ought to be at thismoment. I have another enemy there, and my blood runs hot as lava at thought of him!” ‘* Heavens!” cried the vaquero. hate everybody?” ‘* No,” was the answer. ‘‘ Language cannot tell how I hate the viper called Doctor Pablo —the Mexican curse who has infested earth too long! Fortune has hid him from my sight a long time, but I’ve baffled her at last, and the serpent has been found!” ‘*Tn the name of creation, who are you?” ex- claimed Jeff the vaquero. ‘*Me? Only a woman who has a right to kill eight men. Two grizzlies robbed me of one of my enemies, but I will attend to the rest.” ‘*But your name? What do they call you at home?” ‘‘Home!” was the exclamation. ‘‘ I’ve al- most lost the meaning of that word. My home is the path that leads to the desperado-sports of Pistol City! Once—years ago, when I was a happy girl—I was Leo Lanier—now vengeance has made me Leo the Sleuth-hound. My mission is to find the comrades of the noose, my duty to strike them down; after that, Vaquero Jeff, I disappear from the eyes of the world.” oP wouldn’t have you on my trail for Cali- forny!” said the man. ‘Perhaps not,” smiled the girl. ‘I don’t want a drop of your blood, but by all that is just! I will not spare one of the pards of the **Do you gold camp. Now, you will take my advice and go on to ’Frisco. You betrayed 1 Con- rad to Silver Chick, who esca me to-night, but Ido not fault you for it. His revolver was at your head.” With the last word the huntress glided back to her horse, and climbed agilely to the saddle before the vaquero’s eyes. *“T might overtake Silver Chick, but I will not it,” she said to Jeff, the cattle prince. ** In Cool Conrad, he will find a foeman worthy of his steel. The man from Dakota has never been baffled yet, but this time Leo will cheat him of his prey.” “He will turn on you, girl! If he does, look ” ““T don’t fear him. Under his skin Cool Conrad is as gentle as a child,” was the reply. *““T could melt him to tears with three words, He may turn on me, but he will never strike.” The horse was headed toward Pistol City, and the next instant Jeff, the vaquero, for the third time since sunset found himself alone on the mountain trail. Leo the Sleuth-hound rode “Sy away, and not long afterward entered the camp of the miner-roughs. ‘‘On the battle-ground at last,” she ejacula- . TY would like to settle with Doctor Pablo first of all. Where is the yellow viper?” CHAPTER XII. THE MAN FROM SATAN’S HOTEL. ‘‘ MERCIFUL heavens! what saved you from the depths of Satan’s Hotel?” 7 What do yer think, girl? I crawled out.” The young girl who heard these words from the lips of the man who had pounced upon her like a panther among the cabins at Pistol City, clutching her arm like the grip of a vise, tried to break away, but in vain. ‘No, no!” she cried. “You didn’t do that! No man can fall to the bottom of that black hole and live. You can’t be Red Roy, though you look like him, and have his voice. You must be his double.” The man laughed. ‘‘T’'m ther only genuine an’ original Red Roy since my visit ter Satan’s Hotel more’n half tiger. Yes, girl, 1 came safe from ther depths ov thet gold-cam srg “But you wasn’t to the bottom. I will not be- lieve that!” exclaimed Pure-Gold Floss, for she it was. ‘Wal, thet makes no difference. I’m ther real Red Roy, ther identical galoot lowered inter ther Hotel by Oregon Noll an’ his pards because I diskivered that you warn’t Karl, the Kid, but a girl in boy’s clothes. Ther boss devil ov this | camp sot a candle under ther rope thet held me swinging in darkness, an’ thet candle burned ther rope through, too.” He laughed again. We have said that he had pounced like a tiger ‘‘T’ll go home and await the result,” she said aloud to herself. ‘‘ If he meets Oregon Noll at Holy Hank’s some person will die,” As for Red Roy, he walked straight toward upon the girl whose sex he had proclaimed in an | the favorite resort to which we have already in- unguarded moment throughout the gold camp. his was true. It was night—the same night that witnessed | horse penetrating the cool and the events recorded in the preceding chapter, and Cool Conrad’s confrontation by Silver Chick in Captain Noll’s shanty. Who had saved Red Roy, for he stood