Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 340 — page 23: what you’re looking at

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

‘ sy - — < — 7 _ you, Conrad,” said No ——EE SS eee Cool Conrad, the Dakota Detective. ee —— — ee — 23 i _— Face to face the twain stood for several min- utes, each one watching the other and waiting for an offensive move of some kind. “Pshaw!” suddenly laughed Cool Conrad. “Don’t yer want ter fight, Oregon?” ** Don’t you?” ‘¢That’s what I fetched yer hyer for!” ‘‘Then why don’t yer goin? It looks ez if ye don’t want my blood ez badly ez ye let on.” ¥ That put an end to the truce. All at once Cool Conrad threw himself for- | ward, and he made a ferocious pass before the | desperado’s eyes. Quick as a flash the left hand {of Oregon Noll darted up, and at the detective’s wrist, and _ caught it in mid-air, only to be shaken off be- fore he could aim a blow with his knife. Nobody seemed near enough to molest the vic- tor in the bowie duel. He had picked up his sombrero, and all at once Hanks the story of his fierce fight with Cool onrad. Hank’s was, at times, an all-night den; while tossed it toward the stars with a cry of mad de- | a customer remained he did not shut his door, light. ‘‘T’m monarch ov this kentry, Iam!” he ex- claimed. ‘‘ A hand beside Jaguar J ore before mornin’? I guess not! By Jupiter! I kin whip a cyclone!” is back was on his enemy now, and he was wales toward Pistol City and its boisterous roughs. e did not look behind him, consequently he did not see the slight figure that appeared sud- denly where Cool Conrad lay. It was the figure of a young looked into the detective’s face an irl, and she listened at This action threw the two men several feet his heart. apart, and gave each a breathing spell. ‘‘Ts this ter last all night?” exclaimed Captain Noll. ‘“‘I thought yer wanted blood, Con- rad!” | Tt was a taunt that made the detective’s black | eyes glitter. ‘‘ Blood it shall be!” he said, ‘‘ Now, Captain Noll, we hunt hearts’to ther death.” He came forward with the tiger in his nature anchained, but still cool. The two men met in the middle of the trail, foot to foot, and knife to knife, Their long hair lay on their shoulders, their hats had been cast at their feet, and with the mien of rival mountain lions, they gathered strength for the deadly onset. Suddenly they came together again, this time by Captain Noll’s action. They met with strokes intended by each to be fatal and to settle the duel. But as before, strange coincidence, their arms met in mid-air, but only for a moment, With an oath, Captain Noll drew back half a and then leaped tigerishly at the breast of is opponent. However well Cool Conrad had pate for the mad rush, he could not stem it and throw his enemy off. The two men closed as Oregon Noll’s blade came down, driven by all the strength of his arm; they became entangled in one moment, and the next were struggling more like wrestlers than duelists in the trad, For a minute the strange combat went on, and the deadly foes swayed back and forth, each one unable to use the knives they had drawn for a settlement of their hate. They were equally matched, and each in power was a giant. ! At the end of the minute, Oregon Noll seemed to wrench himself loose. He broke away from Cool Conrad with an ejaculation of joy, and kept his equilibrium with the bowie still clutched in his hand. The Dakota Detective stood in the middle of the trail with a challenge lighting up his eyes, but all at once he went backward. ‘‘ Whose game is it now, Cool Conrad?” sud- denly laughed Oregon Noll. ‘‘ You didn’t ex- pect ter be killed by ther g’loot ye caught ter- ight! ven as the camp sport spoke, Cool Conrad struck the ground like a man cut to the death. The victor looked at the spectacle, and then went forward. ‘¢ Albert’s brother, eh?’ he said. ‘TI hev this ter say, Cool Conrad: you war a fool ter give Oregon Noll a show fer his tife, but IL thank yer fer doin’ it, all ther same. I see now. Thet mustache changed yer appearance. It’soff now, an’ I see in you ther man what I saw in ¢her Coast City Hotel, in ’Frisco.” The gold-camp Seeprense stood over the form fying in the series The glossy mustache, which had aided Cool Conrad to play the role of Sombrero Sam, had been torn from his lip during the tussle for life, and once more he looked like himself. ‘‘'Thar’s no harm, I reckon, in seein’ what he carries,” continued Captain Noll, and the fol- lowing moment his bronzed hands were rum- maging through Cool Conrad’s pockets, e was disappointed, for he found nothing of value, A little package of paper, which he e to reveal something, contained only a lock of hair, which he threw down with his favorite curse. It was the hair of the boy he had brutally hanged years before—a lock of Albert’s hair! i shall treat ther — ov Pistol City, not ; getting up on his feet again. ‘Now I hev ter fight Red Roy an’ Leo. T'll get Floss back ag’in with no Marmoset ter bother me, an’ she'll yet be —_ ov @ mountain kingdom, an’ also Captain Noll’s gal. Lie thar for ther buzzards, Conrad! In my opinion, ther kid we roped in ther Colorado canyon is yet un- avenged!’ eh He still held the victorious bowie in his hand when he walked back. - ‘Oh, ’'m the bowie dandy ov Californy!” he went on, ‘ A den ov rattlers is nothin’ ter Noll ov Pistol City when they corner him. Ther hand I hold kin bluff in any game they set up on this chick. [fd like ter meet ther rest ov m foes. Whar ar’ Red Roy an’ ther female blood- hunter ov ther North?” i ' ' ground at his feet. —— ee a a RR RR ‘He is dead!” she said. ‘‘ He has failed mid- way down the trail of vengeance. Marmoset must know this. The brother of Albert shall have a grave among the gold hills.” She started off with a last glance at the man lying in the trail and disappeared. It was Floss, Captain Noll’s protegee, and the irl he was going to make queen of a gold king- om among the mountains. Half an hour lateran owl flying down the mountain pass saw a handsome man brace him- self against a rock and throw his hands appeal- ney. to the stars. is hat was off and his black hair swept his shoulders in the wildest abandon. ‘‘ Dead? by no means!” he exclaimed. ‘‘ Laugh over yer liquor at Holy Hank’s, Captain Noll, mit heart is still umpierced, my oath unfulfilled. li git thar yet!” CHAPTER XXV. ¥LOSS MAKES HER MARK, ‘HEAVENS! he is gone! Look on the ground for a blood trail, Marmoset. He was here dead, as I thought, only a little while ago, and now— he is not be seen!” The speaker was Floss, and she had just come back to the spot where Cool Conrad and Oregon Noll had recently fought for the mastery. She was not alone. The companion who accompanied her was Marmoset of Pistol City. The boy had a bandage about his left wrist as if it had been hurt in some manner, and his clothes were torn in several places. It was night still, beautiful starlight, and Floss eae as she pointed at a certain spot in the trail: ‘** Here’s where they fought like two grizzlies, and here is where I found the man from Dakota after it was all over.” ‘‘T can see that two men had a hard tussle here,” said Marmoset, looking at the trampled ‘If there is a blood trail it cannot be pursued by a light like this. We will have to wait for day.” ‘* No, no!” eried the girl. ‘‘ Conrad may not have been dead. It is possible that he came to, and wandered off—perhaps back to camp.” ‘‘ Where they'll make short work of him,” added Marmoset. ‘*To camp, then! He must have friends there. Cool Conrad is too brave to die without a friend within call!” Marmoset looked toward Pistol City, but did not move. ‘* T can’t forget the doctor and the fight he had with the panther,” he said aloud, as if he had al- ready dismissed Cool Conrad from his mind. ‘‘He came to the cave shot by Leo, and, as I thought, weak and near death’s door. When I saw him in the light of his lamp in the cavern, I wouldn’t have given a dollar for Doctor Pablo’s chances. {n the midst of it all the wounded ther bounded into the place and leaped at im. He overturned the lamp, and he and the doctor had it rough-and-tumble in the darkness. [ stood by, knife in hand, waiting for my turn, not knowing when it would come. Suddenly Floss, the beast left Doctor Pablo with a roar of pain, for the Mexican had found his knife, and given him a thrust. Then I got the wound on my wrist, but I gave the mad animal a stroke that stretched him out dead. It was the fiercest panther I ever saw.” ** And the doctor?” asked the interested girl. **T left him in the cave pretty well scratched up, but with life in him yet. I wonder who wounded the panther?” ‘* We will know some time, Pare let us turn our attention to Cool Conrad. You are not afraid to go to Pistol City?” ‘* Afraid?” and Marmoset smiled. ‘‘I have taken a deep interest in that man. I would help him we, the trail of vengeance; but if he has received Captain Noll’s bowie, I’m afraid he has reached the end of it before this.” *“Time will tell. He fell here, but he is not here now. Vengeance would take him to the zold camp.” The two young people were moving toward Pistol City