Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 340 — page 7: what you’re looking at

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

- a a oo * arene ee ) | a | — « ———— Se Cool Conrad, the Dakota Detective. 4 this young badger your patient. Look out, Doctor Pablo. A cyclone will strike Pistol City before long, and you may be found among its victims.” Doctor Pablo went toward the monte place known as Holy Hank’s, and strode across its threshold with a desire to impart some news in his eyes. ‘‘Where’s Captain Noll?” he inquired of a stalwart miner-rough, the first man he encoun- tered in the den. ‘*Not hyer. You'll find him where they hid the camp nugget, I guess, doctor.” ** Peste ! forgot,” and Doctor Pablo turned on his heel, and marched toward the door. ‘* Hold! stop that yarb-mixer!” called out a loud voice, and a burly gambler rose from one of the card-tables and designated the Mexican doctor with his outstretched hand. letter for him.” Doctor Pablo had already halted and he turned toward the speaker with eagerness and curiosity in his eyes. ‘I accidentally ran ag’in’ one oy yer friends in ’Frisco, doctor,” the gold tough said, thrust- ing one hand beneath his jacket as Doctor Pa- blo came forward. ‘‘I don’t know how she knowed I war from Pistol City, ner how she found out you war hyer; but I war intrusted with a letter which I hev hyer.” The hand drawn out from beneath the jacket was holding a piece of folded paper between his bronze thumb and fingers, while the Mexican’s eyes sparkled like diamonds. ‘* Give it to me, Senor Dave!” he cried reach- ing for the letter. ‘* On one condition, doctor.” Doctor Pablo bit his lip. ** Well?” ‘That you treat the crowd. It’s worth suthin’ ter carry a letter from ‘Frisco ter Pistol City. i, The letter, then the drinks,” said the Mex- ican, and having clutched the document he waved his hand toward the man behind the counter. That was enough; nearly every game in the house was instantly stopped, and the whole crowd came P rab mes the bar, eager todrink at the cunning doctor’s expense. Doctor Pablo eyed the letter with a curiosity impossible to describe; the superscription seem- ed to be in a hand that puzzled him, and those of the crowd who took pains to watch him, saw him seat himself at one of the empty tables and 7 to open the package. he doctor was absorbed in the business before him, and did not hear the men as they drank boisterously to his health. All at once a wild exclamation from his lips, and he gered from the table upsetting the chair and almost lost his balance. ‘‘ Great Ueesar! thet letter must hev been load- ed!” cried Dark Dave who had brought it from *Frisco. ‘ Look! Doctor Pablo’s 4 Not a vestige of natural color remained on the Mexican doctor’s face; his eyes had the glare of the maniac’s; he looked like one suddenly bereft of reason. . ‘‘ Hyer, doctor! what’s struck ye?” cried Dark Dave, springing toward the doctor who seemed about to sink to the floor. ‘‘Darn me! if I hed known ther thing war loaded, I wouldn’t hev brought it ter camp!” ; The miner-rough was at the Mexican’s side, and his eyes were riveted on the letter which the excited man clutched the tighter in his hand. — ‘‘ Back! it is not for Senor Dave an’ his pards!” he shouted. ‘‘Caramba! I thought I would never more hear of her! What did she look like, senor?” ‘* Who?—the person what gave me that letter? IT didn’t git ter see much ov her, doctor, but I saw two black eyes anda shapely figger—thet war all.” *¢ An’ she told ‘ion ter carry this accursed let- ter to Doctor Pablo, eh?” ss Yes. ” The Mexican was silent for a moment. ‘Let the viper come!” he suddenly cried. ‘‘ Like a fool, she has warned me beforehand.” ‘Is she comin’ hyer, doctor, ter afford Pistol City a picnic?” laughed a Voice from the crowd. ‘* Picnic be hanged!” grated the yellow doctor, as his eyeballs seemed ready to leap from his head for very madness. “In the presence of all of you, senors, I say Jet the viper come!” e turned on his heel and started toward the door, the letter still clutched in his hand. Ere he reached it he was confronted by a per- son, at sight of whom he started back with an ejaculation of surprise. ‘“*Captain Noll!” The boss of Pistol City saw the color of the doctor’s face, and laughed. _** What’s whitened you?” he cried. ‘‘ You look like a person who’s run afoul ov a ghost.” The doctor’s first reply was the thrusting of the letter from San Tenmnieo into the des- perado’s hand. ‘Read it, Captain Noll,” he