before Floss in the flesh, big as ever, but in mien twice as ferocious as it was his wont to appear. Pure-Gold Floss, Captain Noll’s protegee, did not take any stock in Red Roy’s hint that no- i aided him in his escape from Satan’s otel. She knew enough of that inky pit to know that a fall to the bottom would crush the life out of any human being. She knew that Roy had been lowered into it with a rope under his arms, and with his hands tied upon his back, and that Oregon Noll had left him to his fate with a lighted candle under the rope that held him in mid-air, and that, an hour later, a blackened piece of rope told the story of the candle’s work. Floss was stealing back to her cabin from an interview with Marmoset when Red Roy en- countered her. He was the last man of all living whom she expected to see, and it was no wonder that she took him for his own double. **Don’t look at me as ef I war a livin’, movin, lie,” he went on after a pause. ‘‘ They thought ter finish me forever when they hung me like a smokin’ ham inter Satan’s Hotel! Wait till I walk up ter Hank’s counter an’ order my old time decoction. Great Caesar! won’t thar be a tumble among ther gold lambs of Pistol City?” ‘“You'll not do that?” cried Floss. ‘My God! owll not walk to a fate as dreadful as the one which you've already been assigned?” ‘“Why not? What’s Red Roy got ter live for but ter git even with ther buzzards ov Californy ¢” he exclaimed. ‘‘Thar’s only one hand in this hull camp what would lift itself for me an’ thet’s a boy’s.” ** Marmoset’s?” inquired the girl. ‘** Marmoset’s,” was the reply. ‘‘Me an’ thet kid swore friendship afore I went ter Satan’s Hotel, but I don’t run his head inter danger by askin’ him ter help me git even with this devil’s nest; not much, girl.” ‘* You will find enemies at Holy Hank’s at any time. This a is under the captain’s thumb.” ‘“*T know thet an’a shame it is, too. Who made you play boy all this time?” Floss hesitated. ‘*Come; don’t be afraid ter speak, girl—Floss they call you now, don’t they? Pa like ter know why you’ve been actin’ boy so long?” ‘It was at Oregon Noll’s bidding,” was the low reply. ‘* The captain, eh? Ar’ ye his girl, Floss?” ‘*T am not. My parents were killed by the Comanches when I was in the cradle.” ‘**Thet is the captain’s story, eh?” ‘** And Doctor Pablo’s,” said the girl. Red Roy’s countenance darkened at mention of the Mexican doctor’s name. ‘So thet yaller rattler has a finger in the pie, has he?” he hissed. ‘*They both say thet yer parents war wiped out by ther Comanches when you war a babe? If thet’s so why did they keep ye hyer as a boy?” ‘*] don’t know,” answered Floss. ‘*Then, I'll find out!” said Red Roy in deter- mined tones whose intensity sent a thrill to the irl’s heart. ‘‘TI tell ye thar’s suthin’ bad at ther ottom ov this affair. I could force it out ov Oregon Noll ef I hed him by the throat. I could scare it out ov Doctor Pablo with my pistol un- der his snaky eyes. It warn’t so much because I diskivered thet ye war a girl, Floss, as thet I threatened the secret them two gold buzzards hey been keepin’ so long!” To herself Pure-Gold Floss was forced to ac- knowledge the force of Red Roy’s remarks. as bth Marmoset?” suddenly asked the big rough. ‘*T left him in his cabin a few moments ago.” ‘“*T'll not disturb him but he’ll laugh when he hears ov the ghost’s visit ter Holy Hank’s.” ** You are going there, then?” ** Why not?’ laughed Red Roy. ‘5 Because the dare-devils there are not easily frightened,” was the reply. ‘‘ They are armed to the teeth, and you know this whole camp is under Captain Noll’s rule.” ** Oh, certainly, but P’m going ter wake ’em up jest ther same. Wouldn't ye like ter see ther racket, Floss?” “*No,” shuddered the girl-mystery of Pistol City. ‘Remember that you go to Holy Hank’s against my advice.” **'Yes, my little one. I’d go thar ther way I feel now ef I had ter fight my way through griz- zlies to ther door. Good-night! P’m no ghost an’ arter all it’s not sartain death ter be lowered inter Satan’s Hotel.” __ Red Roy, the stalwart, stepped back as he fin- ished the last sentence with a light chuckle of satisfaction, and a moment later an eager bound carried him far from the still astonished