while Floss uttered the last words, and in a few moments had left the scene of the knife-duel a goodly distance in the rear. They were not far behind Captain Noll, but that worthy had already reached the camp, and no doubt lind tld to a boleterous crowd as Holy Now, | ry day.” pa h th c d Leo Orego e fear but was always ready to set out the ruinous liquor which had given his trap an unenviable reputation in the Merced region. armoset and Floss were not far from the place when a peal of coarse laughter saluted cheir ears. — pair stopped instantly, and exchanged ooks. ‘‘The hawks are awake,” whispered the girl. ‘* You know they never sleep,” was the reply. ‘‘ The door is shut for once, but a fine crowd is on the inside. Ah! we'll take a peep at the men from Pistol City.” Unseen by a human eye, the young twain approached the saloon and placed their eyes near the cracks between the weather-boarding. W hen their optics became accustomed to the light, they saw the same motley crowd, the same forms and faces which had encountered their gaze in the same place on former occa- sions. ‘‘ Only the band; Captain Noll is not there,” said Marmoset. ‘*Captain Noll is hyer!” responded a stern voice behind them. The two friends turned, but not quick enough. With the last word spoken the heavy hands of the boss of Pistol City fell like trip-hammers on their shoulders and closed there, like the tal- ons of some bird of prey. ‘*T always turn up, like the unexpected,” con- tinued Oregon Noll, with a brutal wi <i me | didn’t look for fish like you in my net, but ye’r’ welcome all ther same. Come back ter spy out how the land lies, eh? Wal, Pll show yer!’ His strength was prodigious, and he started toward the door of Holy Hank’s, dragging his prisoners after him, while his eyes gleamed with the triumph of the merciless desperado. One blow with his heavy boot serit the saloon- door open to its full capacity, and he stood in oa oe t that streamed suddenly from the den. ‘* Here’s a picnic, pards,” he exclaimed, as he stepped inside, Floss and Marmoset still in his om ag “You don’t ketch such fish as this eve . The boisterous miner-pards stopped short in their merriment at the sight thus suddenly re- vealed, and fixed their eyes on the two captives. “Whar 'd ye run across thet find, cap’n!” cried a dozen voices at the same time. ** Found ’em outside hyer ve. eghhens. pers. Came up behind ’em while they war tak- in’ in yer whole show, an’ clapped my talons on ther birds. Floss an’ Marmoset! Take a lock at ’em, pards. They’re oid citizens ov Pistol City, but they’ve forfeited some ov their rights, eh? ‘‘They’ve forfeited every one!” was the mad flash. ‘‘Thet boy thar saved Red Roy from Satan’s Hotel, an’ Floss furnished Leo with ther six-shooter thet gave her liberty. ‘They’ve got no rights in this camp, cap’n. Ask ther boys an’ hear their answer.” The dark-faced desperadoes of the gold camp had surrounded Captain Noll and his prisoners, and their looks told how eager they were to ad- minister a punishment that should not be tinc- tured with mercy. Floss and Marmoset stood the mad looks with- out quailing; they had faced the pards of the the —- before; why fear them now? ‘* Shall we jedge ’em, captain?” asked one of rowd. ‘* No! I'll attend ter that myself.” ** An’ you'll punish both?” ‘** Thet lies with me.” ‘Ov course he won’t,” growled a burly fel- low behind the lot. ‘He won't touch ther girl he’s raised. Ef he doesn’t, mebbe we will. 6 rescued when we wanted her blood! Go slow, Captain Noll. This is yer old stampin’- ground; but even hyer ye may lose yer grip.” n Noll saw the lowering looks of the pards of Pistol City. He knew each man and knew, too, just how to deal with the crowd as a whole. | ** 'Whar’s ‘sat whip, Hank?” he asked sudden- ly vresangon Rmag man io ee when! o- counter with two twinkling e eyes above hi flabby cheeks. ‘Ther one ther driver lost on ther trail, cap’n?” ‘ Yes. ” The head and shoulders of Holy Hank dissa- ete for a moment, and then he threw a heavy lack snake whip with a cutting lash upon the counter. “Thar she ar’, cap’n, Keen as a sazor in ther hands ov ther right party!” he exclaimed ‘I kin cut a rattler’s head off the first time at twen — with it.” e ‘We’ it on this camp pullet,” grinn ed Captain Noll with a glance at irate: ‘What do you think ov ther Promeck, boy? Would yer rescue Red Roy ag’in **{ would succor a friend anytime,” was the answer, and the ge eyes wandered from the whip to Captain Noll’s face without a sign of “You saved Red Roy, then?” a Yes!” IJOOKS (ECONMIUCE (Elo)