said. ‘‘Senor Dave fetched it from ’Frisco for Doctor Pablo.” ‘‘Only a letter, eh? An’ it scared you white? Ho! ho! doctor! this'll never do.” “ec ” ‘*Pve got a it, Oregon Noll smoothed the creases in the crum- pled message and stepped nearer the main lamp in the place. ‘*Great Jehosaphat!” he suddenly exclaimed, throwing a glance toward the observant Mexi- can. ‘‘ Is this person your enemy?” be Yes. 9 ‘* Why, she’s my friend. Before I left Frisco I got a letter ov warnin’ signed by these same figgers—4—11-21.” ‘* Peste ! impossible!” cried the doctor. ‘* By heavens! it isso. I gaveit to Tunis for a cigar-lighter.” Doctor Pablo looked dumfounded. He could not believe that the person who was his enemy was also Oregon Noll’s friend. He went forward and reached out his hand for so letter, hissing as he executed the move- ment: ‘*I say let her come! She will find Doctor Pablo ready for her in whatever shape she comes. The heel of the Mexican will crush the viper before she stings!” hen he took the message from Oregon Noll’s hand and read to himself its startling sentences which ran as follows: “The scotched serpent still lives, southern tar- antula! You should have killed her, but your mad- ness overreached its mark. You stand in the shadow of death, for I have sworn by my dead to spare you not. The viper whose sting is death is on your trail. Prepare to die. 4—11—21.”” “How did you wrong that person?” asked Captain Noll as Doctor Pablo got to the end of the message. ‘*Never mind, captain. never struck without cause! ferret out the descendant of the dons. she finds him, she will speedily die!” The next moment the figure of Doctor Pablo vanished through the door of the monte den, leaving the crowd to stare after him in speech- less excitement. “Let. the old fool go,” said Oregon Noll to those who showed signs of following the Mexi- can. ‘‘I’m willin’ for the woman an’ him ter fight it out—if she comes hyer. He won’t stand ter ther racket—” ‘*Silver Chick! Hurrah!” Captain Noll turned toward the door just as the handsome rough whose figure had that mo- ment appeared in it came forward. Silver Chick it was sure enough—the man he had left in San Francisco to get away with the Dakota Tiger. Doctor Pablo has Let the she viper When The next second a stride brought the two} ards together—the gold-camp captain and his ieutenant, Silver Chick. ‘* Well,” said rege Noll with eagerness. ‘* Did you find Noah Nelson?” The eyes of Silver Chick answered before his lips spoke a single word. ‘*Who did Lever hunt thet I failed ter find, captain?” he exclaimed. ‘No one, Chick. You found him, then?” ‘* Bet yer life I did, Noll. By Jove! he wara sleek one, but I caged him in the end.” ee How a) ‘**] decoyed him back ter Monte Merle’s an’ he went through ther floor like a cannon ball. No wonder thet picture fascinated him!” ‘Why, Chick?” ‘* Because he war the brother ov the galoot wah i 9 from the crag.” “ec O \”? “Fact, by Jupiter! We're safe now, captain. Thet Dakota Detective will hunt no more. CHAPTER VIL. A BROKEN COUNCIL, OREGON NOLL looked into Silver Chick’s eyes for a minute, and then leaped forward. ‘*'You deserve the straightest goods in Pistol City!” he exclaimed, as he seized his pard’s arm and led him cen ype toward the counter, while a part of the crowd set up a cheer. ‘*Hyer, Hank, set out thet bottle ye only push forward on state occasions. The Chick’s come all ther way from ’Frisco, an’ is dry.” ** Dry as a chip,” said Silver Chick, as he pro- ceeded to fill with whisky the glass which had been placed before him. Captain Noll stepped back a pace and watched his right bower down the liquor with much gusto, but no sooner had the Chick placed the glass back on the counter than he clutched his arm again. “‘T want yer, Chick,” he said, accompanying the words with a meanful look, and a moment later the two worthies were leaving the den. ‘Did Tunis come back with you?” asked Noll, when they reached the open air. ‘* Yes; we had a hard ride ov it. I war anx- ious ter reach camp afore you dealt with Red Roy an’ his pards.” ‘* You're a little too late,” smiled Noll. ‘‘The galoot had no pards, consequently thar war only one man ter deal with.” ‘* Wal?” ‘*'We sent him to ther bottom of Satan’s Hotel, if the durned place has any such ae We did it all with a piece ov taller candle. It war quite ingenious—the plan, I mean—but it pare . like a charm. Ah! we're at my shanty.’ Without ado of any kind, Oregon Noll opened ‘ the door of the rough cabin which they had reached, and the two men entered. A match in the captain’s hand soon produced a light which was communicated to a lamp, and Oregon Noll seated himself on a table while he motioned Silver Chick to a rather high three- legged stool—the only article of the kind in the room, There was something striking in the presence of these two men as revealed by the dirty lamp that burned from a wooden shelf fastened to the unplastered wall. hey had been ‘pards for years, and through thick and thin. Shoulder to shoulder they had encountered dangers all over the wild West and Southwest. Oregon Noll, smooth-faced, did not look like the leader; that position seemed to belong to the black-mustached, keen-eyed and broad-shoulder- ed gold land Apollo who had just got in from San Francisco. The dust of the mountain-trails was still on his boots, at the heels of which appeared a pair of silver spurs. ‘‘If you had struck Holy Hank’s five minutes sooner, you’d hev seen a frightened Greaser {” said Captain Noll, as he looked down into Sil- ver Chick’s face. ** Who—the doctor?” ‘*Noone else. Dark Dave brought him a let~ ter from ’Frisco. It whitened his face the mo- ment he set eyes on it. The doctor’s got a fe- male for an enemy, an’ what is strangest ov all, Chick, she’s ther same person who sent me the letter which I gave Tunis for a cigar-lighter.” Silver Chick started visibly. ‘Tunis lost that letter somewhar ou the streets ov ’Frisco; but never mind,” he said. ‘*‘He recited from memory most ov its con- tents.” yee With the signature in figures?’ inquired Oo “Yes; 4—11—21.” “That’s right. Wal, that same person sent the doctor’s letter by Dave. She hates him, an’ warned him ter be on the lookout for her hyer in Pistol City before long. Jehu! but our Mexican doctor war scared. When I game on ther scene, he looked as if he’d seen a hull gen- eration ov ghosts. But he plucked up at last an’ dared her ter come. Do you know anything about thet woman?’ The question was direct, and was squarely put. ‘“*T didn’t get ter hear from her while in Frisco,” was Silver Chick’s somewhat evasive answer. ‘‘Il wasn’t among the favored ones, captain. Mebbe I left the city too soon. What do you know? Turn about’s fair play.” ‘‘T’m in the dark,” was the prompt reply. ‘**T didn’t get any information out ov the doctor, for he left too soon. I don’t take much stock in a woman’s threat, but that one, whoever she is, wants to befriend me, else she would not have warned me that the Dakota Tiger was on m track in ‘Frisco. By Jupiter! Chick, ef it wasn’t for affairs hyer, I'd go back ter the city an’ get at the bottom ov this little adventure. We'll dismiss her now. Tell me all about the Dakotan’s failure.” Oregon Noll clasped his big hands over one knee and settled himself back on the table to hear a complete report of Silver Chick’s opera- tions in San Francisco. ‘* Now drive ahead, an’ don’t omit anything,” was his command, ere he relapsed into complete silence. Silver Chick began the narrative, and told it movement for movement as the reader alread knows it. How he and Tunis followed No Nelson, and how they finally decoyed him into Monte Merle’s, where the trap was sprung and the Dakota Detective disappeared from human view. Oregon Noll listened without interrupting the narrator once till he reached this point. To his surprise Silver Chick paused as if he had reached the end of his story. ‘* You don’t stop there, do you?” he exclaim- ‘“Why not?” asked Silver Chick with a smile. ‘*Haven’t 1 got to the Tiger’s doom? I left him in Merle’s care. Isn’t that enough?” ‘‘ It ought ter satisfy any reasonable man.” ‘*T should say so. that he will never escape from that dungeon under the monte den. You know who Monte Merle is, an’ from what you’ve seen ov him in the past, you know that we kin trust him stilL I say that the detective’s trail ended the mo- ment the trap was sprung. When I saw him stand before that picture gazin’ at the body hangin’ from the crag like a man charmed by a snake, I knew who he war. Years hev passed away, captain, since thet hangin’ spree in the Colorado canyon, but I hevn’t forgotten @ single sarcumstance connected with it. One ov the last things the victim said war about a es he had somewhar. Do you recollect e ’ ‘** Distinctly,” said Oregon Noll. ‘I told im then thet we’d be prepared for a thousand brothers ef he had ’em.” ‘ ‘Wal, that man who war lookin’ for us in ’*Frisco war a brother. Noah Nelson he called = mecomichooksscom ou know, as well as I do, | os i ‘ -, 4 Led