girl. troduced the reader. He paused for a moment as the gallop of a leasant night = fell upon his ear, but he took but little note of it. ‘‘ Somebody comin’ inter camp—Silver Chick, mebbe,” was all he said, and on he went again toward Holy Hank’s. The door of the place was open as usual and Red Roy, looking into the den before he reached the threshold, saw the scene he had seen there @ thousand times before. Evidently the miner-roughs of Pistol City were not thinking of him at that moment; the ambling-tables were all filled, and the games that prevailed there were at their hight. ‘* Now, watch me change ther scene,” said Red Roy as if addressing somebody athisside. ‘I'll see ange kind ov a ghost I make among my old rds,’ P’"Three more strides brought him to the door of the den, and a moment afterward he leaned noiselessly against the jamb, as yet unperceived by the gamblers inside. ‘Tl take a lightnin’ straight, Hank!” sudden- ly rung out his voice. ‘‘Toss ina little brim-~- stone, an’ mix in the devil’s gloss!” The effect was electrical and’astonishing. While he yet spoke, every eye became riveted upon him, and the bronzed gamblers started from their seats. If a veritable ghost had come back from the abode of the disembodied, the pets of the gold camp would not have been more amazed. ‘*It’s mighty damp in Satan’s cellar!” con- tinued Red Roy. ‘‘Whena fellar falls a mile through darkness aw lights on solid stone it’s apt ter shake him up.” ‘‘ Holy terror! it’s ther ghost ov Red Roy!” pune oly Hank dropping the bottle which he ad just taken from the shelf, Everybody were on their feet, and there was a general shrinking toward the rear end of the den. Holy Hank’s place was a frame structure with upright weather boarding, and the only lace of exit was the front door in which stood e guest of Satan’s Hotel. ‘“D’ye ever drink with a ghost, gents?” con- tinued Red Roy striding toward the frightened crowd. ‘*‘ Hyer, Hank! pour out yer p’izen an’ drink with yer pards ter Hades!” ‘‘Thunder an’ graveyards! no!” shrieked the terrified dispenser of the ardent, and he dashed from behind the counter and broke for the end of the room. ‘* Kick the boards loose!” he shouted. ‘‘It’s death ter drink with a spook!” ‘‘Ha! ha! ha!” laughed Red Roy. ‘‘I’ve an order from ther proprietor ov Satan’s Hotel fer ther hull kit ov yer!” That was enough. As if goaded by a single impulse, the whole crowd made a break toward the rear of the gambling-den. : It was the charge of a mob which no power, not even that of stanch weather-boarding, and wrought nails, could check. In less than a minute afterward, crash! crash! went the tall planks, and they had scarcely touched the ground ere the crowd rushed pell- mell over them into the night. Men who would march witha smile into aden of grizzlies, or walk single-handed into an In- dian camp, fled like boys from what they called the ghost of Reddy Roy. ‘Pll proceed ter help pe ng free ov expense,” said the victor of the affair, as he walked be- hind the deserted bar and sampled the contents of a certain bottle which he had seen on many previous occasions, ‘* Took yonder!” cried one of a crowd of men who saw through the breach in the weather- boarding the man from Satan’s Hotel refreshing himself after the orthodox manner. ‘No ghost drinks whisky thet way. Boys, we've been fooled. It’s Red Roy himself. har’s the cap- tain? ‘‘ Watchin’ Monte Merle. Go for him— quick!” A dozen men started off. ‘Guard the front door an’ don’t let Reddy out till Captain Noll comes. Hold, thar! only one ov ye go arter him. dozen’d disturb Monte Merle. To the front door, thar! Don’t let the galoot out!” ; ; ; as the last words of the loud speaker struck his With afrevolver in each hand, he moved steadily toward the door in front of which had already congregated a dozen of the miner-roughs of Pistol City. ; ‘‘ Hold on thar, Reddy!” exclaimed a voice as he reached the door. ‘* You’re no ghost. Stay whar ye ar’ till ther captain comes, an’ then—’ The sentence was broken by the sudden liftin of Red Roy’s hands, and as he caught sight o the speaker, one of the deadly revolvers spoke. ‘Pll summon Captain Noll myself!” be said dangerously, as the man hit between the eyes ECOL Ebooks (E(@) “ —